Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."
Father’s Day for me is now a melancholy experience. I certainly appreciate the attention that I get from my two boys and my wife. My younger son tends to make an artistic gift for me, since he’s the artist of the family, while my older one will scribble some sweet sentiments on a piece of scrap or notebook paper, and my wife will usually make me a glorious meal of my choosing.
While I appreciate all this love showered my way, I also get melancholy over the memory of my late father, who was a wonderful man. I’ve written about him before, but I want to always keep his memory present in my mind and the minds of my boys.
Writing about my dad for his eulogy was not as difficult as some might think. My sentiments and praises came easy, just as being such a loving, good man seemed to come easy for him. He was from that “Greatest Generation” though he didn’t serve in the armed forces during World War II, due to the military deferments because he had just had a son and his particular occupation was much needed on the home front.
Don Clark anchored TV news in Bakersfield, California for over twenty years. He now lives at the fence line of the great Tejon Ranch with his wife, Bettie, where he contemplates retirement but never seems to get it right and just keeps on working.
Following are remarks made by Don on Good Friday, March 27, 2010, at St. Paul’s Anglican Parish in Bakersfield.
Editor's Note: Here at "For What It's Worth," we blog about everything from male bonding to Iranian politics to why the Oscars are boring. The fact that we include a religious post does not support one religion over another any more than a film review supports one studio over another. But the blog's sub-title is "Bryce Zabel & Friends" and Don is long-time friend going back to working in Eugene TV together (sometime in the last century). And, of course, Don's topic of "revenge" seems, shall we say, kind of appropriate, given FWIW's virtual location in the center of Hollywood. So there. :-)
Scripture commands, “Let those who speak, speak as if they uttered the oracles of God… And those who have ears, let them hear and heed what the Spirit is saying to the church.” Amen.
One of the great classics of imaginative literature--one I am sure most of you here have enjoyed many times both as originally written and as adapted in several motion pictures-- is the timeless tale by the French writer, Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo.
It is the story of a great wrong done to an innocent man. It is the story of a great betrayal by a jealous friend -- a betrayal that resulted for the victim in the total loss of everything that make life good and of seemingly endless imprisonment and despair in a cold, stony dungeon on a desolate island prison.
But most of all, the story of The Count of Monte Cristo is the story of the most satisfying kind of revenge.
A strange friendship between the innocent man and a mysterious aging prisoner, coupled with an incredible escape, leads our victim to a vast treasure that gives him vast resources to lay exquisitely elaborate traps for all those who profited from his betrayal.
Dumas’ story gives us a delicious sense of justice done by deceiving the very people who deceived him and by inflicting upon them losses and suffering and humiliations as great or greater than the ones they inflicted upon him.
New Year's Eve will be here before you know it. We know it's an important night so we want to help you be prepared. Let's play a "what if?"
What if your plans to take a Lear jet on a cross-country journey, toasting Dom Perignon at every time zone, fall through at the last minute? Suddenly, your options shorten and the only friend you have left who hasn't accepted an invitation to a cool party that you can't get into at this late date says, "Hey, why don't we rent a couple of movies and have a double-feature?" Well, if that happens, we've assembled a list of ten films that all either take place on New Year's Eve or have scenes and plot points that take place at that time. We've even put them in this great new incredibly zazzy poll so that our readers over at our Movie Smackdown site can help you decide.
Aside from the ten films above, some of the New Year's Eve themed runner's up include: Waiting to Exhale (1995), Trading Places (1983), Assault of Precinct 13 (2005), About Last Night (1986), Strange Days (1995), An American in Paris (1951), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Holiday (1938), End of Days (1999) and, of course, the original Ocean's Eleven (1961) and the re-make Poseidon (2006).
In any case, whatever you end up doing on New Year's Eve, we hope it's a rockin' good time. We'll wave at you from the jet when we cross your time zone...
Bruce Sallan gave up a show biz career to parent his two boys and now writes about his experiences on "A Dad's Point-of-View" and is the house dad at "Mom Logic."
This holiday season my wife and I will celebrate our first year of marriage on separate continents. As we are different races and religions, there are usually challenges we encounter at this time of year, so maybe being 7,000 miles apart will make it easier. We’ve actually resolved the big conundrum for me--the Christmas tree.
I don’t care if you call it a Hannukah bush or an ordinary tree; it is a Christmas tree, pure and simple. It represents the birth of Christ and it’s not just a secular symbol. But, it matters to my wife, so we resolved the issue by agreeing, like so many mixed religious couples, to celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah. Since my boys were raised Jewish, and my younger son just became a Bar Mitzvah, it really isn’t an issue for me anymore.
Truly, it’s more to honor my wife, her background and her religion, versus a belief that it matters in our stage in life. My boys have been raised Jewish, have completed the major ritual of becoming a Bar Mitzvah and are now old enough to choose their path in life, and to be able to enjoy both holidays without confusion.
I believe, strongly, that a new marriage with young kids that decides to celebrate both holidays will only confuse children and the ultimate result will likely be their rejection of both religions. In our case, that is unlikely as my boys have had a distinctive Jewish upbringing and now, post Bar Mitzvah, can enjoy my wife’s holiday and its joys and traditions without their core values being challenged or confused.
Now that Americans are doing their part to jump-start the national economy by buying things they don't need in order to employ people they don't know, it's time to get this Christmas Smackdown settled once and for all. So, naturally, we have a new poll for you. Holidays are about tradition, right? This is ours and we're sticking with it. Only this time it's the Championship Round!
Two years ago, we asked ten of our SmackRefs to each recommend a Christmas film that they have a special fondness for, something that can stand the test of repeat viewing. That poll turned out to be a squeaker with an unexpected winner when the nostalgia-rama "A Christmas Story" edged out traditional favorite "It's A Wonderful Life"with a strong third place by the relatively new "Love Actually."
Those were the finalists in last year's reader's poll. That one turned out to be a photo-finish with "Love Actually" taking win, "It's A Wonderful Life" taking place, and "A Christmas Story" only managing to take a semi-weak show.
In any case, the past is just nostalgia. Now to get you in the holiday spirit again, we're putting our top two finishers in the ring against each other to decide, once and for all who the real champion is in the "No-Humbug Zone."
Are you ready to rumble? We are. And it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Like a lot of Americans, Frank Capra
had just returned from World War II and he wanted this picture (based
on a story by Philip Van Doren Stern) to be a celebration of our
country's ordinary citizens. It wasn't really all that successful at
the time nor was it perceived as a "Christmas movie." That happened
when it fell starting in the 1970s when PBS stations used it as
counter-programming to big network Christmas specials and gathered
steam when a clerical error allowed it to fall out of copyright in
1974.
The audience has grown over the years and many families make it an
annual holiday viewing, something that Capra himself in 1984 called
"the damndest thing." In the 80s, a colorized version was released
which, ironically, had no problem being copyrighted by has been savaged
by film critics although average viewers seem to not be so bothered by.
The film takes place in the fictional
town of Bedford Falls shortly after World War II and stars James
Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose attempted suicide on Christmas
Eve gains the attention of his guardian angel, Clarence who is sent to
help him in his hour of need. Most of the film is told through
flashbacks spanning George's entire life and narrated by Franklin and
Joseph, unseen Angels who are preparing Clarence for his mission to
save George. Through these flashbacks we see all the people whose lives
have been touched by George and the difference he has made to the
community in which he lives.
In 2003, writer Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral,"
"Bridget Jones's Diary") gave us the Christmas gift of "Love Actually"
as his directorial debut and, for more revelers than you can imagine, it's turned out to be an annual event. The film is an ensemble romantic comedy set against the backdrop
of the holiday season and, by our count, there are over 20 main
characters and about nine separate romances. Some play out better than
others but, overall, it's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you
never know what you're going to get.
Hugh Grant is wonderful, as usual, playing the newly elected Prime
Minister of Britain who happens to fall for a crumpet working for the
household staff (played by Martine McCutcheon). He's as appealing as
ever and his story really is the spine of the piece, if you think about
it. But you never really have the time because there's so much going
on. Another great story involves Bill Nighy who plays an
over-the-hill rocker who's just scored a big hit by putting an old rock
standard "Love Is All Around" to Christmas lyrics and knows it's not
his finest work.
It works as a Christmas movie,
though, because Christmas really is all around. It's in the presents
people buy each other in this film, in the songs they sing, in the
plays they attend. It's about people who realize how much they need
other people and, even though this message begins the movie as a 9/11
reference, it's clearly developed as a holiday theme. Some critics have
tried to slam this film as being too busy but they are just channeling their inner Scrooge, we think. We love these characters and if we could buy
them all a present, we would.
I'm not the world's biggest football fan, I don't really know or understand all the rules, I have only a basic clue about who's on most teams, but I do know an exciting game when I see one and 37-33 qualifies.
As a native Oregonian (born in Lincoln City, raised in Hillsboro) and a University of Oregon graduate (schooled in Eugene), I can barely find the words to describe how it felt last night when the Oregon Ducks defeated the Oregon State Beavers in the "Civil War" to earn a ticket to this year's Rose Bowl against Ohio State. All I can really do is show you...
That clock is counting down to New Year's Eve but there's still time to watch a film or two to get in the mood. We have two Smackdowns for you over at MOVIE SMACKDOWN! -- that's a whopping four films, all with something to do with New Year's Eve.
Our Oregon-based SmackRef, Mark Sanchez dives into a couple of romantic comedies that both have scenes bringing in the New Year in his Smack, Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) -vs- When Harry Met Sally (1989). Plus, as an added bonus, it's a chance to remember one of the most famous scenes on film, the time when Megan Ryan fakes a, well, you remember...
Meanwhile, down here in Hollywood, Sherry Coben takes us back to New Year's Eve 1959 with her Smack, Diner (1982) -vs- The Apartment (1960). That's right, both of these films go back to a simpler New Year's and it's a trip down memory lane that's not to be missed.
It's been a busy month over at the Smack. We have film-on-film competition with almost all of today's films like Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, Valkyrie, Milk, Defiance, Marley & Me, The Wrestler, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Twilight, Doubt and Gran Torino. It's your last chance to check it out this year!
To see an entire site devoted to Movie Smackdown Comix! like above, go to www.MovieSmackdown.tv.
With the country wrapping up another bitter election cycle, our citizens mostly opposed to an overseas war, immigration forcing us to decide what an American is and isn't, and the current president about as unpopular as they come, we're about to celebrate another 4th of July. Because we're so divided, it seems, most of us are vaguely uncomfortable talking about issues like patriotism and it's easier to drink a Bud at the fireworks than to consider what any of it means. Which, if you think about it, is probably all the more reason to try. So, in that spirit, here goes...
The birth of the United States of America was set in motion 232 years ago and I'm glad it was. When the Founding Fathers committed us to this grand experiment by breaking with Great Britain, they did a bold thing for their time and for all times. If you'd like to read the Declaration of Independence (which is something everybody probably thinks they've done but haven't done in years and years), then CLICK HEREand read away.
Just fragments in the reflecting pool, or something special?
I was going to write a little blurb here about how Hollywood views patriotism and the things that go with it like the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star-Spangled Banner and the like, but then I realized that was probably career suicide in a red-blue polarized country where patriotism itself can be a hot-button issue. That essay will have to wait for another time, I suppose.
Take the red pill or the blue pill? Or maybe the red-blue pill?
Tim Russert had a few years on me but not that many and so, like a lot of Americans, I'm guessing his passing isn't just about the loss of his wit and humor in the political arena but also a heads-up about mortality.
Of course, it's doubly impactful because the "empty chair" on Sunday's Meet the Press came on Father's Day and Russert has become known for his own love for his father and his son.
Today, during this Father's Day that he never got to, I took a walk, went for a swim and thought about what I can do to stick around a little longer for my own family. There's work to be done but it's important work. Probably Russert would approve of using his untimely death as a chance to take stock. Can't write much more now, we've got some family time carved out...
The Smackdown. You certainly don't need to believe in Santa Claus to take inspiration from a good film that is either about the holiday or uses it as its backdrop. So over at our companion blog Movie Smackdown! we asked each of our critics to write a short blurb about a Christmas film that they have a special fondness for and submitted those choices and others to the dreaded blog poll treatment. Which holiday film or films do you think are worth repeat viewing to get in the holiday spirit? Humbug, you say? Read on...
No, we don't think that you will likely choose "Fred Claus" as the Christmas film you'd want to recommend to your friends to see every year or even, maybe, this year. On the other hand, the breadth of Christmas films out there is wide and many have their passionate defenders and detractors. We think Movie Smackdown! is the perfect place to sort this out.
Here are the films that our critics have decided to advocate as the one Christmas movie they think you should either see for the first time or re-visit during the holidays. We have, as you'll see, a wide diversity of opinion.
By the way, if you're one of those people who simply want to vote and get it over with, you can go to the bottom of this post and you'll find the polls there.
When I think of classic lines from Christmas movies, "Every time a bell
rings an angel gets his wings" isn't the first one that comes to mind.
And neither is "God bless us, every one." No, for me, the most
memorable line ever in a holiday movie is "You'll shoot your eye out,
kid!" from 1983's "A Christmas Story" -- novelist and screenwriter Jean
Shepherd's giddily cynical look at growing up in small-town Indiana in
the 1940s.
The
story line may not, at first blush, strike you as proper Christmas
movie fodder. It's all about a kid named Ralphie who passionately wants
to own... tin drum-roll, please... a Daisy Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine
Action BB gun. Oddly, everybody he talks to seems incapable of
discussing this potential possession without using those words, "shoot
your eye out." The world this film lives in no longer exists and that's
part of the reason it's so much fun to visit for a couple of hours.
This is truly the Little Engine That Could of holiday flicks. A
low-budget box-office flop featuring minor stars Peter Billingsley,
Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin, and directed by Bob Clark of
"Porky's" infamy, "A Christmas Story" began to pick up steam with
audiences when Ted Turner's WTBS began broadcasting it in the late
'80s. By the mid-'90s, Turner was airing 24-hour marathons of the film
on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The reason for the success? The
movie has an ear for how kids talk, and a heart for how they feel. It
manages to be nostalgic without being sentimental. And that's no mean
trick.
Our family tried to make "It's A
Wonderful Life" a Christmas tradition, but it never quite caught on.
Then, in 2003, writer Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral,"
"Bridget Jones's Diary") gave us the Christmas gift of "Love Actually"
as his directorial debut and it's been a once-a-year screening ever
since. The film is an ensemble romantic comedy set against the backdrop
of the holiday season and, by my count, there are over 20 main
characters and about nine separate romances. Some play out better than
others but, overall, it's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you
never know what you're going to get.
Hugh Grant is wonderful, as usual, playing the newly elected Prime
Minister of Britain who happens to fall for a crumpet working for the
household staff (played by Martine McCutcheon). He's as appealing as
ever and his story really is the spine of the piece, if you think about
it. But you never really have the time because there's so much going
on. My second favorite bit is with Bill Nighy who plays an
over-the-hill rocker who's just scored a big hit by putting an old rock
standard "Love Is All Around" to Christmas lyrics and knows it's not
his finest work.
It works as a Christmas movie,
though, because Christmas really is all around. It's in the presents
people buy each other in this film, in the songs they sing, in the
plays they attend. It's about people who realize how much they need
other people and, even though this message begins the movie as a 9/11
reference, it's clearly developed as a holiday theme. Some critics have
tried to slam this film as being too busy but that has never bothered
me on the repeated viewings. I love these characters and if I could buy
them all a present, I would. Instead, just vote for them in our poll
and I'll be happy.
"Bad Santa" follows hapless Santa Claus impersonator
Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and his elf impersonating sidekick Marcus
(Tony Cox). Every year the pair get hired at a new department store
only to rob the place blind after it closes on Christmas Eve. The scam
always goes off without a hitch, but this year things get a little
sticky. Willie's severe alcoholic indulgences are getting him into
more trouble than he can handle and store investigator Gin (Bernie Mac)
is hot on their trail. Also added to the mix is The Kid (Brett Kelly),
a young boy who befriends Willie and slowly manages to pull at his
heart strings.
When I first watched "Santa" a few years ago I could
not believe some of the things that came out of Thornton's mouth. I
certainly expected a bit of raunchiness, but this movie still managed
to surprise me with its verbal freedom. What I appreciated most was
that Thornton's Santa did not hold anything back -- characterizing, above
all, that Christmas is not always festive and cheerful. At some point
we have to recognize that it has become a colossal machine and the once
undulterated idea of Christmas is now buried somewhere between a stack
of Pokemon cards and a monogrammed money clip.
If you really think about it, Christmas is just
another day on the calendar. Just because it's the holiday season does
not mean that normal life is at standstill. That's where "Santa" steps
in. In my opinion this film details (in a rather exaggerated fashion)
that even though the holiday season is special and should be savored,
"raw" life continues to move forward. Even though that "raw" life
includes theft, gunshots, bullies, jail, sexual relations, and absent
fathers, "Santa" shows that everyone still has a motive and not
everything is picture perfect just because Santa Claus is coming to
town.
Though it has a tough exterior, "Santa" does manage
to expose its soft underbelly mostly via the relationship between
Willie and The Kid. What I truly love about "Santa" is that despite
it's very dark humor, the film still manages to teach a little lesson
at the end without making it an overly sappy encounter: Even the
biggest Scrooge has a heart that can be touched.
So if you want to forget about gifts and money for a
few hours and instead watch a Christmas flick that is not as much about
the fanciful idea of Christmas as it is about real people and their
relationships, then go out and rent "Bad Santa''... and don't forget to
give it a vote afterwards.
Ho...Ho...Horrors! I recommend this film unreservedly for all the contrary, hilarious impulses it throws at the holiday season. Hard luck cat burglar Gus (Denis Leary) decides to evade the cops on Christmas Eve night by abducting Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis). Really bad idea. Lloyd and Caroline won't stop arguing, even at gunpoint: Spiky, lacerating, unrelenting. "I hijacked my f*****g parents!" Gus sputters.
For Gus, it's all downhill. Every member of the dysfunctional family comes for dinner: Lloyd's mousy brother brings his smug wife Connie (Christine Baranski), their kids and the matriarch from hell, Rose Chasseur (Glynis Johns). Even Lloyd and Caroline's son sneaks in from military school. Gus cannot maintain the fiction he's the marriage counselor, Dr. Wong. Cut by cut the adults are emotionally filleted as the forced holiday gaiety is scraped away. All resent Rose and it's payback time for years of toxic maternal abuse. She's tied up when there's a knock on the door, and the in-laws lay it on: "Go on, Mary.. gag your grandma" Connie tells her daughter.
The Ref offers an upbeat ending that gives story balance and acknowledges the obvious: That few people have the Christmas you'll see in It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol or Gift of the Magi. Sharp dialogue and a superior cast give the movie its zing. Ted Demme directed the script from Marie Weiss and Richard LaGravenese. Above all, The Ref suggests we can use a dose of honesty and forgiveness. That may be the best Christmas present of all.
Up until I saw Christian Carion’s French film, "Joyeux Noel," two years ago, Bob Clark’s "A Christmas Story" was my favorite Christmas movie –- ever, as my five-year-old loves to say. I never tired of seeing it, sharing it with my kids, or warning them not to shoot their eyes out with a Red Ryder Rifle! "Joyeux Noel," however, has stayed with me and become my favorite Christmas film, even if it’s too rough in places to yet share with my kids. Its story is simple and based on a real event too impossible to believe yet too irresistible to ignore. The log line might read, "On Christmas Eve 1914, a German opera star and his lover sing Christmas carols on a World War I battlefield resulting in French, Scottish and German troops calling a brief truce to erect Christmas trees along their respective trenches and share a moment of solidarity and simple joy before continuing on with the task of killing one another.”
The fact that this is absolutely true and that the opera star and his beloved, also an opera star, choreographed the event so that they would have one night together before his possible death, is even more amazing. That such a sequence of events could actually transpire during the middle of a brutal and demoralizing battle is the key to the film’s success. Writer/director Carion overcomes any obvious sentimentality or emotional overload by assuring us that even in the darkest hour, our own human need for love will not only triumph, but become a respite from horror for all those close enough to bathe in its wonder.
Every Christmas film story strives to show the true meaning of Christmas. Usually that's the argument that man’s nature is ultimately noble and that we should love thy neighbor or something like that regardless of who controls our earthly fortunes -- Bush, Allah, Time-Warner or George Steinbrenner. What is miraculous to me about "Joyeux Noel" is that it really does this. And does it by recreating the most beautiful “concert” in the middle of a devastated battlefield splattered with corpses representative of all the living participants who are now listening, enrapt and in tears, on Christmas Eve. This scene enabled me to appreciate my own nature as a man (in the universal sense); that love and beauty, in this instance in the guise of sublime voices and music, can not only reverse the cruelty of man but also convert it to compassion. No other Christmas film that I have seen conveys that simple tome in such a magisterial and compelling way.
To add a coda, the next morning, Christmas Day, each of the combatants agree to delay the killing a bit longer to give the other time to pick up their dead and comfort one another in their loss. It’s a scene of overwhelming sadness because we know, within hours, the field will once again be littered with bodies. We know that soon Christmas and this miraculous event will be a footnote to history and things will return, again, to horrific normalcy because of “orders” from above. "Joyuex Noel" should be required viewing of all leaders of all countries that require the sacrifice of their peoples for the greater good. Perhaps they should all be reminded that the greater good is, ultimately, man (in the universal sense). For that reason, more than any other, "Joyeux Noel" is now my favorite Christmas film. And in a few years I will let my children experience it. And in the future, my hope is that they will share it with their children. And so it goes.
If you were alive during the 1990 Christmas movie season, you saw this family comedy without the family, maybe even a couple of times, and can probably still conjure up the image of 8-year-old Macaulay Culkin, as Kevin, with his hands to his face. Definitely an indelible image. Culkin was a break-out in this film, and he was never as good in anything since. His believable, smart-ass kid attitude is endearing to the max.
Chris Columbus directs from a John Hughes script that focuses on a picked-on youngest of five kid who, with his large family bustling and hustling to make a Christmas flight to Paris, ends up getting overlooked and left... home... alone. Although Kevin initially gets off on his time to himself with no adults to bug him, the story is really about him having to fight off the efforts of two house burglars by booby-trapping his home. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are the self-proclaimed "Wet Bandits" who think it'll be easy duty stealing from a house where the family's in Europe. The plot isn't really plausible and it does get taken over by stunts and special effects, but it doesn't really matter. This film also supplies some unexpected charm, like mom (Catherine O'Hara) flying stand-by economy to get home, ending up stranded outside of Chicago, and needing to hitch a ride with a polka band led by John Candy. Ask any parent who's seen this movie: we've all been there in spirit, if not in deed.
Christmas infuses the film with its music and imagery but that could be said of many lesser films and imitations. "Home Alone" is a great Christmas film because, in addition to getting the emotion right, it's also got the spirit of our times all through it. As a little girl asks in this film, "Does Santa Claus have to go through customs?" You wouldn't find her asking that in Bedford Falls.
Like a lot of Americans, Frank Capra had just returned from World War II and he wanted this picture (based on a story by Philip Van Doren Stern) to be a celebration of our country's ordinary citizens. It wasn't really all that successful at the time nor was it perceived as a "Christmas movie." That happened when it fell starting in the 1970s when PBS stations used it as counter-programming to big network Christmas specials and gathered steam when a clerical error allowed it to fall out of copyright in 1974.
The audience has grown over the years and many families make it an annual holiday viewing, something that Capra himself in 1984 called "the damndest thing." In the 80s, a colorized version was released which, ironically, had no problem being copyrighted by has been savaged by film critics although average viewers seem to not be so bothered by.
The film takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls shortly after World War II and stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose attempted suicide on Christmas Eve gains the attention of his guardian angel, Clarence who is sent to help him in his hour of need. Most of the film is told through flashbacks spanning George's entire life and narrated by Franklin and Joseph, unseen Angels who are preparing Clarence for his mission to save George. Through these flashbacks we see all the people whose lives have been touched by George and the difference he has made to the community in which he lives.
Jay Amicarella recommends "A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES"
Does your local newspaper publish a special "Holiday"
pull-out of "seasonal" films and TV specials each year? (Sorry, the
tough, protect-free-speech-at all-costs print industry can't publish
the word "Christmas" any more.) Flipping through the pages of listings
and reading the synopses is just one of many of the Christmas rituals
I've developed over the years. "A selfish ad executive learns the true
meaning of The Holidays..." "A selfish stockbroker learns the true
meaning of the The Holidays..." "A selfish serial-killer learns the
true meaning of The Holidays."
The only things worse are the bizarre,
creepy "Specials," obviously filmed in mid-June, with titles like "A
Sweeny Todd Country Christmas, On Ice!" "The cast of 'Todd' joins Tim
McGraw, Faith Hill, and David Copperfield at the Tonya Harding
Memorial Rink for a true Country Christmas." This is not the sort of
fare that will give you any comfort when you stumble home from
gift-shopping, exhausted and irritable and hating humanity, ready to
chuck December and move right on to New Year's Day.
What will offer
solace, and renew your faith in the basic goodness of people is the
film version of poet Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales," a
quiet treat starring Denholm Elliot as 'Old Geraint,' an aging Welshman
recalling for his grandson the warm delights of the Christmases of his
youth. Thomas' beautiful poetic imagery, perfectly voiced by Elliot,
and complemented by on-location filming in Wales and Canada, whisks you
away from email greetings and electronic cards to a quaint, bygone
world of mulled wine, hearth-roasted chestnuts, handmade ornaments, and
familial bliss.
At just around sixty minutes in length, this a perfect
family film, with none of the morbid, ghost-story trappings of "A
Christmas Carol," that I believe Dickens put in just to scare the crap
out of kids (It certainly did me, 'though I love four separate movie
versions of that story.) Troubled genius Thomas reminds us that
Christmas is not about neurotic adults, full of life regrets, but about
faith, family, and the uncomplicated joys of childhood. Whether it's
hurling snowballs at neighborhood cats, or pretending to smoke candy
cigarettes, or simply waking up in the morning to a world gone suddenly
white, "A Child's Christmas in Wales" encourages us to embrace the
simple joys of the season, as a child. And it employs the most perfect
use of one of my favorite hymns, "All Through the Night."
Christmas Night, when you're starting to languish
from the excesses of the day and the physical and emotional demands of
the season, is the perfect time to view this gem.
Randal Cohen recommends "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" (1984)
This Charles Dickens novella was first published in
1843. No other piece of literature better captures the pure spirit of
the holiday. Deeply emotional without being sentimental; deeply
spiritual without condesencion or preaching. Obviously, the tale is
part of our cultural lexicon and doesn't need much recitation beyond the obvious: this is the one where Scrooge gets visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future and gets in the spirit of things by the end.
This "A Christmas Carol" is my
favorite adaptation of a story that's been filmed many times over the years and is a tradition in our house. Released theatrically in the U.K. in 1984 and
first aired on CBS television on December 17, 1984, it features a tour
de force performance by the late, great George C. Scott who received
an Emmy nomination for his turn as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Truly, this film is a wonderfully instructive experience for
older children dulled by the commercialism of the holiday (it may
frighten the very young). Forget Tim Allen's shallow comedies, this is
the ultimate cinematic Christmas experience.
To give you some perspective as to how this story has stood the test of time, back in 1843, the man in the red suit we're so fond of was wearing green and going by the name Father Christmas. Back then, Dickens was also feuding with his publishers so the very first edition of the novella was self-published, complete with lavish binding and hand-colored illustrations. He priced it at five shillings so everybody could afford it. These days the technology has changed, but the story remains the same, and this is the version you should see during the holiday season.
The film expands a story that can be read in under three minutes into a ninety-nine-minute movie, while remaining true to the visual style of the original. The "Hot Chocolate" production number was derived from a single sentence and a single illustration. The "Hobo," "Lonely Boy," and "Know-it-All" characters, the scenes on rooftops and on the locomotive, and the runaway observation car sequence were all new to the film.
"The Polar Express" tells the story of a young boy on Christmas Eve who is hoping for belief in the true spirit of Christmas. After falling asleep, a magical train called the Polar Express pulls up in front of his house and he is invited to journey to the North Pole. After reaching the North Pole, the boy is handpicked by Santa Claus to receive the first present of Christmas. He chooses a bright silver bell from Santa's sleigh which makes a beautiful sound. As the years go by, people around him notice that they can no longer hear the beautiful sound, even his parents and sister. But there are those who still can, those who still truly believe.
I don't know if you'll believe after you see this, but you'll remember what it was like when you did.
The Decision. Now for a little audience participation. You'll find two separate polls below.
Poll #1 from Vizu puts our critics' choices up against each other to see which of our favorites gets the nod. You can only vote once, and for one movie.
Some of you, of course, demand more choice in your life. For you we have another option:
Poll #2 from Poll Daddy lets you vote for as many films
as you want and as many times as you wish. It also includes films that
aren't in our critics' picks. It's a good way to measure passion, we
figure...
Of course, we know there is absolutely zero scientific validity to either of these polls, but we never claimed to be the Gallup organization anyway. Both polls will stay open until Christmas Day. However, we'll have some of our respective critics weigh in individually with their reactions to the winning film or films the week before.
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