comment #1

cinefan says ...

I think as far as Xmas movies that embody the giving spirit of the season, I would mention Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (I guess you could argue it's a thanksgiving and not xmas movie but it's still the holiday season). I love the scene at the end of the film where Steve Martin comes upon John Candy alone at the train station and invites him back to his house to spend time with his family. It gets me emotionally every time I see and shows just how strong a bond has developed between the two men over the course of the film.

comment #2

George Prager says ...

MIRACLE is great. Natalie Wood was the best child actor ever. And don't forget William Frawley.

WONDERFUL is hard to stomach, especially the first half. George Bailey is a pain in the ass. I prefer SNL's version:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mbSBqwM3_2c

comment #3

joncro says ...

I always found 'It's a Wonderful Life' to be a sort of twisted horror film. George has all his hopes and aspirations beaten out of him and at the end comes to accept what he always felt was 'second best' and average.

comment #4

rocco says ...

I'm whichoo on '...Wonderful Life'...it's hardly a christmas movie to begin with.

I know a lot of people despise Christmas but I believe the hostility is misdirected...Christmas is not the cause but a victim of commercialism...at its core it is a special, memorable time of year that generally brings out the most generosity in people and I can think of no other time of year that conjures so many tearful but happy memories.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see Wells nail the beauty and essence of Christmas in his opening graph.

comment #5

p.Vice says ...

Requiem for a Dream pretty much sums up the Holiday season for me.

comment #6

Movie fan09 says ...

've always hated Bob Clark's A Christmas Story.

thank god.
i thought i was the only one.
maybe it's the way it's shot..but it just seems so forced.

comment #7

Reedyb says ...

I guess this is on par, since the rumor was the Steven Spielberg used to screen "It's a Wonderful Life" before each movie he shot so the cast and crew could see what a perfect movie was.

IAWL moves like a speed train. Yes, it's overly sentimental, especially given all the horrendous remakes (Marlo Thomas/Orson Welles, anyone?) but this is an excellent, excellent movie.

So many great set pieces. I'm thinking your heart may be three sizes too small.

comment #8

Scott Feinberg says ...

My God, is nothing sacred? I can accept someone not LOVING It's a Wonderful Life, but DISLIKING it? Jeez...
If you're looking for a great Christmas-themed alternative, check out the magnificent "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940) with Jimmy Stewart (yes, him again, 6 years before "IAWL") and Margaret Sullavan, as well as a magnificent supporting performance by Oscar winner Joseph Schildkraut.

comment #9

jbf81 says ...

I know a lot of people despise Christmas but I believe the hostility is misdirected...Christmas is not the cause but a victim of commercialism...at its core it is a special, memorable time of year that generally brings out the most generosity in people and I can think of no other time of year that conjures so many tearful but happy memories.

====================================================================================

I grow up in a relatively poor family and a very religious one, everybody only received ONE present, so for me it always was about family, party and celebration. The entire family would go to my aunts house after the Mass and have the best dinner ever. Only when I grow up is that I realized that for some people Christmas is synonymous of capitalism and money, I found out that some kids get 8, 9 even 10 presents from their parents and think that Santa is the symbol of Christmas. For me that was unreal. I felt genuinely surprised; I thought that everybody loved Christmas.

comment #10

Wrecktum says ...

"It's a Wonderful Life's popularity is due to its touching central theme"

No, the popularity of It's a Wonderful Life is due to the fact that for years it was believed to be in the popular domain due to rights issues and, consequently, it was shown by every TV channel every year for decades.

comment #11

Larry says ...

IAWL is a great film. Tremendously entertaining and surprisingly dark. Jimmy Stewart's best performance, too. Certainly better than that overrated piece of crap Grapes Of Wrath. Watching those silly character who are all types, not humans, put through through their paces by Ford in a tiresome, overdone style makes want to give up on movies.

comment #12

RoyBatty says ...

At some point back in the late 80's it became the de rigueur thing among those who think of themselves as too-hip-for-the-room and cynical snarkwads to hate on Frank Capra's little gem. Luckily, I'm not one. I didn't discover the film until film school (the benefit of coming from a 4 television station town that didn't run it ad nauseam)

There's just so many great little unexpected touches (like watching young Mary wince every time time the chemist slaps the every living shit out of young George).

What kills me is when people rip into this film for being unrealistic and sentimental, yet are willing to overlook the same transgressions in something like 3:10 TO YUMA (magical train-following horse anyone?).

There's also a delicious irony in the fact the biggest reason so many seem to hate on it and A CHRISTMAS STORY was the frequency they were shown on television, which seems pretty weak-minded.

Also love the energy those who hate it expend trying to convince those that don't that we're wrong/saps/what-have-you. I certainly don't spend the same trying to convince them. I understand that some people can't handle the sentimentality and corn.

I say, their loss. I have one more thing I get to enjoy each holiday season along with homemade cookies, Dutch bread and breasts in tight sweaters. They have just their bile. Have fun with that.

comment #13

christian says ...

Well Jeff, there's always BLACK CHRISTMAS.

comment #14

Dirty Harry says ...

Movies are best when they're not about the way things are, but rather the way we'd like or wish them to be.

Saw WONDERFUL LIFE at the Egyptian last night and after at least twenty viewings it still hits me square in the heart, mostly for the reasons Wells dislikes it so.

And I totally buy the bank examiner getting caught up in the spirit of that living room. This was a man with a tough job, who needed to be tough, but also wanted to get home to his family that evening. The heart was established and when give the opportunity to blossom, did. It's a lovely little character arc.

The Egyptian was half-filled, mostly with families, but also, curously enough, squads of teenagers. The place was dead quiet with rapt attention throughout except for the sniffles and applause at the end.

In a hundred years the exact same thing will be happening long after ZODIAC is long-forgotten.

LIFE is one classic, iconic scene after another. A stunning achievement by all involved.

comment #15

vansmith says ...

dirty harry are you kidding me? you sat in a theater on a sat night and watched IAWL, tell me you had some kids with you..please...

comment #16

Joe Leydon says ...

You Wonderful Life haters who dis Frank Capra as sappily sentimental -- you do know that Capra was one of John Cassavetes' favorite filmmakers, right

comment #17

jeffmcm says ...

It's a Wonderful Life is a great film, surely Capra's best.

Freaks is also a great film, but I have never associated it with 'genuine humanitarian compassion'. I mean, a major point of the movie is to let the audience gawp at the freaks. They turn into vengeful monsters crawling through the mud at the end. I can't be the only one whose mind was blown by Wells's suggestion, right?

comment #18

MickTravis says ...

I have a distinct memory of seeing both "Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story" for the first time when I was young. Seen untainted by repeat viewings and familiarity, they're great movies.

But my two most favorite Christmas movies will always be...

"Die Hard."

And "Diner."

comment #19

Dirty Harry says ...

Vansmith: Just me and the Misses. And we were far from the only adults there w/o kids, not that I'd give a whit were it otherwise.

After was THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER -- a little Lubitsch hokum. (I once saw a cage-match where hokum was double-teamed by edgy and irony, and hokum whipped edgy and irony's ass).

And friday I'll be at the Aero for a double-feature of CHRISTMAS STORY and CHRISTMAS VACATION.

Counting. The. Days.

comment #20

George Prager says ...

IAWL continued the strange "old movie" custom of having a young child's father played by a Very Old Man, in this case, Samuel S. Hinds, who was born in 1875(!) playing 12 year-old Harry's dad. He was too old to play the part in 1919 much less 1946. And while watching the movie, you marvel at all of the celibate peasant grown-up nobodies who populate Harry's world, from Uncle Billy to Ernie the cabbie to Ward Bond to his Guardian Angel. And it's a good thing that Harry was born because it means that Mary Hatch didn't die a virgin librarian.

comment #21

George Prager says ...

I do like Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. I'd love to see Frank Perry's Christmas Memory. Capra's POCKETFULL OF MIRACLES was a childhood favorite, hard to stomach now, but still entertaining (though it's about 5 hours long). My favorite day-after-Thanksgiving movie is THE DAYTRIPPERS.

comment #22

giantman says ...

I saw IAWL once, yes just once, when I was much, much younger and I have pleasant memories of it. I have avoided seeing it again since then. Some things are best when taken in very small doses. My memory of the movie is probably a million times better than the actual movie, and that's probably the best way to keep it.

comment #23

Noah says ...

I count It's a Wonderful Life as one of my ten favorite movies, where it sits comfortably next to films like A Clockwork Orange, Blue Velvet and the 400 Blows. It's okay to enjoy a sentimental film once in a while and I find it pretty strange to get caught up in the "realism" of a film in which we buy that an angel shows Jimmy Stewart what the world would be like without him. If you can buy into that central conceit (which I certainly did), then you should be able to buy that the bank examiner would show a little compassion. Surely, it's not as much of a stretch as Clarence the angel.

The Freaks reference is indeed very strange. I can get behind the idea that it is about all of us being freaks either inwardly or outwardly, but to say it is a film about genuine human compassion is a very odd way to look at a film that spends two minutes watch the "human torso" light a cigarette. I mean, that scene is there just for us to marvel at the man's ability to do it.

comment #24

GKLondon says ...

"It's a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Story","Die Hard", Christmas classics one and all, but for my money, and I've only a modicum of shame in saying it (I am 30 after all), but ELF gets my vote for preferred Christmas film this year. Will Ferrell man-child is a perfect Christmas creation.

comment #25

Walter Sobchak says ...

To me the perfect Christmas movie is....... ZODIAC!
-Jeffrey Wells

comment #26

PerfectTommy says ...

I'd also put IAWL in my top ten favorite films. I think it may be Stewart's greatest performance. His frustration is so vivid. My wife and I love to quote his "You call this a happy family? Why do we have to have all these kids?" The redemption in the film is hard earned and real. Capra's masterpiece.

comment #27

PerfectTommy says ...

George - "And while watching the movie, you marvel at all of the celibate peasant grown-up nobodies who populate Harry's world, from Uncle Billy to Ernie the cabbie to Ward Bond to his Guardian Angel."
C'mon, we all know about Bert and Ernie. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

comment #28

George Prager says ...

"You Wonderful Life haters who dis Frank Capra as sappily sentimental -- you do know that Capra was one of John Cassavetes' favorite filmmakers, right"

Most of Cassavetes' movies are sappy, think MINNIE AND MOSCOWITZ, HUSBANDS. And Cassavetes is the one who told Scorcese that his unwatchable WHO'S THAT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR was better than CITIZEN KANE "because it has more heart."

"C'mon, we all know about Bert and Ernie. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

And Darla Hood's father.

comment #29

Ju-osh says ...

For a different version of what would've happened had Jimmy jumped, watch Lang's The Big Heat. You'll get to see hooker with a heart of gold, Gloria Grahame's, grim fate!

Oh, and while we're listing great Xmas movies, what about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?

comment #30

PerfectTommy says ...

Watched a John Cusack double feature this week - "Better Off Dead" picked by the kids, and finally got around to "The Ice Harvest" for the first time (the kids didn't watch that one) and was surprised to find they were both Christmas films.

comment #31

christian says ...

Top Xmas Films Of All Time:

DIE HARD
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
NIGHT SHIFT
CHRISTMAS STORY
BLACK CHRISTMAS
FEMALE TROUBLE

comment #32

MovieBob says ...

The thing with IAWL and all "perennial" seasonal films is, you have to seperate the MOVIE itself from the sentiment and pretense that gets associated with them. Everyone knows IAWL by heart and knows that it's going to end up alright, so it gets to be a "heartwarming" movie, but taken on it's own merits it's a really dark little movie: We watch a guy go through a "life sucks" montage of crushed dreams until he tries to kill himself, THEN we detour into a nightmare alternate-universe for Act 2, and only AFTER that do we get a happy ending - which at that point is surely earned.

comment #33

carla kolchak says ...

jeffmcm: Nope.