Christmas movie redux:

Starring: Gremlins, Scrooges, Rudolphs and Burgers

Hello faithful readers!

I am so happy I got the chance to share a really fun Christmas-themed Q and A about holiday-themed movies with Boston film critic Ty Burr last week.

If you missed it, it’s worth a read, so click here!

Also make sure to check out the Departments this week, where my faithful contributors each put their unexpected spin on the Christmas media landscape.

As always seems to happen whenever I am inspired to make a list: After the list has been made and checked twice, another item that should have been on the list seems to bubble up. And so, I’ll just add one more Christmas favorite to my overstuffed holiday stocking:

The Shop Around the Corner:

As an actor, Jimmy Stewart has a way of paying attention that is so authentic it is almost unnerving. Take the famous telephone scene from It’s a Wonderful Life.

And now watch him in this scene from The Shop Around the Corner, one of the sweetest and most charming Christmas movies I am proud to love. He towers over lovely Margaret Sullavan, and yet he never dominates her. These two actors do the most wonderful dance — it is gentle, sweet, and funny.

Margaret Sullavan’s performance in this movie is so perfect; she braids comedy and pathos together so beautifully. Her character is inspired to be emotionally brave, and her vulnerability is almost painful to watch, even when you know that the story ends happily.

[Anyone familiar with this actor’s life story finds it even more painful and poignant, because you know how her story ends.]

(And a note here about voice: I have never heard a voice like Margaret Sullavan’s: it is both husky and soft, and I find it mesmerizing):

Departments

Railey Savage’s "Junk Food: Stuff I consume to feel better”:

The Mogwai Variant.

Railey writes:

“The movie that best captures the complicated emotions surrounding Xmas is - in my haughty humble opinion - Gremlins. There’s snow, and carols, and Santa hats, and cookies, all of which ultimately take a backseat to unfolding disasters, and latent trauma.

As the titular creatures wreak havoc on the teeny-tiny snowglobe of a town, our main characters each get a moment of reflection, of reckoning. We learn of deaths, desertions and disappointments that each character has masked under a pastiche of loud sweaters and prescribed holiday fare; just like Gizmo they each have a darker side that is barely kept in check. The holiday veneer becomes grotesque as even their thinly-veiled issues must take a backseat to the literal invasion of deadly organisms outside their doors.

Which brings me to Xmas 2021.

The holidays are tricky anyway for me as I think about those who are no longer here. But this year (kind of like last year) I’ll be remembering my people and trying to keep my chin up — apart from my family. My gorgeous boyfriend and I have determined it is not prudent, nor safe, to expose our respective families to anything outside their biomes—we’re vaxxed and masked, but Omicron don’t care—so we’ll be staying put in our stupid little house. So this year I’ll be missing the folks who are gone, as well as those I’m glad are still around.  

The scary, tricksy Gremlins that beset the little Xmas town had one agenda, two action items: 1. Multiply. 2. Mayhem. I am predisposed to being super cautious, and have seen enough movies to know that there is no amount of fake snow, dubbed caroling, or bad dialogue that will trump a bad decision in the face of catastrophe. So even though I’ll be missing just about everyone this weekend, I’d rather stay put and hunker, than risk missing even more folks next year.  

Happy Holidays, all. Here’s hoping 2022 is less dumb. 

Railey Jane Savage is the author of A Century of Swindles, now available from Lyons Press

Laura Likes: Where my friend Laura Recommends great stuff:

Laura writes:

“Like Amy, I’d say that my favorite Christmas-adjacent movie is also probably "Desk Set," but my favorite scene in a Christmas movie is this one from Richard Donner's 1988 version of "A Christmas Carol," "Scrooged."  Seeing Bill Murray deliver these few lines absolutely wrecks me. There's something about his voice breaking a bit where he's talking about "I believe it's gonna happen to me now! I'm ready for it. And...it's great. It's a good feeling. It's really better than I've felt in a long time."   

Now, I know that Bill Murray was notoriously not thrilled with how Richard Donner worked and with some of the production choices during this movie, but this particular monologue just really works for me -- that almost manic energy he puts out as he realizes that it is possible to change --  and I really buy this as a viewer, no matter what the reality of the situation was. It's just a really nice bit of acting. I have watched this scene probably 50 times, and I buy into it every. single. time.  It is possible that I cry a little. 

While on the subject of "Scrooged," I highly recommend adding the delightful Al Green/Annie Lennox cover version of Jackie DeShannon's "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" to your holiday playlists. People who haven't seen the movie might be perplexed, as it's not specifically a Christmas song, but it's on-theme and a sparkly sort of Christmas-y version is used for the ending of the film, and it fits so well that I always think of it at this time of year. Plus, hey, you really can't go far wrong with that super-80s David A. Stewart production. 

And since I always try to end these up with a practical recommendation: I store our Christmas ornaments in plain old reusable plastic storage tubs that I have filled with disposable plastic drinking cups.

Pop an ornament in a cup, put the cup in the tub. They won't get broken, they'll be safe for another year, and it makes it easy to consolidate a bunch of fragile things that can be a source of frustration at the end of the festivities.

Oh, and don't sleep on fruitcake...really good fruitcake is a wonderful thing. Don't believe the fruitcake-hater hype. Tune in this time next year for a recipe. I hope you have a warm and wonderful holiday! 

[follow Laura’s hilarious, trenchant, and popular Twitter feed this year! @prairielaura]

EMILY MASON’S Targeted Upsell: What the Internet wants me to buy

Emily writes:

“In my opinion, as a professional consumer of things and stuff, there is absolutely nothing better than a great Christmas episode of TV.

The flipside of that is… there is nothing worse than a bad Christmas episode of TV. And there’s a lot of bad out there. Here’s one you should miss, followed by one you should actively seek out.

Must-Miss:

A few years ago my friends and I caught an airing of the Christmas “classic” Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on TV. As fans of this classic from our own childhoods, we were excited to watch. We armed ourselves with Christmas cookies and good feelings.

(Awww, how cute, it’s Hermey and Rudolph! That feeling lasted for five seconds.)

55 minutes later we had learned a hard truth: This heartwarming Christmas classic is…awful. Like, so awful — the only thing that rendered it watchable were the cookies. And an aggressive drinking game. 

Not only does it have no discernible plot, this TV classic isn't heartwarming at all. We were struck dumb by the ableism, the casual cruelty of residents of Santa’s village toward anyone that was slightly different, and the rampant misogyny.

The one thing that renders it not a complete waste of time is Sam the Snowman, the narrator and troubadour, voiced by Burl Ives.

(Burl, I hope they backed a truck of money up for you)

So, play the soundtrack (available wherever fine music is found) and skip the special because it will destroy (DE.STROY) your childhood.

Must-watch: Bob’s Burgers, the cartoon about a family running a burger restaurant, is a great show to begin with, but their Christmas Specials are what the Rockettes claim to be: spectacular. 

(The Belchers clockwise from top left: Linda, Bob, Louise, Gene, and Tina.)

The series creators have found a way to capture the absurdity of mundane everyday life and make it hilarious, while still feeling grounded. So really, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that their Christmas episodes take everything that’s weird, annoying, and stressful about the holiday season and make it into a half-hour episode of holiday gold. 

There are currently ten Christmas episodes, and they’re all great, but my enduring favorite is “Christmas in the Car.” An overeager Linda gets a Christmas tree too early, so when it dies on Christmas Eve, the Belchers go on a mission to find a new one. Chaos ensues, including awkward stops at diners, a Duel-style altercation with a truck shaped like a candy cane, a nativity made out of car trash, and a Home Alone-style plot by the kids to capture Santa. 

(Much like Gene Belcher, I really want to lick the truck.)

This episode is such a holiday staple in my house, it has sparked a joke about Dutch Babies (which I won’t tell; I know I'm the only one that thinks it’s funny). Do yourself a favor and check the Belchers out this Christmas, you will leave this episode with your faith in humanity— and good comedy— restored.

Dear Readers: As always — if you like what we’re doing, shoot us a “heart” and a comment below.

I hope everyone receives the holiday they want to have.

Love,

Amy