25 Days of Christmas Movies

By now most of you know that I love movies. I’ve written blogs about Spooky Movie Season 1 & Round 2 and about specific actors: Jim Carrey / Emma Stone / Adam Sandler, but I have yet to do a blog about Christmas movies. So here we go…

I somehow watched 25 movies during December for the 25 days of Christmas. This was much more difficult than my binge watching in the past, now that we have an active ten month old!

Here are the movies I watched in order of viewing with my suggestion to watch or skip.

December 1st - Spirited (Apple TV) - 2022

An original, musical take on the classic, A Christmas Carol. Will Ferrel (Ghost of Christmas Present) attempts to make a new redeemed man out of Ryan Reynolds (The Unredeemable). Worth a watch!

December 2nd - Surviving Christmas (Amazon) - 2004

Ben Afflek (rich man without family) wants to celebrate Christmas with a family after his girlfriend decides not to go with him to Fiji. He ends up at his childhood home, now occupied by James Gandolfini and Catherine O’Hara. Worth a watch!

December 3rd - A Charlie Brown Christmas (Apple TV) - 1965

A classic Charlie Brown film, but does it get better than the soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi? I’m not sure it does! Definitely watch!

December 4th - Christmas Do-Over (Amazon) - 2006

Groundhogs Day, Christmas style. Kevin (Jay Mohr) gets stuck with his ex-in laws who do not like him and gets to experience it over and over again thanks to his son Ben’s wish. Probably can skip this one.

December 5th - A Christmas Story (HBO) - 1983

You’ll shoot your eye out! Based around the child, Ralphie, who wants a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun for Christmas. Classic Christmas movie that plays for 24 hours every Christmas eve and Christmas day on TBS? No one has cable anymore though, so you’ll have to load it up on streaming or DVD. Worth a watch!

December 6th - A Christmas Story Christmas (HBO) - 2022

The sequal to A Christmas Story is….. not good! I guess it was maybe nostalgic for the original cast who fills out most of the cast in this one. You just feel bad for Ralphie and his buddies…they have not gone places in life. Skip this one!

December 7th - Klaus (Netflix) - 2019

The animated story about how Santa Claus came to be thanks to the need to deliver mail from one particular postman, Jesper, in the lonely town of Smeerensburg. I watched this on a plane and it was a good heartfelt film. Worth a watch!

December 8th - Gremlins (DVD) - 1984

Is this a Christmas movie? This Stephen King thriller is based around Christmas time and involves some Christmas tunes and decorations, so let’s count it! Follow the three rules and everything will be fine. Skip this one for the Christmas season, but add to spooky movie season.

December 9th - Jack Frost (HBO) - 1998

A boy’s father (Michael Keaton) who plays in the Jack Frost band, passes away and comes back as a snowman to be a better dad than he was when he was alive. I remembered this film being a decent movie growing up, but it is pretty corny watching in 2022. Skip this one.

December 10th - Falling For Christmas (Netflix) - 2022

New Lindsay Lohan movie, I would call it the 50 First Dates of the Christmas season. A very wealthy woman (Lohan) gets in a skiing accident and develops amnesia, ending up at an older lodge. Worth a watch!

December 11th - Jingle All The Way (DVD) - 1996

When two dad’s (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad) wait until the last minute to get the most sought over Christmas present of the year, Turbo Man, they have to go to great lengths to make it happen. I forgot how great this movie is. Definitely watch!

December 12th - A Bad Mom’s Christmas (DVD) - 2017

Mom’s are tired of doing everything for Christmas, so they are taking it back! Varying mom’s show their varying styles of how they do Christmas. Which Mom do you most identify with? Worth a watch!

December 13th - Holidate (netflix) - 2020

Being single during the holidays can be tough. Instead of being single, these two agree to be each other’s platonic dates all year long, only to fall for each other. Worth a watch!

December 14th - Love Hard (netflix) - 2021

Die Hard and Love Actually meet. Another fun new Christmas movie that involves a LA journalist being catfished by a less attractive nerdy guy. Will they end up together anyway!? Worth a watch!

December 15th - Santa Claus is Coming to Town (DVD) - 1970

Animated classic of how Santa came to be from the mailman’s perspective. Pretty old, so skip this one!

December 16th - How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (amazon) - 1966

The OG Grinch Stole Christmas. Not as good as I recall, but still a classic of the grumpy grinch who steals Christmas from the Whos. Worth the watch since it is so short.

December 17th - Home Alone (DVD) - 1990

Eight year old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) gets left home alone by his family and has to protect his home from two of the dumbest burglars around (Harry and Marv). So many classic lines and scenes. Definitely watch!

December 18th - Die Hard (DVD) - 1988

New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) ends up in the middle of a heist at his ex-wife’s Christmas Party in LA. The heist is led by none other than Hans Gruber, aka Snape (Alan Rickman). Definitely watch, but not with the family.

December 19th - Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (DVD) - 1992

Just one year later, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) gets left home alone, but this time in New York City. Just by chance, the same two burglars (Harry and Marv) cross paths with him. This is where the Home Alone series should have ended. Definitely watch!

December 20th - Miracle on 34th Street (DVD) - 1947

A friendly old man gets hired to play Santa Claus at Macy’s and ends up getting put on trial for his sanity when he continues to plead that he is the real Santa Claus. Will his lawyer get him off? Worth a watch!

December 21st - National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (DVD) - 1989

The Griswold family is back at it again, this time for a family Christmas celebration. Things most likely do not go smoothly which will bring the audience plenty of laughs. Worth a watch!

December 22nd - The Muppet Christmas Carol (DVD) - 1992

The Muppets bring their own rendition of the Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Worth a watch with the family!

December 23rd - The Polar Express (DVD) - 2004

One of my favorite Christmas films. A young boy, who has no name, jumps on a train in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, and goes on an adventure to find out if Santa is real and to regain his spirit in Christmas. Definitely watch!

December 24th - Elf (DVD) - 2003

Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad! The funniest Christmas movie around. Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrel) travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his real father, Walter Hobbs. His father is on the naughty list and in order to save Christmas, Buddy must get his biological family to have more Christmas spirit. A must watch!

December 25th - How The Grinch Stole Christmas (DVD) - 2000

The best version of The Grinch with my favorite actor from childhood, Jim Carrey. The Grinch plans to ruin Christmas for all the Whos in Whoville. A perfect Grinch performance by Carrey. Absolutely must watch!

And that concludes my 25 Days of Christmas movies. Which movies did I miss? Any new movies that you will now watch?

Happy watching and Merry Christmas!

Josh

My Favorite Childhood Comedy Actor

The list of 90s comedy actors is a damn good one, including the likes of Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Ben Stiller, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, & Robin Williams. But there is one actor who stood above the rest for me. Do you want to know who it is? Do ya? Do ya? Alrighttttyyyy thennnnn, it is the man of 1000 faces, the wild and energetic, Jim Carrey. During some time off in December, and the beginning of the New Year, I watched 19 of Carrey's movies. I thought it would be a cool idea if each month I watched a bunch of movies from a specific actor/actress/director and relived their glory days. This seemed like a great idea until realizing how long it takes to watch 10, even 5 movies. I probably went a little over the top with Jim, but he is my favorite. I won't have time to watch this many movies normally, so I think I may try to make this a quarterly event, or limit it to 4 movies per actor/actress.

Anyways, let's take a look at the 19 movies I watched and see if you recognize any of them, which I'm sure you will:

It is crazy to think that in 1994 Jim Carrey essentially launched his career with 3 top notch comedies: Ace Ventura Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb & Dumber. His career stayed steady with pretty great films through the 2000s including The Truman Show, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Bruce Almighty. Although his films have declined in quality over the past ten years or so, he has made a plethora of hilarious stuff over the last 25 years. 

I'm going to start off with a bold statement, but one thing I noticed in almost all of Jim Carrey's films is that there is always a woman with large breasts that are presented to their fullest. I am telling you, almost every single movie of his, especially when he started to get hot, includes some big jugs. Perhaps it was written into his contract that he had to work with a large breasted woman? Or maybe it was just the 90s? Go ahead and think about the films above and recall any and all of those scenes. I'll put this seen from Liar Liar here for ya as a starter.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way, let's move on to some of my favorites. Of all of the movies listed above, I think my favorite movie of Carrey's would have to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie (2004) is classified as a romantic science fiction comedy-drama in which Carrey plays a shy character named Joel Barish. The all-star cast also includes, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, and Tom Wilkinson. Now I don't like spoiling movies for people, so if you haven't seen it, here is the description, "When their relationship turns sour, a young couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories." Highly recommend!

Two movies of Carrey's that will always have a special place in my heart are The Mask and Ace Ventura. I must have watched each of these at least 30 times each growing up. Often quoting them, "No. It wasn't me. It was the one-armed man.," "If I'm not back in 5 minutes, just wait longer," and "Do NOT go in there! Woooweee!" Ah just hilarious classics. 

My least favorite movie out of the films would have to be Dumb & Dumber To. Coming out 20 years after the original, it was a sad, 2014, sequel that should never have been made. Although they are essentially acting the same as they do in Dumb & Dumber, it just isn't funny watching two full grown men be idiots. But I won't lie, I did chuckle a few times throughout the movie, regardless I highly don't recommend watching. Just watch the original again.

Jim's most recent movie, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, really shined a new light on his acting for me. It brought to the attention his work on the set of Man on the Moon and his work as a method actor. Carrey only uses method acting in a select few of his films, but when he does, he goes all in. In this documentary, he also drops some philosophical knowledge during his interviews. This movie is currently on Netflix, and if you are like me, and haven't seen Man on the Moon, don't worry, you don't need to. I highly recommend checking this out.

There are a few movies of Jim Carrey's that I don't own and have never seen. Man on the Moon, A Christmas Carol, Fun with Dick & Jane, I Love you Phillip Morris, A Series of Unfortunate Events, & Once Bitten. If I haven't listed any other classic Jim Carrey films, let me know what I am missing out on.

And before we close this out, let's not forget about Jim Carrey's hilarious skits on In Living Color. In Living Color was a comedy skit series similar to SNL, that was on Fox and lasted five seasons in the early 90s. Nolan introduced me to these during college. Here are two of my favorite skits from that show:

Rachel and I have some ideas for which actors/actresses to take a deep dive into next. This includes Emma Stone, Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Daniel Day Lewis or Will Ferrell. 

But I am curious who you think would be a good actor/actress, or maybe even director, to watch their films. Let me know!

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Happy movie watching

Josh