solace in cinema : A vast wasteland of movies

Ok so maybe i've left this a bit late but if it isn't New Year yet and i'm not back at work then it's still christmas to me. Anyway, let's run down from 5 to 1 and see where we get to.

5. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Back when Chevy Chase was still funny, slightly perma-tanned and still had most of his hair he brought us this gem. By far the best 'vacation' movie, and probably the best Chevy Chase movie that there ever was (Caddyshack comes a close second for me, but he's not in it enough for it to compete… "I was born to love you..I was born to lick your face, …I was born to rub you, …but you were born to rub me first"). It's all the good things, and all the bad things about christmas encapsulated in one movie; relatives, food and drink, overeager parents, decorations, and wok-sledging (i've never done this, but it looks like a lot of fun).

Check out the trailer here 

 

4. Gremlins

I know for a lot of people this should be higher on the list, and for those that were children in the 80's, Gremlins was a big part of their childhood, well, Gremlins and Phoebe Cates. For me, Gremlins was one of the first horror films I ever saw (yeah I class it as a horror film, it's mild but gremlins still scared the shit out of me) back to back with 'Piranha', both on VHS at my cousins house. A beautiful memory.

Gremlins is a good christmas movie because it's the perfect 'great present gone wrong' movie, an almost allegorical tale for all the parents that buy their kids pets for christmas. The film was so popular when it was released at Christmas 1984 they re-released it at Christmas 1985 hence the "we're back" tagline on the poster.

Check out the Gremlins trailer here 

 

3. Home Alone

Certainly the best thing Chris Columbus has ever directed (yes, MUCH better than the first two sucky Potter films) and near to the top of the list for writing credits for John Hughes. I think it's the mix of humour (hard to remember when Culkin was funny and not just annoying. See also 'Uncle Buck'), home-made contraption-sadism, stupid criminals, John Candy cameo and white-picket fence suburbia that enamours 'Home Alone' to me.

It get's a bit schmaltzy at times but sometimes you need a bit of schmaltz to get you through christmas, and it still stands head and shoulders above the inferior sequels. One of the big things I love about Home Alone is that it's pretty universal, I can sit there with my entire family, young cousins aged 5 and 6 right up to grandparents at 80+ and they'll all enjoy the film.

Check out the trailer here 

 

2. Trading Places

While it never plays off the Christmas angle, 'Trading Places' is set over the christmas period (see above for drunk Akroyd-bum-santa eating stolen salmon.. nice) and New Year, but perhaps it's just whenever I see it, It's Christmas time.

I can't say a bad word against it, Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd at the top of their game, a great supporting cast in Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm Elliot, Randolph and Mortimer as the 'Dukes' and even a great little turn from Paul Gleason as 'Beeks'.. utterer of the line "Back off! Or I'll rip out your eyes and piss on your brain". That always warms my soul.

I can't find the trailer, but check out 'Beef Jerky time' instead

 

1. Die Hard 

Yes an obvious choice really, but for me you can't beat the 'Die Hard' christmas message; Terrorists - Bad, New York cops in dirty vests - good. It's something we can all identify with.

There's really not enough christmas action movies, but maybe its because 'Die Hard' set the bar so high, everyone has given up trying. Mctiernan was responsible for two of the most perfect action films of the 1980's, this and Predator, and between him and James Cameron's output at the time the action genre was in it's prime.

Bruce Willis was plucked from obscurity (well…'moonlighting', that's the same thing in my book) and plays the dry New Yorker who suddenly has to take down terrorists and crawl around air ducts. Hans Gruber is a brilliant villain 'Now I have a machine gun.. ho..ho..ho" and the perfect nemisis to Willis. I think it was one of the first films where the hero seems vulnerable, scrabbling around air ducts and nearly killing himself on more than one occasion. Die Hard is the best.

The ultimate combo is sitting down to watch Die Hard, eating a leftover turkey Sandwich, then popping on Die Hard 2. For me, that's a good day. In fact.. I might go and do it now.

Check out the gruff voice-overed trailer here 

 

Oh and in case you missed it, here's the rundown from 10 to 6 

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