The Justin Newbould Memorial Christmas Chaos pre-thread

[Bustronaut]

What are the rules of Halloween Havoc, for those of us who find Horror mostly bland?

[Execproducer]

1 minute ago, Betsy Zeidler said:

What are the rules of Halloween Havoc, for those of us who find Horror mostly bland?

You pick a film and send it to me. Include a short explanation why. After all picks are in, you'll receive a randomly selected film to review. You'll submit your review to me and it will eventually appear in the review thread. For the Havoc, I generally posted them in the order received.

[Curt McGirt]

I searched through multiple Xmas movie lists and I keep coming back to the same bummer choices -- Silent Night Deadly Night, Black Christmas -- so to avoid someone ending up hating me I'm gonna sit this one out. My holiday spirit is just not sufficient. 

[odessasteps]

9 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I searched through multiple Xmas movie lists and I keep coming back to the same bummer choices -- Silent Night Deadly Night, Black Christmas -- so to avoid someone ending up hating me I'm gonna sit this one out. My holiday spirit is just not sufficient. 

Or you could try a new genre?

[Curt McGirt]

Sure, if you want to see Bad Santa or Christmas Vacation again. My Xmas film interest is a pretty small cul de sac. 

I did find out that Trancers is a Christmas movie, so if you really want a stretch, go for that. Female Trouble is a possibility too. 

[Raziel]

28 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Sure, if you want to see Bad Santa or Christmas Vacation again. My Xmas film interest is a pretty small cul de sac. 

I did find out that Trancers is a Christmas movie, so if you really want a stretch, go for that. Female Trouble is a possibility too. 

Shit, I haven't watched Trancers in forever.  And I watch Christmas Vacation every year, so that's not a negative.

[driver]

In like Flynn.

[Curt McGirt]

I watch both Vacation and Bad Santa this time of year every year. They're inevitable. I refuse to be force-fed Christmas Story, though, despite its quality. 

[Bustronaut]

A Christmas Story is manufactured nostalgia by Turner.  It worked so well that Disney is now doing it for Hocus Pocus.  It's despicable.

[S.K.o.S.]

I absolutely intend to pick a movie that is set at Christmas time but has little to do with the holiday.

[Raziel]

So Lethal Weapon?

[RIPPA]

14 minutes ago, Raziel said:

So Lethal Weapon?

I would prefer that to Die Hard (and I love Die Hard)

Heck - I almost want that now because boy do I want discuss how the dialogue in that so doesn't age well... well because Mel Gibson

[Travis Sheldon]

I'm in and I have something in mind that the reviewer will probably hate. 

[Raziel]

59 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I would prefer that to Die Hard (and I love Die Hard)

Heck - I almost want that now because boy do I want discuss how the dialogue in that so doesn't age well... well because Mel Gibson

You mean like the whole shooting range scene?

[AxB]

1 hour ago, Travis Sheldon said:

I'm in and I have something in mind that the reviewer will probably hate. 

Does it star Nicolas Cage?

[Brian Fowler]

10 hours ago, Execproducer said:

It is only 43 minutes. Gotta draw lines somewhere. I think anything feature length would be acceptable.

Just curious how you are defining feature length then. Because the Academy of Motion Arts and Pictures defines it as 40 minutes or longer.

I'm in but I'm not sure what I'm picking yet. 

[RIPPA]

58 minutes ago, Raziel said:

You mean like the whole shooting range scene?

The one I was thinking of is when talking to the kids before the house blows up

[Execproducer]

56 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Just curious how you are defining feature length then. Because the Academy of Motion Arts and Pictures defines it as 40 minutes or longer.

The shortest film to ever be nominated for Best Picture is She Done Him Wrong at 66 minutes. So lets call it the Mae West Rule.

[Execproducer]

Btw, Christmas docs are completely acceptable, as long as they are feature length. Feature length being defined by the Board of Directors of the Christmas Chaos Institute of Film Review as 66 minutes aka The Mae West Rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[odessasteps]

I had wondered about docs, but didn’t do any exploration of the idea.

[Execproducer]

Yeah, I sort of just now decided.

[OSJ]

10 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Sure, if you want to see Bad Santa or Christmas Vacation again. My Xmas film interest is a pretty small cul de sac. 

I did find out that Trancers is a Christmas movie, so if you really want a stretch, go for that. Female Trouble is a possibility too. 

You guys are sleeping on Static 

Yes, it's a Christmas movie; and you'll laugh and giggle and have your guts ripped out... Probably my favorite film ever.

[Curt McGirt]

Is that the 2012 movie?

[OSJ]

27 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Is that the 2012 movie?

No, sir! That is the 1985 movie with Amanda Plummer, Keith Gordon and Bob Gunton. I've probably seen it over 100 times and it just gets better every single time.

[J.T.]

14 hours ago, Raziel said:

So Lethal Weapon?

I totally forgot that Lethal Weapon is set during Christmas.  The three things I remember most were the unsettling torture scene, how scary Gary Busey looked with blonde hair, and that I had a gigantic crush on Rianne Murtaugh (Tracie Wolfe).

The one thing I forgot is that Shane Black wrote the script when he was an undergrad at UCLA.