h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Rocky"
"The Big Chill" [You can't always get what you want
]
"Scent of a woman"
"Grumpy old men"
"You'be got mail"
"Funny people"

[lest I be a cause of topic drift, let me say that some of these movies also have Christmas scenes. Unless you want to think of "festive" as an adjective that applies to Thanksgiving as well as Christmas...]

I must admit that I consider Thanksgiving to be foreign rather than festive, but that's okay as I know you'd consider Bonfire Night foreign, c'est la vie. Yet the question was 'what is your favourite festive film?' so if you consider Thanksgiving to be festive and 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' etc to be one of your favourite films, then why not?

Yesterday's film was 'Santa Who?' starring Leslie Neilson as .
Santa Who? raises the question, who is your favourite film Father Christmas? Tim Allen? Richard Attenborough? Mel Smith? And which actor do you think should play him? Would John Goodman look good in red? Personally I think Brian Blessed. No-one else on could ever 'Ho Ho Ho!' like Brian Blessed.

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Even with Google, Brian Blessed means nothing to me . . . That Atlantic Sea is a big divide in many ways.

I know him from a few things, but I went out of my way to watch British shows like Blackadder.

http://youtu.be/L1zjeYhJs7o

I love Brian Blessed .... but Santa?? Hmmmm ... maybe not

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBhPDxszukU&list=RDL1zjeYhJs7o&index=11

WARNING: Video is not suitable for work!

Gordon's Alive, you've never heard of Brian Blessed? Or indeed, never heard him, even from across the Atlantic – he's the loudest man who ever lived. He's always laughing in interviews and as he grows older, with his big, bushy beard he's looking more like every day.

Anyway, as my wife spent yesterday evening filling in application forms I thought I'd use the opportunity to watch 'Batman Returns' for the first time in a few years, to better see how Christmassy it is.
First line: 'Merry Christmas'
Last line: 'Merry Christmas Alfred, and good will to all men – and women.'
Gotham has two official light switch on ceremonies, Bruce Wayne has his own which Alfred decorates. There is mistletoe, which Batman and Catwoman and later Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle kiss beneath. There's a street corner , who admittedly is assaulted by an evil gang of circus clowns and lots of people are going Christmas shopping. Just as lives in the North Pole, the Penguin lives in Arcticworld in an abandoned zoo.
If you're looking for more Bible allegories, admittedly the beginning sequence in which Penguin is abandoned in a river leading to the zoo's sewer is very Old Testament, as is his initial plan to kill all Gotham's first born sons (although not dissimilar to how Herod killed all boys in the Bethlehem area) which he later amends to killing everyone. Just as Jesus was born surrounded by animals in a stable, Penguin too grew up, surrounded by animals (in this case penguins) in an abandoned zoo.
The soundtrack is by Danny Elfman who also scored Christmas films 'Scrooged', 'Edward Scissorhands' and especially 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', with which it shares several similarities. Besides which, how more Christmassy can music be than if it is by an Elf man?

So on the whole I'm leaning towards thinking that 'Batman Returns' is definitely quite a Christmas film.

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'Batsman Returns' might be a nice Christmas movie. The plot centres around a young cricketer who is dropped from the national team after assaulting someone in a drunken nightclub brawl, and his struggle to be readmitted. In the fantasy ending, he joins a beleaguered team, 2-0 down in the series, but his stunning individual displays see England win the Ashes 3-2.

I've seen Brian Blessed in seven movies
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000306/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

He does't make many movies, though. He mostly does TV shows or videos. And, yes,. he has played Santa

If you were to include any movie in which there is occurrence of Christmas, then the field is wide open....

ones that come to mind are Bridget Jones, Carol, Railway Children, Toy Story - but I don't think I'd call those festive in the spirit of the original question!

Well, they would be festive enough if they were among your favorite movies. But there are obviously a good number of clearly festive films to choose from, so let's keep happy thoughts.

On Friday night we watched the original 'The Miracle on 34th Street' – the film begins with a Christmas parade on Thanksgiving so I'm happy to agree that Thanksgiving can be considered festive.

I found it quite funny how even in the late 1940s, an era of austerity and rationing, they were discussing how Christmas was becoming over commercialised. Some things never change.

Apparently the film was released in Spring, so the original film posters only show the romantic couple, while of course today the film is promoted with pictures of and the tragic Natalie Wood.

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Here's a somewhat relevant XKCD regarding Christmas songs and how, at least in the US, we try to recreate the childhood memories of Baby Boomers.


http://xkcd.com/988/


BTW, I hate every song on that list.
The ubiquity of "traditional" Christmas music for two months of the year triggers crippling musicosis (earworms) in me.

I'd say in the UK we're dominated by 1970s & 1980s Christmas songs:
'Happy Xmas (War is Over)' (1972)
'Merry Xmas Everybody' (1973)
'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' (1973)
'I Believe in Father Christmas' (1975)
'Wonderful Christmastime' (1979)
'Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord' (1981)
'Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy' (1982)
'Stop the Cavalry' (1982)
'Walking in the Air' (1982)
'Do They Know It's Christmas?' (1984 &c)
'Last Christmas' (1984)
'Merry Christmas Everyone' (1985)
'The Fairytale of New York' (1987)
'Mistletoe and Wine' (1988)
'Saviour's Day' (1990)

Although that said, they no longer play 'Another Rock and Roll Christmas' (1984)

Saturday I saw two films. During the day I watched Aardman's 'Arthur Christmas' with the family. This is about an elderly thinking of retiring, with his elder son Steve wanting the job. But when a is accidentally left behind, his younger son, Arthur, along with Grandsanta travel all across the to ensure it is given to the girl.

In the evening I watched 'Elf' while my wife continued working on her job application. Neither I nor my wife are fans of Will Ferrell or his ilk, but I think he played his character in 'Elf' perfectly to make one of the best festive films this century. My wife can't stand it, though.

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A Fairy Tale of New York is one of my favorites. I'm not sure if I'm familiar with any of the others.


Here's another of my favorites that probably isn't well known in the UK or even in many parts of the US outside of Texas. Heck, I first heard it only a couple of years ago on my way to Austin to escape the Christmas/birthday blues.

Robert Earl Keane's Christmas From the Family.

http://youtu.be/P37xPiRz1sg

here's what I think of two of those songs:

Sleighbells roasting on an open fire.
Jack Daniels nipping at your nose.
Yuletide carols being sung flat y a choir,
And folks who eat like eskimos.

It's the most perilous time of the year,
When there's ice and there's snow,
And your car will not go.
Soon big bills will appear.
it's the most perilous time of the year.

Enough said?

Perhaps we should have a Christmas Carol and song discussion conversation too?

Sunday afternoon I watched 'The Grinch' with the children, which they both really enjoyed and then in the evening it was part one of 'Hogfather'.

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Which Grinch?

The Jim Carey Grinch.

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Course, in the UK 'Rocking Around the Christmas Tree' does get played a lot, but predominantly the more popular 1987 Mel & Kim version, released for Comic Relief: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdnaPAJgAQI

Anyway, today's film was the Christmas classic 'It's a Wonderful Life'. A true classic showing how everyone's life affects those around them. Now I get that if George Bailey had never been born there wouldn't have been a force for good in Bedford Falls and as Potter would have owned everything, the town would have become Pottersville and full of dives, drunks and George wouldn't have helped his friend the taxi driver have a good home or live happily with his wife. What I don't get is how, if George hadn't been born, Mary's eyesight would be affected, nor how, without George, it would snow.

Would it hurt most to know that if you hadn't been born, your wife would have become:
a.) An old maid librarian who now requires glasses, or
b.) A millionaire's wife married to your wealthy industrialist friend (or potentially a millionaire in her own right).

It seems a little judgemental that the worst thing that could happen to a woman is for her to become an old maid librarian, but that's a minor quibble in what is an almost flawless masterpiece.

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