Favorite Holiday Films

Hey guys, this is Rob Paulsen and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to episode 231 of The Cinema Geeks. I am one

of your Cinema Geeks optimists solo and joining

me today as usual is the Comic Con seers. Hello

Dan. Hey, how's it going? is going well. We are

knee deep into the holiday season here in 2025,

just to super date the podcast as much as I can.

But it makes sense since the topic today, we're

gonna do a little bit different here. We've been

covering... Lot of films in series. We did our

Hitchcock series. We did our Cary Grant series,

which if you didn't Listen to the episode yet

the last episode we could did our rat party for

the Cary Grant retrospective so we have a little

bit of Time between the this last retrospective

and what we may do in the new year So we decided

to throw a special holiday themed episode at

you Dan and I are gonna be counting down our

favorite top five holiday films, as well as maybe

some honorable mention talk or some, uh, peripheral.

Like holiday films that we may talk about in

closing, at least I will. And as well as I don't

know, I have a couple of things that I used to

always watch as a kid. They wouldn't make my

top five necessarily. But when I think of this

time of year, I think of of these couple of things,

whether it be something school related or family

related that we we tended to watch. So I'm going

to throw some of that into the the closing discussion

as well. So, Dan, what's before we get into the

actual top five? Like, what's your take on holiday

films in general? I've come around to them, honestly,

I think. There's something like, yes, they tend

to all have a similar formula, but there's, you

know, it just, it's just part of the season.

You know, it's just as, especially having kids.

And now as a kid, I loved Christmas and now as

an adult with kids, I love it again. And it's

just, you know, it's an opportunity to kind of

celebrate something good. Uh, and it's especially

in the world today, it's that's harder and harder

to do. So it's kind of nice just to get that.

Little bit of an escape for whatever reason they

can be corny. They can be obviously, you know,

I don't have any homework movies on my list,

but of course Those are well known, but you don't

have the lacy chabert catalog or I think she's

contracted to do one every year now Yeah, no,

but I don't know if there's there's something

The willingness to be corny. There's also just

tradition and like of course nostalgia is built

into them and plenty of my picks as well But

it's all that anticipation. I think that's kind

of the best thing about Christmas is often the

anticipation to it and getting to it. And, you

know, having those movies that you kind of return

to again and again is a big part of the season

for me. How about you? Yeah, I think you hit

one thing for sure with me on the head there

which is like seeing it through your children's

eyes like it does a lot to like bring back memories

of when you were a little kid and like just seeing

the Excitement and like the magic that comes

with the holiday season through a child especially

like your child like definitely Changes of your

perspective on things like I feel like you know

obviously when we're kids we're innocent and

all of this can be really be fun and like it

feels like Well, I felt like Christmas break

was like months and months when I was a kid I

feel like like it was just like oh we get like

this huge long break and nowadays like as an

adult you're like Oh, I get like two days off

or something and then like it's like back back

to it or maybe a week off if we do something

like goes on but it still goes by in the blink

of an eye, but just remembering like everything

about like how you spend holidays as a child

and then like seeing that that innocence of your

children like really to me changes perspective,

but then you also have like the typical thing

right like parents want to like show their children

Some of their favorites see which ones they go

for see which ones they don't and it's always

interesting seeing some of the reactions from

kids that don't have anything else to like Paint

their perception on it and like what they go

for and what they don't is always kind of interesting

to me So, yeah, I enjoy I enjoy we've been trying

to show, you know see her show a few of our favorites

and then which one she's gone for and which one

she hasn't is like that I can believe it up for

do some honorable mentions and maybe some closing

talk with other things as well. So I will start

us off here. I'm going to go like with a couple

of chalk picks for sure on this. Maybe all five

of my picks are like chalk picks, but it's hard.

Like it's I'm not trying to like score any points

for picking something that someone nobody's ever

heard of or like, yeah, wouldn't be on like the

top 50 Christmas movies of all time list, no

matter what publication puts it out. So I. Probably

struggled a little bit with my five six and seven

like those are somewhat interchangeable I was

real confident with my top four but for the one

that I've ended up putting in that fifth slot

is the classic from 1989 we're talking about

national Lampoon's Christmas vacation it's just

I feel like It's the best national lamp. Maybe

one of them one of if not the best national Lampoon

films We got like I don't know. I guess you could

make an argument between a couple of them, but

to me, this is always one of the best ones. Like

from him, like putting the lights on, which I

feel like any parent or dad, especially can like

feel like they can relate to that aspect alone.

Like the lighting of the outside of your house

or whatever you're trying to do seems like it

never goes as smoothly as you. prepare it to

be or you plan it to be or like my wife and I

were having a conversation this year and it's

like I know for a fact last year we went and

bought all new lights on clearance after Christmas

to make sure we had they all matched they were

the right number of strings and then like we

were trying to find them this year and couldn't

find them anywhere. I mean, we found them eventually,

but I swear it was like the wall like every other

Christmas decoration inside or outside was in

the same place except for all of these brand

new lights that we bought. Well, and then, like,

of course we get everything out on the house

and driving home like. the next week and you're

like, oh, why is half of that strand not working

or why is that not how it was? It's just like

it's never ending. You can never like even if

you get it perfect from the beginning, it's not

going to be perfect come Christmas. Like something's

going to happen. Like something's not going to

work or fall down or do whatever. So the other

weird thing about that is in Florida, like half

of the houses don't have gutters. So like hanging

Christmas lights around your house with no gutters

is like. Something I have not a hundred percent

figured out. It's like I'm not the master of

that domain Like it was very easy in Illinois.

There's lots of gutters. There's clips that clip

on to them and I could do it very efficiently

and I am Trying to like duct tape stuff up on

it Doesn't work in Florida because of humidity

like the duct tape just doesn't work. So But

that's just one aspect of Christmas vacation

I just feel like it hits on a lot of the different

things that you experience during a holiday so

And obviously you got the humor there and you

got some just classic moments from Chevy chase,

etc So I feel like it's it's not necessarily

we haven't shown that one to Saoirse I don't

think she's quite ready for that yet But I feel

like it's it's one that everybody should see

at least once Yeah, I mean, of course, I think

that as you get older that the you understand

his pain regarding the Christmas bonus Although

like yeah for I don't think I've thinking I've

gotten like two Christmas bonuses my entire life

But you're like, yeah, that is that is a I understand

where that's coming from for sure, right? So

similarly, I think I don't really have anything

out of left field and I think you know Mine are

pretty straightforward as well. And my number

five, I think is one that it has its fans, but

probably just as many of us distractors and that's

Elf. I am an Elf fan. I am on the fall on the

side of enjoying Elf a great deal. I know Will

Ferrell can drive some people crazy, but I feel

like Elf is the perfect vehicle for like his,

you know, little boy energy in a way. And on

a filmmaking standpoint, it is just really well

made, like how they're able to utilize just the

behind the scenes seeing them like how they make

it seem T so much bigger than all these little

elves and the humor there the fact that the you

know, I think there's a special episode of the

movies that made us or whatever that gets into

how they and they had all those Roy Bass things

that they didn't technically have clearance for

that they kind of just do in there So it was

a bit of a gorilla shoot that it was the fact

that they were able to get it made I just also

find it really funny and it's also a big reason

why maybe it's cold outside is one of like my

favorite Christmas songs. Just, you know, Zoe

Deschanel. I didn't realize she could sing until

watching her in this movie. And I do think their

like romance or their relationship is a bit probably

the most unnecessary part of the movie. You didn't

really need that. But on top of that. But, you

know, James Kahn. Yeah, it's got a really solid

cast. I find it, you know, there's so many quotable

lines you sit on a throne of lies and it's it's

It's I think very cheering. I guess, you know,

it can be maybe too much for some people, but

I don't even like That is one I've tried to show

my kids and it just has not worked for them but

It's one I I find I greatly enjoy I think I think

that the beginning just throws them off a bit

too much So maybe I'll try it again with last

year did not work. Maybe it'll work this year.

But there you go Alpha's number five. All right,

I will just go ahead. It's it's my number two

So I'm a big elf fan as well. I think my wife

Loves it even more than I do but like I How did

it take that long for them to do like a comedy

about an elf? Like they've done so many Santa's

they've done so many like Rudolph's and different

things I was like is it like there's not very

many elf ones and I feel like Will Ferrell fits

that role perfectly like I feel like this is

one of Will Ferrell's best films and Again, it

is very clever what they do with the North Pole

and like all of the other things while he's you

know within the other elves but then you also

have like they get to Feature like the mall piece

where I think that's a thing for a lot of folks

is like going to the mall like it I don't go

to a mall very often and This will probably be

one of the first years. I don't get to one at

all. But like I actually really enjoy going to

like a Random mall in the Christmas season like

the smells and like everything being decorated

how it is Like I don't mind just walking around

them all even if I don't buy anything once during

the Christmas season I think it's like a I don't

know What maybe I'm weird, but like it's at least

it reminds me of like times from long ago I guess

like I guess nowadays you go to a mall and you

have to be wearing bulletproof vests and stuff

like that, but like it's just a mall at Christmas

is like That's just part of the Christmas like

tradition to me like and so I enjoy that they

feature that a little bit then Yeah, it might

be a little bit more on I guess it's just as

comedic as national lampoons. Like I think there's

something about Christmas movies that kind of

lean into the comedy. Yeah, I think it's a good

it's a good holiday to try to do that They all

try to have a little bit of you know that sentimental

or that serious like dramatic note somewhere

in there But I elf just works for me. I think

it's a it's a lot of fun Susha has not we tried

doing it and she watched she watched I would

say like the first third and was okay, but she

couldn't like sit down for the whole thing yet

So I'll try to get in a few years Yeah, I someone

who worked at the mall at the department store

During you know for a few years that you know,

it's very different that we didn't have showers

and stuff in our department store But also I

wasn't in New York City. So who knows but yeah,

I'm similar I do like even with that I do enjoy

visiting a mall here and there during Christmas

time and you know, especially just you know,

if you need to get your presence wrap because

i cannot wrap presents having those little stands

that uh you know do charity is nice i'm a terrible

present rapper myself so i guess that takes me

back to my number four um and for my number four

this one like i just have a soft spot for this

entire universe that this would fall into and

i think i don't know if i have a favorite film

within that franchise or universe but this is

definitely towards the top so I'm gonna go with

a film from 1992 which is the Muppet Christmas

Carol. I think the Christmas Carol is just one

of those stories that can be done a lot of different

ways and done well and you see it adapted in

a lot of different aesthetic ways and for some

reason like the way the Muppets or the Henson

Collective did it for this film just it Yes,

it's a kid's film, but it's like. It has more

serious notes than you would think for what's

typically aimed at what you would consider like

a younger audience, like even just the introduction

where they're like setting the stage for, you

know, people that are not well off and people

that are struggling and like the boss that doesn't

care because he's greedy. Like obviously it's

a timeless story, but like they don't pull any

punches. I feel like in this, even though it's

half Muppet half live action folks and whatnot

like. I feel like they do a good job of being

kid friendly, but also like not shine away from

like some of the serious elements of the story

of, you know. The the famous Charles Dickens

story, like it's all in there as well, I feel

like, and somehow the Muppets just know how to

do things right. I feel like at least in that

era, like I'm not saying that's always true,

but the 80s and 90s, I feel like was a good time

for. The henson company so the muppet christmas

carol is my number four I'll jump in too because

like you this was my number two as well Uh, so

I love the mumpet christmas carol. It's probably

my favorite It's my favorite christmas movie

as a kid. I think the first time I saw it I first

like It was shortly after seeing A Christmas

Carol play and like I've never saw the story

before so it was like I didn't at that time I

was young I didn't know how famous that play

was like wait, they didn't they know the same

story I didn't know it so that was kind of mind

-blowing But I think a big reason why it works

as well as it does is because Michael Caine plays

it so straight like he yes He plays it like he's

in You know, a theatrical production of A Christmas

Carol. He doesn't lean into the fact that it's

Mumpets. He's acting just like he would if he

was just around regular humans. And those tend

to be the best Mumpet movies. I think sometimes,

as you mentioned, like... The movies that suffer

a bit is when they lose that and then they make

their two there to it on the joke, but there's

a good division here. Like Gonzo being in the

Rizzo, like them being the only people that kind

of break that third wall. You know, they're,

you know, they're the comedic relief. There's

where the comedy comes from. And then they kind

of play it straight otherwise. So it's a good,

it's a really solid balance. Also good song.

Like the, that opening song, it gets you right

in the mood. Hey, Mr. Humbug, it's really, it's

awesome. So yeah, it's one of my favorites. It's

one that I always make sure that I watch each

year. Probably one I've probably seen them, maybe

not the most, but the one I've seen the most

is probably my number four, which may be on your

list, because it's probably, it's one of the

most popular Christmas movies of all time. And

it's Home Alone. As a kid, I loved it. Of course,

I came out perfect age. I think as a kid, I think

even I loved Home Alone 2 even more because they

had they had that like that walkie talkie thing.

Oh yeah, the talk back or whatever. Yeah. And

I wanted that so bad. Like that was one of the

present. But then I realized like how like I'm

like, I don't know what I would do with it. I

just wanted it. It's like, I don't know if any

movie has sold a product, but. Like a Christmas

toy more than that movie sold the talkback or

whatever. Yeah. I don't even know what I would

have done with it if I never got it and realized,

like, I don't think it would be one of those

things where I had it and like, OK, I guess I'll

just record things now. You know, maybe we could

have done the podcast way back then. Oh, there

you go. But. And then, you know, as I got older,

it kind of lost its luster a bit, but now this

is one my kids love. Like this is the one, like

when we're talking about Christmas movies, this

is the one that they always want to go to and

watch. They really enjoyed a great deal. You

know, you can definitely tell they lose interest

a bit, but once like that ending hits, it is

like the funniest thing in the world to them,

even though they've seen it so many times over

and over again. But even like, As I get older,

there's that great scene within the church with

the neighbor that hits a bit harder the older

you get, just seeing that relationship. And it

actually has a really good score as well, which

you don't realize. And then John Candy, of course,

he has a great presence. Oh, my goodness. Cherry

on top. Yeah, it's just a staple. I get like

it's it's lowbrow, you know physical comedy,

but I thought it you know, Joe Pesci and Daniel

Stern who I think is the MVP like his his facial

reactions and screams like Oscar -worthy like

it is like he it's the physical You know the

physical comedy that he goes through and that

it's like The height of a silent film era the

way he makes it work. So I think that some tough

stuff can kind of be underappreciated and i think

it kind of is a little bit so it's my number

four i mean this film came out when i was nine

years old the main character is playing an eight

or nine year old i'm pretty sure i don't know

the exact age but it's got to be darn close to

that the main character's name is kevin like

this is my number one um so yeah like I've always

loved this film. I remember seeing it originally.

I remember seeing it like I felt like every Christmas

for a little while when I was young and I just

I like we talked about before like all the Christmas

movies try to do that like. Serious element,

even if it is a comedy, even if you are doing

a bunch of crazy stuff on the way like they always

have that moment where they try to like. Hit

you in the heartstrings and I feel like some

of them do it. in too much of a similar way.

And I liked what this one did because it wasn't

necessarily like the love interest romantic angle

where all of a sudden you're going to have like,

you know, that moment. It wasn't the angle where

you have necessarily Kevin and his parents like

necessary. Like, yes, there is some of that,

but it's not like the big thing. Like what you're

talking about with that neighbor. And to me,

like the big heartstring of this one is like

understanding that, you know, time continues

to march on and like Let's not hold grudges and

let's not let something silly keep us from You

know connecting with those people that are in

our lives whether it be family friends, whatever

like and a Christmas is a good reminder to like

Mend some of those bridges and to reach out to

some of those folks and like Make things just

better than they were previously. So I enjoy

that that's where they went with this one and

I again, this was a fun one because My sister

does not watch movies like she doesn't like them

and we were trying a number of different ones

We've probably tried like half a dozen different

christmas films This is the one she watched from

beginning to end glued to her seat excited in

terror like laughing like scared like she was

the whole emotions like the the bandits were

coming after her and she's like Cover her eyes

and getting ready to run into the other room

because she thinks they're gonna get him and

like Then laughing when something of some of

the physical comedy happens and then when she

found out that there was more another one And

she is like, you know, she's like with with Kevin

and I'm like, yeah And she's like and they leave

them home again And she's like are the wet bandits

in it just like she is all into it So then she

immediately wanted to watch the second one and

then we played the trailer for the third one

because my wife does not like the third one and

i was like because we watched the first one one

day we watched the second one the next day and

we're like well should we keep going should we

watch the third one and my wife's like you know

i can't stay in the third one i don't never liked

it blah blah I'm like, well, let's at least play

the trailer. We play the trailer and then Sears

was like, well, that one's easily the best one.

I'm like, you haven't even seen the film yet.

Based on that trailer, you think that's the best

one? But yeah, I've always had a soft spot for

Home Alone. So that's definitely on my list.

And it was all the way up at number one. So we

got a lot of crossover. I wasn't sure because

there's so many Christmas movies that I wasn't

sure how that would how that would go. So and

it also makes it very confusing to try to keep

track of where we're at. So I think we're at

my number three. Yeah, I did my five and my four

and my two, but I've done. I only have one left,

so I guess I'll just go with the one that's left

and then you can go. So. So, yeah, I had National

Lampoon's at five and Christmas Carol at four.

You already know my two is Elf and my one is

Home Alone. So that leaves my three. And I'm

going to go all the way back. So so far, I've

had the 80s, the 90s and the 2000s covered. I'm

going to go all the way back to the 1960s. So

this one is a 1964 film. And that is the classic

rank and bass Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

I absolutely love most of the rank and bass stuff.

Um, just a Christmas tradition. I've gotten Amanda,

like a, an ornament from related to the rank

and bass, like filmography every year. And I

like all of them, but this one is by far probably

my favorite one. And it's something about. Like

it just has that classic feel right with this,

with the style that it is and things of that

nature. And they have the songs and they have

some of these really classic voice acting and.

You know, you get the the island of Misfit toys,

you get Santa, you get elves, you get Rudolph,

you get, you know, the snowman like it's all

in here. And I just feel like it's something

that like everybody should watch at least once.

And I feel like it's good for all ages. So Rudolph,

Red Nose Reindeer is my number three. Yeah, that's

one we regularly watch, too. We have it. You

know, it's that's kind of nice because those

those TV specials only being like 30 minutes.

It's a good, you know, good. way to get kids

in which goes into my number three as well because

again another technically a TV movie one that's

actually had many different versions of it based

on the book I think you know where I'm going

with this and my number three is the Grinch the

original Grinch movie just recently watched it

with my kids actually the night and they loved

it they thought it was really really fun the

first Actually enjoy all the different Grinch

movies even like the new animated one was also

one one of the first films we started a tradition

like where we would go get our Christmas tree

and then go to like a holiday Christmas movie

after that and one of the first times we did

that was seeing the new Grinch and you know,

it's it does there's far worse Disney adaptations

than that, but still the original is perfect

because it's like It stays true to the book.

He kind of just Really doesn't really add anything

unnecessary. I mean the the song of course the

the voice acting it's so well known, you know

the it's hard to beat Like the they just was

just pitch perfect in every way and it still

holds up a lot as well the narration and the

animations route still pretty strong to you know,

considering My kids will still watch it like,

you know nearly 60 years later. So it's it's

just as good as it is. I think I I've only seen

the live -action one like once or twice, but

when I saw it, I enjoyed it I don't know if I

haven't rewatched that one in a while But the

original to me still is far and above the best

of all of them I would not be shocked that if

Amanda was on this record that she may have had

Grinch's Grinch films show up in multiple spots

Like she may have put more than one in her top

five. She loves the Grinch and everything about

the Grinch and I think every version. So I would

not be surprised if the original was on there

as well as the Jim Carrey one. Like she is a

huge Grinch fan. So every time we go like shopping

at like a Hobby Lobby or a Michael's or whatever

it might be like during this time of the year,

she see she I feel like she wants to buy like

300 things that have the Grinch on them. And

we always have to like. Narrow it down to one

like you can do you can have one thing? You ever

go see cuz there's I think I don't know where

it's at but I think it's at one of the Disney

parks or something where they have The guy playing

the Grinch and like people can go ahead and that

we have to do that I'm gonna have to put it on

our list. So you have you still have a number

one, right? I do I still have one we haven't

talked about which I'm surprised we haven't talked

about it's again nothing I'm not like this is

very much chalk. It's up. There's one of the

greatest Christmas movies of all time It's my

number one. It's it's a wonderful life. It just

think is One is the story of its wonderful life

is a bit inspiring. Of course It's a movie that

after its initial release actually wasn't that

successful ends up becoming like part of the

public domain So it gets played on all the different

channels becomes a staple and now it's known

as this classic and it's so ingrained into pop

culture that like that its storyline is repeated

so well you see that repeated so often but its

storyline is so iconic i remember you watching

episode of family matters where they Do the it's

a wonderful life story line as a kid I didn't

like it as much of course cuz it's you know it's

black and white movie it's a little bit slow

-paced and I think you can I've heard people

argue that it's not even a Christmas movie per

se because a lot of it takes place out of Christmas

I still think at the center of it is a Christmas

story I've seen even gone to play versions of

it as well and I think that it just helped like

It will solidify it as one of my favorite Christmas

movies of all time. So that's why it's my number

one. Jimmy Stewart, of course, we've seen a lot

of him during our Hitchcock retrospective. But

and I think so it's still one of his best performances

as well. It gets a bit dark. You know, it's maybe

not the most cheerful movie to begin with when

it comes to Christmas. But by the end, it all

kind of comes together. So that's my number one.

totally respect that choice and the reason it

didn't show up on my five leads me to one of

the questions I wanted to ask you after we got

through our five so I have a couple different

questions I wanted to ask you number one is Do

you have any Christmas film blind spots because

I have some major ones I have never seen it's

a wonderful life. Oh really I have never seen

Miracle on 34th Street Okay, I have I've seen

Miracle on 31st Street because I was like my

mom's one of my mom's favorite movies So I can't

think of if I have some of the more recent ones

like I think they they did like the new Christmas

story I haven't seen that I heard that Claws

the like KLA us on I think it's a Netflix movie

is really good, but I think I've seen most of

the the big movies per se. I can't get my I haven't

seen any of the classics. I haven't seen White

Christmas either. I have not seen White Christmas.

I can remember one. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess I

haven't seen. Oh, you know what a big one is?

I don't think I've ever seen Scrooge like straight

through like I think I've seen bits and pieces

of it. The Bill Murray movie. Yeah. And also

Gremlins like that's one that's also been. You've

never seen Gremlins. I've never seen Gremlin,

so, you know. All right. Interesting. That leads

me to a couple of different things because I

was going to say, yeah, I actually had it on

my list to watch. It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle

on 34th Street this year. Like it was like, I'm

finally going to do it because I'm not anti the

films. I'm not like trying to like prove some

type of point by not watching them. It's just

never something my family watched growing up.

And then I just had other ones that like every

time. the fifth That's a good one. I don't know.

It's like it is. I guess I was going to. You've

led me to a couple of different questions I want

to want to ask. So first, you mentioned Scrooge

and that leads me to a couple of my honorable

mentions because Scrooge was my number six. So

I just love Bill Murray. Yeah, especially like

late 80s, mid to mid 80s to mid 90s. Bill Murray,

like I think he was just. Rocking and rolling

at that point. The reason I didn't it is obviously

a similar story, right? Like We have that story

told like a bunch of different ways and a bunch

of that's I was talking about like you can get

it in different aesthetics and you can have the

classic Christmas Carol you can have this which

is basically a version of that you can have them

up it's Christmas Carol like all of these are

similar in a way but like I just like Bill Murray's

touch on that the other one that I put on there

that I think is another one of Amanda's favorites

which I started to come around I never watched

this when it came out in 1990s mid 1990s and

I didn't watch it for a long time because I just

I don't know I didn't Look at it and be like,

oh, this is something I really have to watch

but Amanda loved it So I have watched it and

at least one or two of its sequels but the Santa

Claus with Tim Allen Is another one that I sort

of considered just because she's she's brought

my voice brought me around on that one a little

bit Did you have any other ones that just missed

your list? Yeah, I mean I do it's been a while

but love actually was on there for me for a while,

you know, I've that That was one of the staples

especially went bad When my wife and I first

started dating because it came out like a few

years before so that was when we go to Polar

Express as well I mean the animation can be a

bit creepy, but it's it's it's just that I love

that book the you know, the one of my favorite

books as a kid and I've come around, you know,

I've kind of Come around to the animation the

fact that like I can kind of go go with it But

still really enjoy that as well You know, there's

some Movie said I'm not good. I was just gonna

say is there any movies You may have been saying

the same thing, but maybe not I was gonna ask

if there's any Christmas movies that that rub

you the wrong way or that like just Ones you're

not a big fan of I was I was um I don't mmm.

I don't know There's ones that like I'm good

that are guilty pleasures. I would Qualify them

as and I'm like, I'm I don't know why I like

it but I do What is the the J Jonathan Taylor

Thomas vehicle? I'll be home for Christmas It's

it's like a basically TV. I don't know. I just

yeah, there's something about it. I enjoy I don't

know if there's any ones that rubbed me the wrong

way I guess I was never a big jiggle all the

way fan like that movie Like it just you know,

it never really worked for me Trying to think

if there's anything I have one that I can't stand

and I don't know why, but it's the only one I

can think of. I cannot stand a Christmas story.

Oh, I get that. Yeah, my wife, she doesn't like

that movie. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what it

is, but something about watching that is like

nails on a chalkboard for me. I don't know if

it's the performances or the actors or the characters

or like it's just I don't know. I can go without

seeing that one for sure. Yeah, I don't. Go ahead.

I had a few others too. I don't know if you've

ever seen Unaccompanied Minors. That's a really,

you know, about kids stuck in an airport together.

You know, they're supposed to be flying by themselves

and they kind of get stuck as a snow. Lewis Black

plays like the quote unquote villain in that.

I just recently saw That Christmas, which is

an animated film on Netflix, which I kind of

like. It's, I don't know, it's about this like

British town and parents can kind of trapped

in in snow and the kids kind of have to do their

own thing and then one recent and one recent

movie that is on my cons that is kind of I would

basically you can call it like millennial a Christmas

story is 8 -bit Christmas okay, I don't it's

it's on HBO now, but it's What's his name the

guy who played Doogie Howser back in the day?

Yeah, Patrick Harris. He's like the kind of Talking

with his daughter about when he was a kid and

like how really badly he wanted to get the NES

And it's a story to try to get it kind of like,

you know a Christmas story which is about getting

a BB gun and Has a similar message. So it is

again very heavy and nostalgia. It's very geared

towards like Hey millennials, you remember this

but it works for me Right it is, you know despite

it, you know, it's being transparent with what

it's doing. So it's one I go to recently so A

couple other ones. I want to throw out there.

Just get your opinions on them Do you have any

opinions on any of the Mickey Christmas like

the Mickey Mouse Christmas stuff the Charlie

Brown Christmas stuff or Ernest saves Christmas

any of those or sees Christmas is a good time

Charlie Brown we actually just watched that with

my kids the we did Charlie Brown And frosty and

they they really like Charlie Brown. I was worried

about it because Charlie Brown is it is You know,

it looks like a 60s cartoon, but it yeah, they

found it funny. They really enjoyed snoopy Music,

so that's another staple as well. So yeah like

yourself. Um, I haven't seen earnest saves Christmas

in a long long long long long long time but just

coming across it as I was like perusing a few

different lists online i was like oh i should

like revisit that and see if it is terrible now

or if it holds up at all like i feel like the

the peanut stuff is easy like they have one for

every holiday they're only like you know 30 minutes

or whatever the case may be so i feel like that's

an easy one and and we did do the great pumpkin

charlie brown this year with sears and she liked

that one i think Amanda and her watched the Charlie

Brown Christmas. I must not have been there when

they watched this. I don't know how her reaction

to that one was. I also had another. Question

for you, like I feel like there's some of those

movies that are like peripheral Christmas movies

like they're the ones that like you can argue,

are they or are they not a Christmas movie? Like

obviously you have the classic die hard that

people do that with on if it's a Christmas or

if it's not a Christmas movie. Do you have any

films in that? Like they take place during christmas

or there's sort of christmas in the background

that you Associate with the holiday at all that

kind of are ones you like Yeah, they're so the

harry potter movies Because you know christmas

often they usually have a scene or two through

christmas for some reason Occasionally, I think

of them for christmas movies. Uh also, um narnia

the at least the first one always winter never

christmas, but then becomes christmas so similar

like that to me like kind of it's not I wouldn't

call it a Christmas movie but I get a Christmas

vibe from it. And then, I mean, all Shane Black

movies take place during Christmas, so you could

really say anything's Shane Black related. But

ones that are not at all Christmas related don't

have anything in my head. They're Christmas,

they're at least December movies, and it's a

Lord of the Rings trilogy. Because, you know,

when they came out, they came out in December.

And I just remember each year going to the theater,

because my family would all come together, and

we'd go out and be able to go see them. And then

same thing with the Hobbit movies. So in my mind,

nothing. They're Christmas movies. I get it.

They're not Christmas movies at all. But for

me, when December comes around, I'm like, they're

in the rotation as much as. As much as a home

alone is so gotcha. I just had a couple on my

list You mentioned one of them already, which

I would kind of put gremlins I guess that's more

of a christmas movie than i'm thinking it is

but I had that kind of on a list of like ones

I don't necessarily think of as like a christmas

christmas movie, but it's definitely taking place

during christmas And another one was edward scissorhands

because that one obviously takes place during

christmas as well and But I don't necessarily

view it as a Christmas film, but it's it's set

in the right time period. So like, I don't know,

I kind of enjoy that one thought about considering

it for my list. Another thing that I think about

when I think about Christmas, I don't know if

you had similar experiences or not, but growing

up and when I was going through, you know, the

public school system, et cetera, I feel like

the week before Christmas break or the day before

Christmas break or something is like a common.

time for at least back in our time or my time

period was for the teachers to show a Film like

a Christmas film or they had like a little Christmas

party with some snacks or whatever and they put

on a Christmas Film of some sort or they put

on a film. It didn't necessarily wasn't always

a Christmas film, but they put on a film For

the class and I don't know if they did this intentionally

or not, but I swear like three grades in a row

The teachers chose the same movie somehow for

us And I don't know if they know they did that,

but it happened at least three different Christmas

leading into Christmas breaks where the teacher

put on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,

like the original. And so like to me in my mind,

that has become almost like a Christmas film

because I just remember at least three different

times watching that leading into Christmas break

at school and like being like, you don't always

get to watch films with your classmates, right?

Especially like the entire class. Unless you

just have terrible teachers that that's all they're

doing which I'm sorry But most teachers don't

do it all the time, right? So like it was a special

thing like and I think sometimes they like combine

classes Maybe it was like a two classes watched

it together or whatever or because it's longer

You had to watch it over like two days or something

So, I don't know something about Willy Wonka

will always feel like a Christmas film to me

Did you have anything that like that from school

or something that you associate in that way?

Yeah, we usually always watch When we did watch

a movie was Christmas related. Honestly, I remember,

I think it was my fourth grade year, maybe fifth

grade, where we were going to watch a Christmas

movie and we voted. And for some reason, my family

always bought movies, so I would be the one that

would bring the movies in. And it was between.

Miracle and 34th Street the remake and then Santa

Claus and I wanted Miracle but everyone else

in the class wanted Santa Claus because the Tim

Allen movie because it was comedy So we ended

up watching that But I never and then that's

also why I watched I'll be home for Christmas

is because we watched it in school one year I

think that was actually in high school too, which

is kind of weird But you know, it was one it

was a the day before Christmas break. So we watched

it and I was like getting, I was way more into

it than I should have been for some reason, especially

as old as I was. But yeah, that's, that's, I

can't really think of any other time. Any other

time a movie I can remember watching in school

was Space Jam because everyone's singing all

the songs when they were on. So that's about

it though. The only other ones I remember watching

at school, but it wasn't like Christmas break

as we definitely watched The Lion, the Witch

and the Wardrobe when we read that book. We watched

like old Yeller, some of the books that you had

to read that we watched. And I remember Charlotte's

Web. Oh, yeah. So there was like a couple of

those that. But it was I specifically remember

Willy Wonka being the one that was like going

into Christmas break. Like it wasn't associated

any book we read. It was just like, let's watch

this film because I guess it. was family friendly?

I don't know. Like, I guess that movie gets that

movie gets a little twisted in some spots. Yeah.

Is there anything else that's like not a movie,

like a Christmas tradition, whether from when

you were growing up or that you've done with

your kids or something that's like more of like

a TV show or something music related or something

that's like you're watching that maybe not like

a feature film at all that you can think of?

I tend to re -watch like a lot of the Christmas

episodes of The Office. That's just not really

with my fist, more of a me thing. Music -wise,

I can't really sing. I mean, we play, once the

day after Thanksgiving hits, we're playing...

Christmas music a lot. We are are you doing?

Do you do off on the show if we do off on the

show? This is the first year we've done that

and we got guilted into doing that because like

she came home from school the one day and told

us that like all the kids were talking about

like where their elf was and she was very sad

that she didn't have one. We're like, oh, we're

terrible parents. So it's been it's been fun

so far, though. And she definitely is excited

every morning just as much as she was the morning

before. So that's kind of cool. Yeah. Yeah. But

then you forget that. Did you know that there's

700 like specials on dreaming channels of this

elf on the shelf stuff though It's a little out

of control because she's definitely wanted to

watch all of them. I have one that my family

used to do. I don't know why. I don't know if

it was like a Christmas Eve thing or if it was

just once during that Christmas season. We were

my family was big on PBS growing up. Like we

watched a lot of stuff on PBS and because a lot

of it was good content, right? Like as. I'm not

gonna get into the politics of recent times,

but one thing that used to come on during the

Christmas season was a replaying, and it was

always during one of their fun drives or fundraising

things where they were trying to raise money

or whatever, but they would play a Christmas

video version of a Christmas concert that Peter,

Paul, and Mary put on. For those of you that...

I really just dated myself because Peter Paul

and Mary like haven't been a thing for a long

time but They they put on a Christmas concert

once upon a time and PBS used to replay it every

Christmas season and then they had like they

did all the Christmas songs whether it be like

religious or whether it be you know pop culture

and then they had like this one song that was

I think they wrote that was like the I'm gonna

butcher this because I don't know the actual

name of the song but it was something about like

the the greatest toy or or something of that

nature and like as a kid I like was obsessed

with that song when they did that. So it was

something I looked forward to. I want to say

maybe like four or five different years we watched

that Christmas special and I even found it last

year because I was feeling nostalgic and I don't

know how I found it or where I found it but I

like watched it last year and was like just almost

I'm not a very emotional person and I'm almost

sobbing on the couch because it's like bringing

back all these memories and stuff. Oh wow. It's

a good concert if you're a fan of Peter Paul

and Mary which I'm guessing most people aren't.

Any other final thoughts on holiday movies or

anything else that you didn't get to mention

yet? No, no, it's you know, it was nice to take

a little break looking forward to next year that

you know now it's like like you said No, it's

as I'm looking at like the movies we haven't

seen and realizing I'm like there's no way we're

gonna get now we got to pick and choose which

ones we're gonna see before Christmas But yeah,

I was running out we love because I can't I can't

watch I can't watch a Christmas movie outside

of Christmas I just can't know it seems wrong.

Yeah, just weird All right, so if you want to

reach out to us with your favorite Christmas

movies or tell us where we were right or wrong,

like you can obviously do that on all the social

medias. You can look up Dan at the Comic Concierge

or myself at Optimus Solo, or you can search

out the show. Just do a search for the Cinema

Geeks or Cinema Geekcast and you will find us

and you can definitely put your comments there

or you can go to Geekcast Radio. Dot -com find

the episode post and comment there and if you

do comment at us on any of those different avenues

we will definitely respond and engage in conversation

with you or you can obviously check us out on

letterbox and See what our reviews are and comment

there as well I guess if you would like to I

should get much better at knowing what my letterbox

Handle is but I don't know that off the top of

my head. So my bad. Um, so that does it for Just

my name? That seems like an easy one that I should

be able to remember. What's yours? Do you know?

It's movie revolt. Yeah, it's my old handle.

Well, there you go. That's how you can find us.

So that does it for this episode. Tune in next

time for another chance to listen to more of

the Cinema Geeks.