My life is just Christmas movies now I guess

Last weekend, it was all Hallmark-esque movies that I had never seen before and (with any luck) will likely never see again. This weekend, what I would deem as more classic holiday films were on the docket, with a couple new ones sprinkled in here or there. And since it’s cold out and I didn’t do much else, here’s my thoughts on some of the beloved Christmas films we watched.

Elf

This one is a holiday must for my family. I’m constantly quoting it, even outside of the Christmas season, which I think speaks to the memorability and humor present. “Bye so-and-so, hope you find your dad,” is a regular farewell at this point and “So-and-so must be a South Pole elf” has been used as a normal adjective to describe someone unreasonably angry.

This definitely has the vibes of the live-action Christmas films of the 80s and 90s, with a bit of the more meta-humor that would come into more prominence in the 2010s and the charm of some of the stop motion Rankin-Bass movies, which definitely allows it to stand on its own.

If Will Ferrell’s humor is not your cup of tea, there is a definite chance that this movie is not your cup of tea either, but as not a huge Will Ferrell fan myself, I think that his portrayal of the titular Buddy the “Elf” is spot on. Often hilarious and heartwarming when it needs to be. Everyone else in the cast does well in their respective roles, but this is Ferrell’s movie throughand- through (though Peter Dinklage’s performance as the ridiculous children’s book author near the end of the movie always gets a laugh from me as well).

I also think it helps that, unlike many Christmas movies that see success, Elf has no unoriginal sequels to speak of, making it feel much more unique and special. If you haven’t already, I’d say it’s more than worthy of giving a shot this Christmas season.

Home Alone

Alright, so I get it’s bad that the parents left poor Kevin behind, but I mean…really this is more Heather’s fault. She’s the one that counts the kids and fails to notice that the neighbor kid isn’t supposed to be there, so really it’s more on her than anything. C’mon Heather, get your act together! Though to be fair, I have no idea what the heck the neighbor kid was even doing, looking through their stuff in their vehicle just before the family was about to leave. Kids are weird I guess.

Anyway, the premise of this movie is great and the execution is extremely solid as well. Sure, should the two burglars probably have died numerous times after triggering the various traps Kevin has set up? Maybe. But disbelief has already been suspended at that point in the movie, so you’re just along for the ride.

The fact that it's Christmas time doesn’t have a ton to do with the plot (the family could have left for any vacation, not specifically Christmas) so I somewhat hesitate to call it a Christmas movie, but hey, I’ll use the excuse to watch it every other year or so.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

I may be saying something sacrilegious here, but this movie is kind of meh to me. To be fair, I don’t have the nostalgia propping it up like the other two (which is probably a big factor, all things considered), but I watched it through fully for the first time this year and I wasn’t all too impressed. It has the feeling of a number of SNL skits stitched together rather than a movie with an actual plot and I think that was the biggest obstacle for me getting into it. The fact that Chevy Chase prepaid for the construction of a pool with money he didn’t have and was just hoping to get from his Christmas bonus is wild to me and the fact that this plot point was probably the funniest thing in the entire movie perhaps illustrates how the humor in general sat with me.

Die Hard

Take everything I said about Home Alone and whether it is a Christmas movie or not and apply it double here. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber is awesome and this movie is crazy, but in a good way.

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW

BY

NATHANIEL U NDERWOOD REPORTER