You Know What I Mean?

Some of the movies on this list were instant hits. Home Alone , White Christmas , and Miracle on 34th Street were among the highest grossing movies the years they were released. Others like A Christmas Story and Planes, Trains and Automobiles took some time to find their audience and take their place among the classics. It's a Wonderful Life is considered  to be not only a classic feel good Christmas movie but is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made (#20 on the American Film Institutes top 100 movies). But, when it was released in 1946 it was a box office flop and looked to be destined for obscurity.  Fate had a different plan. A clerical error caused the movie's copyright to lapse which made it inexpensive for local televisions stations to broadcast, This resulted in stations airing it repeatedly especially during the holiday season and bringing the movie back into the public's consciousness. What they discovered was not a corny, lighthearted ...

Andy Bauer  weigh in on movie #2 on our list. I’ve written about  White Christmas  in this space a  couple  of  times , and truth be told, could probably fill a substantial volume writing about all it’s awesome sauce.  It’s one of those movies I’ve seen so many times I don’t even really pay attention to the plot anymore.  I spend my time looking in the background for all the little things I missed on the previous 100 viewings.  And boy is there some great stuff in the background.  Whether you’ve seen it dozens of times like I have or if this is the first time you’ve ever heard of it, do yourself a favor and watch the backup dancers during the  Mandy  routine.  It’s solid gold. For the ones that somehow aren’t familiar with this Christmas gem,  White Christmas  is the story of army buddies Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) who team up after WWII to become a “boffo” song and dance act. ...

Do you remember that one Christmas gift you wanted more than any other? Maybe it was a bike or a Cabbage Patch Kid. Depending on when you grew up it might have been a video game system (Atari, Nintendo, Playstation...) or an Erector Set.  The specific gifts may differ from person to person and time to time but the dream is the same. We all went to bed on Christmas Eve hoping the morning would bring us joy tied up with ribbon. A Christmas Story taps into this universal longing with protagonist Ralphie's quest to get  a   Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model BB gun for Christmas. He seems to be thwarted at every turn. Whether it's his mother, his teacher or even Santa Claus himself he always hears the same refrain, "You'll shoot your eye out". Sprinkled throughout his pursuit are views into his everyday life.  We get to watch as Ralphie and his friends try to survive encounters with the school bully. We meet his parents (in particular The Old Man). We eve...

Here is  Andy Bauer's  thoughts on our #4 movie. As a 13-year old, I saw  Home Alone   in the theater when it was released in 1990.  For reasons explained  elsewhere , I did not go to the movies much as a kid, and persuading my mother to let me see the hottest new movie amongst my demographic in the theater was something of a coup. Some time later, a family member informed my mother, who still had not seen  Home Alone , about the bad attitude Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) has toward his family and how disrespectfully he speaks to his mother (Catherine O’Hara).  Mom pointed this out to me, as if I had been keeping it a secret from her.  I assured her I knew Kevin’s attitude was not acceptable, as I probably rolled my eyes while she wasn’t looking. A parent myself now, I can of course understand a little better Mom’s concerns about how a Hollywood movie might influence her child.  But, Kevin’s terrible attitude is of course ce...

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a human, raised by elves at the North Pole, traveled to New York City to meet his long lost father? I know I have. Luckily the next movie on our list lets us know. Elf (starring Will Ferrell in the title role) tells the story of Buddy. He was a baby living in an orphanage when one Christmas Eve he crawled unseen into Santa's (Ed Asner) sack and ended up stowing away to the North Pole. There he was raised by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) and grew up believing that he was an elf himself. The elves loved and accepted Buddy as one of their own but eventually his 6'3" frame and lack of toy making skills lead to his discovery that he is actually human.  On top of this shocking revelation he also finds out that his real father (James Caan) is on the Naughty List.  Having learned his true identity Buddy heads to New York to meet his father and find his place in the world. What ensues is what one might expect when a large elf-man armed ...

Andy Bauer  gives his take on our #6 movie. P oor Clark Griswold.  All he wanted was the perfect good time, old fashioned family Christmas.  The lights, the tree, the carols, sledding, the perfect Christmas dinner, and of course that big Christmas bonus. What he got was frustration, a squirrel infested Christmas tree, Cousin Eddie, a cat food jello mold, a SWAT team invasion, and the Jelly of the Month club. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation  takes all of the elements folks come to dread about the Christmas season and puts them on steroids.  Chevy Chase’s well-intentioned family man Clark Griswold does his best to give his family a Christmas to remember.  It certainly will be, but for all the wrong reasons.  His wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and kids, Rusty (Johnny Galecki) and Audrey (Juliette Lewis) do their best to stay encouraging as the wheels start to come off the closer the big day gets and the house fills up with more cantankero...

The only reason this movie is not higher on our list is because it is not a Christmas movie. It is a Thanksgiving movie and it is maybe one of the two or three funniest movies I have ever seen.Written and directed by John Hughes (who was involved in two other movies on this list and the '94 version of Miracle on 34th Street) it stars two of the all time great comedic actors, Steve Martin and John Candy.  It is a shame that this team never collaborated again because when they did, it resulted in pure gold.  Martin plays Neal Page, a straight laced, sort of uptight ad executive who is on business in New York City. All he wants is to get home to his family in Chicago in time for Thanksgiving. His path crosses with Del Griffith, played by Candy, a friendly but uncouth shower curtain ring salesman. When bad weather strands them in Wichita this unlikely pair teams up to try and make it back to Chicago in time for Neal to get his turkey. Thus begins the road trip from hell. Neal ...

Andy Bauer  waxes eloquent on our #8 Christmas movie. Holiday Inn  was released in 1942 and features some classic Irving Berlin holiday (not just Christmas) songs that would pop up in various other movies over the years.  Most notably, it features the first appearance of  White Christmas,  which would of course be the eponymous title of a movie that may or may not be featured later on this list, and go on to be the best selling song of all time. Like  The Nightmare Before Christmas ,  Holiday Inn  is a musical appropriate for more holidays than just Christmas.  The similarities pretty much end there.  There are surprisingly few clowns with tear-away faces in  Holiday Inn.   All told  Holiday Inn  covers Christmas, New Years Eve, Lincoln’s Birthday, Valentine’s Day, Washington’s Birthday, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas again, New Year’s Eve again.  Each holiday features a great song ...

What do you do when the same Christmas movie has been made twice and both are excellent? One option would be to include both in our list. Another option would be to have them face off in a head to head, winner take all death match to determine dominance and therefore inclusion. Based on what I have observed in shopping malls, this seems to be in keeping with the holiday spirit so let's go with option two. This first MO34S (as it shall be referred to henceforth) was released in 1947 and stars Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, and Natalie Wood in the essential roles. The second came out in 1994 and correspondingly stars Elizabeth Perkins, Richard Attenborogh, and Mara Wilson. Both follow the same basic plot line. Little Susan Walker has been raised by a single mom (an executive at a New York City department store) to be a realist and therefore does not believe in Santa Claus. Enter the store's new Santa for the Christmas season who not only looks and acts the part to a degree n...

Here is  Andy Bauer's  take on our #10 Christmas movie. A few years ago I posed a question to my legion of Facebook friends (385 and shrinking):  Is  The Nightmare Before Christmas  a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?  The overwhelming (and obvious) answer was “both!”  So really, the movie covers three major holidays; Halloween, Christmas, and because it fits neatly between those two, Thanksgiving.  This is important because there really aren’t any  good Thanksgiving movies, with one exception,  Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.   But more on that later in this series. Due to it’s unique amalgam of multiple holidays, it’s the one that usually kicks off the holiday movie viewing season at my house in October.  I’ve got small kids, and I’m not really into horror movies anyway, so this is about as scary as it gets in our living room.  For an animated Christmas movie, it’s pretty creepy.  For a Halloween movie...

The Christmas season is upon us once more. With this comes Christmas music, Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, Christmas cookies, and even Christmas sweaters. In addition to these, this time of year brings a cavalcade of Christmas movies. There is so much to choose from. You have everything from the heartwarming to the cynical, from family friendly to not family friendly at all. No matter what your taste you can find something to help you get in the holiday spirit or in some cases escape from it. With this in mind Andy Bauer over at Life of Ando  and I have comprised a list of and will be posting about our top 10 Christmas movies of all time. There are some parameters. All the movies on this list are theatrical releases so that means no Rudolph or Charlie Brown (maybe next year we will tackle TV specials). Also we have expanded beyond strictly Christmas movies to include other holidays, but being a Christmas movie does increase a film's ranking. If you have not seen one or ...

As I write this I am watching pregame analysis for game 6 of the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. I feel more nervous about this game than I normally would for a game not featuring my beloved San Francisco Giants. Let me explain. I'm an amiable guy. I get along with just about everyone. I try to see the best in both people and situations. In fact I can only think of two things that I actually truly hate. One is walnuts (the open lip sore of the food world). The other is the Los Angeles Dodgers. The disdain I feel for this team is difficult to describe but it is all too real. Let me put it this way. One of my top ten favorite sports moments of all time is when Joe Morgan hit a home run on the last day of the 1982 season to beat the Dodgers.( you can watch it here ) This home run did not propel the Giants into the postseason but it did keep the Dodgers out and that was just as sweet. As far as I am concerned this is a team t...

Sometime during the holiday season of 1995 my wife and I took our 6-year-old daughter and almost 4-year-old son  to see Toy Story, a movie released by Disney from a new studio called Pixar. They loved it and you know what? I did too. I could not remember having ever seen so much pure imagination on screen. Films like this are why I love going to the movies and why I loved taking my kids to them. This started a journey that I would share with my kids as they grew and continues now with my grandchildren. To date Pixar has produced 17 feature films. Nearly all have been first rate. Several have reached classic status. The studio's track record for excellence is almost unprecedented. Even it's rare misses are at the very least visually engaging and entertaining. What makes these movies great is not just the amazing animation the filmmakers produce but also their power for storytelling and creating unforgettable characters. In addition they combine the silly humor that kids lov...

Play ball! Do two sweeter words exist? I don't think so. Every year as the Autumn chill gives way to the cold and grey of Winter our hopes and spirits are kept alive by the memory and anticipation of this beautiful phrase. Our minds conjure up the smell of freshly cut grass mingled with the leather of a glove. We can hear the echo of ball meeting bat and the crowd erupting into frenzied cheers as the newest hero of the diamond circles the bases. Today the wait is over and we no longer have to imagine. It is Opening Day! In honor of this, I am going to share some thoughts relating to what makes baseball so great No clock. If you have one out left you always have a chance. The Pennant Race. Winning your division is still important and the day to day movement and competition is unmatched in sports. Redemption. Lose today? There's a game tomorrow. Strike out with men in scoring position? There's another at bat coming. The dimensions. 90 feet. 60 feet...

My life span has reached a half century. This really isn't a great accomplishment. Literally billions of others  reached this plateau ahead of me and billions more lurk behind me waiting their turn to hit the big 5-0. So in the vast array of human history my having been able to avoid dying up to this point oozes with insignificance.  But it feels important to me, therefore, that makes it important. It only makes sense then that I should do something to mark this momentous occasion. They say with age comes wisdom. I don't know if that's true in my case but whatever wisdom I may possess is about to be shared. What follows are 50 thoughts, little nuggets of what I have observed and learned through my 50 year journey through life. Interspersed will be some songs that have aging related themes.   I thought I would be smarter than I am. Walnuts are disgusting and people who put them in perfectly good cookies and brownies should be...