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Regardless of what you celebrate, the holidays are a magical time of the year. Families gather together to give presents, ring in the new year, and watch A Christmas Story on TNT all day. Everyone’s got their own set of holiday traditions, and here at Flixist, many of them revolve around our favorite holiday movies. Today, we’re kicking off a week of holiday-related articles leading up to Christmas Day, so what better time to share some of those traditions? Below the cut, you’ll find a few of my traditional holiday movies and read why they’re important to me during this time of the year. You’ll read more from the other editors over the coming week, and we’d also love to hear what kind of traditions you guys keep on the holiday season, be they movie, TV, or something equally awesome. Post something on our community blogs, and it might just get tossed up on the front page. There’s a Christmas present you can use!
Regardless of what you celebrate, the holidays are a magical time of the year. Families gather together to give presents, ring in the new year, and watch A Christmas Story on TNT all day. Everyone’s got their own set of holiday traditions, and here at Flixist, many of them revolve around our favorite holiday movies. Today, we’re kicking off a week of holiday-related articles leading up to Christmas Day, so what better time to share some of those traditions? Below the cut, you’ll find a few of my traditional holiday movies and read why they’re important to me during this time of the year. You’ll read more from the other editors over the coming week, and we’d also love to hear what kind of traditions you guys keep on the holiday season, be they movie, TV, or something equally awesome. Post something on our community blogs, and it might just get tossed up on the front page. There’s a Christmas present you can use!{{page_break}}
Scrooged
Almost everyone has their favorite version of A Christmas Carol, whether it’s the book or one of the fifty bajillion movie adaptations. You’re going to see two on this list here. Scrooged is something I watched every year with my family until I moved away completely after college. All four of us worship at the altar of Bill Murray, so it’s no surprise that this became our number one holiday movie. Murray’s Frank Cross does something one thought nearly impossible: make Dickens’s Scrooge look like a damned saint. Frank isn’t just a miser; he’s a cheat, a liar, and the worst kind of television executive ever, gleefully shoehorning in gratuitous sex appeal and violence into the holidays. It makes his turn into a decent, loving human being, happily extolling the virtues of the seasons and rediscovering true love on live television, that much more appealing.
Muppet Christmas Carol
This is a newer one for me. Since meeting my wife, we’ve watched this every Christmas we’ve been together. I’d seen it as a child, but I guess it didn’t resonate with me the same way until I had someone to really share it with. This movie is probably the last consistently wonderful Muppet movie. Muppet Treasure Island is fun, but Tim Curry alone can only take you but so far. Michael Caine absolutely brings his A-game as Scrooge, especially when he dances like a damn fool with the Ghost of Christmas Present. It goes through the fantastically-done Christmas Carol story with the all the usual charm and enthusiasm the Muppets can muster. It also features my favorite/most terrifying Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come on film. He isn’t just a Grim Reaper revamp. He’s a goddamned empty hood. I shudder thinking about it.
There’s a common thread here. Number one: I’m a sucker for A Christmas Carol. Number two: I’m too much of a simpleton to actually care about one of the “classic” Christmas Carol adaptations. That said, there’s a reason A Christmas Carol is such a perfect story. Scrooge’s entire character arc is so masterfully done, and his journey has that nigh-indefinable power to captivate millions. Billions, even. It’s a beautiful story, and the fact that it has maintained that power throughout the years is truly a magical thing.