It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
11-30-12, 06:31 PM
#126
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
And the colorization isn't too bad. Although I generally prefer the B/W version some scenes are quite good - especially that sequined dress Virginia Dale wears in one of the dance sequences with Astaire.
Just do it! It's worth the price for the dance sequences alone. Astaire is fantastic and when he and Dale take the floor together it's magic! The musical numbers are simply spectacular (even "Abraham" which many today feel is somewhat offensive due to the stereotypical nature and black-faced Crosby). These comments coming from someone who generally does *not* like musicals.
Just do it! It's worth the price for the dance sequences alone. Astaire is fantastic and when he and Dale take the floor together it's magic! The musical numbers are simply spectacular (even "Abraham" which many today feel is somewhat offensive due to the stereotypical nature and black-faced Crosby). These comments coming from someone who generally does *not* like musicals.
11-30-12, 08:36 PM
#127
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I was just at Target and picked it up-shouldn't have, but couldn't resist the price. The one they're selling is a 3 disc version. First disc has the original b&w and some featurettes, plus commentary. The 2nd disc has the color version. Third disc is a music cd with 12 Irving Berlin holiday songs from the original soundtrack. Pretty good deal for that, I think.
12-02-12, 02:05 PM
#128
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Just caught a Christmas show on of all channels, the Weather channel. Epic Christmas, kind of an Extreme Makoever Home Edition type show where a group goes all out to decorate a family's home.
12-02-12, 03:43 PM
#129
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Well, I watched It's a Wonderful Life. It's one of two holiday films I wasn't looking forward to watching for the challenge but since they're on the checklist I had resigned myself to watching. It wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. I liked it better than I had the first time I saw it, though, I still only rate it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It will never be my favorite.
Biggest pet peeve? It takes almost 2 hours for them to show us that Bailey is good and Potter is bad. Then, the end of it feels almost rushed rather than spending more time on life without George. If you're making a full 2 hour movie, at least make the whole thing balanced!
I know, I know, I'm in the minority for disliking this movie, but oh well!
The 2nd one I'm not looking forward to watching? A Christmas Story. Dislike!
Well, off to try to finish putting up the Christmas lights on the outside of the house...I feel like I'm surrounded by Roseanne Connor's family and we're the Grinch's!
Biggest pet peeve? It takes almost 2 hours for them to show us that Bailey is good and Potter is bad. Then, the end of it feels almost rushed rather than spending more time on life without George. If you're making a full 2 hour movie, at least make the whole thing balanced!
I know, I know, I'm in the minority for disliking this movie, but oh well!
The 2nd one I'm not looking forward to watching? A Christmas Story. Dislike!
Well, off to try to finish putting up the Christmas lights on the outside of the house...I feel like I'm surrounded by Roseanne Connor's family and we're the Grinch's!
12-02-12, 04:26 PM
#130
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Well, I watched It's a Wonderful Life. It's one of two holiday films I wasn't looking forward to watching for the challenge but since they're on the checklist I had resigned myself to watching. It wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. I liked it better than I had the first time I saw it, though, I still only rate it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It will never be my favorite.
Biggest pet peeve? It takes almost 2 hours for them to show us that Bailey is good and Potter is bad. Then, the end of it feels almost rushed rather than spending more time on life without George. If you're making a full 2 hour movie, at least make the whole thing balanced!
I know, I know, I'm in the minority for disliking this movie, but oh well!
The 2nd one I'm not looking forward to watching? A Christmas Story. Dislike!
Well, off to try to finish putting up the Christmas lights on the outside of the house...I feel like I'm surrounded by Roseanne Connor's family and we're the Grinch's!
Biggest pet peeve? It takes almost 2 hours for them to show us that Bailey is good and Potter is bad. Then, the end of it feels almost rushed rather than spending more time on life without George. If you're making a full 2 hour movie, at least make the whole thing balanced!
I know, I know, I'm in the minority for disliking this movie, but oh well!
The 2nd one I'm not looking forward to watching? A Christmas Story. Dislike!
Well, off to try to finish putting up the Christmas lights on the outside of the house...I feel like I'm surrounded by Roseanne Connor's family and we're the Grinch's!
I had soured a bit on A Christmas Story over the years, but I loved it again last night. Perhaps because it was a first time view for both my wife and daughter, and seeing them enjoy it so much made it a great experience.
It's a Wonderful Life is a near perfect movie IMHO. I'm getting more empathetic as I age and well up at many emotional scenes and even commercials. Not cry cry, just well up a bit. But that scene in IaWL where the pharmacist hits young George and then realizes what happened gets me literally bawling every-time. Just thinking about it gives me shivers.
12-02-12, 05:33 PM
#131
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I liked that scene as well. Like I said, it was better than I remembered but it just went on too long in my opinion setting up the money shot, so to speak.
12-02-12, 06:28 PM
#132
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Today, I broke open an AMC set of public domain holiday features and watched Beyond Tomorrow and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1935). I've been watching so many BDs and remastered films that it took some time to get use to the extremely grainy quality of both films. Both were fun romps with ghostly interference.
12-02-12, 06:40 PM
#133
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Today, I broke open an AMC set of public domain holiday features and watched Beyond Tomorrow and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1935). I've been watching so many BDs and remastered films that it took some time to get use to the extremely grainy quality of both films. Both were fun romps with ghostly interference.
12-02-12, 10:19 PM
#134
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Have been curious as to why I never bought the recent version of A Christmas Carol. Hear it's a clunker, but I need to own it of course. Was doing some cleaning today, going through boxes I haven't opened since ~2010. I found three BD copies of the film.
12-03-12, 02:06 AM
#136
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I watched A Christmas Story 2 and it's absolutely terrible! I mean I didn't expect it to be any good but seriously, it's awful!
12-03-12, 08:46 AM
#137
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Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
What format did you watch it on?
12-03-12, 10:04 AM
#138
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
12-03-12, 10:19 AM
#139
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
It appears that I bought the regular BD, then later bought what was apparently my first ever 3D BD, then later found a coupon and bought it again. I meant to return the first two, but they all got buried under some papers and later packed away in a box.
So in a way, I just rediscovered my Christmas of 2010, and have two gifts for others' Christmas 2012!
I haven't researched them much, but have heard only negative things so far. Perhaps A Christmas Story was sort of a one-hit-wonder thing.
So in a way, I just rediscovered my Christmas of 2010, and have two gifts for others' Christmas 2012!
I haven't researched them much, but have heard only negative things so far. Perhaps A Christmas Story was sort of a one-hit-wonder thing.
12-03-12, 02:04 PM
#140
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I finally got started early this morning when I couldn't sleep. I've been meaning to revisit Batman: The Animated Series all year (this being the show's 20th anniversary) and with the calendar nearing its end, I decided it was high time I started. The second episode, of course, is "Christmas with The Joker".
Mark Hamill always sounded like he was having the time of his life recording as The Joker. It's easy to forget today that when this show debuted, there hadn't been anything animated on TV with actual bullets in decades. There is a sort of Silver Age silliness to the episode; Joker escapes Arkham using a rocket-powered Christmas tree, for instance, and his hideout is full of oversize toy soldiers and teddy bears. There's also an edge of actual danger and a storytelling sophistication that sets this show apart from its contemporaries.
My favorite bit in the whole thing is when Robin is pleading with Batman to call it a night, go home and watch It's a Wonderful Life. "You know, I've never seen that. I could never get past the title," says Batman. I laughed. Later, they do sit down to watch it and Bruce grouses, "It's not excessively cheerful, is it?" Those are throwaway lines, but they tell us a lot about Bruce Wayne as a character. It's also not the kind of banter that we younger viewers had come to expect at the time. Sure, cartoons were full of byplay stocked with wry humor and peppered with cultural references, but this wasn't just about the standard set-up/punch line/rim shot formula. This was the kind of dialog that actual people would have about It's a Wonderful Life.
I'm holding off on revisiting that film until the midnight show on the 22nd, but I'll have to remember to pair it with "Christmas with The Joker" in the future.
On the DVD, it's particularly weird because the fourth episode, "The Last Laugh", also features The Joker...and it's set on 1 April ("April Fools Day"). It's a little odd as a viewer, how the production sequence wasn't built around chronology.
Mark Hamill always sounded like he was having the time of his life recording as The Joker. It's easy to forget today that when this show debuted, there hadn't been anything animated on TV with actual bullets in decades. There is a sort of Silver Age silliness to the episode; Joker escapes Arkham using a rocket-powered Christmas tree, for instance, and his hideout is full of oversize toy soldiers and teddy bears. There's also an edge of actual danger and a storytelling sophistication that sets this show apart from its contemporaries.
My favorite bit in the whole thing is when Robin is pleading with Batman to call it a night, go home and watch It's a Wonderful Life. "You know, I've never seen that. I could never get past the title," says Batman. I laughed. Later, they do sit down to watch it and Bruce grouses, "It's not excessively cheerful, is it?" Those are throwaway lines, but they tell us a lot about Bruce Wayne as a character. It's also not the kind of banter that we younger viewers had come to expect at the time. Sure, cartoons were full of byplay stocked with wry humor and peppered with cultural references, but this wasn't just about the standard set-up/punch line/rim shot formula. This was the kind of dialog that actual people would have about It's a Wonderful Life.
I'm holding off on revisiting that film until the midnight show on the 22nd, but I'll have to remember to pair it with "Christmas with The Joker" in the future.
On the DVD, it's particularly weird because the fourth episode, "The Last Laugh", also features The Joker...and it's set on 1 April ("April Fools Day"). It's a little odd as a viewer, how the production sequence wasn't built around chronology.
12-03-12, 02:06 PM
#141
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I picked up a copy of My Summer Story (aka It Runs in the Family) at BL for $3 a while back. It's not too bad... but barely worth the $3 I paid and really plays much like a made-for-TV-movie even though it had a theatrical run. When I read A Christmas Story 2 is a straight to video movie and Ralphie is of driving age wanting a car for Christmas I immediately wrote it off (like I *should* have done with Christmas Vacation 2). Based on what you guys have said it sounds like a good decision.
12-03-12, 04:06 PM
#143
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Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I picked up a copy of My Summer Story (aka It Runs in the Family) at BL for $3 a while back. It's not too bad... but barely worth the $3 I paid and really plays much like a made-for-TV-movie even though it had a theatrical run. When I read A Christmas Story 2 is a straight to video movie and Ralphie is of driving age wanting a car for Christmas I immediately wrote it off (like I *should* have done with Christmas Vacation 2). Based on what you guys have said it sounds like a good decision.
Edit: Oh yeah, A Christmas Story 2 looks like crap, but I'll probably watch it once.
Last edited by Dimension X; 12-03-12 at 04:34 PM.
12-03-12, 11:38 PM
#144
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I have no plans on watching Christmas Story 2. Don't want to watch the original, but it's on the checklist...
I taped quite a few Christmas movies off the Family Channel and have been trying to watch them the last few days. Been getting distracted but crossed a few off my list. A Holiday Engagement and A Town Without Christmas were the first two. I would recommend A Town Without Christmas. Has the mother from Everybody Loves Raymond and Peter Falk in it. I wouldn't say it's Oscar worthy but worth the watch if anyone else catches it on TV.
A Holiday Engagement-well, you can pass on that one. It's pretty bad. It's what you think of typical holiday movie-girl gets dumped, pays a guy to play her fiance, falls in love with guy, first guy comes back, girl realizes guy 2 is the guy for her. There, told you all you need to know so you don't need to suffer through it.
Watching Matchmaker Santa. So far so cute. Some fun cameos. John Ratzenburger, the Brady Bunch mom...
My watching is going to be a bit sporadic the next week and a half or so. Going out of town for a week or so. Plan on bringing some DVDs with, but just not sure how much I'll actually get watched.
I taped quite a few Christmas movies off the Family Channel and have been trying to watch them the last few days. Been getting distracted but crossed a few off my list. A Holiday Engagement and A Town Without Christmas were the first two. I would recommend A Town Without Christmas. Has the mother from Everybody Loves Raymond and Peter Falk in it. I wouldn't say it's Oscar worthy but worth the watch if anyone else catches it on TV.
A Holiday Engagement-well, you can pass on that one. It's pretty bad. It's what you think of typical holiday movie-girl gets dumped, pays a guy to play her fiance, falls in love with guy, first guy comes back, girl realizes guy 2 is the guy for her. There, told you all you need to know so you don't need to suffer through it.
Watching Matchmaker Santa. So far so cute. Some fun cameos. John Ratzenburger, the Brady Bunch mom...
My watching is going to be a bit sporadic the next week and a half or so. Going out of town for a week or so. Plan on bringing some DVDs with, but just not sure how much I'll actually get watched.
12-04-12, 12:15 AM
#145
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
Today, I broke open an AMC set of public domain holiday features and watched Beyond Tomorrow and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1935). I've been watching so many BDs and remastered films that it took some time to get use to the extremely grainy quality of both films. Both were fun romps with ghostly interference.
12-04-12, 01:15 AM
#146
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Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
When I was picking up The Dark Knight Rises at midnight, I saw Best Buy had the combo pack of Silent Night Deadly Night 1 & 2 on DVD for $9.99, so got that as well. Planning to check out during the challenge for the first time.
12-04-12, 08:32 AM
#147
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
First of all, I noticed that there are a wide variety of shows that have christmas episodes, even documentaries. Right now I am Watching Christmas in Yellowstone from Nature on Hulu.
Also Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on CBS tonight.
Also Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is on CBS tonight.
12-05-12, 01:15 AM
#148
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
I don't know why I never thought of this but what is everyone's favorite Christmas TV episode? Or maybe a list of your favorites?
My favorites include The Monkees Christmas episode because it's actually got a great emotional moment and the part where Mike explains what Christmas means makes it great.
And the first Full House Christmas episode from season 2 simply because of the scene where Uncle Jesse explains Christmas...
I guess I enjoy people talking about the true meaning of Christmas.
My favorites include The Monkees Christmas episode because it's actually got a great emotional moment and the part where Mike explains what Christmas means makes it great.
And the first Full House Christmas episode from season 2 simply because of the scene where Uncle Jesse explains Christmas...
I guess I enjoy people talking about the true meaning of Christmas.
12-05-12, 04:17 AM
#149
Member
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)
A few favourites:
The Simpsons - Marge Be Not Proud
Frasier - Miracle on 3rd or 4th Street
Moonlighting - 'Twas the Episode Before Christmas
The West Wing - In Excelsis Deo
Home Improvement - 'Twas The Flight Before Christmas
Community - Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
Six Feet Under - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Malcolm in the Middle - Christmas
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
King of the Hill - The Unbearable Blindness of Laying
The X-Files - How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
Hey Arnold! - Arnold's Christmas
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - 'Twas the Night Before Christening
South Park - Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
Futurama - Xmas Story, A Tale of Two Santas
ER - A Miracle Happens Here
The Simpsons - Marge Be Not Proud
Frasier - Miracle on 3rd or 4th Street
Moonlighting - 'Twas the Episode Before Christmas
The West Wing - In Excelsis Deo
Home Improvement - 'Twas The Flight Before Christmas
Community - Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas
Six Feet Under - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Malcolm in the Middle - Christmas
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
King of the Hill - The Unbearable Blindness of Laying
The X-Files - How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
Hey Arnold! - Arnold's Christmas
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - 'Twas the Night Before Christening
South Park - Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
Futurama - Xmas Story, A Tale of Two Santas
ER - A Miracle Happens Here
12-05-12, 11:54 AM
#150
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like the 8th Annual Holiday Challenge (11/19 - 1/1)