Bluelitespecial

Type in "Elves 1989" on youtube, that's one of the worst Christmas Movies ever made. I'm watching The Polar Express right now. I enjoy it but I always believe it has the same problems as Jim Carrey's The Grinch. Taking a very short kids book and turning it into a feature length movie mean there's a ton of filler scenes. I kind of lose interest in the movie once the train gets to the North Pole.

shadokitty

I didn't have cable when I was growing up, so missed out on the Nick cartoons from when it was Nickelodeon. That being said, I saw the Hanukkah episode of Rugrats for the first time last night. It was a cute story, about the meaning of Hanukkah. Chuckie and the babies misunderstood and thought it was the meanie of Hanukkah, so they spent most of the full half hour episode trying to save their grandpa from the meanie of Hanukkah.

Trevor

I love me the frequent Hallmark/Lifetime cheese, but I watched the exact opposite of one of these films and it was wonderful. Christmas, Again is a 2014 film currently on Fandor and Prime. It’s about a downtrodden Christmas tree salesman and how his various interactions bring a dash of hope. But it doesn’t force the happiness or really stress the story, it’s just sort of shows his life, warts and all, without ramming in a theme or message or resolution. Best viewing of the month, although The Christmas Chronicles was a hoot.

LJG765

Wow...that's an awesome list and I am going to use it!

Talking about Hallmark movies, I just watched Coming Home for Christmas which stars Danica McKellar. It's basically a nicer, Christmasy version of Sabrina. I enjoyed it.

jholmes

Thanks for a rec! A few I've watched recently that I recommend:

* The Christmas Contract (2018) - Lifetime. I have a theory that when Lifetime and Netflix to Hallmark knock-offs they have to try a little harder and so are often a cut above. This one is a "fake boyfriend" trope, but it's really well done. Clever script, good dialogue, some actual character development, good chemistry. I liked it.

* I'll Be Seeing You (1944) - I found this one Googling Christmas movies. Bit tired of watching the same old vintage movies every year. This one is interesting. Ginger Rogers plays a woman who is "on leave" from jail for Christmas and goes to visit her aunt. She meets a man (Joseph Cotton) just home from war with PTSD and an injury. It's a subtle/gentle story about two broken people finding love at Christmas. Weird how current it felt with the "me too" movement (Ginger's crime was against a man who tried to rape her) and more awareness of veteran depression/PTSD.

* Christmas With Tucker (2013) and A Dog Named Christmas (2009). Love both of these family dramas that revolve around dogs. I'm a sucker for dog stories.

* Make the Yuletide Gay (2009) - Cute story of a guy who is not out to his parents going home for Christmas and then his "rooommate" shows up. Best part is the cheesy Midwestern parents. They were a hoot.

* A Heavenly Christmas (2016) - Sort of Scrooge-ish and also It's a Wonderful Life-ish. A workaholic woman who thinks she has time later in life for love and family, but she "dies" and becomes an angel who must help a man and his young niece. It's a nice change from the typical Hallmark romance and it has Shirley MacClaine as the angel mentor, which is fun.

* Christmas Inheritance (2017) - A good example of Netflix doing Hallmark better than Hallmark. Typical storyline involves an heiress who goes incognito to a small town to learn about "real people". But the script is good, and I loved the male lead who is very funny. Give me a leading man with a sense of humor anytime! (hello, Ryan Reynolds).

* Holiday Engagement (2011) - on Netflix. Another "fake boyfriend" story but really well done and I loved the leads together.

* Silent Night (2002) - Hallmark Hall of Fame serious tear-jerker about a German woman who hosts 3 German and 3 American soldiers on Christmas Eve during WWII. Nice change from the typical holiday fare.

* The Christmas Chronicles (2018) - LOVED. Instant classic. I love movies that take on the North Pole/Santa myth seriously and they spent a lot of moolah on this one. Kurt Russell as Santa. My God, that's man's HAIR.

* A Season for Miracles (1999) - Another Hallmark Hall of Fame tear-jerker about a woman with 2 kids who is basically homeless but is mistaken for someone else and finds a place to stay over Christmas.

I haven't LOVED most of the new Hallmark movies I've watched this year, sadly. A few have been decent. I liked "Road to Christmas" and "Once Upon a Christmas Miracle".

Indy24LA

I tried to watch this on Amazon, but the one that was included with Prime was from 2013. The description was even wrong. That said, it wasn't too bad.

jholmes

Looks like Hulu's "Into the Dark series will have both a Christmas and New Year's story that'll count for the challenge. Whoot! The Christmas one is out now.

POOKA!
https://www.hulu.com/movie/pooka-fa2...6-06122dfa5a23

About the New Year's one (New Year, New You):
https://dailydead.com/horror-highlig...the-harrowing/

LJG765

Thanks for the recs, jholmes...I'll have to check them out if I get a chance this weekend!

I just looked at this...they do have the first listing with the wrong actors, then the 2nd one is correct to the 2013 version. The one I watched, they are not including in Amazon Prime...wonder if that will change next year? I bet Hallmark will re-air it though, if you get that at all.

I'm not sure if I saw the rec here or if I stumbled across it on my own, but I found "The First Silent Night" very interesting. It's an hour long PBS special on the author/composer of the Christmas Carol, "Silent Night." Some very beautiful images and interesting history.

shadokitty

I just want to thank you for running this Challenge, The Monkees. Christmas is usually my favorite time of the year, but this year there is more to it. We lost one of our boxers near Christmas last year, and of late I’ve been thinking about her quite often, as well as the one we put to sleep in October. This Challenge is really helping me distract myself.

Bluelitespecial

I'm not going to be able to watch as much this year, but I'm still shooting for between 80-100. I saw Silent Night last night. I don't even know if I would call it a remake of Silent Night Deadly Night, but it had some funny callbacks to the original, and it was very over the top with the gore.

BobO'Link

I watched White Christmas this morning - finally cracking open that BR I purchased last year. I must say that this one does grow a bit on me every time I watch it. I still much prefer Holiday Inn but White Christmas is slowly closing the gap. Frankly, it's the song "Snow" that keeps sucking me in. It's my favorite "new" song from that movie.

Darkgod

TheBigDave

LJG765

Today I taught 18 5-year-olds. By the time I got home, I was exhausted but needed to stay awake. I ended up watching the Pentatonix special for a second time even though I was not a fan of it. It's pretty badly done. You can very much tell they are lip syncing. Love their music, but this special you can totally skip; just grab their new CD.

After, I watched another episode of Christmas Cookie Challenge. Man, they can decorate!

shadokitty

I'll try to get in what I can today, but this is my last free day before Christmas. Tomorrow my sister is bringing her girls for their Christmas dinner, and I have a party to go to on Christmas Eve. Likely be busy with my own family on Christmas day.

Bluelitespecial

Totally not related to the challenge but I thought I would share. I got to go see a group called for King and Country last night, this was really cool to see in person.

shadokitty

Now that it is Christmas Eve, allow me to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.

davidh777

Yeah, I've always been a Holiday Inn snob, but I have grown more fond of White Christmas over the years. And yes, that's a great song.

shadokitty

All day and night yesterday, Dish Studio was running a marathon of Christmas concerts. I would have loved to get more in, but I only got one concert in, since after my sister and nieces left, I only made it through one before needing to go to sleep, as I was barely awake after that.

bacigalup

After viewing some Christmas episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet on DVD, I went searching on You Tube for more & found An Ozzie and Harriet Christmas Special that was broadcast in 1981.
According to the YT poster it was aired only once & was produced by a local L.A. station (KTLA). A nostalgic look back at the show, hosted by Harriet & David Nelson, it featured many former cast members visiting them at Christmas time.

The almost 2hr show includes commercials circa Dec. of 1981:

shadokitty

It has long been an annual family tradition that on Christmas Eve our family gathers together and watches the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol . I know different people have different favorite versions, and that the George C. Scott version is widely held to be the best version, but to us the 1951 version with Alastair Sim has always been the best version of a true Christmas classic.

Trevor

Ended up having an impromptu Prancer night last night. Started off with the original, an underated imho gem with the always great Sam Elliot. Didn’t think I owned the sequel, but found on Prime a very similar story in Last Chance for Christmas. Then found my DVD and capped the evening with Prancer Returns. None were groundbreaking or truly excellent I’ll admit, but each had that element of the magical world of Santa entering “normal” life that I enjoy so much.

BobO'Link

Grandma presented the 6 grandkids with a copy of "The Night Before Christmas" tonight to start a new tradition of PawPaw (me) reading it to them. It was received well and I enjoyed the read. While I've read it in the past I've never read it to either of my kids or any of the grandkids before so it was new for all of us. It's so short that I should memorize it for next Christmas.

LJG765

That sounds like an awesome start to a new tradition!

I'm visiting my sister right now, and their tradition is to have a contest decorating gingerbread houses. I tied for second. My sister won, but as our mom said, we think it's because she sleeps with the judge! lol! (the judge was my bro-in-law.)

We mainly had music on all day, but we did sit down as a family and watch Frosty the Snowman.- One of my favorites, but I think I enjoy the sequel, Frosty Returns just a bit more than the original. Maybe because I'm a John Goodman fan...

For those with Hulu, yesterday I watched a few episodes of this series where they took random events surrounding Christmas and filmed it for an hour, no talking, really. Think it's meant to be a background noise type thing. One was on puppies destroying Christmas (tree, stockings, stuffed Santa and so on), the next was a snowman melting. The best was focused on a gingerbread house and people with a punch bowl. There was a party in the background and every once in a while someone would refill their drink and grab some gingerbread. A tree would disappear, then part of the roof. 5 grown adults and 2 kids watched. The adults liked it better than the kids! HA!

BobO'Link

I've had possibly the worst ever "Holiday Challenge" numbers this year. It's partly my fault as I just couldn't get motivated to watch those handful of upgrade and new titles I purchased over the year or had left over from last year that qualify. I'd really wanted to watch the BRs of some of my all-time favorites but couldn't put my hands on them. Well... looking for some Marvel Universe titles last night I stumbled across the lot in a stack of titles I'd set aside for my son to get digital codes from. Of course I now have a desire to watch them but have gone full-in on the TVonDVD Challenge.

If I can get some of the grandkids to watch with me I may go ahead and try to squeeze them in but we have only tonight and in the morning before my son and his family returns from visiting my daughter-in-law's family. They'll be here over the weekend and I know I'll not watch much TV during that time. It'll all be playing with/watching the grandkids play and a few board games with various groups. I got his kids a couple of new games ("Enchanted Forrest" and "Ticket to Ride First Journey") and want to make time to play those with them. My daughter's youngest (age 7) loves "Enchanted Forrest" and we all like the TTR games but have never played "First Journey" before. I also have a stack of new games I've purchased over the year that we've not yet gotten to the table. The only person we won't get to play is grandma - she just refuses to play anything but "standard" US card games (Spades, Uno, Mille Bourne, and a couple of others) and Yahtzee. She's always been that way and I've always been a lover of all kinds of board games (but lean towards "Euro Style" products). Fortunately, my kids and grandkids like all kinds of games too so I can indulge my passion with them.