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MarvinAndroid said on December 23rd, 2009 at 4:55 pm

I remember catching this randomly on Comedy Central one day, and watching it because I really liked Leary’s standup at the time. Considering the usual quality of the movies Comedy Central airs, I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s no Die Hard, though.

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malakim2099 said on December 23rd, 2009 at 5:48 pm

This is definitely one of my five favorites for Christmastime. Along with Die Hard, Scrooged, Gremlins, and Nightmare Before Christmas.

I need to get a copy of this again.

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Hey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5bc8zFUiQE

Also, thanks to your blog, I recently watched (500) days of summer. So, you know, THANK YOU.

About the other stuff… well, I guess I’m more a ghostbuster kind of guy when it comes to the christmas spirit.

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And a fleeting moment of B.D. Wong, if only to set up one of my favorite jokes in the middle of the film.

Entirely underrated little flick — a film that could go wrong in entirely so many areas that, at least for me, refuses to, in large part because of an exceptional cast bringing its A-game and sustaining the film where it should falter.

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Hives? HIVES at Miracle on 34th Street? The original? Look, my Christmas spirit is really only low-to-moderate under normal conditions, but when that little Dutch girl goes up to Santa, and she’s been told that he won’t understand her, but then he says hello in Dutch and her face lights up…?

Damn you guys, I think it is dusty in here. Don’t you feel the dust? Like, in your eyes? Damn.

That main lawyer dude is a total skeeze though. He ends up doing good things, but for all the most terrible reasons.

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Coming soon from Hollywood: a remake starring one of the guys from The Hangover and that blond lady who wasn’t Tina Fey from SNL. With the Dennis Leary role given to Jim Carrey.

/headthump

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I got news for you, lady. Your husband ain’t dead. He’s hiding.

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Bryce (Mouser) said on December 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm

PaulW, if you repeat that to ANYONE in Hollywood, I will cause you great spiritual harm, SOMEHOW!

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motteditor said on December 23rd, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Yup, definitely a great movie…

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One of my favorites. I drive people crazy telling them about it.

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John Pontoon said on December 23rd, 2009 at 10:48 pm

Re: Ted Demme, I still think his best movie is “Who’s the Man,” with Ed Lover and the lesser Dr. Dre, plus Dennis Leary as a cop Sergeant. Lover’s rant about how he hates that motherfucker Jethro Clampett is “the bomb.” Did I say that right?

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Ah, I love this movie. One of my favorite little moments is when Leary finds out his new getaway vehicle is a boat, and can only rub his eyes and hysterically laugh.

That, and, “Lady, I’ve met loan sharks with more compassion than you.”

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“I got news for ya, lady. Your husband ain’t dead; he’s HIDIN’!”

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While I enjoy Scrooged (though I wonder if things like the Solid Gold Dancers and Mary Lou Retton won’t eventually reduce it to a period piece) I’ve always thought the Christmas Future isn’t dark enough. Murray discovers he’s going to die (gasp!); Scrooge died so alone and unmourned people ripped off his bedsheets and threw him in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

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Polychrome said on December 24th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

“What’s that smell?”

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Edgar Allan Poe said on December 24th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

This is a good movie.

But if you don’t like It’s a Wonderful Life, then it’s probable that something inside of you is dead and black and flinty.

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malakim2099 said on December 25th, 2009 at 2:11 am

While I enjoy Scrooged (though I wonder if things like the Solid Gold Dancers and Mary Lou Retton won’t eventually reduce it to a period piece) I’ve always thought the Christmas Future isn’t dark enough.

Um, his social worker idealist girlfriend turning into basically a self-absorbed rich snoot plus his secretary’s son being in an asylum was not dark enough?

Frankly, I thought that was pretty dark, because it didn’t only show the main character’s demise, but it also showed that his negative influence spread beyond himself.

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I’m with you on a lot of these, but I can’t share the hate for “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I love the message of the film, because it feels true and heartfelt; the things that spread beyond us aren’t big, dramatic acts, they’re tiny little moments of hope and joy that we share with others. And Jimmy Stewart is frankly awesome. 🙂

No, for me the “get it off me, get it off me!” holiday movie is “A Christmas Story”, a treacly, rose-colored nostalgia for a time that never existed. I’ve never actually been smothered to death by cotton candy, but I have to imagine that this is what it would feel like. (And the bonus casual racism at the end is like icing on the hate cake! “Ha, ha, ha! Look! The Chinese people talk funny!” Fucksake.)

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If you mention christmas carol and rowan aktinson in the same text you must mention rowans version of a christmas carol, hilarious.

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malakim2099 said on December 25th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Also, I am just reminded of the George C Scott as Scrooge version of A Christmas Carol, which is still a favorite rendition of mine.

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as the first person intimated, Die Hard is (at least one of) the greatest christmas movie(s) ever.

in other news, Denis Leary and Kevin Spacy? I must see this film

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Kevin M. Hagerman said on December 29th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

“Slipper socks! Medium!”

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Scrooge died so alone and unmourned people ripped off his bedsheets and threw him in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

Well, unmarked except for the marker with “EBENEZER SCROOGE” on it.

Also, I am just reminded of the George C Scott as Scrooge version of A Christmas Carol, which is still a favorite rendition of mine.

Indeed. Scott is a grouch, but in a restrained, gloomy way. Which lines up better with the story that Young Scrooge Went Wrong Somewhere.

But if you don’t like It’s a Wonderful Life, then it’s probable that something inside of you is dead and black and flinty.

Someday, someone should write an internet post exploring the hypothesis that George really does die, and is experiencing an afterlife that validates all his soulcrushing life decisions. Because that would be awesome.

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Pronoiac said on May 21st, 2015 at 7:55 pm

mds: Someday, someone should write an internet post exploring the hypothesis that George really does die, and is experiencing an afterlife that validates all his soulcrushing life decisions. Because that would be awesome.

Here you go!

John Rogers: “Gotta say, once you realize George Bailey dies in the middle, it’s a totally different movie.”

(I finally watched “The Ref” last night.)

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