Spring Break
X-mas movie reviews
Issue date: 12/10/08 Section: Student Culture
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
If an overcooked turkey, an incinerated house cat and Chevy Chase telling Julia Louis-Dreyfus to essentially stick a Christmas tree up her behind doesn't sing to modern holiday sentiments, I don't know what does. See "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."
-Mark Powell, sports editor
The Santa Clause
Forget coal. Piss off Santa at Christmas time and something drastic will happen.
Or so is the case for Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen, in "The Santa Clause."
Sudden weight gain, rebellious reindeer and a super-charged sleigh are all what the divorcee must endure on Christmas Eve after being forced to be the next Santa Claus.
Scott does his duty and delivers all of the presents to the good, little boys and girls. Just when he thinks his responsibilities as St. Nicholas are over, he is transported to the North Pole where some elves with attitude inform him that he is now Santa Claus because he put on the infamous red suit.
I love this movie because Tim Allen's character goes through such trouble to finally make his son proud.
As a child of a divorced family, this movie shows me that holidays do not have to be a stressful situation of splitting time in torn families.
Instead, Christmas at mom's and/or dad's can be filled with just as much cheesy happiness and joy as before the papers were served.
-Allie Figures, staff writer
Love Actually
"General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed - but I don't see that - seems to me that love is everywhere."
"Love Actually" weaves multiple stories together to fashion a movie that is both witty and touching.
While the film has its fair share of romantic couples (Hugh Grant and Colin Firth - albeit not together), they aren't the one-dimensional boy-girl relationships in similar, lesser movies. The on-screen couples range from a man who's in love with his best friend's wife to people who speak in different tongues to porn stars who work with each other before they ever go on a first date.
"Love Actually" doesn't limit itself to the amorous type, either. In fact, one of my favorite storylines doesn't involve romance. I love the cast. I love the script. I love the movie. You'll love it so much, you'll want to marry it and grow old together. "Love actually is all around."
-Kimberly Tsao, student culture editor
White Christmas
"White Christmas" takes everyone back to a time when real talent lit up the silver screen,and the only special effect was Vaseline over the lens. This movie musical from 1954 employs a triple-threat cast of actors, singers and dancers.
Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) are World War II army buddies who become successful performers. They pair up with talented sisters Betty and Judy Haynes (Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen respectively). The quartet heads to Vermont, expecting snow, and is surprised by more than the weather.
From the perfectly period costumes to the intricate song and dance numbers, this film will make anyone's holiday a classic.
-Megan Hamilton
Home Alone
John Hughes, the brilliant mastermind that has enriched the world with cinematic gems such as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles," has graced us with the best Christmas movie of all time, "Home Alone."
The movie follows Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin), a lovable 8-year-old boy who's accidentally left home alone when his family forgets him on their way to Paris. Realizing he's now king of the castle, Kevin stays up late, plays with firecrackers and single-handedly foils two robbers with the most elaborate plot I have ever seen orchestrated on the big screen. Blow torch rigged door? Comic genius.
-Andrea Frainier, staff writer
Trading Places
Although "Trading Places" is not purely a Christmas movie, it takes place during the Christmas season and has Christmas-related themes. Harkening back to a time when Eddie Murphy made good movies, the film tells the story of the Duke brothers' wager to see if they can put a street criminal (Murphy) in the place of a businessman (Dan Akroyd) in their company and have him successfully take over the businessman's role as a broker.
The tables get turned on the brothers and they end up broke, while the former criminal and disgraced businessman hit it big on the commodities market. Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche reprised their roles as Randolph and Mortimer Duke five years later with a cameo in "Coming to America."
-Tommy Wright, sports editor
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Halloween presence in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" doesn't make it any less of a must-watch Christmas movie.
Tired of the scary Halloween celebration year to year, Jack Skellington becomes fascinated by the style and feeling of Christmas. The Halloween Town residents, however, failed to grasp Jack's meaning and compared everything he shared with them to ideas of Halloween.
Fueled by the ghoulishly delightful and unforgettable soundtrack and amazing character design, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is an original, daring artistic creation that combines fun and fright.
It's not a kid film, and it's hard to imagine little kids grabbing onto this one as a favorite. Maybe it was horrifying to see a boogieman chasing Santa, but who says animation is kid stuff?
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a long way from the traditional Disney fare, but even with its dark undertones, one will discover messages deep in the heart of the movie and characters.
-Ya-an Chan, staff writer
A Charlie Brown Christmas Story
"A Charlie Brown Christmas Story" is an epic Christmas movie for children and adults. It shouldn't go unwatched.
Charlie Brown is upset with how the Peanuts gang is treating the holiday so commercially, and thinks that everyone has forgotten the true meaning of the holiday. When he is put in charge of picking out a Christmas tree for the pageant, he chooses a lonely, puny one. With the help of Linus's moving speech on what Christmas is really about, the gang comes to understand the true meaning of the holiday.
From the soundtrack to the characters, "A Charlie Brown Christmas Story" is one of the original animated Christmas movies that blow all those heartfelt cliché holiday films out of the water.
-Danielle Torralba, staff writer
Black Christmas
What's cooler than a holiday season with a bit of death on the side? Not much, I say, and that's why "Black Christmas" is the most awesome Christmas movie ever. You've never seen so many fatalities in a movie featuring Christmas trees. The story's nice and suspenseful, too. You'll never think about saran-wrapped corpses in rocking chairs the same way again.
-Angelo Lanham, student culture editor, and Colleen Watson, opinion editor
If an overcooked turkey, an incinerated house cat and Chevy Chase telling Julia Louis-Dreyfus to essentially stick a Christmas tree up her behind doesn't sing to modern holiday sentiments, I don't know what does. See "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."
-Mark Powell, sports editor
The Santa Clause
Forget coal. Piss off Santa at Christmas time and something drastic will happen.
Or so is the case for Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen, in "The Santa Clause."
Sudden weight gain, rebellious reindeer and a super-charged sleigh are all what the divorcee must endure on Christmas Eve after being forced to be the next Santa Claus.
Scott does his duty and delivers all of the presents to the good, little boys and girls. Just when he thinks his responsibilities as St. Nicholas are over, he is transported to the North Pole where some elves with attitude inform him that he is now Santa Claus because he put on the infamous red suit.
I love this movie because Tim Allen's character goes through such trouble to finally make his son proud.
As a child of a divorced family, this movie shows me that holidays do not have to be a stressful situation of splitting time in torn families.
Instead, Christmas at mom's and/or dad's can be filled with just as much cheesy happiness and joy as before the papers were served.
-Allie Figures, staff writer
Love Actually
"General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed - but I don't see that - seems to me that love is everywhere."
"Love Actually" weaves multiple stories together to fashion a movie that is both witty and touching.
While the film has its fair share of romantic couples (Hugh Grant and Colin Firth - albeit not together), they aren't the one-dimensional boy-girl relationships in similar, lesser movies. The on-screen couples range from a man who's in love with his best friend's wife to people who speak in different tongues to porn stars who work with each other before they ever go on a first date.
"Love Actually" doesn't limit itself to the amorous type, either. In fact, one of my favorite storylines doesn't involve romance. I love the cast. I love the script. I love the movie. You'll love it so much, you'll want to marry it and grow old together. "Love actually is all around."
-Kimberly Tsao, student culture editor
White Christmas
"White Christmas" takes everyone back to a time when real talent lit up the silver screen,and the only special effect was Vaseline over the lens. This movie musical from 1954 employs a triple-threat cast of actors, singers and dancers.
Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) are World War II army buddies who become successful performers. They pair up with talented sisters Betty and Judy Haynes (Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen respectively). The quartet heads to Vermont, expecting snow, and is surprised by more than the weather.
From the perfectly period costumes to the intricate song and dance numbers, this film will make anyone's holiday a classic.
-Megan Hamilton
Home Alone
John Hughes, the brilliant mastermind that has enriched the world with cinematic gems such as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles," has graced us with the best Christmas movie of all time, "Home Alone."
The movie follows Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin), a lovable 8-year-old boy who's accidentally left home alone when his family forgets him on their way to Paris. Realizing he's now king of the castle, Kevin stays up late, plays with firecrackers and single-handedly foils two robbers with the most elaborate plot I have ever seen orchestrated on the big screen. Blow torch rigged door? Comic genius.
-Andrea Frainier, staff writer
Trading Places
Although "Trading Places" is not purely a Christmas movie, it takes place during the Christmas season and has Christmas-related themes. Harkening back to a time when Eddie Murphy made good movies, the film tells the story of the Duke brothers' wager to see if they can put a street criminal (Murphy) in the place of a businessman (Dan Akroyd) in their company and have him successfully take over the businessman's role as a broker.
The tables get turned on the brothers and they end up broke, while the former criminal and disgraced businessman hit it big on the commodities market. Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche reprised their roles as Randolph and Mortimer Duke five years later with a cameo in "Coming to America."
-Tommy Wright, sports editor
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Halloween presence in "The Nightmare Before Christmas" doesn't make it any less of a must-watch Christmas movie.
Tired of the scary Halloween celebration year to year, Jack Skellington becomes fascinated by the style and feeling of Christmas. The Halloween Town residents, however, failed to grasp Jack's meaning and compared everything he shared with them to ideas of Halloween.
Fueled by the ghoulishly delightful and unforgettable soundtrack and amazing character design, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is an original, daring artistic creation that combines fun and fright.
It's not a kid film, and it's hard to imagine little kids grabbing onto this one as a favorite. Maybe it was horrifying to see a boogieman chasing Santa, but who says animation is kid stuff?
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a long way from the traditional Disney fare, but even with its dark undertones, one will discover messages deep in the heart of the movie and characters.
-Ya-an Chan, staff writer
A Charlie Brown Christmas Story
"A Charlie Brown Christmas Story" is an epic Christmas movie for children and adults. It shouldn't go unwatched.
Charlie Brown is upset with how the Peanuts gang is treating the holiday so commercially, and thinks that everyone has forgotten the true meaning of the holiday. When he is put in charge of picking out a Christmas tree for the pageant, he chooses a lonely, puny one. With the help of Linus's moving speech on what Christmas is really about, the gang comes to understand the true meaning of the holiday.
From the soundtrack to the characters, "A Charlie Brown Christmas Story" is one of the original animated Christmas movies that blow all those heartfelt cliché holiday films out of the water.
-Danielle Torralba, staff writer
Black Christmas
What's cooler than a holiday season with a bit of death on the side? Not much, I say, and that's why "Black Christmas" is the most awesome Christmas movie ever. You've never seen so many fatalities in a movie featuring Christmas trees. The story's nice and suspenseful, too. You'll never think about saran-wrapped corpses in rocking chairs the same way again.
-Angelo Lanham, student culture editor, and Colleen Watson, opinion editor
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