National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Review

 

        Merry Christmas to you all. I hope everyone has managed to celebrate with your family or friends in this challenging time we are now living in. What can I say about National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Other than the fact that people forget that it’s a third entry in the Vacation series and the only good sequel to a classic. Having watched both Vacation movies in different time, I can understand why this one is good. While still being funny and not relying on having to watch the first or second movie. 

1. What’s a National Lampoon?

        So to those who have no clue to what "National Lampoon" is, let me give you the very basic. It was a satirizing magazine back in the day. Sort of like "MAD" magazine, it was poking fun at just about anything. The brand was popular that it spun off to include movies and live theater to name a few. 

        One of the first successful "Lampoon" movies was Animal House. It was a game changing comedy movie back in the day and it was partly inspired by the articles within the magazine. Someday I’ll have to talk about Animal House. 

        The Vacation series started as a small story that John Hughes wrote from his odd trip to Disney Land. The story named “Vacation ‘58” detailed how the road trip went to the theme park. It’s a great read and it was surprising that his Dad actually threatened Walt Disney. Anyways, the film was commissioned, and it was a breakout hit for Hughes who wrote the script and for director Harold Ramis. Who would later star in Ghostbusters among other comedic classics. 

2. Griswold Vacation

        What makes Christmas Vacation work is that it doesn’t involve a journey like the first or second movie. Instead, it’s celebrating the holiday that involves a somewhat normal family. For instance, Clark celebrates it to the Nth degree by having his house decorated with a variety of lights and to get the biggest tree. Not knowing that it won’t fit. We actually do have a scene that really captures in essence why Clark is all in on the Holiday. 

        While stuck in the attic, he views some old family reels that involved him and his family celebrating Christmas. He wants to recreate that experience but make it even more bigger and gaudier. Although everything keeps going wrong, but it's one of those things where it doesn't deter him in the slightest. 

        But I feel what makes it equal to the first one is that it has a good supporting cast. The family comes in and it’s really something where they each stare at the door with doom when they hear the doorbell ring. With the touch having it pitch lower like it’s a funeral bell. The family is a good kind of annoying. Always on Clark’s case about everything. 

        Although one in particular steals the show. Cousin Eddie is the good hearted buffoon that Clark want’s nothing to do with. The charm is that he’s from the rural parts of the country and has his quirks that annoy Clark. One redeeming thing about Eddie is his family, especially his daughter. The scene involving her and Clark is sweet since he has the Christmas spirit to cheer her up. Since her family is broke. 

        The real framing story is Clark expecting a bonus to construct a pool. His boss is a real curmudgeon, and it gets to a point where Eddie does something drastic. It’s one of the things that I’ve noticed in the good Lampoon films. Where they have the working class and affluent clash in a sense. Here its Clark’s festive spirit intruding on the neighbors who intentionally become the butt of the joke. And him not getting something from his cheapskate boss since he believes he deserves it.

3. Legacy

        Every time it’s December you can find the movie along with other holiday films from Warner Bros. in every store. I think it says a lot that it holds up 30 years later, since it’s relatable. Having to put up with family and your boss can really dent a person who’s trying to celebrate the holiday. 

        It’s only fitting that I bring up the sequel to this specific movie. No, not Vegas Vacation which doesn’t even have "National Lampoon" on it. Cousin Eddie has his own movie that has the guts to say Christmas Vacation 2. Just to put it bluntly, it’s horrible, terrible, and any other negative word that summarizes just how horrendous the movie is. 

4. Overall

        Bottom line, Christmas Vacation is the last great "National Lampoon" movie before the name got associated with crap. It’s a holiday classic that isn’t crass or too vulgar. But one that is hilarious for anyone who wants to watch the Griswolds trying to celebrate the holidays.

Scrooged Review

 

        Finally, some technicolor in my yearly look at holiday films. This one I discovered last year when it was on AMC as a rerun. Just by the name, you know that the film is partially based on Charles Dickins’ A Christmas Carol. While Scrooged follows the basic story points of the story, the whole approach is contemporary and adds some snarky humor to it. 

1. Retelling a Classic

        Not to sound like a broken record but the film does take some liberties with how it’s being told. Frank Cross is a television executive who’s a real slime. He is assigned with putting together a live taping of the Dickins’ classic story for his channel. Making more of a jerk is when he makes all the workers continue production during the holiday. 

        Bill Murray owns the role as Frank, and he can easily make the character become sleazy and just a plain jerk. What I like about him is that he has competition since he sees his competition who is more professional than him. Cross also has a woman in his life who tries to bring him down from his massive ego. Claire tries to bring him down to Earth when Frank is just being a controlling boss. 

        And as you expect, he is visited by the Three Ghosts of Christmas: the past, present, and silent future. I’ll talk about them in a moment since there’s other stuff going on during the movie. I feel that the movie tries to at least have different sub-plots go on that tie to the central story. They work for the most part and gives the film its own identity. Like one where Frank let’s go of a worker, Elliot, who disagrees with him on the content of the live show. 

        As we follow him, he becomes demented and tries to kill Frank with a rifle. Another is when Frank’s assistant Grace having a son that can’t speak. He’s the heart of the film and is supposed to be the Tiny Tim in the film. None of it I think feels like it’s overkill, but it makes the film highlight the main thing about Frank. That his crappy actions have consequences. Which ultimately sets him up to see various ghosts and humbling up. 

2. Film’s Tone

        This is the only thing that may make people not like the film. The whole film has a very cynical tone that makes it different from the other holiday films. I genuinely think that it works for our times, even though it came out during the late 80s. For instance, the story is well known that for the late Richard Donner to even consider to make the film a comedic holiday film with an edge is something to admire. 

        Anyways, how the spirits are done matches with what the film is going for. To teach Frank a lesson in humility and to be caring. One thing that I like is that they are presented as paranormal and physical. In fact, the whole film leaned more into the ghost parts since Ghostbusters was Murray’s best film at that time. The spirits really scare and abuse Frank to drive the message even further. 

        Out of all the ghosts that I like, the Ghost of Christmas Future has an interesting design. Even though it’s limited with looking like Death incarnate, the film has the spirit have a television head to show Frank’s expression. One scene that I like is near the end, Frank is just trying to process what’s going on. Behind him is tv’s playing the live show and the spirit grows to try and grab Frank. It’s scary and I love it.

        The film manages to balance being a dark humor and being sweet. It’s a whiplash of emotions when you’re laughing at the cynical part and then you see the sad scenes which involve Frank missing out on his family get together. The whole conflicting tones could’ve failed since it would be jarring. It works since it’s never abrupt and our focus stays on Frank trying to process what he’s seeing and just taking it all in. 

3. Overall

        This is my third film that I watched of the late Richard Donner. He did a great job making a holiday film that doesn’t involve guns and action. Since he made Lethal Weapon prior to this one which takes place during the holidays. Scrooged is a different holiday film that isn’t meant for anyone but broadens itself in a slew of holiday classics. 

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Review

 

        Another look at a classic this time. Miracle on 34th Street is probably the only holiday film to garner three Academy Awards and being nominated for Best Picture. So far, it’s  the only holiday film to be the first to be nominated with that distinction. Although it’s nearly 80 years old, I feel that it’s progressive and relevant enough about the holiday. 

1. Kris Kringle

        The film takes place between two holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can probably label this film as a cross holiday film if you really think about it. Anyways, we see an old man named Kris see the annual Macy’s Parade. He notices a Santa who is drunk and is offended. So much so that he talks to the event organizer Doris. She thinks he’s good enough to be the replacement. 

        As the film goes on, Doris gives him the job as the Macy’s Santa in their premiere store. Throughout the film, Kris starts to behave as Santa. Meanwhile, Doris is a single mother to Susan who doesn’t believe in anything. Fred, Doris’ friend tries to tell her that Santa is real but she doesn’t believe it. 

        Kris steals the show since he has the personality that is representative as the jolly man. He doesn’t have that creepy vibe most people get when picturing Santa Claus. In this film, he is represented as an honest and understanding person when he talks to the other workers in Macys. 

For instance, he talks to the janitor Alfred. He likes to wear the Santa suit since he likes seeing kids be happy with gifts. Kris encourages him to do that, only because the store psychologist chides Alfred for doing that. 

        Near the end, the film transitions from a drama to a legal one. The fortunate thing is that it isn’t bogged down by procedures. Even the lawyers say that the whole thing is silly since the idea of proving that Kris is Santa is just unreal. The film isn’t about proving anything, but a film that is more so on the idea about believing which I’ll get into. 

        One thing that separates Kris from the other Santa’s in film is that he has a sense of responsibility about what the holiday has become. That great moment is when he gets hired to work at Macys. He is told by the floor manager to push specific toys, which he doesn’t agree to do. When meeting with one of the kid’s parents, he says that a different store has a toy. It goes to show just how helpful and kind Kris is as a Santa.  

2. A Film about Faith

        Don’t worry, this film doesn’t get into the religious angle about faith. But on the idea of just believing about fantasy from a child’s perspective. Since the film shows Doris as a person who is just about the facts. Meaning that any sort of fantasy that turns out to not be real would just confirm to her that it’s all fake. What I like is that we get small glimpses on why she thinks that. It’s personal and the film doesn’t really stop to really get at it. It’s subtle in its approach.

        And that it permeates in her daughter, who is supposed to believe in that stuff. Susan is the sweetest child, but the knock on her is that she doesn’t believe in fairy tales or anything fantasy. So much so that when Fred and her see a float looking like a giant, Susan thinks Fred is full of it. 

        Fred is the representation of the adult who still believes in the fantasy. Albeit not like acting like an immature guy, but who still believes on the idea of Santa since he’s the representation of the holiday. Susan ultimately sees Kris and ultimately learns to be a kid when Kringle teaches her on using her imagination. 

        The film really hammers home this idea since the holiday is tied to it. That faith is about believing in something. When applied to the film, people often can’t grasp just how Kris is a Santa even though they know that the character isn’t real. 

3. Legacy

        As I mentioned earlier, the film did garner three Academy Award wins and was nominated for Best Picture. The success of the film had multiple adaptations later in the 20th century. From a Broadway play to a made for tv film during the 70s. It was remade in the 90s by the same studio. 

        It wasn’t successful and only getting mixed reviews. What I think went wrong was just the whole approach of the film. It tried to be serious and leaned heavily into the faith aspect and involving religion. Which is never implied in the original and that the original never took itself that seriously with the subject matter. Ultimately the film is about a child’s view on fantasy and whether they believe it or not. It’s not a hard thing to grasp if you consider things from their point of view. 

4. Overall

        This film is certainly up there as the best holiday film. Albeit a prestigious one since it won multiple awards. I think it holds up in today’s lens since the holiday has been commercialized. It’s a classic that has to be watched. 

It's A Wonderful Life Review

 

        It’s been an interesting moment in time compared to last year. Year 2 is finally wrapping up with this experiment of me talking about movies. In case you’ve noticed that I barely do them, mostly updating them to Sunday. It was something where I watched different movies weekly and tell you guys how I feel about them. Just to put it out there, I’m not going anywhere. Priorities have shifted on my end that explains about my low input. Regardless, let’s end the year with a look at some holiday films. So here’s what I think of It’s A Wonderful Life. 

1. George Bailey

        The story is pretty interesting. It’s mostly about this man named George Bailey. We begin the movie with angels, they’re represented as galaxies or something at least tangible. Anyways, we see them notice an event that will happen to George and send his guardian angel to help. George from what we see throughout the film is a positive and humble person. 

        We see him grow up from a child to an adult in various points in time. Albeit from the angel’s point of view. Even stopping the film to discuss if they’re close to the important event. It threw me off since I thought that the movie was loading. Effective as it is, we see that George has made some decisions that has an impact on the town. 

        What I like is that although the film takes a while to reach the holiday, we get to see and understand just what kind of person George is. He has principles that make him endearing. Which is ironic since we see him running a family bank. The opposite of him is the curmudgeon Mr. Potter who’s a slime of a banker. George stands up to him as he is willing to help out the civilians in the town who need money. 

2. A Different Christmas Story

        This is a different kind of story just by how it’s told. It has a shade of “A Christmas Carol” where George is transported to a different reality and one where we see him as an honorable man. I believe that what makes it classic is that we see him as an amalgamation of the values of what the holiday is supposed to represent. 

        For instance, he is a good man and has an unshakeable will to help people. When we see him in his lowest, he’s desperate and is bitter in the situation that he’s in. It’s pretty shocking since you start to like the guy, but when he snaps you feel it. You feel bad because you want George to be happy and cheerful. It works since for anyone to really care about the character is to make him hurt. 

        I think it works because we see just how much of an impact he made for the various people including his brother. When he sees the different reality, people don’t know him and learns that the city he loves becomes a second rate Vegas. He feels humbled because he never could’ve imagine just how much good he has done. Not to be preachy but it’s relatable. No one considers just how big of an impact we can do or shape one person. 

3. How it Became a Classic

        It’s interesting how this film became a forgetful movie to an absolute gem of a classic. When it came out, it didn’t make enough money to be considered a hit. It was derided and received mixed reviews when it came out. When it became time to renew it before it became public domain, there was a clerical error that unintentionally made the movie part of the public domain. TV studios began to broadcast the movie around the holidays. Although they had to pay the royalties since the movie is based on a short story called "The Greatest Gift".

4. Overall

        It’s A Wonderful Life is a great holiday film and a rebound film for historical purposes. Through it’s broadcast on television, the film got introduced to a new audience and an appreciation for it grew. Some may have a cynical view on it just how much the holiday has morphed. Although it's a personification of what it should be about. Absolutely, the film is a classic.