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The
Abbott and Costello Christmas Special : Rare holiday episode with special
guest stars Les Paul, Mary Ford and Tom & Jerry. A nostalgic look back at a true
holiday favorite packed full of hilarious Christmas songs and skits. Also
included are the original commercials that are as hysterical as the skits
themselves. Enjoy this holiday trip back in time when jokes were clean and TV
was funny!
The
Santa Clause (Widescreen Special Edition) (1994) : Divorced toy company
executive Scott Calvin (Tim Allen of Home Improvement and the Toy Story movies)
is pleased to have his son Charlie for Christmas, though the boy himself isn't
happy about it. But when Santa Claus accidentally topples off the roof of the
house and falls with a thud in the snow, Scott finds himself taking the merry
old elf's place and earning new respect in his son's eyes. When the night ends,
the reindeer take them to the north pole, and Scott discovers that by donning
the fabled red suit, he's inadvertently agreed to become the next Santa Claus.
The next morning he wakes up in his own bed and thinks it's all a dream--only
Charlie remembers it with crystal clarity. Scott now has to deal with his
suspicious ex-wife (Wendy Crewson, Air Force One) and her psychiatrist boyfriend
(Judge Reinhold, Beverly Hills Cop), who both think he's playing tricks with
Charlie's mind, and also with his own out-of-control body, which is putting on
weight and growing a prodigious beard. The Santa Clause probably won't supplant
It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street as anyone's favorite holiday
film, but it's an enjoyable, straightforward family film, anchored by the
affable charisma of Allen. --Bret Fetzer
Christmas
With Red Skelton : America's most-beloved clown delivers up two special
Christmas shows on this one very special DVD. In Cop And The Anthem, Red plays
Freddie the Freeloader, a down-on-his-luck tramp trying to get thrown into a
nice warm jail cell at the happiest - and coldest - time of year. The second
show, Freddie And the Yuletide Doll, has Red creating yet another bittersweet
tale in this romantic, comedic ballet that touches on the true meaning of
Christmas.
Home
Alone (1990) : Now and forever a favorite among kids, this 1990 comedy
written by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) and directed by Chris Columbus (Mrs.
Doubtfire) ushered Macaulay Culkin onto the screen as a troubled 8-year-old who
doesn't comfortably mesh with his large family. He's forced to grow a little
after being accidentally left behind when his folks and siblings fly off to
Paris. A good-looking boy, Culkin lights up the screen during several funny
sequences, the most famous of which finds him screaming for joy when he realizes
he's unsupervised in his own house. A bit wooden with dialogue, the then-little
star's voice could grate on the nerves (especially in long, wise-child passages
of pure bromide), but he unquestionably carries the film. Billie Bird and John
Candy show up as two of the interesting strangers Culkin's character meets. Joe
Pesci and Daniel Stern are entertainingly cartoonish as thieves, but the ensuing
violence once the little hero decides to keep them out of his house is
over-the-top. --Tom Keogh
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National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Special Edition) (1989) : You know exactly
what you're getting in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: another goofball,
slapstick comedy of chaos and catastrophe with Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and
family. This time, there's no traveling involved: Clark and Ellen (Beverly
D'Angelo) prepare for a nice Christmas with the kids (played by none other than
Juliette Lewis and Roseanne star Johnny Galecki), when their home is invaded by
backwoods cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his brood, along with assorted other
crazy and/or stuffy relatives. Complications, of course, are inevitable.
Scrooged
(1988) : Most critics couldn't get behind Bill Murray's modern retelling of
Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, finding it too unfocused at times and not
nearly wicked enough. Still, if you're a Murray fan, you have to enjoy his
deliciously nasty portrayal of the world's meanest TV executive, who has his
cathartic moment one cold Christmas night in New York City. The various ghosts
lead him on a ghost-town tour of Manhattan, with stops at holidays past,
present, and future and a Kumbaya moment when Al Green and Annie Lennox sing
"Put a Little Love in Your Heart." The effects are otherworldly, but one wishes
the writing were as sharp as Murray's edgy portrayal. --Marshall Fine
The
Nightmare Before Christmas (Special Edition) (1993) : For those who never
thought Disney would release a film in which Santa Claus is kidnapped and
tortured, well, here it is! The full title is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before
Christmas, which should give you an idea of the tone of this stop-action
animated musical/fantasy/horror/comedy. It is based on characters created by
Burton. His benignly scary-funny sensibility dominates the story of
Halloweentown resident Jack Skellington (voice by Danny Elfman, who also wrote
the songs), who stumbles on a bizarre and fascinating alternative universe
called ... Christmastown! Directed by Henry Selick (who later made the
delightful James and the Giant Peach), this PG-rated picture has a reassuringly
light touch.
A
Christmas Story (Full Screen Edition) (1983) : This delightfully funny
holiday gem tells the story of Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsly) a 1940's
nine-year-old who pulls out all the stops to obtain the ultimate Christmas
present.
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