A Christmas Story (1983)

Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) dreams of receiving a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. When his mother asks him what he wants, he quickly says "an official Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time". Her response, "you'll shoot your eye out".

The movie is filled with small sub-plots concerning life in the 1940's for a 9 year old boy. His wait for his Little Orphan Annie pin, his avoidance of school bullies, his brother Randy's (Ian Petrella) inability to eat a full meal, a tongue frozen to a flagpole, a father who has a supreme war with a furnace and the dogs next door. The worst of all, having to wear a bunny costume made by an Aunt.

Ralphie's father (Darren McGavin) enters a contest in which he must name the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse. His mother (Melinda Dillon) comes up with Victor as the correct answer. He gets notification that he has indeed won the prize (a major award) and it turns out to be a lamp that looks like a sexy leg (yeah, a statue). His father insists on putting the lamp in the front window much to the chagrin of his mother.

While shopping for their Christmas tree, the car gets a flat. Ralphie is told to help his father and while holding the hubcap that is holding the lug nuts, his father hits it and the nuts go flying. Here is where the famous "Oh fudge, but I didn't say fudge" line comes from. He also professes his preference for Lux as opposed to Lifeboy soap as he is a connoisseur of the soap used to wash out his mouth.

Back at school, Ralphie has written his composition on what he wants for Christmas, a Red Ryder BB gun.. He butters up his teacher, Miss Shields, with a huge fruit basket, but still gets a C+ along with a note that says "you'll shoot your eye out". He feels that his mother had gotten to Miss Shields. Dejected, he begins to walk home only to be confronted by the school bullies, Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. They throw a snowball that hits Ralphie in the face. Ralphie explodes and starts to beat Scut up. Grover runs away and says that he is going to tell his Dad (like all bullies do). Ralphie begins to swear just as his mother runs up and calms him down. She tells his father about it, but quickly changes the subject before he asks questions. Ralphie realizes his only chance left to get his gun is to go straight to the man himself, Santa Claus.

The family watches the Christmas parade in town and he and Randy get in line to see Santa. It is not the experience that either of them expected, especially since the "Big Man" himself, when Ralphie asks for his BB gun, says "you'll shoot your eye out kid, Merry Christmas, HOHOHO!".

It's Christmas morning and all of the presents are opened except one that is hidden from view. His father had gotten him the gun as he had one when he was 8 years old. Ralphie goes out back to test out his gun and, you guessed it, hits his glasses with a BB "oh my god, I shot my eye out!". He tells his Mother it was an icicle. While his Mother helps him in the bathroom, the neighbors dogs come in the door and eat the turkey.

The family goes out to Chinese food and have Chinese turkey (duck). Ralphie falls asleep with his Red Ryder BB gun in his arms. Merry Christmas!

The photo above is a real Red Ryder BB gun owned by Ron's father when he was a child (thanks for the photo Ron!). The Little Orphan Annie pin, the actual model from the movie, is mine.

Most of this movie was filmed in the Cleveland area and in Ontario. Based on short stories as well as the story "In God we trust, all others pay cash" written by Jean Shepherd. Many of the landmarks such as the school name come from the author's own life. A couple of people from Canada have made a documentary that goes to all of the landmarks from the movie called "Road trip for Ralphie. Be sure to tune in for at least one showing of the continuous 24 hours of "A Christmas Story" on TBS beginning on Christmas Eve at 7:00 p.m. I triple dog dare you!!

93 Minutes. Rated PG. I give this movie FOUR AND ONE QUARTER STARS!

Elf (2003)

The film begins as a baby in an orphanage crawls into Santa's sack and emerges when Santa is back at the North Pole. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) is given the task of raising him by Santa (Ed Asner). The baby is named Buddy (Will Ferrell) and is not told that he is human until it becomes obvious due to his size and inability to make toys without destroying them. Papa Elf tells him that he was put up for adoption and learns that his father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan)a publishing executive, was not aware that Buddy was born. Buddy decides that he must go to New York to see his father, especially since his father is on the "naughty" list.

When he arrives in New York, Buddy finds his father at this office, but Walter throws him out. Buddy takes a security guards suggestion to go back to Gimbels (since he looks like an elf) literally and he meets an employee in the Christmas area named Jovie (Zooey Deschanel). When the department store Santa shows up, Buddy realizes that he is not the real Santa and a fight occurs with Buddy ending up in jail. Walter bails him out and takes him to a doctor for a DNA test. When it is proven that Buddy is his son, Walter takes him home to meet his wife Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and son Michael. Michael doesn't like Buddy initially until Buddy helps him in a snowball fight with some bullies. He also talks Buddy into dating Jovie.

Walter takes Buddy to work and gets him a job in the mail room, but Buddy gets drunk with another employee. While trying to get a temperamental author to sign with his publishing firm, Buddy comes into the room and mistakes him for an elf and a fight ensues. Walter is so mad that he tells Buddy to get out of his life.

While walking the streets, Buddy sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park. Buddy helps fix the sleigh. While this is going on, Michael bursts into Walter's meeting to say that Buddy had gone and Walter needs to help. They find Buddy and he introduces them to Santa. Even though Buddy tried to fix the sleigh, it still won't fly. Jovie helps get the sleigh get going by getting everyone gathered and those that are watching television (thanks to news crews) to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". The spirit of everyone gives the sleigh it's energy. Buddy and Jovie eventually marry.

This is a really cute movie and, thank goodness, one in which Will Ferrell isn't running around in his underwear or worse (a sight that no one should ever have to see!).

97 Minutes. Rated PG. I give this movie THREE AND ONE HALF STARS.

Scrooged (1988)

Based on Charles Dickens novel "A Christmas Carol", this movie has appearances by many celebrities.

Frank Xavier Cross (Bill Murray) is an egotistical T.V. executive at IBC. He was a nice person who became cruel and hard hearted since climbing the ladder at work. He has alienated himself from everyone from his girlfriend Claire (Karen Allen)to his family members. When he wins a television award, he leaves it on the seat of a cab. He treats his hardworking secretary Grace (Alfre Woodard) horribly. When one of his employees Elliott Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait) disagrees with his assessment of a show, Frank fires him.

While working late close to Christmas, he gets a visit from his long dead, decomposing ex-boss telling him that he is going to get a visit from three ghosts that are going to show him the error of his ways. He also says that he needs to change or else! He freaks out and the phone in his office dials his old girlfriend Claire's number. He leaves a message and hangs up.

The next day Claire shows up at the rehearsal for the live "A Christmas Carol" show that Frank is putting on. Frank sees her and even smiles. She gives him her card and he sees that she is working at a homeless shelter.

After he eats lunch with his boss (Robert Mitchum), in which he freaks out after seeing eyeballs in his drink, he gets picked up in a cab by the ghost of Christmas Past (David Johansen). He is taken to his childhood home, shown the moment that he met Claire and the year that he was on the "Frisbee" show. It is here that he chose the show over Clair and lost her.

When he wakes up, he goes to see Claire at the homeless shelter and meets some of her clients. When Claire can't go to lunch right away because of a crisis at the shelter, Frank gets mad and tells her to "scrape them off" instead of helping them, meaning the homeless people.

When he meets the Ghost of Christmas Present (Carol Kane), he gets annoyed because she likes to hit him (she likes the rough stuff!). She takes him to Grace's house and shows him how poor they are and shows him how much his brother James (John Murray) misses and defends him.

There is some more work on the set of the live T.V. show in which Bryce, an upstart who knows Frank's Boss, is trying to take Franks job. During this time, the Ghost of Christmas Future shows up, in all of his seven foot robed glory, and shows Frank that Grace's son has ended up in an institution, Claire has turned into a heartless person just like Frank is and he watches James and his wife Wendy at his cremation.

Frank sees the light and wants to change. When Elliott Loudermilk shows up and tries to shoot him, Frank recuits him to go into the booth at the show and stop Bryce from continuing the show. Frank stops production on the show and gives a speech about spending time with family and friends and the spirit of Christmas. Claire shows up on set and they kiss in front of the camera. Sweet!

There are many cameo appearances by celebrities in the movie including Robert goulet, Lee Majors and Mary Lou Retton. Three of Bill Murray's brothers made appearances in this movie.

100 Minutes. PG-13. I give this movie THREE AND ONE QUARTER STARS.

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989)

The Griswolds take the family truckster out on a Christmas tree hunting expedition. After participating in a road rage incident, he finds a gigantic tree that is too tall for the living room.

Clark (Chevy Chase) is excited to get his bonus from work this year as he intends to put in a pool. Getting into the Christmas spirit, he goes shopping with son Rusty (Johnny Galecki) and meets a sexy saleswoman who he later imagines skinny dipping in his new pool.

As Christmas gets closer, the in-laws (John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall and Doris Roberts) come into town to stay with them for their fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. The usual family dynamic problems occur and Clark goes outside to put up his fantasy of lights. While doing so, he causes a sheet of ice to shoot out of his rain gutters that goes through the snotty, yupster neighbors house and destroys their fancy stereo. Later Clark makes a big show of turning the lights on, complete with drum roll, and they don't turn on. They work later when Ellen (Beverly D'angelo) figures out what switch to turn on. When the lights turn on, they are so bright that they blind the yuppie neighbors in the process. When Clark gets through hugging the relatives, he realizes that Ellen's cousins Catherine and Eddie (Randy Quaid) and kids have shown up to stay complete with dilapidated R.V. in the driveway.

On Christmas Eve, Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany arrive complete with a cat wrapped up in a box as a present. It is an awful evening with the cat getting electrocuted after playing with lights, a burned Christmas tree when Uncle Lewis lights it on fire, a dried out turkey thanks to Catherine and Clark finally gets his bonus in the form of a month subscription to the jelly of the month club. This was NOT the bonus that Clark was hoping for.

Clark goes ballistic and yells at everyone prompting Eddie to round up Clark's boss and bring him to the house. In the meantime, Clark WILL have a tree and cuts down the tree in their front yard. In the process, he breaks the neighbors window. Once the tree is put up, there is a "funny squeaky sound" and a squirrel jumps out of the tree and is let loose in the house. A huge mess is made after a chase and the squirrel runs out of the house. When Clark's boss arrives, he yells at him for not giving him a bonus (they must not have a recession there). Clark's boss sees that he was being cheap as opposed to not having the money and decides to give Clark his bonus plus another 20%. A few minutes later, SWAT infiltrates.

There is an explosive ending in which Uncle Lewis throws a match into the sewer and blows Santa and his reindeer into the stratosphere.

This movie is a Christmas staple and is on many top 10 Christmas movie lists. There was some question of whether this movie pushed the PG-13 limit with the skinnydipping scene. A word of warning, the clip below does have some swearing in it as it is the "tylenol" scene. This movie will be showing 24 continuous hours on AMC.

97 Minutes. Rated PG-13. I give this movie THREE AND A QUARTER STARS.

The Polar Express (2004)

This Oscar nominated film is based on the children's book "The Polar Express" written by Chris Van Allsburg.

On Christmas Eve, a boy is thinking that there is no Santa Claus after seeing articles about striking department store Santa Clauses. He hears the loud sounds of a train stopping in front of his house and a conductor (Tom Hanks) gets out and asks him if he is going to board the train that is on it's way to the North Pole. The train is filled with children in their pajamas. The children all have tickets that are punched by the conductor with a couple of letters that don't have any meaning. There are several adventures aboard the train and some songs before the train pulls into the North Pole where what seems like thousands of elves are heading to the town square. The boy is picked by Santa to be the child to receive the first gift of the Season. When he is asked what gift he would like, he tells Santa that he wants a bell that he had seen fall from Santa's sleigh. This bell can only be heard by those who believe in Santa. The child puts the bell in his pocket and re-boards the train to go home. All of the childrens' tickets are punched for the round trip. this time, the rest of the letters spell a word that has personal meaning for each child. While on the train, he discovers that his bell has fallen through a hole in his pocket. When he gets home, he opens a box on Christmas morning and finds the bell along with a note from Santa. He mentions that over the next years, that everyone but him stops being able to hear the bell, meaning that they have lost their belief in Santa Claus.

This film initially did not do well in theaters. Tom Hanks voices six characters during the movie and the animated likenesses of him were so real looking it was kind of strange.

This was the first time that I had seen this movie. I thought that it was pretty good especially for smaller children.

100 Minutes. Rated G. I give this movie THREE STARS.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

While on his way to meet friends to go ice skating on a local pond, Charlie Brown talks to his buddy Linus about Christmas. He feels that even though Christmas is approaching and everyone is buying gifts and decorating, that he is feeling down about the commercial aspect of Christmas.

He visits Lucy in her psychiatric booth and she seems to agree with him about Christmas saying that she always gets "stupid toys" instead of the real estate that she desires. She suggest that he get involved in a school play about the Nativity.

While walking to the auditorium, he runs into Sally who wants him to write a letter to Santa for her asking Santa to "send money". He also finds Snoopy decorating his doghouse for a neighborhood display contest. At rehearsals for the play, Charlie Brown gets frustrated because the players want to update the play with modern music while Charlie Brown wants the play to be traditional, not commercial. Charlie Brown thinks that they need a Christmas tree so that maybe the mood will be right. Lucy suggests that they get a pink aluminum tree. Charlie Brown and Linus set off on one of Charlie Brown's famous "quests" to find a tree. He finds a small "needlebare" tree (the kind that to this day we all refer to as a "Charlie Brown Tree") and take it back to the auditorium where everyone makes fun of it.

Charlie Brown speaks aloud about the fact that maybe he really doesn't know what Christmas is about. Linus walks to the center of the stage and begins to quote scripture pertaining to the birth of the Christ Child. When he is done, Charlie Brown picks up his tree when he realizes that he doesn't have to let the commercialism ruin HIS Christmas. He walks past Snoopy's house, that now has a winning ribbon attached to it, and puts an ornament on his tree. The tree droops under the weight of the ornament. The gang follows and gathers round to decorate Charlie Brown's tree with the decorations from Snoopy's doghouse. They sing Christmas Carols and the movie ends with a boisterous "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!".

Good, Clean, Retro fun! Takes me back for sure!

30 Minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie THREE STARS.

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

This film, based on the story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern", is recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the best American films ever made.

On Christmas Eve, George Bailey(James Stewart) is despondent and is having thoughts of suicide. He prays and is heard by Joseph, the head angel, and assigns George's case to Angel Second Class, Clarence (Henry Travers). Joseph and fellow Angel, Franklin, narrate what George's life had been up until the present time.

When he was a young boy, George saved his younger brother Harry's life when he fell through some ice. He also saved the life of another person when the druggist that he worked for, Mr. Gower (H.B. Warner)upset about his sons death, had incorrectly filled a prescription with poison. George always sacrifices his own dreams for those of others. When his brother graduates from high school, it is his chance to stop working at the family business, the Bailey Building and Loan Association, and travel the world and go to college. He goes to a dance and meets up with Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) a girl who has had a crush on him for years. He tells her about her dreams, and when he is walking her home, he finds out that his father has had a stroke.

When his father dies, George must take over the Building and Loan because if he doesn't the evil Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) will stop them from providing loans to the cities poor. George decides to stay and gives his brother his school money. When his brother graduates, George becomes excited because he has another chance to get on with his life. When his brother comes home, he has a wife and will be starting a job with her father's company. George must keep working at the Building and Loan.

He stays in town and marries Mary Hatch. As they are leaving for their honeymoon, there is a run on the bank. Evil Potter offers everyone "50 cents on the dollar" to come to his bank, but George uses his and Mary's honeymoon money to save the bank. George and Mary start a family and George starts up "Bailey Park", a low cost housing development, so that people don't have to go to Potter. When World War II occurs, George can't enlist because of the hearing lost he acquired when he saved his brother years ago, but his brother becomes a war hero as a pilot, winning the Medal of Honor.

On Christmas Eve, Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) is reading the article about Harry in the paper and while distracted, leaves an $8,000.00 deposit on Potter's desk. Potter finds the deposit and doesn't say anything. They need the money for a bank examiner and when they can't find it, George appeals to Potter for the money and Potter says no.

An unhappy George thinks that he is worth more dead than alive and goes to the bridge and states that he thinks that everyone would be better off if he was never born. Clarence the Angel jumps into the water and George jumps in to save him. Clarence reveals himself to be George's guardian angel and shows George what life would have been like had he not been born. His brother Harry would have died if he had not been there to save him and therefore would not have been able to save lives in WWII. His pharmacist boss would have killed someone if he hadn't been there to stop the prescription from going out. Mary would have been an old maid, Uncle Billy would have been in an asylum and the town of Bedford Falls would be named Pottersville with Mr. Potter controlling everything.

George wants to live again and his prayer is answered with a yes. He finds that his family and friends have collected the money needed to satisfy the bank examiner. As he looks at his life and the people around him, George realizes that he does have "A Wonderful Life" after all!

Although the film was considered a flop when it was originally released, it was still nominated for five Oscars. It did not win any of it's categories. The pool scene was located at Beverly Hills High School where the pool is still in operation after all these years.

This is a great film with a great message!

132 Minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie FOUR AND ONE HALF STARS.

Miracle On 34th Street (1994)

This film follows the basic storyline of the original film reviewed below. There were, however, changes for people and locations.

The film begins as Dorey Walker(Elizabeth Perkins), director of Special Events at Cole's Department Store, sees the a drunk Santa during the Cole's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Kris Kringle has berated this Santa and started to walk away. Dorey runs after him and asks him to be Cole's Santa Claus.

In this version, her neighbor is Bryan Bedford (Dylan McDermott) and he is hosting her daughter Susan (Mara Wilson) during the viewing of the parade. Susan does not believe in Santa Claus but realizes that the great looking Santa in the parade could bring in a lot of money for Coles.

Kris brings in many sales for Cole's by using the same philosophy as the original film. Susan visits Santa with Mr. Bedford, but this time Santa uses sign language to sing Christmas carols with a deaf child. This time when Kris babysits Susan, not only does she want a house, she wants a Dad and a baby brother! You just can't satisfy kids these days!

Kris is arrested this time when Coles bitter former Santa provokes him into smacking him with his cane on behalf of the evil management of Cole's rival store, the Shoppers Express. Brian decides to defend Kris and this time his is freed by a dollar bill. On the dollar bill it states "In God We Trust". The judge is let off the hook because if this piece of paper that the government recognizes as legal tender states trust in a figure that some believe not to exist, then the same must be true for Santa Claus. The prosecutor, Ed Collins (J.T. Walsh) is again dismayed by a family subpoena. This time it is his wife, who admits that Kris is the real Santa. Kris is free to go!

On Christmas Eve, Dorey and Bryan are married in a secret ceremony orchestrated by Kris. Susan is excited that she now has a Dad. They drive to a house where they shoot the Christmas catalog's for the store under the premise, orchestrated again by Kris, that they have to start shooting the catalog for next year already. When they pull up to the house, it is the house that Susan wished for. Her parents ask what her other wish was, she tells them a baby brother. The look on their faces, priceless.

Macy's didn't want anything to do with this film, so they changed the name to Cole's. It was produced by John Hughes and was filmed primarily in the Chicago area where he seems to do most of his filming. Allison Janney has a very small part in the film as a customer in Cole's.

This film is not as good as the original although the photography was nice, very lush. It also seemed to be a bit darker than the first version while Kris is on trial.

114 Minutes. Rated PG. I give this movie TWO AND THREE QUARTER STARS.

Miracle On 34th Street (1947)

The film begins as Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn)finds that the department store Santa that will be at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is plastered. He can't have that, so he complains to the event director for Macy's, Doris Walker(Maureen O'Hara) and she persuades Kris to take his place. He does such a fabulous job that she tells Mr Shellhammer(Philip Torge), who is the head of the toy department at Macy's, to sign him up to be the store Santa Claus.

After the parade, Doris goes home to find her daughter Susan (a very young Natalie Wood) watching the parade from her neighbor Fred Gailey's (John Payne) apartment. While watching the parade with Susan, Fred learns that Susan doesn't believe in Santa or Fairy Tales. When he questions Doris about this, she says that she wants Susan to know what's real. He basically invites himself over for Thanksgiving dinner and it is obvious that he has a crush on Doris.

The day after Thanksgiving, Kris is told by Mr. Shellhammer to promote certain toys that are overstocks. He doesn't like this and when a mother is frustrated by Santa telling her child that she would get him a certain toy, Kris tells her where to get it at a good price at a store that isn't Macy's. When Mr. Shellhammer finds out about this, he blows a gasket. Shortly after that, a customer congratulates Mr. Shellhammer on Macy's program to help the consumer during the Christmas season. Macy's adopts this philosophy of gift giving and goodwill and the store becomes the busiest store in town. Their chief rival, Gimbell's Department Store, adapts a similar policy and their years long rivalry is softened by a photo-op in which Mr. Macy and Mr. Gimbell shake hands.

Fred brings Susan in to see Santa and she tells Santa that she knows that he is a make-believe Santa as her mother is Mrs. Walker, although she admires his real beard. She later sees Santa speak Dutch to a little girl that doesn't speak English and begins to believe that he may be Santa.

Doris begins to worry that Kris may harm someone because he must be delusional if he believes that he is Santa and sends him to their in-house psychologist Mr. Sawyer (Porter Hall). Kris passes the tests, but angers Mr. Sawyer by taunting him. The doctor at the nursing home where Kris lives assures Doris that Kris is harmless, but asks if there is somewhere close that Kris can stay so that he doesn't have to travel every day. He ends up staying with Fred. While babysitting Susan one evening, Susan tells him that if he can get her a life sized house, she will know he is Santa Claus instead of just a nice old man like her mother says.

When Kris learns that Mr. Sawyer has upset one of his friends at the store, he confronts Mr. Sawyer and smacks him with his cane. This lands Kris in a mental hospital where he fails his tests on purpose because he is so upset.

Fred quits his job with his law firm so that he can defend Kris from being permanently committed. Kris goes before Judge Henry Harper (Gene Lockhart) and the Judge is put in the unenviable position of being the judge to put Santa away. His own grandchildren are mad at him. The district attorney, Thomas Mara (Jerome Cowan) asks Kris whether or not he thinks that he is Santa Claus and when Kris says yes, Mara rests his case. Fred decides to prove that Kris is Santa Claus. Fred subpoena's Mara's little boy and when he asks the boy who is Santa, the boy points at Kris. When asked who told him this, he says his father did. Cute!

A smart postal worker comes up with the idea to send all of the Santa letters from the dead letter office to the courthouse thereby getting rid of them and helping Santa. Fred proves that because the Post Office, a branch of the government, sent the letters to that courthouse and to Kris, that he is indeed the real Santa Claus. The Judge rules in favor of Kris. Doris invites Kris over for dinner, but he states that he will be very busy that night, "It's Christmas Eve!".

When Doris, Fred and Susan visit Kris at the rest home on Christmas morning, he gives them a map of a shortcut to go home. The map leads them to a house for sale that is the exact house that Susan wanted. Mission accomplished Santa!

This film was nominated for best picture and best supporting actor. Edmund Gwenn won for best supporting actor. This movie was released in May instead of at Christmastime as the studio thought more people saw movies in the summertime. This film was also played live on the Lux Radio Theater. Most of the same characters were on the radio show. I own this CD. It has all of the original Lux detergent commercials included. Fabulous!

96 Minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie FOUR AND ONE HALF STARS! A TRUE CLASSIC!

The clips below include one from the television and one theatrical trailer. The theatrical trailer is a hoot, shameless studio promotion at it's best! Look for the big stars!

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)

All of the characters from the first two films reprise their roles in the third film from the series except for David Krumholtz who played Gerard, including the characters called the Legendary Figures.

Santa/Scott Calvin(Tim Allen) and his wife Carol/Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell) are expecting their first child and are hoping that she doesn't deliver when Santa needs to make HIS deliveries. To make things easier for Carol, Scott brings in her parents, Silvia(Ann-Margret) and Bud(Alan Arkin), although they don't know that he is Santa so the whole North Pole is told to act like it is a Canadian toy factory complete with everyone saying "eh" all the time. Scott's ex-wife Laura and her husband Neil and their daughter Lucy come to the North Pole as well. His son Charlie is there, but has a very small part.

At a meeting of the Legendary Figures, Jack Frost(Martin Short) is unhappy that he doesn't have a higher profile and decides that he wants the power that Santa has. Scott begins to feel the pressures of the impending Christmas Eve, birth and in-laws and begins to stress out. In the meantime, Jack realizes that if Santa says "I wish that I had never become Santa at all" while holding a certain snow globe from the "Hall of Snow Globes" he will de-santify. Jack finds the globe after being led there by an unknowing Lucy and threatens her by freezing her parents into a couple of Popsicles. Jack takes the globe to Santa and has Santa talk about his frustrations and gets him to say the magic sentence which activates "The Escape Clause". Jack and Scott go back in time to when Scott first put on Santa's coat and became Santa. Jack beats him to it and when Santa wakes up, he is Scott the CEO of the toy company again. Years have apparently passed and Laura and Neil have split up and no one likes him. He resolves to reverse everything. He goes back to the North Pole where he finds that Jack has turned the North Pole into a moneymaking amusement resort where parents can pay to have their children put on the "nice" list and the Elves are forced to perform for the tourists.

Scott convinces a skeptical Lucy to sneak into the Hall of Snow Globes to retrieve the magical snow globe. Scott gets Jack to hold it and plays back a recording of Jack saying "I wish I had never become Santa at all". Scott rushes to put the Santa suit back on and things immediately go back to the way they were before except that Lucy's parents are still frozen. Jack can't turn them back until Lucy hugs Jack and melts his heart which makes her parents defrost. Scott also tells his in-laws that he is Santa Claus. Carol announces that she is in labor and gives birth to Buddy Claus.

I found this movie to be rather boring and fractured. Martin Short was pretty good as Jack Frost.

92 Minutes. Rated G. I give this movie TWO STARS.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Barbara Stanwyck plays Elizabeth Lane, a writer for a woman's magazine in which she writes a column that outlines her happy life on a farm as a wife, mother and excellent cook. The only problem is that she is single, lives in a small apartment in Manhattan and orders in from a restaurant and gets her recipes for her articles from her "Uncle Felix" who owns a restaurant.

The film opens with a couple of sailors floating in a life raft. They are rescued and Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) is hailed as a hero for giving the last of his food to his fellow sailor Seymour Sinkiewicz (Frank Jenks) before they are rescued. While floating on the raft, they have dreams about food. While they are recovering in the hospital he tells his nurse Mary Lee (Joyce Compton) that he doesn't know what a real home is like. Mary writes to Mr. Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), the publisher of Elizabeth Lane's magazine, and asks if Jefferson can spend Christmas at Mrs. Lanes Farm. Mr. Yardley thinks that this will be great publicity for the magazine.

Elizabeth's editor calls her and tells her the situation. She knows that Mr. Yardley is a stickler for accuracy in his magazines and knows that she and her editor will be fired if the truth comes out. She goes to Mr Yardley to tell him the truth and ends up agreeing to have not only the sailor come to her farm, but Mr. Yardley as well. Fortunately she has a friend, John Sloan(Reginald Gardner) who owns a farm in Connecticut. He is a rather pompous architect who wants to marry Elizabeth and she agrees to marry him after turning him down so many times to save her job. Felix will come along to cook the meals.

They get to the house and meet Nora the housekeeper and see that she babysits a baby that they can use as their baby to try and fool Mr. Yardley. Just as Elizabeth is about to marry John, Jefferson Jones the war hero shows up and it is love at first sight for Elizabeth and Jefferson. Most of the rest of the movie is Elizabeth and Jefferson trying to resist each other as he thinks that she is married and he is engaged to Nurse Mary. Elizabeth also must cover up the fact that she knows nothing about cooking, babies or domestic duties.

In the end, Nurse Mary shows up to reveal that she has married Sinkiewicz. It soon comes out that Elizabeth is not married either and all ends happily. A light, entertaining movie! I own it.

There was a remake that was directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger that was widely panned. Duh!!! A second remake is apparently in the planning stages with Jennifer Garner attached to it for a 2012 release.

103 Minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie FOUR STARS!

Bad Santa (2003)

Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie Stokes, an alcoholic disgrace of a department store Santa Claus. Tony Cox plays his partner Marcus, a "little person" who is the elf to Willie's Santa. They are partners in a Christmas Eve scam which they pull off every year in a different state.

The movie begins on Christmas Eve in which Willie and Marcus pull off their yearly Christmas Eve robbery and part ways until the next holiday season. The next year they end up in Arizona where Willie meets a kid at the mall who lives with his Grandma (Cloris Leachman) and thinks that he is really Santa Claus. When Willie must leave his trashy apartment, he moves into this kids house (Grandma doesn't seem to notice), takes up residence, and uses the family car. Willie also acquires a bartender girlfriend played by Lauren Graham who seems to like the idea of having sex with Willie when he wears his Santa gear. Most of the film is devoted to Willie being a jerk and being disgusting. Once the robbery is committed, Marcus turns on Willie but they are caught by the police before Marcus can shoot him. In the end, Willie seems to have developed a small bit of conscience and becomes friends with the kid.

This movie is loaded with bad language, sexual situations and some violence. I have a pretty dry sense of humor and I often think that movies are funny that my friends can't stand to watch (I'm kind of juvenile that way), but I still think that this movie was crap. Critics overall gave this movie excellent reviews. I don't know if it is because I am getting older, or if it is because I am more of a traditional Christmas kind of person, but I just didn't like it. Sure it had a few places that were pretty funny, but I would not recommend this to anyone that is interested in seeing a traditional Christmas type movie. Teenage boys, frat boys and twenty somethings (even thirty or forty somethings) who think that peeing in a Santa suit, swearing at children and drunken, drooling Santa's are a good time will LOVE this movie. Not a movie for children.

90 Minutes. Rated R. I give this movie TWO STARS.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970)

Fred Astaire is the narrator of this stop motion animated film made for television. Burgermeister Meisterburger is the mean, grouchy, mayor/type dictator of the town of Sombertown. A baby arrives on his doorstep with a tag that says "Claus". The Burgermeister tells his assistant to take the baby to the orphanage. Along the way there is a huge gust of wind that blows the baby away and he lands in the snow where some animals hide him so that the Winter Warlock won't see him. They take him to a family of elves named "Kringle" ruled by Tante Kringle and they name him "Kris". As he gets older he tells his family that he will one day restore them to their rightful place as the "Toymakers to the King".

When Kris grows up he decides that he will deliver toys to the kids of Sombertown where toys are not allowed and the Burgermeister says that anyone found with toys will be arrested and thrown into the dungeon. On his way Kris meets up with the Winter Warlock who warns him to stay away from his land. When Kris gets to Sombertown he meets Miss Jessica, the schoolteacher, and gets a crush on her. When the Burgermeister sees the toys, he wants to arrest the children but Kris gives him a yoyo. He loves the yoyo, but his assistant reminds him of his own rules and he chases Kris out of town. Kris meets up with the Warlock again and things get ugly until he gives the Warlock a toy train which melts the frozen heart of the Warlock. Kris continues to get toys to the children and when the Burgermeister finds the toys, he conducts a house to house search until he finds and burns all of the toys. Kris and party are arrested, but escape when the Warlock gives Jessica "magic feed corn" to give the reindeer so that they can fly everyone to safety.

Kris goes back into the hills as an outlaw and grows a beard to disguise himself and changes him name to "Claus", the name that the was born with. Jessica and Kris get married and move to the North Pole where they build their workshop. The Burgermeisters eventually die off and Santa decides that he can only deliver toys once a year due to demand. History is made!

One of my favorites! Who can hear Burgermeister Meisterburger and not go back to when they were 7?

48 Minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie THREE AND A HALF STARS.

The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

Tim Allen reprises his role as Scott Calvin/Santa in the second of the "Santa Clause" films. All is happy and good at the North Pole until it is discovered that Scott's son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) is on the "Naughty List". He also must grapple with another problem, he must find a wife by Christmas Eve or stop being Santa!!. Curtis the elf (Spencer Breslin), the Keeper of the Handbook of Christmas, has discovered that Santa must find a wife or he will de-Santify. Almost immediately Santa begins to notice changes such as his beard getting shorter and his body getting slimmer. Before Santa leaves to find a wife and tend to Charlie, he has a meeting with the other Legendary Figures such as Mother Nature, Father Time, Cupid, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

Scott begins to try to find a wife and finds one unexpectedly in the outwardly cold principal Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell) of his sons middle school. In the meantime, Curtis the elf has developed a fake Santa so that the workers at the North Pole don't suspect that something is up with Santa. The fake Santa takes the "Naughty List" seriously and decides that everyone needs coal, not gifts and becomes dictatorial and takes over the North Pole with his toy soldiers (kind of creepy). In the end, Santa marries and all is well at the Pole.

All of the characters from the original movie appear in this installment. There is a part where Santa stops the fake Santa from taking off in the sleigh and calls him "a sad little man" which is what he said as his character in "A Toy Story" as Buzz Lightyear. It has been said that it is a tradition in Disney films to have things from other Disney movies in them.

104 Minutes. Rated G. I give this movie TWO AND THREE QUARTER STARS.

The Santa Clause (1994)

Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) is a divorced, workaholic, toy company executive who must rush home to spend Christmas Eve with his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). He tries to cook dinner, but burns it and they end up eating Christmas Eve dinner at the local Denny's which seem to be where the other divorced Dad's with kids end up. When they get home, they read the "Night Before Christmas" and hear a loud noise on the roof. Santa has fallen and disappeared. Scott puts on Santa's Jacket after finding a card in the pocket that tells him to put it on With some encouragement from Charlie he makes Santa's deliveries for the rest of the children. When they are done, they find themselves at the North Pole (the reindeer must have autopilot). The head Elf Bernard (David Krumholtz) tells him that he has eleven months to get his affairs in order as he is now "the big guy" since he put on the suit and found the card that binds him to become Santa in the pocket of the jacket. Since he did this, he has agreed to "The Santa Clause" and is now Santa. The next part of the movie shows some domestic type conflict between Scott and his ex-wife Laura's (Wendy Crewson) psychiatrist husband Neil (Judge Reinhold).

When Scott begins to physically change into Santa problems begin to occur. Children begin to want to sit on his lap and Charlie tells everyone that he is Santa. This bothers his ex-wife and her husband and they try to stop his visitation with Charlie. Charlie ends up going to the North Pole and Laura and Neil notify the police that Charlie has been kidnapped by Scott/Santa. Santa is thrown into jail when he tries to deliver presents and his elves break him out. Santa is soon able to make Laura and Neil believe that he is Santa and all ends up happily.

This is a nice, cute, clean movie.

97 Minutes. Rated PG. I give this movie THREE AND A QUARTER STARS.

The Year Without A Santa Claus (1974)

I realize that this is not a theatrical movie, but I felt that since it has been around since I was a kid, that I had to include it. This movie is made in Stop Motion Animation.

Santa Claus(the voice of Mickey Rooney)wakes up with a bad cold and is told by his doctor that he can't do his regular trip. It then falls to a couple of elves, Jingle and Jangle, to find people that still believe in Christmas. While they are doing this, their reindeer Vixen is mistaken for a dog and is thrown into the pound. The Mayor of the town, Southton, agrees to let Vixen go if they can make it snow in this hot area on Christmas.

Mrs. Claus then goes to the famous stepbrothers, Heat Miser and Snow Miser, who control the weather in the world, to help them out. Neither one wants to compromise and Mrs. Claus has to tattle on them to their mother who happens to be Mother Nature. It works out and they end up finding some generous people to help Santa out. Spurred on by this outpouring of good cheer, Santa decides to make the Christmas Eve deliveries.

The pictures above are of Brian and Steve as the Heat Miser and Snow Miser last Halloween. Thanks for the pictures Mykel!

48 minutes. Not Rated. I give this movie TWO AND THREE QUARTER STARS.