Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
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One of our long-time BJ peeps has about had it with all the ideal families and happy christmases and budding romance and happily-ever-after movies in this holiday season.
In my experience, for every person who speaks up about something, good or bad, there are often a hundred people who are thinking or wondering the same thing. Some people are sick, or tired – or sick and tired! – or stressed, or broke, or out of work, or emotionally worn out from these past few years.
So can we come up with some great movies that are decidedly not that? Not ideal families and not happy christmases and not budding romance and not happily-ever-after.
As always, please tell us about the movie, and maybe even tell us what you liked about it, not just the name of the movie?
Have at it!
Update: Not asking for Christmas movies, just great movies that are decidedly not the items I listed. Not excluding Christmas movies, either.
Trivia Man
Die Hard
definitely not sappy, definitely a Xmas movie
Another Scott
Deliverance??
[snort!]
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
There’s lots of SciFi/SF type movies that might fit the bill. Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes, The Day After, just about anything that tries to get people to think about the current directions of things. I like movies like that, but I don’t know of a recent one.
RomComs that don’t end with human #1 getting human #2 are kinda rare. I cannot think of one at the moment.
Didn’t Shrek have an unusual twist on the transmogfrication trope? (Or was it a sequel?)
Looking forward to the conversation.
Cheers,
Scott.
Trivia Man
Office Christmas Party, a recent favorite. Jennifer Anniston kicking ass in a Russian mafia bar, jousting while riding a flaming Xmas tree, family conflict, and the best heavy metal version I HAVE EVER HEARD of God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen
azelie
My favorite Christmas movie is the Lion in Winter. A Plantagenet family Christmas. Great performances and great writing, of course. “What shall we hang? The holly or each other?”
Other art forms: A recent favorite Christmas song is “Your Christmas Whiskey” by the Minus 5. A guy lauding the fact that a family member gives him whiskey for Christmas to help him get through family together time.
Argiope
Trading Places had the drunk Dan Akroyd Santa trying to fit an entire salmon into his suit, if memory serves. Not mostly about Christmas but maybe still counts?
WaterGirl
@Trivia Man: Great description, thanks for that.
It really helps to get a feel for a movie, plus they are fun to read!
Phylllis
A favorite of ours is The Apartment. Poignant without being maudlin, with great performances all around.
WaterGirl
@Argiope:
Sorry I wasn’t clear – I’m actually not asking for Christmas movies in particular. Just good entertainment.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Not about Christmas but just saw it because there was a special screening with a Q&A with the director, producer, tech guys:
Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse.
it feature an Indian spiderman who’s simply hilarious, but doesn’t have much to do) but it struck me that plot features a very Indian definition of karma: because you can’t know the ultimate effect of all the actions you take, you can’t know whether the choices you make are ultimately good or bad, so bad karma is simply inescapable.
Miles Morales, as an American, rebels against the entire idea, and firmly believes that he can make choices without doing any harm.
Also the spider people sit in yoga poses when they’re discussing serious matters.
Alison Rose
Hamlet. Everybody gets dead.
Omnes Omnibus
Not a movie, but, in light of Shane McGowan’s recent death, I would enter Fairytale of New York into the mix. It’s love song, stripped of illusions, no budding romance, no happily ever after, but with a memory of the hope for those things from days gone by..
Suzanne
Mikal Gilmore’s book Shot in the Heart is one of my favorite books ever. Gilmore is a longtime music writer, but he is also the younger brother of Gary Gilmore. Their family life is the most terrible I have ever read about, which I’m sure comes as no surprise. The book is shattering and fantastic.
There was a version made for, I think, HBO, which I never saw.
Subsole
Home for the Holidays.
Not a Christmas movie, but man it feels like a Christmas movie.
It is set during Thanksgiving, not Christmas. A mid 90s film about a single mother who goes home to visit her family (mom, dad, sister, brother).
It feels very, very true to real life family gatherings: hilarious and heartbreaking by turns. The most brutal dialogue is just two people bound by blood being completely honest with each other. It isn’t about dire revelations, just that sense of alienation you sometimes get with a parent or a sibling that you aren’t close to, or that you feel like you ought to be closer to.
And it’s not that anyone was evil to each other. Just one person feeling like they were always forced to be the grownup, or that their kid was closer to the other parent. That kind of thing.
It also manages to do this while being very funny and not taking itself too seriously.
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott:
Oh good lord!
Mr. Prosser
@azelie: Also my favorite, the best quote,
“Ah, Christmas, a warm and rosy time. The hot wine steams, the Yule log roars and we’re the fat that’s in the fire.” Henry’s son Geoffrey to his brothers, Richard (the Lionheart) and future King John
BellaPea
I just recently re-watched the Mildred Pierce mini-series on HBO (sorry, Max!). Beautifully acted by Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, and Mare Winningham, among others. Director Todd Haynes did an outstanding job and the story, period costumes, sets, and the music of the 30s was perfect. I also recently watched the May December movie directed by Haynes, which was interesting. Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman were wonderful.
Martin
@Trivia Man: The better argument I’ve read is that it’s really a Hanukah movie – “about managing limited resources to pull off a miraculous and impossible victory, and overcoming an overwhelming hostile force through determination and resilience.”
Expletive Deleted
For the festive list will second The Lion in Winter and add Anna and the Apocalypse and Tangerine.
For non-festive, if you missed seeing Bottoms at the movie theatre find it on streaming, it’s a hoot.
Yet Another Haldane
@Phylllis:
Uff, that was a dark, dark film. Also another brilliant Billy Wilder film (did he ever put a foot wrong?). Thanks for the reminder!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Another Scott: Annie Hall is one where they don’t end up together.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: Controversial choice considering the slur debate.
gene108
Grave of the Fireflies
No cheery blooming romance, no ideal family, and no happily ever after ending.
mrmoshpotato
@Trivia Man:
I’m sorry. What?
This version?
Yet Another Haldane
@Subsole: Heck yeah! I had forgotten that this was Jodie Foster’s second feature film as director. It’s been too long since I’ve seen it but I remember it has poignant without being miserable, funny without being silly.
prostratedragon
@Phylllis: One I wasgoing to mention. Suicide attempts current and past, people assiduously avoiding spending time with their families, single guy dancing on a lonely Christmas Eve in a bar with the sweetheart of a small Mexican chihuahua … it’s got everything.
Percysowner
Into The Woods, not the movie version, but the PBS version that filmed the stage play starring Bernadette Peters. It’s thoughtful and beautiful. The ending is more about just keeping going with all of our flaws and faults and how to survive disasters we have caused ourselves.
gene108
@Another Scott:
There’s usually human #3 that’s a giant jackass that human #1 or human #2 are trying to make sure the other doesn’t end up with #3.
Yet Another Haldane
How about The Ref (1994)? Marital discord at Christmastime. Excellent performances (yeah, Spacey, sorry, but also Judy Davis and Denis Leary, and JK Simmons’s debut). The central couple are so focused on their grievances against each other that they can’t even take time out to be properly kidnapped at gunpoint.
Martin
@Another Scott:
Gravity. It’s a rom-com by virtue of Sandra Bullock being in it, and human #2 gets yeeted into an irretrievable orbit about 11 minutes into the film.
Ksmiami
Die Hard is a great Christmas movie and Alan Rickman’s evil Hans is epic.
Wapiti
I’m a fan of the director Tom Tykwer. I could recommend Perfume. Hapless antagonist comes from a poor beginning, does horrible things, is convicted, and eventually comes to an end, remembered by no one. Writing that out… maybe something else by Tykwer.
mrmoshpotato
@gene108:
Saw that once in college. An incredibly bleak anime.
dc
I have not seen this film yet, but I plan to while I’m out visiting family over the holidays. It’s a musical zombie apocalypse movie, Anna and the Apocalypse.
Trailer
billcinsd
A song about not really caring much about Christmas. A movie with a dysfunctional family might be The Ref
Florence Dore — Christmas
youtube.com/watch?v=CA6kBCWtsxI
WaterGirl
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Sounds fun!
Ksmiami
Also the Dropkick Murphy’s – “The season’s upon us..” with video
WaterGirl
@gene108: What’s it about?
NotMax
First one which comes to mind is Easy Rider.
Going further back, Make Way for Tomorrow, which has a decidedly non-Hollywood ending.
dmsilev
@Another Scott:
One that comes to mind is ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’.
Rachel Bakes
A Midwinter’s Tale. Directed by Kenneth Branagh (I think he wrote it too) around the time he did Hamlet. Depressed and underemployed actor Joe casts a small group of misfit actors (all British actors or some renown) to perform Hamlet in his hometown to save a church and the community. If you’ve ever done theater and especially community theater, or like Shakespeare, it’s a hoot. Ends happily enough but there’s a side by side mirror plot to Hamlet.
we found it by accident 20 years ago and still love it.
khead
@Yet Another Haldane:
“Go ahead. Shoot her”. Was looking for this film to be listed. Will also give a shout out to Trading Places as others have done.
NotMax
[waves hand in air] Ooh, ooh. Ordinary People.
TEL
@Yet Another Haldane: The Ref was the film I thought of as well. I remember being truly surprised when I watched it – at how dark the subject matter was and at how much I enjoyed watching it.
Bnut
@Yet Another Haldane:
The Ref is the best, Dennis Leary at his peak. My first step-mother introduced me to it as a 10 year old and it has remained in the household zeitgeist. I miss that woman most out of all the 4 (ex)wives.
H.E.Wolf
Comfort and Joy: 1984, dir. Bill Forsyth.
“A few days before Christmas, Glasgow radio disc jockey Allan ‘Dicky’ Bird is stunned when Maddy (Eleanor David), his kleptomaniac girlfriend of four years, suddenly announces that she is moving out.”
Brazil: 1985, dir. Terry Gilliam.
“In a dystopian, polluted, hyper-consumerist, overbearing bureaucratic totalitarian future based on an amalgamation of the 20th century, Sam Lowry is a low-level government employee who frequently dreams of himself as a winged warrior saving a damsel in distress. One day, shortly before Christmas, an insect becomes jammed in a teleprinter, which misprints a copy of an arrest warrant it was receiving….”
I saw Comfort and Joy when it came out; haven’t seen Brazil.
WaterGirl
@Bnut: wow there are some stories there, I’ll bet.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: I just watched May December. I really enjoyed the performances. It’s creepy and it is definitely not a happy family. On Netflix.
Steeplejack
The movie that comes to my mind is a little Australian gem called The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992). Trailer here. It’s currently streaming only on Criterion, alas. Directed by Gillian Armstrong, with an excellent cast including Lisa Harrow, Bruno Ganz, Kerry Fox and Miranda Otto.
Sort of okay synopsis from IMDB:
It’s definitely not a “happy families” movie, but it’s not exactly an unhappy-families movie either. It’s a dense, layered look at a constellation of relationships with all the attendant ups and downs.
. . . Shnikeys! Just discovered that apparently the whole movie is available on YouTube. Highly recommended.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Yet Another Haldane: We watch that one almost every year. Very funny
Edited to add my wife and also love Bad Santa. We watched that one already this month. Billy Bob Thornton is a ridiculous angry drunk.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bnut: God damn. It’s a long time since I have seen your ‘nym. How have you been?
Torrey
To counteract all the Disneyfication, I recommend the other movie titled “Frozen.” This one was released in 2005 and stars Shirley Henderson, ably supported by Sean Harris, Richard Armitage and a number of other exceptional actors. Henderson plays Kath, whose older sister Anna disappeared two years prior. Kath continues to investigate the disappearance, to the point where her friends are worried that she’s endangering her mental health. As a viewer, you’re never quite sure whether it’s a mystery story or a ghost story. The title refers to a piece of film with Anna’s image and which spurs Kath’s continued investigation. (Actually, I think the title could refer to a lot of things in the film. Your call.) The acting and directing are superb, and the location in which the film is shot is presented as cold and dreary (just right for Christmas, y’all!), although the film itself does not take place at Christmas.
WaterGirl
@Bnut: from Google:
Pedants may want to brace themselves before reading that.
movies ever mad
not knowing their going through a martial problem.
Barbara
@Suzanne: I read the New Yorker article version of his story. The transformation of the father from monster to good dad — and the consequences for the first two sons — was memorable and shocking.
My candidate is Knives Out, which we watched on Xmas Day a few years ago.
Miss Bianca
With respect to the “Bah, Humbug” sentiment expressed by the particular commenter WG alludes to, I have only this to say in defense of A Christmas Carol, which came up in context during my exchange with them – and then I’ll shut up and let all y’all have at it with regard to other movies etc.
To dismiss Christmas Carol as primarily a sentimental story, is, to my mind, doing it a disservice – after all, the premise is, as I put it last night to our audience for the staged reading, “Rich guy has to be literally terrorized into paying a living wage.”
There’s a lot of righteous *anger* in that story – anger towards the heartlessness of Dickens’s society, that he saw clearly and excoriated in terms like no other.
Yes, there’s redemption for Scrooge, but there’s a lot of harrowing stuff along the way – along with Marley’s Ghost, there are other souls in torment after death, chained to their particular sins, unable to help themselves or anyone else. There are Ignorance and Want, hiding in the skirts of the Spirit of Christmas Present. Etc, etc.
Sure, there’s sentimentality in the mix, but I don’t find the idea of Christmas, the way Scrooge’s nephew Fred puts it, as trite or gooily heartwarming: “the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem, by one consent, to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”
Do we always live up to the spirit of the season as described above? Oh, hell no. Does that mean the idea itself is somehow to be despised, as hollow, or a sham, or a cheat, if you don’t happen to be living the Hallmark Holiday Movie version of it? I don’t think so – and yes, I’ve been down and out at Christmas time and felt all the crushing weight of feeling like I had to fake jollity and bonhomie towards friends, family, and the world, when that was the last thing I felt capable of.
(In no way do I wish to belittle the sentiments of the above-mentioned commenter, btw. I guess I just always feel a reflexive desire to defend my favorite Dickens story.) (Next to Bleak House.)
Back to the assigned topic!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: If I recall correctly, you and I have the same tolerance for “creepy”, which is very little.
But this must not have been over the line?
zhena gogolia
@Torrey: RICHARD ARMITAGE? Did I hear Richard Armitage and Shirley Henderson? I need it.
schrodingers_cat
Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, Sahib, Bibi or Gulaam, and Kagaaz ke Phool. They are classics.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: No violence is depicted. It’s creepy because it’s based on the Mary Kay Letourneau story.
Barbara
I am loving these recommendations.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: “Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
ETA: We are on the same page on this.
NotMax
Might as well cross the topical border and list some fave flicks involving Xmastime.
Perennials:
“A Christmas Carol “(1951)
“The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” – “Deck the Halls” (1959)
.
Others? Rotating roster, dependent on mood and who else might be watching. A few which pop into the skull, in no particular order:
“The Man Who Came to Dinner”
“The Coca-Cola Kid”
“The Ref”
“The Dead”
“Desk Set”
“Rare Exports”
“Three Days of the Condor”
“The Hunt” (2012)
“The Thin Man”
“Lady on a Train”
“In Bruges”
“The Shop Around the Corner”
“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”
“Remember the Night”
“A Bill of Divorcement”
.
One I look forward to seeing someday (patiently waiting for it to show up someplace streamable): “8 Women.”
Something different: unexpectedly Christmas themed old time radio.
zhena gogolia
@Torrey: Just bought it on Prime.
Torrey
@zhena gogolia:
Yes. Yes, you do.
You will not be sorry.
Miss Bianca
btw, am I the only person in the room who really doesn’t care for The Lion in Winter? Sounds like it!
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca: Very good analysis!
dexwood
@Miss Bianca: Thanks.
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca: Have never made it through the whole thing. A festival of over-acting, IMHO.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Again, we are on the same page. Lots of bravura performances and scenery chewing, but it leaves me rather cold.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus:
:)
Mai Naem mobile
@Yet Another Haldane: The Ref was the first movie I thought of when I read this post. Good casting and acting. Not a Christmas movie but a dysfunctional family – This Boy’s Life with Deniro, Caprio and Ellen Barkin. DeNiro ofcourse as expected is really good but so are Caprio and Barkin. It’s based on an autobiographical book by Tobias Wolff.
schrodingers_cat
@Miss Bianca: Have not watched it.
Steeplejack
@Wapiti:
Tom Tykwer! Great stuff from him. Two personal favorites are Run, Lola, Run and (even better) The Princess and the Warrior.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Obligatory, if only for the final line of the clip.
;)
Phylllis
@NotMax: Amazing movie with such moving performances by both Moore and Bondi. It pops up on TCM on occasion.
mrmoshpotato
@Barbara: Knives Out and Glass Onion are both really good.
Tehanu
The Late Show with Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, & Joanna Cassidy, among others. An aging private eye asked by a ditz to find her lost cat gets drawn in to something much more dangerous. Bittersweet; it has an ending that makes me smile, but I wouldn’t call it “upbeat” exactly.
And NotMax @61 — thanks for mentioning The Coca-Cola Kid! Haven’t seen it in ages but I’ve always remembered how terrific it was.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
I knew that was coming! 😹
prostratedragon
@H.E.Wolf:
The establishing scene. One of my desert island movies. Be sure you get the dierector’s cut, which is not normally streaming anywhere; maybe a library dvd.
Suzanne
@Barbara: The whole Gilmore family story arc is riveting. Mikal Gilmore brings a lot of clarity and grace to the entire story.
I follow him on social media. Older brother Frank died last year. Mikal seems to have found happiness, but oh damn, was that a journey.
Knives Out is fantastic. Also loved Glass Onion.
middlelee
Waking Ned Divine. Not a Xmas movie but we do watch it every year in December.
Irish movie and hilarious.
Steeplejack
@Miss Bianca:
I’m lukewarm on it, at best. Hard to hear anything over the sound of scenery being chewed on all sides. But it’s embedded in the script.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Audio subtitles are commonplace. Brazil, IMHO, is one of very, very few which would be improved by the addition of subtitles for the visuals.
MaryRC
@prostratedragon: Even a drunk Santa!
NotMax
@Tehanu
At the moment streaming free (with ads) on Tubi. Rentable on Amazon for 99 cents (or can be purchased for $2.99).
Miss Bianca
@Rachel Bakes: Ooh, I think I’d like to see that!
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Are you completely deaf to sarcasm? Or just attempting a joke of your own?
Torrey
@zhena gogolia:
I agree with the “festival of overacting” assessment, but I enjoy the film anyway–the earlier one, with Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn. There’s a more recent TV movie with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close, which I haven’t seen. I think a case can be made that part of the overacting is the point: the family members themselves are always conscious that they are “on display,” always acting at (not just for) each other, if that makes sense. That said, I don’t much care for Hepburn in that role. I could have done with a lot less flashing of teeth. It puts one in mind of a 12-year-old who has just gotten rid of her braces.
I still love the film, though.
Barbara
@Miss Bianca: I get tired of it. It’s ahistorical camp, with incredible acting.
Yarrow
@Miss Bianca:
I have no idea why I’m only being alluded to.
As for A Christmas Carol, yes, it has all the things you said. No one should take anything away from any of that. It’s a great story with good messages.
And then it has a happy ending. Fuck that shit.
mrmoshpotato
The Marx brothers’ Animal Crackers is on TCM right now. Also excellent.
Narya
Bad Santa.
I mentioned it the other day but I think it fits in this thread too.
Miss Bianca
@Yarrow: Um…in case you didn’t want to be identified? I usually err on the side of anonymity unless the commenter in question has been specifically identified. Which, if I recall, you hadn’t been.
As for “fuck the happy ending”, well…I don’t think even in the bleakest, darkest midwinter of my soul would I have damned Dickens for that.
Omnes Omnibus
Between this thread and the way the comments in the Ukraine thread are going, I think I may just fuck off and find a good version of A Christmas Carol to watch.
Yarrow
@Miss Bianca: I hadn’t been in the original post but I have no idea why. I understand and appreciate your discretion.
Sister Golden Bear
It’s not specifically a Christmas movie, but I nominate John Carpenter’s The Thing. Think about it:
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I recommend the Muppet Christmas Carol. Possibly my all-time favorite, for including Dickens himself as a character, so we get some of the gorgeous narrative voice. Plus, Michael Caine. Yow, is he good.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: I was going to look for the Sim version, but that is an intriguing choice.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca:
I am actually a fan of A Christmas Carol, and I did not realize the commenter I was thinking of had talked about A Christmas Carol or used the phrase Bah Humbug!
That was just the phrase that came to mind as I was trying to figure out the title!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Ah, thanks for clarifying.
Anotherlurker
As a single person, I tend to avoid the holidays and holiday movies. I really feel condescended to with all the mush about families and budding romance. Because I am single does not mean that I am a lesser form of life. Single folks can be happy and fulfilled. We are not objects to be pitied.
On Xmas day I prefer to order Chinese food and watch a movie.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Do you feel a disturbance in the force, in a good way, when someone mentions that name? :-)
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: Stick around. I’m sure one of our clairvoyant posters is going to post Wednesday’s winning PowerBall numbers. Don’t want to miss that!
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
@WaterGirl: I did not use the phrase Bah Humbug.
skerry
@Miss Bianca: I second this recommendation. One of my all time favorites
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: A happy ending combined with loss, grief, death, and missed chances.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Yes, absolutely.
FelonyGovt
The Station Agent. Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarksom, Bobby Cannavale. Sweet, poignant, different.
And, completely unrelated, but if I hear “Holly Jolly Christmas” one more time I’m apt to murder someone.
mrmoshpotato
@Torrey:
There’s also a horror movie from 2010 called Frozen.
Three skiers stranded on a chairlift are forced to make life-or-death choices, which prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.
FelonyGovt
@H.E.Wolf: I love Comfort and Joy. The warring ice cream trucks are another plot point.
pieceofpeace
@NotMax: That’s the one I was going to mention – such good characterizations. The book was a good read also, with some differences but overall similar, such as their perfect family, until…
NotMax
@Rachel bakes
Reminded in a way of a theater group putting on Romeo & Juliet in a fun little mini-series (whose name unfortunately escapes me at the moment).
Actor supposed to play Mercutio is injured enough to drop out. Snicker at the director constantly addressing the replacement he reluctantly brought in as Substitutio.
delphinium
@Steeplejack: Run, Lola, Run is great.
As for dysfunctional families, suggest The Grifters (A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play with Anjelica Huston and John Cusack)
and Affliction (James Coburn stars as the dark, angry patriarch of an abusive household, whose abuse and anger are inherited by his son played by Nick Nolte and plays out during a small town murder investigation)
mrmoshpotato
@FelonyGovt:
I absolutely love that movie!
“Because I wanted to live by Joe.” LOL!
But why?! It’s the best time of the year!! 😁
Miss Bianca
@zhena gogolia: THANK YOU, that is exactly it!
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: Yes. I’m fully aware. I’ve read the fucking thing. I’ve seen several film versions. I’ve seen it on stage. I know what it’s about. And it’s got a happy ending. Which was one of the criteria I had in the previous thread that I DID NOT WANT..
I get it. People like it. Enjoy away. Read and watch it a million times. Have at it.
It’s still got a happy ending. With a happy family. So it’s a hard no for me.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Same. Half-watching Philadelphia-Dallas and waiting for Rick and Morty at 10:30.
UncleEbeneezer
Requiem For A Dream: The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep.
Force Majeure & The Square: Ruben Ostlund’s earlier films are so much better than Triangle Of Sadness. If movies can give you anxiety, steer clear of both even though I think they were brilliant. Every time you think they can’t get more uncomfortable, they somehow manage to do so. They also feature really toxic couples/families.
The Squid & The Whale: Follows two young boys dealing with their parents’ divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Little Children: The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations in suburban Massachusetts. I really love it for the dark humor and the great score. Todd Field’s best film, imo.
Boogie Nights: Amazing story, soundtrack, performances, so many iconic scenes. A family of sorts.
prostratedragon
@MaryRC: Oh my yes, that office party!
Alison Rose
@FelonyGovt: Looooooove The Station Agent. So so good. I should watch that again.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sim version apparently not available anywhere. Muppet version at Disney and Hulu.
delphinium
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Just watched, Spiderman: Across the Spider-verse and see there will be a third movie. All the different animation styles have been amazing.
raven
A Midnight Clear
Alison Rose
I’m usually pretty bad at recalling how things end (books, movies, etc), but if we’re looking for stuff with non-happy endings, and if you want something…….unsettling, how about Quills?
Kelly
Jean de Florette where Gérard Depardieu inherits a farm, is sabotaged by a neighbor that wants the land, ignored by locals because he’s not from around there, works hard unsuccessfully until he dies.
His young daughter discovers the treachery get’s her revenge many years later in Manon des Sources.
prostratedragon
@Yarrow: Well, I think in the end everybody still dies. They just play it offstage.
I’m also partial to the 1951 Alastair Sim version, which I’ll be watching late next week.
NotMax
@Yarrow
Ever seen the Seymour Hicks (theatrically accomplished playing Scrooge on the stage for years and years beforehand) film from the 1930s? AFAIK the only version in which Tiny Tim’s corpse is in full view.
There;s both the original b&w and a colorized version. The latter, IIRC, is edited (read: butchered) to a much shorter run time.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: You have a rather strange definition of “happy.”
Quiltingfool
Wasn’t a big hit, but I enjoyed Mixed Nuts (Steve Martin!). It’s a Christmas film, I guess. Madeline Kahn is in the movie, she’s so funny!
SixStringFanatic
One of my absolute favorite Christmas songs of all time, this song certainly fits the mood in this thread:
A Christmas Duel by The Hives and Cyndi Lauper
youtu.be/My5Bzf0PQhc?si=oNE0lQaoVe5pCQt6
A sample of the lyrics:
I bought no gifts this year
And I slept with your sister
I know I should have thought twice
Before I kissed her
But with the year we had last
And the dress that she wore
I just went along for the ride
And I came back for more
And I’m sorry baby
So whatever you say
It’s all fine by me
Who the fuck anyway wants a Christmas tree
Cause the snow keeps on fallin’
Even though we were bad
It’ll cover the filth
We should both just be glad
And spend-spend-spend this Chris-Christmas together
CHETAN R MURTHY
@Kelly: They’re both great films! Though (haha) I feel like you buried the lede, that the “neighbor” is played by Daniel Autueil. He’s amazing in that role (at least, I think). IIRC Yves Montand plays the patriarch whose farm has been inherited by Depardieu’s character.
lowtechcyclist
@azelie:
It was the first movie I thought of when I saw this thread, and I’m not at all surprised that it was mentioned right out of the gate! Good work, getting here first.
In 1981, my parents were going through the latest round of their divorce wars – the divorce itself had been finalized a few years earlier, but there was still property to fight over. My dad literally called me into his office to have me sign a paper for use in those proceedings, and I refused because I didn’t know whether what I was stating as true by signing was in fact true. (I’m not sure, but it may have been the first time I’d ever stood up to my father.) So he disowned me.
And then I went to see The Lion in Winter. It was a bit of a relief, in a bizarre way, to see a portrayal of a family even more dysfunctional than my own.
(JFTR, my father and I reconciled a few years later.)
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Streaming free on the Plex service. $1.99 to rent on Amazon.
Yarrow
@prostratedragon: Death comes for us all. It’s just a matter of when.
@NotMax: Yes, I’ve seen that.
@zhena gogolia: Okay.
Kelly
@CHETAN R MURTHY: Everyone was great in those movies. We didn’t see Manon des Sources until a while later so it was quite a story to absorb. It was the first movie my dear departed first wife and I went to. We both loved it.
zhena gogolia
Somehow I’m having “who’s more famous, Swift or Kelce” flashbacks.
kalakal
Arsenic and Old Lace The ultimate family with a secret, howlingly funny, Cary Grant having the time of his life, does have a happy ending for Grant & Priscilla Lane, not for anybody else.
When the Wind Blows, On the Beach – good films, everybody dies
Yarrow
I’m out. Don’t want to ruin anyone’s good time, which apparently I already have. Sorry for commenting.
zhena gogolia
@Yarrow: You didn’t ruin anything. It’s a blog, we argue about stuff.
WaterGirl
@kalakal:
rotating tag!
Kelly
@zhena gogolia: The Kelce brothers version of “Fairytale of New York” seems to fit this thread.
youtube.com/watch?v=6StD_xLFp5A&ab_channel=APhillySpecialChristmas
prostratedragon
@Alison Rose:
I laughed out loud in the theater at this, and so did someone else! (It’s a desktop publishing joke.)
Another good one, with more depth:
Jackie
Hopefully not a sad ending; Watching the White House Christmas 2023 special on HGTV and The Property Brothers are hosting!❤️
WaterGirl
@SixStringFanatic: Perfect!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, that that was the kind of thread that you hope doesn’t come up right after you tell a friend that they should check out Balloon Juice!
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia:
No we don’t!
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: How did your Teams meeting go? Did you end up using the app or the browser on your phone?
SixStringFanatic
@WaterGirl: I can barely imagine how much of an absolute BLAST that song was to record.
mrmoshpotato
Anyone seen Rod Serling’s version of A Christmas Carol – Carol For Another Christmas ?
Jackie
@Kelly: Here’s the YouTube background story to your video!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=mPiQZiNZ_n0
Jacel
I haven’t seen a film mentioned here that has Christmas content and many unexpected feels high and low. Whit Stillman’s “Metropolitan”.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Amazon product page: “This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location.” At least for me.
I’ll give you Plex. JustWatch has failed me for once.
kalakal
The Shining has a lot of snow, looks very Christmassy
WaterGirl
@SixStringFanatic: I think you’re right. Good times!
WaterGirl
@kalakal: You are in fine form tonight. I have laughed out loud at your last two comments.
You must be feeling much better!?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Yet Another Haldane: I think Billy Wilder is my favorite director. He made a couple of misses, but overall his movies are great. And usually a bit dark, as you noted, as befits a German-Jewish refugee from the Third Reich. Except for Some Like It Hot, which is a wonderful comedy.
SixStringFanatic
I tend to like Christmas songs that are decidedly non-traditional.
Like this tale of Christmas class warfare:
The Kinks – Father Christmas
youtu.be/fPPCPqDINEk?si=36QZQ7HPNaAnlw0E
mrmoshpotato
@kalakal: Haha!
Princess
I just saw the new Miyazaki movie The Boy and the Heron, and it is about death and war and it’s really amazing a beautiful and leaves many things unresolved. Highly recommended if Miyazaki is your bag.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I don’t know if this fits your bill, but Morning Glory is one of my favorite films because there are beats that feel like standard rom-com but it isn’t a romance, not even a hint of romance. It’s an entirely professional relationship between Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams.
There is a romance, I suppose the producers felt they had to throw one in there. But that guy is a very minor character.
Also Harrison Ford is just great as Grumpy Old News Guy
prostratedragon
@kalakal:
Chaaaaarrrge!
(Anyone else reminded of that by a moment in Vertigo? I’m convinced there was a colloquy among Capra, Hitchcock, and Wilder.)
Tom Lehrer’s Christmas carol
kalakal
@WaterGirl: I’m getting there, not 100%, but much, much better 😀
SixStringFanatic
Here’s a song about Santa’s elves considering a labor strike (particularly meaningful this year):
Elf’s Lament by Barenaked Ladies with Michael Buble
youtu.be/Gm3k7UR7knA?si=868mX8bM2-pdI7Z1
Trivia Man
@mrmoshpotato: I think that’s it! Loon up the video from the movie with that song.
kalakal
@WaterGirl:
With hindsight, I could have phrased that better
SixStringFanatic
And for sheer goofy joy, here’s Bob Dylan doing a Christmas polka and sounding like he’s having the time of his life!
youtu.be/a8qE6WQmNus?si=H8AQz2PmeEaKow5q
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Sister Golden Bear: Oh well if we’re going to go in that direction, I recommend the Norwegian film Dead Snow. Lots of snow. Definitely not a happy ending.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Ksmiami: IMHO, Alan Rickman was wonderful in everything he was in.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
It went all right. I used the app on my phone while sitting in my car. (Short explanation is that the maintenance people picked that day to do some really loud work right outside my apartment’s front window.) I had a little trouble with the audio at first, but I got that fixed.
The meeting itself was good. I liked the lawyer and will probably proceed with her—or her firm. It appears to be a small group practice. They’re going to send me an engagement letter and some other information, and I’ll see how to proceed from there.
kalakal
@Sister Golden Bear:
except for the fire at the end that could be Ice Station Zebra
Kelly
@Jackie: Thanks! That was great backstory. I thought the Kelce brothers are fine amatuer singers.
Steeplejack
@Jacel:
I love Metropolitan. Stillman’s movie Barcelona is also great. Two humorous studies of a very particular social stratum.
Steeplejack
@Princess:
Planning to see it this coming week!
ETA: Thinking of breaking with tradition and seeing the dubbed version rather than subtitles. Disney used to do a dreadful, cartoonish job on their early dubs after they acquired the U.S. rights, but the dubbing in the trailer for this one seems pretty good.
kalakal
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Have you seen Truly, Madly, Deeply? He was great in that.
Jackie
@SixStringFanatic: WOW! That’s a party!
And now I want to polka!
Steeplejack
@kalakal:
I was just about to mention that.
RevRick
@Trivia Man: No, it’s not. It’s the story of an outnumbered, outgunned small group of heroes trying to retake a tower from a foreign invader. That’s the Hanukkah story. Die Hard is a Hanukkah movie.
Trivia Man
@Steeplejack: we finally cut cable this week, R&M is the one show I miss so far
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Amazon rental page
Trick is to look for its original title.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Miss Bianca: I have a really hard time with the casting of Peter O’Toole as Henry II, who was short and somewhat stout all of his life, and Anthony Hopkins as Richard the LionHeart, who should be played by someone like the guy who plays Thor in the Marvel movies. Chris Hemsworth?
chrisanthemama
@Subsole: The best! RDJ (assuming he was not sober for the filming) is at his manic best, but I have a special affection for Charles Durning, who I think is the heart of the film. The entire cast is perfect. Directed by Jodie Foster, too. Good choice.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
As you brought up Mr. L….
Omnes Omnibus
@Jacel: The first and the best of the Stillman films.
chrisanthemama
@Old Dan and Little Ann: I remember seeing Bad Santa in a theater when it first came out. For some reason, the theater was almost empty (except for me and a couple other stragglers in the distance). I cackled and snorted my way through it all by myself. John Ritter and Bernie Mac were excellent (and I’ll never trust a department store Santa again).
chrisanthemama
Not a movie, but it’s Merle Haggard singing about a stingy and thin Christmas. It really hit home for me a lot of years ago. Merle Haggard – If We Make It Through December (1974) (youtube.com)
Steeplejack
@Trivia Man:
They show up on Hulu (maybe Max, too), but not until after the season is over. This season has been pretty good, with only a couple of episodes I haven’t liked. The one last week with Ice T—oops, sorry, Water T—leading the letter people against the Numericons was very good. Going to watch it again in a few minutes and segue into the new episode at 11:00.
sab
@Miss Bianca: I loved it when I first saw it at age 15. I saw it again many years later, and loved it (differently) while laughing at so many amazing actors really, really chewing hard on the scenery.
Years ago I saw a caustic British review of the movie, comparing it unfavorably with the London theatre original. The stage version was intended to be anachronistic, a twentieth parody of a very disfunctional twelfth century family. Then the movie came out treating it so seriously as historical drama, and a lot of the lines really were jarring that way.
So I like it as both as the serious drama I loved as an adolescent and the weirdness I saw later.
And Peter O’Toole got to make amends for the travesty that was Becket‘s presentation of Henry II, one of England’s stromgest kings.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@kalakal: And fitting in with the Christmas theme, there is his immortal line in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood, “And Christmas is canceled this year!”
mrmoshpotato
@Trivia Man: And what about this jousting while riding a flaming Xmas tree? LOL!
Seonachan
I watch the Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special every year; it helps the other holiday movies go down easier.
Trivia Man
@Steeplejack: thanks, I’ve enjoyed them all. This is my first week missing the new ep.
Space Beth story arc is epic, thought I’d give her a shout out.
Alison Rose
@mrmoshpotato: I hope I’m not the only one who thinks of this whenever “jousting” is mentioned.
Trivia Man
@mrmoshpotato: One of the most surprising scenes I’ve encountered. The escalation at the party is fantastic. I recommend the movie!
mrmoshpotato
@Alison Rose: I don’t know that game. I think of Medieval Times when I think of jousting. Haha!
CHETAN R MURTHY
@Alison Rose: You are not the only one.
Barbara
@Torrey: I just watched this. It definitely fulfills the “no happy ending” condition called for in the post. Geez.
Chris
Not even remotely about family, but The Man Who Would Be King is one that’s stayed with me. I just remember it for being a movie where the two main characters are genuine and utter pieces of shit in more ways than you can count, and yet the movie still makes you feel for them. Sean Connery going out singing on the bridge still gets me even though it’s such an incredibly well deserved and long overdue end. So does the “everything’s all right then” last exchange of words right before.
Most movies don’t do that. Either they give you “antiheroes” that are really just sourpusses with a heart of gold and are never really shown doing anything bad, or they give you total sociopaths where the whole point is to let the audience have that naughty thrill about how yeah, they’re the worst, but God damn aren’t they cool?
Bnut
@Omnes Omnibus:
Been trying to live my best life as I hope everyone else has! Babies, new career in my late 30s. I literally forgo political internet besides getting pissed at memorandum.com headlines. But the oldest kid is about to be pooping in the toilet so I’m back in the game baby!
Yet Another Haldane
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Agreed, enthusiastically! Although for a light comedy, Some Like it Hot has an awful lot of murder. “Nobody’s perfect!”
Yet Another Haldane
I wish I could find the source: somebody recently said that Se7en must be a Christmas movie because there are lots of bible quotes and Brad Pitt gets a present at the end.
kalakal
@Chris: That’s a film that sticks with me too. Caine and Connery are exactly right for their roles
Splitting Image
The Purple Rose of Cairo is very good. It is structured like a fairy-tale story with the guaranteed happy ending, and the shiv when it comes is brutal.
For novels, Joseph Heller’s Something Happened is positively brutal. It has a happy ending in a manner of speaking, but thinking of the ending as a happy one just means that the novel has completely messed you up. Not as famous as Catch-22, but damned good.
Good as Gold is another Heller novel that deserves a bit more fame than it has. It’s about a selfish jackass who might be just on the cusp of a successful career and perhaps a successful relationship if only he could detach himself from his awful family, all of whom are terrible people and some of whom are as bad as he is. This was Heller’s deepest foray into American politics.
Chetan Murthy
@Splitting Image: I loved Purple Rose when it was released; but since then, well, I haven’t watched any Woody Allen films. Not a one. But I remember really loving it. Ah, well.
Bnut
@WaterGirl:
Preface my mother died when I was a baby but was planning on leaving him before she was diagnosed with breast cancer….
Well, the first was a lovely Southern woman who married my father probably realizing he needed help raising 2 children, bless her, I did not appreciate her in her time.
2 tried to burn the house down (I was in the Marine Corps at this point, my sister lived with our 1st stepmother post divorce). HER 2 kids ended up being lovely people despite her not taking her prescribed medications.
3 was also sweet but also had emotional baggage and 2 kids as well from different fathers. Super loving, but…not on my father’s perceived intellectual level. Dad both loved and hated her for it. He was an ass if you have not guessed.
He met 2 of them in AA. Also overshare because I haven’t been here in so long.
Splitting Image
Another movie worth watching:
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? directed by Sydney Pollack. A movie about a 1930s dance contest that evokes scenes of the damned being tortured in Dante’s Inferno.
Yet Another Haldane
I’m going to back into this one:
– I actually like Love Actually, or seem to remember liking it last time I saw it, which was years ago.
– That’s despite the obvious icky bits.
– It’s not a great fit for the topic because several couples appear to have formed by the end.
BUT there’s a marvelously vitriolic critique by Lindy West in Jezebel that slags the movie so thoroughly that it shriveled my heart with bitter joy. Recommended reading!
jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388
Ishmael
@Quiltingfool: Thank You! I keep mumbling “Mixed Nuts, Mixed Nuts” but no one has mentioned it, and I’m too lurky to mention it myself.
Steve Martin, Liev Schrieber, Rita Wilson, Anthony LaPaglia, Juliette
Lewis, Rob Reiner, Robert Klein, Adam Sandler, Madeline Kahn, and
a cameo with Jon Stewart on the back of a tandem bike delivering a Christmas tree. Just a charming, hilarious, endearing movie.
Thank you, Quiltingfool for mentioning it!
Steeplejack
@Trivia Man:
They just said in a promo that the new episodes show up the next day on Max. So if you’ve got that you can keep up.
Space Beth and regular Beth getting together was a great episode (6.3, “Bethic Twinstinct”).
Alison Rose
@mrmoshpotato: @CHETAN R MURTHY: My brothers and I played the heck out of that game on Atari, along with Pitfall and Breakout and a bunch of others. It’s funny to me how parents now are all concerned about “screen time” when we were staring at the TV for hours making a little dude swing over a pond filled with gators.
Timill
Well, there’s always that upbeat Easter comedy where everyone dies at the end (but you can buy the record in the foyer afterwards) Life of Brian
billcinsd
Another film about family sort of getting it together — Hunt for the Wilderpeople by Taikp Waitiki. It’s about the travails of a kid in foster care and so much more
prostratedragon
@NotMax: Ah yes, they played the two back-to-back on the radio today.
Jackie
The new version of The Nightmare Before Christmas:
Alison Rose
@Jackie: Oh goody.
I can’t wait.
So excited.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bnut: Welcome back!
Sister Golden Bear
@WaterGirl: Bah humbug!, No that’s too strong
Ivan X
A Christmas movie that I never see mentioned which I like simply for its sleeting, noirish, seedy, inky-hearted vibe is The Ice Harvest. One of Harold Ramis’ final directorial efforts, and fine work by John Cusack (and Billy Bob, though he’s unfortunately underutilized). The humor is all played pitch black.
Ivan X
Oh and an absolutely fantastic Christmas thriller movie no one ever talks about is The Silent Partner with Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer (in a truly frightening role)!
HumboldtBlue
@SixStringFanatic:
If I am not mistaken, the actor who played Grudge is the same actor who broke Michael Corleone’s jaw and that had a bullet put in his forehead.
Origuy
@Timill: Life of Brian is a Christmas movie, too. Brian is born in the stable next door to Jesus, and the Wise Men stop there first.
GregMulka
Violent Night is actually very good, though it does have a family being reunited by the magic of Santa killing so many people.
Tehanu
@SixStringFanatic: Not a movie, but S. J. Perelman’s “Waiting for Santy” beat them to it AND took on Clifford Odets.
Torrey
@sab:
Apparently, the actor who portrayed Philippe of France in the original Broadway staging was (a very young) Christopher Walken. It’s the sort of thing one would, in retrospect, pay much good money to see. (Rosemary Harris as Eleanor. Robert Preston as Henry.)
WaterGirl
@Bnut: This is Balloon Juice. Is there such a thing as oversharing?
sab
@Torrey: Wow! I would love to have seen that.
AnnaN
Miller’s Crossing. Satisfying, but not happy ending. Beautiful film.
Speaking of beautiful films with no schmaltz – The Fall. It’s gorgeous.
Miss Bee
@NotMax: Slings and Arrows? set in Canada?