5 FANDOM FRIDAY: HOLIDAY FILMS

5 Fandom Friday is a series hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick.This week’s Fandom Friday is all about My Favorite Holiday Movies. Now Finn has been filling the DVR full of Christmas movies from ABCFamily and Hallmark because she is a Christmas-aholic. There is no exaggeration here. While I dig the Holiday season, I am a bit lower key, but there are a few holiday movies that I look forward to catching glimpses of every year. Here are my top five that don’t include A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf, A Christmas Vacation, and a Christmas Story because those are gimmies. How about you? What are your favorite Holiday films?

Love Actually (2003)
I love vignette films, or at least when they are done right (Paris Je T’aime for example). Make it Christmas themed and I might be onboard especially when I can see Hugh Grant dance, Bill Nighy sing, Andrew Lincoln do his famous cue-card speech, and Colin Firth be all soaking wet in a pond (hello visions of Darcy). It makes me laugh and it makes me cry (Emma Thompson and Laura Linney’s storylines). It has an amazing cast and is a film I will actually take off my shelf and watch every year.

Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
Growing up I loved this movie and I still do even while recognizing its flaws. It begins with the origin of Santa as a 14th century woodcarver to the Santa we know and love. It also introduces the Vendequm or elves as well as some notable reindeer we adore. Dudley Moore plays Patch, an elf who decides to take his talents away from the North Pole, John Lithgow as the evil owner of BZ Toys who uses Patch to make some interesting candy and try and bring about Christmas 2. Lithgow is over the top evil and Moore is pretty funny as a disgruntled elf. I watched this movie a ton as a kid and while I don’t own it, I will watch it when I find it on the tv.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Oh how I love, love this film. Shiny gold star to Shane Black whose directorial debut features a lovely Michelle Monaghan in a Santa outfit, Val Kilmer as a gay detective (aptly named gay Perry), and Robert Downey Jr as a thief pretending to be an actor. Cue some murder and mayhem all during the Christmas season and I was sold. Still am. Go watch this film now people if you have not seen it.

Scrooged (1988)
Apparently I enjoy quite a bit of dark humor in my Holiday movies and Scrooged is one of them. I love the Christmas Carol and this update starring Bill Murray as Frank Cross is a holiday classic. Between the Solid Gold dancers, threatening to staple antlers onto cute little mice reindeer, and the best…and I mean best GHOSTS ever, I cannot help but bring this one out every year to watch.

Die Hard (1988)
"Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho." Only John McClane can make you happy for mayhem on Christmas. Plus Alan Rickman makes a great villain and you have a great scene where John wants Christmas music in the cab and the cabbie cranks up 'Christmas in Hollis'. This is a favorite because its not your typical Christmas flick, but don’t tell me it isn’t one. I don’t believe you.