25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 25

Day 25

Merry Christmas

Its A Wonderful Life

Okay I know I am 4 days late with this post, but you know how Christmas is and I was busy eating, drinking and being merry we had a wonderful Christmas. Parents over for dinner and it was lovely I admit I did fall asleep after all the excitement and stress of the big day but on Christmas evening we settled down and watched this old beautiful movie. About a man who life is falling apart on Christmas eve he wishes he was never born.

An Angel comes to show him what life would really be like if he wasn't born and he realises it is a wonderful life x

Merry Christmas to you all even if it is a little late from the Furey Follies x

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 21

Day 21

Home Alone 2

Today Paul & I are going to watch Home Alone 2. I love this movie and it really made me want to go to New York for Christmas and we did it was amazing!

This movie sees Kevin get on the wrong plane and land in New York instead of Florida. Cue lots of great sees of Kevin around New York. Harry and Marv are back for the second movie after breaking out of jail. They plan to rob a toy store and Christmas Eve and of course its up to Kevin to stop them.

I know my blog posts are getting shorter but I am up to my eyes with work, food shopping, cleaning, meeting friends, and wrapping presents. Every evening I am shattered so I don't get much time to write. I hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season. I am off now to have a baileys and watch Home Alone 2!

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 20

Day 20

Home Alone

Time for a classic tonight we are getting ready to watch home alone. I really love this movie. Kevin gets mistakenly left home alone. Its great for the first few days he eats sweets, plays games but then two burglars try to rob his house, and he has to defend it!

Its one of my favourite movies and I am off now to watch it with popcorn and hot chocolate!

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 19

Day 19

 The Family At Christmas

I loved this Channel Four documentary fly on the wall style programme about an a normal family mum, dad, three kids, one son-inlaw, one granddaughter, and a cat living in Kent England. This was the Christmas episode that show the run up to Christmas and Christmas day in the Hughes household.

I enjoyed it because its a normal family getting ready for Christmas, putting up the tree, wrapping hundreds of presents, the excitement before Christmas and the craziness of a household on Christmas morning. This is the one thing I watch that really gets me in the Christmas mood off to watch it now with a glass of mulled wine!

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 18

Day 18

The Royle Family - The New Sofa

Day 18 and another Christmas pick have to say I am really enjoying the countdown through movies and TV! Another Royle family pick for today The New Sofa!

This is the first episode to be set outside The Royle house. Denise is inspired by Nigella Lawson and decides that she is going to cook Christmas dinner and invites everyone round to her and Dave's house.
Of course it all goes wrong they never defrost the turkey in time and there is a really funny scene with Dave having a bath with the turkey in it to try get it defrosted in time! In the end Christmas dinner is a mix of cupasoup, bread, carrots, and washed down with very strong vodka punch!
Its my first year cooking Christmas dinner for everyone and I hope the food doesn't end up as bad as this!

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 15

Day 15

Miracle on 34th Street - 1994 version

I picked the original movie a couple of days ago which I love but I also love this remake too. Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson are amazing as Kris Kindle and Susan.

The plot is more or less the same as the original but Macy's didn't want to be used so the fictional "Cole's" was used instead.

Six year old Susan meets Cole's Santa Claus and realises that miracles can happen you just have to believe.

It was one of the movies that really made me want to go to New York for Christmas time and last year we did and it was everything like this movie and more. If you are not heading out tonight you should watch this really magically Christmas movie.

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 12

 

 Day 12

Miracle on 34th Street - 1947 version

This is the original version of the movie, starring Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn. Set from Thanksgiving through to Christmas day. At the Macy's Store Thanksgiving parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a jolly white beard man. Doris Walker the hard working special events director gets the man to take the drunken actors place. The old man proves to be a wonderful Santa and is recruited to be the store Santa at Macy's on 34th Street. Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus she becomes worried about his mental state.

Doris daughter Susan, who she has taught to grow up with out believing in Santa, magic or fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas. If you haven't seen the original black and white version you should give it ago its a lovely magically movie. 

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 11

Day 11

The Royle Family -  Christmas Special New Arrival

Today was my day off from work today and I was home alone and feeling a little down after being told I am going to get taxed like crazy on my Christmas wages :( So I needed something funny to watch so I picked The Royle Family first Christmas special for those who have never seen the Royle family before its about a normal working class family from Manchester. There is loud lazy Dad Jim, hard working Mam Barbara, lazy and obnoxious daughter Denis, her easygoing husband Dave and dogsbody brother Anthony. I love this show most of the episodes are centred around the sofa as the family watch TV or eat Sunday dinner. I really love the first Christmas special.

It's Christmas Day. The family have just finished a big Christmas dinner and are all vegging out in front of the telly. Denise and Dave are expecting there first child so Denise is just about ready to pop! Dad Jim moans that there is nothing on TV. The family enjoy tins of sweets washed down with snowballs all the while wearing Christmas cracker hats! I love how its gentle easy comdey and its basically about what every family does at Christmas, eat, drink and watch TV!
Of course just was everyone settles in for the evening Denise goes into labor and the last line of the show is Jim leaving the house bringing Denise to the hospital "Follow that star!"

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 10

Day 10

Santa Claus The Movie

Time for another Monday Christmas pick me up! Today's pick is from Paul this is his favourite childhood Christmas movie. I have to be honest its not my favourite I do like it but I think its a little to long. I think the movie has two parts the first part is set long ago and it tell how Santa becomes Santa Claus and how he and Mrs Claus got to the North Pole and the second part of the movie is set in 80's New York.
At the start of the movie we see a really nice man called who with his wife deliver presents to children. One night they are caught in a storm and are rescued by a group of elves. They met an elf who tells them that it is there destiny to deliver toys to the children of the world. The oldest elf renames the man Santa Claus.Then on Christmas Eve Santa takes off to deliver toys on his flying sleigh and reindeer, the reindeer able to fly because of a special type of food. Years later Santa is exhausted so he enlists a helper called Patch played by Dudley Moore. Patch makes a machine to help with the making of the toys but without the elves knowing the machine is not making the toys properly so on Christmas day they begin to fall apart. Patch resigns from the workshop.

Patch travels to New York and mets BZ a executive of a toy company. Patch wrong believes that BZ is like Santa Claus and decides to help him make wonderful toys. Soon though Patch realizes that BZ is only out to make profits and is using Patch's toys and ideas for himself. Of course Patch and Santa make up and BZ gets the comeuppances he deserves! Enjoy Paul's Day 10 pick!

Awww Mr & Mrs Claus!

 

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 9

Day 9

Scrooged

Time for Sunday's Day 9 pick and its one of my favourites Scrooged. Its an 80's remake/retelling of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. Billy Murray plays Fran Cross a TV executive he has made the TV station the top in America and is really rich but has become cruel and heartless in the process. On Christmas Eve is visited by his dead media mentor Lew Hayward who tells him that he will be visited by three ghosts to see the error of his ways. We then have a few really funny scenes in a restaurant when Frank thinks he is losing his mind! The Ghost of Christmas past comes in the form of a New York Cab driver that takes Frank back to his past. Where we seen his childhood home through to his first job in TV where he meets his true love Claire. We seen Frank move into a tiny flat with Claire they don't have much but are happy, slowly Frank moves up the ranks in the TV station and chooses his job over Clare and loses her.

The next ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Present comes in the form of a live size pixie who is sweet, dizzy and maybe a little rough who loves to hit Frank maybe a little too hard! She shows him how his assistant Grace Cooley who he works too hard for not allot of money lives in the rough area of town in a small little flat for her large family. She shows Grace's little boy Calvin mute since his Father died. After the second ghost's visit, Eliot Loudermilk, (who Frank fired on Christmas Eve before the ghost's visits) storms into the office with a shotgun and tries to murder Frank. Just as the third ghost appears the Ghost of Christmas Future in the form of a seven foot cloaked ghost with a TV screen for a face. It shows Frank that Calvin has ended up in a mental hospital and Claire has become as cold and uncaring as he is.

Frank sees the error of his ways and begs for a second chance he wakes up in his office just as Eliot Loudermilk is about to storm the office. He rehires Eliot with a pay rise, steps in front of the camera just as the Christmas special is wrapping up and declares his love for Claire and breaks into a song " Put a little love in your heart"

I love this movie Billy Murray is on top form as Frank its really funny but also touching and I love the ending with one of my favourite songs.

Think of your fellow man
Lend him a helping hand
Put a little love in your heart

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 8

Day 8

Jingle all the Way

After a day of Christmas shopping we sat down and watched this action packed festive movie. I am not a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan but Paul really wanted to watch this movie so I gave it a go as I have never seen all of this movie before. So the plot is about two rival neighbours and Fathers workaholic Howard (Schwarzenegger) and Ted (Phil Hartman) who seems like superdad compared to Howard. Every child wants a Tubro-man for Christmas so basically we see Howard get into lots of different scraps trying to get his son a Turbo-man on Christmas Eve!

One of the many different scraps Howard gets himself into during the film. Of course everything works out at the end but I love at the end when Howard puts the star on his Christmas tree he realises he never got a present for his wife! Glad Paul started his Christmas shopping early! ;)

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 7

Day 7 

The Vicar of Dibley - The Christmas Lunch Incident 

Today is day seven and the first of our TV special picks because Paul and I both had today off work as we are going to see Swan Lake this evening we just watched something quick at lunch time. So we decided to watch one of the Vicar of Dibley specials The Christmas Lunch Incident.

For those who don't watch Vicar of Dibley its about the first female vicar Geraldine Granger in the small quirky town of Dibley. It was the first Christmas special of the series. When Geraldine is invited to four different Christmas dinners she doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so she goes to all four! Its a really funny Christmas special with each dinner getting bigger and bigger as she goes to each of them. I love the scene when she has an eating competition with David Horton to see who can eat the most brussel sprouts! Enjoyed watching this today and it made me really looking forward to my Christmas dinner!!

25 Days of Christmas on Film & TV - Day 5

Day 5 

Gremlins

Tonight we will watch Gremlins not your normal choice for a Christmas movie but it is set at Christmas after all Gizmo is a Christmas present! The storyline briefly Billy gets a present of a little cuddly creature a Mogwai which they call Gizmo. Three rules that Billy must stick to when looking after Gizmo never expose it to bright light, never get water on it and never feed it after midnight. Of course all these things happen and when it does it creates the Gremlins. Green little monsters which are evil kill and destroy the small town.

Gremlins singing carols love it! I really like the mix of horror and comedy in the movie. I like the idea of a horror movie set a Christmas. Unlike the sequel the first movie is slightly more scary and gory than the second movie. I love the scene when all the gremlins are in the pub and also when they all set down to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs singing Hi Ho!! If you like a scary movie before Christmas then you will enjoy day five's pick!

  Ahh so cute!