Christmas Quotables

I started today with a healthy dose of Christmas spirit. After spending 7 hours in the car en famille running errands and shopping, I'm afraid it has been gradually beaten out of me.

In an effort to get some spirit back, I turned to thinking about some of my favorite scenes from Christmas-themed movies. Here is a selection:

A Christmas Story

[Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted]

Santa Claus: How about a nice football?
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'.
Santa Claus: Okay, get him out of here.
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!
Ralphie: [Ralphie is shoved down the slide, but he stops himself and climbs back up] No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
Santa Claus: You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

Christmas Vacation
[Clark's meltdown after a series of VERY unfortunate events at the family Chirstmas Eve - language cleaned up]

Clark: Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white a** down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of a**holes this side of the nuthouse.

It's a Wonderful Life

Zuzu Bailey: Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.
George Bailey: That's right, that's right.
George Bailey: Attaboy, Clarence.

Miracle on 34th Street

Doris: Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.

Die Hard
[It was set at a Christmas party]

[Reading what McClane wrote on the dead terrorist's shirt]
Hans Gruber: "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."

Ahhhh. I'm feeling better already. Feel free to add any of your favorites.

Pass the popcorn

Last week my family was visiting my mom and since Grandma never gets to spoil the grandkids because she lives 3,000 miles away, the day with grandma included a trip to see a 3-D movie. Yep Grandma is secretly a 3-D fanatic. She even saw "Shark Boy and Lava Girl" (No grandkids were available to go with her so she took her long suffering spouse.)
Last week she had willing volunteers to see "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole" in 3-D.
Here is my breakdown of the experience. We went through 2 large popcorn tubs while we were there. Meaning either it was so exciting we kept reaching for the popcorn without realizing it or it was so boring there wasn't much else we could do. Both are true depending on who you ask.

I was enthralled and loved the colors and the animation. I think it was a beautifully done movie. My 4 year old got bored half way through and started running laps of the theatre when his popcorn ran out. Since no one else was in the our showing I didn't bother chasing him so I still enjoyed the film.

My mom thought it was "confusing." She felt several plot points were never explained. She chalked it up the fact that it's based on a book.
My 9 year old turned to me at the end of the film and said, "I bet the book is ten times better." So we went to the Library and got a copy and by Saturday afternoon he confirmed that the book was better from start to finish. He still enjoyed the movie though.
What's the verdict on the Owls of Ga'Hoole? Its worth seeing, but if you can read the book before you go, then it might make more sense. My warning is that the middle story building might get tedious for younger children although they will probably like the beginning and the end.
Any opinions on this one?

Wild Things

The only movie I have seen at a theater this year is "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince." This is due in part to the fact that I have a four year old and a nine month old and don't get out much. Otherwise, it is because there just haven't been many movies I've been interested in enough to make the effort to go see, and I am someone who loves movies.

Finally I saw an ad that got me excited - the film adaptation of the classic children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". It excites me because what I saw of the film looks amazing (visually speaking), it's directed by Spike Jonze, and from my brief research, it appears to have the blessing of Maurice Sendak. I am also curious to see how Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers (whose book "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" I've been wanting to read) have developed the story from a picture book into a feature length film.

It opens next weekend so I have a few weeks to try to arrange the venture. If you go, you just may see me on the aisle, noshing on my traditional theater fare - a kids' tray that comes with popcorn, drink, and candy.