What Are Your Favorite Holiday Movies?

It’s that special time of year… the holidays. Sometimes we’re happy, sometimes we’re stressed, but we can always count on movies and TV to take us away from it all or put a little joy in our hearts.

We love this quote from the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” where Kris Kringle says,

“Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind and that’s what’s been changing. That’s why I’m glad I’m here, maybe I can do something about it.”

So let’s get into the holiday spirit and talk about the best holiday movies out there!

2:40 What are we watching?

• RIDE with Norman Reedus: Shannon is obsessed. If you like travel and Norman (Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead) you should watch this show.
• Riverdale: Based on the characters from the Archie comics, but has nothing to do with the comic story line. It’s a teen crime drama and Shannon really enjoys it.
• Once Upon a Time: It’s growing on us and getting a little bit better. We like the story, but not many of the new actors.
• As an experiment, Shannon watched one episode of a bunch of different shows to see what grabbed her. She watched Schitt’s Creek (ok), Bloodline (didn’t grab me), Narcos (love), Grey’s Anatomy (good for mindless, formulaic drama), Alias Grace (LOVE).
• Fadra watched all of Alias Grace. It builds and gets really good! The last episode is a head-scratcher, so we’ll talk about that when Shannon finishes.
• Fadra is in season 5, episode 10 of The Walking Dead. She loved Tyreese’s death sequence.
• The Gifted: It’s a good family show and something you don’t need to really focus intently on.
• Crime dramas: Fadra has always loved them and Shannon is a newly-converted fan.

21:11 Last movie seen?

• Shannon had never seen Love, Actually and she kept seeing it on lists of “best holiday movie.” So she watched it and really love it. Might be one she watches every Christmas.
• Daddy’s Home 2: Fadra says this movie is better than the first one. It’s a great family holiday movie. Will Ferrell and John Lithgow were excellent as son and father. It’s the “Christmas Vacation” for the next generation!

25:23 What’s coming up?

• Downsizing: Stars Matt Damon. People are able to sign up for “downsizing” where they get physically shrunk. Looks unique.
• Justice League: In theaters now. We’ll see…
• The Punisher: The next in Netflix’s Marvel series came out on 11/17. Shannon is excited to see this one!
• Black Mirror: Season 4 episode titles are out – release date should be coming soon! If you’ve tried it and didn’t love it, try another episode – they are all completely different!
• Disney announced that it plans to release a brand-new Star Wars trilogy with all new characters once the current saga wraps up.
• Lord of the Rings TV show is being discussed by Amazon.
• Murder on the Orient Express is out with mixed reviews.
• The Post is coming out on January 12th (limited release 12/22). Steven Spielberg directs and it stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Could be good, could be on the Oscar contender list.

Stinger Topic of the Week: Our Favorite Holiday Movies

35:36 In no particular order, we discuss the holiday movies that we love to watch and re-watch.

• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo. This is Fadra’s favorite, and Shannon is embarrassed to say she hasn’t seen it. She vows to watch it this holiday season!
• Elf: Classic holiday comedy starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, and Zoey Deschanel. “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.” This is Shannon’s favorite.
• It’s a Wonderful Life: Another classic since 1946! Stars James Stewart and Donna Reed.
• The Santa Clause: Another of Shannon’s favorites, but Fadra doesn’t love it. Stars Tim Allen.
• A Madea Christmas: Madea (Tyler Perry) is Fadra’s guilty pleasure. This is another Shannon hasn’t seen but will try to watch.
• A Christmas Story: “You’ll shoot your eye out!”
• Polar Express: We agree that the animation is weird and annoying in this movie, but the music and story is good.
• Home Alone: Starring Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci. This is one we like, but don’t love. Fadra doesn’t like the cringe-y physical comedy so much.
• Old-school animated specials: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. All classic, but we wonder what the new “classics” will be for our kids?

Closing Line: “First we’ll make snow angels for two hours, then we’ll go ice skating, then we’ll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie-dough as fast as we can, and then we’ll snuggle.”
— Elf

May your holiday season be full of good movies, snow angels, cookie dough and snuggling!

We love to hear from our listeners and fellow tv and movie fans, so if you want to chat with us or suggest a topic, you can email us at [email protected].

If you know someone who loves movies and TV, please tell them about Stinger! And if YOU enjoy our podcast, we’d love for you to leave us a review on iTunes!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and join our Facebook discussion group – where we talk ALL WEEK LONG about the latest in entertainment. And of course you can find us at @stingerpodcast on Twitter and Instagram.