December 25, 2005

• I love it. But yes, I can see how some humor impaired people might find it cruel.
• I'm afraid to watch it. Might put my eye out.
• To this day I'm still terrified to lick anything cold and metal. Not that I would make a habit of that if I hadn't seen that movie...
• "Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie!"
• One of the best things about Christmas as far as I am concerned. I will probably watch it three or four times over the next two days. It is part of my ritual that includes all things Rankin and Bass this time of year. Yes, I am a dork.
• It's a horrible, horrible show. The bells ringing, oh God, the belllllllls!!
• Fra-gi-le! Must be Italian.
• I saw it in the theater when it came out - many times. My type of Christmas movie.
• Eye-talian
• I'm more of a A Christmas Carol man, myself, but it does have its moments.
• I swear I'm not humor-impaired, but it's not that funny to me. It was funny when it first came out and I was 9 years old, not as funny now. I wouldn't call it depressing or pathetic or anything, just not that funny.
• I enjoy the whole repertoire of Christmas movies. A Christmas Carol, White Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, all of them.
• Those are some pretty harsh reviews though, I'm surprised. They didn't just dislike it, they totally hated it. Which I don't get. Classic!
• I love A Christmas Story..but nothing, and I mean nothing gets me in the Christmas spirit more than Die Hard. It happens during a Christmas party, it has Christmas in Hollis on the soundtrack and has Alan Rickman saying "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."
• The review about the phony widescreen is a fair review. I hate that shit. The whole point of widescreen is so they don't cut off shit. But instead they're using it as an excuse to cut off more. Bastards.
• Yeah, I was in a bad mood to begin with. Rushing aroung, dealing with unpleasant people, trying to get the bottom line done on time. I saw the movie tonight. It was vaguely amusing; the kid liked it, only because she has the luxury of ignoring reality for another year.
• But, I played every hokey Christmas song I could think of and I felt much better!
• I never could stand it as a kid, but I might give it a chance considering it's by the director of "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" and "Black Christmas." We're mostly a "Carol" family, though my mom did express sincere desire to watch Die Hard tonight.
• Love it! It gets better every time I watch it.
• Darren McGavin's performance makes the whole film, IMO.
• Bob Clark is a god. He made PORKY'S for chrast sakes!
• The humor inmpaired people must have seen the sequel or else did not have a normal childhood where Santa was scary, school sucked as the days crept toward the holiday break, and the neighbors dogs got into everything. Hurray for Jean Sheppard. If you haven't read In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, you are missing a prize bit of American that is more like Bryson on a bender than it is like Keillor's Woebegone.
• The review about the phony widescreen is a fair review. I hate that shit. The whole point of widescreen is so they don't cut off shit. But it might well not be phony. Some films are shot so that they take a 4:3 negative, but the director is only planning to use the central portion to construct a widescreen image for the theater. Normally the top and bottom of the image might be unusable because there are visible lights or boom mikes or floor cables or whatnot, so they build the 4:3 version out of the central portion of that central portion that was used to make the widescreen. But you *can* be careful to protect the entire frame. Then, the version on TV is the version in the theater plus a little bit more on the top and bottom; it's called open-matte. Even then, movie dorks like me will tell you that you should watch the original aspect ratio as the shots were composed for that aspect ratio.
• My thoughts are that this is one of my favourite Christmas movies. (Okay, I only have two.) I did like it better when it was a cute, little, fairly obscure movie. Now that it's played over and over and over and over, not so much. The same thing with my other choice, It's a Wonderful Life. Things get too exposed and too hyped and lose their magic. Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
• I think it's one of the funnier holiday movies, but it's lost some of it'c charm now that I've seen it dozens of times. Although I still love the dogs eating the holiday turkey, and when Ralphie goes apeshit on the bully.
• Sorry, still one of the best Christmas movies ever. If anything, it's even better now that TBS plays it all the time; because of the constant airings it's become part of the canon, which feels exactly right.
• M'eh, I'd never heard of it before. Doesn't look like I've been missing much. Now the Muppets Christmas Carol, THAT's a good movie.
• I was always a fan of this movie, if only because the Riverbottom Nightmare Band were rad.
• One of the best Christmas movies ever, and I wouldn't let a Christmas go by without seeing it. It's a major award! p.s. my brother has a miniature version of the leg lamp, which my mom gave him.
• These reviews are fake. Note the four and a half star overall customer rating, now note the fact that all of the last dozen or so reviews are one star. Bullshit. Somebody's fucking with the system.
• Wait. No. I am, in fact, an idiot. I didn't notice that the link was to a "sorted by" page. Ah well. Back to the eggnog. Happy Holidays AND Merry Christmas AND Hail Mothra everyone! (I am switzerland in this "war on Christmas!"
• fake reviews??? i say we unleash the christmas demons on 'em!!!
• A Christmas Story in 30 Seconds (and Re-enacted by Bunnies)
• ...and what's so bad about a world of rainbows and unicorns???
• The rainbows yes, but not so plussed on the unicorns.
• Grover96 has it. I need no other Christmas movie than Die Hard.
• Some men are Baptists, others Catholics, my father was an Oldsmobile man.
• There's only one correct aspect ratio in which to view a film, and that's the one the film's constructed for. It's really that simple.
• "A Christmas Poem" by Robert Bly Christmas is a place, like Jackson Hole, where we all agree To meet once a year. It has water, and grass for horses; All the fur traders can come in. We visited the place As children, but we never heard the good stories. Those stories only get told in the big tents, late At night, when a trapper who has been caught In his own trap, held down in icy water, talks; and a man With a ponytail and a limp comes in from the edge of the fire. As children, we knew there was more to it— Why some men got drunk on Christmas Eve Wasn't explained, nor why we were so often Near tears nor why the stars came down so close, Why so much was lost. Those men and women Who had died in wars started by others, Did they come that night? Is that why the Christmas tree Trembled just before we opened the presents? There was something about angels. Angels we Have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er The plain. The angels were certain. But we could not Be certain whether our family was worthy tonight.
• So the question is, what aspect ratio was it made for? I have been told, for example, that there are indeed some widescreen films that have been pan and scanned for full screen and then actually did have bars put on the top and bottom of that. Is this the case with this dvd or was it filmed in full frame and matted for release? I know that the stupid MGM class action lawsuit was based mainly on films that were filmed in full frame and then matted. The dvds claimed you got "more" picture with the widescreen which wasn't technically true. However, you did get the picture as it was intended. On the commentary for the unrated version of Saw, for example, they mention that there is a sceen where, in the widescreen edition, you can't see the actor's head, so they had someone else play the role when they did a quick pickup scene. In the full screen release, they took the bars off, reavealing the face of the actor and you can see it isn't the main actor and is someone else. I would imagine that would be really confusing if you saw that and were like, "who's that guy?" and never saw him again.
• So the question is, what aspect ratio was it made for? 1.85:1. Basically, DVD. DVDs are actually 1.78:1, so 1.85:1 movies have very small black bars at top and bottom but they're usually eaten by overscan It looks like the earlier 4:3 DVD was open-matte. Either way, it's hi-freaking-larious. I love Darrin McGavin's fake cursing. NOT A FINGER!
• You'll shoot your eye out, kid. (You'll shoot your eye out! You'll shoot your eye out!) Oh, ffffffffffudge. <3
• I've never seen it. I guess that makes me horrible. Anything that's hyped I usually can't bring myself to get behind. (Never saw Titanic, either.) Plus, the sight of that kid irrationally annoys me. I don't know why, but I don't really question it. Everyone I know thinks I'm nuts.