Crazy Christmas Cinema 'Cause it's Cool (phew)

White stuff is falling from above, and all shapes and sizes of Christmas specials are getting they're weekly runs.Of course, this is always a great way to get out all our favourite christmas films, and maybe even discover some new ones.Here are some great ones, with both nice and naughty checks so your family christmas doesn't turn sour when the kids see nudity and scarred for life.



National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Nice List:If you think your family becomes as inhuman as the Joker's mother around Noel, they're nothing compared to the Griswolds, led by clumsy smart-aleck Clark Griswold.As Clark attempts to give the perfect Christmas from his childhood to his family, he inevitably ends up getting a very messed up Yuletide with his dysfunctional folks and assortment of problems.

Naughty list:The National Lampoon films are notorious for playing with their PG-13 and 14a ratings, and a particularly sexy fantasy sequence Clark has about his future pool is a little too risque for tykes.

Home Alone (1990)

Nice List:We're all familiar with this one, so I don't feel like I need to give a summary.You could never deny that the booby-traps sequences are hilarious, and if you did, we'll hurl a paint can at you.

Naughty List:If you don't find the plot disturbing, then you might find the gangster-film-within-a-film "Angels with Dirty Souls" (a "film noir" title if there ever was one) is.You almost feel sorry for poor Snakes, who demands "10 %", only to get 7 gallons of hot lead pumped into him by that cold-blooded Johnny.The worst part? That insane laugh Johnny belts out while blasting Snakes to kingdom come.That is the stuff of nightmares, my friends.

Elf (2003)

Nice List:This genuinely funny and light Christmas comedy centers on one of Santa's elves Buddy (Will Ferrel), who finds out he's actually a human and then travels to the Big Apple to find his dad (James Caan).Most of the laughs revolve around what happens when the innocent Buddy lands in New York.

Naughty List:For a Will Ferrel comedy that is live-action, it's surprisingly clean.I don't think any young boy would find Renee Zellweger in the shower scary, and only her shoulders are shown.



And for different tastes:


Joyeux Noel (2005)

It's easy to forget about the veterans during the holidays, or throughout the year, so maybe you can watch this moving film about the famous 1914 Christmas truce that was called in the trenches.If enemies could sit and enjoy each other's company, why can't you do the same with your family?



The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

It would be a different world without Tim Burton and his friend Henry Selick to liven things up.They even found a way to mix Halloween and Christmas together, those crazy dogs.If you like thousands of creatures (and other things) stirring on Christmas Eve, you'll probably prefer this one.

Trippy Timelines of Terror!-Ballet films

If you ever wanted to see Padme Amidala doing tippy-toes, you probably are psychic. "Black Swan" gracefully jumps onto screens this weekend, and as for what's it about, a beautiful but fragile ballerina (Natalie Portman) is chosen to play the two roles of good girl and bad girl in a production of "Swan Lake". Due to the extreme mental and physical ordeals she puts herself through in the name of perfection, she starts to go a little cuckoo and begins experiencing powerful hallucinations. Now, I've never watched a movie completely centered on ballet ("Step Up" has enough street-dance to not be a ballet movie), but, as it turns out, the art of blood-stained shoes has a long cinematic history:

1948-"The Red Shoes" (picture above right)

Considered a British masterpiece, this adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's story centers on a girl who lives to dance, and how this leads to tragedies and heartbreak.

1951-"An American In Paris"

Gene Kelly plays a WW11 vet who tries to make it as a painter in the City of Love, and gets mixed up in a crazy mix-up of love.This film ends with a 16-minute ballet sequence set to "The American In Paris", a musical number that cost more than $500,000.

1951-"The Tales of Hoffmann"

Hoffmann (Robert Rounseville) tells the tales of his three past girlfriends while his newest girl Stella performs a ballet in a Nuremberg bar.Based on the opera "Les contes d'Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach.

1985 (yes, I'm going that far ahead)-"White Nights"

Gregory Hine's American tap dancer defects to Soviet Russia and meets Russian ballerina Nikolai Rodchenko (Mikhail Baryshnikov), who wants to defect in the other direction.Sorry, I can't write anymore Russian names.

2000-"Billy Elliot"

A coal-miner's son starts goes from boxing to ballet, his father and brother are outraged.But, when his father Jackie sees the talented dancer his son is, he decides to help push him toward his

dream.Now a major musical.

2003-"The Company"

A film about the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago directed by Robert Altman, this follows real stories taken from the companies' dancers, choreographers, and others.

As you can see, it is clear that ballet is not visually underinterpreted.Along with hip-hop and ballroom, it is a tradition that is still being continued.

In Memory of the Naked Gun

On Monday, November 30, we lost a great contributor to the history of comedy cinema and television. His name belongs to that hallowed pantheon of great actors with great comedic talents, along with Peter Sellers, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, the Wayans bros, and many others.While his characters were ridiculous buffoons, he was anything but. He was Leslie Nielsen, and he will never be forgotten.

For those who don't know him, Neilsen is a Canadian-born actor who, besides a role in the sci-fi classic, "Forbidden Planet", is best known for his ingeniusly-funny role in "Airplane!" and as the idiotic (but lovable) bumbling Lt. Frank Drebin in "Police Squad" and it's movie adaption, "The Naked Gun". Later on in life, he would star in less-popular film spoofs, such as "Spy Hard" and, erm, "Scary Movie 4". He was legally deaf, which gave him the push to support the Better Hearing Institute. He died of pneumonia in his sleep, with family and friends.

Rest in peace, senor, and as a token of gratitude for spending years playing clueless fools, here's a last little line and memory:

"Surely you can't be serious!"

"I am serious...and don't call me Shirley."

R.I.P, a great actor, great comedian, and horrible cop.