{"id":3969,"date":"2013-12-23T00:23:47","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T05:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smugfilm.com\/?p=3969"},"modified":"2013-12-23T05:15:38","modified_gmt":"2013-12-23T10:15:38","slug":"5-underrated-holiday-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/5-underrated-holiday-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Underrated Holiday Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"5underrated\"
\n

\nNow is the time of year where we humans rewatch our favorite holiday flicks, the ones we\u2019ve seen a million times and can stand to see a million times more. Planes, Trains & Automobiles<\/a> and Home Alone 1 & 2<\/a> come instantly to mind for me, and I know I\u2019m not an island in that regard. We all tend to revere the same handful or so, largely due to the fact that there really aren\u2019t too many that are transcendent.<\/p>\n

In holding dear to our tippy-top favs though, it\u2019s easy to forget about the ones that are just plain very good<\/em>\u2014or even hear about them. The ones I\u2019ve listed below have yet to get their due, which is a damn shame, because they\u2019re a lot of fun. They may not be perfect<\/i>, but each has something unique and beautiful to offer. You may not end up watching them every single year, but you may toss them on every couple or so.
\n
\n\"paradise\"<\/p>\n

Trapped in Paradise<\/a> (1994) | Dir. George Gallo | 111 min.<\/b><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re a kid, it\u2019s hard to whether a movie is well-revered, because you have no real awareness of critics or awards or anything. What you see is governed entirely by your parents\u2019 taste\u2014if they like a movie, they introduce you to it, and if not, they don\u2019t. My parents showed me to Trapped in Paradise, which I dug, and have seen many times in my life, and still enjoy. And so I always assumed it was a classic. Not until very recently did I discover it\u2019s universally panned.<\/p>\n

Roger Ebert gave it half a star, and he and damn near every other critic at the time found it to be devoid of humor, which is ridiculous\u2014the humor is there, it just isn\u2019t drenched in obviousness. You might hear a joke line, and not laugh, and that\u2019s because it\u2019s not intended<\/em> to make you laugh\u2014it\u2019s intended to set up the actual <\/i>laugh moment, which may come stealthily a few lines later. This ‘joke jazz’ so to speak tends go over a lot of people\u2019s heads unless it comes from a source they expect it from\u2014for instance, the Coen Brothers or Albert Brooks. And like those writer-directors, some of George Gallo\u2019s funniest lines barely even read as jokes when written out. Here\u2019s one of my favorite exchanges in the movie:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you doing?!\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m eatin\u2019 scrapple\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cDon\u2019t touch any of that, we\u2019re gettin\u2019 outta here!\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s got scallions\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

That last line is so goddamn perfect. I love the idea of a guy being ordered to leave somewhere, but wanting to stay because the dish has scallions, and offering that fact up as a valid reason to stay. It’s such a perfect food to choose for the joke. Everybody loves scallions, but nobody ever talks about how dope they are. Lines like these drive me wild. I adore them. Maybe that\u2019s just me, I dunno. Anyway, the movie is chockfull of moments like these, so if that\u2019s your thing, you can\u2019t go wrong here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"dutch\"<\/p>\n

Dutch<\/a> (1991) | Dir. Peter Faiman | 107 min.<\/b><\/p>\n

This is a quite lesser-known John Hughes movie. And in a lot of ways, it\u2019s just a rehash of better movies of his\u2014think Home Alone meets Planes Trains and Automobiles meets Uncle Buck<\/a>. But peeking through its derivativeness is an alarmingly original message about why you shouldn\u2019t be an asshole.<\/p>\n

This is one of those important kids\u2019 movies that teach you a lot about what life is all about, stuff that no adult would ever really sit you down and explain to you outright. I wish I\u2019d seen it when I was a kid, but unfortunately I only heard of its existence a couple years ago. It still resonated with me as an adult though.<\/p>\n

The dumb, lazy slapstick towards the beginning might make you want to turn it off, but stick with it. There are some genuinely funny and deeply touching moments throughout, once you get over that first hump. And Ed O\u2019Neill is, of course, pitch-perfect. I\u2019d say that it\u2019s the second best Thanksgiving movie ever (Planes Trains and Automobiles being first best).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"onemagic\"<\/p>\n

One Magic Christmas<\/a> (1985) | Dir. Phillip Borsos | 89 min.<\/b><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let the poster art fool you\u2014this is a dark, dark movie. Probably the darkest and most twisted Christmas movie of all time, and definitely<\/i> the most fucked up Disney movie of all time. Ultimately, it does have a happy ending, but the ride is insane. With the kind of turns this story takes, you\u2019d swear George R.R. Martin wrote it or something.<\/p>\n

Mary Steenburgen is delightful as always, and Harry Dean Stanton gives maybe his most unnerving performance, as a disheveled neighborhood creep who sneaks conversations with little kids. This is definitely not one to watch with the whole family, but if you\u2019ve got a room full of adults with a penchant for sick, out-there movies, this\u2019ll be perfect. It\u2019s not a great<\/i> movie, but it\u2019s very good, and undeniably original and unforgettable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"holidayaffair\"<\/p>\n

Holiday Affair<\/a> (1949) | Dir. Don Hartman | 87 min.<\/b><\/p>\n

This a very light Christmas rom-com of sorts, imbued with a touch of darkness by way of the great Robert Mitchum as the male lead. If you love him in gritty films like The Night of the Hunter<\/a> or Cape Fear<\/a> or The Friends of Eddie Coyle<\/a>, this is a must see. He\u2019s got so much goddamn swagger here it\u2019s insane, and he undresses Janet Leigh with every glance. And can ya blame him? She\u2019s hot as balls here, maybe the hottest-as-balls she ever was.<\/p>\n

This is probably my favorite black and white Christmas movie. Apparently, it wasn\u2019t that big a hit when it came out, but from being aired again and again on TCM, it developed quite a following. I guess it was just ahead of its time. It certainly has a modern feel, largely due to his performance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"christmastoy\"<\/p>\n

The Christmas Toy<\/a> (1986) | Dir. Eric Till | 50 min.<\/b><\/p>\n

This was a goddamn staple of my youth. I\u2019ve probably seen this fifty times, but I guess me and my sister were the only ones, because I very rarely encounter anyone else who\u2019s even heard of it. Basically, it\u2019s Toy Story<\/a> before there was Toy Story\u2014in other words, Toy Story ripped it off. But Christmas Toy did it better. On top of its (at the time) unique premise about toys playing and having fun whenever us humans leave the room, it\u2019s got a clever caveat\u2014if humans catch a toy moving, it\u2019ll be \u2018frozen\u2019 (dead) forever. This adds danger to the story, which Toy Story certainly lacked, but certainly made up for in adventure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also better than Toy Story because it looks real. It\u2019s live action with puppets and shit, but the puppets don\u2019t look like puppets, they just look like toys. And the filmmakers do that awesome Muppet Babies<\/a> thing with the shot composition where you just see the legs of adults, nothing higher. Shit is gorgeous.<\/p>\n

I started this piece out saying that these movies were very good, but not transcendent, but now that I think about it, The Christmas Toy is transcendent as fuck. Damn great little movie, man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"5underrated\"
\n

\nNow is the time of year where we humans rewatch our favorite holiday flicks, the ones we\u2019ve seen a million times and can stand to see a million times more. Planes, Trains & Automobiles<\/a> and Home Alone 1 & 2<\/a> come instantly to mind for me, and I know I\u2019m not an island in that regard. We all tend to revere the same handful or so, largely due to the fact that there really aren\u2019t too many that are transcendent.<\/p>\n

In holding dear to our tippy-top favs though, it\u2019s easy to forget about the ones that are just plain very good<\/em>\u2014or even hear about them. The ones I\u2019ve listed below have yet to get their due, which is a damn shame, because they\u2019re a lot of fun. They may not be perfect<\/i>, but each has something unique and beautiful to offer. You may not end up watching them every single year, but you may toss them on every couple or so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1269],"tags":[3370,3360,3365,3363,3361,3364,3362,3383,3359,32,2229,3382,3371,3374,3389,3386,3369,3379,3378,3377,3381,3358,3149,3175,3367,3387,3380,3391,645,3375,3372,3376,3366,3113,3384,835,104,185,3388,3385,646,3390,3368,3373,3356,3357],"class_list":["post-3969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allposts","category-codyslists","tag-albert-brooks","tag-best-christmas-movies","tag-best-christmas-movies-you-havent-seen","tag-best-christmas-movies-youve-never-seen","tag-best-holiday-movies","tag-best-holiday-movies-you-havent-seen","tag-best-holiday-movies-youve-never-seen","tag-cape-fear","tag-christmas-movies","tag-cody-clarke","tag-coen-brothers","tag-don-hartman","tag-dutch","tag-ed-oneill","tag-eric-till","tag-friends-of-eddie-coyle","tag-george-gallo","tag-george-r-r-martin","tag-george-rr-martin","tag-harry-dean-stanton","tag-holiday-affair","tag-holiday-movies","tag-home-alone","tag-home-alone-2","tag-home-alone-2-lost-in-new-york","tag-janet-leigh","tag-mary-steenburgen","tag-muppet-babies","tag-night-of-the-hunter","tag-one-magic-christmas","tag-peter-faiman","tag-phillip-borsos","tag-planes-trains-automobiles","tag-planes-trains-and-automobiles","tag-robert-mitchum","tag-roger-ebert","tag-smug-film-2","tag-smugfilm","tag-the-christmas-toy","tag-the-friends-of-eddie-coyle","tag-the-night-of-the-hunter","tag-toy-story","tag-trapped-in-paradise","tag-uncle-buck","tag-underrated-christmas-movies","tag-underrated-holiday-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3969"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3983,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3969\/revisions\/3983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smugfilm.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}