Sunday After Thanksgiving

It is towards the end of November of the Holiday season and I’m once again mixing Thanksgiving and Christmas content as the end of the year is winding down. Besides winding down my television series first seasons of Lost, Hemlock Grove, and Stranger Things for the blog, I invest time in the holidays’ themed content (television/film) and other odds and ends that might wind up on the DVR or of interest during this time of the year.

Debates on whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie just mean so little to me, although I do find the desire to do so more than a bit amusing. I had the chance to watch Die Hard 2: Die Harder on a Cinemax channel early Sunday afternoon. It is just a lot of noise, but I’m a sucker for Bruce Willis as John McClane before the action series went to the well too many times. Renny Harlin’s full-throttle, foot-on-the-accelerator pace certainly helps to keep us from not hanging our attention on the logic of the plot. McClane will drop from a news chopper onto the wing of the plane on a runway that doesn’t need to get off the ground due to the villains onboard and any questions of how this could be done while it moves fall to the wayside because it isn’t about how it could possibly happen as much as it needs to. The wacko military terrorists (led by William Sadler) and their desired “human cargo” (the arrested druglord portrayed by Franco Nero), not to mention, airport police (led by growly Dennis Franz) who want him out of their way, become aggravating nuisances halting the landing of his wife (returning Bonnie Bedelia). McClane is absolute thorn deeply embedded in the operations of Sadler who just can’t get rid of him, no matter how many ex-military terrorists thrown at him with firing machine guns. Allies emerge such as airport personnel (such as Art Evans, a communications expert at Washington’s Dulles, and maintenance janitor, Tom Bower, who has all the blueprints and knows every inch of the airport’s nooks and cranies) which will allow McClane to go where he needs and get details required to alter the plans of Sadler (and eventually John Amos’ team, all turning rogue to join him in an expected ride to the tropics, awaiting a lot of cash and the “good life”) and Franco. The “seat ejection” where Willis narrowly escapes being blown up by grenades and the icicle eye stab still remain highlights to me, although causing Amos to go into a propeller certainly earns the “oooooo”. Fun casting with Franz just irritating as a smart ass and Sadler as the overconfident traitor serve to cause McClane much grief. Clever “runway light” where a destroyed plane through the use of lit fuel that will allow Bedelia’s plane to land never ceases to leave a grin. Atherton, as the smug news reporter who undermines the secrecy of the airport in regards to his plane’s trouble and overtook controls of the airport, serves the film as another choice antagonist getting a good “jolt” from Bedelia. McClane killing a bunch of people on Christmas Eve for the first two Die Hard films was indeed quite thrilling, and the airport does function well as a setting for our hero to move about as he stubbornly never gives up on seeing his wife’s plane safely land. ***

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving might not be as memorable as Christmas and Great Pumpkin, but the Holiday Collection I purchased two years ago with all three is a prize in my collection. I do enjoy Thanksgiving for it does wish to inform (while, yes, the part where the Native Americans were wronged is indeed conveniently left out) about the history of the holiday while poor Charlie Brown attempts to coordinate a Thanksgiving dinner for his friends who sort of invited themselves much to his dismay. Peppermint Patty initiates it while continuing to insert herself into Chuck’s life, with her shanghaiing ways often leaving him mystified. Snoopy goes to work, cooking up popcorn and toast, accompanied by jellybeans. Patty is furious at the absence of mashed potatoes, turkey, and pumpkin pie, with Charlie Brown once again down and glum over failing to provide a memorable seasonal feast. Grandma will save the day, though, inviting all his friends to their upcoming feast. Chuck once again fails to kick the football as Lucy goads him despite efforts to not allow her to draw him to do so. Snoopy has battles with a lawn chair (and a basketball net, not to mention, the “musket-cork misfire”) while Woodstock eventually shares a cooked turkey with him at the very end (a bird eating a bird does kind of feel wrong, but I digress…) when the kids go on to grandma’s. Yes, Sally still gushes for know-it-all Linus. Patty tries to use her pal, Marcie, to apologize to Chuck for her outburst. I plan to watch the other two holiday specials next week in preparation for The Peanuts Movie (2015) which I will be viewing this year close to the afternoon I took my kids to see it in early December. ***

Mickey’s Christmas Carol was such a favorite annual treat for me ever since its debut in 1983. For a better part of fifteen years until perhaps the late 90s where I thought I was too grown for it to remain such an appeal this was indeed a mainstay every December. I have fond memories of it when network television would show it. It is slight and barely scratches the surface of Dickens’ novel, but there are plenty of adaptations to get much more meat from the bones. This version of A Christmas Carol touches a few of the basics. Alan Young (RIP) is a delightful voice for Scrooge McDuck, who would go on to star in the cartoon series (that I watched every day after school and during the summer), Ducktales. Goofy is Marley (who you can guess falls down the stairs despite being a ghost and does this trick with Scrooge’s hat that is amusing), Mickey (of course) is Cratchett, Donald Duck is Scrooge’s holiday spirited nephew, Jiminy Cricket is Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie the Giant (whose flub of pistachio never fails to give me a giggle) is Ghost of Christmas Present, and the dastardly Pete as the Ghost of Christmas Future lights up the cigar and offers a sinister giggle in the graveyard. It is always cool to see all the additional Disney characters from other shorts and specials. I recently watched The Wind and the Willows and several characters from it show up in Mickey’s Christmas Carol. I was a bit disappointed we get so little from each visit. Only the Fezziweg dance and Isabel dismissal in the past, visit to Cratchett’s home during the present only, and a quick trip to the cemetery to see his grave and notice his employee weeping at the grave of Tiny Tim are pulled from the Dickens’ novel. I guess my favorite part of this one is Scrooge’s miserly antics and gleeful greed, how he rids himself of his nephew’s wreath, has signs that read in his office, TIME IS MONEY and TALK IS CHEAP, and insists that his office not use too much coal (as Mickey shivers from the cold). ****