Hallmark Christmas Watch: The Nine Kittens of Christmas (2021)

Watched:  12/15/2021

Format:  DVR of Hallmark

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  D. Winning

So, a few years back I noted that occasional Superman and Ray Palmer actor Brandon Routh had signed up for a Hallmark movie.  It makes sense.  He films in Canada all the time, anyway.  Might as well get a little scratch between seasons of TV and whatever else he's up to.  

What I remembered about the movie was (late edit: I had not seen all of this movie):  Routh was a fireman, he was doing home maintenance, a cat was involved, and the love interest could also act (Hallmark has to balance how terrible their leads are, and many of them are truly wooden robots).  But a lot of name folks pass through the Hallmark factory every year, so I enjoyed it for what it was and then chucked the movie from anything resembling RAM in my head.  

Well, lo and behold, someone scraped enough pennies together and got the cast back together from the cat-related movie and came up with a concept for a sequel.  If one or two cats worked - why not 9?

Christmas Watch: It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)

Watched:  12/13/2021

Format:  HBOmax

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1940's

Director:  Roy Del Ruth

The handling of media in regards to its availability in any format is such a weird animal.  As is the impact of media long after the media originally played and to whom.

It's a Wonderful Life famously did mediocre box office (released *after* Christmas in January for some reason).  Contemporary critics shrugged it off as sappy (it is, but...), and it fell into public domain access to become a holiday staple as the movie was cheap to show.  Repeated viewings and a new appreciation of the film eventually found the film its audience.  And, of course, now It's a Wonderful Life is *the* American holiday media.  Heck, I have a poster for it in my stairwell I see several times per day.

I only recently heard of It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947), which I chalked up to the fact it didn't star anyone I really knew (except Alan Hale Jr. in a supporting part).  But it seems the movie just basically disappeared for 20 years, from 1990-2010.  For me, personally, those were kind of some big years there as I was doing legwork looking for new old films.  Why did it disappear?  I have literally no idea.  But I can tell you, unless there's a community of film nerds clamoring for a film, the studios may not care.  The catalog may just be sitting there ready for exploitation, but most of the audience for movies would rather see something brand new but terrible than black and white, but excellent.  

PODCAST 174: "The Apartment" (1960) - Christmas 2021 w/ Maxwell and Ryan

Watched:  12/07/2021

Format:  Amazon

Viewing:  Second

Decade:  1960's

Director:  Billy Wilder

For more ways to listen

Just in time for Christmas, Maxwell steps off the elevator to join us for a discussion on a cinema classic by one of the great directors. Join us as we borrow a little time and space, and go over one of the best films in the filmography of one of the best directors of the mid-20th century. It may not have much to do with Santa, but it's a reflection of the holiday season from a certain POV!

The Signal Watch PodCast · 174: "The Apartment" (1960) - Christmas 2021 w/ Maxwell and Ryan

Music:

The Apartment Theme - Adolph Deutsch

Christmas Playlist 2021

The Signal Watch PodCast · Christmas 2021

Christmas Comedy Watch: A Clüsterfünke Christmas (2021)

Watched:  12/12/2021

Format:  On VOD from Pop

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2020's

Director:  Anna Dakoza

Hallmark movies have now been around long enough that you do spot spoofs and satires.  This is the second one I've spotted just this year, the other I need to finish (The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, which appears to be a whole thing).  

A Clüsterfünke Christmas (2021) is the kind of spoof you kind of crave, but also think won't be as good as you hope.  But, in the rarest of Christmas miracles, it was actually consistently funny for the runtime of the movie.  It never gets lost in the machinery of telling a story or caring what happens to anyone and remembers that it's job is to insert a joke every 30 seconds.  But, you know, the film both stars and was written by Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch, so - trusted sources.  

Christmas Watch Party: The Tree That Saved Christmas (2014)

Watched:  12/10/2021

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Decade:  2010's

Director:  David Winning

At some point we had the Up! Network, which was all positive vibes and Christian messaging, if memory serves.  Basically Hallmark Network, but a little more toothless and less competent.  During the Christmas Movie Wars of a few years back, when Hallmark was running 3 networks 24/7 from October 20th on, Lifetime was in the game, and one or two more - UP! showed up with its offerings which somehow were the Dollar Store equivalent of Hallmark Channel's Target merchandise.  With both Netflix and Amazon in the game now, I'm not sure Up! is still playing, but in 2014 - they reached for the brass ring on the tiny shoulders of Lacey Chabert.

Lacey Chabert, the Queen of Nice and a Hallmark staple, was clearly shown the money by Up, who lured her in for The Tree That Saved Christmas.  Which is a confusing movie.  

It feels like an alien watched Hallmark movies, took random bits from them, missed some key bits, wrote a script, and then the aliens deeply underbudgeted and no one had any money after getting Chabert. 

Happy Birthday, Sarah Douglas!

 

Happy birthday to Sarah Douglas!  Among other things, this site is a Superman fan site - and what would Superman: The Movie and certainly Superman II be without the casually-delighted menace of Sarah Douglas's Ursa?  I won't get into her full filmography, because that is what we call "a storied career" and you can IMDB her on your own.  You will begin realizing "man, I really have seen and heard her voice work in a shocking amount of stuff".  

Ms. Douglas is also on twitter, and seems as cool as you would hope!  

Here's to Ms. Douglas, and let's hope she's celebrating with pals.

Sorta Holiday Watch: The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

Watched:  12/11/2021

Format:  VOD from TCM

Viewing:  Unknown

Decade:  1940's

Director:  Leo McCarey

I don't watch The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) every year - and it's been a while - but when I do, I'm weirdly weepy through the whole thing.  And I do not know why.  Ingrid Bergman smiling in soft lighting in close-up is certainly part of it.  But... I'm not Catholic.  I've only spoken to like one or two nuns in my life.  

The message of the film is not as on the nose as It's a Wonderful Life or a Pixar film where you more or less get why you're having the feels.  But who can argue with the kind of belief in people's better natures, that kindness is its own reward and the value of good cheer that the movie puts forward?  And, for those of you so inclined, it's a look at faith and service that's remarkable.

The Bells of St. Mary's is considered a Christmas movie, and it... is not.  It has exactly one sequence of a movie that takes place over an academic year that takes place anywhere around Christmas.  That scene is a banger, but it barely even advances the plot.  The original release date - Dec. 6th, 1945 - fell in the holiday season (it's on the marquee at the Bedford Falls cinema as George Bailey runs down Main Street), and paired with the song becoming not exactly a staple, but a bit of a standard, of holiday music - it's locked in.  

Happy Birthday, Rita Moreno - she's 90!

Happy Birthday to Rita Moreno, who has been a stone cold fox for what I am aware is, like, 7 decades.

Accomplishments?  She's got them.  Storied career?  Achieved.  Awards?  spilling off her mantle.  Dramatic romance with Marlon Brando?  Check.  Still wildly great at her job?   Absolutely.  Lady who yelled "Hey you guys!" at the beginning of The Electric Company?  You know it.

Here's to Rita Moreno, who is an absolute g-d delight.

FRIDAY: Watch Party! A Christmas SURPRISE

Tis the Season for Merriment and Unexpected Surprises!  We're going to do a Watch Party on Friday, but it's a merry holiday surprise!!!  I am not telling you what we're watching, so just show up and see what Christmas magic I found for free on Amazon Prime!  We'd love to have you enjoy this gift, which is as much a mystery as a present under the tree.  But, no peeking!

Join us!

Day:  Friday December 10

Time:  8:30 Central, 6:30 Pacific

Format:  Amazon Watch Party

Cost:  $0

CLICK HERE TO WATCH TO WATCH

Happy Birthday, Marie Windsor

Today marks the birthday of noir icon Marie Windsor, born on this day, 1919.