Ironically, Inherent Vice, and fellow potential Oscar-contender Foxcatcher were both
shut out of the Film Independent Spirit
By Rob Fagin
Awards because they didn't meet their eligibility guidelines. However, both films
will be given honorary awards at the ceremony.
So, let's forget for a moment that
Chicago is a hugely overlooked and
influential commodity in the film industry and just get into the spirit of the season.
Bad Santa, Elf and Love, Actually all
were released the same year (2003), and
have endured over the past decade to
become
widely
beloved
holiday
favorites. The past eleven years, however, have subjected us to dreary National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ('89)
wannabes and/or schmaltzy, candy-colored cartoons. The Polar Express ('04) is an
interesting attempt at something better,
but its borderline terrifying "uncanny
valley" animation style keeps this movie
from inspiring very much love among
adults.
It speaks volumes that many of the
more revered movies of the past quarter
The Griswold House in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) century that have nailed the atmosphere
of Christmas are not about Christmas at
all, but are instead using the warm glow
December is traditionally the month they can qualify for Academy consideraof the holiday to blanket a much darker,
that most studios unveil their most prom- tion and technically be considered a 2014
icier story: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ('11), In
ising Oscar hopefuls and release every release, while leaving the rest of us to
Bruges ('08), Eyes Wide Shut ('99), Batman
last bit of eye-popping caramel corn wait until next year to actually see them.
Returns ('92) and one of the grand masWhile Chicago will get Exodus: Gods
they've been saving up all year. The frusterpieces of the season (including the
trating part of this whole tradition is that and Kings, Annie and Into the Woods, we'll
action flick genre) Die Hard ('88). Or they
many of these films are not released have to wait until January 9th for one of
star Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan: Sleepless
widely, but instead slipped into the New the most exciting releases of the year:
in Seattle ('93), You've Got Mail ('98).
York and L.A. markets for the requisite Paul Thomas Anderson's second feature
Overtly "Christmassy" movies that
minimum number of screenings so that with Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice.
have been successful since the 80's, like
I'LL BE CLONED FOR CHRISTMAS
16 illinoisentertainer.com december 2014
Home Alone ('90) and The Muppet
Christmas Carol ('92), carry a mixed bag of
embarrassed nostalgia and dubious awe
at being able to spread that magical aura
of the season while playing somewhat to
contemporary cynicism. That boring contemporary cynicism of ours is probably
why we find most of our Kris Kringle
classics between World War II and the
Bay of Pigs (1961), an era of unabashed
(yet crackerjack smart) sentimentally that
was largely responsible for Yuletide as we
know it. Holiday Inn ('42), Christmas In
Connecticut ('45), Miracle on 34th Street
('47), Scrooge ('51), White Christmas ('54),
The Apartment ('60) and Pocketful of
Miracles ('61) are all as much a part of our
subconscious as the lost art of roasting
chestnuts.
It would be silly to suggest my two
personal favorite (and possibly the two
best) holiday flicks, since one has its own
24-hour marathon and the other is
resoundingly
ubiquitous
from
Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve, but it is
worth mentioning that A Christmas Story
('83) is a stunning piece of American wistfulness that dives deeply, without one
single self-conscious wink, into a collective ideal shared by hundreds of millions
of people in a way few other pieces of art
have ever succeeded; and It's a Wonderful
Life ('46) portrays one of the most devastating struggles to live life exuberantly
well while getting beaten down by daily
bits of monotonous responsibility and
unthinking opposition in this story that
slips into utterly convincing despair and
then bounces back with well-earned,
maniacal joy.
Here are two holiday favorites for you