Friday, December 18, 2015

My Top Three Favorite Christmas Movies of 2015



I’m currently catching up on the vlogmases (vlogging Christmases) of several YouTubers, and just watched Zoella’s top ten favorite Christmas Movies.  It’s funny, she mentioned that it isn’t Christmas without the movies she loves to watch (for her), and later said she has to have watched all the Christmas movies there are. (I’m not sure if that’s possible, but if it is, she’ll probably be the first.)  I actually have only watched less than a handful of the films she suggested (Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey, and Love Actually), and would only watch Love Actually again.  I just personally think Jim Carrey isn’t funny, and but I might give Elf another try… maybe.  The other movies she suggested I will certainly look into.  Here’s a link to Zoella’s video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PQfwuBfJEY), and I hope you enjoy my own take on this Christmas love’s list!

3.) Love Actually.  I first watched this movie last year, because it was so beloved by all these people I like to watch on YouTube.  The reason I really decided to give it go really was that I literally have heard of more than half of the cast!  I mean, it’s got Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant (there you go, Jane Austen fans), Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy (for your Pirates of the Caribbean fans), and Martin Freeman.  I mean, most of these actors seem to have been in multiple movies already together, so they’re likely already all best friends in real life.  If you haven’t seen it, Love Actually is based around the Christmas stories of multiple pairs, from disgruntled married couples, loving siblings, love in the “work place”, to the best friend of the groom who actually loves (Get the pun?) the bride.  My favorite is the stepfather and preteen stepson who in the aftershock of their loved one’s death, learn they can be a true father and son, but not without a few hurtles.  Everyone is somehow related or friends, which tie everything together, like a nice Christmas package: especially at the end!




2.) A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart.  I mentioned above that I didn’t appreciate the Jim Carrey and Will Farrell films too much.  That’s because there’s a great Shakespearian actor to contend with when it comes to classic Christmas films.  This is one of the two Christmas films my mom and I have to watch every Christmas Eve.  I have seen several versions of A Christmas Carol, see plays of it nearly every year, and have read many book versions of it, including the original, of course.  Patrick Stewart is the perfect Scrooge, and the rest of the cast is perfectly done as well.  There are darker parts, sad parts, joyful parts, and heartwarming parts.  The music and costume also add the ideal early Victorian sensation, and the acting is on point.



1.) The Tailor of Gloucester.  This is my other top Christmas film to watch on Christmas Eve.  The Tailor of Gloucester was one of the famous children’s stories by the English writer Beatrix Potter, in the early 1900s (author of Peter Rabbit).  Most of the books were adapted to film in the 1990s, and I watched them on VHS growing up.  My two favorites are The Tale of the Two Bad Mice, and The Tailor of Gloucester.  The Tailor of Gloucester is the story of a desolately poor tailor in the town of Gloucester, in the 1700s, who has been chosen by the mayor to sew his wedding clothes.  This job is a godsend for the tailor, but he unfortunately falls ill a just a few days before Christmas Day, when his work is to be completed.  His cat, Simpkin, tries to help his master, but is angered when the tailor frees the mice Simpkin has caught.  It turns out the Tailor has been helping the mice in small ways for a long time, and this last act before he falls ill proves that giving, even in small ways, brings unexpected rewards, when the mice return the favor.  The film’s animation is adapted from Beatrix Potter’s own well-known work, and there are fun characters, which are mostly anthropomorphic animals.  The film begins and ends with live-action scenes showing 1900s Lake District England, in which Ms. Potter tells the story for her young friend in a Christmas Card.



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