Electric Shadow

Christmas 3 Weeks Early

This would have been posted yesterday, but in a page taken out of a Christmas movie, I was locked out of our car and stranded at an outlet mall. Before all that happened, my in-laws has come into town for a long weekend (since we wouldn't be able to visit during Christmas proper), so I had a perfect use for the stack of Christmas-themed discs that have been piling up. Here are quick thoughts on some Christmas-themed titles I have not (and some I have) covered that have been released this year. I'll probably do a second installment of this, since I didn't have Criterion's A Christmas Tale in time to include it here.


A Very Sunny Christmas (Blu-ray & DVD)
Last year, my non-traditional (or is it?) Christmas Special of choice was Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas. Thankfully, there's something this year that carries a similarly irreverent tone. I've watched this three times to counterbalance the ABC Family junk that's been clogging the airwaves on more than just that network. The cast of the show does what people do in so many of these specials: they rediscover the magic of Christmas.

Charlie and Mac appear at one point in videos from their childhood (with deleted scenes included on the disc) that are funnier to regular viewers of the show. That isn't to say that not being a fan diminishes the quality of the program in any way. The DVD/Blu-ray also includes a Behind-the-Scenes/Making-of piece and a Sing-a-long.


Santa Buddies (Blu-ray & DVD)
I wasn't dying to watch Santa Buddies the moment it arrived, but I knew at some point I had to find out what George Wendt and Christopher Lloyd were doing in something this soul-draining.

This is the fourth direct-to-video spinoff of Disney's Air Bud, a relatively enjoyable kids' movie from 1997 (the year I started high school!). The back cover of this movie is so intent on declaring it a "Christmas classic" that it mentions this...three times? They introduce a canine counterpart to Santa Claus: Santa Paws. How absolutely ingenious a play on words.

There are some moments of acting from Lloyd and Wendt that transcend the extraordinarily boring script. The trailer has one great laugh that is funnier there than in the movie itself: when a little Yorkie starts singing like a Disney Channel starlet. This movie reminds me of the really terrible Christmas specials that air on the ABC Family network this time of year. That isn't to say everything they show is terrible, but most of it is.

I'm not a complete snob when it comes to entertainment for small children, but if you're going to subject any kids to this, make sure they're young enough that they won't mind the crass opportunism. Extras on the Blu-ray include some sing-along Christmas songs and a DVD copy of the movie.

Four Christmases (Blu-ray & DVD)
From my review earlier:
If this movie continued at the same level as the opening scene, I wouldn't have lost interest so quickly during its 88 minute length. My mother-in-law watched it after watching The Proposal and said this one was "just all right, I guess" compared to "really enjoying" The Proposal. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon are great individually, but they don't have much to do here.

Extras include a couple of featurettes and a Gag Reel. "Seven-Layer Holiday Meals in a Flash" is hosted by TV food star Paula Deen and Katy Mixon, who plays Favreau's country-fried wife in the movie and Kenny Powers' hometown sweetheart in Eastbound and Down. The other featurette isn't much more than "gee, how close to real-life craziness was that scene in the movie, right?". The Gag Reel is better than the movie in terms of second-for-second laughs, as any reel of its sort featuring Vaughn. This one hit the street on 11.24.

The Judy Garland Holiday Special (DVD only)
Liza Minelli performs "Steam Heat" in this B&W special from 1963. Jack Jones is in it too, along with Mel Torme, Lorna & Joey Luft, and Tracy Everitt. There's a not-surprising (for the year it was made) emphasis on songs from Oliver! and Judy closes the thing out with Somewhere Over the Rainbow a full 24 years after she appeared in The Wizard of Oz. This is the kind of holiday special that's worth watching or having on DVD.

White Christmas (DVD only)
The only reason I can suppose this didn't hit Blu-ray simultaneously with this new DVD version is no time, money, or incentive in putting this in HD when Blu-ray hasn't yet taken over as the new standard. This edition has some nice new extras and pimps the live stage show that's touring various cities this winter.

It's a Wonderful Life (Blu-ray)
I did the unthinkable and allowed the colorized version to be played in my house. My mother-in-law and wife prefer it to the black and white. My father-in-law seemed to be ambivalent on the matter. This is one classic film for which I don't feel the need for extras. I don't watch it every year, but more like every few years. Owners of previous DVDs get a $10 rebate on this Blu-ray.