The Big Picture - The Holiday Movie Draft

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

It’s December, which means it’s officially holiday movie season. We’re bringing Chris Ryan back to draft holiday movies with one special twist—a wild-card category of any holiday content. It��s the most wonderful draft of the year! Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Chris Ryan Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ringer Films and HBO's third installment of the Music Box series is Listening to Kenny G. The film takes a humorous but incisive look at the saxophonist Kenny G, the best-selling instrumental artist of all time and quite possibly one of the most famous living musicians. Listening to Kenny G unravels the allure of the man who played jazz so smoothly that a whole new genre formed around him and questions fundamental assumptions about art and excellence in the process. You can find to kenny g on hbo or hbo max on thursday december 2nd i'm sean fantasy i'm amanda davids this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about holiday movies. We are drafting again, but we're putting a different spin on this one. It's the Movie Draft Holiday Edition.

And Chris Ryan is here. Ho, ho, ho, Chris. Hans, boobie, I'm your white knight. So we've decided to change things up because we're in the holiday spirit. Hanukkah is happening right now. And Christmas is coming later this month. We're a cheerful holiday bunch here on The Big Picture. Amanda, I'm going to start with you as you continue to suck down some water. Perfect time to ask you a question. Fine, it's done now. Good vamping.

What's your relationship to holiday movies? I love them. I mean, what's my relationship to the holidays in general? Do you want an update on The Lighting Project? Yeah, let's go. Can I let the listeners know? All right. So it's a multi-phase project this year. Last year, we experimented with some solar powered lights, and I'm sorry to say that the technology is not where we want it to be, as both Chris and Sean can attest, because they got the one hour of one strand of Christmas lights before they went away. However, this year we've

had some electricians come to the home. We've rewired. I've invested in some net lighting, whoever invented net lighting, genius, tremendous. And so far I've installed the net lighting and I made my own Charlie bound Christmas type tree with a succulent. And then next up, we're going to do some of the other trees in the yard. And that's before we get to the actual multiple Christmas trees in the home. So I like Christmas stuff. That's my answer. Was this like a house call from Elon Musk? Who would you have working on this project? All Zach Barron. Thank you very much. I'm the vision and he's the muscle. He did consult on the various extension cords needed reluctantly and only after Thanksgiving, but we appreciate his input.

CR, what about you? You've been hanging lights? Yeah, we got the tree because we usually go back to the East Coast mid-December. So right as Thanksgiving hits, it's time to get that tree up. We got to, as my wife describes our tree Thanksgiving hits, it's time to get that tree up. As my wife describes our tree this year, it's rather zaftig. It is a very wide tree. And yeah, so it's already popping off. The Christmas Classics channel is going. It's my favorite time of year. Chris, I know you've been occasionally inspired to drive to the Pacific Northwest and cut the

tree down yourself. That's down yourself and drive it back. Did you do that this year? No, I did visit the Pacific Northwest, but I came back empty-handed when it came to trees. They had them up though before Thanksgiving because that's locally sourced. I want to talk about this a little bit. A lot of people in my neighborhood also have their trees up. They look really beautiful. How are people keeping trees that they put up around Thanksgiving alive until Christmas itself? While checking my privilege, I'll say that this household is not averse to having two trees per season. Okay.

You know, the cycle of life sometimes comes and you got to be willing to adapt. Okay. Wow. All right. Hard to believe this planet is dying the way you're rolling through trees, CR. What about you, Fancy? Do you have just like a plastic, like postmodern, like piece of stucco up with like...

No, no. We just, we drew a tree on a piece of paper one time and we just, we put that up on the mantelpiece every year. And we let the rest of the world get the oxygen it needs. You know, I just feel like that's important.

No, this is, of course I get a tree. I have not gotten a tree yet. I'm very excited to get one. Very excited to celebrate all month long. This is a truly happy time in my house excited to get one. Very excited to celebrate all month long. This is a truly happy time in my house. We were just plotting for what to do with the baby in the house. How to introduce her to this world.

You can have a real tree, right? Yeah, we'll do a real tree. I mean, I know like with cats, you can't really have a real tree. I didn't know if it was a baby. I don't know whether it'd go with babies. Chris, you have a lot to learn about babies. Let tell you there's no fur for example um i have been thinking about whether or not we should get nice ornaments because on the one hand like i'd like to get in like nice balls and new lights and things like that we're in a new home but a child is likely to rip those things off a tree really tall tree and then get the ornaments up high.

She's not Draymond Green. Like, just make sure she can't reach them, right? Yeah, but like one of her toys in her little castle really does look like a little Christmas ornament now when I think about it. That's true. Yeah, the little ball that she bats at. Yeah, she does like the sphere-shaped objects. I don't know.

We're going to have to find out. There may just be some dead soldiers, so to speak, some balls that fall off this tree. We gonna have to find out um there may just be some some dead soldiers so to speak some balls that fall off this tree we're gonna find out how it goes okay i'm excited to talk about this with you because i think we all like these movies a lot we've got some pretty loose definitions around these kinds of movies but we needed to change up the categories a little bit um last time we drafted we changed up format. We went to a mega movie draft. Who won last time? I won, of course. There was a lot of accusations of pod packing.

Yeah, well, you Ross Perot-ed us. That doesn't make sense because Ross Perot never won, and I won. Maybe you got Ross Perot-ed. You made the field larger so that you split the vote. But that would make you George H.W. Bush. It would make me Bill Clinton. And it would make, what, Van and Shay Perot?

Perot, yeah. So where does that leave Amanda? Madeleine Albright? Once again, a woman not at the table. So yeah, I won. And that was really fun. We'll definitely do another mega movie draft at some point down the line a lot of calls for Joanna and Mallory a lot of a lot of a lot of calls press box guys a lot of you know there's some some strong duos out there I gotta get a football

helmet before Mallory gets involved again I think you guys want to see what happens you can look up the superhero draft is that still available on YouTube? No, I mean, I'm surprised I'm not addicted to painkillers after that draft. I worry about what it would mean to introduce Mal into this mix. But okay, so let's just talk about how we refashioned this. We're still obviously drafting movies, mostly. Here are the categories that we're going to draft from. Drama. There are some great Christmas dramas.

Comedy, action, and horror are being combined into one category. This is getting controversial. Very competitive category. Also, what defines a Christmas movie, I think, is challenging. So I want to talk through that once we get through the categories. Next category is musical. We've never had a musical category, but there are some great holiday musicals. Then we have Oscar nominee.

An interesting one. Required some research. I don't know how much research you guys were willing to do on this one. Some. I did some. Some. And Blockbuster. Blockbuster, we have changed the scales here. It is now $50 million or more at the box office to allow for more historical films to be a part of

the mix. And then there's a wildcard category. Historically on the show, we do a wildcard pick. It means you can pick any movie that's available from the year that we're drafting from. In this case, our boy C.R. had a good idea. C.R., what was your idea? Well, we're multi-platform, multi-faceted people.

I thought it would be interesting if the wildcard could include any piece of holiday content that we desired. So that could be a Christmas album or a holiday album. That could be a holiday TV special. It could be anything you can make the case for. We'll put it to it.

We'll just, I love democracy. I love to see what people react to. Was this because you wanted to get an opportunity to talk about Megyn Kelly's, they're trying to cancel Christmas work on television? Oh my gosh.

This is supposed to be a nice podcast. We like these things. I'm sorry. So the wild card, yeah, it'll be free reign. It won't be a movie, but it'll be emotional nonetheless. I feel like it's like free reign, but also really upping the stakes because there are just a couple of things here. The wild card thing was a suggestion was for us to actually share a holiday chair

with one another. It wasn't supposed to be like... Right, but I'm afraid that you or I are going to rip each other's heart out. Yeah, but it wasn't supposedly like fantasy can pick jaws because it i are gonna rip each other's heart out yeah but like i it wasn't supposedly like fantasy can pick jaws because it's july 4th and that's a holiday it was like it was like actually supposed to be like let's like let's share some sweetness among one another okay do you think you'll go to other holidays for those things or do you think you'll stick with the kind of core december holidays i know what i'll do i i think i'm gonna i'm gonna

stick with the december one megan kelly you're saying yes you're right joe rogan lost city of atlantis pod on 1.5 speed that sounds great um so what qualifies as a holiday movie because i think there's going to be some controversy maybe there won't be because there's a lot to choose from here and we could probably go right down the middle in most of the categories. But if a movie features someone in a Santa Claus costume, is that a holiday movie? How do you define it, Amanda? I think that the holidays have to play a pivotal role in at least one scene and probably a climactic scene. It doesn't have to be the climactic scene, but something major in the movie happens at the holidays or because of the holidays.

It's not just like a guy in a Santa suit. Now that is not a very specific definition. It is a little, you know, when you see it and I'm sure that we'll yell at each other, which is again, the point of this podcast. But I think I don't even think it has to be like contained to the holidays or ends on

the holidays. But if the movie weren't set during the holidays, it would be slightly different. If I could just chime in here, this is going to be a situation where it's like the rules of baseball. I think we all personally, I would like to see the infield shift banned. I don't feel like that goes with the spirit of the game, right? So we will know it when we see it, if someone pushes too far past what is an acceptable definition of a holiday movie.

I have literally looked at the names of hundreds of movies in preparation for this podcast, as I'm sure you all have. I've seen very many lists of like, actually, this is a holiday movie. And in almost every case, I'll allow it. Like, I'm really not going to get too tetchy about that stuff here today. I because partially because of the spirit of the holiday is supposed to be about giving and if people want to, like, you the definition that's fine but i think we all know like if somebody tries to be like end game as a christmas movie then it's gonna be like a little bit come on somebody sounds like i need to revise my strategy uh did you are there any marvel holiday movies was a marvel holiday show on right now oh really yeah hawkeye christmas in new york oh yeah i heard something about that. Gosh, there must be a Marvel movie

that speaks to that, but I can't think of it at the moment. Okay. I certainly don't know. One thing, maybe, Amanda, what you can do is over the weekend

just re-watch all the Marvel movies and then report back to us. I think Thor Dark World has some holiday stuff. Great. I'll let you guys know. I think we'll probably

be more forgiving than usual on this one. It will be fun to kind of adjudicate what fits and what doesn't. Even as I was explaining this premise to my wife, she suggested a movie to me and she was like, that is one, isn't it? And I was like, I don't know.

It could be. So there'll be some open season for discussion. Should we get to drafting? Is there anything else you guys want to say about these films? I would just say that most of these movies, I think in past drafts, we've probably understood a little bit like, oh, I bet from this year, this is such a

absolute balance between critical appraisal approval and audience approval. My own little tomato meter. And in this one, because holiday movies really for me are about ritual and tradition of re-watching it during the season or in preparation or to get hyped up for the season i probably have more

picks here that are in the iron man 3 vein you know what i mean that are in the like this one's for me you know what i mean like i i can't explain it i can't necessarily rationalize it but this is where we're going chris iron man 3 is a christmas movie yeah i know i know but but i mean like is like as a draft pick. But no, I was just saying that we were trying to figure out which Marvel movie is the Christmas movie. Of course, the Shane Black movie is a Christmas movie. Christmas is in every Shane Black movie.

See, the thing is, that's what makes us special, man. You try to bring in other people, but the three of us will always arrive at the right answer. It's true. It's true. We are the chosen ones. We are, they found us in a manger.'re the three kings the three kings and bobby is baby jesus podcasting jesus speaking of baby jesus shall you uh introduce yourself to show us our draft order

deeply alarming very worrisome a lot riding on this as I shake the scrabble tiles again. And by a lot, I mean maybe Chris choosing the Barry Manilow Christmas record with the first overall pick. While Bobby's trying to pick, can I just mention that we recently lost our Fortnite lilies outside of our home here in Los Angeles due to a fumigation accident. And my wife was actually contemplating whether or not we should go full manger with the new new space we have outside yeah okay yeah what yeah well i but i was like maybe we could add some like new characters to the scene like you know like get like a cameron doll like for you chris like for honest this is an honest question for you. Yeah. Is the holiday Christmas about celebrating the birth of our Lord and savior,

Jesus Christ? Is that what it's about? Is it for you? Do you want me to say yes? What do you want? I want to know how you feel about it. You're going to put a manger on your lawn, but it's,

it's, it's disassociated from its religious context. It's all about the pageantry. You are putting Jesus on the lawn. That's very true. I would mix it up. Iantry. You are putting Jesus on the lawn. That is very true. I would mix it up. I have the tile, guys. I have the tile.

Okay, go ahead. Is it Jesus? Does he have the first pick? No, Amanda Dobbins has the first pick. Yes! Well, actually, I don't know whether that's good or not on this one. True mayhem.

By the way, I was thinking about this about my win last time. And the only reason I won is because I had the second pick. I was thinking about my win last time. And the only reason I won is because I had the second pick. I was thinking about my win. You know me, just remembering the good old days. And these historically have been so skewed towards the person who has the first pick winning. Because every year there's one movie that everybody loves.

And then everything else is about personal taste. Except for 2007, where there were actually five movies that everyone loved and so the person who went first which was Amanda got screwed. Yeah.

But that's okay because I got Michael Clayton and I don't care. That's true. You know that's been the most popular episode of this show. The 2007 movie draft.

And I was wondering why that is. Is it just because we all agree that that is the year? Yeah. We've definitely pumped that year up.

Okay. Interesting. Alright so Amanda you're number one. Bobby, who's coming up next? Now that we're done with the big picture podcast statistics, download numbers. Chris Ryan going second overall. Great. That puts you third, Sean.

Okay. I'm third. Well, okay. I know what I'm going to do. Sure. I'm going to go on Blockbuster and I dedicate this pick to bill simmons who i love very much and who i agree with almost all of the time except for the fact that uh in my house and in this draft home alone is a christmas movie because it is set at freaking christmas and his parents leave him at

home and there are christ Christmas lights and Christmas decorations. And it's all about, at the end, fighting off the two bad guys and getting to be with his family at Christmas. This is a classic. Love this movie. All killer, no filler. Just watch this over Thanksgiving weekend. Fire pick.

Fire movie. No complaints. Yeah. We did a rewatchables of this with with me to kimes was that last year chris uh yes it was last it was last holiday season i got a lot of dragging bill up a hill doing that one that's right uh i got a lot of feedback on that pod because i think in that conversation i recounted the various professional wrestling moves i would apply to my siblings and uh that's right i don't think people really appreciated that yeah a lot of stunning a lot

of razor's edges it wasn't great anyway okay chris you're up number two i am gonna go for the four-time oscar nominee in 1989 that is die hard knew it wow this is the move this is the move uh visual effects sound mixing film editing and sound editing boy the sound editing in this film you know i just love to put on noise canceling headphones and just think about the sound mix whatever this is this is uh obviously john mctiernan's uh classic action movie basically invents um the next 30 years of action movies that come after it. It's set in Century City in Christmas in Los Angeles. And Bruce Willis plays a New York police detective visiting his ex-wife at her office in Los Angeles.

And Mayhem Ensues features a preponderance of Santa hats and, of course, Run-DMC and their Christmas time in Hollis, Queens. I don't know. It's an amazing Christmas movie. It's one of my favorite movies ever made. So I'm happy to pick it. Chris, not only do I admire the pick,

I admire the strategy. Thanks, brother. You were suggesting that you were going to make some crazy moves here. It is a Christmas miracle. Yeah. And that was a good move. And if you didn't make that move,

that was the move I was going to make. So this is actually just me congratulating myself. Okay. You got two now. My vamping is done. I have two picks. Let's go one super traditional. Drama, I think I'll choose

the greatest Christmas movie of all time, which is It's a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra. And here's the thing about It's a Wonderful Life. I think that we as a culture have a mass delusion because this is a movie about a guy losing his mind. It is a movie about a man during a psychosis. And for some reason, we have all agreed

that this is the heartwarming, spirit-uplifting film because it has this extraordinary final 10 minutes where your heart grows whenever you see it. But for like, I don't know, 98 minutes during this movie, George is just losing his damn mind. Yeah. I mean, really going through the deepest pain that a person can go through, seriously considering taking his own life. And it's a fascinating movie. It's fascinating that it emerged.

You know, it was not this massive hit right away necessarily, but has has emerged as this hallmark and it has endured in so many ways. Just beautiful, great performances, obviously, from Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. And it's a movie that, like many people, I presume, was just shown to me by my grandmother at a very young age. And I still like watching and I look forward to showing it to my daughter and making it a part of our holiday movie watching experiences. So it's a wonderful life. Kind of a no-brainer. Do you watch it every year? Not every year.

But every time I watch it, I'm surprised by how deep it is. How it's not this frivolous kind of throwaway thing. It's a heavy movie. Okay. So second pick. I'm'm gonna go comedy action horror which is a bountiful category but i i just want to get um i want to get elf in this category yeah it's a good one which i think is is that the most recent modern classic holiday film i was trying to think about this i I think that there are some

that I actually recently have started to watch more, but Elf is definitely, I think, the people's champ. The agreed upon. Yeah. Obviously, Will Ferrell starring as Buddy,

an elf who's just sort of sent out into the world. Directed by Jon Favreau. Co-starring James Caan, you may recall, as Walter, his father. Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen. Just another happy-making movie, like a perfectly pitched kind of a movie.

I don't want to say this movie feels impossible now, but it feels unlikely now. And one of my favorites, so Elf. Okay, so that comes to me, right? It's back to you. I'm going to go blockbuster here and i'm gonna go national lampoon's christmas vacation damn so we uh we did a rewatchables was this one this was like an amc rewatchables this wound up being like a rewatchables rewatchable we never did the episode and frankly we should yeah merry christmas holy shit uh This movie is about the impossibility of gathering your family and having a nice time. But ultimately finding out that that effort to do so is the only thing that matters. And it is, you know, these three that was it was all dead and they really found um like an extra gear for this one and everything that Chevy Chase's

Clark Griswold goes through is so fucking funny in this movie uh Randy Quaid incredible supporting performance some septic tank issues in this movie that I don't love but other than that like just an absolute classic so I'll do that for Blockbuster i wanted that one yeah i knew you did i mean like i am living my own clark griswold you know adventure right now no staple guns this year just so everybody knows and we do have more than one electrical plug but um i i really relate to that and i've watched that movie a lot growing up. Okay. CR, do you relate to the scene when he goes to the department store and he chitchats with the young lady

behind the counter about the cologne? Because I'm a man who loves scents, like musks. Among other things. Yeah. That was always the part of the movie where my aunt Betty would just put her hands over my eyes.

She tried to do visual earmuffs. And I was like, I'm nine. I know what's going on. But anyway, good times. The formative thing from the National Lampoon is the first three movies for me. Obviously, there's a lot. But it was definitely, Dad, he's going to pork her from European vacation. Where do you stand on the kids? I feel like Galecki and Juliette Lewis

is the dominant duo for Russell and Audrey. You did? Yeah, yeah. Amanda, do you have a kid's preference? No, I'm Galecki and Juliette Lewis for sure. Yeah, I think they were the best. Okay, well, Amanda, you're up. I have two picks.

Okay, I'm going to go Oscar nominee. Oscar nominee okay and I'm gonna take a film uh called The Apartment perhaps you've heard of it because it won like every single Oscar ever and is one of the greatest movies ever made the fruitcake scene the fruitcake scene and the Christmas party scene yeah and you know and it's I mean, it's about like the crushing American, you know, capitalist society, but also about trying to find someone at the holidays. Really spans both Christmas and New Year's. But that is that's the whole holiday run. And I rewatched this a couple of months ago. I think Criterion had like a greatest New York York Movies collection, which was also...

They have like a Wilder collection as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just this movie's unreal and won a lot of Oscars. So The Apartment, there we go. Great pick. I think we would have a really, really... One day, a really fun Jack Lemmon pod.

Yes. What do you mean by that? Like just, you know, just our favorite, our top five jack lemons do you don't think that's like a hot enough topic what if jack lemon was in the mcu what does jack lemon bring to game of thrones is that what that better i just named the fucking like one of the five most important actors in american history you're like yeah he's no ryan reynolds though chris what uh podcast network will you be making your jack lemon pot on i wasn't talking about making a fucking narrative series. Maybe you should.

Sounds like you've got a lot of feelings. This is really a really mean one-two punch to Chris Ryan because you were so mean about his wonderful podcast, Adia Sean, and I'm about to go wildcard. And I don't know whether you're going to pick this, Chris. Oh, you're going wildcard early. Okay, this is good. Well, I're going wildcard early. Okay. This is good. Well, I mean, once it's on the table, you and I share, I think we have a shared favorite

Christmas song, which is Baby Please Come Home. I don't know if that's your absolute favorite, but I know that it means a lot to you. And it means a lot to me too. When I was allowed to play Christmas music starting Friday morning after Thanksgiving, came downstairs with this one blasting on the iPhone at like 8. AM was not appreciated by anyone else in my house. So I got to take, uh, the Phil Spector Christmas album, uh, a Christmas gift for you from Phil Spector, which I just love very much. Um, and I play all of the time to my husband's chagrin. And I would have been really sad if anyone else took it.

And I know that Chris might have, but I'm doing it in the spirit of shared love, Chris, because that's what Christmas is all about. It's a big tent and I will allow it. And I think that there's even more meat on the bone there for us later in the wildcard to talk more about it.

Meg and Kelly are still sitting there. We're going to see. Okay, so it's my turn? Yes. All right. I'm going to go for drama. And because I got this guy on the brain right now because he

made one of my two or three favorite movies of this year. I'm going Carol. Wow. Wow. Wow. Great pick. I didn't even think to put this on the long list. Yeah, this is a, just obviously Todd Haynes' masterpiece.

Whether, I think it is recently started to become a Christmas movie. I don't know necessarily that I always want to watch this movie at the holidays to make myself feel good, but it is an immaculate movie. And just because I've been thinking so much about Todd Hinn since the Velvet Underground movie, I'll pick Carol. Another movie with an incredible seduction scene in a department store.

Yes. Perfect. Yeah. We got to bring department stores back. Remember that really good, I guess it wasn't quite a meme, but someone shared their experience of going to see Carol and there there was a um an older couple sitting behind them and i think not long after the department scene the woman just goes very in a very loud whisper harold they're lesbians like loudly in the theater and i just every time we talk about carol i'm my heart is warmed by that elderly couple where did rudy merrill work gimbals i think so yeah also amanda that was that was me and eileen by the way this is like this is like when i went to go see bohemian rhapsody before we were going to do

the episode about it and the very elderly couple that was sitting next to me the man turned to the woman and said when does he turn gay tough times out there seeing movies with strangers you know you never know what you're gonna get yeah uh okay well i didn't i didn't see that one coming good good good thanks um you're ignoring some of the the well-worn classics yeah there's some bangers there yeah okay so i have two picks here. I got a pretty good idea of what I want to do. I got some idiosyncratic choices, some personal choices. They're not that idiosyncratic, but they're somewhat idiosyncratic.

It's okay. Why don't you feel special? You're very special, Sean. And we honor your likes. And it's Christmas for you too, you know? Do you guys think you've ever actually said something sincere about me that you appreciate like do you think like in your heart i try sometimes but it never comes out it's so performative you know it's so like what you've been forced to finish your vegetables at the dinner table it's just i mean it's not like you

receive it well like any time you just actually barely experience it you just actually you know go into like rigor mortis so I just decide to be mean again maybe if you would get some practice I would know how to feel we're moving through this draft really quickly do you want me and Amanda to spend the next like 25 minutes just being super sincere towards you and talking

about how much you mean to us no I don't want you to do that but what I would prefer you do is call me and let it go to voicemail and just say all that stuff in voicemail. So I have it and I have an actual file of it. So just in case shit goes sideways, I know I'll always have that. Okay. Fair. Sure. You just, you keep waiting, you know, just call me. All I'm asking you to do is call me just one time. Just leave a voicemail. This is also just an excuse for you to never actually answer the phone if I ever call you again. Great point. I'm really not good at answering the phone.

That's my anti-superpower. Okay. I'll go with musical. And I'll go with one of the greatest animated movies ever made, The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is a relief. Okay, good. So that means you get to get the musical you need, The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is a relief. Okay, good. So that means you get to get the musical you need, CR?

I think so. Did Megyn Kelly sing on camera once? I'm just going to keep doing that bit. This movie is not directed by Tim Burton. It is called Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he was the producer and he created the story. That's kind of like how this is Chris Ryan's The Big Picture, but I actually hosted it.

Yes. And the director of the film, Henry Selick, is the true genius of this film. That was the point I was going to make. Not just somebody willing to slap his name all over everything. Brilliant movie, obviously. Brilliant songs. It's one part Halloween movie and one part Christmas movie. Half of this film is about what happens at Halloween. It's a part Halloween movie and one part Christmas movie. You know, half of this film is about what happens at Halloween. It's a story of Jack Skellington, who lives in a fantasy world and is surrounded by monsters and weird creatures. And it's just a beautifully composed and incredibly animated stop motion feature that, again, has not aged a day.

It was like a pretty solid hit back in its time, but I feel like it has grown into an object of cult fascination. Almost 20 years old, 1993, I was surprised to learn. And one other thing about this movie, 75 minutes long. You absolutely love to see it. Just perfect for holding a child's attention span. Another movie I can't wait to show to my child. Next category. I'm going to go with Blockbuster. And I'm taking Gremlins. Okay.

Joe Dante's 1984. I guess it's a comedy horror. A department store in Gremlins 2? I believe so. No, it's a comedy horror. Isn't a department store in Gremlins 2? I believe so. No, it's more of a shop of mystical items. Oh, okay. That's what it opens with.

It's not that. There are going to be more department stores on this list, probably, by the time that this moves. No spoilers. But people do have to go shopping for things at the holidays. Pre-Rona, did you guys ever go to department stores? I guess if you consider pennies. Did you say pre-Rona, did you guys ever go to department stores? I guess if you consider like, you know, pennies and- Did you say pre-Rona?

Yeah, because not a lot of people go to malls anymore, right? That sounds like before I started dating Sharona. Like what is that? You putting The Master on your list, Amanda? Is that a Christmas movie? No, it's not a Christmas movie, but that does have a department store scene. I mean, that's where people used to go in the 50s and 60s when a lot of these movies were made.

Amanda, sidebar. Yesterday, Chris and I had dinner with Bill Simmons, and someone at the table that we were dining with asked me in real time for our PTA rankings. Okay. And we shared with Bill, or I shared with Bill Bill that Boogie Nights was number three. Yeah. And was he very mad? I agreed with it. He actually was sullen

for the rest of the day. Did you tell him that I asked whether he would be mad on the podcast because I knew that he would? I didn't. But you were right.

You were very he was not happy. He's going to be mad at me because I picked Home Alone. So that's true. He threatened to remove me and by proxy Chris from the future Boogie Nights. Yeah, because I was like, oh yeah, I agree. And he was just like, you're both off.

I'm doing Boogie Nights solo. This is pretty tough. Pretty tough. Pretty tough to hear that. We all saw that coming. We also all saw you choosing the master coming and the disappointment. By we all you, you mean you. That's true.

You're the only person that saw it coming. But this is what I have to deal with every day. And so I learned to expect these things. And, you know, I'm sad that that happened. And I know that Bill will take it really personally for a long time. I kind of agree with him. But it was your podcast. That was a very nice podcast

that we did. Spirit of generosity. Once again, just so totally fake dishonest moment there. I was very nice to you on that podcast. That was a nice podcast

that we recorded together on a machine called a computer. I'm trying not to call you an idiot for picking the wrong movie at number two. It's your choice.

I am what I am and I chose Gremlins as for picking the wrong movie at number two. It's your choice. I am what I am. And I chose Gremlins as well, which was a big fat hit. I don't know if people remember this. This movie made $200 million, produced by Steven Spielberg. You sound like Marvin Schwartz. What a picture. Love that film, you know?

It's also another movie, sort of like It's a Wonderful Life, where I think people have forgotten how insane this movie is. It's definitely about, uh, monsters that are born out of the back of a little furry creature. Yeah. Just disgusting and beautiful at the same time. Very fun and funny. Gremlins two really is the superior picture, but I'm, I, one day we'll, when I do a solo podcast, we'll be doing a podcast all about gremlins to the new batch or a new batch which is just a genius movie but you guys find that you're becoming more

gremlin-esque as you get older in terms of eating after midnight meaning you create out of postules on your body demons like i don't what does that mean no you know like because i used to there was nothing like a late night snack back in the day and now i just find that i just it really rocks my sleep if i go nachos at like a like 12 15 while i'm watching power the dog or whatever you know you know what's funny about that you really are like the gizmo in my life because you are like an adorable great hang you're just like awesome to be with all the time anytime anybody new comes around and meets you they're like oh my god chris ryan especially men they fall right in love with you right there's this whole cult but if you're having a bad day me yeah it's it's tough it's a

fucking storm cloud i i go hot and cold i won't deny it yeah you can't throw me in the water metaphorically i actually do like going in the water a lot, but like, that's true. It's sad. Um, okay. So that's gremlins. So now we're back to you,

Chris. Well, gosh, I didn't expect a lot of the action comedies to still be on the board, but I, I feel like out of a, um, fidelity to my,

my strat here, I got to pick the musical, which is meet me in St. Louis. Um, uh um which features obviously judy garland's amazing performance of have yourself a merry little christmas uh vincente minnelli uh musical like this is a great one to just have on the background um the plot itself i'm i'm actually don't even know if i know the remember the plot as much as the

family reunites at christmas towards the end and that's when the performance happens but there's also a boy next door that's right yeah um but yeah this is just a classic really really about as good as as Hollywood filmmaking got there for a while right like in terms of just you know the singing the dancing the stars and uh the lights the fucking lights the fucking lights Judy yeah so I like I love I love this one this is one of my favorites this is probably what I would have picked

but I have other options in musicals that I can that can let my light shine so it's okay but it's a really good one so now you've got two picks

trolley song also they ride a trolley that's another thing that happens also something about a world's fair don't really remember that part as much but okay well oh I need to look

at the spreadsheet because i need to know what categories you guys have picked in should we do a recap real quick sure in drama i got carol and sean got it's a wonderful life and you haven't picked yet comedy action horror uh i have not picked that yet. Sean's got Elf. Amanda, you have not done comedy, action, horror yet. I don't think. Correct. Musical, I got Meet Me in St. Louis. Sean got Nightmare Before Christmas.

You have not picked yet. Correct. Oscars, I got Die Hard. Sean hasn't picked. You got The Apartment. Blockbuster, I got National Lampoon. Sean got Gremlins. You got Home Alone.

And I haven't done Wild Card, neither has Sean. But you got the Phil Spector album. Christmas gift for you from Phil Spector let me open this up to the group for ruling oh boy but it's not going to be acrimonious unless you decide to be a dick about one of the great things what the hell it's not going to be acrimonious unless you decide to be a dick that's tautological i'm just saying like you can say i don't think so and i'll be like okay that's fine i'm willing to accept a judgment as long as you don't become like mean older brother sean because i don't respond well to that so fiction is not a christmas movie okay

is a charlie bound christ Christmas eligible in musical? Oh, this is interesting. This is interesting because I had one too. Christmas time is here. What are we wearing? This is a TV show? I think it's a TV special. And we have a category where this can live.

That's true. And you also could just take the Vince Giraldi album in that wildcard as well, which is definitely the number two Christmas album in my book that's debatable um do you know the runtime of a Charlie Brown Christmas no I don't is it 25 minutes it's 25 minutes that's that's that's also another one that I said like I said I was willing to accept it okay I also just wanted to talk about it because it's an all-timer i probably actually would have been more open-minded about it if we didn't have this wild card change but i think

since we have it you know what i'm saying that's fine fair enough i just i mostly just wanted to talk about uh vince geraldie which is really important to me and makes me cry all the time yeah he was the fucking man too okay so i got drama i got musical i got comedy all right in musical i will take actually in my what i wanted to take in my heart of hearts which is a very very christmas so uh that is the sofia coppola directed christmas movie special starring bill murray uh filmed at the carlisle hotel specifically in bevelman's featuring everybody that you like um and you know singing and george clooney making a martini like on a piano just because um i'm a really really big fan of this movie if you've never seen it i think it's way underrated it's

available on that flex so that's musical and then drama i do Miracle on 34th Street. The 1947, the original. Although I do think the remake is good. But speaking of department stores, Christopher, this one, I don't know if I rewatch it every year, but I rewatch it most years. We also talked about it on Best Courtroom Dramas, which I do think stands up but it's got a little bit of everything and um i feel great about my choices good picks good picks

not picks i would have made well i frankly i didn't want gremlins so congratulations to you shame on you in that case uh okay so chris you have another pick right what do you do how many picks you have left two i right? What do you... How many picks do you have left? Two? I have comedy, action, horror, whatever, and then I have wild card.

This is really tough. There's a couple of real bangers left, and then there's one that I was like, nobody will pick this and I'll get it last. Fuck.

You know, and I also don't want... Do you guys ever think about this when you're drafting? Like, where you don't want to be, like, you know and I also don't want do you guys ever think about this when you're drafting like where you don't want to be like you know homogeny in your draft like you want like a variety of films even

if like because there's one sitting right here that I feel like is close to die hard but I just I just don't want to like repeat myself is it the polar express yeah um ah fuck it I'm gonna go lethal weapon yeah uh wow doubling up on black yeah um i'll go lethal weapon here uh you know this is it famously features a cocaine

bust in a christmas tree lot also um you know, some great Christmas music playing throughout it. It's set during the holidays in Los Angeles. Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh played by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson navigating

a post-Vietnam criminal underworld as like some special ops guys are dealing heroin in LA. It really introduced me to a lot of adult concepts

as a child, but I do like having it on as a nightlight during the holiday season, so I'm going to go Lethal Weapon. Was it between that film and The Predator?

Shane Black's The Predator for the Shane Black pick? Was that on the table? Well, Shane Black didn't write Die Hard. He just, it feels like he did. Right, right.

Yeah. Okay. So I'm up. I got two picks and I got two categories left. I've got an open slot right now in Oscar nominee and an open slot in wild card.

I've got a few curious choices for Oscar nominee. Do you wish you'd picked Oscar nominee earlier? Do you guys have, you guys all'd picked Oscar nominee earlier? Do you guys all have your Oscar nominees, right? Yeah. Miracle on 34th and Die Hard. No, The Apartment.

Oh, The Apartment and Die Hard. Miracle on 34th is just my drama. So here's what's still on the board. Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. Ever heard of it? A banger. Uplifting. Arguably his greatest film. It's like opening a present

on Christmas morning. What joy will I find? It's a beautiful film about childhood. What are you talking about? It's not depressing. I'm just paying you back for denigrating

Jack Lemmon's contribution to culture. That's not what happened. I was merely making a business decision about the future of this podcast. Oh boy.

I respect Jack Lemmon and all he gave us. Also on the board, Batman Returns. Speaking of Tim Burton, terrific Christmas movie in my opinion. But I think what I'm going to do

is take Scrooged. As an Oscar nominee. Which was nominated for Best Makeup. Okay. Richard Donner, the late Richard Donner, who passed away this year. Director of Lethal Weapon.

Director of Lethal Weapon. One of the great everyman filmmakers. Made a lot of movies that a lot of people like. This is also a Bill Murray movie in keeping with Amanda's most recent pick. And it's a retelling, as is so many of these movies, of A Christmas Carol. And it's also a kind of like backstage, behind the scenes of what it means to make movies and TV movie, which I think it's not necessarily thought of in that way. But fascinating movie, like not not i think it's meant

to be more of a comedy than it actually is you know michael o'donohue the famed snl writer is one of the writers on this movie and it has that kind of like acid burn sense of humor that he always brought to a lot of his writing but it actually was just mostly like kind of scary and emotionally resonant for me as a kid when i saw it. Like it kind of hits. It works as like a true Christmas Carol adaptation. And I always really liked it. So I'll go Scrooge for Oscar nominee. Wildcard. You have like a pretty screwed up Christmas right now.

Just so you know. It's interesting also that we have consciously or not. I think every movie we've picked here is a Christmas movie. Rather than the wider holiday spectrum. The apartment spans both holidays. That's true. I mean, it spans New Year's as well. I guess Be Be in St. Louis is a year-long trip.

Right. With that in mind, I was raised in a Bing Crosby house, and I wanted to pick Merry Christmas by Bing Crosby. That album is just called merry christmas that's the biggest fuck you of all time like what's the what's this album called it's called merry christmas all these songs are about christmas i hope you enjoy it uh i think bing i bing is unbelievable to me it is it is the sound of my childhood my dad sings bing crosby

he sounds like bing crosby he looks like bing crosby. He's an Irishman like Bing Crosby. I really love Bing Crosby. But I kind of want to, I kind of want to pick Phantom Thread as my New Year's Eve movie and my Christmas movie. Because I think it's the best New Year's Eve movie. And it obviously does feature the holidays. Best New Year's Eve movie is when Harry Met Sally.

I also like 200 Cigarettes. What's wrong with 200 Cigarettes? So When Harry Met Sally, Phantom Thread, and 200 Cigarettes? That's the power trio? Paul Rudd and Courtney Love actually have some really good

chemistry in that movie. I'll bet they do. I'm going to go Phantom Thread. I know that we could have gone outside the bounds. I think A Charlie Brown Christmas would have been a great pick you know Eileen Lott was lobbying for the Bass Rankin specials you know

the Heatmiser joint which I only know about because of Eileen yeah but you know could have gone the Rudolph special from that one Year Without a Santa Claus I'm going Phantom Thread also if you remember Jason Gallagher's Rudolph Claymation remake of Phantom Thread. Also, if you remember Jason Gallagher's Rudolph

Claymation remake of Phantom Thread, one of the most perfect two minutes of internet content I've ever... Santa Thread. That I've ever been a part of. So, you know, that's on theme. That's a good pick. Okay. Thanks, Amanda. That was sincere. You did it. Yeah. Sometimes at being sincere, you just have to work

on receiving compliments. Happy holidays to you. I could go in a lot of different directions here, but I I'm in sort of like, it is a sister pick for Amanda's wild card. I'm going to pick the compilation of Darlene loves appearances on David. Yes. Talk show.

Yes. Christopher playing Christmas baby, please come home. She's done it. Like she did it almost every year for like 20 years, I think, from his old days when he was basically doing public access to

the sort of like towards the end of his run. Over the years, they developed all these like really fun traditions, like the guy popping out of the gift box to play the sax solo, but nothing fills my heart with like the spirit of the season like seeing like seeing one of those performances is that is your love for those performances why you

created this category yeah basically but i think that there's just so many little things like that whether it's like a special or you know maybe some random movie that didn't quite fit into any of the categories but this was definitely like the thing where it's just like, you could do a lot worse than to put this on a loop on YouTube and put it on your TV. I did that once, but then I just started crying at work. So I had to stop doing it. I find it very moving. I love Darling Love.

Very grateful. Well, that takes us to final pick. Yeah. It's me and it's comedy. Now, I could do in Harry Met Sally. You could. Which is, I think, one of the greatest movies of all time. But I, you know, and it does finish at New Year's.

But and there is that climactic moment. But somehow, I don't know. It wasn't on the top of my list. I have another movie that means a lot to me that I don't actually get to talk about that much on this podcast in this category. So I'm going to go with light year. Yeah. The true story of the true buzz light year based on the toy buzz light

year. Did you notice in that trailer, they did the same thing that they did with the spencer trailer where they don't it's you just get like one word of his voice at the very end you know like you can only hear chris evans being light year for like 0.5 seconds yeah it's just like being the ricardo's trailer too or we don't see nicole kidman what is it exactly it's the fucking title just just show us the character for crying out loud. They're doing that with Paul Dano

in the Batman movie too, man. Yeah. Really? You just want all the Riddler? You want full Riddler in that trailer? Yeah. I'm going to start duct taping my head like him. The next time we do a pod,

I can't wait for the Batman pod. I just want to say, I love when you say you're't wait for the, the Batman pod. I, I just want to say, I love when you say you're going to start doing something that you've been doing for 20 years. Like I'm going to start getting into auto eroticization, you know, I'm going to start checking out some of these pods I've been seeing on YouTube.

Speaking of, speaking of, not totally, but would Eyes Wide Shut have counted as a christmas movie oh definitely oh yeah surprised that no one went for that that's a great call that was on my long list but there's a lot of blood on the tracks here we left a lot of stuff all right here's my comedy pick it's an amanda pick it's bridget jones diary starts at christmas ends at christmas oh the christmas spirit and also all of like the christ Christmas anxieties animate a lot of that movie.

And also, I literally had a reading from that movie at my wedding. So, shout out Bridget Jones Diary, the book and the movie. But in this case, I'm choosing the movie. So, before we recap, Amanda, what are the Dobbins people who have hobbies? What do they do around the holidays? Have you been consulting with your firm? The Dobmob? Yeah. You mean? you were asking like what what does my family do no no no i mean god bless them but like what are your your acolytes do okay obviously lighting or

decor projects according to their chosen holidays and enthusiasms um reading a lot of gift guides maybe not necessarily actually purchasing them because that takes the effort, but it's really, yeah, it's great content. I think participating, you know, trying to knock back inflation one step at a time. I just, I mean, gift guides are out of control this year,

but they're amazing, amazing sociological documents. You can learn so much about people through their weird gift guides or their amazing gift guides or their absolutely terrible gift guides or their amazing gift guides or their absolutely terrible gift guides. I read one today that I will tell you guys about off mic, uh, at, that was just terrible. So they read gift guides. Um, they try to engineer situations in which they're going to be able to be eating hors d'oeuvres. I would have said past hors d'oeuvres

previously, but I don't really know COVID wise where that is. So maybe you got to have your own plate. Small plates. Sure. But you guys know that the hors d'oeuvres are very important to me. They play the holiday music of their choosing. And I think at some point they stopped participating in like- You have such a specific- I did not prepare you for did not prepare this is just you

well i'm just offering some suggestions of things that they can be passionate about is this like something like preparing for your second husband like just so you know this is how i want to spend my time unfortunately this is for my first husband this is your profile on raya we're spending the time there's also like at some point in the year, I declared like a pop culture bankruptcy. And like, I'm done. I can't keep up anymore. And I'm just going to do it for me now.

Have you hit that point yet? Reading wise, I have. I will be reading no more great novels this year. Only detective and mystery novels for the rest of the year. I'm out. If you wrote a great book, let me know in 2022. I hate to break it to you, but you're the co-host

of two popular pop culture podcasts. So pop culture bankruptcy is not allowed. Okay. I haven't declared it for movies or TV yet. Just for fiction.

Just for literature. Is that a threat? And it's rolling out over the year. No, probably for movies I can never declare it. For TV, I'm declaring it

after and just like that premieres,. I'm declaring it after. And just like that premieres, which I'm incredibly excited for. And I will obviously watch Emily in Paris at some point, but I'm not going to, did you watch the sex lives of college girls? No,

I've heard a lot about it. You did Chris. How was it? Do you... I mean, I didn't mean to cut Amanda off. She was talking about... No, it's fine. How does it compare to Boner Jam, so free? Are you asking me what CR heads do during the holidays?

That was going to be my next question. Yeah. They jerk it and buy crypto. I just want to note for anybody who's still listening to this, unfortunately, this pod is being recorded after 5 p.m. The only other time we've recorded episodes after 5 p.m. is when we do watch logs.

Which always get a little hinky after 5 p.m is when we do uh watch the live movie yeah the watch logs which always get a little hinky uh past 5 p.m what about what about the the letterbox legion what are they doing are they just like re-alphabetizing stuff yeah just logging just logging their views you know just you say that like you actually don't spend the entire week between christmas and new year's with your spreadsheet open, making your list of all your movies, and then rearranging the list. It's like, oh, where did Sean go? He's back with his spreadsheet. The list is there. It just needs curating. It needs manicuring. And these are important documents that I'm sharing. It's a reflection of the time I've spent. And up until this year, it was like being with my family and now i i have a

family and so i'm gonna have to reprioritize what does that mean for for your wife well she knows she knows the deal she's been around a long time yeah she knows she knows i have to go into my weird my weird hole um what else are we doing no we're having a merry time we're singing tunes at the top of our lungs and dancing around the tree come Come on. That's good. Don't other me like that. What is like just for fun because I see so many here what like you get basically a free hit one more pick. What's one

more movie that you would have wanted here? You don't have to put it on the list. We don't have to share it on social. I just I feel like there's a couple here like people are going to be like, how could you not? Well, I really wanted to get kiss kiss bang bang somewhere that would that's the the shane black movie that i love um i also i saw a movie for the first time last year i don't know if you guys have ever seen this one you might have but it was it

hit hbo max randomly it was called holiday affair it stars robert mitchum and jan Leigh. It's from 1949. And it's about a guy, a widow with a son who's dating a new guy. And then this drifter kind of blows into her life. There's so many movies about drifters back then. It was like, this guy shows up in town,

just turns everything on its head. I mean, and 40% of the time that guy was played by Mitchum. And it's just the most charming Christmas movie you've ever seen. I mean, and 40% of the time that guy was played by Mitchum. And it's just the most charming Christmas movie you've ever seen. I loved it. So I wasn't going to pick it here, but if anybody is looking for like

what feels like it should be a classic but may not be, watch Holiday Affair. What about you guys? What did you want to get? Four Christmases. The Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon comedy. Just because incredible Robert Duvall

performance in that movie. That's more of a documentary for you. the Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon comedy just because incredible Robert Duvall performance in that movie. That's more of a documentary for you. And it's got a great Vince Vaughn performing as Joseph in a main, in a Christmas play. Is this why you want to do the main tour out front?

Kind of. So you can do like shows at 5 p.m. He does this whole thing with Reese where he's like, woman, swaddle that baby. He's looking at Jesus. It's great. Yeah.

Um, I had a backup pick an Oscar nominee that I could have done and I needed to go with the apartment and I'm sure my dad would have understood, but my dad reminded me recently that diner is a Christmas movie. Oh yeah. Um, and that is the story that I've told several times. And I reminded my father when he sat me down at the age of seven to watch Diner.

And as my dad put it, it didn't take. Yeah. And it did not. The popcorn scene just kind of flew over your head. Yeah. Didn't really get it. Classic I'm seven moment. You cast yourself as Ellen Barkin in the world of Ringer podcasts.

I know. I was going to say, other aspects of it did take, including my dad, you know, pushing movies that I was probably too young for on me. And eventually I got interested. So I would have liked to include Diner,

but The Apartment is one of the best movies ever made. So sorry, Dad. No mistakes there. Would you guys rather have Elfer Trading Places? Trading Places. 1,000 times out of 1,000. movies ever made so sorry dad no mistakes there would you guys rather have elf or trading places trading places 1 000 times out of a thousand yeah i was surprised that didn't happen i was i was there was a bunch in comedy that i i felt like i got like a little bit thrown off by lethal

weapons still being there i thought it was gonna get picked earlier maybe i was wrong but like there was a few there i mean nobody picked bad santa uh Yeah, Bad Santa was on my list too. Which I haven't seen in forever, but I remember loving it. Yeah, and then I actually quite like the night before the Seth Rogen Chris movie from a couple years back from 2015. So there's a few

here. Oh, and I also am a huge fan of the Happiest Season. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. I feel like it's a little new to be on that. But I really like that as well. I got it.

Can I address the audience for a second? If you were expecting me to pick the holiday. Or Love Actually. Actually, I was. Or Love Actually. Yeah. But I think a lot of people might have expected, given the Nancy Meyers of it all.

I hear you. I understand you. You're nuanced. And we did a whole We Watchables about the holiday with Juliet Lemon and Carrie Simmons that you can listen to and I gave it my all but it's just not my favorite Nancy Myers movie and I gotta be

myself even though Jude Law really just the lighting is exactly right for that man. Not that he needs that much help. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Nancy Myers but the lighting is exactly right for that man. Not that he needs that much help. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Nancy Meyers, but The Holiday is approximately 14 hours long. It's one of the longest films that's ever been put in cinemas. And it's like- Nancy Meyers' Get Back.

I think it's The Holiday and then Showa were the two longest films ever shown. So there was no way that I was choosing that one. Any other call-outs before we do a final recap yeah i have some more black christmas uh yeah i did i i wasn't sure if horror was really gonna make sense in terms of the conversation here i mean my house silent night deadly night is another is another pretty good one pretty good slasher I I just I don't know what about you weird the family stone oh yeah I expected you to pick that it's such a bummer though it is it's no that movie's insane like do you know the plot of that movie where Sarah Jessica Parker goes home

with Dermot Mulroney and then he's like no I love your sister Claire Danes and she's like that's fine because I'm gonna sleep with stoner Luke Wilson. And that movie is really wild. Sounds like the fantasies. But still pretty fun. Hunter Harris did a very great long Q&A with Sarah Jessica Parker about that movie recently on Vulture, which I just recommend because Sarah Jessica Parker remembers nothing about it,

but is very gracious all the same. Just like I've seen this movie once, but sure. Was she on ketamine? Like why? She worked on it, right is very gracious all the same. She's like, I've seen this movie once, but sure. Was she on ketamine? Like why? She worked on it, right? I don't know. I think she probably doesn't rewatch it every year.

And then, not a similar movie though from an older period, The Lion in Winter also takes place at Christmas and is one of my favorites and is also about a family just destroying each other

from the inside, but you know, in the holiday spirit Whit Stillman's Metropolitan another good one that's a good one any uh Home for the Holidays heads not really no we didn't pick a

Christmas story is the one with Peter Billingsley right oh yeah yeah yeah tongue on the light pole situation that's a classic that was never a classic to me me neither same I also just wanted to mention I do watch the Sound of Music every year at Christmas hung on the light pole situation. That's a classic that was never a classic to me. Me neither. Same. I also just wanted to mention, I do watch the sound of music every year at Christmas, but I self selected that out of the musicals.

Cause it's not about Christmas. It's not about the holidays. It's just played on TV every year at that time. I wonder if you asked me to choose your, your picks, Amanda, I definitely would have identified miracle on 34th street and i definitely would have identified a very merry christmas i don't think i don't think

i would have chosen any of the other ones because i figured you were going to go sound of music i figured you were going to go a nancy myers joint i don't i i i'm surprised i like to keep you on your toes okay let's recap where we went with this one. So, in drama, CR got Carol. I got It's a Wonderful Life. And Amanda got Miracle on 34th Street. There's something notable about the differences in that category there. In the comedy action horror category, Chris got Lethal Weapon. I got Elf.

And Amanda got Bridget Jones's Diary. In the musical category, Chris got Meet Me in St. Louis. I got The Nightmare Before Christmas. Amanda got A Very Murray Christmas. In Oscar nominee, Chris and I got two hallowed Oscar nominees, Die Hard for him and Scrooge for me. And Amanda got a genuine, authentic Oscar champion, The Apartment. In Blockbuster, Chris got National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I got Gremlins and Amanda got Home Alone

with the first overall pick. And in Wild Card, Chris got the compiled performances of Darlene Love on The David Letterman Show. Yeah. Baby Cleansing Home. I got Phantom Thread,

Masterpiece by Paul Thomas Anderson. And Amanda got a Christmas gift for you from Phil Spector, who is a known criminal. I didn't pick the man. I picked the album. Celebrate the man. What else? Is that it? Are we done?

Are there any... Is there a classic Hanukkah movie? What are we forgetting here? What are some other holidays that we didn Are we done? Is there like a classic Hanukkah movie? What are we forgetting here? What are some other holidays that we didn't get here? New Year's we talked about. I mean, Eight Crazy Nights is probably the most well-known Hanukkah movie. The Adam Sandler animated movie.

Where are you at on the Hebrew Hammer? What's that? It's a comedy. Oh, I've never seen it. Oh, you know what we forgot that is technically a holiday but is probably just not because it's in the rear view mirror is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

Thanksgiving, yeah. Yeah. That's the Thanksgiving movie. Yeah. What about Call Me By Your Name? Does that... Isn't that New Year's? Is it?

I thought they were there in the summer. Yeah. Peaches aren't in season in New Year's. Isn't the final scene when he's crying, isn't that like the holidays? Well, that's an interesting question. I mean, just because you cry at the holidays

doesn't make it a holiday. That's like way later also, right? That's like an epilogue. Most of it's about the summer. All right. I guess I'm going to watch Call Me By Your Name. Shit.

What about An American Tale? The Fievel story? Oh, Fievel. Yeah. That guy? You're kind of like if Gizmo and Fievel got together. All right.

Probably time to wrap this one up. Gizmo and Fievel and Carol. Oh, you know what? You know, I forgot both versions of Little Women, which could have been on the short list for me, which Christmas plays a pivotal role in that and always released at Christmas. Very unpredictable draft from you. Little Women. That could have been a first overall pick. I know.

Sure. But, you know, I have interests outside of my core interests. She's passive hors d'oeuvres. Yeah. Like, you don't absolutely eat all of the hors d'oeuvres. Of course I do. Yeah. What am I good for if not that?

Exactly. I got to get all my eating in before midnight this episode was sort of an hors d'oeuvre ahead of next week's episode so the three of us will be back joined by our our pal adam naman and we're gonna talk about the the very best movies of 2021 somehow it's already time we're recording this on wednesday the podcast is on monday if i don't see quite a few films between now and then, my list will be utterly batshit. Like, we are...

You guys are not... I might actually get excommunicated from this podcast. You've been holding number one for Eternals, though, kind of regardless. Like, regardless of how Licorice Pizza turns out for you,

The Power of the Dog, The Velvet Underground film, Eternals won. Yes. Also, Eternals 1 for Amanda. Ghostbusters Afterlife 2 for Amanda. So I don't want to spoil too much of this episode.

Chris, do you know about Muncher? Muncher is a ghost in Ghostbusters Afterlife, right? Yeah. Have you seen a picture of him? But he wasn't in the first one? No. That was Slimer.

He's reminiscent of Slimer. I haven't seen Muncher, no. I wouldn't say it's a very original concept, but I don't know. Check that out. Okay, I will. Double featured GB afterlife and licorice pizza.

If you're interested in that, please tune in next week to The Big Picture. Thank you, obviously, to Amanda and Chris. Thank you to our producer, Bobby Wagner, for helping us figure out what direction these movie drafts need to row in every time. And we'll see you next week