IU Cinema is wrapping up its Fall 2016 season on December 13 and 14 with two films that have become holiday favorites: Die Hard and Gremlins! It’s going to be a lot of fun, but also a little bittersweet as we say farewell to Manny Knowles, the Cinema’s outgoing technical director. Manny will be introducing both of these holiday films, so don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy some “holiday mayhem” and to let Manny know how much you’ve appreciated all he’s contributed to making the Cinema an amazing place for film, and to wish him well in his new job.
IU Cinema will be dark for a few weeks during Winter Break, but we wanted to send you off with even more Holiday Favorites to help keep the film love burning bright until the Cinema swings back into action in January. Presented below — in chronological order by release date — we share a cavalcade of holiday favorites with brief commentary offered by A Place for Film‘s blog team as well as IU Cinema staff Members and volunteer ambassadors. We hope you’ll enjoy our selections and then share your holiday favorites via social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Happy Holidays!
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Holiday Favorite of Katherine Johnson, A Place For Film Contributor
“Six years before It’s a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart starred in Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner. My roommate in NYC introduced this film to me a few years ago, and I love to watch it around the holidays. It’s like a 1940s You’ve Got Mail donned in wrapping paper and a bow — much lighter and brighter than Stewart’s later film.”
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)
Holiday Favorite of Jessica Davis Tagg, Events and Operations Manager
“While Preston Sturges’ The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek is often classified as a WWII comedy, the spirit of this Christmastime ‘miracle’ and its journey reminds me of all the love, hope, forgiveness, and fun of the holiday season. The film is pure zaniness, with both slapstick comedy and biting wit, as well as being a bit of escapism (who in 1944’s America did not wish for a miracle that would frustrate all the dictators of the WWII-era world!). This is a charming film I have loved for years, and it remains as funny and meaningful as ever.”
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Holiday Favorite of Michaela Owens, Volunteer Usher
“Barbara Stanwyck is delectable in this effervescent comedy, supported by an incredible cast that includes charming boy-next-door Dennis Morgan, a laughing Sydney Greenstreet, an urbane Reginald Gardiner, and an adorable S.Z. Sakall. This film is a winsome way to tune out the world and escape to a perfect winter wonderland.”
Christmas Evil (1980)
AKA You Better Watch Out AKA Terror in Toyland
Holiday Favorite of Nathaniel Sexton, Volunteer Usher
“Jewis Lackson’s 1980 yuletide nightmare is almost certainly the superior holiday slasher, despite the greater popularity of Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (1974) or Charles Sellier’s Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). It’s a film that reflects the creepy strangeness of Kris Kringle — a man (?) who sneaks down chimneys, controls an army of toy-making elves, and keeps a list of all the world’s children — and manifests the psychological trauma of losing magical worlds to the cold reasoning of adulthood.”
The Snowman (1982)
Holiday Favorite of Sahar PD, House Manager
“This is one of the films that my family always watches each year and was one of the first Christmas movies as a kid that made me cry at the end, but I still loved. The animation and music are so beautiful. My sister learned to play some of it on the piano and I get chills every time I hear it!”
Die Hard (1988)
Holiday Favorite of Jesse Pasternack, A Place For Film Contributor & Volunteer Usher
“Die Hard makes great use of its Christmas motif as it considers themes of family and how far you will go to fight for it. That it does so while being an incredibly badass action movie is pretty great.”
Scrooged (1988)
Holiday Favorite of Manny Knowles, Founding Technical Director
“There’s a special place in my heart for Scrooged, because when this movie was released, I was a teenager working at my first movie theatre job, and experiencing my very first white Christmas. (I had lived in the Bahamas all my life, and then moved to Detroit.) I got a chance to watch Scrooged again recently, and I think it holds up well — it’s a fine retelling of the familiar tale. Bill Murray’s performance is pitch-perfect: He succeeds at being both our bad guy and our hero at the same time. And his ‘I get it now’ monologue brings me to tears every time.”
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Holiday Favorite of Laura Ivins, A Place For Film Contributor & former Projectionist
“My family has a tradition of watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Jeremiah Chechik, 1989) together every year during the holidays. This was started informally by my mom, who was the sort of person who would watch a movie dozens of times without tiring of it. Her favorite line was the end of Clark’s tirade against his boss: “Hallelujah! Holy sh**! … Where’s the Tylenol?” Since she passed, we kept up the tradition in her honor. We watch the film together as a way to remember her playfulness and her humor, quoting along with the characters like she loved to do.”
Home Alone (1990)
Holiday Favorite of Sarah Mitchell, Projectionist
“I watched this movie so much growing up that I think my brothers and I can still re-enact every line, antic, and scene from this movie. Similar to the classic stories of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life, young Kevin McCallister is blessed/cursed with the opportunity to see what his life would be like if he was left all alone. It’s always nice to watch Kevin defend his home against the Wet Bandits and wake up to the realization that he didn’t really make his family disappear. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!”
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Holiday Favorite of Noni Ford, Volunteer Usher
“For the longest time I had a friend who was obsessed with this film, and I never admitted to her that I hadn’t seen it, until finally one day I just clearly didn’t get an Edward Scissorhands joke she was making and I came clean about my lie. She immediately insisted we watch it and I was completely dazzled, I haven’t seen the film in a while but it’s one of the things I think of around the holidays because it’s about acceptance, family, and innocence. It’s one of my top five favorite Tim Burton films.”
It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
Holiday Favorite of Hannah Rea, Volunteer Usher
“Yes, I’m a grown adult, and yes, this may be the cheesiest Christmas movie in the history of cheesy Christmas movies – but I love this movie and I adore the Muppets. I think we could all use a talking frog to do a cheesy song and dance to brighten our spirits!”
Love Actually (2003)
Holiday Favorite of Carla Cowden, Business Manager
“One of my favorites as it taps into the many facets of what love may or may not mean to each of us — new romantic love, established love, the love of family, pursuing young love, a heart wrenching unrequited love, and the list goes on. The film gives me the warm fuzzies as it showcases the perspectives of 8 different couples as they go about their daily lives during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Includes a great soundtrack and a scene or two may give you a great belly laugh.”
Elf (2003)
Holiday Favorite of Landon Palmer, Projectionist
“It’s an obvious choice, but Jon Favreau’s Elf has become an annual holiday staple in my family for one primary reason: this hilarious sequence where Will Ferrell’s earnest and joyfully un-self-aware character wanders as a fish-out-of-water in the Big Apple. I crack up every time.”
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Holiday Favorite of David Carter, A Place For Film Contributor
“I think we undervalue Shane Black as a writer and director. I could choose any of his movies as my holiday favorite. All of them take place on or around Christmas and feature some the sharpest writing you’ll find in a Hollywood movie today, but I choose Kiss Kiss Bang Bang not only because I’ve watched it every year since I was 15, but because like all his movies it perfectly captures the melancholy of the holiday a lot of people feel.”
[Note: Trailer contains spoilers]
Last Holiday (2006)
Holiday Favorite of Seth Mutchler, House Manager
“Why I chose it: I haven’t got a film I watch every winter season but this is the most recent holiday film I truly loved. Based on a 1950 film starring Alec Guinness and a lead role originally written for John Candy before passing away, Last Holiday has it all. Queen Latifah drives the film which is full of romance, heart, laughs, action, and some amazing food. If you’re looking for a fun, feel-good movie to watch with friends and loved ones, look no further.”
[Note: beware this trailer contains just a little bit of strong language]
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Holiday Favorite of Keegan Sheehy, Engagement Assistant
“Rare Exports is exactly what no one was asking for, and yet something that perhaps we all needed: a Christmas horror movie, to add a little scare and grime to what can sometimes be an all-too-schmaltzy holiday. Combining old Finnish folk tales of a vengeful Santa Claus with some Hollywood-style action and frights, it creates a wonderful, strange mishmash of dark fantasy, intense atmosphere, and weird parody of the Christmas tales we know too well.”
A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
Holiday Favorite of Barbara Ann O’Leary, Social Media and Web Specialist & A Place For Film Editor
“When Bill Murray’s holiday special is disrupted by severe winter weather, we find ourselves following him behind the scenes as he struggles to salvage the show and mobilize a star-studded cast to entertain and delight in Sofia Coppola’s wry send up of the holiday special genre. “