An Admittedly Offbeat List of My Top-10 Christmas Movies of All Time

When it comes to Christmas movies, everyone has a list of personal favorites.  For your reading pleasure, I have decided to offer you a few of mine.  Be warned.  Some of the “classics” are not on this list because, truth be told, I loathe them.  As for some of the other more … offbeat selections, what can I say?  It’s my list.  If you want to argue with me, feel free to do so in the comments below.

THE FINEST IN CHRISTMASTIME ENTERTAINMENT:

10.       Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Clause Conquers the Martians (1989).  If you’ve never heard of Mystery Science 3000, all I can say is this: get thee to Netflix!  The conceit is simple.  A man and two robots are trapped on a spaceship hurtling through the cosmos.  To pass the time, they watch amazingly bad movies while offering up satiric commentary of the highest caliber.  Truly, a work of art.

9.         Die Hard (1988).  While technically not really a “Christmas” movie, per se, the terrorists do strike while the office workers are enjoying a holiday party.  And if you can’t find some measure of joy in John McClane gunnin’ down some European baddies, well … perhaps you just don’t see the slightly less-than-obvious connections between fighting terrorists and Christmas.

8.         The Nativity Story (2006).  If you watch this film, and I sincerely hope that you do, you’re probably going to be struck by two impressions.  First, you’re going to really appreciate what they were able to communicate about the lives of Joseph and Mary in a Roman-occupied Israel.  Secondly, you’re going to wish this movie was so much more than it really is.

7.         Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966).   To be clear, we’re talking about the work of the one an only Theodore Geisel as interpreted by the animation of the incomparably awesome, Chuck Jones.  If you don’t care for this masterpiece, all I can offer you is this simple warning:you may be in danger of having a heart that is “two sizes too small.”

6.         A Midnight Clear (1992).  Set in 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany’s final and futile offensive push. Isolated from the concerns of the politicians that control their fate, these two groups of men agree to put aside their differences for the sake of spending one Christmas together.  The only question is, can the truce last?

5.         The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).  This is the very best semi-deranged, stop-motion filmmaking you are likely to see this Christmas season.  When Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, discovers Christmastown, he enlists the aide of some rather unusual ghouls, ghosts and goblins to help him celebrate a new kind of Christmas, in a decidedly Halloween kind of way.

4.         Gremlins (1984).  There is something beautifully subversive about a Christmas movie that so gleefully embraces the notion that the things we so desperately want are often the things that come back to terrorize and haunt us.  Materialists and consumerists beware.  This surprisingly well-crafted satire is looking right at you and your wanton consumption.

3.         Love Actually (2003).  Some will find fault with me for including this film on the list.  And there is no doubt that one particular storyline requires the viewer to look away rather frequently.  But there is something that I absolutely love about this film and its quest to explore the roots of love.  And to not include it would be dishonest as it truly is a favorite of mine.   In fact, it may just be my favorite dramedy of all time.

2.         Elf (2003).  Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who stowed away in Santa’s sack and ended up at the North Pole. Later, as an adult human who happened to be raised by elves, Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father, a man confined to the naughty-list.  Of all this films on this list, this may be the most quotable.  In fact, I dare you to “Say elf one more time!”

1.         A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).  Repelled by the blatant commercialism that he sees all around him, Charlie Brown seeks in vein to find a single soul that understands the true meaning of Christmas.  From sad-sack Christmas trees to Linus’ triumphant teaching in the end, this is unquestionably the single most note-perfect Christmas movie of all time.

SOME HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992).  Oddly enough, not one single version of the classic Dickens’ tale was able to crack my Top-10.  And in spite of it’s slightly manipulative tugging at the heart strings, I really do like the story.  In fact, the Patrick Stewart production is probably my favorite version.  But in the end, how can you give the nod to Stewart when this version has Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit?

A Christmas Story (1983).  This film’s inability to crack my personal Top-10 truly surprised me.  I have always said that this is a personal favorite around the holidays, but when it came time to craft the list, “double-dog daring” and tongues stuck to frozen lamp posts just couldn’t propel this film across the finish line.  Still, a fun film worthy of an honorable mention.

Joyeux Noel (2006).  On Christmas Eve during World War I, the Germans, French, and Scottish fraternize and get to know the men who live on the opposite side of a brutal war, in what became a true lesson of humanity.  When it came down to putting a wartime flick in the Top-10, it was a toss-up between this and A Midnight Clear.  And for whatever it’s worth, I’m not sure I made the right call.

ABOMINATIONS OF THE WORST ORDER (from the merely ghastly and grotesque to the apocalyptically awful!):

2.         How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).  I may never forgive either Ron Howard or Jim Carrey for the inane psychobabble and screechy noise that they needlessly injected into this most whimsical of Christmas tales.  They had a wondrous short-story and an even more-inspired animated adaptation to build upon.  And what did they do?   They strip-mined it of any joy or ability to charm.  Shame on both of you, gentlemen.  Shame on both of you …

1.         It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).  Ah yes.  Here at last, at the very end of our Christmas list, beneath such “classics” as Santa Slay and Silent Night, Deadly Night lays this sentimental mess of a film.  If Dickens’ original tale already teetered on the edge of sappy, mawkishness, this film takes the source material and swan dives right over the edge of the cliff into the very depths of sanctimonious, saccharine goo.

Care to comment?  Care to argue?  The boards are now open …

The Very Best In Violent Young Adult Literature …

On the heels of yesterday’s post (“Anything to Get Them to Read …”), I decided to delve a little deeper in the world of Young Adult Fiction.  Quite honestly, I have been fascinated to read the various responses that many of you submitted to that initial post; and I find myself wondering what the state of young adult fiction tells us about what we believe to be true in terms of the future and what kind of world we are preparing our kids to inhabit.

So let’s start by taking a look at another list: “The 2010 Best Books for Young Adults” as compiled by the Young Adult Library Services Association.[1] This is an alphabetical list of ninety books, the first ten of which I will offer as a sampling below:

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Lia is haunted by her best friend’s death from bulimia, as she struggles with her own eating disorder.

Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes.  In an attempt to distance himself from the rest of the students in the school’s therapy group known as the Madman Underground, Karl launches his senior year with “Operation Be Fucking Normal.”

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem.  In a place where everything has a name and every name has a meaning, outsider Medford Runyuin struggles in vain to follow the rules of his adopted home.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.  Flavia de Luce is delighted with the discovery of a dead snipe on her doorstep and considers it a bonus when a human body is found in her cucumber patch.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray.  Cameron knew there was something wrong when he started seeing pillars of fire and angels, but he never imagined he had mad cow disease.

Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.  Sixteen-year-old Nick and his older brother Alan are always on the run. Now, Alan has been marked by a demon and to save him, the boys must become the hunters.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown.  In the year following the devastating shootings at her high school orchestrated by her boyfriend Nick, Valerie must come to terms with grief and guilt in order to move on with her life.

All the Broken Pieces by Anne E. Burg.  12-year-old Matt struggles to cope with his memories of family left behind in war-torn Vietnam with the help of his adoptive parents, his music teacher, and his baseball coach.

Fire by Kristin Cashore.  In a world full of monsters so beautiful they lure people into their doom, how can people protect themselves from human monsters?

Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaitas.  Anke watches her siblings and mother suffer at the hands of her abusive father until she finds enough strength, through involvement in volleyball, to demonstrate her needs.

What do you think?  As I skimmed that list, this is what I saw:  death by bulimia, harsh adoptive homes, “bonus human bodies,” mad cow disease, hunting demons, boyfriends that become high school shooters, “war torn Vietnam,” human predators (presumably pedophiles and the like), abusive fathers and a desire to be “fucking normal.”

Now when it comes to art and culture, people seem to gravitate towards one of two extremes.  The first group wants to suggest that art is merely entertainment and it doesn’t connect in any significant way to the greater culture at large.  So for instance, people in this group feel no internal constraints against playing violent video games because they are just games, not reality.  These are the people that suggest that “Glee” is just a television show, in spite of the writers’ open admissions to the contrary.  In other words, the people in this group erect a very strong wall between art and entertainment and the world around them.  They believe that life can be compartmentalized to such a degree that what we read, see, play and hear has little to no impact upon how we think and view the world.

The second group, by contrast, suggests that all art is a reflection of the greater culture, and therefore all art bears witness to the culture’s values and beliefs. With no hesitation whatsoever, I place myself firmly in this latter group, for I believe that all art is the product of individuals and that all individuals are the products of the times in which they live.  Therefore, to my way of thinking, all art, as it is produced by human beings, must be culturally bound in some way or another.

So the questions I am pondering after reviewing the list above are these: what does our society believe regarding violence?  Why is violence such a prevalent theme in the fiction we produce for our children?  Is the reality of history finally overcoming the “myth of progress” that was propagated by the Enlightenment thinkers?  If so, what will this myth be replaced by in the broader culture? And lastly, why do feel the need to warn our children of the impending chaos?

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[1] All summaries are taken directly from the Young Adult Library Services Association website.

Top Ten Books I Read in 2011

Every year, I read dozens of books – some great, some not so great.  But here for your pleasure are the top ten books I read in 2011.  If you’re wondering what’s on it, well, there’s everything from crime thrillers and fantasy to biographies and theology.  In other words, if you like to read, there’s probably something here just for you.  Enjoy!

1. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas – This is, hands down, one of the finest biographies I have ever had the pleasure to read.  Weighing in at 624 pages, it moves at a breakneck pace, at times reading more like a spy novel than a biography.  If you appreciate books on history and Christian living, this is undoubtedly the book for you.  Simply brilliant.

2. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand – I have a soft spot for “survival” stories that document the will of the human heart.  This true-to-life account of a troubled boy turned Olympic hopeful turned prisoner of a Japanese interment camp was as heart wrenching as it was triumphant. Truly a testament to the power of the human will.

3. Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright – There are two categories of N.T. Wright books: academic works that can be used to lay the foundation of small homes, and his more popular lay works that are accessible to all.  In the latter category, this is the finest book he has written to date, besting his own Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read Scripture Today.

4. Glimpses of Grace by Madeleine L’Engle – I picked this book up on a whim after spending two minutes flipping through a friend’s copy.  How glad I am.  L’Engle’s daily insights are never short of profound; and I would suggest that this book is every bit as worthwhile as the classic devotional, My Utmost for His Highest.

5. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson – While I was tempted to put Larsson’s entire Millennium Trilogy on this list, I refrained from doing so only because this book still stands head-and-shoulders above both The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.  If you like gripping crime thrillers with unusually, nuanced lead-characters, this is the book for you.

6. Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Having finished Metaxas’ biography on Bonhoeffer, I was eager to jump into some of Bonhoeffer’s own work.  While I will never claim that his work leaves one “comfortable,” it was an absolute joy to witness a true shepherd walking through the fields of costly discipleship in a time when true discipleship really did cost everything.

7. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy – Every once in a while, you encounter a piece of fiction with a villain so memorable, it leaves a permanent mark upon your psyche.  This book introduces you to a man by the name of Judge Holden.  He makes Darth Vader and Voldemort both look like tame little kittens just waiting to be played with.

8. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Goodwin – In an era in which we were promised a different kind of Presidency, I found that I still had to look to the past to find a leader that knew how to cross the aisle.  I have read no better volume on the art of political compromise and leadership.

9. A Game of Thrones by Martin Wallace – Shortly after HBO began to advertise its series based upon this book, I ran across an article, which compared Wallace’s work to that of J.R.R. Tolkien.  While I’m not sure that he truly is the “American Tolkien,” as the article suggested, this is by far and away the best piece of fantasy literature I have read in many, many years.

10. Player One by Douglas Coupland – In a few years, I suspect I will regret adding this book to the list, because in the Coupland canon, Player One is not in the top five works.  Nevertheless, it was a return to form after several recent efforts that had squandered his prodigious talents.  And thus, I include it perhaps for no other reason than to turn you on to the earlier works of this fine, Canadian writer of both fiction and non-fiction alike.

Finally, an Honorable Mention for Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology by John Walton.  While there is no doubt that this is an excellent work that builds upon Walton’s more popular The Lost World of Genesis One, it was not the knock-out punch that I expected from the world-class scholar that taught me how to be a true student.   Perhaps it suffers only from my overly high expectations.  Nevertheless, I expect this to take it’s rightful place amongst the very best works that are attempting to address the interface between science and theology.

What about you?  What did you read in 2011 that you’d want to share with others?  How about a top ten list?  Up for the challenge?  Believe me, it’s trickier than you think.