Top 5 Christmas Movies! [Movies on the Side Crossover]
39:21 Share

Hello and welcome to Movies on the Side. This is Steven Robles. And this is Nate Baranowski. And this is your special 2024 Holiday Edition MOTS. We have a very special guest with us, my co-host for Primary Technology, previous guest of the podcast, he was on our Elf episode several years ago, Jason Aten. Welcome, Jason.

Hey, it's good to talk about Christmas movies, my favorite subject. Jason had nothing prepared. That's why that was super awkward. That was super awkward. But we're doing something exciting today because we're going to do our top five Christmas movies. Last time you were here, we reviewed Elf, which I imagine is going to be in your top five, Jason. But I'm very conflicted. I might be changing my three, four, five literally as we go. I think we should do Round Robin. My first question to all of you is do you have any –

I did not prepare anyone for this, but I will answer. Do you have any honorable mentions and or worst Christmas movie? A Christmas movie that either other people like that you just cannot stand or one that highly overrated?

And I think I'm going to list my worst first, and then I'll give honorable mentions if you guys have any other worst. But my opinion on a highly overrated Christmas movie. I know where this is going. The Polar Express. Absolutely.

I find the Polar Express to be a ridiculous movie that is neither heartwarming nor very good with animation that is haunting and nightmarish. And I don't care to ever see it again. Yeah, this may be the only thing Stephen and I actually agree on. I think I posted one of my most popular threads post ever was that Polar Express is D tier at best. D tier at best. I love Tom Hanks pretty much in everything. Not that movie.

I don't like it. Even though he's in it three times, it's still not good. Nate, do you have an opinion? I have not seen it since it first came out. I have seen little clips. I hear that it's sort of an uncanny valley nightmare. Oh, it is the uncanniest of Valley Estes. I do enjoy the book though. If you change the music in the polar express, it's literally a horror movie.

It is really bad. There is actually, it's just terrifying. There is like the main theme, which I have played in like orchestras and stuff. Fine. Like it's fine for a theme, but not, not, not a good movie. I have one though. I have a horror. I have another worst one. I would have picked that one.

But since you picked it, I don't think that's controversial. I think that anyone who likes it might have some nostalgic remembrance of it. Right. But I don't think so. This one's definitely controversial, but I stand behind it. A Christmas Story. Correct. That was mine. That was going to be yours? I agree. The hard thing is it's probably my wife's favorite movie. The one who does all the work. We just recorded a bonus episode talking about how your wife does all the Christmas work. So I will watch it.

But I think the difference is I never saw that movie as a kid. And so it doesn't have any, like there's no memory value. Zero nostalgia. And so I watch it and I'm like, there are some funny lines. Like that's a major award. Like great. Like the reference, I understand a lot more references now, you know, you'll shoot your eye out, whatever. Sure. Just not a good movie.

I think sometimes I did see it as a kid. I feel like I remember seeing it at a kid's Christmas party that I went to at some point in time. I didn't really enjoy it then. And I think there is a problem when movies get overly quoted that eventually it just erodes away the enjoyment of it till I just hear someone say, you'll shoot your eye. Okay, fine.

Please shoot my eye out. Yeah. Don't make me watch this movie. And I have not watched this movie since I was probably about 15. Do you know one piece of fun trivia about what TV series was inspired by a Christmas story? No. Good try. By a Christmas story. By a Christmas story? By the movie. There's a TV series that...

possibly before either of you were born? I don't know. Oh, I don't know. Saved by the, no. Saved by the bell. Not quite. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Totally, no. What is it? The Wonder Years.

Oh, okay. Didn't particularly love that show. So it makes sense. But I know it's totally useless trivia. I just try to show up with, I didn't come up prepared for anything, but I do. Listen, I am the trivia. Like I can. No, that's great. Okay. So that's our, that's our worst movies. I also agree on a Christmas story. I don't care to ever see that again. Yeah. Are there any honorable mentions that might not have made your top five, but you'd like to mention? I have two that I'm going to mention. Jingle all the way. I,

I don't know. With Arnold Schwarzenegger, which I love the movie. And we watched it last year for the first time. It doesn't hold up as well. Like, it's not a great movie, but I still enjoy it and I have a lot of nostalgia for it. And then also, this might be a little divisive, but How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Jim Carrey version.

Nate's making a face. Now listen, I understand you just talked about you don't like hearing things quoted very much. And I know it's a weird movie, but I mean, the audacity. The unmitigated goal. It's quotable.

Jim and, and there's like this wave of nostalgia for Jim Carrey's Grinch. I don't know if you guys have seen clips on like social media, but since the Sonic three junkets have been going, people are like going up to Jim Carrey, like we want to Grinch too. We want to Grinch too. And like Jim Carrey, like,

I don't know. He's not against it. So I actually have a place for that in my heart. Unfortunately, I think that movie is gross in a Tim Burton-esque sort of way where I find it just visually unappealing. And I would say he does a great performance, but I find it has a little bit of nightmare fuel kind of mixed into it that I don't particularly love for my Christmas movies. Nightmare fuel. Because, well, I want to say this about all Christmas movies here.

Yes. As a writer for Inc. once said in 2020, I suspect we're all going to be looking for some hope and optimism. I think we could all use a little joy. He said that in the midst of COVID-19, our very own Jason Aiden. And I agree with him. For Christmas movies, I believe that we are looking for hope and optimism.

Did you have that pulled up? Yeah. Were you saving that quote? I have a quote for later, too, as well. Let's save it. Just throw it out there when we least expect it because that was amazing. That was... Yeah. Okay, so those are my... Did Chad TPG tell you that? Because I don't even remember writing that. No, I had to Google you a lot to find... First, I wanted to see if you had any...

movie opinions written down in the internet. So you could slam it here on the, no, so that I could pull it back. I found your threads D tier, uh,

Polar Express, but you don't actually have a ton of... Since when did you become a private investigator, Nate? I mean, it's not hard. I know, but... It's not hard to find his quotes in articles, but not a whole lot of Christmas movie stuff. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, I did write about Apple's holiday film. Does that count? You did. You did. I thought... I actually read that whole article. Well, I appreciate it. I actually did.

Jason, any honorable mentions outside of your top five? Iron Man 3. Definitely an honorable mention. I mean, listen, if Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so is Iron Man 3. Now, hold on. I mean, he's running through. We did an entire episode. I literally time stamped in Die Hard every time a Christmas song is played, Merry Christmas is said, Christmas decor is seen on screen. And I think that's a Christmas movie.

I don't know if Iron Man 3 will pass the, what is the Bechdel test, but for Christmas movies, the Grinch test, the- The clausal test. The clausal test. I don't know if Iron Man 3 passes. There's a movie about a Christmas class, but I mean, he's like, isn't he like in a little town that's all dressed up for Christmas and then he gives, he gives what's her face? Then he has a panic attack. And then he gives what's her face, a giant bunny or whatever, right? For Christmas. Yeah.

Isn't that true? Oh, yeah. Right before his house blows up. No one remembers Iron Man 3. And that's the tricky thing about this movie is that he was in a barn at some point in time. He even dances to Jingle Bells. The song. Like, the song is in the... Okay, fine. This is just an Iron Man... I'm not even advocating it as my number one. Okay, sure, sure. I'll have to re-watch it. I don't remember any of this. That's my tangentially Christmas-related honorable mention. I think my honorable mention was going to be the Illumination version of The Grinch.

because I actually think that's a good one. I was going to mention that too. I actually do enjoy that. Good music too, for real. Yeah. Nate? I mean, that one made my list, so I'm not even going to mention it. Okay, let's pull it. I'm going to say one more because I had Jingle all the way on there. I'm going to say White Christmas, the Bing Crosby vehicle. It's a little slow, and if you're going to watch one thing that's kind of black and white, I guess that one was colorized, I think. It's colorized now. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that one's got a nice little payoff of like earnestness. Yeah.

I was going to put that in my honorable mentions too, so I'm glad you mentioned it. So very good. All right. Top five now. What order should we just continue this? Should we do them in reverse order? Five to one? Five to one. Five to one. Yes. So our number one. Because it seems pretty anticlimactic to be like, and now our fifth favorite. No, no, no, no, no. Always reverse chronological. All right. Who should go? You want to do the same order? Just keep going around? Sure. Switch order? Let's do it.

Okay. What was that order? Let's do that again. That's what I was waiting for too. That's what we've been doing. Yeah, great. He's motioning as if like, what are you talking about? The way we're arranged on the screen? The way we're arranged on the screen. You know you can change that at any time, right? Only I can see. I know. Perfect. Yeah, let's keep doing that. Okay, my number five, It's a Wonderful Life. It's obviously a classic. I think it still holds up. I mean, there's some parts that don't hold up. But as a movie as a whole,

you know, watching it the first time with the kids. I think it's still nice. The ending is still like heartwarming, gives you, you know, lots of morality and morals to, to walk around with. So I don't know. It's a wonderful life is my number five. You guys, you were making faces, Nate, while I was saying that, why are you making faces?

No, it is on my list as well. I don't know. I'm not going to spoil where it is on my list. Okay, okay, okay. I feel like, yes, I think it should be on most people's top five list. Okay, okay, okay. Thank you. All right. All right, Jason, your number five? Harold and Kumar Christmas. No, I'm just kidding. No. It is actually a really entertaining movie. A Castle for Christmas.

I actually had It's a Wonderful Life as my number five. Oh. I kind of wanted to rethink that, but it's good. I'm satisfied with that. I understand it has so many years of pent up nostalgia and people talking about it, but I feel like I think five is a good place, at least in our list. Yeah. I mean, there are other movies I wish I could make room for, but I feel like if you have a top five list that doesn't have that on there, you

what even are you doing? Yeah, I agree. All right, Nate, you're number five. Number five, I have the Illumination Grinch movie. Oh, there you go. It is my favorite Grinch adaptation. Sure. And I will say this as a theme to most of my selection. I believe Christmas movies, as Jason said in a previous article, need to bring hope and optimism.

I think that if you go too hard into Santa lore, you lose me a little bit because I think you're, it's kind of like the Polar Express thing. Like, okay, there's some great lessons to be had about magic and wonder, but it's kind of, I mean, it's the same problem with Miracle on 34th Street. If the only point is proving that Santa

Santa is real and Santa is your vehicle for magic and hope and optimism. It's not as strong as like a, it's a wonderful life or anything in the Christmas Carol or the Grinch, which is like kind of the morals without using Santa as the exact representation of those morals. And so you'll find this theme throughout most of my movies, but the Grinch number five.

Well, I'm going to... My number four pick is probably going to go right up against what you just said. Great. Because my number four pick is The Santa Claus with Tim Allen. I think one, it was...

One of the Christmas movies, like when I was a kid, it was just, we watched it every year. I don't know if it was on TV. I know we had the VHS, but it was funny. I mean, we were also like watching Home Improvement, you know, probably at the same time. So it was like just a Tim Allen vehicle. But, you know, the stepdad's kind of annoying. Like some parts maybe don't hold up. But I don't know. I enjoyed it.

I don't know. Do you find that that's one of them that fills into your categories, Nate, as like too Santa-y? Yeah, because it's not necessarily about Santa. It is a Christmas Carol-esque selfish guy who learns to love and care about his kid and care about others, broadening his...

Okay. So, yeah, I would say it's disguised as a thing about Santa, but it's really about a guy, a Scrooge-like fellow who becomes better. Thank you. Thank you. Well, that's my number four pick. Also, you have to kill Santa to become Santa. Correct.

People don't talk about that enough for that movie. Like, if you're going to talk about Santa lore, like, that's hilarious. I mean, it's pretty dark, but it's kind of hilarious. I mean, Santa also, he just, like, wisps away. It's not like they had a corpse on their front yard. Now, there have been two other The Santa Claus movies, correct? Did anyone finally kill Tim Allen in those? Yes. Scott Calvin? Does he? Wait. Spoilers. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Because there's two movies, and then there's a TV series, isn't there? Yeah. The TV series doesn't count.

Oh, non-canonical. Jason, wait, does someone become Santa who's not Scott Calvin? Yes, in Santa Claus 3, Jack Frost becomes Santa for a period. Martin Short? Is that who played him? Yeah. Yeah, that's who played him. He becomes Santa? So yeah, there's this whole thing where if you take Santa's snow globe and he's holding it and he says, I wish I was never Santa. It's basically like saying, I want to go outside, right, from the silo. And you...

And you go back to the moment where you became Santa. And Jack Frost is holding on to him, so they both end up there. And he puts on the coat instead, and he becomes Santa. And he turns the North Pole into an amusement park, theme park thing. Oh, he becomes like bad Santa. Well, there's a bad Santa in Santa Claus 2. Listen. Oh, that's one. I guess I have to reorder my list now. Hold on a second. I had some of these movies on. No, I'm just kidding.

So he did like Back to the Future's Santa Claus. So my kids don't like Santa Claus 2, they like Santa Claus 3.

Santa Claus 2 is all about like he has to find a wife or else he can't be Santa anymore. Right. I remember that. Yeah. Not problematic at all. Yeah. Nope. Yeah. I think I've seen it like half of the time. Actually, the whole trilogy. Listen, I think actually we were supposed to review the trilogy. That was like the deal that like after we did Elf. Maybe you guys were just so mad at me about the review of Elf that you were like, no, we're not talking about doing the Santa Claus trilogy. We did talk about like next year we should come back and do the Santa Claus.

but then yeah it's fine we're terrible people jason maybe maybe next year because santa claus two and three listen over my head don't give me too much hope and optimism here nate i'm just you got it i had to go back and figure out like what the hell and like it's got to be a ted lasso article but i think it was probably the article where jason bateman's like acceptance speech for like an m.e. or something like that where he what are you talking about the quote that nate was oh oh

Oh, it was, no, it was basically about HBO Max killing off the movie theater industry when they first came on, right? I think maybe right during COVID times. My goodness, how many times have I even done this? I gotta find some new lines. Do you remember the, Nate, did you ever hear the time when Jason got hammered for using the same term in like five different article titles? He said emotional. Oh, I thought he doesn't, wait, I thought he doesn't do the, I thought you don't do the titles to your own articles. Oh,

Sometimes. I mean, I'm happy to deny it. These six words changed everything in the... You'll never believe what the CEO said. I've never written a headline that started that. No, I know. Just to be clear. Click on this article. Okay, my number four was going to be the Santa Claus, but it's not now because both you said it and then I was going to make it Santa Claus 3. You could say it. I picked a different one. I want the star.

I've never seen it. It's super good. Perfect. Okay. That's perfect. Yeah. Great. That's good. That's a good one. Okay. All right, Nate, what's your number four? Number four is an off the beaten path. One, the family stone. Have you guys ever seen this movie? The family stone. It has one of the Wilson brothers. I believe it's Jake and,

It has Rachel McAdams. It has Diane Keaton. Sarah Jessica Parker. Sarah Jessica Parker. The gang's all there. It is, for whatever reason, delightful to me. They're all coming back. There's sadness. There's redemption. There's drama. There's family drama. It's all there. It's great. I highly recommend. Rachel McAdams. So, yeah, I get it. Yeah. I had never even seen this movie. Isn't that the one with the guy from, that plays the lawyer? Yeah.

What's his name? Oh, Dermot Mulroney. Yes. Yes. He's in it as well. Oh, okay. It's a great cast. Number four, The Family Stone. It's a good pick. I'd never know. Okay. Well, my number three is...

Elf. I'm going to put Elf at number three. I struggled to do I want to put this on my list or not because I didn't. But then you invited me to come on the show and you figured it would be like the worst insult if you didn't put it on your list. Well. It's not on my list as a direct insult to Jason. I'm not surprised. I did not see Elf during the hype. So like I had to live through many years of people saying bye buddy I hope you find your dad and have no idea what that was from never having seen it.

you sit on a throne of lies, you smell like beef and cheese. People would say these things around Christmas time and I would not know like why they were saying them. So it took me many years to like get past that trauma of hearing these lines out of context, not knowing what was happening to when I finally saw it as, I mean, I saw it, I think with my kids for the first time, like that was the first time I saw it. And I was like, okay, I do like this movie.

And I struggle every year. I'm like, oh, Elf, Elf, Elf. It's such a big deal. But my daughter wanted to watch it the other day, played it through again, and I was like, yeah, that is pretty good. I do enjoy it. And I still get emotional at the end when everybody's singing and Santa Claus' sleigh is bumping up and down through the park and barely taking off. I'm like, yeah, okay, this is good. So Elf is my number three. Right. To me, Elf is like going for a jog. I never wanted to do it.

And halfway through, I think like, I don't know, is this a good idea? But right towards the end, you think, I'm glad I did this. And then afterwards, you're like, it was a good movie. But I never, I don't want to do it again. I'm not going to watch Elf this year because my kids aren't old enough for it. And I'll just save it up for when I can introduce them to it. Jason's sitting there like, Elf's my top pick. I can't believe this. I have thoughts.

All right, Jason, you're up. Hi, Jason. What's your three? What's my number three? I'm looking at a list that Chad GPT made of Christmas movies. Oh, yeah. Just have AI do it for you. Pretty sure some of these are not real movies, but that's okay. Hallucinating movies for you. My number three is going to be Charlie Brown Christmas. It's not like a movie movie, but that is to me probably what a Christmas story is to my wife, only much less annoying. Yeah.

The piano part, super hard to play. Super hard to play. Two different rhythms, but a great theme. Yeah, that's good. All right, Nate, you're number three. My number three is the Santa Claus. Oh, look at that. Okay. So it is nostalgia for me. It is like the right amount of nostalgia. Yeah. I haven't seen it for a bit, but I'm excited to share it with my kids. I think it's pretty good.

Yeah, that's a good one. All right, my number two newer movie pick. This is a recent film. I really enjoy Spirited, which is the Apple TV Plus original musical with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. I really like it. We've now seen it two years ago. We watched it last year. We already watched it. We watched it this year. I really enjoy it. I like the music. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

you know greatest showman music people Will Ferrell's hilarious Ryan Reynolds it's still Christmassy I really enjoy it so Spirit is my number two great I like that movie the problem is so I watched it with Beth and Beth does not like movies where people swear so well you could vid angel it

we're not paying for a service to take out half of the movie. Like, come on, that's not, it's not half. It's just really good angel. That movie. That's like good angling stepbrothers. It takes like, it takes out key moments of the music, uh, for spirited, which was how we watched it the very first time. And I was like, okay, this is, this is not viewable. It's time. Okay. My number two movie. Is that what we're on? Yes. Okay. My number two movie is home alone too.

The one where they're in New York City? Yes. I like that one a lot. The better of the two Home Alones, right? Can we agree on this? There's four Home Alones, but it is the better. No, three and four do not count. Well, I would agree with that sentiment. That's correct. There are two, yeah, exactly. Macaulay Culkin vehicles. Yes, yes. But I do think it is the better of the two, actually, even though

My kids don't like to watch Home Alone with me anymore because I've reached the point... I love the movies. But purely because they're entertaining and they just remind me of like... They're just Christmas. But the number of times in the movie when I'm like, how dumb are these people? How is it even possible that this... All of the plot lines in that movie are just...

Completely absurd and ridiculous when you think about it. Like the fact that they take off on a DC-10 and they land on a 757. Tell me about it. How is this even possible? It bothers me every time. Jason's insufferable at these Christmas gatherings. I'm just saying. Next time he's going to talk to you about the plane again. How does he aim with those bricks so good every time? Are the wet slash sticky bandits, if they got a hold of Kevin...

Were they going to kill him? Yes, definitely they were going to. But more importantly, what was he going to kill them? What was he doing wandering around the docks at the beginning of Home Alone 2? Steven, you used to live in New York. Have you ever been to the docks? I've been to New York 25 times at least. I've never been to the docks. I think he's getting a shipment of booby traps. I think at that point in time, he's just getting like, hey, you're looking for something super sticky. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A blowtorch. Heavy, sharp things. It's still my number two. No, that's good. Home Alone 2, number two. Okay, Nate, you're number two. I just want to say, I love that Home Alone, like the setting up the traps as a kid was like watching a Rube Goldberg machine. It was just like, oh man, if I could have a plan. And even in the second movie, he is in his, I believe his uncle and aunt's like,

really nice New York apartment that's being remodeled. And he's like, yep, no problem. I'm going to make this my new death trap place. All right. My number two is also spirited. I had a hard time putting together this list because what I learned is that I don't particularly love Christmas movies as a genre.

And so when Spirited came about and we watched it recently, I thought this is a movie that I could add to my rotation. - Yes. - Again, not to share with my kids yet. - Oh yes. - Wait a little bit longer. It's the right amount of Will Ferrell. Elf is too much and I guess ones without him are also fine. But a little bit of Will Ferrell. Ryan Reynolds is like a good seasoning to mix together.

I think going back to Christmas Carol, it might be my favorite construct. And as I looked, I was trying to put a Christmas Carol movie into this list somewhere. But like, am I going to go Muppets? Am I going to go to Mickey's Christmas Carol is what I grew up with. Like there's a 1934 version that I also watched growing up. But I love the concept of

I think people do too because there have been 25 movies made of this, of Charles Dickens' story. It's just beautiful. I mean, I guess it's a wonderful life too. It's the story of someone realizing there is beauty in life and that the generosity and joy spread to others is like a huge part of it. And as an earnest thing, as Jason said back in 2020,

Your job is to think about how you can best connect with your customers and find ways to delight them. Oh my word. Now more than ever, Christmas movies need to connect through delighting me. And if they do not delight me in some former fashion, I think, well, why am I watching a Christmas movie? And like the earnestness of spirited, even though it's jokey, jokey makes me feel like it's sort of in that Ted Lasso, uh,

form of like you aren't ashamed to have like a real genuine like we're going to be cheesy here but we're going to mean it and that's what I love Christmas movies what I love about you know so the Christmas Carol story is great but what a Christmas Carol like the originals and it's a wonderful life and

there's often the moment where someone goes from bad to good, but it is like the idea of, so are they just that way now permanently? And I like how spirited is one of the few movies where,

And I think Ryan Reynolds literally says it to Will Ferrell at one point. Maybe it's not about just being redeemed and then you're good. Maybe it's about waking up every day and choosing not to be a jerk and actually choosing to be kind to others. And that's actually more real life than I think with some of the other movies while they feel good and do have a similar message.

They sometimes make it seem like, oh, okay, if you have this one epiphany, you're now good. You're good. And I think Spirited, I think, does a better job of telling the real-life application to that. I will probably, that will probably be, other than Frosty the Snowman, and I'm planning to show my kid the live-action Rudolph.

Not live action. Stop motion, Rudolph. Live action's coming soon to Netflix, I think. Other than that, I think Spirited will be the one movie that I watch with Jill just for fun. Yeah, that's good. All right, our number one picks. Gentlemen, I would struggle not to put both of them on the list, but I didn't want to do that. And so I'm going to say my number one is the first Home Alone.

And while I will agree, I think, with both of you that Home Alone 2 might be better, might be more fun, I think the first Home Alone has the originality points. And I do think, while Kevin and the Bird Lady, that's good,

I really like the... Shovel Man. That's my band name, actually, Kevin and the Bird Lady. Kevin and the Bird Lady. Love their album. Their second one got a little long, but... Right, right, right. The Kevin and the Shovel Guy, their scene in the church is wonderful. I love that. The music of Carol of the Bells, when Kevin's running out of the church and running back home, it's like...

I don't know. That feels so Christmas. Like that movie to me is like Christmas. Like the first Home Alone, it's like canonical Christmas movie for me. We just watched it like two nights ago. We'll probably still watch Home Alone 2 because that is, again, like the traps are a little more funny and fun. But the original Home Alone, I think for me, is my numero uno. Which of these movies has...

The tar on the steps with step number five being a giant nail. That's the first one. That is gruesome. That's body horror. Oh, yeah. I mean, but not more than in Home Alone 2 with the bricks in his face or the nail gun through. Right. Yeah. You're right. Nail gun was pretty bad, too. Also, in the Burning Iron to the face also was not.

Yeah. But also in the second movie, Harry literally has his hair or his head on fire. He sticks it in a toilet of gasoline. He would have been dead. That was, that was a clear moment. Like, okay, this is the original home loan is my number one. What about you, Jason? Love it. Uh, so my number one is going to be elf, obviously. Hmm.

you know, we watched Elf recently. The funny thing about people saying that it's too much Will Ferrell is like there really wasn't like Will Ferrell wasn't Will Ferrell yet when he did the movie. Right. But what I love about we rewatched it like not that long ago because it's one of the first Christmas movies that we watched together because we universally love it. But

Just the idea that James Caan is not acting in that movie, that he is literally that annoyed with Will Ferrell the entire time makes me so happy. He just is super annoyed that he's doing a movie with this clown and that he just can't stand all of his antics. And that's all pure actual reaction. That makes me so happy. And I didn't watch it as a kid either.

or I guess probably came out when I was in college. I didn't probably see it until, I don't know, seven or eight years ago or whatever. But I think it is just, it's just a lot of fun. Our kids like it. But I think like watching a movie that was made, whatever, 20 some years ago, um,

And seeing people like seeing Jon Favreau in this, it's like, and just being pointing at him and my kids are like, wait, that's the Mandalorian guy. Or that's happy Hogan. Like, come on. It's just all of these things that just, I don't know. We like it. Yeah. None of that has anything to do with Christmas, but no, no, but it's nostalgia is family. Yeah. Also Nate, I think you can agree, even though I know that elf is not one of your favorite movies. It does have a top five. I like an S tier scene.

zoe de chanel singing in in the shower that's not the part that's good is that when she tells him to get out and he closes his steven can edit that part out no no i think s tier go on she tells him to get out and he covers his eyes and he just runs straight into the lockers and i don't care how often you know that that's exactly what's going to happen will ferrell pulls that off so well and it is just one of the funniest scenes good gag indeed every time absolutely yes

I always went. So it is Zooey Deschanel, right? Yes. As opposed to Anne Hathaway. What do you mean? Are you asking her to say her name or if that's. No, you're saying you didn't recognize her with blonde hair. Wait, you didn't know that that was a property guy, property brother's girlfriend. Wait, she's dating a property brother. Yeah. Whatever one isn't married is they've been dating for a long time. Probably Jonathan. Oh, you know what? It didn't come across my Apple news. You haven't read my article.

Okay, go ahead. Yeah. What's your number one, Nate? It's a Wonderful Life. Wow. Number one. Here's something I'd like to say. I struggle because there are a few scenes. Yeah, when she's in that bush, that's not great. That's not great. It's not great. Nope. If I could have them edit that, because it's not an important part to the story. Not at all. I feel like I'd trim out five minutes.

But it is maybe one of the first movies in my life that made me cry as a kid. And I don't mean like Homeward Bound, Shadow is in the pit. I think he's going to die crying. I mean crying in a like the intensity of the emotions and happiness and the overwhelm. Like every time when I watch this movie and that old uncle dude loses the money,

that he has to pay to Mr. Potter, I think to myself, maybe this time he won't lose it. Maybe this time they won't go through this terrible, terrible event. And when he finally comes back after his journey with Clarence, who...

Yeah, okay. We'll take or leave on some of that stuff. But when he was like, my mouth's bleeding, Bert. My mouth's bleeding. Merry Christmas, you old building alone. You beautiful. That's the best impression I think you've done on this podcast ever. His joy to be alive and to be back in his life that a little bit ago he wanted to escape from. Yeah. Yeah.

is like, to me, that's Christmas magic. It's someone realizing that you really had a beautiful life this whole time. And like, that is awesome. And if I could just drop people into that part of the movie, there's a lot of cruft. Escape all of that and start watching from a guy who feels like he's lost everything to going through this

Christmas Carol-esque view of his life or life without him coming back in. Nothing in his life is different except the fact that now he appreciates it and sees the beauty in it and his daughter Zuzu giving him petals. It does something to me. It did it to me when I was a kid and it still pulls heartstrings now. So that's why it gets to be number one. Wow. That's deep. Okay. Yeah.

Harlow, very good. Jason, any closing? I mean, that was intense. I don't know. I feel like I have to reorder my entire list now. It wasn't even on your list? Coming up with a much better. No, no, no. Jason, don't feel bad. The shower scene with Zooey Deschanel was great in Elf. Listen, the shower scene in Elf is less risque than the bushes scene. That is correct. I have no room to talk. I just want to be clear. There was no room to talk.

Was it's a wonderful life on your list at all, Jason? I think it was one of my number five. Yeah, no, no. I think it was number five. It was my number five. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Because there was a point in time, Steven, where basically you had copied my list because everything I said, you just kept saying, he had to keep changing it because you were ahead of him. Wait, have you did you just spirited? No, I didn't put that one on there. I actually am more of a Bill Murray Scrooge fan. Ooh, you want a Christmas Carol themed movies? Yeah.

Where does Groundhog's Day... Not a Christmas movie. It's right in the title. It's Groundhog's Day. Right. Not a Christmas movie. But hear me out, gentlemen. If it had been Christmas...

Take away the... It doesn't have to be Groundhog's Day. There's nothing about Groundhog's Day that says you're stuck in an endless cycle of repeating, repeating. If it had been he had gone to see a Christmas tree lighting in whatever town. Same story, but it's Christmas. It would be a top five Christmas movie for me. Changing nothing...

but the fact that it would be on Christmas day instead of groundhog's day, because that is also a story about a man who is a selfish jerk who discovers the true meaning of fill in the blank of groundhog's day. Basically it would be scrooge. Yeah, it's scrooge. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Bill Murray. What are you doing? Yeah, exactly. Just like you said. So yeah, I'll have to check it out. I have not seen scrooge. Maybe I'll add that to the list.

All right, very good. Well, listeners, viewers, we did a bonus episode right before this, and we talked about some favorite traditions, and you should definitely check that out. You can support the show in Apple Podcasts or at patreon.com slash movies on the side. Do you want to hear more of Jason and me? Well, you can listen to Primary Technology. That's our show over there. Or if you're listening to this in Primary Technology, you can listen to me and Nate over on Movies on the Side. We have a whole—we've been doing it for—it's going to be like eight years, Nate. Did you realize that? Yeah.

Yeah. This, like this April. It's been a while. That's crazy. Anyway, we have like hundreds of episodes over there. Some of them are very in quality, but the bonus episodes are on point every time. This is true. I can vouch for that. I've only been on two now, but they're very good. He is. Jason's a loyal fan. But so anyway, you can, well, they already said support the show there. Anyway, you both shows a five-star rating and Apple podcast do all the things. And as we always say,

I must stop this Christmas from coming. But how? I mean, in what way? I'm speaking in rhyme. That was the second best impression I think you've ever done on the show. That's good. I'm hitting on all cylinders today.