Christmas Movies Actually

Just when we thought it was all over, they went ahead and made a legit remake. Patrick Ripoll joins Kerry and Collin once again to break down yet another "Silent Night, Deadly Night" movie. This one is a remake of the first two films, with our Slay Rider, Billy, wandering into a small town, getting a job at a small Christmas boutique shop and gearing up for another season of giving side-eye and an...

On this episode of Halloween Movies Actually, Kerry and Collin get to talk about one of their favorite animated characters in all of cinema, Shaun the Sheep, in his newest adventure "Shaun The Sheep: The Beast Of Mossy Bottom," currently in theaters (or is it?). Shaun inv ents a solution to grow pumpkins at a fast rate, but what happens when the Farmer gets ahold of it and thinks it's just a harml...

Kerry and Collin are joined by Director's Club host Jim Laczkowski to talk about Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning classic, "The Apartment," starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray. Its use of Christmas is not to provide a sunny backdrop for a sad storyline, but as a reminder that Christmas is not always enough of an antidote for people's heartbreak and depression. But it is also a ve...

First-ever CMA guest Christine Sellin joins Kerry and Collin for a deep dive into the anime classic, "Tokyo Godfathers" (2003). The film was a new take on an old tale, first told in 1936, then again in 1948 ("3 Godfathers") as a western. Here, the story of three homeless people who find an abandoned baby and try to find the parent responsible, is set in Tokyo on Christmas Eve. Is this a Biblical p...

Kerry and collin look at this 2011 documentary starring a very likable guy named Jack Sanderson who decides to get into the Christmas spirit by learning the ropes on what it takes to be a Santa Claus. He tries to bring joy to kids on a Polar Express, at a parade and by being a sidewalk Santa for charity. Does he have what it takes to be one of the great Santas of the world? Did Jack ever go back t...

Kerry and Collin dig into this oddball Danny Boyle film and come up with different takes. Collin loves Boyle's infectious and inventive style, while Kerry found it to be a bit much and a somewhat lacking in true Christmas sentiment. It's certainly different from many of the films talked about recently. What invisible signal can cats actually see (supposedly)? What is the appropriate amount of mone...

Nick Digilio joins Kerry and Collin to talk about one of his favorite directors, Renny Harlin, and the 1996 action flick, "The Long Kiss Goodnight," starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson. With a script by Christmas enthusiast Shane Black, the film absolutely belongs in the pantheon of great Christmas-based action films as it offers some of the best '90s-brand mayhem along with some holiday mu...

Of all the Christmas films that have been covered on this show that feature little to no actual Christmas in it, the Preston Sturges comedy "Christmas In July" has the least amount, yet it still gets featured on Christmas movie listicles and has a holiday-themed blu-ray cover as well. Peter Sobczynski returns to talk about this quick little farce from one of the most influential writer-directors t...

Yes, this is the one where Michael Keaton gets reincarnated as a snowman so he can spend more time with his son. It is not the 1997 horror film about a murderous snowman getting revenge, nor is it the delightful 1979 Rankin-Bass animated special. Kerry and Collin weren't that lucky. "Snow dad is better than no dad," as the old saying goes, but could "Jack Frost" have worked if George Clooney was i...

What do these two Hallmark entries have in common? They both star holiday staple Candice Cameron Bure, who has charmed her way through dozens of these Hallmark films over the years. Kerry and Collin decided it was time to take a dive into this end of the Christmas movie ocean and judge the movies on heir own terms. Did "Switched For Christmas" convince Collin that Bure could play twins? What was t...

Film critic Nell Minow joins Kerry and Collin for a look an a holiday favorite that has been remade at least four times, "The Shop Around The Corner" (1940), starring Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan and Frank Morgan. At the start, though, there is also a brief discussion on the current release, "The Sheep Detective," which all three highly recommend. Why does "The Shop Around The Corner" take pla...

Kerry and Collin invite you to board CMA flight #160 and experience the TURBULENCE! This 1997 thriller stars a go-for-broke Ray Liotta as a maniac hell-bent on crashing a plane and Lauren Holly as the flight attendant who must land the 747 on her own. The Christmas decor on display here rivals any Hallmark movie you've seen and might even be a little dangerous. does Brendan Gleeson pull off a sout...

Kerry and Collin are joined by Barry, the co-host of 96 Greers to talk about John Grisham's "Christmas With The Kranks," starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd. Is it possible to truly dislike a movie that features such lovable character actors as M. Emmett Walsh and Austin Pendleton? Is it fair to judge people based on their enthusiasm for Christmas or any other holiday? How closele...

We're releasing this a few days early so you can get a jump on the Easter weekend and so you still have time to purchase an egg dye volcano. "Rise of the Guardians" is like a superhero movie, but with mythical characters we all know and love: Santa Claus (okay, he's not mythical, but real), the tooth fairy, Jack Frost, the Sandman and, of course, the Easter Bunny, voiced by Hugh Jackman. Why is th...

Kerry and Collin watched the 2008 comedy "Four Christmases," starrign Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn, two actors who were at the peak of their fame and marketability during this era of their careers, but who made the unfortunate choice of starring in this holiday non-classic. To add insult to injury, it also features the recently departed Robert Duvall. Was Duvall mis-cast? What is up with peo...

"What time is it?" It's time to talk Oscars, but more specifically, Kerry and Collin are focusing on one of the front-runners to win the night, Paul Thomas Anderson's timely and sensational "One Battle After Another," a movie that somehow predicted our world today, with often comedic and exciting results. What does it have to do with Christmas? Well, it's highly recommended that you see the film b...

Kerry and Collin take a look at the remake of The Bishop's Wife (1949, episode #109), the Penny Marshall-directed The Preacher's Wife , starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Huston, Courtney B. Vance and Gregory Hines. While the film sticks with the original's principal characters, it adds a lot of plot to the storyline that does not always benefit the overall outcome. Was there as great a need for...

The second Valentine's Day Movies Actually episode takes a strong left turn from the warm and fuzzy feels of the Garry Marshall  ensemble rom-com they covered a couple years ago. This time, Kerry and Collin are joined by their resident slasher movie expert, Patrick Ripoll, to discuss the 1981 cult classic, "My Bloody Valentine" (later remade in 2009). What makes this particular masked killer so di...

The Jonas Brothers surprised Kerry and Collin with their charming holiday offering this past season that they decided to devote an entire episode to "A Very Jonas Christmas Movie." Please know that the hosts have little to no knowledge of the Brothers Jonas and their back-catalog, so be patient with the little that they do know. What exactly is figgy pudding (Andrea Martin wanted to know, so the q...

As always, Kerry and Collin begin the year taking a look at a Nutcracker movie. This one celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, so the festivities for it starts now! "Nutcracker: The Motion Picture" was a theatrically-released performance film with an added touch of storybook-like innovation and imagination from the one and only Maurice Sendak (author of Where the Wild Things Are ). Does it su...

Though beloved in England, the 1985 Salkind Production "Santa Claus: The Movie" never met its high expectations, either critically or at the box office. Film critic Peter Sobczynski returns to the show to break down why the movie doesn't really work, even though it's well cast and the production design is (mostly) quiet good. What went wrong? Just how much strategic product placement went into thi...

Kerry and Collin have been keeping track of several new Christmas films and TV episodes that have been dropping over the last several weeks and give brief thoughts on each of them. This includes "A Very Jonas Christmas," "Jingle Bell Heist," "A Paw Patrol Christmas," "The Merchants of Joy," "Oh. What. Fun." and "Christmas Karma." They also have quick thoughts on the new "Silent Night, Deadly Night...

"Santa Claus Conquers The Martians" is often considered the Granddaddy of all bad Christmas films. A cheaply made kiddie flick from 1964, it is perhaps most well known for being the screen debut of a young Pia Zadora. Film critic Dave Canfield returns to the show to dissect the film's notoriety, the filmmakers' misguided intentions and what makes this public domain favorite so special. They also d...

Last year, film critic Nick Digilio came onto the show to talk about the crime comedy "The Ref." This year, he returns to talk about a film that feels like a close cousin to that film, Harold Ramis' "The Ice Harvest," starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen and Oliver Platt. Like "The Ref," it is an underseen gem about criminals trying to get out of town on Christmas Eve, with too...

Every year, Netflix kicks off the Christmas movie season with a little trifle of a rom-com that stars an actress whose name used to be commonly above the title in past decades. This year, it's Alicia Silverstone's turn in the formulaic "A Merry Little Ex-Mas," a tension-less comedy in which a married couple call it quits on their marriage, but decide to stay together, more or less, through the hol...