Christmas Movies Actually

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

Kerry and Collin watched the 2008 comedy "Four Christmases," starring 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.

"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.

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

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).

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."

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).

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.

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.

“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.

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...

Author Ed Daly (The Christmas Book) returns to talk about easily one of the most celebrated holiday movies ever, John Hughes' Thanksgiving classic "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."

With all the Silent Night, Deadly Night films complete (or are they?), Kerry, Collin and their frequent guest at this time of year, Patrick Ripoll, take a look at another slasher film from the same era, the less controversial, but just as violent Don't Open Till Christmas, directed by (kind-of) and starring Edward Purdom.