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Pod Warriors: Christmas MovIe Countdown
93 Plays3 days ago
The Pod Warriors are joined by Chick Foley herself to conduct a semi-scientific countdown of the greatest Christmas Movies of all time!
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Transcript
Christmas Excitement & Episode Tradition
00:00:23
Speaker
Ho, ho, ho, pimp. Merry Christmas from the Pod Wars. Jordan, what is going on, man? Man, if you can't get excited for Christmas, what can you get excited for? like if we If the Pod Wars can't bring you a little Christmas joy, then ah you're just screwed you lose, I guess.
00:00:39
Speaker
Yeah, man, a little Christmas gift for all the the Foley fam out there. It's been a while since we've done a proper pod warriors episode Obviously you guys have been listening me and Jordan still been potting every single week doing the goal line talking football But we're back. It's a it's a Christmas tradition for us to do pod warriors Christmas And I think it's gonna be bigger and better than ever this year, man.
Top Christmas Movies Countdown Plan
00:00:57
Speaker
I absolutely agree All right, so we have come up with what we think is a scientific method. yeah i don't I'd say it's pseudoscience, a little bit of art mixed in also, but we're counting down what we think is the top 12, the top dozen Christmas movies ever. And we got a special guest here with us to help us count down. Jordan, what do you think, man? We're about to hit the point of return. Do we let her on or do we kick her off before we even get started? This is a dangerous game. She was already complaining about the length of this episode before we even started. So I don't know if she's made for this pod.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah, we got the namesake of the flagship chick Foley herself. Sheena is back in the pod seat. What's going on everyone? I, I squeezed my way in here. Seth was telling me, he started posting stuff in the Foley fam group and I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You guys are going to do a Christmas movie review and you didn't like invite me on like unsat. So I like a push my way on here. So hopefully I don't regret it.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, really, I was kind of like the the researcher on this when I'm counting on ah Jordan and Sheena to be the heart and soul because I'm definitely the probably the most cynical out of the three of us. Probably. Definitely the most cynical out of the three of us. so They're going to fill you guys up with all the the sugar plums and everything to get you all warmed up on these
Criteria for Ranking Christmas Movies
00:02:06
Speaker
Christmas movies. but want to break it down real quick so there's seven criteria going into the scoring of these that we rank these that the list was kind of curated by me and Jordan with a a lot of thought a lot of back and forth and we came up with the 12 that we thought kind of just represented the, you know, a little bit of everything from our lifetime in Christmas movies.
00:02:24
Speaker
um So me and Jordan each rate them from one to 12. That makes up a share of it. We had the Foley fam, you guys know in our Patreon exclusive Facebook group, which you guys can join at chickfoley.com, $2 a month. ah We had them rank all the movies, so their rating is one criteria.
00:02:42
Speaker
hit up Rotten Tomatoes, right? Because we're going, we're we're mixing in the art and the business side of this. So we got on Rotten Tomatoes, the critic score is a criteria, the audience score is a criteria, because you know, those things don't always go hand in hand.
Financial Analysis of Christmas Movies
00:02:53
Speaker
And then we did the box office. All right, so for the box office, we got real technical on this man. Obviously we got movies ranging from from 1983 all the way to 2004 on here and and you guys I don't got to tell y'all nowadays man $2,004 ain't the same as $2,024 and they damn sure ain't the same as $1983 So we busted out the inflation calculator to see what the overall like no shit like the gross straight up the amount of dollars that these movies generated was
00:03:19
Speaker
But then also, you know, I think one thing about Christmas movies, if you know about the movie biz, like holiday movies, like Christmas movies and like horror movies and Halloween, those are big money makers for the studios because they're typically pretty, pretty cheap. Yeah, pretty pretty low budget for the most part. And so I thought a big part of being crowned one of the best Christmas movies ever. You got to get that return on investment. So we divided the, you know, the gross or the the gross amount that they brought in divided by the budget put into it to give each Each movie basically a rating right a return on investment rating and the ranked to one to twelve on that and those are the seven things they're gonna score these out so I said a little bit of personal preference mixed with critics mixed with box office I think we got a pretty solid count if you're just if you're just tuning in if you just but happen to find this podcast on apple podcast and you've never listened to you know either the chick-fil-a show or the pod warriors before if there's one thing you know about
00:04:08
Speaker
the heel husband, Seth Phelps, is that this man loves data and he loves, he loves a spreadsheet. So this is like right up his, in his wheelhouse. He was like putting all these numbers together and everything. He was, he had a smile on his face, like all night doing this. Jordan, I would say this episode's kind of the spiritual sequel to the Royal Rumble pod that we did. I think, la was that January 2023 we did that? Yeah, we did statistically yeah every Royal Rumble. Yes.
00:04:35
Speaker
So, check down on the archives. that was That's definitely still the most research intensive pod we ever did. I actually got my ass chewed out by Sheena a little bit for how much time I was spending preparing for that one. um Didn't quite hit that threshold this time, but this is probably the second most research I've done for a pod. But yeah, it was a lot of fun and yeah some interesting results, man. um We got 12 movies to get through along with some some bonus segments. ah You guys ready to just dive right in? yeah and I do want to put it put it out there that we didn't include any TV specials. These are all feature films. like there's no like so If you're like you know thinking like, oh my gosh, I can't believe they didn't include like Charlie Brown or Rudolph or Frosty, all that kind of stuff. No TV specials were taken into consideration. we know those they
00:05:14
Speaker
you know, ring true for people. Like that's just part of the Christmas season. Um, we did not include those. It had to be a full feature length film. I just also want to point out, gee, there is no we here. This is, you you're the guest on this podcast. This is like you throwing a turd in the punch bowl. There's no we, you mean me and Seth didn't.
Exclusion of TV Specials
00:05:31
Speaker
What does the feed say? When you search the pod warrior, what do you have to search to find? Yeah, we are hitching a ride. I'm seeing a shit. So yeah got yeah I think both of you guys make a fair point. But yeah, going right along with Sheena, I guess some other ground rules. So yeah, we decided not to include TV specials just because it was totally different. And with the criteria we were using, it wouldn't really line up. And then the other thing, um you know, we kind of kept it to stuff that's contemporary, which to me is like 1980 and forward probably if something would have made the cut, we probably would reached into the late 70s too.
00:06:00
Speaker
But you're not going to see stuff like Miracle on 34th Street, or It's a Wonderful Life, because that stuff, it's almost like a completely different product than the rest of these movies on the list.
Avoiding List Spoilers
00:06:11
Speaker
I mean, am I wrong on that one, Jordan? No, but Jesus, do you just want to fucking spoil the whole list for him before we even get started? I just want to know in case... Yeah, I don't want to disappoint people if they're listening. If they're waiting for number one and they're like... This thing's probably going to end up pushing two hours in length. I don't want them waiting to hear.
00:06:26
Speaker
You know, if they're, if they're sitting there and they can't wait to hear Charlie Brown, it's Christmas. I don't want to be disappointed when they get to the end. Just hold on. Just so we're clear, Charlie Brown and Rudolph were included in the original list. So I just, I want to put that out there that they were on the original V1. Yeah. Yeah. Charlie Brown and Rudolph. When you guys were doing the bracket breakdown. And we're going to do honorable mentions. So we'll touch on some of those left out. Yeah, it's all subjective. Anytime we do this, we've done these tournaments and stuff like that on the flagship show several times. And again, these are our favorite. You gotta make cuts, dude. You gotta make cuts. It's tough, dude. Everybody's got their own opinion. Everybody's got their own relationship with films and movies and entertainment. So again, this is just our little slice of the Christmas universe over here. All right, we ready
Movie #12: Christmas with the Cranks
00:07:11
Speaker
to get into number 12? Let's go.
00:07:13
Speaker
Luther was crankier than the Grinch. We skip Christmas and go bask in the Caribbean sun. Is this against the law? A lot of neighbors are pretty upset. Until the neighborhood kids... We got him. Turn his world upside down. Relax, Luther. We have 12 hours, so we're gonna perform a little Christmas miracle. I need a little help. Are you getting the ham? You get the treat. Jim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis. I was wrong about you. Christmas with the cranks. Luther!
00:07:43
Speaker
All right, at number 12 is 2004's Christmas with the Cranks. This is one of Sheena's favorites, so I'll let her take it away. So I put this one, this one was kind of a last minute late entry. um Like I said, seth and Seth and Jordan did kind of the groundwork and breaking down which movies were going to be on the list. But when I pushed my way onto this pod, um they kind of they kind of hooked me up with a favor and put Christmas the cranks in here because this is something that I watch every single year. It's typically I watch it when I'm putting up my Christmas decorations because I'm just, I'm nor a crank in my soul, right? I know this isn't like a super, super popular
00:08:15
Speaker
movie and people are just kind of like, yeah I don't think anybody like hates this movie, but it's just kind of one of those that I think some people are just kind of meh on. And I mean, it's got the Scream Queen, Jamie Lee Curtis, you got freaking The Santa Claus, Tim Allen, you know what I mean? So it's just an aoid and Dan Aykroyd, you got Dan Aykroyd in there. It's an ensemble cast.
00:08:34
Speaker
I just feel like I identify as Nora Crank because I have Seth who like, you know, he like he likes the holidays, but he's just not, he's indifferent when it comes to like how much decorations or whatever. We could totally skip Christmas one year. Yeah, we could totally scriptp skip Christmas and Seth would have no issues with it. Whereas like, you know, I am gung ho putting lights on the house, decorating, taking down all the interior and putting up stuff. And yeah, I just feel like I really identify as a Nora Crank.
00:09:01
Speaker
this movie is the definition of bullying like it is bullying it is the definition of bullying it cannot be made today like yeah bullying your neighbors into doing things like oh everybody in the neighborhood puts up frosty well motherfucker i don't i don't put up frosty i put up what i want like I do love this movie. Having said all that, I do love this movie. It's a great movie. um I rated it a four. I think this is definitely a, on a scale of one to five, I rated it a four. I think this is a must watch every year. And it is funny. It has really good parts in it. Like when they're in the tanning bed in the mall and she hits her head and walks out and the priest is out there and she's in her bikini in the mall. Like it is a really good movie. I love this movie.
00:09:44
Speaker
And, you know, I thought about it because, you know, my damn toys weighed in and said he just hates this movie because it is it he just feels like people need to stay out of their neighbor's business, which, again, in reality and in life, I agree with that. I kind of I guess I kind of toe the line because I do believe in like forming community and having relationships and stuff because.
00:10:01
Speaker
We need that as a people, right? We need a village. However, um, I will argue that if you're someone who participates, like if you're like the cranks, right? Who historically have held the Christmasy Christmas party and they always put up Frosty and Nora's always like sending out the Christmas cards and making the donations and doing all of the things. It's going to be natural for your friends and family to worry like, okay, what's going on here? Why? Like all of a sudden you just pulled out of Christmas, right? It wasn't like these people were just indifferent.
00:10:30
Speaker
These were like the most gung-ho holiday people there are. And all of a sudden, it's just like, they're just making this life change. So I feel like it's normal for their neighbors to beacons. And the neighbors offered to put up Frosty for them. It wasn't like they were saying, you got to put up Frosty. They're like, hey, just put Frosty out in the yard. We'll put him up for you. Like whatever we can do to help. It wasn't like they were. Free Frosty. Free Frosty. Free Frosty. Yeah. So. Yeah, it's a good movie.
00:10:54
Speaker
If any of you guys are on Reddit, just search Christmas with the cranks. The top post that comes up is this straight up like manifesto. It's Christmas with the cranks, this bizarre dystopian dreamscape. it's ah This guy just writes a masterpiece of a post breaking down how evil this movie is, but I'll read one paragraph quickly. He said, Christmas with the cranks is a damning condemnation of America. It's about the sublimation of the individual into the community, about the impossibility of true freedom,
00:11:19
Speaker
and about the ways in which cheer, enjoy, and neighborly spirit are weaponized to keep people in line." And then he goes on to explain it. And it talks about how, you know, the made the movie was made in 2004. So we're like right in the Bush era, dude, ah post 9-11. And anybody who didn't conform to like all the ideas of being an American was just immediately an enemy. And this movie is a big allegory for all that. Now, I really don't think they were thinking this deep when they made it, but... It's based off of a book. Yeah, it's based off a book called Skipping Christmas. yeah um But there's definitely a dark way to interpret this I'd like I said our good buddy Trey from my damn toys He you know, he kind of touched on it, man I think he's right all that being said I do enjoy this movie man. It's just a fun watch dude I love a simple sitcom that like just sticks to the or you know a simple comedy that sticks to the formula, right? like yeah um yeah Yeah, it gets challenged then they got to come to a happy ending at the end and it's it's just a good warm Christmas movie Yeah, and it leaves everybody everybody feels good at the end, right? So yeah I'd like to point out also about Seth's thing you just said about the Reddit post. The top comment is a guy named Just Got Pregnant and it says, I know a guy who got to third base in this movie in the theater, so. You gotta love Reddit, bro. It's such a mix of like, want to be, you know, actual smart people want to be intellectuals and then people there just goofing off to take the piss out of people, you know, because if you're not familiar with Reddit, people get really deep on there. Like I said, they'll write a
00:12:42
Speaker
ah a 3000 word essay on how evil Chris with the cranks is and then the first comment like Jordan said is just something completely, you know, just taking all the starch out of it. Red is the best. All right, you guys want to hear how this thing scored out? Yeah, yes. So I had it at number seven out of 12. Jordan had it number nine.
00:13:00
Speaker
The Foley fam had this one at number 10. So the Foley fam was not a fan. This was last place on the Rotten Tomatoes critic score. So to put it into perspective, the rough the movie with the highest ah Rotten Tomatoes critic score had a 95% positive rating. This one was 5%. So think about that. That means that one out of 20, man, is what the critics thought about this one. Why do you think critics hated this one so bad, Shane?
00:13:26
Speaker
I really don't know. I mean, I typically don't go by, like when I'm watching a movie, I try not to go by like what the critics say. And like, especially like Rotten Tomatoes scores, I'm just like, eh. I mean, so if it's something like a zero, right? You're just like, oh damn. But for the most part, I feel like Rotten Tomatoes is kind of harsh on ah on things, but. here was the Here's the AI consensus of the critic reviews of this movie. A mirthless movie as fresh as last year's fruitcake, Christmas with the Cranks is a coarse, garish comedy that promotes conformity.
00:13:54
Speaker
and which you know Which is so wild because like I am vehemently against just like blind conformity. like i just like it It goes against everything I stand for, just like conforming because the masses are telling you to. You know what I mean? Here we go. Yeah, I'm not going to get on my... you know my but I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole. but it but i i just I didn't view it that way. I didn't see it that way. I saw it as concerned neighbors who were a little pushy, who were a little unnerving, but I don't feel like they they were mean-spirited as far as like, you know. So we talked about, um you know, sometimes the Rotten Tomatoes critics and the Rotten Tomatoes audience score are in line. You know, the audience score, that's where, you know, people like you and me can just go on and rate a movie. Nope, this is the last place for the audience also. So it did do a little bit better. It had a 39% fresh rating with the audience. To put it in perspective again, the first place movie had 92%. So that's the range we're talking here. So this is the last place for critics
00:14:49
Speaker
and audience. So that's really what i did yeah didn't do great at the box office either it made 96 million on 60 mil. So it did make money. But as far as inflation goes in 2024 dollars, it made it would have made 160 million, which puts it in ninth place. And for return on investment, it was last place. So this had the worst return on investment for any movie on the countdown. And then again,
00:15:11
Speaker
Overall score, it scored 71. Now the scoring was kind of golf style, lowest score is the best. Our first place movie scored a 19. And I'll put it like this, the number 11 movie scored a 59. So this was a distant last place. We kind of threw it on here as a nod to Sheena.
00:15:25
Speaker
um And yeah, the yeah they give that the Foley fam, me and Jordan, the critics and the the the box office have spoken, Sheen. And I think it's a pretty solid sound rejection. of chris wo I still like it. I give it a thumbs up. but yes i Since I don't give into conformity, I'm going to stand by this movie. I'm digging my heels in. It's one of my holiday favorites. It's going to be one of my kids' holiday favorites. And we're going to watch it every year, no matter no matter what. so It'll teach your kids not to bail on Christmas. That's what Gina wants more than any rate. Gina's like, no matter what you guys aren't bailing on Christmas, I don't care how old you get or what your beliefs are, you're not bailing. Just always keep a honey baked ham on deck, dude, no matter what. Just always keep a honey baked ham. It's mostly gelatinous, so nothing to worry about.
00:16:10
Speaker
Don't worry about it. It'll store for years. I give it a thumbs up as well. It's a good movie. And we watch it every year, man. I get why people don't like it. But again, like when you're picking Christmas movies, I am way less critical on these movies than most people just 100% same as like horror movies. It puts a smile on my face. I'm good. I'm not supposed to like feel a certain type of way when I watch Christmas movies I don't think I just like Christmas makes me happy and Christmas movies make me happy so unless it's a complete bomb of a movie I'm probably gonna enjoy it as a Christmas movie
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah. And when Nora comes around right at the end, when she realizes like, you know, she, she was actually the one getting bullied by Luther, right? Cause Luther was like wanting to go on this vacation, which again is, his is, is totally his right. Right. But he knows how much Christmas means to Nora. And then when, uh, when Brooke is coming back into town with her fiance, Nora just goes right back into freaking Christmas mode. And it's one of my favorite moments. She puts on her Christmas vest and she's like, you know, I'm back. And I just love that moment so much. Yep. Uh, also got to give credit where it's due, man. She was not.
00:17:11
Speaker
young at all. She's well past the expiration date for a lot of ladies, dude. Jamie Lee Curtis looked damn good in that bikini scene in the tanning bed. joy Jordan, thoughts on that? thick Yeah, definitely. Thicky thick.
00:17:22
Speaker
Mm-hmm. All right, you guys want some fun facts for Christmas with the cranks? ye Yep. All right, Chris Columbus wrote this movie. He's the one that translated that skipping Christmas book into the script for this. Just keep that name in mind. It's going to come up ah numerous times. chris Chris Columbus, I learned from doing the research on this. He's basically like the godfather of Christmas movies. Mm-hmm.
00:17:42
Speaker
um Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller were also considered for the role of Luther Crank, man. Which is so wild. I can't picture anybody but Tim Allen. Owen Wilson definitely couldn't. He always plays such a happy-go-lucky guy. I could maybe see Ben Stiller doing it. it had Obviously, it'd need to be somebody besides Jamie Lee Curtis. Yeah. But I feel like Tim Allen was just perfect for this man. He was perfect. He was really funny. Because they were in the perfect age bracket. And like you said, it's just he just has that dry like dad sense down to a T. You know what I mean? So Tim Allen was perfect.
00:18:10
Speaker
Anybody got any closing thoughts on Christmas with the Cranks before we move on to number 11? Or a crank forever.
Movie #11: Bad Santa
00:18:23
Speaker
Oh no. The funniest comedy of the year. A sudden that probably shouldn't be digging in your... Bad Santa is achingly funny. Got some lip for when you mention it. These lips were on your wife. Astonishingly irreverent. Last night. The man's a sexual gay. It's a pussy film for anyone who loves to laugh. Love, large women. Can't do squat about that, Jack. Bad Santa made it on. Now play. the So many one-liners just off of... ah off that preview man but number 11 is 2003's Bad Santa. Yeah, and I love this movie like I get why people don't like it and I get why it's not high on the list but I feel like this one had to be included like pretty rare that you get a movie about a Santa being disgusting and all that stuff and I don't know man and like towards the end of it like it has a good story at the end of the movie with the kid and stuff but
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I like this movie a lot. And this was definitely my recommendation to be put on the list. So me and Sheena are now 0 for 2 on recommendations. We are the bottom two movies on the list. But I don't care. Billy Bob Thornton is awesome. Like, I don't care what you say. he's He's a great actor. And this one's a true it's an outlier date. I mean, it's R rated. um Yeah, it's the only R rated movie on the list. One of the few R rated Christmas movies.
00:19:38
Speaker
um I think it's good, dude. It's not one I go back to over and over, but you're definitely gonna laugh if you watch this movie. I think it still holds up to, you know, almost 20 years later, which is tough to do for a comedy.
00:19:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen it. I saw it years ago and I tried to find it on streaming. I couldn't find... though did I don't know, is it streaming right now? I looked earlier because I was trying to go back and just kind of like freshen up on all these movies once I realized we were gonna do this. Yeah, it's on Paramount Plus right now. Okay, cool. um But yeah, and to me, Billy Bob Thornton, he does make the perfect just like gross, just like, you know, reprehensible Santa Claus, which again is a unique um a unique touch on Santa, I think. Yeah, that's actually a good idea. Shane, I'll start including that going forward where you can find this movie on streaming. Going back ah Christmas with the cranks is available on Amazon Prime right now. So if anybody's wanting to make a little playlist has still got about a week before Christmas as you guys will be hearing this. And also just so everyone knows, podwars is R rated and this has one of the greatest lines in any Christmas movie ever when Willie hits her with the you ain't got shit right for a week.
00:20:40
Speaker
Bro, I was just gonna say, I think you're underselling it. That's one of my favorite lines from any movie, dude. I love that line. When he's getting old girl in the dressing room, dude, John Ritter overhears it, man. I'm like, dude, I don't think that's, I don't know about the Christmas movies. That's one of my absolute favorite no context phrases from a movie. And then there's a call and there's a call back to it later in the movie when she goes, uh-uh, Willie, last time I fucked with you, I had shit right for a week.
00:21:06
Speaker
like yeah last You guys want to hear the the the stats on this one broke down? go So I had it at 10th Jordan had it at 7th foley fam had this one at 12th man. This is the lowest rated movie for the foley fam What do you attribute that to you Shane? You're the leader foley fam? Listen, I think for the most part the foley fam is a pretty wholesome like good bunch, right? You know what I mean? Like we're but Jordan me and Jordan and our our buddy Phil done it for Yeah, yeah we're yeah we're yeah we're we're the DX of the ah the Foley team, I'd say. yeah and all know it's not what's Let's not leave out ol' OG Fig Kid, Tom Montalto. He's the biggest perv of them all. He's the biggest deviant of us all. Yeah. ah but yeah I think that i think we just the others of us, ah we just enjoy like happy, go lucky, like feel good feel good stuff. and like Again, you guys are just degenerates, dude. Yeah, on the Foley, face this was pretty, this was number 12 by a pretty good margin for the Foley fam's ratings. Critics like this one though, this is fifth on critic score, seventh on audience. the wow The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus on this one is a gloriously rude and gleefully offensive black comedy. Bad Santa isn't for everyone, but Grinch's will find it uproariously funny, which explains why me and Jordan both are pretty fans.
00:22:19
Speaker
This was a modest hit at the box office. It made 76 million, but it was against just a $23 million dollars budget. So it ranked 10th overall as far as straight up dollars brought in, and it got it was rated eighth at return on investment. So it it was pretty considerably higher than Christmas with the cranks. it It distanced itself big time. There was a big gap between number 12 and number 11, and it's kind of right in the mix with the next five or six in there. It just kind of got edged out a little bit on some different factors. but Overall, definitely recommend it for a watch. Do not watch this one with the kids. No, it's not kid family. If you watch it with your significant other or your buddies. Or like family. Don't watch it with your parents. Don't turn it on when grandma comes into town. Yeah, yeah. This is definitely like a... After everybody goes to bed, just kind of kick back with a drink and enjoy yourself.
00:23:03
Speaker
All right, speaking of which, you guys ready for some fun facts? Let's go. So to to give an authentic performance as possible, Billy Bob Thornton was genuinely drunk in a big portion of the scenes for this movie. Not surprising. To the point where he actually would actually throw up between takes sometimes. yeah He was getting straight up sloshed, man. like Yeah, ah this was the legendary John Ritter's last ever performance on screen. Wow, really? Yeah, I think he did a really good role too. He brought a lot to it, man. Yeah, because don't they play the R.I.P. John Ritter at the end of this movie? Yeah, they ended up dedicating the movie to him. John Ritter's great, man. Go back and watch some threes company. A lot of good movies over the years. Just a really funny dude. um this Listen to this one.
00:23:38
Speaker
Jack Nicholson was originally penciled in to do it, but he bailed to do the rom-com. Something's got to give instead. How do you guys think this looks with Jack Nicholson as in the Billy Bob Thornton role? I can see it. I can see it. I can see it. It's not the same, though. He's not as grimy as Billy Bob. I feel like he would overshadow it, dude. I feel like Jack Nicholson, especially at this point, dude. He's too big, yeah. You're watching Jack Nicholson play Jack Nicholson. Even in The Departed, that was his last really big role he did.
00:24:04
Speaker
he was kind of just playing himself. you know like I feel like it would have overshadowed the movie. Something's got to give went off though, right? Yeah, it was a huge hit too. Yeah, it was a huge hit too. I think Jack Nicholson would have been good in this, but um I don't think it would have been the same. yeah I don't think it would have been the same either. I think i think that i think Billy Bob was perfect casting for this.
00:24:21
Speaker
And last but not least, the word fuck or some form of it, you know, motherfucker, fucking fucked, whatever. Some some derivative of the word fuck was used one hundred and seventy nine times in this movie, which is a record for the most expletives in a Christmas. Oh, yeah. I ain't ever getting broken either. that That's a fucking legacy right there, dude.
00:24:40
Speaker
That's nuts. All right. Any final thoughts on, go ahead, Jordan. That's exactly what it deserves is that for its lasting legacy. Again, I love this movie. It's not your typical Christmas movie, but I feel like that's why I deserve to spot on this list is because it, it's not trying to be your normal Christmas movie. Like it it knows what it is. And Billy Bob Thornton is perfect for this character. So yeah, I love it. All right. We ready for the top 10. Yep.
Movie #10: Jingle All the Way
00:25:05
Speaker
This is Turbo Man, the toy every kid is getting for Christmas. Whoever doesn't is gonna be a real loser. This is Desperate Man. You got the doll, right? The father who forgot to get one for his son. I got the last one, fucker. This is wild. On November 22, Holiday Cheer is busting out all over. Where's your Christmas spirit? Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jingle all the way. Mr. Man is totally insane. Thank you! Rated PG. November 22, only in theaters.
00:25:36
Speaker
All right, at number 10, we got jingle all the way. Also great, absolutely great. It is, it is great. I mean, it will, I went back and watched it last night. I was wrapping presents for the kids last night and I just put it on because again, it had been a while since I had seen Jingle all the way. um And it's really, it's really good. I mean, it's like a little bit campy, if you will. um But anytime you get Arnold Schwarzenegger with like, you know, some sort of like kid based cast, he's just a genius. Like I feel like he's so funny. um And I think with something, this is something that we can all identify with, especially as kid, like millennials, like elder millennials,
00:26:12
Speaker
where it's like that one toy that you know is like the toy of the holiday season and you're like, Oh my God, am I going to get this? Am I not going to get it? Um, so I think, I think it's very relatable. Yeah. And as a parent now it's, it's double relatable. Yeah. It, it definitely, um, hits home more as a parent than it did when you were a kid. I mean, when you were a kid, obviously like you thought about the toys that you wanted when you were a kid and stuff like that. And your mom eventually telling you like, hey, we didn't get it. It sold out and things like that. But yeah, I like this movie a lot. Sinbad is a really good cast in this movie as well. I thought he did great. um Phil Hartman's in it. Like this movie is really good.
00:26:51
Speaker
Bill Hartman was way sleazier and creepier than I remember. Like watching it last night, I was like, this is borderline like, you know, assault. I love Bill Hartman in it, dude. yeah It was funny. It was funny, but it was like watching it now from just like a different lens. I mean, he grabs Rita Wilson and like just pulls her in, like all seductively. And I'm just like, and he's at her house, like eating her cook, eating the cookies. It's just put down the cookie. Put down the cookie. Down my cookie. It was too much.
00:27:21
Speaker
Too much. I love this movie, man. For me, dude, I remember watching this as a kid. um i can't We may have went to the theater to see this one. Oh, yeah. Because I was a big R1 fan as a kid. you know i I saw him about 12 years old when this is coming out. And i've I mean, I was always a figure collector even back then. So it really reminded me, dude, because I remember going around hunting for you know wrestling figures um and even sneakers at that age. I was going around looking for sneakers and stuff. And it just i it was so relatable to me, man. And and I just thought it it was You know, it really captured the moment of like that one toy you got to have, right? Like it's going to make or break Christmas. um and and And it's got the giant in it as Santa Claus. So what more could you want? Yeah, you got the the the big show slash the giant in there. ah You know, you got freaking ah Jim Belushi did or John Belushi. It's ah it was just great, man. Like I thought it was freaking hilarious, dude. We watched it again last night. I think it still holds up pretty good. It's a good movie.
00:28:16
Speaker
it did um It did give way to the old trope of the yeah the poor dad who working his butt off to provide for his family. Shane got mad at me last night because I was just like i was like his family. I think the Zag Wars are like you know ungrateful ass family. They're sitting there on you know the day before Christmas Eve, slaving away, making sales to fund this, what looks like a really nice you know upper middle class lifestyle. His family are just busting his ass, because you know and dude even got a speeding ticket. you know He broke the law to try to get to the karate tournament on time. It's not like he's just straight up deadbeat that didn't care, dude. He cared enough to risk getting a ticket, man. ah He's out you know bringing home the bacon, and his family's just demonizing him. You saw the same thing in Hook, man, with Robin Williams. you know he was He didn't make the Little League game, and they were like, oh, you asshole, when really this dude's literally giving up all this tremendous amount of time and like the prime time of his his life to provide for his family. yeah And his truck ends up on blocks because he's trying to get his kid a toy. Like, yeah. Yeah. As ah as a as a dad, Jordan, I know you relate to this too, man. I really hate that, dude. I hate that they make that like the bad thing, dude. I get what they're going for, but I feel like if you really think about it, like those dads are busting their ass, sacrificing themselves for their families, man. True. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, during this time period, they always made the moms the freaking kill joys, dude. The moms were always like the ones that were like, Bussing up the fun. The dads were always the fun buds, you know, and then the mom missed out fire Oh, that's the first movie that comes to my mind I'm like this dude had a horse in the fucking house and this is the mom's the bad guy You don't have a bunch of underage kids like they're you know, like it was the one thing about the night I think that's what makes them such comfort movies even though it's probably a little bit like problematic if you look through it in the 2024 lens was that the 90s really put everybody in like their stereotypical boxes. Yeah, I
00:29:56
Speaker
yeah um You guys reading into the stats for jingle all the way no so So I had this at number three if you guys can't tell I really really love this movie man I had it as my number three favorite um And, and really as we, as we get into it, I guess I'll go and put it out now since we're getting to my top six movies. It's like razor thin. There's like a cut hair difference between my top six movies do you like they they were kind of all right in there. So like the the distance between number six and number one is, you know, half an inch, whereas like from six to 12 is, you know, a couple feet. So as we go, just keep that in mind as we go through and I'm counting down, but I had it number three.
00:30:30
Speaker
Jordan had it at number eight. Foley fam had it at number four. yeah very this scored This movie scored very, very high with the Foley fam, which makes sense to me because we got figure collectors, man. I think being based around a must-have toy, I think it really resonates with with people who are into figures. Critics and audience did not like this, man. This thing scored 11... This was number 11. This was second only to Christmas with the Cranks on... um on the Rotten Tomatoes critic score. It had 20% fresh. the the a The consensus on it is Arnold Schwarzenegger tries his best, but Jingle All the Way suffers from an uneven tone, shifting wildly from a would-be satire on materialism to an antics slapstick yuck fest. I mean, there is a lot into it. It it does seem like a bunch of like just interconnected skits, but I thought that's what made it fun. Yeah, I agree. But there's other movie there's other movies on this list that I feel like are kind of the same. You know what I mean? Where it's like,
00:31:20
Speaker
A bunch of little like micro moments that kind of just come together to weave the story together, you know? yeah Jordan, why do you think the critics are taking such a shit on this one? Dude, I mean, after a certain point, Arnold movies started to really tank it out on the rating scale on Rotten Tomatoes, so I'm not really that surprised by it. like I think Arnold just wears thin on a lot of people. I think that's a big reason for it, honestly. I mean, when you're a lead, just has like one of the most unique voices ever, and that's what you hear. 80% of the movie. like A lot of people aren't going to like it, but again,
00:31:54
Speaker
with Christmas movies, I just don't understand the rating scale. Like what are you expecting to get out of a Christmas movie? A Christmas movie is what it is. Like it's, I'm not expecting Schindler's list when I sit down to watch a Christmas movie. Oh, God. Well, I mean, my, my take on why, excuse me, the Critics had an issue with it. Going back to what you said about Arnold wearing on you and having a unique voice, he's literally holding his kid flying around with him with literally nothing more than just like a a visor on. And he's blowing, you know, jammy. Oh, I've got your jammy. And he's like, you know, Jesus, you turned into fat bastard with that. I heard a lot bastard all listen i've done a lot of fat bat impersonation in my formative years. and like i think it's like I think it's woven into my DNA. Yeah. It seems like you you're going to recognize your dad in about two seconds. I mean, even if it's not, it was just the kid. Rita Wilson was just like, you know oh my God, thank you so much turbo man. And then he took off the helmet and she was like, oh my God. Yes. I'm just like, what in the heck is going on here? ah Audience agreed, man. This scored 11th on Audience also. So this is another one that lined up. So Audience only had it 41% fresh, which I feel like i feel like this movie is more beloved than that. But no, people kind of gave this one a collective thumbs down. Made $129 million against $68 million. So that was a pretty big budget for not much return. So overall, dollars brought in. It ranks sixth overall. In 2024 dollars, it would have brought in $259 million.
00:33:16
Speaker
which puts it at sixth place. But the return on investment, this was in 11th place, again, ahead of just Christmas with the Cranks. How did this cost 68 million dollars to make? I mean, he was probably the biggest movie star of in the world. It's probably like 1996. It's like True Lies. Yeah, like he had just done it. He's coming off True Lies and Terminator 2. Yeah, it's him and like Tom Cruise probably for biggest movie star in the world, man. So this ended up in 10th place. um I still love it though, man. I love comedy, Arnold. I kind of agree with you, Jordan, that i think I think Arnold kind of fell off a little bit in the serious action roles. like I can't think of... i still I consider true lies to be more comedic than action-based. It's a little half and half, but after Terminator 2, I didn't really like any of his action stuff, but I love his comedy stuff. Kindergarten Cop. Kindergarten Cop wins. What was the one where he was pregnant? Was that one Junior? Yes. Yeah, in this. I don't know, man. I'm i'm a really big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
00:34:08
Speaker
Same. Yeah, it's hard not to like him. So in this little span he had done in in this year, basically year plus, he did a racer jingle all the way, Batman and Robin and end of days. So that's crazy. You just don't see that anymore, dude. Like, I feel like you don't see like that, that like, you know, just stars, do big stars doing like back to back to back to back. and Back then, they were begging it out. You cast them checks, man. Like, I mean, yeah.
00:34:33
Speaker
yeah ah Another good one that I forgot to mention on like the the early bit of mid 90s Arnold stuff last action hero like that one's kind of a like shot Seems like yeah I don't know if that one's like tied up in like, you know rights nightmare Yeah, you never see it pop up on stream here really like any kind of like nostalgia push for that But I feel like that was a super fun move This is why we still like I was thinking today because I was so pissed off I was looking for a specific movie on this list and it's a Christmas movie and it's December what 18th and this isn't streaming anywhere for you to be able to watch it for free um I was thinking like dude I want to I'm getting a fucking DVD player and a like a blu-ray DVD combo just to have on hand because I could have gone back I would have kept the blu-ray collection going we kind of we we had a badass blu-ray collection going like and i saw i bunch of people that why Yeah And then I think it was around like 2016, man. I kind of just saw the streaming going in. I was like, it doesn't make sense to keep investing in this. And it's a lot. We you know we move a lot. Takes up a lot of space. And it takes up a lot of space and having to move it and everything. I regret it, though. I think if I could go back, I would have just kept it. Maybe just cut down a little bit, but still keep adding one or two Blu-rays every single month to this. Yeah, if you have if you have a large media file or media collection, dude, I encourage you to hang on to it because like I get rid of stuff all the time, right? Like I liquidate stuff. I sold like, you know, my vintage dish collection. One of the only few things I regret is getting rid of our like ah digital media as far as like our CDs and like DVDs and stuff.
00:35:57
Speaker
But as I didn't know, I said, yeah, physical media, sorry, physical media are our DVDs and Blu-rays, too. Because like I said, it's bullshit. like ah you're You're at the mercy of all the people who own these movies, so like whether or not they're going to put it on streaming. Like how are you not going to stream? When you're streaming, you're permanently running the stuff. 100 percent. The internet goes down your fuck. Jingle All The Way is streaming. It's on Disney+. It's on Disney. Yeah. She was shes talking about it. She didn't mention what movie she was looking at. What movie were you looking for that you couldn't find? The Grinch. Oh, the Grinch. She had Jim Carrey's Grinch. Yeah, the Grinch. Jim Carrey's Grinch is not streaming on any platform right now. You can find the TV special and the 2018 animated one, but The Grinch 2, which is our next movie, by the way. So. Yeah. ah But yeah, Disney, Jingle All The Way is up on Disney Plus and Hulu yeah right now. So all right. You guys want some fun facts? Yeah, of course.
00:36:41
Speaker
All right, so again, you guys heard me say he's the godfather. Christopher Columbus produced this movie. All right, so he wrote, he wrote Christmas with the Cranks. He produced Jingle All the Way. This is pretty funny. So it kind of makes sense when you look back, because they worked so good with each other. Almost all of Sinbad and Arnold Schwarzenegger's ah dialogue was improvised by the two of them. The kind of the director kind of just gave them the gist of what needed to happen on that scene, and they just rolled with it, man. Yeah, that's pretty good. I've been keeping this mail bomb.
00:37:11
Speaker
yeah He said, I work for the post office. You know, I'm unhinged. The movie was inspired by the Cabbage Patch Dolls craze from the the early to mid 80s. But it worked out really great because the year this came out was the same year as Tickle Me Elmo, which was just an absolute phenomenon. So it really kind of played into the moment, you know, with Turbo Man being like a a placeholder for that. Like, do you guys remember how crazy the Tickle Me Elmo thing was? I don't know where that even came from. It was just like, it was like on like the morning news shows, like Good Morning America and stuff. They just came out and said, hey, this is the must have toy for this Christmas. And it was nuts. I think it was one of the first like really like truly animatronic toys like that though. I think it was like- It was a cool toy. I mean, Brad had a Tickle Me Elmo that he enjoyed in, you know, 2017, 2018. Yeah. And I feel like at that time it was like, dang, like I could like, you know, scrub this thing's belly and it's going to laugh. You know what I mean? like It was a cool toy, but yeah, I remember my cousin Chelsea, like we were going around trying to like track down one for her, for our eight Michelle. It was wild. Yeah, I totally remember Tickle Me Elmo. But yeah, Tickle Me Elmo was a straight up phenomenon back in the day. And this was like the early days of the internet. So like eBay wasn't really a thing. So like you really had to just get out there. together yeah Yeah, hit the pavement, dude. yeah Seth and I were talking about how like, it's so hard nowadays because there are like, there are hot toys that like, you know, they they get pick up steam every Christmas and it may be a little bit harder to track them down. but
00:38:26
Speaker
because the internet is so widely available and kids are into such niche products now that I mean like such specialized taste yeah you're never gonna have one like toy that just takes you know yeah I feel like we don't we don't have that anymore where it's like this one toy that just takes over a freaking you know generation you know I mean what's what's Zoe's number one thing on her wish list this year Jordan See, that's a problem. She's 12 now. So it's just all made up in clothes now. Like she doesn't, that's my niece's age. Way too far past toys and stuff like that. And I mean, again, she, she has everything. She's an only child. So she gets pretty much anything she wants.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah, see, Brett's number one thing this year is he wants stuff to make his own action figures, dude. So it's like, you know, there's there's probably like a handful of kids. But it's not just him, like our, our ah you know, ah Jamison, a little boy that was on our football team and now he's on Brett's basketball team. I was talking to his parents. His number one thing on his wish list is a freaking rock tumbler. Like, you know, polish up rocks and make gems at him and stuff, dude.
00:39:21
Speaker
It's just so so you can get anything now do literally any product out there is a couple taps the phone away to yeah to get me and product lines like that i feel like most of the toy lines at this point have been around for so long that there's so much variation and so like the the lines are so vast that like if your kid wants ninja turtle toys like like which there's, line there's a million different Ninja turtle toys to choose from. Right. It's not like this one, like, it's not like you're getting like the freaking, um, you know, turtle bus, you know what I mean? It's like, it's, I don't know. I feel like it's just a ah different world we're living in now. It is. It it definitely is. I mean, like you said, like when you sent your parents to the store for a Leonardo figure, like she was just getting you the the first Leonardo she saw, like now you gotta go through eight different lines. Like, do you want the Nickelodeon ones? Do you want the retro movie? Like the movie, like, what do you want? Like, no, in my look, I'd pick the wrong one guaranteed. Like, there's just, there's no winning now. It is it is funny, Brett, you know, I think that the Talkboy was a big Christmas present one year. And Brett, we watched Home Alone not too long ago. Brett was like, what were were're Home Alone 2? He said, what is that thing? What's that thing that Kevin has? And I said, that's a Talkboy. He said, can you get me one of those?
00:40:29
Speaker
Dude, he wanted to talk voice so bad. He's probably find one on eBay pretty cheap. Yeah, you know, Brett, that would be right up his alley because he's got this little robot that like repeats everything he says and he saw Kevin like talking into it and then changing the voice and like doing the phone call, you know, pretty cheap asset. The cheapest one on eBay is 150 bucks. Hey, there's one new inbox 595.
00:40:53
Speaker
Wow. I'm looking at one right now. 125. I don't know if that works or not. Man, I figured those were so widespread, man. I figured it wouldn't be that. Yeah. Well, remember they made a top girl too. They made it purple and pink and they had different versions of it. I didn't think it would be that difficult. But the other thing is, dude, those tapes, man, there's not that much tape. That was a media that was super limited, dude. Were they the small mini tapes?
00:41:17
Speaker
I think they're a regular sized cassettes. I guess you could probably find it. Maybe there's somebody still making new cassettes, man. I guess it would be pretty tricky because that kind of technology, that stuff crapped out even back at the end of the day. I remember having boomboxes and stuff that the tape players would crap out. Think about how simple it was to fix that. If your tape got eaten, you literally just stuck a pencil in there and wound it back up and that shit went right back. It would work halfway. It's just like, dude, you know.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah, big nostalgia hit, though, for for Jingle all the way, man. um joe Another one, Joe Pesci was originally going to be Myron, but they thought that he was just too short to be, ah you know, opposite of the threat to him.
00:41:58
Speaker
I thought he would've been pretty funny though. He would've been perfect for it as far as his personality, yeah. Dude, I've seen this movie, again, I had a number three, man, so this is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever. And I've seen this thing probably three dozen times since it came out. I was today years old when I learned that there's a post-credits scene in this movie. Did you know there's a post-credits jingle all the way scene? No idea.
00:42:19
Speaker
Yes, dude. So go on. It's an easy watch on YouTube. I won't spoil it for you guys. It's definitely worth watching. Me and Sheena both el like literally laughed out loud when we watched it. It's good for a good chuckle, but just YouTube jingle all the way post-credits scene, man. I had no idea that that was out there. interesting And then lastly, I thought this was pretty funny, man. Sinbad.
00:42:38
Speaker
was pushing, you know, they wanted him to be the villain of the movie. And in the, during the production stuff, Sinbad was pushing for his character to kind of be meaner and have a harder edge because he thought the audience would be too sympathetic. And I kind of agreed with that. When me and Sheena were watching it last night and critiquing it, I said, my one thing is I wish it would have been a happier ending for Sinbad other than getting dragged off in cuffs, you know, like, yeah, a little Jamie, yeah, little Jamie gives him the toy, but we don't know what happens. The last, night the last thing you see of him is he's getting dragged off. i christmas in the clink Yeah, I love Sinbad in that movie man. I always like thought Sinbad was super funny and you know, I give him a lot of credit because he's a comedian that's hilarious while being totally clean and family-friendly which is really ch and very's tough to do. in his In his defense, he was trying to team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger, dude. They were gonna divide and conquer, you know what I mean? And that Arnold was like, no, I'm not gonna have it, dude. So then it was every man for themselves, dude. Yeah, I just thought he he was, to me, he was a sympathetic character, man. Just trying to do Bright Rice Kid, you know, he's ah like he always says, yeah I'm a humble postman, has a little bottle of Old Forrester whiskey that, you know, he's giving Arnold some nips up when they're at the diner together, even though, you know, he tried to screw over Arnold a little bit, but I thought he was a pretty good guy and I thought he deserved better than getting drug off in cuffs.
00:43:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he did chase a child up of up a build up a building and like, you know, climbed up on a a holiday rig and like, you know, almost killed him. But that's after Arnold kept escalating things, man. What were your thoughts on Miren in this movie, Jordan, as as a bad guy? Yeah, they tried to give him a feel good story at the end. And then like you said, gets to haul the wane cuffs, spending Christmas in jail, can't even give his kid the toy. Like, what a savage ending to a movie. But yeah, I mean,
00:44:13
Speaker
I'm glad they picked Sinbad because I can picture Joe Pesci in this role, but it's like Well, how much different does this movie look with Joe Pesci at five foot one or whatever he is? Like, you had to have simple needed a prison. Yeah, like and fucking Arnold would just tower it over. I'm like, imagine Joe Pesci being the villain in your movie. Just I was gonna say, especially at the end, you know, where it was like, they they put him in the villain costume. and we not Yeah, it wouldn't have been the same. The one of the funniest parts to me was when they were like, you know, we have plenty of um Plenty of a turbo man's best buddy booster. Nobody wants booster. Nobody wants booster. Wait, are you under the impression that I have a turbo man doll in studio? In this studio? No, what I have is a gift certificate. Going back to Joe Pesci too, even though he's smaller, I feel like he's got a harder edge than Sinbad, dude. Sinbad is always family friendly, whereas Joe Pesci, he's a bad dude, man. Joe Pesci's in the fucking mob, dude. He'll straight up freaking stomp somebody out, you know, if you're asking where his shine box is at. Exactly, dude.
00:45:13
Speaker
Yes. I think all in all, I think the critics got this one wrong, man. I love Jingle all the way. And I definitely recommend that. Do you guys want something to kill? Great holiday fun. Yeah. Do you guys want to kill an hour and a half this next week while you're sitting around with nothing to do? All right. You guys ready to go to number nine? Let's do it. Of course.
00:45:57
Speaker
the The Grinch rated PG now playing.
Movie #9: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
00:46:01
Speaker
Alright at number nine if you guys couldn't figure it out from that sound clip is 2000 how the Grinch stole Christmas I am offended by this ranking absolutely offended. I get it Jordan Jordan's high on this one man. He's kind of an outlier amongst me the Foley fam and the critics I think part of it is too that this is like one of Zoe's favorite Christmas movies it always has been like when she was a kid she loved watching this movie so I think I watched it so many times that it has like a just like a really special place in my heart around Christmas and I love Jim Carrey too so like that's that's a big part of it and I just like it being a live-action movie I get that a lot of people like the animated version the original as well as the 2018 version but
00:46:43
Speaker
I don't know, man, this one's always going to be special to me and it always signifies Christmas for me. So yeah, this one is high up on my list for a number of reasons, but it being one of Zoe's favorite Christmas movies is definitely one of the main reasons. So that's my reasoning for it.
00:46:59
Speaker
Like I said, I was really disappointed because I, I've been going back and just refreshing myself on some of the ones that had been a while since I had seen. Um, and I really wanted to go back and watch this one because in my mind I had it as like, I don't really love this movie. Um, because I'm very, very partial to the 2018 version, the animated version of the Grinch. I just won. I think it was because again, like you said, if you're, if you're, if it's the Grinch that your child grows up with, I feel like it's like, you know, you have this special place and that was our kids love 2018. Yeah. That was, that was Brett's grant. That was no man's land for us. Yeah, and I love how the Grinch had a little softer side. He was nicer to Max in the 2018 Grinch. But I love Jim Carrey. So I really wanted to go back and just watch this with different, through a different lens, because a lot of the Foley fam were really, really high on this movie. And I was like, well, maybe I just got it wrong. You know, because I was thinking like ads, garbage, I don't like it, you know. So I'm excited to go back and watch this so I can eventually find it streaming somewhere.
00:47:51
Speaker
Yeah, like Sheena mentioned, this one's not available for streaming anywhere. um it you know Not to spoil too much once we get into the supermatives, but this did do big money at the box office. This is Jim Carrey when he's at the height of his stardom. And it was directed by Ron Howard when he was you know one of the biggest directors in Hollywood. So this had a ton of steam behind it. And it was the first time that Dr. Seuss, such a beloved author, had something brought to the grand stage with a feature-length film.
00:48:18
Speaker
It was kind of dark for like Dr. Seuss. I felt like yeah a little bit like edgier and a little bit more. For me, like I said, it's kind of a no man's land for me because the kids love the 2018 one. And like Jordan said, you know when your kids like it, that automatically scores you a bunch of points. And in I was just absolutely infatuated with the original, right? The original animated. That was my crowd the Grinch. yeah Yeah, that was my Grinch, man. um So, and dude, you know, I've talked about it a few times on like the Rayward Chick Foley show, and I think it's come up on some podwars episodes. so Dr. Seuss, that's absolute holy ground to me, man. That's how I learned to read, man. My mom had me like basically the entire series of Dr. Seuss books. And like when I think about like my childhood, like, you know, ages like, you know, four, five, six, seven, like one of the first things that pops in my mind is Dr. Seuss books. So like I just, I had a really hard time accepting this, man.
00:49:13
Speaker
against the animated one. I will say I absolutely adore what they did. They had the amount of effort that went into the set design and the cinematography and stuff on this. I think it was really, really great, man. They put an awesome amount of effort into it. So Jerry had to go to torture training to get the makeup done because it was so intricate. Yeah, well we're going to talk about that when we get to the... No, you're good. We're going to talk about that when we get to the fun facts, the amount of work that went into this. And I love practical effects, right? This is kind of... you know This was made in... It came out in 2000. A lot of the stuff was done in 99, early 2000. So it's really before the the heyday when cja when CGI took over. So a ton of practical effects. They put um a crazy amount of work into it. But like the Grinch himself, I just could not let this movie into my heart.
00:49:53
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think that's me too. I think one i went when I watched it originally, I was so partial to the TV special that I had a hard time letting this one in. and Again, i am like I love Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey was like my muse as a child. i just I wanted to be a comedian when I was younger. I thought it was like i thought Jim Carrey was the coolest.
00:50:13
Speaker
um I couldn't let this in. And then once the kids, when the 2018 Grinch came out, um you know I reopened my heart and it grew three sizes. And ah you know i i' it's beloved. But this is like I said, No Man's Land is the perfect way to describe this. I am going to go back and watch it. I will. And I will report back because yeah um i think i will I think I'll view it differently. I thought the 2018 Grinch was way too soft. She didn't like it. so i own it two thousand eight She did like it, but I agree with you. That one is way too soft for the Grinch. It can't be that nice.
00:50:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think on it on its own, it is a good movie, right? It's great, but compared to the original, I think it's it lost a little bit of the essence because there's no real redemption story. like He starts off as like ah a pretty decent dude who just yeah got this little beef with the Hoos. I agree with you to a certain extent. I think my biggest beef is like, you you guys know, I am a... card carrying member of just like dog lover nation. And in the in the TV special, he is just so mean to Max. And it just like, oh, I'm like, why are you such an asshole to this little dog? You know, it just reminded me of like my two little dogs. And then at least in the I mean, the Grinch 2018 was I mean, he wasn't like, you know,
00:51:25
Speaker
super nice, like crazy dog person like we are. But I mean, Max was like his little buddy. You know what I mean? Like it was his one little friend that he had up there on, uh, on the Grinch mountain. So I, um, I thought that was just a better story. And I can't remember how he treated, I think the Grinch, the 2020 Grinch was a wiener dog, wasn't it? Yep. You mean 2000, 2000, sorry. Also, Sheena, you want to be a comedian? Why don't you tell us some jokes there, Sinbad?
00:51:48
Speaker
I can't. Listen, I don't know what what what happened to me, but like i I won class clown in like junior high. i was like always One of Seth's first memories of me in high school, I was doing something stupid and goofy. Very obnoxious. Yeah. i was a very like Like I said, I have done my fair share of fat bastard impersonations throughout the years, like Austin Powers, like the whole nine. like I was just a class clown material to the umpteenth degree.
00:52:11
Speaker
Uh, and I wrote in one of my diaries that, you know, I wanted to do standup comedy whenever I was, and like now I have debilitating anxiety for speaking in front of people. So like the, the thought of doing, um, like a standup comedy, like I would just like crumple and die. I could just imagine the bombing of Sheena on a stage in front of like 20 people Which is why because before I would get up in front of anybody and do any obnoxious thing that was like just came to my mind. You know what I mean? Like I had zero and I had zero inhibition for until I was like, what, like 23, probably 23, 24. I really started to just like be self-aware. I think that's what that's usually about the time you start to care about how other people view you as a person and stuff.
00:52:52
Speaker
Like yeah usually from the time you're about 10 to 22, you're like, Oh, I don't really care. I'll do anything for a while. Yeah. I gave zero, I gave zero shit student. I was like, I look back on it so fondly because my sister is still like that. I mean, ah to a detriment, but I also just feel like, you know, I wish I had a little bit of that. So yeah, my my standup comedian days are behind me, but you know, maybe in my next life. Too bad.
00:53:13
Speaker
All right. You guys want to get get into the stats on this one? yeah Of course. All right. So I scored it at 12th. Like I said, I just, I couldn't let that my my heart was not big enough to let this one in. Jordan scored it at four. The already discussed why Foley fam split the difference. The Foley fam had this one scored out as eighth overall.
00:53:28
Speaker
Rotten Tomatoes, this was ninth with the critics. It scored a 49% fresh rating. Same thing with the audience scores, 58%. The critics consensus on this one is Jim Carrey Shines is the Grinch. Unfortunately, it's not enough to save this movie. You'd be better off watching the TV cartoon, which I think that's kind of me and Sheena Sidman. Obviously, George is a little bit higher on this one. Was a big hit at the box office, right? At least on Straight Up Dollars. it made three This was released in 2000.
00:53:52
Speaker
made $346 million against a $123 million budget. It was expensive. So it scored it was third overall for straight up dollars brought in. Those practical effects, too. Yeah. In 2024, this thing made $633 million. So it was a smash. Damn. However, because of that high budget, it was only 10th in return on investment. Yeah. yeah So you guys want some fun facts? yeah Yep.
00:54:14
Speaker
All right, so filming of this movie, it took 92 days to film this movie, which is a long time. That's nuts. Yeah, most movies take between four to six weeks. But for 92 days, and every single one of those days, Tim, Jim Carrey had to get into the makeup, which took about two hours in the morning to get in, and then about one hour to get out of. And like Sheena said, he actually had some CIA experts come in and give him some training on how to survive torture to be able to get through this.
00:54:43
Speaker
if you if you get in If you dig in deep, some of the people that worked on the movie say that Jim Carrey was exaggerating a little bit and it wasn't that bad, but according to him, it was absolutely brutal getting't spending that much time and being in the makeup every day. Anytime I've ever heard him talk about this movie in an interview, like it's like he definitely mentions that how the the makeup really just kind of ruined his whole experience. but He looked great. He looked great. i mean The makeup looked great, so they did a good job.
00:55:07
Speaker
His suit was made out of yak hair. Can you imagine how hot that was? I mean like all the imagine like the studio lights and all of that and you're covered in freaking prosthetics and yak hair. Every day for 92 days. Every day. And you're wearing 18 pounds of makeup on top of that. Like what was the sweat factor like underneath that? Like yeah he had to have been ah churning some nut butter down there.
00:55:30
Speaker
One thousand percent. In the final scene, a nice little ah Dr. Seuss Easter egg. Cindy Lou Who passes Max, a plate of green eggs and ham. yeah Interesting.
00:55:41
Speaker
And then Dr. Seuss Widow, ah so know Dr. Seuss said we'd lost him by the time this movie came out. His widow had personally requested Jim Carrey for the role. Prior to that, when it was in development, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Robin Williams were also in contention for it. But it was Dr. Seuss Widow who personally said, no, Jim Carrey is the one to be the Grinch. Jim Carrey was perfect casting. Yeah, and Jim Carrey was like one of the hottest actors, if not the hottest actor at this point in time. like it just This perfect sense.
00:56:11
Speaker
Yeah, physically he's like tall and lanky too. I feel like he's like he's like the one out of those that's I think it's got the, got the bills. I mean, Jack Nicholson has very Grinchy features. Like I could totally see him as far as just like the physical aspect of like the face and stuff. You think about like the Joker and then translate that to the Grinch. Yeah. But as I mean, but just like Jim Carrey just has a way of carrying his body and his facial expressions and like everything about his presence and the way he moves is just, I mean, perfect for the Grinch. That's what a lot of people say about me too.
00:56:39
Speaker
If you watch Dave Chappelle who's got a new comedy hour on Netflix and he actually goes into it about, you know you know guys know how funny Dave Chappelle is, right? like Literally one of the funniest people of all time. He actually goes on a little bit of a little sidebar on how much he respects Jim Carrey and how he thinks Jim Carrey is like a straight up comedic genius. He really is, dude. Again, I know I've professed my love about Jim Carrey on here just a few minutes ago. but He really is a comedic genius. Yeah, he's hilarious, dude. And last but not least, this was the highest grossing movie of the year 2000.
00:57:11
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And it's a Christmas movie. that That's just insane. Yeah, that's pretty crazy to think about. That's the only movie that's got a stat like this um on the countdown. any Any closing thoughts on the Grinch? No. Again, it's just so highly rated for me because my daughter loved this movie and in turn made me love this movie. So yeah, I'm glad the Foley fam gave it some medium love. Seth should love this movie since he's a Grinch anyway. We're going to watch it. i don't go watch I don't really understand the Seth not enjoying this movie. it's I get the the Christmas part or the animated part of it, but this is right up your alley. Like this is who you are. Yeah. All right. You guys ready for the beverage break? yep Let's go.
00:58:12
Speaker
I know that's an Eagles original, but I always love the Bon Jovi version better. How about you, Jordan? I like both of them. Again, Christmas music is another thing I just can't get enough of and I don't yeah understand the hate for it ever.
00:58:23
Speaker
Once it gets to November 1st, it's Christmas music season around here. Pretty much like every other time we fire it. We're big fans if they want to up the Pandora app on the TV and let it just play through the sound bar, through the house. We got Christmas music bumping a lot, man. I like both versions. I've always been a big Bon Jovi fan. Dude, speaking of the Christmas music, getting the hate. I think it's basically like the Nickelback of Christmas songs, people hating on Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You.
00:58:50
Speaker
Dude, that's one of the best songs point blank of the last 35 years. yeah like that that's That's an absolutely great song, dude. I think it's, like I said, you know Nickelback's finally starting to get a little bit of a love back where people are like, you know I don't know why we were all collectively decided to like hate on them because they were a pretty damn good band. Same thing with Creed.
00:59:08
Speaker
um That song just it's great dude. If you really I don't think anybody can honestly say they don't like that song I think it just became like the cool thing to say I think the only the only exception being retail workers um as a former retail um Worker myself. I think I mean you I don't think people dislike it But yeah after you hear it on the loop like, you know for the 475th time and are in a you know, two-month period I feel like yeah, you do get a little bit tired of it, but I I've never had that song come on and been unhappy about it. I love it. Our daughter likes it too. Yes. I think i agree. i do not hate I do not hate the song. I do not hate on the song. I get down every time the song's on. um you know I use it in my holiday reels. think you know i'm I'm here for it. I'm just i'm giving the retail workers a pass because I feel like, yeah, there's there's like a holiday track most of the time playing through stores. I obviously haven't been in a retail store in 10 years as far as like working
00:59:57
Speaker
I'd be ah beyond 10 years, but, um, but still, I remember those days when we put on the freaking disc with the holiday thing and you'd just be like, Jesus, you know, like eight songs yeah all day long. play who Let it play. Let it play. November 1st through January 1st. Let it roll, baby. Let's go, dude. Yeah. I'm here for Christmas music. I freaking love Christmas music. Sheena is our, uh, she's, we're drinking the same thing. So I'll let her, this is kind of like her bottle of liquor. She'll let her tell you what we're drinking tonight.
01:00:25
Speaker
So we don't really have an official, we have a couple of holiday beverages that we drink every year. This is a variation of the Drunken Stay Puft. Oh, Drunken Stay Puft, you're right. Yeah, we we've done something similar as forward with cookie dough or with dough ball whiskey. Yeah, so I'm using my um toasted marshmallow. This is my personally dipped bottle. Seth and I recently took a trip to um the Maker's Mark Distillery and we did the little tour and I got to dip a bottle and you know you can choose whichever bottle which whichever variety you want. um and I chose one of the private selections, one of the cast strength and it was a toasted marshmallow, which it had so zero baked American pure staves. what The way they make it, they put the staves in the barrel. That's how they like infuse the flavor. right so
01:01:08
Speaker
It's got one French Cuvee stave. I don't know how you say that. My French is... Jordan's the Burberry guy. Well done. See, nice is it really that how you say Cuvee? Yeah. Three Maker's Mark 46 staves, five French Mindyant staves, and one French, sp toasted French spiced stave. It's really good, man. So it's really, really good. we So we mixed it with some cream soda. That's the base for the drunken staple. Yeah, the base for the drunken staple. And the key, though, is the garnish. Yeah. And we do a toasted marshmallow for aromatics on top. So I like, I went and like toasted the marshmallow with ah a lighter with a grill lighter. I had a, I had a little toaster, like a little in cold in Tennessee. We're not firing up the fire pit out in the back. i do yeah have a ah
01:01:50
Speaker
like ah a gun to like toast things in the house like you of all people a torch should be necessary in your house. I've wanted a culinary torch for a long time but it's one of those things like I mean back in the day when it was just me and Seth like I had a lot more time to like F with stuff like that whereas like now like I don't I'm not toasting any like you know creme brulee's or like you know torch you want to get but yeah I've wanted ah I've wanted a culinary torch for
01:02:14
Speaker
Well, I mean, it's not like something that I'm like, oh my God, I wish I had always does such an amazing job cooking the food that I've never felt like something was. Yeah, no, it's not. But it's just one of those things like, you know, you're like, oh, cool. Like it would be cool to like, you know, top this off with a little culinary right here. Thirty eight bucks, dude. Yeah. I mean, it's just one of those things I've never bought for myself. But regardless, I used I used I used a group. I used a grill lighter and toasted us some marshmallows and put them on top and they make the perfect, like, you know, just aroma and... Yeah. You get that big, like, roasted marshmallow smell in the nose, right? As you take a sip, it's a great drink. And we're feeling really, really super festive with our cups. I have our Maker's Mark cup. I don't even remember when. We've had these forever. They're like hand dipped, like the cups, like they have the red wax on the bottom. They came in some sort of Maker's Mark gift set somewhere throughout the years. I think this was a set from the actual distillery, but you can usually find the gift sets that they put out every Christmas that sometimes they'll have these in there, man. Yeah, so feeling really festive right now. Like Sheena mentioned, this is Cast Strength Maker's Mark. This is bottled at 110 proof, and Sheena's on her second one, and we have eight movies left to go, so you guys may be in for a treat. Yeah, this is gonna get wild by the time we get to number one. Toasted Sheena is like the greatest thing ever. Yeah, it really is. She only comes around, she's like leap year, you know what I mean? She only comes around every once in a while, but when she is, she's something else. She really gets after it when she does.
01:03:35
Speaker
Jordan, what are you sipping on, man? um so I'm just drinking a Shiner holiday cheer. I just had to go with a festive beer for tonight. This is one of my favorites this time of year. but I don't know what happened to the Christmas beer distribution this year, but I felt like it was really hard to find Christmas beers this year at They've been less. i'm I'm wondering if maybe they did bad on sales last year. I definitely noticed the same thing. So you know we're way out here in the country, but i there's a pretty badass craft beer store in the heart of Memphis called Corks that I'm a member of their like beer club. So I get the emails every week for every new beer they got in. And it's the same thing here in Tennessee, dude. There's been way less Christmas beers this year. So I'm thinking maybe you know they didn't do as well in the past years, because I feel like it's always been... yeah There were still a ton of Halloween and like fall Like the beers, but the Christmas stuff, you know, the different spiced beers and, you know, the gingerbread beers and stuff, they did not show up this year. So I don't know if maybe maybe there was a ah ah big supply issue that we're just not tracking on. But yeah, I noticed the same thing here, man. The Christmas beers were, did not come in full effect this year. Dude, my favorite Christmas beer is Goose Island's Christmas Ale. And I usually buy like as much of it as I can whenever it comes out.
01:04:44
Speaker
They didn't even distribute it to Nebraska and it's from Illinois. Like it's based in Chicago and it didn't even get distributed here. So I don't know what happened this year with Christmas beers, but yeah, it was tough to find them.
01:04:57
Speaker
We need to look it up. I'm sure there's a Reddit thread for that somewhere. Yeah, I'll find it. All right. You guys are ready to get to number eight? Let's go. From Touchstone Pictures, for all you Earnest fans who loved his first movie, that's pretty good. Wait till you see him do number two, presenting Earnest Saves Christmas.
01:05:15
Speaker
A motion picture days in the making. Took longer than I thought. A blending of art. Technology. Cheese balls and bean dip. A movie already being hailed as... Super. Ernest saves Christmas. Rated PG.
01:05:30
Speaker
Starts tomorrow at a theater near you. Check newspaper for showtimes. Check newspaper for showtime. I know. Doesn't that just hit you right in the freaking field spot? And the like big voice guy reading the thing like, dude, I know this sucks. Let's just end the podcast.
01:05:48
Speaker
I know. And, dude, for me, man, like ah you know I'll go and let it out, dude. This was number one for me, man. I yeah i love dude. like I remember the TV show, dude. I would just fire up YouTube and watch Ernest commercials because he started off as just a... Some ad agency, it was genius. They basically created him as a character to be used in all kinds of commercials. you know He was in a bunch of car dealership commercials all across, at first, the Southeast, and then ended up being nationwide. He was in Mellow Yellow commercials. like he just like He was a character and that was designed to be across you know multiple commercials and stuff, and then he got his own show.
01:06:25
Speaker
the movies you know earnest goes to camp um scared stupid yeah they so many i i'm just a sucker for earnest man like that it's a nostalgia blast because like my grandma like when we lived in scotland my grandma would tape uh you know episodes of the earnest tv show and mail them out to me so i remember like firing up vhs's and watching these And his humor's just right in my alley, dude. like You know what I mean, Vern? It's still a part of my like daily vocabulary when I'm talking to Brett. you know When I'm explaining something to him at the end of it, I still hit him with, you know what I mean, Vern? and I don't know, man. i Ernest is... I'm a sucker for anything, Ernest, dude. I love Ernest, too, dude. I've watched this movie. Actually, I had it on the background today while I was doing stuff around the house. and ah du Ernest is just such a pure heart, dude. like he There's nobody more just... naive, but also just like innocent and awesome as earnest dude. So yeah, he he embodies the holiday spirit 100%. I don't know if I am a sucker for earnest, scared, stupid, because I love Halloween so much. um So I don't know if I like this one or earnest, scared, stupid better, but both are in in my holiday rotation every year. You can't go wrong with either one. Like, like Seth said, earnest is just timeless. Jim Varney was just
01:07:37
Speaker
incredible as this in this role. I mean, it just became who he was at that point. Um, but yeah, I'm with you. I love this movie. It's a great movie. I had it at five, I think. So yeah, you scoreing very high this was a top six movie for me. I basically did mine in two tiers with my top six and my bottom six where I didn't like I ranked him in order when I got to that point, but I mean, I separated the movies on what I thought were the top six movies and what were the the bottom six and then ranked him based off that. So yeah, or Ernest is definitely a hit and i'm I'm glad we put it on this list because it's a great movie.
01:08:12
Speaker
Yeah, and it's got a pretty fun little story too, man. I think this is definitely one of the... There's probably less people that have watched this at all of our listening audience right now, but basically the regular Santa gets in some trouble and he's got to find a replacement instead of the earnest to step in. He just gets too old. Yeah, the magic starts to fade away. Yeah, instead of the earnest to step in and help out. So fun movie. You guys want to get into some of the stats? Yeah. Yes.
01:08:35
Speaker
So again, I had it at number one. Jordan had it at number five, as mentioned. So both of us scored this very, very high. FoleyFam had it at number nine, dude, which, you know, we got a lot of younger family I hate to say it, man. Like, I feel like we're, we're still in the in the same category, but I feel like we're, but the three of us are definitely kind of at the upper end of the category. We're elder millennials. I think we have a lot of millennials, yeah like, you know, nineties millennials. yeah For the most part, the FoleyFam is a mature group. I, you know, we're kind of like late twenties to mid forties and,
01:09:04
Speaker
And like I said, you know, all of us are kind of, you know, I'm at 40, Sheena and Jordan are both approaching 40. So we're kind of at the upper end of that. I feel like there's probably a lot of people that just, you know, maybe they saw this once as a kid and it just didn't resonate or, you know, it was already an old movie. You have to grow up with Ernest though. Like like it he he was such a cultural phenomenon cultural phenomenon that like, if you didn't grow up with Ernest and you really don't understand like what he is and kind of like his humor, if you go back and watch it in hindsight, it's not going to be the same.
01:09:31
Speaker
Right. So it's like, it's one of those things where you have to just like, just have been there. You know what I mean? You had to be there. Right. So yeah. And I mean, at this point, if you're going to watch it, like if, if you're not familiar with earnest, like just remind yourself, you got to really detach your brain. When you, when you start this movie again, this isn't going to be in the earnestest verse it's not a yeahlitzer prize in the earnest verse. There's like a whole cast of characters that you're going to enjoy it.
01:09:56
Speaker
It's like its own tone. Yeah, like i I would recommend somebody to watch like, you know, three or four of the TV episodes and stuff, man, to kind of get a feel for the humor. But Rotten Tomatoes did not treat this one well. It was 10th in the critic score and the audience score. Critics gave this a 36% fresh rating. Audience was 43%, which I'm surprised, man. I feel like to be this movie's hater-proof. Again, obviously, I had a number one. I just feel like it's a really good story and it's super, like, just sweet and, and and you know, it's original, man. I feel like it's got a pretty, as far as Christmas movies go, it's a pretty original premise. Overall,
01:10:26
Speaker
ah summary for Rotten Tomatoes is marginally only only marginally insufferable. The Earnest Movie is a big screen example of a TV sitcom tendency to go broad and sappy with a token yuletide show each December. So I don't know. I feel like it was a little bit more original than that. Box Office, it did decent. It it only had a $6 million dollars budget and it made $28 million. So it was a you know it was a hit for what it was.
01:10:49
Speaker
um But again, only 28 million. That translates to 74. This movie came out in 1988. That translates to $74,024, which put it at 11th place overall for which is but the box office. Which is about what I expected, honestly.
01:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, but return on investment again, this was super cheap. This was actually seventh place for return on investment. So scored high on that. um is it in dis Is it on Disney? is It's on Disney Plus. Yeah, you can watch this on Disney Plus right now. It's actually the earn only earnest movie available on streaming on Disney Plus. um Yeah, so overall eighth place. Again, I get that it scored this. I know this was straight up a personal favorite of mine. um And I knew I probably the number one earnest fan had anybody kind of in our group. um Yeah, and you just had to be there, dude. yeah i'm i'm cool to being a great man i don't got te strikeper over that's respect
01:11:39
Speaker
All right, you guys want some fun facts? Yes. This was the first ever movie that was filmed at Disney MGM Studios. Interesting. That's really, that's a fun fact. Yeah, they opened up their own studios in the late 80s. This was the first movie to go there. And then something else, this was a pre-existing script that already, Yeah, you know, it was already out there and then they shoehorned I'm Ernest into it after the fact. cool with it being a bright man. So this was already a I fully don't formed story of, you know, got too much heartburn over that. Santa need to find his replacement and stuff. And somebody was like, you know what?
01:12:08
Speaker
We could get we could toss this to earn and and let him do his thing. Ernest P. Worrell to the rescue. That's a bold move, though. I feel like because I mean, because Ernest is so niche as far as like what he's going to bring to unique tone. Yes. Yeah. So like it's like I feel like if you're if you're throwing it to Ernest, it's going to become its own thing. Yeah. It's not just like your typical holiday movie. Yeah. Whatever the script was, was completely trashed when it became an earnest movie. All right. You guys ready for number seven? Yeah. From Touchstone Pictures.
01:12:37
Speaker
was the night before Christmas, but in the land of Halloween. It was decided that this year, something new would be seen. Surprised, aren't you? From Tim Burton, director of Beating Juice and Edward Scissorhands, comes a motion picture experience unlike any other.
Movie #8: The Nightmare Before Christmas
01:12:54
Speaker
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. And what did Santa bring you, honey? Rated PG. Coming this month to a theater near you.
01:13:06
Speaker
I love The Nightmare Before Christmas. I know like it's it's a cartoon. Again, it's just one of those things. I feel like if you go back and watch it now, you're like, there's so many songs. It's so musical. But I grew up with Nightmare Before Christmas, and I love Halloween. So like I watch this both Halloween and Christmas. So it comes around twice a year for me. I just love the idea of Somebody that like, I love the idea that the holiday towns were like so like separate from one another, right? Like there was like these like little isolated villages where like these people were in charge of Halloween. These people were in charge of Easter. These people were in charge of Christmas. And all Jack wanted was like, be a part of something different and be a part of Christmas. And his way of doing it was just, it was so like thoughtful, but also just like so wrong. um I just, I love this movie.
01:13:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a fan. It didn't quite crack my top six that were really the ones that set it apart. But I really, really like this movie. The kids love it. 2020, the kids went as Jack and Sally for Halloween. And they still watch this movie. Stella especially really loves this one. She calls it Jack the Pumpkin King. Jack and the Pumpkin King. Yeah, but I'm a big Tim Burton fan. You know, visuals of this are just spectacular. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a fan just about anything he does. And this kind of totally nails the Tim Burton feel. So yeah, it's a it's a big thumbs up. It's iconic. I love this movie.
01:14:28
Speaker
um yeah I rated this lower and I'll give my reasoning. I personally think this is a Halloween movie. I know you can do it for both fair. Yes. To me, it's a Halloween movie. Like the the town is called a Halloween town. Like it's just, I don't know, just to me, this is just, it reminds me of Halloween more than it does Christmas. And by the end of it, Jack realizes his Christmas is a complete failure. So, um, I feel like if there would have been a part two to this, it would have been all Halloween based with a little bit of Christmas mixed in. So for me, this is more of a Halloween movie. That's why I docked it so many points. Absolutely phenomenal movie. I'm not saying that this is not a great movie it is, but just to me, this is not really a Christmas movie. So that that's why I docked it on points on this one. All right. You guys want to get into the stats?
01:15:14
Speaker
All right, so again, I had it at eight. Like I said, I like this movie a lot. It just didn't quite meet the absolute cream of the crop for me. Jordan had it at 11. He kind of just outlined why. FoleyFam was not a fan of this, dude. This was number 11 with the FoleyFam set. Only Bad Santa scored lower with the FoleyFam on this one. I think there was a lot of people that had the sentiment that it...
01:15:37
Speaker
that it just wasn't a Christmas movie. We saw that a little bit in the comments, but it didn't score super high. I mean, it still scored decent. Nothing was a straight up failure, but this just it overall rated out one of the lower movies with the Foley. I feel like this is again, another older movie that suffers because I say suffer in a way because just the Foley families, a lot of younger people, like they didn't grow up with this movie. Like for us, I mean, this was we were eight, nine years old at this point. Like this movie is a movie we grew up with. Like we all saw this movie in the theater. We all love this movie. So I feel like it has a little bit of nostalgia for us more than anything. And we said it about Ernest too. Like when you didn't grow up with something, it's just, it's something different to you at this point. Definitely. Think about how just like revolutionary the, the animation looked in this first. I always love stop motion as a kid. Yes. Like compared to like your, your typical like animation, uh, you know,
01:16:29
Speaker
and animated film like yeah the stop motion is just so beautiful like it's just it looks like you could just reach through and like touch you can see all the textures feel all the like everything it's just it's a vibe and i just know the mayor in this movie is one of my favorite characters zo bogie i ah the the mayor is one of my favorite characters in any movie like ah I anything with the mayor on it we buy instantly like you can ask Ari when they when they did all the funcos and stuff like the mayor was the one I had to have at every set I just I love the the mayor with the flipping faces and everything like that like it's just it's awesome.
01:17:03
Speaker
See, that's me with Oogie Boogie and Lock, Shock and Barrel. I love, I love, obviously I love Zero Two. It was almost a $500 giant sculpture of Oogie Boogie space. It was a handmade, it was a handmade piece. Very, very cool piece, et cetera. Literally, if you come in through our side door, through the garage, it's the first thing you see when you walk in the house. It's the first thing you see. And I have matching Lock, Shock and Barrel, like the smaller versions of the Lock, Shock and Barrel. It's like hand-carved. It's just, yeah, it's beautiful. I'll try to take a picture and post it in the fully film. I think I got that for you. I think that was your birthday gift, 28. It was when we were moving to Virginia. Remember we stopped on our way to Virginia when we were going to Norfolk. It was at your mom's office. I ordered it for her and then it got ready by the time we were moving the next spring. You have the masks too, don't you? The lock, shock and barrel mask. Yes. Yeah. So the same lady that made the lock shock and barrel mask, she made the giant Oogie Boogie mask and she made me like two matching like Oogie Boogie dice to go with it. But yeah, again, just everything about the feel of this movie just like really touches something. And mostly, like you said, the Halloween side of it is what really like touches me. Yeah. I think Halloween first before Christmas. Yeah. It's a great movie.
01:18:10
Speaker
Yeah, I want to point out there was a big, so all right, so just to recap, number 12, Christmas with the Cranks, number 11, Bad Santa, 10, Jingle All the Way, nine, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the 2000 version, number eight, Earnest Saves Christmas. There is a huge gap between Earnest Saves Christmas and nightmare before and Nightmare Before Christmas. So I just want to point that out to everybody as we keep going on. like there's There's a big gap between ah you know number eight and then number seven. So we're in a totally different category of movie at this point as far as how they scored out.
01:18:39
Speaker
And a big reason for that was the Rotten Tomatoes score. So this was number one with the critics. Out of the 12 movies we have here, this was number one, 95% fresh rating with the critics. It was also number one with the audience, with a 92% fresh rating with the audience. So this was number one on both counts with Rotten Tomatoes. Overall consensus, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop motion animation. so that's what i said Yeah, just based on like the the actual movie itself and like just the the way it was filmed everything this is by far the best film on this list like and I think everybody can relate to that I feel like you know like for myself personally I feel like I went through a journey where I was like you know I grew up in the country like out in the stick super rural and like that was just my life experience right like that was what I knew what I grew up as and I always thought like
01:19:25
Speaker
being in like a big city or like being somewhere was like going to be better for me or that I you know i wanted to be there. right and Then I've lived in big city since and stuff and I'm like, eh, you know what? like I kind of like being in rural. you know I feel like you just kind of like go through this life experience where you like want to experience something totally different and then maybe you realize like once you get what you wanted that maybe it wasn't for you. you know She ain't taking us to church here. I was not expecting that on Nightmare for Christmas. But no, I feel you, man. And Jordan, I think you nailed it. Straight up, man, out of the 12 movies we got here, as far as overall film quality, this is by far number one, man. Made $107 million on an $18 million budget, which is kind of crazy. Unhinged. Yeah, you would think it'd make more because I think this is arguably the most culturally resonant movie we've had. This movie's still super relevant. But that was at the box office. You have to think it's maintained. Yeah, this movie had a ton of legs afterwards, dude. So overall, that $107 million in 1993, that translates to $233 million in 2024, which puts it as the seventh biggest hit on the list. And then return on investment, it was sixth best on the list. Dude, people are still buying tons of Nightmare Before Christmas merch in 2024, dude. If you go into any hot topic or box lunch or anything, it's everywhere. Yeah, kids still love it. It's still, like I said, it's as relevant as ever. You guys have some fun facts? Let's do it. Of course. Tim Burton was inspired by this movie. He was at a mall and he saw the Halloween decorations being taken down and being replaced with the Christmas decorations right after. That's what inspired him and he wrote,
01:21:07
Speaker
a three page long poem about the transition between Halloween to Christmas that became basically the essence of what this movie would also. Wow. Makes perfect sense.
01:21:19
Speaker
Disney pushed very, very hard for a computer generated sequel around like 98, 99 and Tim Burton because he still owned the rights overall to this the storyline and characters. He shut it down. Thank you. How do you guys think that would have went over it? I mean, I think it would have been fine. I think it would have been a success as far as just like, you know, because I mean, when something's such a huge hit, I feel like people are still going to just go along with it. But as far as just, you know, holding up, yeah no.
01:21:46
Speaker
Yeah. So this is something that's pretty interesting to me, right? So when you think of this movie, right, the first name you think of is Tim Burton, you know, because it just, it totally captures the look and feel of all his films. He actually was not that involved with the movie. It took about two years was the the process to make this movie. And ah Tim Burton was on set, like on scene with the work for about 12 to 14 days out of that. That's nuts.
01:22:11
Speaker
His characters, he kind of set the tone in the script, but a guy named Henry Selleck was actually the director of this movie and kind of was the guy in the trenches on the day-to-day. I think that really goes to show you Tim Burton's, how his impact... I mean, you could just take that and be like, you know what? This is what Tim Burton would do. You know what I mean?
01:22:30
Speaker
Yeah, Henry Selleck, to let you know his bona fides. He went on, you know, he did James and the Giant Peach was another awesome stop motion. And then he also did Coraline. Coraline's incredible. I think it's probably between Coraline and Nightmare Before Christmas for the best stop motion movie of all time. But yeah, it's just pretty funny. Like nobody even knows the name Henry Selleck. And Tim Burton, his credit in interviews and stuff and in press, he's gone out of his way to try to pass the credit off to Henry Selleck. But people just connect this movie to Tim Burton because like I said, I mean, it's in the title.
01:22:58
Speaker
Yeah. the overall print yeah and And that makes sense because he was already a a huge star as a director and stuff at this point yeah when Disney was releasing this. But it's crazy because you know until I was doing research to this, I thought Tim Burton was the one... I thought he was the one making these little clay models and stuff. you know but yeah No, this was kind of just inspired by him and he set the tone, but it was another dude that did all the work on it. And like I said, Tim Burton tried to give credit to this guy over the years. But ah but yeah. I mean, yeah everything about me you would even have to know that this is a Tim Burton movie. It looks timber Yeah, you see the movie poster like oh, that's a Tim. Yeah corpse corpse bride was he's kind of a spiritual successor to this movie ah Tim Burton was much more involved in the day-to-day on it But for this one, which is funny because corpse bride to me is less Tim Burton. Yeah freakin nightmare before Christmas Yeah, he was busy doing Batman Returns and Ed Wood and stuff during the years that this was being made though So he was that involved
01:23:48
Speaker
A good fun fact, Katherine O'Hara did the voice for Sally. yeah You know who that is, right? she Yes. no Come on. Come on. Don't insult me like that. She's involved in in a movie that we're going to get to later on. But also, you know she was the mom in Beetlejuice. She shows up over and over in the ah the Tim Burton universe. so Katherine O'Hara is a legend. Yeah, she's awesome. Absolute icon. All right. Any closing thoughts on Nightmare Before Christmas before we move into the top half of
Movie #7: Elf
01:24:14
Speaker
our countdown? Nope.
01:24:15
Speaker
same keep rolling on keep the slay a moving this friday what's this this is the north pole no it isn't this iss no it's not where's the stone now his giants sized fun ras joel siegel Did you hear that? Jeffrey Lyons calls it enormously funny with side-splitting laughs. This place reminds me of Santa's workshop. Except it smells like mushrooms and everyone looks like they want to hurt me. And Ebert and Roper give it two thumbs up. Looks like a Christmas tree. ELF. Sorry I can't ride with you the rest of the way up. Oh, I forgot to give you a
01:24:49
Speaker
All right, at number six, if you guys couldn't tell, we have 2003's Elf. I can't believe this movie came out in 2003. That just like blows my mind. This one, I feel like, I mean, it it was a decent little movie when it came out. I feel like the last like four to six years, this one has really picked up steam as like the modern classic of Christmas movies. 1000%. I feel like Elf, Elf has become such a cultural phenomenon now. Like it's just, you know, everybody quotes Buddy the Elf. It's him. He's everywhere. I mean, they might literally make like blow up figures for him for your yard and everything. I think, yeah, like you said, I feel like it was a cool movie at the time, but it's only gotten better with age.
01:25:30
Speaker
ah run to Appreciate wolf I don't know if it has gotten better with age. Yeah, I'm not I mean, I guess people's people's appreciation Yeah, the appreciation's gone up yeah over time. Yeah, and the kid the kids watched it a couple weeks ago. They really really enjoyed it I'm a little bit lower on this one overall man. I'm Jordan. I am way Jordan seems like he's got low This is like this is one of the over most overrated movies in my opinion. like i just Still good, but overrated. It is a good movie. like I think I enjoyed it more the first time I saw it than I do now. um Over the years, i just i feel like it's just the the love that it gets, I just feel like this movie is completely overrated at this point. I'm right there with you man. It's like as people continue to just like freaking glaze this movie I just feel it my own personal like backlash against that cuz like I just like it doesn't hold up to my Christmas classics Yeah, it's it's a good movie. I mean Will Ferrell is awesome in it, but just for me overall I just I don't know that this one's just not my favorite um And as we'll get to with the rankings and stuff. It's just it's not for me.
01:26:30
Speaker
I think Will Ferrell's humor is very, um, like, I don't want to say niche niche isn't the right word, but it's like, you have to just like understand that it's going to be obnoxious. It's going to be like over the top. It's going to be like overplayed. Um, and I feel like it's, I, I, I love buddy, the elf. I love how happy he is in such a, in such a just like begrudged city, like a curmudgeon city, like New York. You know what I mean? Where everybody's just walking around all like, you know, oh, I got to get from point A to point B, you know, and then you got freaking buddy, the elf, bright green and yellow, just bouncing through the streets, you know, smelling like maple syrup, just like trying to, you know, make everybody's, my, my sister, or my sister, my daughter, Stella, um she's like, she'll say, Oh my God, you did it. The best cup of coffee. You know, like she, she thinks that's the funniest line. She thinks that's the funniest line in the whole movie. You know what I mean? Like,
01:27:21
Speaker
Everybody, congratulations. You did it. The world's best cup of coffee. It's like a really crappy cup of coffee. No, the best cup of coffee. It's the world's best cup of coffee. It's funny missing that James Khan, you know, buddy's dad in the movie. He when I was doing the research on this, he actually he said that he had a you know, he had a lot of problems and was like really critical of Will Ferrell as they were making the movie. He thought he was just being like over the top and like you're really kind of like overplay this and making it, you know,
01:27:49
Speaker
not something good. And then but when he watched the final screening, he was, he got it. He was like, okay, I see why you were playing it. It made sense. Yeah, it made sense. And he's the perfect opposition to James Cotton. You know what I mean? Like, cause he's so just like, like curmudgeon is the great, the the best word I could think of. You know what I mean? Just very, just, well and then you have buddy, the elf. And I love when they're in the North Pole and it's just showing like buddy is like a normal sized person amongst all the elves. Like it's just, to me, it's just funny. I 1000% agree with you guys that it has gotten overplayed. I'm a classic Christmas purist, right? But I got to show some love for It is the modern classic, dude. It's one of only a couple of movies we got that came out past the year 2000. I feel like we don't even get real Christmas movies anymore, dude. It's not even a thing. Well, those movies aren't a thing anymore, dude. Ollie Wood is only putting out the big stuff, dude. Yeah. All the low budget stuff is either
01:28:41
Speaker
You know hallmark which is just straight up dreck and then maybe you'll get it something good as like a direct to streaming to release dude You're not really getting that. We're so lucky. I feel like we we grew up in the freaking glory days and just movies dude I feel like our our like adolescents and like Nobody's batting for doubles anymore in the movies, dude. It's either a home run or it's going straight to streaming. yeah Or it's like super indie, Sundance type shit, you know what I mean? it' You're not getting any mid-tier movies to make them to the theaters nowadays. I mean, think about the movies. I mean, like this is getting off topic, but like you know like super bad, or 40-year-old Virgin. and you know think Movies that were just like you know there for just consumption, right? Napoleon Dynamite. And freaking classics. Yeah, Napoleon Dynamite. And it's pulling dynamite. Yeah, I feel like we did we just don't get that anymore. um And yeah, el Elf is one of the last standing like original Christmas movies, I think. It is. Jordan, do you got a a favorite James Con role?
01:29:38
Speaker
Cause to me, when I see him, all I think is the program. do yeah is it's That movie was so important to me. anytime i see I know he, you know, he was in the Godfather and stuff like that, but anytime I see him, I'm like, Oh, it's the coach from the program. It's pretty tough to beat that role too. Cause he's so good in it. I mean, yeah, that would probably be mine as well. I mean, the, he has a ton. He's in so many good movies. He's a great actor, dude. Yeah. The program was at his tail land du and elf was definitely the tail land man. But yeah, I, uh, Yeah, I just. Wasn't he in, oh my God. Missouri. Sir Jessica Parker, the hol vegas the Vegas movie. Was that not him? I didn't even know he was talking. Honeymoon in Vegas? Oh. Yeah. Was he? Yeah, he was in there. Oh my God. Yeah, he was like he was like the the you know the rich guy. Yeah, he's a very well-compassed actor, dude. And he's Spaldani and Dick Tracy, so I mean, we're we're really. Well, you're really getting down the rabbit hole. I've never seen Dick Tracy. What? have ah
01:30:34
Speaker
No. Seth, you've seen it, haven't you? Oh, yeah. That movie was huge. That was like a no-sell. I'm like, did neither one of you see this movie? I had that entire action line as a kid, man. I know we got a ton of fig collectors on here. The Dick Tracy figure collection was freaking awesome.
01:30:50
Speaker
Oh, James calm is in misery. Yeah. Yeah. guy He was the guy. Yeah. Yeah. He was a super accomplished actor, dude, but it's, uh, yeah, I mean, I've seen him in a million things, but I'm just trying to think of where I've seen him. And i I do love the program. That's one of my favorite movies. Like it's just a phenomenal movie.
01:31:07
Speaker
I don't think I've seen the program. It's one of the best football movies ever. Kill them all. Let the paramedics sort them out. You guys want to get into the stats for Elf? Yeah. Let's go. So as mentioned, I had it at nine. Jordan was right there with me. He had it at his 10th. Foley fan was slightly more generous. They had it as the seventh best. Younger. Younger, yeah. Younger demographic. great Critics love this one, dude. This is fourth.
01:31:30
Speaker
on ah Rotten Tomatoes critics list. And then the Rotten Tomatoes audience score had this one at fifth, man. So it's a big hit on Rotten Tomatoes. They're kind of carrying it for it. The the critics consensus on Elf is a movie full of Yuletide cheer. Elf is a spirited, good natured family comedy, and it benefits greatly from Will Ferrell's funny and charming performance as one of Santa's biggest helpers.
01:31:53
Speaker
yeah yeah all right What's her name? but Zoe Deschanel. Yeah, we're going to get into her. yeah so ah Box Office, this one made $228,000 against only a $33,000,000 budget. so That puts it at fifth overall. In 2024 dollars, this would have made $390,000,000. It's fifth on that, on straight up just being a smash hit. and This actually ranks fourth place for return on investment. so This was a smash economically.
01:32:15
Speaker
um It definitely earned the that you know, it's got it's the first one in our top half. do You guys want some fun facts? Yep, duh, listen to this in 2014 Which is probably be even higher now, but 2014 Will Ferrell was offered 29 million dollars to be in a secret and he turned it down, dude That's how you know you're rich. That's how you know. Imagine being in a position in life where you're going to turn down $29 million. Please subscribe. He just didn't think that he'd be able to bring the energy and he didn't think the storyline was good enough. I mean, where are they going to go from there? You know what I mean? Honestly, like you know this is like right there with like old school was probably like Will Ferrell's most like beloved role. um And yeah, he turned around $29 million to do a sequel for this in 2014. $29 million, I mean. Will Ferrell don't need any money anymore.
01:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, right. All right. At the start of the movie, there's an elf named Ming Ming. You guys are going to see if you guys go back and watch this one. It's played by Peter Billingsley, who is ah also. Ralphie. Ralphie from. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew that. I knew that. So that's a fun little Easter egg. Again, this movie is available on Disney Plus. I think we left out the last one. Obviously, ah Nightmare for Christmas is available on Disney Plus also.
01:33:26
Speaker
Listen to this one. I think this is a straight up sliding doors, dodged bullet moment. Katie Holmes was originally going to be Jodie. No. da Katie Holmes is fine. She's a totally fine. Zoey Deschanel makes this dude. Zoey Deschanel is one of my all time celebrity crushes. I think she is absolutely enchanting.
01:33:44
Speaker
Um, you know, she's beautiful. She's slightly like alt in her look, right? Yeah. A little quirky. And she can sing, which they really, they actually added more musical numbers into the movie. Once they realized that Zooey Deschanel could sing. Um, I, I think I, as great as Wilferal is, I still don't think this movie has the staying power. It does. If you have anybody besides Zooey Deschanel in that role. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, that's fair. Yep. 100%.
01:34:09
Speaker
This script was written in 1993, man. So this thing was kicking around Hollywood for 10 years. Originally, Chris Farley was that when they wrote the script, they had Chris Farley in mind. Dude, every time that I hear a movie that Chris Farley was supposed to be in, it just depresses me. And oddly enough, we are filming this episode on the 27th anniversary of Farley's death. so No. Jeez, dude. I love Chris Farley, man. Me too, dude. that Tommy Boy, Black Sheep. Any of the Saturday Night Light stuff, dude. like He's hilarious, man. Go back. If you want to see something, if you want to cry, search Adam Sandler, Chris Farley tribute and watch. it was one it was I think it was like 2017, 2018. Sandler hosted oh yeah Saturday Night Live and did this tribute song. Yeah.
01:34:54
Speaker
and We got to see it in person last year when Adam Sandler did a ah live show in Omaha, and it was almost even too much. Like, even though I had heard the song numerous times, it was it was a lot to hear it live. Yeah. Chris Farley's a man. I feel like it's a different movie. I feel like it's less sweet and more raunchy, but I feel like it's going to be even more hilarious, dude. Chris Farley is the help. Can you imagine, like, Chris Farley stuffed into that little desk and, like, his belly showing, like, in the elf costume. du this probably would have been It would have been bad just like you hearing like the movies you're supposed to be in like just how much different would Shrek have been with Chris Farley being yeah that that audition tape like almost like breaks me every time I watch it on YouTube because it's out there if you've never seen it like Chris Farley's audition tape for Shrek is out there. It's it's like deflating to watch it. and
01:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we knew it was tragic at the time, but like looking back, especially now- He's so young, dude. Dude, yeah. At the time he felt like he's like an old guy who like, you know- He's a famous actor. He passed away in May of 1933. Dude, he still had so much life ahead of himself, man. Chris Farley was, he was the freaking man, dude. Yeah, he's freaking chopped down on his product, dude. Yeah, so like I said, it's crazy to think about, because it really feels like this thing was made for Will Ferrell, but yeah, originally this was a completely different movie. That's crazy that it got kicked around for 10 years, though.
01:36:12
Speaker
Another fun fact, Buddy's dad's apartment, if you look at the exterior shots that they're doing to set it up, it's the same apartment building as ah Dana Barrett from Ghostbusters. Nice. Oh, the more you know, I would have never put that together. All right, so any closing thoughts before we move into the top five? Overrated. RIP, Chris Farley.
Movie #6: Gremlins - Is it a Christmas Movie?
01:36:31
Speaker
Steven Spielberg presents Gremlins. They're clever. They're mystical. They'll get into the kitchen. The basement.
01:36:42
Speaker
The garage. They'll get into anything. And once they get in, a real my you're in for it. They'll be expecting you at a special sleep preview Saturday, May 19, directed by Joe Dante. Rated PG.
01:37:00
Speaker
Alright, so this ended up coming in at number five on the list, 1984's Gremlins. um This is probably our kind of like, you know, controversy creates interest pick. We thought about Die Hard, Batman Returns was on here at one point. But ultimately, Gremlins is kind of the is it a Christmas movie? Is it not a Christmas movie that we came we came in on on the countdown? I think it definitely is, man. I think of this. I totally think of this as a Christmas movie.
01:37:26
Speaker
The vibe is 1000% Christmas. I mean, Barney gets hung up in Christmas lights. The Gremlins hang the dog up in a bunch of Christmas lights. The whole vibe, there's snow on the ground everywhere. Anytime I hear, do you hear what I hear? Do you hear what I hear? Yes. 1000%. I think Gremlins is definitely a Christmas movie. I was a little concerned because there's a whole genre of Christmas horror out there. And I feel like we could totally like slide this into a whole different genre of movies where it's like just Christmas scary movies. But I feel like Gremlin's kind of toes the line, right? Because it's still like, you know, it's still a little bit family friendly enough to where it's like, there's not like gratuitous gore or anything. But it's definitely, I think it definitely like rolls over into the horror category. Yeah, this one for me,
01:38:16
Speaker
I mean it's set during Christmas but to me this is the least Christmas christmas movie on this list and that's why I rated it the way I did. It's a good movie. I love this movie but it's just for me it's not technically a Christmas movie. So I went down to technicalities on this one and that's the only reason I ranked it as low as I did. Not because I don't like the movie. I do like the movie. i just It's just not a Christmas movie to me. I get it set during Christmas. I mean, just like Batman Returns and Die Hard, like everybody can argue all night on both of those movies as well, um whether or not they're Christmas movies. But like just because it's set during Christmas doesn't automatically make it a Christmas movie. And for me, this is like I said, great movie. It's just not a Christmas movie to me.
01:38:59
Speaker
I think it's kind of just like the juxtaposition of Christmas and just like the chaos, right? Like I feel like, you know, like you're just like expecting like, oh my gosh, like, you know, he got this Mogwai for Christmas. And then, you know, you're just like expecting like peaceful Christmas fun. And then- It's pretty damn violent pretty quick. And then yeah, then shit hits the fan. You know what I mean? Like they start dropping water on people and it's like, Oh God, like, you know, the whole town's getting freaking taken over, you know? But I think that's what's really cool is that like there's still the Christmas vibe when it's just like gremlins hanging from the ceiling and you're just like, Oh my God, like we're all going to die tonight. You know?
01:39:35
Speaker
I'm a big fan of this one, man. i I grew up on this movie. It's definitely one of my favorites from childhood. I think it holds up. ah The character design of, you know, Gizmo and the X1 Rimmelands is great. And I think we got some great performances and just a great vibe, man. I i love this movie.
01:39:52
Speaker
I wanted a Mogwai like my whole childhood. Like I thought just having a Mogwai would have been like the the most epic thing. I had so many different variations. I have a couple of them around here, but I have like my original like plastic toy Mogwai. Nick has done a great job pin on Omosh. Yeah. ones over the years oh oh do Let me just tell you.
01:40:11
Speaker
the neck of gremlins are some of the most incredible figures are i started a whole gremlins collection i was ready to go full blown like our christmas decorations we're gonna have a gremlin village and they're gonna just be like like yeah and norfolk where our whole mantle was yeah the way the elf on the shelf is i was like we're gonna have gremlins hanging from the ceiling fan like you know it's gonna be great the one like they cannot stand up those fucking gremlins yes they are not balanced and they make you press nica Oh, they make you just want to like, burn naked to the ground like because the figures look absolutely stunning like the the texture, everything about them, but trying to get them to stand up or pose in any meaningful way is just like, it's the most maddening thing it makes you feel like you're dealing with gremlins dude like it's unreal so
01:40:54
Speaker
Anyway, um I always wanted a Mogwai, and I told Seth last night, I was like, dude, i'm you can't convince me that Gizmo and the form factor of the Mogwai did not inspire the Furby. like The Furby madness is because every kid our age wanted to have a Mogwai, and like we finally were able to get one whenever we got Furbies. Yeah.
01:41:13
Speaker
Are you guys want the stats on this one? Of course. All right. So I rate it as fourth overall, man. Again, I kind of, you know, I think I expressed that how much I love this movie. Jordan had his 12th and he explained why. You know, I think if they were going strictly on quality of the movie, he'd have it higher. Right. But.
01:41:29
Speaker
as a Christmas movie as 12th. Foley fam was kind of more in line with me. They had this scored at fifth overall with the Foley fam. So it was their fifth favorite out of all the movies we got on the list. Rotten Tomatoes is scored pretty well. It was third overall with critics with an 86% fresh rating. And it was sixth overall with the audience rating with a 78%. The critics consensus is whether you choose to see it as a statement on consumer culture or simply a special effects heavy popcorn flick. Gremlins is a minor classic.
01:41:59
Speaker
Box Office also carried this thing, dude. This thing made 200... This is in 1984. Wow. It made $212 million on an $11 million budget, dude. $11 million. So, translated to 2024 dollars, this thing would have made $643 million, which puts it at second overall. So, straight up, dollars, bring it in. This is number two on the Box Office list, and it also is number two on return on investment.
01:42:23
Speaker
um The crazy thing is both those numbers are getting dwarfed by our number one in the box office on both categories, which we'll get to a little bit later on. But overall, this thing, if you know we talked about a little gap between Nightmare Before Christmas and Earnest and earnest Days Christmas. Gremlins has got a pretty big gap between it and Elf, between the the sixth best and fifth best overall. So and we got a little bit of separation here on the list, but yeah, Gremlins top five Christmas movie. You can watch this on Max. It's available to stream on Max.
01:42:54
Speaker
You guys ready for some fun facts? Yeah. Duh. All right. So the same set for the town Kingston Falls that Gremlins is set in was used on the original Back to the Future. And if you look closely, you can see some of the same like landmarks and storefronts and stuff. Cool.
01:43:11
Speaker
Originally, there was not gonna be a Gizmo character. There was just gonna be the Gremlins being evil and causing mayhem. It was Steven Spielberg himself who assisted that we need like a good Gremlin to kind of balance it out and make folks, ah you know, feel good about this. I don't think it works without Gizmo. It it absolutely 1000% does not work without Gizmo. You have to have the redeeming thing. And you know, I always read it in my mind is like Gizmo, like, you know, like you, like you would breed for puppies, right? Like, you know, you have this one, like, you know, purebred puppy, like you've, you've, you've bred it for temperament, you've bred it for, you know, all of the health qualities and all this stuff. Well, then when you drop water on it, it just spews out, you know what I mean? It's like letting just like a mutt come in and breed your freaking dog, right? Then you get these just like wild links, right? Because all the ones that came from Gizmo were wild, whereas like he was just like this purebred Mogwai. And it just kept getting further and further as the Mogwai's kind of started to multiply. I can't imagine where Gizmo. Thanks for giving us the whole fucking line of Mogwai.
01:44:08
Speaker
I'm telling you, I've done this a lot. I sing the song of the Mogwai on the right. You just got the whole bloodline of the Mogwai. Can we get a quick performance of the song of the Mogwai? Oh man, I've had a lot to drink. Let me see. Take another sip and let's hit it. Okay, let me take a little sip.
01:44:21
Speaker
question my
01:44:32
Speaker
That was pretty damn good, dude. That was pretty good. Another bonus fun fact. Do you guys know who did the voice for the Mogwai? No. For Gizmo? No. Howie Mandel. Wow. Wow. That's interesting because the Mogwai and the Gremlins are just like such disgusting creatures. Howie Mandel did, he did Gizmo and he did all the Mogwai voices where Sally was Howie Mandel. Wow. Bright light, bright light. All right. Mogwai is Cantonese for devil.
01:44:57
Speaker
Yikes. Not Christmas. I did not know that. i guess never This is the early 80s fact of the day. so Again, this is 1984, so we're way back. you know we're're We're pushing for... you know We're 40 years deep at this point. Originally, the plan was to use monkeys with like Mogwai masks and gremlin masks for the gremlins, but they just couldn't make it. Can you imagine? They were putting masks on the monkeys and they just were not cooperating at all. Imagine. I wonder why.
01:45:24
Speaker
Yeah, they pivoted to ah to ah animatronic puppets. Fun fact, this film was released the same day as Ghostbusters. did So I think there's a solid case for for June 8th, 1984 being like the greatest day in my my like movie life, because obviously I'm a huge fan of Ghostbusters and Grimlins as well. I remember we talked about this guy being the Godfather. He's coming up again. Christopher Columbus wrote the script to this movie.
01:45:50
Speaker
Not surprised. This for Columbus is discovering all the movies and all the land. And this movie along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom are credited with inspiring the PG-13 rating. Prior to this, there was no PG-13. There was PG and then there was R. And it was between Gremlins and Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom between the violence and just content that they said, you know what, we need something in between PG and R. And that's where it came from. That makes sense, yeah. Because I mean, I wouldn't consider, I definitely wouldn't consider Gremlins an R rated movie.
01:46:20
Speaker
And then, uh, but yeah, PG 13. I never really thought about where that came from, but yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. 1984 gremlins and, uh, and yeah, template doom was it. So any final thoughts on gremlins before we move on? Nope.
01:46:42
Speaker
So I want to put some really, really nice, sweet heartfelt music. You know, that's a Christmas tree from the Charlie Brown Christmas for our honorable mentions list. You guys ready for me to run down everything that the the Foley fam and ourselves came up with that should have been included but didn't? Yes.
01:46:58
Speaker
Alright, so all the following movies got one mention. Krampus, Violet Knight, Christmas Chronicles, Die Hard, I'll be home for Christmas, Claws, Santa Slay, Holiday, YHIM, Polar Express, Friday After Next, Terrifier 3, you hear it without Santa Claus.
01:47:15
Speaker
love val and white christmas za family stone yeah family stone and it's a wonderful life got two mentions the muppets christmas girl got three which that's that's a phenomenal movie yeah yeah that that's that's a grand chain rizzo the rat is bringing that movie up from the gutter Yeah, Muppets Chris definitely had a place on the list for Christmases had four missions I'll give Jordan credit it Jordan Jordan had that on v1 of the list yeah Jordan kind of Jordan crafted the original list and then we kind of ah We I chipped away at it, you know po me and him have a conversations We were afraid that for Christmases maybe just didn't have enough people that had seen it. But you know, I know for
01:47:57
Speaker
Yeah, with four mentions, I think it definitely was. And then Scrooge had five, which I i've thought long and hard, man. when we so when you know Like I said, Jordan crafted V1, and then I made some amendments. i to yeah To go behind the curtain, I thought long and hard about putting Scrooge on there, because I love Scrooge as well. yeah But you know that's one from the late 80s. I was just worried that not enough people had seen it. And I'll give a shout out to the Foley fam. I doubted you guys. um I shouldn't have, because yeah you guys brought it, man. People clearly want a Scrooge on the list. It's one of my favorite Christmas Carol adaptations. It's really, really great. Yeah. Bill Murray's hilarious. And it's just a really well done, like I said, it's a late 80s take on the the classic Christmas Carol story. um I think probably we could have dropped Christmas with the cranks and and thrown either four Christmases or Scrooge.
01:48:43
Speaker
yeah they they they they Behind the curtain, they put Christmas at the cranks on there because they know it's like one of my Christmas classics. when i Like I said, when I squeezed my way onto this podcast, they threw me a bone, put Christmas with the cranks on there. Otherwise, I think- Muppets for Christmas or Scrooge definitely got a good case for bumping either Bad Santa and or Christmas with the cranks on there. I can say Christmas with the cranks was definitely... I think looking at the scoring, I think we got the top 11 right. We probably should have thrown Scrooge Four Christmases or Muppets Christmas girl on there and in place Christmas with the cranks though. Yeah, I can't argue that I mean again I know it's my personal bias, but I can't argue so yeah Those are the three that I definitely would throw on there Jordan Did you have anything else that you feel like we didn't mention that should have got some play out here? Um, I don't think just friends got mentioned. That movie's hilarious as well. And it's based during Christmas. Uh, why? That's Ryan Reynolds, right? Yeah. Why him did get mentioned. I encourage everyone to watch that movie. Like, I don't think it was in the theater long enough or something happened because me and Ari didn't see this in the theater ever, but this movie is hilarious and Phil done it. cranton right Yeah. And Phil done it. Watched it. And he's like, dude, I'm so glad you recommended that. That movie's hilarious. It it is. yeah I gotta watch it.
01:49:54
Speaker
Jordan's been pushing it on me and he's batting a thousand Jordan's never given me a movie recommendation that hasn't worked out So I'm kind of right there with it man. I'm definitely gonna plan on watching that sometime before Christmas um All right, we're in the home stretch man. You guys ready to hit the top four. Yep this year Before your tree is trimmed and your goose is cooked Don't you people heard about basting? Catch the nation's funniest Santa. Who's down there? In the season's biggest comedy. Freeze, fat boy. Nat boy. Tim Allen. Johnny, naughty. Gary, nice. Veronica, very nice. This Santa Claus. Nice teeth. um Now playing in a theater near you. Check newspaper for showtimes.
Movie #5: The Santa Clause
01:50:41
Speaker
All right, so at number four, we have 1994's, the Santa Claus. Me and Jordan varied widely on this one, so I'm going to let Sheena go first. Wow. i'm looking the I'm looking at the scores here. I didn't realize there was this… kind of distaste for the Santa Claus. Um, ah so the Santa Claus is a really good movie. I do kind of find it strange that, you know, we just kind of forget that like, Oh, Tim Allen just like killed Santa Claus, stole his identity and like, you know, just kept, just kept it rolling. You know what I mean? I feel like it's a little bit, um, crazy. Again, this is another one of those movies where the mom is the kill joy, like, you know, the dad,
01:51:18
Speaker
Tim Allen is trying to make all of this magic happen and have his son believe in Santa Claus. And the mom is like, do you think that that's healthy that he's believing in Santa Claus? And I'm just like, Oh, neil yeah. Oh, Neil. Um, but overall, I'm surprised I didn't realize Seth didn't like this movie as much. as yeah yeah Yeah, I thought it was I thought it was fun Bernard the the lead elf, you know, it's great Bernard deserves his own Disney Plus limited series man on on everything He's got going on as a elf to me dude. This really comes. I think it's a fun movie man. It's it's decent
01:51:51
Speaker
I feel like Charlie is a straight up asshole dude. Asshole? I don't think Charlie is an asshole. He's a straight up selfish asshole dude. No dude, like the end of the movie he knows Santa Claus has got to go and deliver all these presents but he can shake up the snow globe to see him when he wants and interrupt him and he still shakes up the snow globe knowing that You know, Santa's got to go over all these presents. He only loves his dad because he's Santa Claus. Like, his dad, you know, is going through the effort to make him a Christmas dinner and, you know, burns the stuff, takes him to Denny's and he's too much of a little asshole to just enjoy a good grand slam dinner from Denny's, like...
01:52:26
Speaker
And then to go on to it, man, you know, divorce he's going I feel that. Yeah, you're right. He's got some excuses. You know, Santa Claus two comes out. He starts off. He's like making graffiti and stuff. So it shows that. Yeah, he was an asshole this whole time. um I like the North Pole. I like.
01:52:43
Speaker
The lore, you know, I like the kind of mythology they build around it, but I feel like the kid is just so insufferable, man, that it it it takes this movie down for me. to And again, as mentioned mccursed with Christmas with the Cranks, I'm a big Tim Allen fan. I think Tim Allen does great. yeah But I think some of the other storyline stuff on this just doesn't hold up to me.
01:53:00
Speaker
No, you're you're, you're a hundred percent right. Charlie's a complete asshole. First of all, he's told not to tell everybody that his dad is Santa Claus. What does he do? right it yeah Runs his mouth the entire movie about how his dad's Santa Claus makes an ass will not let it go an ass of them in front of the kids at school. Like, and then he's got a therapist as a stepdad and like the the therapist is like, Oh, come on. let' Let's grow up a little bit. His therapist dad was also the, he was a co actor in, um, gremlin. Yeah. Yeah. Judge Rhyno's in Gremlins. yeah I think me and Jordan are riding the line. Obviously, Jordan's able to forgive that sin and I just can't and that's the big gap on it. idea we had We had the same thing on Grinch Stole Christmas. that's the other That's the other movie that me and Jordan just straight up were not in alignment. I'm not going to lie though. like Neil has one of the best scenes in the entire movie when Santa drops the toys out of the sleigh and he gets the weenie whistle.
01:53:53
Speaker
It's the best, dude. $10 is great. I really just cannot fucking stand the kid, man. I hate that kid, dude. Fucking kid. Everything else is great, man. I love it, dude. I love when he's transitioning into Santa Claus. I like when he's at this business meeting, and he's like, I'm going to have a... He's starting to gain the Santa weight. He's like, I'm going to have a little bit of a salad with no dressing and cookies and some hot fudge sundae. And they're just like... Extra fudge on the side. They're like, oh, beast, beasting, huh, Neil? There's a big beef.
01:54:22
Speaker
That's a big B. Something I've always thought about this movie. Same thing with this Doubtfire. I think you can do a remake. It probably worked better as a limited series than a feature-length film, but do a super dark remake where it's all about like like mental health and like mental abuse and stuff where this dad convinces his son that he's Santa Claus to try to get his affections and stuff. What is wrong with Yeah, I just think that'd be interesting if you wouldn't watch that man like a dark bird I feel like there's a dark version of this and a super dark version of this down fire out there to be head Yeah, it's like some sort of like reverse munchausen. Yeah yeah here Here we are Having a joyous conversation about Christmas and ah along comes Seth to to really put the blackness over it and turn it into black Christmas like
01:55:06
Speaker
He's like, I really want these kids to deal with parents' mental health issues. You know what would be really cool is if somebody pulled out a revolver and shot Santa in the middle of the street.
01:55:17
Speaker
Oh my gosh. All right, you guys want to get into some stats? Let's hear it. So again, I just cannot stand the kid, dude. I had this at number 11. If you take the kid out of this and just replace him with, you know,
01:55:29
Speaker
I think he was in a few movies in the night. Yeah, he was. I think of yours plays this with just a kid who's just kind of neutral. Plain milk's fine. Yeah, a kid that's just there, I scored a lot higher, dude. Because I love everything else about it, man. I think it's one of the best visual interpretations of what the North Pole looks and operates like. um But I had it at 11. Jordan had it at third.
01:55:49
Speaker
Yeah, the Foley fam was much more in line with Jordan. The Foley fam also scored. This is number three overall on the list um Rotten tomato had this critics score was sixth audience score was eight. The critics had this at 73% fresh audience had it at 66% fresh the critics Kind of consensus was the Santa Claus is utterly undemanding But it's firmly rooted in the sort of good old-fashioned all with holiday spirit missing from too many modern dual tide films Yeah, I can appreciate that i agree much spot on
01:56:20
Speaker
was a very big hit, man. This thing made 190 million against the $22 million dollars budget. And this is in 1994. So that translates to 2024 dollars. It makes 404 million, which puts it as the number four smash hit on our list. And for return on investment, it scored third because this was super low budget. Is there just one sequel to this there or is there two? There's two. There's all a trilogy. There's two and then there's a Disney plus series. That's two seasons.
01:56:46
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. So I, you know, it definite it's definitely resonant. I got some nostalgia. I remember my mom taking me and my little brother to see this in the movies. Um, so yeah it's got a big nostalgia factor. And like I said, as far as the North Pole goes, I think this is probably the best cinematic representation of the North Pole that we've gotten. Yeah. Tim Allen was huge at this point, dude. This is fresh off home improvement. Like this is Tim Allen and his heyday. So are you guys ready for this? I'm going to get into the fun facts. Yes.
01:57:15
Speaker
So the week this movie came out, Tim Allen had the number one movie in America. Home Improvement was the number one rated TV show and his autobiography was on the shelves at the time. It was the number one books to in America, dude. So he had the number one movie, TV show and book at the same time. Jordan, can we get a little Home Improvement? go Dude, Home Improvement is one of the greatest shows ever made. Oh, I love it. So good, dude. So good. Home Improvement's a banger, dude. Yeah, the three kids, the wife, freaking Wilson. Yeah, it's great, dude.
01:57:45
Speaker
um The script was originally written a few, about five years earlier. It had Bill Murray in mind for the Santa Claus. I don't think it plays the same though. Cause I love, I love Bill Murray, but he's so much more like just cynical and dry and sarcastic. Whereas Tim, Tim Allen's like, dude, he, he's like comedy for everybody. He's middle America comedy a hundred percent. man yes And he's, and he's sarcastic, but it's in a way that's like,
01:58:09
Speaker
endearing, you know what I mean? Like it's still, you're still just like rooting for this guy, you know? Whereas, yeah, Bill Murray is, he plays much more, way more dry, way more dry and cynical. Uh, so the grunting sounds for come at the reindeer, they were taken from the doom video game. That's right. sounds how That's awesome. That's a throwback. Did you remember how awesome doom was when we were kids, Jordan? It was like one of the greatest games ever to play on computer. Yeah. Yeah. wolf Wolfenstein came first and then doom and I just remember playing doom and thinking like, dude, it's never going to get better than this.
01:58:38
Speaker
All right, again, this is the, you know, he's gonna come up a couple more times, dude. Chris Columbus, the godfather. Of Chris Columbus. He was the original director for this movie, but he bailed to make Mrs. Doubtfire. I mean, I can't, I mean, and Mrs. Doubtfire was a freaking smash, too. But how wild is that that he was attached to this? You know, this is like the fifth movie in our list. We still got, we still got three to go. and this is it Is his real name Chris Columbus? Yeah. um Yeah, that is wild that he's like the, you know. The discoverer of everything.
01:59:06
Speaker
Yeah, he's the progenitor of Christmas and and it's funny cuz you know miss doubt fire is kind of similar to this dude You got a little bit like, you know Strife if you really think about there's some weird vibes going on with these. Yes. Yes. All right, so you guys ready hit top three.
Top 3 Teaser: A Christmas Story
01:59:20
Speaker
Let's do it
01:59:22
Speaker
um In this modern age, too many people have lost Christmas, MGM presents... Me to you. the movie that sends up Santa Claus. Mom, hush. Shut up, Ralphie. A Christmas story, rated PG. Starts Friday at select area theaters.
01:59:53
Speaker
All right, so we're officially in what I think is the absolute holy trinity. It's the holy trinity. The Christmas movies, yeah. It's literally just, you know, it's it's very little separating these movies when we get to this point. At least at least from you know from from five to two, it's very, very tight. And these are annual, I think they should be annual watchers for everybody. Yeah, yeah for yeah like I said, from from number five to number two, we're talking absolute fractions on separation here. Number number one really kind of set itself apart. but But number three, we got 1983's Christmas Story.
02:00:25
Speaker
Yeah, I love a Christmas story. I think it this harkens back to what we were talking about with Jingle All The Way, where it's like, you as a kid, you have, the and this and this is more from the kid's perspective, right? So we saw Jingle All The Way from the parent's perspective, where the kid wants a toy and you're just like willing to go to great lengths to get the, whatever this toy is, you know, to make your child's Christmas. Whereas like, this is from Ralphie's perspective, where he's like, he wants this Red Rider BB gun. you're Like, this is all he desires. You know, he he doesn't care if he gets anything else. He just wants this Red Rider BB gun.
02:00:53
Speaker
And he's going to do anything and everything he can to convince his parents that this is this is the the toy, the pinnacle of his of his Christmas season. and um I just think I love this version of like childhood where it's just like completely unplugged. It's completely, um you know, just in the neighborhoods, in the schools, like it's just it's oh I just love it so much.
02:01:17
Speaker
Yeah, like she said, this is similar to jingle all the way. This really captures the essence of being a kid and having that one gift that's going to make or break Christmas. Right. Nothing else will do. You got to have this one thing. um Really, really, really, really fun movie, man. um It's kind of it's it's just timeless. it It really is. And I think from ah as far as from a kid's perspective, it absolutely nails what Christmas is all about.
02:01:40
Speaker
Yeah. um Like you i said, everything about this movie is just, it's memorable. Like, I think that's the one word you can describe to use this, use to describe this movie is just you remember everything about it. Like, when his dad's changing the tire, everything like that. Oh, yeah. the bomb Yeah, I just like the bumpus hounds. Yeah, the bumpus is and then the um the end of the movie when they go to the Chinese restaurant, he's about to behead the duck at the table and the mom's like freaking out.
02:02:08
Speaker
It's smiling at me. This whole movie is just, I mean, if this isn't nostalgic for you, I don't know what it is. I mean, you get 24 hours of the Christmas story every year. I wonder where that started. I was thinking about that earlier today. When did it start that TNT was just like, you know what? On Christmas Eve, we're just going to play the Christmas story for 24 straight hours. It's been a long time. I mean, ever since I was a child, I don't know if they still even do it, but they still do it. They'll never stop.
02:02:35
Speaker
I mean like my entire childhood. I swear to God this was every Christmas Eve It was 24 hours of a Christmas story you could watch it any given moment 1997 was the first year they did it Yeah, it's it's kind of become just saturated and it's gone back and forth between TBS and TNT who's gonna host it But they've still kept it going the entire time the last you like George said the last you know We're going on 28 years now at Christmas. You can watch this movie for 24 hours There's there's only three movies that get the 24-hour stitch straight treatment and they're all almost on this list Christmas story Christmas vacation and
02:03:08
Speaker
Oh God, what's elf. That's the only three movies that are on this list. They get 24 hours at some point during Christmas season. So yeah, it's a, this is definitely a nostalgic. And then the, the pink, the pink bunny, like I just, I mean, if this movie doesn't resonate with you and then when he's doing the decoder or whatever, and everybody's rushing him in the bathroom, and he's like, be sure to drink your oval team.
02:03:32
Speaker
but yeah there about ad And you'll shoot your eye out is like straight up like that's just like a crazy this point man like yeah, so win for We'll get into the stats I had a fifth Jordan had a six but Jordan I'm assuming you're like me man like the top six there was basically just there's not razors edge between them There's not much separation in the top six for me Foley fam had this right along with me and Jordan they had it six the Foley fam had this is sixth overall and Rotten tomatoes is scored very high. This was number two with the critics score 89% fresh and the audience audience score 89% fresh So it's number two for both critics and audience critics consensus was
02:04:12
Speaker
both warmly inter nostalgic and darkly humorous. A Christmas story deserves its status as a holiday perennial. So, pretty startling review. this The crazy thing is, this thing was super, super quiet at the box office, dude. this Released in 1983, it only made $19 million, dollars man. So, this was a very, very quiet movie. It made $19 million against a $3 million dollars budget. So, and you know, even- Well, you said in the 50s, is that what it was? said So, nobody knows. So, we'll get, it you know, that's that's kind of into the trivia.
02:04:39
Speaker
it It was vague. It was some point between the late 30s to the early 50s when it was set, and they purposely made it a little bit timeless in that regards. That makes sense. But even adjusted for for inflation, this was the least performing movie at the actual box office, right? This thing only made, accounting for $20, $24, it made 60 mil at the box office, which puts it in last place, which is crazy to think this thing still scored third overall. It in it was the last place straight up box office gross.
02:05:07
Speaker
um It just, this thing picked up steam on home video, man. Home video and in syndication on TV. It was fifth in return on investment because again, it only had a $3 million dollars budget. so Well, like we said, i mean everybody that's in our age bracket grew up with this. you mean You saw it at some point. Yeah, it saturated. There was no way that you were not going to see a Christmas story at some point in your childhood if you are between the ages of 35 and 40.
02:05:34
Speaker
All right. You guys want some fun facts? Yep. All right. So when Schwartz gets his tongue stuck to the light, the light pole, they actually use the suction tube, uh, the suction tube. That's how they created that effect on the light pole.
02:05:47
Speaker
2005, a fan actually bought the house from Christmas Story. It's in Cleveland, Ohio. They bought the house, and then they spent $500,000 to restore it for a museum. Wow. It's still open to this day as a tourist attraction. It'll never close. We didn't talk about the leg lamp, how iconic the leg lamp was. Fragile. Fragile. Must be French. Italian. Italian, yeah. Every meal the family eats at nighttime is meatloaf, red cabbage, and mashed potatoes. They eat the same thing every single night.
02:06:17
Speaker
And then lastly, yeah, this movie inspired the creation of the Wonder Years, man. That makes sense. That 1000% makes sense. It attracts, yeah. Yeah, just, ah it's a classic, man. It's sort of it's hater
Movie #2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
02:06:30
Speaker
-proof, there's nothing bad you can say about a Christmas story. It's an absolutely outstanding watch. You gotta watch it once every year. Have any of you seen the Graffi as a grown-up, the Christmas story, new movie? Yeah, it's good. it's i mean it's no It's nowhere near the original Christmas story, but it i mean it gives you a little bit of the feels. It's it's a good movie. All right, you guys ready to get into the top two? Top two, baby.
02:06:55
Speaker
You better watch out. You better be good. Can I take something out for you? You better not live in the neighborhood. Because the Griswolds are spending Christmas at home. We didn't come to impose. Oh hell, there's plenty of room. I refill your eggnog for you. Drive you out to the middle of nowhere. Leave you for dead. Chevy Chase. Everybody come out quick. Look at the lights. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Rated PG-13. Starts Friday, December 1st at a theater near you.
02:07:25
Speaker
Alright, so head number two, we have 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, pro you know, it's for me, ah it's right there with what we're gonna have at number one for the absolute funniest Christmas movie, one of the point Blake funniest movies ever, like, it's just a classic man, it's another one that's just, again, this one, Christmas Story and what we got at number one, which I'm sure most people are probably guessing by now, they're all three straight up hater proof.
02:07:50
Speaker
Absolutely. I feel like the the beautiful thing about Christmas vacation, especially now as a grown up, I feel like it really captures that like the the parental desire to like make like Christmas magical for your family and make it perfect. Yes, you want it perfect for your family and but like real life is always going to get in the way, right? There's always family dysfunction. There's always just things that get in the way like there's just so much, like, you know, your job, your work's pissing you off. Like, and it's just, it really just leans into that. And I, oh my God, I just love, I love the Griswold and all their dysfunctional extended family. It's just a beautiful universe. Yeah. Me and Seth talked about this movie yesterday before we did a goal line. And I just told him like, this to me is like a top 10 movie, like not even a Christmas movie. Like this is top 10 for me. Just overall, like I can probably watch this movie at any point.
02:08:41
Speaker
I can probably quote the entire movie. It's just this movie is so good. Just everything about it. Clark's just the all American dad just trying to do everything right for his family. Yeah, every scene in this movie is like meaningful to I think that's like what really hits it for me like Every scene in this movie means something and the fact that it's only spread out over like four days is Incredible to me like this movie is like right up against Christmas um He's missing his bonus check all that stuff ah Just the scene where him and Eddie are in the living room and he's looking at the tree and he breaks his little windmill and he's like
02:09:19
Speaker
he's like uh the RV sure does look good in the driveway he's like yeah it sure does but don't you go falling in love with it we're taking it with us when we leave next month and he spits his eggnog out like just that scene for me is just like like that's exactly like your weird uncle that because everybody has a weird aunt her uncle overextended themselves everybody always had one and just this movie just like gives you like that vibe when you were a kid it's like okay stop talking to me now i love how we just keep adding more and more characters right like so you start out with just the griswolds and then you get the in-laws and the grandparents and then you go on to cousin eddie and then you get like aunt bethany you know what i mean and then obviously we have the neighbors we have uh julie lou dryfist who's just like they're you know margo and todd like
02:10:01
Speaker
Yeah, the yuppies like they're just a perfect freaking yin and yang to ah to the griswolds when they're walking when he when Clark is walking and Bethany to the house is like it ah that that to me is like a top like five like scene just like the whole Is your house on fire, Clark? Don't throw me down, Clark. Are you just supposed to be still in the Navy? i just oh To me, the scene that really makes the movie, dude, is when Clark gets trapped in the attic and he finds the old stone reels from when he was a kid, dude. like you know i just ah
02:10:37
Speaker
I don't know man, I feel like this is the perfect balance to show up like hilarious over the top comedy and just like family warm. Yeah, yeah part and another thing that um I you know, I noticed on a rewatch recently was just like that this so nostalgic to me is just like how like at the there was a part in the movie where um Rusty and um and clarker at the mall and just like the mall at christmas time like oh it was just like i mean you know how the malls used to just decorate and go all out i haven't been to a mall in the last two years i can't even tell you the last time i went to a mall but the mall used to be awesome dude i still love going to the mall dude you look so forward to going to the mall it was just the energy the vibe everything Everything was on point and then when you go to the mall at Christmas time, everything is just like amplified. You always got the roasted nuts stand somewhere in there. you see yeah on the restas all holiday All the stores have holiday displays. Santa somewhere in there. like It was just like a whole like vibe. Our kids definitely are gonna there's never going to experience it. and it just like When I watched it recently, I was like, man, that is so sad that like the the day of the mall is dead. like the the The mall is just absolutely a thing of the past. It really is sad. um
02:11:49
Speaker
but One of the other like just great scenes in the movie is when um Eddie and Clark are at Walmart and he's putting all the dog food in the car and Clark puts the light bulbs and he slams like an 80 pound bag of dog food on it. And he's like, Hey, me and Ellen really wanted to do something nice for for you and the kids and give them an ice crisp. He's like, Oh, you know, I'm not one for charity. Oh, Eddie, I know that. And he's like, here's a list alphabetical order starting with Catherine.
02:12:15
Speaker
like year yeah yeah he writing yeah and yeah mean that gra with If there's enough money left, get you something really she says a nice. I mean, and that's the thing is uncle Eddie isn't blood related to either of them. Like, you know, um, edit or, um, freaking Catherine is her cousin. Catherine is the cousin to, uh, Clark's wife. You know what I mean? So it's like, Eddie is just this like total.
02:12:39
Speaker
wild card who's like not related to anybody, but he just tries to get in there and fit it, you know. It's best if Snaas lays India. He's got a little bit of Mississippi leg. You just let it happen. And what about Shitter's Fool? You know what I mean? I can't even count how many times I've said, you know, Shitter's Fool over the years. And I don't even know why I would ever say that, but I've said it so many times. Shitter's Fool.
02:13:02
Speaker
or when he asked him if he can buy the chair that just blew up because the caddy is like, I could fumigate this item. I'm going to set you back. He's got no money. It's a high quality item right here. All right. So you guys want the stats on this one? Of course. So I had a sixth, but again, I got to mention that, like I said, between six and one, it's literally just, you know, barely a difference between them. Jordan had this one at number one. Can't hate on him, but that Foley fam had this one at number two. So Foley fam scored this one extremely high.
02:13:32
Speaker
Rotten Tomato, the critics did not love this one as much, man. Critics had it at seventh place. Audience had it at third place. The critics consensus was, while Christmas Vacation may not be the most disciplined comedy, it's got enough laughs and good cheer to make for a solid seasonal treat. So again, it was gonna be- I think seasonal treat is underselling. Yeah. It's like the Roseanne of Christmas movies, right? like I think it's like ah on a level that everybody can relate to. right This thing, it really had most of its legs after the fact on cable TV and on home video. ah At the box office, it made 73 mil on ah against the $25 million dollars budget. So in 2024 terms,
02:14:09
Speaker
made 185 mils for 8th place. It was 8th place even though adjusted for inflation on the box office. and It was only 9th on return on investment, which just lets you know how like, you know, how important this thing has been after the fact, right? This thing really grew its legs once it got out of the theaters and then home video and on HBO, Cinemax, all that stuff. yeah And again, it's still selling merch and stuff. People are still like buying Christmas. Yeah, this is still a top three Christmas movie till this day and it's still selling top three merch to this day. All right. You guys want some fun facts? Yeah.
02:14:43
Speaker
All right, so in the scene where ah the famous scene where about the the lights don't don't turn them on when ah when Clark plugs them in, Chevy Chase actually broke his pinky when he punched the the blow mold Santa Claus man. Broke his pinky. Those vintage blow molds are hard. They are hard. They are very hard. If you watch the scene, that's why after that first punch, he starts just throwing kicks and then picking up stuff and using it as like clubs and everything because he knows she had broke his pinky on that.
02:15:09
Speaker
again chris for columbus you know another mention of him he was originally slated to direct this movie but chevy chase was such a pain in the ass that he realized about a week into it that dude i'm just not going to be able to work with this guy he's just too much of he's too hard to work with and he he bowed out of it you know told john he used the producer that i can't do this and he felt super conflicted as he did it he um he He thought he was committing career suicide, but John Hughes liked him enough that he threw him a bone and said, I'm going to let you you know direct this other project. I got a hopper, a little bit of a more low risk, low budget type deal. And ah you know spoiler alert, we may be talking about it next.
02:15:50
Speaker
um A nice bit of little continuity. So in the movie, when things start going sideways on Christmas Eve, Rusty laments, you know, man, we should have just gone to Hawaii. in ah christmas vacation And the original National Lampoon's vacation movie, when they're about to hit the road, you know, Chevy Chase is getting the family hyped up, and that's where everybody wants to go. Rusty, back in 83, says, I want to go to Hawaii. So yeah, just a nice little bit of continuity there. Totally different actor. ah Again, six years apart, but I thought it was a nice touch.
02:16:20
Speaker
A lot of people don't realize when Clark and Cousin Eddie are drinking the eggnog, they think it's just some nice moose ah mugs. Those are actually Wally World mugs, which again, tie into some vacation. I did not know that until you told me that. You told me that just like yesterday, day before, and I did not know that. Marty marty the Moose is the Wally World ah mascot. Yeah. so I love the continuity, man. Another nice little touch.
02:16:39
Speaker
And then lastly aunt Bethany which you know is really one of the funniest parts of the movie. She was actually had a super Important career ahead of this. This was her last role in the movies But part of this she was the voice for Betty Boop who was one of the most famous. Yeah If you I mean and Bethany looks like Betty Boop, you know, I mean he like she just looks like Betty Boop as a granny So she and you just watched this movie again a couple days ago, how did it hold up I Oh, it holds up. I think it's just, it's great. Like I said, for me, um, you know, which is funny because, you know, Johnny Galecki was also in Roseanne. I feel like this gives Roseanne vibes at Christmas, right? Like it's like middle America. It's middle class Christmas. It's a middle class Christmas. Cause I even think like, you know, a movie like, you know, Home Alone or like the Santa Claus or something, they're still a little bit more polished, right? Like they're still a little bit more like, You got to be rich, so live back in a lot. Yeah, it's like rich Christmas, right? Even like Christmas with the cranks, I feel like they're a little bit upper middle class. Whereas like this, they're showing the extended family dysfunction. They're showing the raw grittiness of life. Clark, the whole time he's stressed out about some financial. He's trying to put a pool in his backyard. Yeah, exactly. If this Christmas bonus don't come through, he ain't going to be able to do it.
02:17:49
Speaker
Yeah, and then he, you know, gets the jelly of the month club and it really just shows, you know, he's like, you know, heartless, dickless, you know, son of a bitch. And it's just, uh, it's just a beautiful moment whenever he goes off on his boss. I love that. But it it holds up, man. I watch it every year and, um, I'll probably continue to watch it every year from now until my last Christmas. All
Movie #1: Home Alone
02:18:10
Speaker
right. Yeah. He's ready to hit number one. Let's do it.
02:18:15
Speaker
In their rush to the airport, the McAllister's overlooked one minor detail. um Now, his parents have a problem. I don't care if I have to get out on your runway and hitchhike. I am going to get home to my son. Two burglars are in trouble. We Home Alone. Rated PG. Starts Friday at theaters everywhere.
02:18:45
Speaker
So I got to point out, man, Home Alone, 1990. This thing was number one by a landslide. So I guys explained in in the opening how we scored this thing out. Christmas Vacation scored at 36. Again, we're going golf scoring. So lowest score you know is ah is the best. So to put it in perspective, Christmas Vacation at number two was 36. Christmas Story and Santa Claus were both tied at 38. Gremlins was right behind it at 39.
02:19:11
Speaker
Home Alone scored a 19. So this thing was, again, by far and away the number one Christmas movie ever by the methodology we set up and what and what the Foley family had scored out, man. So ah you know I put the crown on it like you know like we did we saw Roman Reigns get when they stomped out Kofi. like This is the king of Christmas movies.
02:19:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this movie is hater proof to me. Like it's just everything about this movie is great. um Kevin McAllister just being left at home why his parents are his family is off. Again, though, like everybody always asked the same question. What exactly did Peter McAllister do for a living to be able to take this entire family to Paris for Christmas? Like,
02:19:56
Speaker
Good Lord. I think he was, I think he was white collar mafia, dude. That's what I always thought. I think, yeah, but you know, everybody always asks what his dad did, but I mean, dude, Catherine O'Hara was wearing some power suits, dude. I don't think, I don't think any homemaker, I don't think she was like a stay at home mom, dude. I mean, you know, I don't see me stay at home moms rocking like the freaking power suit, like Catherine O'Hara was, was rocking. So I mean, she, she She may have been the breadwinner. The uncle did not pay for it. Yes he did. The dad paid for it. No, the dad paid for it. Because Kevin, when he's getting scolded by his Uncle Frank, he's like, your dad paid a lot of money for this trip, you little man. Yeah. You don't remember Uncle Frank was the one trying to steal the champagne glasses on the plane, dude. No, the uncle in Paris, though. The uncle in Paris was like, he's like, he treated us to this vacation. I'm almost positive that the uncle- No, the dad paid for it. Frank literally says it in the movie after Kevin spills everything when he tells him, look what you did, you little jerk. Your dad paid a lot of money for this trip.
02:20:54
Speaker
I thought the dad paid for it. The dad paid for it. I've never heard this theory. Yeah, the dad paid for it. There is a line in the movie where Catherine O'Hara is talking to either the pizza guy or she's talking to Joe Pesci. And she's like, nope, you guys are right. I'm looking at it right now. Uncle Rob paid for the Paris trip in Home Alone. Sheena was right. I told you. Uncle Rob paid for the Paris trip in Home Alone. He's a wealthy character who funded the flights. Uncle Rob also owns the Paris apartment with the stunning view of the Eiffel Tower. Man, I was right there with you, Jordan. I thought the dad paid for But it. Frank does say that line though. He says your dad paid a lot of money for this trip.
02:21:29
Speaker
I mean, maybe he, cause he's probably footing the bill but while ah uncle Frank is freaking, um, you know, mooching at their house with all their kids. Put it down. he's purse Put it in your purse. Yeah. Remember when uncle Frank comes and gets all the pizzas and he's like, ah, my, my brother will pay for it. You know, like, I mean, he's dude, uncle Frank is the worst. Um, but this movie is just iconic in so many ways. I feel like, I mean, the, the amount of just cultural quotables in this movie are just, I mean, there's just the infinity symbol, I think. Bro, I'm just still mind blowing. I'm reading this right now. Like, yeah, they're saying it's a common mistake, but it was actually Peter's brother that that paid for the McOsher family to fly out there. Yeah, watch the movie again. And like I said, you'll see Catherine O'Hare mentioned it. I can't remember if she's talking to the, I mean, maybe both of them, the pizza guy. And, um you know, when Joe Pesci was being the cop coming to investigate in the house, she says, you know, my my brother invited us to our
02:22:16
Speaker
And Home Alone 2, Kevin's dad paid for it, dude. So we may be just having like the Mandela effect. And Home Alone 2, Uncle Frank tells Kevin, don't wreck this trip. Your dad's paying good money. That's it is. That makes more sense. Which, you know, Home Alone 2 totally belonged on this list. i and Yes. In a lot of ways, man, I kind of, I think, like, gunned in my head. I think I maybe like Home Alone 2 a little bit better than Home Alone 1. I was going to say that, like, is this a hot take? But I think Home Alone 2 is better than Home Alone 1.
02:22:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think you did' there's a lot more to it, man. Home Alone is a little bit more simpler. Obviously, Home Alone 2 had a way higher budget because they already had the proof of concept. But if you could only include one, on i think you could I think you can only put one on this list and you got to put Home Alone over the over part two. I think you just have to... I mean, as the Home Alone 2, you really has have to suspend your disbelief that this happened to the same family like twice, you know what I mean? And you're like... I thought they did a good job of explaining how it happened though, man.
02:23:10
Speaker
Yeah, they were kind of a package deal on this man, if we want to be honest, but we can only put one. So that's why I had to put put my kids shoes on though, like, and that's how you have to view this because we were kids when this came out, I would much rather be lost in New York and in this huge hotel and getting a limo to a toy store and like dude, Home on two is like a kid's dream. I mean, also a nightmare, but also a kid's dream. But it, I think that's, I think that's a major part why I liked the second one better. And just like New York at Christmas time is just, it's always just nostalgic and like magical, like New York at Christmas is just like the coolest city ever. I agree, but I love seeing Kevin at his home doing grown up things, right? I love seeing Kevin like, he's got the shower and he's got the towel wrapped around him and the, you know, the aftershave and whatnot. And then when he goes to the grocery and he's like, is this, is this, um, toothbrush, you know, ADA approved or whatever? Like I just.
02:24:09
Speaker
The whole thing. Getting the macaroni and cheese that he never got to eat. He never got to eat the macaroni and cheese. I'd be willing to bet if we had Homo 1-2 on here, I think they're probably scoring 1-2, man. I think they're both getting the night over Christmas vacation. They're both just so great, dude. And they step up the stunts, too. Credit to Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci, Marvin Harry. Marvin Harry. Yeah, credit to Marvin Harry. The sticky bandits and the wet bandits. They definitely step up the stunts in part two as well, man. So they're both really, really great.
02:24:39
Speaker
But yeah, just did an awesome movie, especially if you watch it through a kid's lens, dude. like I think it still holds up as an adult, but especially when you see it as a kid, it's like a kid's dream. Yeah, and then the moment, like it just it gives you so many feel-good moments. because like when you know I know Buzz is an asshole, but like when when Kevin and ah Buzz and the cousin are in there, and they're talking about old man Marley, and you know it's just like Kevin's just like, oh my God. You're like those scary stories you heard as a kid that just haunted you. That just haunted you. And then like, you know, um him not wanting, but or um Kevin in his room. And then when he gets back, you know, Kevin's destroyed. Like, you know, the shelf has fallen off, the spider's gone. Don't you know how to knock, flim wad? Don't you know, I wouldn't let you sleep in my bed if you were growing on my ass.
02:25:23
Speaker
Oh, Buzz is iconic, dude. You guys want to get into the stats on this one? Yes. All right, so me and Jordan both scored it at number two. I think we each had our own personal favorites at number one, but again, we each agreed that this was the second best Christmas movie ever. Foley Fam had this one at number one by a landslide. It was not close, so it ever doubted a score of 4.73.
02:25:46
Speaker
Number two was a score 4.2 so this was sky high number one. Critics didn't like this movie man which is really surprising to me because I thought it was a really well crafted little holiday tale man but critics had this one and ah this had a Rotten Tomatoes score of number eight. The critics consensus was Home Alone's uneven but frequently funny premise is stretched unreasonably thin, but is buoyed by Macaulay Culkin's cute performance and strong supporting stars, which yeah, and I guess i I can't really disagree with that critique, but it scored eighth overall. Audience for Rotten Tomatoes headed at fourth. I think that's just because it's so popular, man. I think because it's so popular, so many people have watched this and reviewed it that it kind of like drags, you know, enough people are tossing at three and two star reviews. Just to be an asshole.
02:26:31
Speaker
Yeah, it gets a little bit of backlash. This thing made $476 million dollars ah in In 1990, it made $476 million dollars against the $18 million dollars budget. So ah adjusting for inflation, this thing made $1.1 billion with a B dollars. To put that in perspective, number our number two hit as far as gross goes was gremlins, which was at 643. So this thing was almost double number two on box office. Obviously, it had the number one return on investment.
02:27:00
Speaker
just a smash all the way. Like I said, this there was a giant gap on our scoring criteria, a big gap between this one and number two Christmas vacation. This is just like every kid's dream, I think. You know what I mean? Just like set up booby traps. I mean, I know all of us at some point in our life, like it was just something we did as a kid, right? Like you just set up booby traps and you would just use whatever, you know, materials that you had around you and like to think that you could like ward off you know, those sticky bands. Yeah, this is the wet bandits in this one. Yeah, you can ward off the wet bandits with your just like micro machines and your you know, ornament booby traps and everything. Like it's just, it's wild. I do want to note this too. So in 1990, this was the highest grossing film. It beat out ghost, pretty woman, teenage mutant Ninja Turtles, number one, hunt for red October total recall,
02:27:48
Speaker
Die Hard 2, Driving Miss Daisy, Dick Tracy, and Back to the Future 3 were the top 10 movies. So let's just think about that. Let's just think about that for a moment. Think about how many just absolute bangers came out in 1990. When have we had a year like that? I don't even know what's in the movies anymore. My kids want to go see Moana 2. Only reason I know that is because my mother-in-law was like, I didn't even know Moana 2 was out yet. And she was like, I want to take the kids to see Moana 2.
02:28:14
Speaker
like it just It's just not never going to be a year like that. Again, there's never going to be a going to the movies is not the same anymore. likeger First of all, it costs you $100 to go see the movie just to get the tickets. Oh, easy, easy. Just to get the tickets and then on top of everything else, like it really has to be me and $8 for a pack of M&Ms. Me and Ari used to go see a movie every weekend. Like we used to, I used to go double header sometimes. yeah we We were like, you know, yeah we used to go all the time and It just got to a point where like you had to pick and choose what you really wanted to see at the theater. Cause it's like, dude, you're dropping 200 bucks by the time you walk out of there. It's expensive as hell. And you know, like this thing's probably going to be on stream within about 12 weeks. yeah so like a red one work a my have The red one, the Christmas movie this year is already streaming on Amazon primary. Yeah, it just came out four weeks ago. Like it's just, it's insane now.
02:29:06
Speaker
All right, you guys want some fun facts? Yeah. So on the set, Joe Pesci specifically avoided Macaulay Culkin. He made sure he was not around Macaulay Culkin at all until they were filming their scenes just so that way he could get the maximum like you know uncomfortableness, like and uneasiness with them when they were there filming their scenes together. Oh.
02:29:24
Speaker
So I think one thing that really lends to a lot of just the warmth of this movie and heartwarming is the stretch when Captain O'Hara, the mom, when you know which we mentioned her before on Nightmare Before Christmas, when she kind of ah you know links up with John Candy, right? The polka singer and stuff, and they go on that whole road trip. I think that really adds a lot of heart and warmth to the movie. Captain O'Hara and John Candy were actually like really, really dear friends in real life to the point that Captain O'Hara delivered one of the eulogies at John Candy's funeral.
02:29:53
Speaker
I think a lot of their stuff, we talked about um somebody improving. I think a lot of their um the whole polka polka bit, I think all of that was improved. Where he was just saying, you know whatever polka, never heard of it. you know like like that Yeah, that whole bit was just improved.
02:30:11
Speaker
yeah So this movie is directed by Chris Columbus. Again, we mentioned him multiple times now, the godfather Chris. This is the movie that he yeah yeah yeah he did. He also directed John Candy and Uncle Buck, which was out a couple of years ago. This Macaulay Culkin also played in that. And John Candy, he was so endeared with Chris Columbus and how much like he loved doing Uncle Buck. He did this movie for scale, which is the actor's equivalent of basically minimum wage. You know, he basically he did he did his part. He didn't charge any extra.
02:30:39
Speaker
minimum wage for actors is what he got paid for this. So I thought that was pretty cool. that's This is adjusted for inflation. This is the highest grossing comedy of all time. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. And the elevator pitch for this movie when they were kind of shopping it around Hollywood studios was it was going to be die hard but for kids. Hell yeah. Wow.
02:30:58
Speaker
Uh, yeah, like I said, man, hater proof. I got to imagine every single person listening to this has already seen it. If you have go watch it again, man. You
Cherished Christmas Traditions & Wishes
02:31:06
Speaker
got, you got, by the time you're listening to this, you got five or six days before Christmas. Go watch Home Alone again, man. It's just, it's an absolute banger, dude. You made, uh, ornaments out of my new fish hooks. I could have used the old ones. They have fish guts all over them. yeah All right. Let's hit some listener mail and then we'll get out of here. What do we got? I'm pulling it up.
02:31:28
Speaker
You got to be like me. You got to take those screenshots. You got to take those screenshots. I've got four questions. First off, we'll go off with the Lori Ari, the lovely Ari. Jesus. Man, the toasted, toasted. That's it. The toasted maker just hit me. Yeah, we got to get out of here quick. Jordan's working on an internet update, so we're working against the clock at this point.
02:31:45
Speaker
ah What is your favorite Christmas tradition from childhood and do you still do it with your kids? I'll say for me, it's opening one present on Christmas Eve. That's always such such a nice little appetizer, man. that's I think that's probably my favorite. My favorite was always, I don't do it with my kids. It's something that I definitely want to. My my kids are still pretty small. um I did this more as like a 10, 11, 12, 13 year old.
02:32:07
Speaker
all through middle school and actually you know pretty much all through high school, we would make candy for like all of our neighbors. And I actually took like a bunch of, like I would make like a bunch of little candy baskets and stuff and take them to my friends at um at school. We would make like a little buck eyeballs and like fudge and like all this stuff. And we would like pack it to all of our all of our neighbors and like a lot of the older people in our community. And um I would take stuff to school too to my friends. So making like Christmas candy and Christmas cookies and stuff is one of my favorite childhood memories.
02:32:34
Speaker
Uh, mine was always getting together on Christmas Eve with all my cousins, my aunts and uncles, my grandma. Um, ah unfortunately when my grandma passed away, the tradition kind of just died off. Um, and just, we're not as close anymore. So it sucks. I mean, I have a lot of cousins too, so it was always fun getting together with them and just, it just like felt like it always made Christmas feel like so much more special because I spent so much time with my family, but yeah.
02:33:02
Speaker
That's how it was in our family. My grandma was like the pillar of our family and my grandma and grandpa. And then like, you know, once they were gone, it was just kind of like, man, we just stopped getting, we stopped getting together as a family. So, um, you know, we hope to, we hope to keep the traditional live and get together with our family around Christmas with our kids.
02:33:17
Speaker
Ari also asked, what do you guys want for Christmas? And I don't want, and I've got everything I need kind of answer. For me, is it's corny as hell, but I just want my kids to have a great Christmas, man. I hope that Fred's seven, so you know we definitely got more more years in the rear view than we do in the windshield. I just want him to have one more magical Christmas, and hopefully it's enough to keep the magic alive through the next Christmas. Oh, brother, you you still got a couple of years. Don't worry. The magical stay alive because he's always going to want some for Christmas until he's about 10 or 11. True. If you don't believe, you don't receive. the magic jordan Brother, the magic ain't dying. um Same as you, man. Once you become an adult and an apparent more than anything, like
02:33:57
Speaker
anything you get becomes just kind of a background but noise like it's just it's always about your kid and um yeah just just having a kid at Christmas is just a special time so yeah I just I want Zoe to have a good Christmas and that's that's all I truly ever care about
02:34:14
Speaker
Yeah, for me, um well, you guys are like, you know, going super sentimental and I'm like, you know, I feel like I'm being a heel here, but I mean, yeah, obviously I want my kids to have like the best Christmases ever and I want them to have, um you know, memories and do all of that kind of stuff and just preserve the magic. We don't do Elf on a Shelf. Did you guys ever do the Elf on a Shelf for Zoe? No. No. Fuck no. Not just no. Fuck no.
02:34:37
Speaker
Yeah, we we never did. ah We didn't do elf on a shelf either. We haven't done it. My son has he's been inquiring about no elf on a shelf and we've kind of just been elf died. yeah Sorry. I just told him I was like, you know, I said some families get an elf. um I tried to play it off is like, you know, some families need a little bit more. You know, Santa needs a little extra help keeping an eye on the kids. So he'll sit he'll send them an elf.
02:34:58
Speaker
And it's not because like, I think the elf is cute. I think, you know, some people take it too far and just do too much. And i'm I'm not here for that. Um, I think the elf is cute. I just know myself. I'm like one of those people. Like I would start really strong, like the first five days of the month. And then after that, like it would just, I would forget the elf and then ruin the magic for my kids. And so, yeah Um, you know, I just, I just know myself as far as like what I want for Christmas, um, something that I'm asking for for Christmas, so since you guys were all sentimental, I'm just going to go straight materialistic. I want a, um, Oh, like a walking pad, like a treadmill type thing. So I can, like, I've been rucking.
02:35:32
Speaker
and getting my steps in. Um, I want like just like a walking treadmill. It's like basically like a little mini treadmill that doesn't have like handles or anything like that. It's just like a little you know treadmill pad. Um, just keeping the bedroom so I can get my steps in i throughout the the cold winter months. I'm kind of disappointed in you, Sheena. I thought you were going to say an above ground pool filled with lard.
02:35:50
Speaker
oh i I already have that. I have a i have a blow-up pool that is just feel filled with lard. Filled with the broom with lard. It's filled with the broom with lard and I just like submerge myself in it. That's why you know my skin stays in such amazing shape as I just you know cover myself like at like a Christmas ham in lard in the baby pool. I already have that.
02:36:15
Speaker
All right, Brett Sharrow asked, what was your biggest gift you asked for as a kid and actually got? Um, I would probably say getting the first edition of the Nintendo 64, uh, with WCW NWO revenge. Like I just get, the hell a that's a, that's a pretty tough one to beat, man. Like that was one of my like top three or four all time favorite video games with a great, a system that has so many great games for you. Yeah, that, that one's awesome. and For me, it was probably getting the Sega Genesis, man. I actually bought the N64 with my own money. I saved up money and bought that.
02:36:47
Speaker
And I still remember this. It was so funny. My mom, you know, cause I had saved up for a couple of months to buy it. And my mom said, do you, I remember this. My mom said, do you want me to wrap it up for Christmas? You can open it. I'm like, no, dude. I'm actually freaking working for this. Yeah. find I'm playing this right now. I know. a woman. Do you want me to wear it? As a parent, I get the sentiment now, dude. Because you you know when you kids, yeah especially at that age, I mean, I was a little bit older. I was 13. When you kids say about money, you're kind of like, this is bullshit. You know what I mean? Because I'm like, money your entire life right now. like yeah What is this account that you have that you think you're saving up money on?
02:37:23
Speaker
But I think Sega Genesis for me, man, that was I was a little bit younger, but I remember my parents get that and did the getting the Sega Genesis was such an upgrade over the regular like original NES. I just don't remember being just absolutely spellbound. Yeah, we had a Sega Genesis. I don't remember when we got it. It wasn't like a Christmas gift. I don't think I think we you know, I can't remember how we acquired the Sega Genesis. my like rich No, I was poor for trust. Trust. I was. Yeah, no, I was poor for. I actually think we got our um our Super Nintendo. This is going to sound so ghetto. I don't even know how um I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's not really ghetto, but it's just weird. Like so back in the day, you could return your movies a day early and they would give you like these like coupon books where you could like get you could like it was a basically like Chuck E. Cheese where you could like return in your coupon books. We saved up enough early return coupon books to get a Super Nintendo.
02:38:16
Speaker
so we had run trash you about that that's awesome we had reality that's fucking basically we had rent it yeah We had rented enough movies and saved up enough coupon bucks to ah to get us a Super Nintendo. um Anyway, again, I don't know how how we got a Sega Genesis. I don't remember that year. i mean It may have come for Christmas, but I don't remember specifically asking for it.
02:38:33
Speaker
But on the Sega train, I did ask for a Sega Game Gear and got a Sega Game Gear for Christmas, which is funny now because looking back, the Game Gear ended up not being such a mega smash like the Game Boy. The battery life just wasn't there. It was a bit of a time. Yeah, it was really cool. I remember playing Sonic on that thing and just thinking I was like the shit. Game Gear was awesome, but just the battery life was like 45 minutes in. Yeah, but I remember opening that game gear and I mean the case I mean the game gear was huge for like Compared to like today's port like a switch or something like that Like it was so thick and it like the case that came with it in the games Like the case was basically carrying a small briefcase with like all of your games and everything in there But yeah when I got the game gear that was probably like the biggest like most expensive gift that I remember as a child and
02:39:18
Speaker
All right. Last question from Tony Barker. It's a good one. What is your favorite Christmas song? This is so tough. Rocking around the Christmas tree, Brenda Lee. I have it's going to be the outro for this show. It's going to be Christmas. Baby, please come home. Darlene Love. OK.
02:39:36
Speaker
I like have yourself a merry little Christmas. exactly That's that's just, it just feels good to me. So, uh, Christmas baby, please come home is my favorite. Technically the best Christmas song. If you want to hear just straight up beautiful Christmas song, what's in the in sync. Oh, holy night. Acapella. And like, it's just, uh, chef's anything Christmas album is straight up like, you know, anything off pentatonic stuff is really good too. Like you did.
02:40:00
Speaker
I knew you were going to say you could have done this. All their Christmas stuff is really good. I mean,
Closing Thoughts & Holiday Wishes
02:40:07
Speaker
dude, they seriously tour once a year and it's for Christmas. That's not every show. Jordan, me and you probably podcast for about 150 hours. I think that's the widest thing you've ever said. And then the time we bought it together. It's so, it's so funny. I mean, I knew Jordan was going to say that, but I mean, yeah, and you're absolutely right. Pentatonix, they, they can, they can frigging will, but it's just funny. Like, you know, when you think of the scope of like Christmas music, you're like, dude, Pentatonix. I mean, that's it. Just saying.
02:40:33
Speaker
All right, Sheena, you're the guest. We are approaching three hours on this pod. Wow. I think it's been a banger, that dude. um I feel really good about what we've put in here. I hope the folks listening really enjoy this, man, when you're on your road trips for Christmas, or if you're just sitting around home wrapping presents and stuff. I hope you guys have enjoyed this, and I hope you guys have had as much fun listening as we've had recording this, because this has been a fun one. But his was some closing thoughts, and thoughtss we'll get out of here.
02:40:57
Speaker
I hope you guys all have a very Merry Christmas. This has been, I mean, I know we'll probably do our Chick-fil-A wrap-up show, but I just wanted to say like, you know, have a Merry Christmas. I want to thank the Pod Warriors for having me on and, you know, enjoy yourselves.