Coming soon: A Christmas Story Christmas

I'll definitely be watching but I just don't see how they can capture the spirit of the original. I did almost get some Christmas Vacation vibes for sure, which seems a bit odd. I think it's rather silly 50yo Scut Farkus seems to be identical to how he was when he was 12 (even down to the braces?). I actually think it would've been funnier if he wound up just being an accountant or something. Lol I honestly was pretty disappointed that Melinda Dillon opted to not return but I can respect wanting to stay retired.
 
Wolfsburg said:
I'll definitely be watching but I just don't see how they can capture the spirit of the original. I did almost get some Christmas Vacation vibes for sure, which seems a bit odd. I think it's rather silly 50yo Scut Farkus seems to be identical to how he was when he was 12 (even down to the braces?). I actually think it would've been funnier if he wound up just being an accountant or something. Lol I honestly was pretty disappointed that Melinda Dillon opted to not return but I can respect wanting to stay retired.
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I'm guessing that image of Scut with braces and the coonskin cap is a dream sequence - he's listed in the credits as "Officer Scut Farkus."

Also disappointed in the recasting of the mother. Nothing against Julie Hagerty, but she's A LOT younger; she's 67. So Mrs. Parker now had Ralphie at age... 16??? I know this is kind of a Hollywood thing, but boy it would be nice to see more old women played by actual old women.

Edit: I'm sure this has been analyzed more fully elsewhere (and with a larger sample size), but just out of curiosity, I took a quick look at the 10 oldest nominated performances for Best Actor + the 10 oldest nominated performances for Best Supporting Actor compared against those 20 on the female side. For reference, pre-pandemic life expectancy in the US was 76.3 for men, and 81.4 for women.

Mean age for Actors: 78.5 (median 79.5) ----- Mean age for Actresses: 78.65 (median 79)

Mean year of performance for Actors: 2005 (median 2009) ----- Mean year of performance for Actresses: 1991 (median 1994)

So the oldest actors are putting in award-worthy performances two years beyond their life expectancy, while the oldest actresses are putting in their performances two years short of their life expectancy. And whereas the oldest male performances tend to be fairly recent - as one might expect with generally rising life expectancy - female performances are seemingly lagging a whopping 14 years behind!

[Note that both lists include duplicates, but even if you only count their oldest performances, the numbers don't change much.]
 
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If left up to some people here the magic that is “cobra Kai“ never would’ve been made. First of all they got the original cast to sign off on it second Peter Billingsley who plays Ralphie never left Showbusiness he just works in the background but he’s got a reputation for picking only what he feels are quality projects like the fact he was an executive producer on the original Iron Man. Having come off of top gun maverick I would think more of you would be willing to give this a chance. I know I am. just the line regarding Santa “don’t let him kick you in the face“ sold it for me oh and the fact that Scut Farkas still has braces and that crappy fur hat to me is absolutely perfect.
 
0neiros said:
If left up to some people here the magic that is “cobra Kai“ never would’ve been made. First of all they got the original cast to sign off on it second Peter Billingsley who plays Ralphie never left Showbusiness he just works in the background but he’s got a reputation for picking only what he feels are quality projects like the fact he was an executive producer on the original Iron Man. Having come off of top gun maverick I would think more of you would be willing to give this a chance. I know I am. just the line regarding Santa “don’t let him kick you in the face“ sold it for me oh and the fact that Scut Farkas still has braces and that crappy fur hat to me is absolutely perfect.
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It is a time-honored tradition, that has evolved over the course of the past two decades, to judge everything as terrible until proven otherwise. It would seem to be an outcome of “battered fandom” syndrome.

It seems unfortunate, but there it is…
 
A 50yo man still wearing braces and dressing like he did when he was 12 is pure cringe. However, I agree with the earlier statement that this is surely a dream sequence (or maybe a flashback?). We'll see if Peter Billingsley's judgment is sound soon enough and if this thing is still good without Jean Shepherd's influence. I think people are just more discerning these days because so many of these sequels and reboots of classics have been just terrible. People get burned enough times and they get a reason to be skeptical. I want this to be good and I'll definitely watch and give it a chance though.
 
Wolfsburg said:
A 50yo man still wearing braces and dressing like he did when he was 12 is pure cringe. However, I agree with the earlier statement that this is surely a dream sequence (or maybe a flashback?). We'll see if Peter Billingsley's judgment is sound soon enough and if this thing is still good without Jean Shepherd's influence. I think people are just more discerning these days because so many of these sequels and reboots of classics have been just terrible. People get burned enough times and they get a reason to be skeptical. I want this to be good and I'll definitely watch and give it a chance though.
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That isn’t Scutt’s look in the film. It is just a sequence. He looks like this in the film…

EDED30D0-59EC-4C6E-AB13-978EFDC993A8.jpeg
 
I was sure I remembering a summer setting with this these characters. Looking it up, I found 1994s My Summer Story (It run in the family)....but that wasn't it. Kept digging, thinking maybe it was some totally other movie and I had just forgotten....but then.....I found it.
A made for TV movie made in 1988, which WAS with this family.
Watching this sometime in the early 90s (I think anyways) I was SO sure it was the same actor playing Ralphie. Well, I was totally wrong. That Mandala effect can really get you.
So they actually have the whole movie here on youtube. Watching a few scenes now....it looks pretty terrible. At least all the years of remembering this and wondering can be put to rest.

 
JediMichael said:
I was sure I remembering a summer setting with this these characters. Looking it up, I found 1994s My Summer Story (It run in the family)....but that wasn't it. Kept digging, thinking maybe it was some totally other movie and I had just forgotten....but then.....I found it.
A made for TV movie made in 1988, which WAS with this family.
Watching this sometime in the early 90s (I think anyways) I was SO sure it was the same actor playing Ralphie. Well, I was totally wrong. That Mandala effect can really get you.
So they actually have the whole movie here on youtube. Watching a few scenes now....it looks pretty terrible. At least all the years of remembering this and wondering can be put to rest.

Click to expand...
Most people don’t even realize that there were other prequels and sequels. There are actually 4 prequels and two sequels:

www.forcefivepodcast.com

A Christmas Story (1983) had 2 sequels & 4 prequels! — FORCE FIVE

Did you know that A Christmas Story had 2 prequels and 4 sequels? Many people know about A Christmas Story 2 and My Summer Story (aka It Runs in the Family), but there's so much more to Ralphie Parker and his family.
www.forcefivepodcast.com www.forcefivepodcast.com

Speaking of My Summer Story, it is free to watch online for anyone who wants to view it:
archive.org

My Summer Story 1994 : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

My summer story 1994
archive.org
 
Ok, so I went to the screening a while back and “liked” it. I rewatched it last night and now “love” it. I held off giving my opinion until it went live on HBO Max, as I didn’t want to spoil anything. But if you haven’t watched it, maybe don’t read on. I’m not giving a big spoilers, but just to be safe.

Let’s get one thing straight, sequels usually suck. The creative energy and vision--that lightening in a bottle quality--rarely appears in the sequels. I did not sense that for the new movie. You can tell they didn’t intend to outdo, or match the original. They wanted to harken back to the original, yet create something that can stand on its own.

It is charming and heartfelt, and for those of us who have watched the original again and again, there are delightful Easter eggs in every scene. Even the thematic music is there. Flick and Schwartz are still triple dog daring each other. There is a transcendent Scut Farkus moment, in which he lets Ralphie know about the long-term consequences of the Scut Farkus affair, which casts long shadows into the present.
Plenty of smelly hound dogs fill up the scenes. Sometimes, the camera angles are the same as in the original and that flash of recognition is a thrill.
At the same time, time marches on.

The coal furnace is gone. We can assume that Miss Shields has gone to her well-earned reward. A television has replaced the radio for entertainment. Ralphie wants his children to have the same Christmas magic he had as a child.
For Ralphie, the holy grail of Christmas gifts was the Red Ryder BB gun, but he has come to realize that Christmas is more than the gifts. Christmas magic happens in the unexpected places.

And the ending. That was the best part for me. The way they tied this to the original, where you now realize that the story Ralphie is sitting down to read, IS the first movie. They transition so eloquently into the footage and narration of the first film, before fading to a close. One could now argue that the two films should be watched in reverse, as this is just as much a prequel to the first movie, as it is a sequel.
 
Totally agree. The ending really made it for me. Having lost my own dad years ago*, it did hit home a few times and honestly this was far better than I expected. It doesn't surpass the original but that's okay. It was finally a worthy sequel and one that stayed true to the spirit of a great little movie.

If I had to pick nits, I thought it was odd Randy wasn't there for the funeral (or was that supposed to be after the events of the movie?) and I never really got the impression the Old Man necessarily was all gung-ho about Christmas. Nevertheless, this movie mostly worked for me and I enjoyed it.

*The last Christmas gift I ever gave my dad was a life-sized Leg Lamp. He got a good laugh out of that!
 
I watched this last night, and my honest take is that it left me feeling a bit raw. This Christmas will be the first since losing my dad, and some of the movie hit pretty close to home. I think maybe in a few years I may be able to appreciate it a bit more. The original is so endearing because it just is a happy movie through and through. As a kid, I related so much with Ralphie when watching it. Now, as a father, I find myself relating to the Old Man so much more. But the new one, maybe I'm relating too much with Ralphie.
 
jts1031 said:
I watched this last night, and my honest take is that it left me feeling a bit raw. This Christmas will be the first since losing my dad, and some of the movie hit pretty close to home. I think maybe in a few years I may be able to appreciate it a bit more. The original is so endearing because it just is a happy movie through and through. As a kid, I related so much with Ralphie when watching it. Now, as a father, I find myself relating to the Old Man so much more. But the new one, maybe I'm relating too much with Ralphie.
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Yeah there was definitely a tinge of underlying sadness that the original movie didn't have. All the best this holiday season! I know it can be tough but it will get better with time. Not because the pain fully goes away but you do learn to cope and live with it.

ALLEY said:
This is exactly what I thought, too.

I think that they have The Old Man somehow confused with Clark Griswold.

View attachment 1640664
Click to expand...

Lol! Yeah I would agree. It felt a little out of left field.
 
Against my better judgement I let my daughter talk me into watching the trailer... Absolutely nothing made me want to watch this and the original is my 2nd favorite Christmas movie.
It looks like nostalgia bait rather than the slice of life the original was.
I'm leaving it in the Highlander sequel pile of un watched follow ups.
 

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