The best and worst holiday movies of all-time ....
Atlantic City Weekly's Weekend Hot Tub Party is getting festive.
This time around, we've assembled our top 10 lists of the best and worst that holiday-themed movies have to offer.
Holiday movies are a dime a dozen. There's almost too many to count at this point. And from Thanksgiving through New Year's, you can't turn on the TV without being bombarded by non-stop Christmas programming. Thankfully, amid the sea of terrible contrived and cliched movies and specials this time of year, there are a few that actually make us stop and pay attention.
We're cutting right to the chase. This ain't your Grandma's top-ten list. You won't find It's a Wonderful Life anywhere on here. We have dug deep and brought back some of the classics you've probably forgotten about or haven't seen in years. From Jack Skellington and Bill Murray to Chewbacca and Hulk Hogan, we've got you covered. Did your favorites make the cut or did they find their way on to the naughty list?
...And because you've all been nice, we're also including not one but TWO full-length holiday features for your viewing pleasure! Ones that will truly put a smile on your face and fill you with Christmas cheer.
Every weekend we'll be back with fresh content for you to share with your friends, from a sweet play-list we've put together or behind the scenes exclusive photos for your viewing pleasure, stories overheard in a bar, or the latest viral videos, you'll find it all here.
So put on your Santa hat, light the fire, and pour yourself some egg nog. You've earned a hot tub break!
This is Atlantic City Weekly's Weekend Hot Tub Party!
Top-Ten Best Holiday Movies:
10.) Prancer: Geared to make grown men cry, the daughter of an impoverished farmer stumbles upon a wounded reindeer that she believes is Prancer.
9.) Hebrew Hammer: Mordechai Jefferson Carver, an Orthodox Jew must save Hanukkah from the clutches of Santa Claus' evil son.
8.) Home Alone: Keep the change ya filthy animal! 8 year old Kevin McCallister is accidentally left home alone for Christmas defending his home from burglars in this 90's classic.
7.) A Christmas Story: Forced to eat soap, drink Ovaltine and enjoy a Chinese Christmas dinner, someone just give Ralphie the Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
6.) Scrooged: The three ghosts of Christmas haunt Frank Cross, a cynical selfish TV executive.
5.) Elf: After wreaking havoc at the North Pole due to his giant size, Buddy the elf is displaced in Manhattan in search of his true identity.
4.) The Nightmare Before Christmas: King of Halloween, Jack Skellington kidnaps "Sandy Claws" and hi-jacks Christmas-town in this brilliant Tim Burton masterpiece.
3.) Die Hard: A gang of heavily armed terrorists take over an LA skyscraper. But they're no match for New York cop John McClane. "Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho."
2.) Bad Santa: Posing as Santa and his elf, two miserable con-artists plan to rob a department store on Christmas eve but their plan is thwarted after befriending a troubled kid.
1.) Christmas Vacation: Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together! Clark W. Griswold decides to host Christmas at his home with the whole family in this legendary film with some of the most hilarious flip-out scenes.
Top-Ten Worst Holiday Movies:
10.) Reindeer Games: This Casino heist movie stars an ex-con who assumes his dead cellmates identity to get with his girlfriend.
9.) Elves: Trapped in a department store, a woman discovers she's the focus of an evil Nazi experiment involving selective breeding and summoned elves.
8.) Ernest saves Christmas: After being scared stupid, going to camp, joining the army and spending time in jail now Ernest is saving Christmas.
7.) Santa's Slay: Santa was originally a demon who lost a bet with an angel and became the giver of gifts and joy but now, the bet is off.
6.) Jingle all the way: Schwarzenegger vows to get his kid the hottest toy of the year and ends up becoming it.
5.) Jack Frost: A man who dies in a car accident comes back as a snowman, Jack Frost.
4.) Silent Night, Deadly Night: Dressed as Santa, a young tormented teen goes on a murderous Christmas rampage.
3.) Santa with Muscles: After getting amnesia, Hulk Hogan believes he is Santa Claus.
2.) Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: Mars is lacking someone to give kids presents so martians kidnap Santa Claus. For real.
1.) Star Wars Holiday Special: George Lucas is horrifically ashamed of this and never wanted it to be seen again... too bad, watch the entire special below!
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians!
The Star Wars Holiday Special
There is no movie review this week because, frankly, the choices went from re-releases (Titanic 3D) to unappetizing sequels (American Reunion) to recycled ideas (Mirror Mirror). Go ahead and tell me it is my job to go see crap movies so I can tell my readers they are crap movies. Point taken.
From elephant-dung crafted roses to bacon lube, we have uncovered some of the very, very worst Valentine's Day gifts.
Atlantic City Weekly's Hot Tub Party is taking a trip back in time again, this time checking out some of the best duets of the last 20 years and a round-up of some of the best Super Bowl commercials of the last decade.
Atlantic City Weekly's Weekend Hot Tub Party is honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a look back at the outcomes of the civil rights movement, some interesting facts you might not have known and a sweet playlist of songs inspired by Dr. King, some that were even performed at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where King delivered his infamous "I Have a Dream" speech.
In honor of 2012, we're going back 20 years to 1992 and bringing you back a nostalgic comparison of pop culture to our present day.
Atlantic City Weekly's Weekend Hot Tub Party is bringing you a special present: a holiday stocking stuffer extravaganza filled with a variety of joyous videos, creepy Santa pictures and unusual festive folklore.
Here, in no particular order are 11 AC Weekly feature stories we are proud of from 2011.
Holiday songs are either dreaded or anticipated. We know there are some songs most people look forward to hearing and others that exist only to irritate and annoy.
Before we get to the good stuff next week, when I announce my best films of the year list, here are the 10 films that either disappointed me, were flat out awful or that frustrated me because they could have been better.
After ranking the worst movies of the year in last week’s column, it is time for the more pleasant task of naming my favorite movies of 2010. It was a decent year for movies, not vintage, but solid, and here are my favorites in alphabetical order: The Ghost Writer Roman Polanski’s film is a quietly effective thriller devoted to the theme of political maneuvering during wartime. It delivers a message about men in power whose secret policies are carried out not just to protect innocent citizens, but also to keep the power-hungry politicians in power. The Girl Who Played with Fire The second in a trio in of films based on the globally popular and bestselling Millennium Trilogy novels by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, it is not as compelling as the first film...
Movie fanatics love to have fun putting together lists, especially when a decade comes to a close. In honor of that tradition, I’ve put together a list of my favorite movies from the past 10 years.
for movie showtimes, click here for movie capsules, click here The 2008 moviegoing season provided a lot of intelligent action movies, intriguing art-house fare, and a ton of Oscar-hunting end-of-th...
for movie showtimes, click here for movie capsules, click here It has become redundant to note that movies are not as good as they once were. Regular readers of this column are aware that my feeli...
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1. loreto tocci said... on Dec 4, 2011 at 06:55PM
“You want WORST. This make Santa & The Martians look like Star Wars.
Santa vs. The Devil aka Santa vs. Satan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLoEkCkz_fA”
2. Anonymous said... on Jan 12, 2012 at 11:33AM
“Very fun! Always looking forward to whats next in the Hot Tub Party! Thanks for this column.”