Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas
By Alonso Duralde
Book Review by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas
The holidays are over for now, but I had a grand time this past December
reading through Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas (Limelight
Editions, $16.99) by Alonso Duralde; it's an exhaustive look at just
about every Christmas movie ever made (up until 2009), with an entire
chapter dedicated to adaptations of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and
another chapter dedicated to the worst offenders (Santa Claus Conquers
the Martians). And, yes, even Die Hard is in here. Duralde divides his
movies up into logical chapters: kids, grown-ups, comedies, tearjerkers,
horror films (Black Christmas), and at last, the classics. He
understands that most households have their own favorites that have
evolved for various reasons, and a Christmas movie can be anything from
A Christmas Story to Gremlins. But he goes far beyond that to things
like Frederick Wiseman's seasonal documentary The Store (1983), and Eric
Rohmer's My Night at Maud's (1969). He also gives real consideration to
overlooked films like Nothing Like the Holidays (2008), and includes a
long checklist of films that are only marginally Christmas-related. It's
witty, concise, and economically written, and it's guaranteed to boost
your holiday spirits. It made me wish the book had been published a year
later so that I could read Duralde's take on this year's two new
Christmas movies: Rare Exports and The Warrior's Way. Hopefully Duralde
will keep expanding it...
January 19, 2011
Return to Great Film Books
