MaxAllanCollins.com Too Many Bullets amzn.to/3W66RLz Quarry amzn.to/4bUgvGr Eliot Ness Box Set amzn.to/4aoHkkC Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction amzn.to/3K1KfVM Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher amzn.to/3UY0NEf Scarface and the Untouchable amzn.to/3ytWmYY Black Hats amzn.to/3JYjOjA Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life amzn.to/3wxxG1m The Road to Perdition amzn.to/3QFO7Q3 Further Viewing: Top 5 Film Noir with Max Allan Collins - th-cam.com/video/GB94fXJR9Ps/w-d-xo.html Film Noir: Exploring the Dark Side of Cinema with Max Allan Collins - th-cam.com/video/a_okQg2cFdM/w-d-xo.html The Max Allan Collins Interview - th-cam.com/video/Kf1uMJdgOl4/w-d-xo.html Top 5 Westerns with Max Allan Collins: th-cam.com/video/eqcxlMW1Z3o/w-d-xo.html Max Allan Collins Turned Down The Untouchables th-cam.com/video/NdW7bU1QQa8/w-d-xo.html The Untouchables 4K Review th-cam.com/video/wCXPX5KHmAY/w-d-xo.html Top 5 Private Eye Movies th-cam.com/video/OYIXn7Y94bk/w-d-xo.html **************************************************************** When shopping on Amazon, please use Cereal At Midnight's affiliate link to support the channel: amzn.to/3LAgnlt **************************************************************** Become a Member and unlock exclusive videos, early access, and much more at Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight or through TH-cam Memberships at www.youtube.com/@CerealAtMidnight/membership **************************************************************** Movie Review Archive: CerealAtMidnight.com/p/reviews.html Cereal At Midnight Swag: CerealAtMidnight.Threadless.com Ebay.com/usr/cerealatmidnight Patreon.com/CerealAtMidnight bsky.app/profile/cerealatmidnight.bsky.social www.threads.net/@cerealmidnight Facebook.com/CerealMidnight Twitter: CerealMidnight Instagram: CerealMidnight TikTok: OfficialCerealAtMidnight Letterboxd: CerealAtMidnite
Hello from Chicago! I love the Max Allen Collin visits. Through your channel I've become a huge fan of his. I think an episode based on movie novelizations would be interesting especially discussing with Max about how these come about.
My top 10 Christmas movies are Elf, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Christmas Vacation, Trapped in Paradise, Trading Places, Scrooged, Polar Express, Jingle All the Way, and Christmas with the Kranks
Great discussion! You both recommended some that I haven't seen and will have to check out. Here is a list of 25 Christmas movies I enjoy: The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934) The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940) The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944) Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944) 3 Godfathers (John Ford, 1948) The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969) My Night at Maud's (Eric Rohmer, 1969) Female Trouble (John Waters, 1974) Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974) The Silent Partner (Daryl Duke, 1978) Diner (Barry Levinson, 1982) Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984) Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985) Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990) Die Hard *2* lol (Renny Harlin, 1990) Batman Returns (Tim Burton, 1992) While You Were Sleeping (Jon Turteltaub, 1995) Enemy of the State (Tony Scott, 1998) Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999) Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003) The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson, 2005) A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008)
That is a great List! Anyone who has The Silent Partner listed should be commended. I would add After The Thin Man, We're No Angels (1955), Mr. Soft Touch, Night of the Hunter (great Christmas ending), Trading Places, LA Confidential, Stalag 17, and 3 Days of the Condor. Some of those just take place at Christmas but that's all I need.
Excellent list! I'll add in a few of my favorites that don't often get mentioned. Jenny Lamour (1947) - French noir, fantastic plot and acting, a true unsung classic 29th Street (1991) - Imagine WONDERFUL LIFE meets FORREST GUMP at a GOODFELLAS party Period of Adjustment (1962) -Honeymooners have worst night ever, eyebrow raising but hilarious Prancer: A Christmas Tale (2022) - wonderful surprise part 3, James Cromwell and gorgeous cinematography White Reindeer (2013) - very dark comedy but rewards you for chancing something different Mixed Nuts (1994) - misunderstood film, dark comedy with wonderful absurdity and lots of familiar faces On the Twelfth Day… (1955) - short tv film, best comical display of the song coming to life Come to the Stable (1949) - like GOING MY WAY (which I love) but funnier and sweeter The Country I Come From (1956) - Stunningly gorgeous French film that’s a joy, one of my favs Lady on a Train (1945) - wonderful comedy with excellent performances Larceny, Inc. (1942) - Edward G Robinson in a Christmas comedy. Mic drop.
From the opening blasts of Run D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis" to the holiday cheer of Vaughn Monroe's "Let It Snow", Die Hard cemented itself as a Christmas classic. Only recently have some folks decided to debate its merits.
We all know it's a Christmas movie (that was released in July), but we always watched it whenever. It wasn't a part of people's annual Christmas tradition until it caught on with social media and shows like The Goldbergs.
Die Hard to me is a masterpiece for action movies since early childhood. It technically is a Christmas movie but was never marketed as such. Bruce Willis and the late great Alan Rickman gave outstanding performances, and the movie holds up extremely well. Awesome film all around and not sure why you felt the need to unnecessarily bring negativity towards the film? Don’t let internet culture make you jaded heath!
I like Bad Santa 2 a lot and I enjoyed A Christmas Horror Story. I'm adding everything mentioned to my watchlist. Thank you for the informative video, gentlemen. I dug it.
Yes, STAGECOACH came out in 1939. 1939 was a banner year for John Ford who also directed YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, another classic, and DRUMS ACROSS THE MOHAWK, a great film.
'Uncle Nick' from 2015 with Brian Posehn (a C.K. Louis look-a-like). very dark humor but grows a heart at the very end, redeeming itself. a traditional watch every year, plus it's filmed in, and a storyline featuring my hometown, Cleveland.
Always love it when Mr Collins is on your program, and this one is fun because it is so outside the box for those of us who know him primarily for his detective fiction work. My wife introduced me to HOLIDAY INN when she first moved in with me. (Yes, the Lincoln's Birthday "Abraham" number is major cringe, though we don't fast forward through it, since it is, as was pointed out, a plot point.) Every year since, we have watched The Irving Berlins as a Double Feature, right after Thanksgiving. (Used to be the night of, but, as I get older, the food coma has delayed our viewing to the day after Thanksgiving.) So I love the callout to HOLIDAY INN (not colorized in our home, but diff'rent strokes), though I could not disagree more on WHITE CHRISTMAS. Yes, the plot of WHITE CHRISTMAS is Standard Operational Musical Plot, and it depends on the plot that I hate, i.e. "there wouldn't be a problem if the characters just talked to one another", but it has Bing and Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney and this is the movie where I developed my hopeless crush on Vera-Ellen. And it has Mary Wickes, who is hysterical. And it appeals the the Sci-Fi nerd in me because when they do the Musical Extravaganza Numbers inside the Inn, it is clear that The Inn is a TARDIS on loan from Doctor Who because there is no way those stages should fit inside that building. 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS EVE is streamable on several services, for people who might have access; per the JustWatch app (highly recommended) it is on Prime, Fubo, Peacock, Tubi, Kanopy, Crackle, ShoutTV, and PLEX. (Yes, the Stephen Weber version; I made sure.) Yes, you ABSOLUTELY need to check out A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY; the Santa sequence predates VIOLENT NIGHT. Proud to say that, of the titles mentioned in this video, my wife and I own and have watched all but 3. If I might be so presumptuous, another Yuletide film noir of note is LADY IN THE LAKE, with Robert Montgomery and Audrey Totter. And last year, the Criterion Channel streamer ran an entire subset of, as they put it, Holiday Noir, one of which is a new favorite, REPEAT PERFORMANCE, with Joan Leslie and Louis Hayward. (I don't have it, yet ... it's a Flicker Alley blu-ray release, so it's not inexpensive ... but it is on my Want List.) Thank you again for the video, and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Great recommendation for Lady in the Lake! That's a major noir. I can't tell ya how exciting it is for me to have been a life-long fan of Max's work and now be able to help other people connect with him--not just as an author, but also as a film fanatic and storyteller in various formats.
It's blasphemous that the historically revered (from Kubrick to Orson Welles) X-Mas film, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, was not mentioned in either of your lists. Good episode. I need to check out Cash On Demand & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
I have very fond memories of "A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas." When I saw it in the theater, my cat had just died of old age. This movie did a great job of lifting my spirits with all of its insanity. I especially love how they reconcile NPH's real life homosexuality with how he was depicted in the previous 2 movies.
Great video, Heath and Max! I'm a long-time fan of Mr. Collins' books and a much newer fan of Mr. Midnight's channel! I just recently watched Appointment with Danger (new alt title: Post Office Confidential) and there you both were, doing the commentary! Great fun and informative to boot. Merry Christmas and Blessings to you both!
Thanks for checking out our commentary on Appointment with Danger! I don't get a lot of feedback from our commentaries, so this was great to hear. Merry Christmas, Rick!
Three under-radared Christmas movies that I HIGHLY recommend: 1. Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus (French horror film that John Hughes allegedly ripped off with Home Alone. The kid in it is awesome.) 2. The House Without a Christmas Tree - Addie is a strong-willed girl who wants a Christmas tree. Her strict father is a widower who forbids a Christmas tree in his house because it reminds him of his wife, the love of his life. Top 10 Christmas movie for me. 3. The Day of the Beast - alright, Christmas is way in the background in this one. This is a Spain Spanish film where a Catholic priest has discovered that the Antichrist is supposed to be born today, Christmas Eve and start the Apocalypse. The priest sets out to stop the Apocalypse by summoning Satan by becoming the ultimate sinner. On his journey, he meets a Satanic metalhead and a television Occultist (think Benny Hinn, but Satanic). It's a crazy dark comedy.
Since Remember the Night, Holiday Affair, Holiday Inn and Cash on Demand are already covered in the video discussion, my '10 Underrated Christmas List' would include: 1.) Three Godfathers (1936) 2.) The Cheaters (1945) -criminally forgotten sentimental Christmas movie from Republic, with a great cast of character actors (Joseph Schildkraut, Billie Burke, Eugene Pallette, Raymond Walburn, Ona Munson); still not on legit DVD/Bluy anywhere, but TCM sometimes plays it. 3.) The Lady in the Lake (1947) 4.) Mr. Soft Touch (1949) 5.) Beware My Lovely (1952) 6.) The Holly and the Ivy (1952) 7.) Blast of Silence (1961) 8.) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)* 9.) The Wool Cap (2004) -a superior, America-set TV-Movie (Hallmark Hall of Fame) reworking of Jackie Gleason's Gigot (1962), set at Christmas and starring William H. Macy. Paramount released it on DVD. 10.) The Ice Harvest (2005) -the best imitation Coen Bros crime movie ever made, set at Christmas, by Harold Ramis! Also, since each end on Christmas, I could argue that Night of the Hunter (1955) and The President's Analyst (1967) are both ~technically~ Christmas movies. * An annual British-themed Christmas tradition of mine is to watch a mini-marathon of Scrooge (1951, Alastair Sim), The Avengers episode, "Too Many Christmas Trees" (1965) and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), in which you get a classic Charles Dickens Christmas story that co-stars Mervyn Johns as Bob Crachit and a small role (one scene) for Patrick MacNee as a young Jacob Marley, a '60s spy TV episode with MacNee and Diana Rigg invited to a Dickens-theme Christmas party hosted by guest star Mervyn Johns, and a top 1960s spy movie, co-starring Diana Rigg, with its center set at Christmas.
Holiday Affair is SO underappreciated. I've recommended it to a ton of TH-cam movie reactors who feel like they've run out of choices, but no one that I've seen has ever given it a look. What's unusual is that the "third wheel" in the love triangle is a genuinely good guy. We don't find ourselves rooting against him. We just root for Mitchum's character more. ... To me, any similarities to Miracle on 34th Street are superficial.
Great discussion that may have me giving BAD SANTA 2 another shot. It's Janet LEE. She's in several very talked about movies, with commentaries on physical media, such as PSYCHO, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, TOUCH OF EVIL, etc., and it's always pronounced LEE. I just saw theatrical screenings of the first two BLACK CHRISTMAS films and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. It was especially nice watching the original BLACK CHRISTMAS with a very appreciative (and quiet) audience. I wonder if anyone watches a double feature of BLACK CHRISTMAS and A CHRISTMAS STORY? One great neo noir with a Christmas theme is SILENT PARTNER. A wonderful film, which uses Elliott Gould's personality very well. Great cast, with psychotic Christopher Plummer as a malevolent Santa. I also love the Roy Rogers film, THE TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD. Jack Holt has retired and raises Christmas trees which he sells at costs to orphanages and other worthy recipients. At the end, Roy helps Jack out by calling in other cowboy stars such as Rex Allen, Allen Lane, and others. (It's like the Justice Society of America!) A favorite scene is when heavy George Cheseboro shows up. The other cowboy stars back up and eye him warily. He says, "I typically play a heavy, but I'm here for Jack and the kids." I tear up thinking of the scene. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY, directed by Robert Siodmak, with Deana Durbin and Gene Kelly is more a melodrama than noir, but it's worth seeking out. It takes place on Christmas Eve, but it's not really a "Christmas film". Even though it takes place in July, Preston Sturges' CHRISTMAS IN JULY is a wonderful film, and works as a "Christmas movie".
@@CerealAtMidnight I know I'm just messing around. His channel is harmless, I see comments and some ppl think he's serious which is scary/funny sometimes.
That's the scariest thing. People not recognizing satire, or that he's being ridiculous. He's basically mocking the extreme collector mentality, and so many people are like "yeah, you tell 'em!"
Someone in my little town recently recommended Blue Christmas to me who isn't at all in the Blu-tuber sphere. This person is genuine normie who happened to borrow Blue Christmas on DVD from the library.
Thank you for being honest about White Christmas. I watched this for the very first time because of the hype. It didn’t land with me. I was bored and Bing Crosby sung White Christmas twice. That’s the only thing it has to do with Christmas. I don’t know why this movie is so liked?
It's never particularly landed with me, even though I'm a big fan of golden age musicals. But my mom & sister are big fans of it. The especially like the song "Sisters."
I liked "Snow" and "Count Your Blessings, Instead of Sheep." I thought Bing and Rosemary Clooney made a nice couple. I've never been much of a Vera-Ellen fan, though.
I know what he means about the black face thing making him feel uncomfortable.l. I’ve got a lot of old home movies where me and my dad and brothers are in black face. Lately we’ve been skipping those around Christmas time.
Count how many times “Christmas” is said in Die Hard. Count how many times you see Christmas motif in Die Hard. And break down the character arches and plot of Die Hard (minus the robbery) - they are the same you find in other established Christmas classics. Die Hard screams Christmas, more than the average movie merely set during Christmas. Get over it Keith.
I don't know who Keith is, and I never said Die Hard wasn't a Christmas movie. I said watch what you like and let's talk about some other movies. That conversation hasn't been interesting in years. Nobody cares.
@ I really appreciate your enthusiasm and passion to spotlight other movies. Establishing criteria is great, and important. But it seems some times the vitriol for certain topics or talking points is a bit heavy. Regardless, appreciate what you are doing.
MaxAllanCollins.com
Too Many Bullets amzn.to/3W66RLz
Quarry amzn.to/4bUgvGr
Eliot Ness Box Set amzn.to/4aoHkkC
Spillane: King of Pulp Fiction amzn.to/3K1KfVM
Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher amzn.to/3UY0NEf
Scarface and the Untouchable amzn.to/3ytWmYY
Black Hats amzn.to/3JYjOjA
Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life amzn.to/3wxxG1m
The Road to Perdition amzn.to/3QFO7Q3
Further Viewing:
Top 5 Film Noir with Max Allan Collins - th-cam.com/video/GB94fXJR9Ps/w-d-xo.html
Film Noir: Exploring the Dark Side of Cinema with Max Allan Collins - th-cam.com/video/a_okQg2cFdM/w-d-xo.html
The Max Allan Collins Interview - th-cam.com/video/Kf1uMJdgOl4/w-d-xo.html
Top 5 Westerns with Max Allan Collins: th-cam.com/video/eqcxlMW1Z3o/w-d-xo.html
Max Allan Collins Turned Down The Untouchables th-cam.com/video/NdW7bU1QQa8/w-d-xo.html
The Untouchables 4K Review th-cam.com/video/wCXPX5KHmAY/w-d-xo.html
Top 5 Private Eye Movies th-cam.com/video/OYIXn7Y94bk/w-d-xo.html
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Hello from Chicago! I love the Max Allen Collin visits. Through your channel I've become a huge fan of his. I think an episode based on movie novelizations would be interesting especially discussing with Max about how these come about.
My favorite guest Max Allan Collins 👏🏻
Same here
More and more MAC on the channel! You guys talking entertainment media are so fun to listen to 🙌 Reading his book “Do No Harm” now.
Heath, this episode was masterpiece. I discovered a lot of stuff that I didn’t knew about some of my favorites Christmas movies. Thanks!
The Shop Around the Corner, which was remade in the 90’s as You’ve Got Mail. It stars pre-war James Stewart and is my all time fav Christmas movie.
My top 10 Christmas movies are Elf, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Christmas Vacation, Trapped in Paradise, Trading Places, Scrooged, Polar Express, Jingle All the Way, and Christmas with the Kranks
Great discussion! You both recommended some that I haven't seen and will have to check out.
Here is a list of 25 Christmas movies I enjoy:
The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934)
The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944)
Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
3 Godfathers (John Ford, 1948)
The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969)
My Night at Maud's (Eric Rohmer, 1969)
Female Trouble (John Waters, 1974)
Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974)
The Silent Partner (Daryl Duke, 1978)
Diner (Barry Levinson, 1982)
Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984)
Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986)
Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990)
Die Hard *2* lol (Renny Harlin, 1990)
Batman Returns (Tim Burton, 1992)
While You Were Sleeping (Jon Turteltaub, 1995)
Enemy of the State (Tony Scott, 1998)
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003)
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (Andrew Adamson, 2005)
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008)
Great list! Miracle of Morgan's Creek is one of my favorites, and is rarely mentioned
That is a great List! Anyone who has The Silent Partner listed should be commended. I would add After The Thin Man, We're No Angels (1955), Mr. Soft Touch, Night of the Hunter (great Christmas ending), Trading Places, LA Confidential, Stalag 17, and 3 Days of the Condor. Some of those just take place at Christmas but that's all I need.
Excellent list! I'll add in a few of my favorites that don't often get mentioned.
Jenny Lamour (1947) - French noir, fantastic plot and acting, a true unsung classic
29th Street (1991) - Imagine WONDERFUL LIFE meets FORREST GUMP at a GOODFELLAS party
Period of Adjustment (1962) -Honeymooners have worst night ever, eyebrow raising but hilarious
Prancer: A Christmas Tale (2022) - wonderful surprise part 3, James Cromwell and gorgeous cinematography
White Reindeer (2013) - very dark comedy but rewards you for chancing something different
Mixed Nuts (1994) - misunderstood film, dark comedy with wonderful absurdity and lots of familiar faces
On the Twelfth Day… (1955) - short tv film, best comical display of the song coming to life
Come to the Stable (1949) - like GOING MY WAY (which I love) but funnier and sweeter
The Country I Come From (1956) - Stunningly gorgeous French film that’s a joy, one of my favs
Lady on a Train (1945) - wonderful comedy with excellent performances
Larceny, Inc. (1942) - Edward G Robinson in a Christmas comedy. Mic drop.
@@MosesWine "We're No Angels" is another of my absolute favorites. Watch it every year, even when not feeling particularly Christmas-y!
From the opening blasts of Run D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis" to the holiday cheer of Vaughn Monroe's "Let It Snow", Die Hard cemented itself as a Christmas classic. Only recently have some folks decided to debate its merits.
We all know it's a Christmas movie (that was released in July), but we always watched it whenever. It wasn't a part of people's annual Christmas tradition until it caught on with social media and shows like The Goldbergs.
Die Hard to me is a masterpiece for action movies since early childhood. It technically is a Christmas movie but was never marketed as such. Bruce Willis and the late great Alan Rickman gave outstanding performances, and the movie holds up extremely well. Awesome film all around and not sure why you felt the need to unnecessarily bring negativity towards the film? Don’t let internet culture make you jaded heath!
Sadly sometimes he has little regard for the thoughts of us movie fans,
the more of this channel you watch the more obvious this becomes
I like Bad Santa 2 a lot and I enjoyed A Christmas Horror Story. I'm adding everything mentioned to my watchlist. Thank you for the informative video, gentlemen. I dug it.
The original Black Christmas is a masterpiece.
This was a great conversation thank you for sharing it
Yes, STAGECOACH came out in 1939. 1939 was a banner year for John Ford who also directed YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, another classic, and DRUMS ACROSS THE MOHAWK, a great film.
Trapped In Paradise is a favourite underrated Christmas film in my home!
'Uncle Nick' from 2015 with Brian Posehn (a C.K. Louis look-a-like). very dark humor but grows a heart at the very end, redeeming itself. a traditional watch every year, plus it's filmed in, and a storyline featuring my hometown, Cleveland.
Great episode! Love most of these choices.
Always love it when Mr Collins is on your program, and this one is fun because it is so outside the box for those of us who know him primarily for his detective fiction work.
My wife introduced me to HOLIDAY INN when she first moved in with me. (Yes, the Lincoln's Birthday "Abraham" number is major cringe, though we don't fast forward through it, since it is, as was pointed out, a plot point.) Every year since, we have watched The Irving Berlins as a Double Feature, right after Thanksgiving. (Used to be the night of, but, as I get older, the food coma has delayed our viewing to the day after Thanksgiving.) So I love the callout to HOLIDAY INN (not colorized in our home, but diff'rent strokes), though I could not disagree more on WHITE CHRISTMAS. Yes, the plot of WHITE CHRISTMAS is Standard Operational Musical Plot, and it depends on the plot that I hate, i.e. "there wouldn't be a problem if the characters just talked to one another", but it has Bing and Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney and this is the movie where I developed my hopeless crush on Vera-Ellen. And it has Mary Wickes, who is hysterical. And it appeals the the Sci-Fi nerd in me because when they do the Musical Extravaganza Numbers inside the Inn, it is clear that The Inn is a TARDIS on loan from Doctor Who because there is no way those stages should fit inside that building.
12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS EVE is streamable on several services, for people who might have access; per the JustWatch app (highly recommended) it is on Prime, Fubo, Peacock, Tubi, Kanopy, Crackle, ShoutTV, and PLEX. (Yes, the Stephen Weber version; I made sure.)
Yes, you ABSOLUTELY need to check out A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY; the Santa sequence predates VIOLENT NIGHT.
Proud to say that, of the titles mentioned in this video, my wife and I own and have watched all but 3. If I might be so presumptuous, another Yuletide film noir of note is LADY IN THE LAKE, with Robert Montgomery and Audrey Totter. And last year, the Criterion Channel streamer ran an entire subset of, as they put it, Holiday Noir, one of which is a new favorite, REPEAT PERFORMANCE, with Joan Leslie and Louis Hayward. (I don't have it, yet ... it's a Flicker Alley blu-ray release, so it's not inexpensive ... but it is on my Want List.)
Thank you again for the video, and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Great recommendation for Lady in the Lake! That's a major noir.
I can't tell ya how exciting it is for me to have been a life-long fan of Max's work and now be able to help other people connect with him--not just as an author, but also as a film fanatic and storyteller in various formats.
Comparing Blue Christmas to Road to Perdition is like those people who say about almost any basketball player "Well, he's no Michael Jordan!" 😂
It's blasphemous that the historically revered (from Kubrick to Orson Welles) X-Mas film, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, was not mentioned in either of your lists.
Good episode. I need to check out Cash On Demand & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
I have very fond memories of "A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas." When I saw it in the theater, my cat had just died of old age. This movie did a great job of lifting my spirits with all of its insanity. I especially love how they reconcile NPH's real life homosexuality with how he was depicted in the previous 2 movies.
Great video, Heath and Max! I'm a long-time fan of Mr. Collins' books and a much newer fan of Mr. Midnight's channel! I just recently watched Appointment with Danger (new alt title: Post Office Confidential) and there you both were, doing the commentary! Great fun and informative to boot. Merry Christmas and Blessings to you both!
Thanks for checking out our commentary on Appointment with Danger! I don't get a lot of feedback from our commentaries, so this was great to hear. Merry Christmas, Rick!
Three under-radared Christmas movies that I HIGHLY recommend:
1. Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus (French horror film that John Hughes allegedly ripped off with Home Alone. The kid in it is awesome.)
2. The House Without a Christmas Tree - Addie is a strong-willed girl who wants a Christmas tree. Her strict father is a widower who forbids a Christmas tree in his house because it reminds him of his wife, the love of his life. Top 10 Christmas movie for me.
3. The Day of the Beast - alright, Christmas is way in the background in this one. This is a Spain Spanish film where a Catholic priest has discovered that the Antichrist is supposed to be born today, Christmas Eve and start the Apocalypse. The priest sets out to stop the Apocalypse by summoning Satan by becoming the ultimate sinner. On his journey, he meets a Satanic metalhead and a television Occultist (think Benny Hinn, but Satanic). It's a crazy dark comedy.
Since Remember the Night, Holiday Affair, Holiday Inn and Cash on Demand are already covered in the video discussion, my '10 Underrated Christmas List' would include:
1.) Three Godfathers (1936)
2.) The Cheaters (1945) -criminally forgotten sentimental Christmas movie from Republic, with a great cast of character actors (Joseph Schildkraut, Billie Burke, Eugene Pallette, Raymond Walburn, Ona Munson); still not on legit DVD/Bluy anywhere, but TCM sometimes plays it.
3.) The Lady in the Lake (1947)
4.) Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
5.) Beware My Lovely (1952)
6.) The Holly and the Ivy (1952)
7.) Blast of Silence (1961)
8.) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)*
9.) The Wool Cap (2004) -a superior, America-set TV-Movie (Hallmark Hall of Fame) reworking of Jackie Gleason's Gigot (1962), set at Christmas and starring William H. Macy. Paramount released it on DVD.
10.) The Ice Harvest (2005) -the best imitation Coen Bros crime movie ever made, set at Christmas, by Harold Ramis!
Also, since each end on Christmas, I could argue that Night of the Hunter (1955) and The President's Analyst (1967) are both ~technically~ Christmas movies.
* An annual British-themed Christmas tradition of mine is to watch a mini-marathon of Scrooge (1951, Alastair Sim), The Avengers episode, "Too Many Christmas Trees" (1965) and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), in which you get a classic Charles Dickens Christmas story that co-stars Mervyn Johns as Bob Crachit and a small role (one scene) for Patrick MacNee as a young Jacob Marley, a '60s spy TV episode with MacNee and Diana Rigg invited to a Dickens-theme Christmas party hosted by guest star Mervyn Johns, and a top 1960s spy movie, co-starring Diana Rigg, with its center set at Christmas.
My favorites are many but to name a few a Christmas Carol various versions, Holiday Inn and White Christmas and you given me a few more to explore
Classics!
@ as a matter of fact I earlier ordered Blue Christmas , Remember the Night and 12 Days of Christmas Eve based on you guys recommendations
OK. I laughed at this line: "Huh. I guess he left the building." 😏
It happened on Fifth Avenue. Moderate budget Christmas film made by monogram.
Holiday Affair is SO underappreciated. I've recommended it to a ton of TH-cam movie reactors who feel like they've run out of choices, but no one that I've seen has ever given it a look. What's unusual is that the "third wheel" in the love triangle is a genuinely good guy. We don't find ourselves rooting against him. We just root for Mitchum's character more. ... To me, any similarities to Miracle on 34th Street are superficial.
Good stuff. I’ve seen 8/10 at least and like those.
Couldn’t have clicked faster. 👌🏽
I always pronounce Janet Leigh as Janet LEE
Great discussion that may have me giving BAD SANTA 2 another shot.
It's Janet LEE. She's in several very talked about movies, with commentaries on physical media, such as PSYCHO, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, TOUCH OF EVIL, etc., and it's always pronounced LEE.
I just saw theatrical screenings of the first two BLACK CHRISTMAS films and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT. It was especially nice watching the original BLACK CHRISTMAS with a very appreciative (and quiet) audience. I wonder if anyone watches a double feature of BLACK CHRISTMAS and A CHRISTMAS STORY?
One great neo noir with a Christmas theme is SILENT PARTNER. A wonderful film, which uses Elliott Gould's personality very well. Great cast, with psychotic Christopher Plummer as a malevolent Santa.
I also love the Roy Rogers film, THE TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD. Jack Holt has retired and raises Christmas trees which he sells at costs to orphanages and other worthy recipients. At the end, Roy helps Jack out by calling in other cowboy stars such as Rex Allen, Allen Lane, and others. (It's like the Justice Society of America!) A favorite scene is when heavy George Cheseboro shows up. The other cowboy stars back up and eye him warily. He says, "I typically play a heavy, but I'm here for Jack and the kids." I tear up thinking of the scene.
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY, directed by Robert Siodmak, with Deana Durbin and Gene Kelly is more a melodrama than noir, but it's worth seeking out. It takes place on Christmas Eve, but it's not really a "Christmas film". Even though it takes place in July, Preston Sturges' CHRISTMAS IN JULY is a wonderful film, and works as a "Christmas movie".
Trail of Robin Hood is a favorite of a one Mr. Toby Roan.
The only things that might make me give a damn about christmas movies are Gloria Grahame's nice dress and this conversation between you two. Thanks.
Slipcover Steve just made a video about you and said you are ruining physical media my guy!
He's a satirist. He's playing a character obsessed with slipcovers. No such thing as bad publicity!
@@CerealAtMidnight I know I'm just messing around. His channel is harmless, I see comments and some ppl think he's serious which is scary/funny sometimes.
That's the scariest thing. People not recognizing satire, or that he's being ridiculous. He's basically mocking the extreme collector mentality, and so many people are like "yeah, you tell 'em!"
This year it was The Ref (1994) your list was great mostly because it skipped all the films on everyone else's list
Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge is my favorite
Someone in my little town recently recommended Blue Christmas to me who isn't at all in the Blu-tuber sphere. This person is genuine normie who happened to borrow Blue Christmas on DVD from the library.
Thank you for being honest about White Christmas. I watched this for the very first time because of the hype. It didn’t land with me. I was bored and Bing Crosby sung White Christmas twice. That’s the only thing it has to do with Christmas. I don’t know why this movie is so liked?
It's never particularly landed with me, even though I'm a big fan of golden age musicals. But my mom & sister are big fans of it. The especially like the song "Sisters."
I liked "Snow" and "Count Your Blessings, Instead of Sheep." I thought Bing and Rosemary Clooney made a nice couple. I've never been much of a Vera-Ellen fan, though.
Max blew me away with Bad Santa 2. I thought it was one of the worst films I've ever seen. Definitely going to revisit.
Max Allan Collins loves the film noir AND a Weezer fan! What more can you get from Cereal at Midnight
First Blood (1982) is a good December movie
I know what he means about the black face thing making him feel uncomfortable.l. I’ve got a lot of old home movies where me and my dad and brothers are in black face. Lately we’ve been skipping those around Christmas time.
Don't judge the past by today's standards. Enjoy the memories while you can, your family won't always be around.
It is pronounced Lee.
Count how many times “Christmas” is said in Die Hard. Count how many times you see Christmas motif in Die Hard. And break down the character arches and plot of Die Hard (minus the robbery) - they are the same you find in other established Christmas classics. Die Hard screams Christmas, more than the average movie merely set during Christmas. Get over it Keith.
I don't know who Keith is, and I never said Die Hard wasn't a Christmas movie. I said watch what you like and let's talk about some other movies. That conversation hasn't been interesting in years. Nobody cares.
@ you are the one that brought it up and went so hard on it. If it’s so tired, why even bring it up.
Because I was introducing our list as an alternative to the usual choices. No Die Hard, no Home Alone, no It's A Wonderful Life.
@ I really appreciate your enthusiasm and passion to spotlight other movies. Establishing criteria is great, and important. But it seems some times the vitriol for certain topics or talking points is a bit heavy. Regardless, appreciate what you are doing.
Blast of Silence. Merry Christmas.
Oh, that's a great one! I should have included it on my list and kept the crime theme.
Heath your streams with Max are must watch.