Ah, Thanksgiving. A wonderful fall day to spend stuffing your face, reconnecting with long lost relatives, and just enjoying being in the presence of your loving family. Especially on an election year!
Orrr you can scratch everything after 'stuffing your face' and hide out with a stack of Thanksgiving movies. Or a phone or a tablet or whatever you high-tech hoodlums are watching stuff on these days.
Every Thanksgiving movie list I see has the same three movies: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Pieces of April, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. There are others sprinkled in here and there, even a few of these make the occasional appearance, but those are the three constants. And to tell you the truth, I'm not crazy about any of them. What's a hungry person to do while cooking or waiting for food, when they don't like the traditional movies and refuse to watch the parade?
Here are five alternatives. They may not be Thanksgiving traditions for the masses, like the three I mentioned above, but they're worth a watch if you're searching for something different. I mean, it's only the most traditional holiday of the year, why wouldn't you be looking to try something new? ;)
#5 - Son in Law (1993)
Starring: Pauly Shore, Carla Gugino
A reserved farm girl goes off to college in California and undergoes a major I'm-In-College-Now transformation, shocking the hell out of her family and boyfriend when she comes home for Thanksgiving. With her crazy hippie friend, Crawl. When her high school boyfriend proposes and she panics, Crawl tells her family that she's already engaged to him. The family puts city boy through all kinds of tests to prove to him that he doesn't belong. It's a good one, if you're into Pauly Shore's weirdness.
#4 - Deadfall (2012)
Starring: Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Charlie Hunnam
A brother and sister, who have just robbed a casino, are heading for the Canadian border when they crash their car in a snowstorm and have to separate to throw off the authorities. He sticks to the woods, she hitches a ride with an ex-con headed home for Thanksgiving with the family. Bro and Sis meet up after a long, exhausting journey for a Thanksgiving dinner so tense it'll make your even worst one look fun.
#3 - Addams Family Values (1993)
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack
This is the one with Wednesday's Thanksgiving Revenge. Even if you just watch that scene, it's a Thanksgiving must. And it's also a nice reminder that there is a family weirder than yours.
#2 - Four Brothers (2006)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Garrett Hedlund, Andre Benjamin
Yep. Four Brothers is a Thanksgiving movie. Mama Mercer is shopping for a turkey in the first scene. And then of course she gets murdered, so all her sons come back to town to bury her... and her killer. Family reconnects, family fights, a turkey is cooked, vengeance is had, Turkey Puck is played. Even some bloodshed. Sounds like Thanksgiving to me.
#1 - Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Starring: Mara Wilson, Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott
"But it's a Christmas movie!" It starts on Thanksgiving. Know what else starts on Thanksgiving? Christmas Movie Season. This is the first step. It is known.
Miracle on 34th Street opens on the big Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. See, Thanksgiving. Parade, turkey, awkward broken family. Then the real story begins. A very serious young girl named Susan doesn't believe in Santa Claus, even when she meets the real thing. Santa gets framed for a crime and all his friends rally around him in court, and surpriiiise, he makes the whole city believe. Even Susan and her tightly wound mother. I prefer the 1994 version, but the 1947 one works too, if you're lookin' to to old school.
If you have other Thanksgiving favorites, please let me know, 'cause I'm always looking for more good holiday movies!
Orrr you can scratch everything after 'stuffing your face' and hide out with a stack of Thanksgiving movies. Or a phone or a tablet or whatever you high-tech hoodlums are watching stuff on these days.
Every Thanksgiving movie list I see has the same three movies: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Pieces of April, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. There are others sprinkled in here and there, even a few of these make the occasional appearance, but those are the three constants. And to tell you the truth, I'm not crazy about any of them. What's a hungry person to do while cooking or waiting for food, when they don't like the traditional movies and refuse to watch the parade?
Here are five alternatives. They may not be Thanksgiving traditions for the masses, like the three I mentioned above, but they're worth a watch if you're searching for something different. I mean, it's only the most traditional holiday of the year, why wouldn't you be looking to try something new? ;)
"He's a relative nightmare."
#5 - Son in Law (1993)
Starring: Pauly Shore, Carla Gugino
A reserved farm girl goes off to college in California and undergoes a major I'm-In-College-Now transformation, shocking the hell out of her family and boyfriend when she comes home for Thanksgiving. With her crazy hippie friend, Crawl. When her high school boyfriend proposes and she panics, Crawl tells her family that she's already engaged to him. The family puts city boy through all kinds of tests to prove to him that he doesn't belong. It's a good one, if you're into Pauly Shore's weirdness.
"Don't try to escape from your past."
#4 - Deadfall (2012)
Starring: Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Charlie Hunnam
A brother and sister, who have just robbed a casino, are heading for the Canadian border when they crash their car in a snowstorm and have to separate to throw off the authorities. He sticks to the woods, she hitches a ride with an ex-con headed home for Thanksgiving with the family. Bro and Sis meet up after a long, exhausting journey for a Thanksgiving dinner so tense it'll make your even worst one look fun.
"The Family Just Got A Little Stranger."
#3 - Addams Family Values (1993)
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack
This is the one with Wednesday's Thanksgiving Revenge. Even if you just watch that scene, it's a Thanksgiving must. And it's also a nice reminder that there is a family weirder than yours.
"They came home to bury mom... and her killer."
#2 - Four Brothers (2006)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Garrett Hedlund, Andre Benjamin
Yep. Four Brothers is a Thanksgiving movie. Mama Mercer is shopping for a turkey in the first scene. And then of course she gets murdered, so all her sons come back to town to bury her... and her killer. Family reconnects, family fights, a turkey is cooked, vengeance is had, Turkey Puck is played. Even some bloodshed. Sounds like Thanksgiving to me.
"If you really believe, anything can happen."
#1 - Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
Starring: Mara Wilson, Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott
"But it's a Christmas movie!" It starts on Thanksgiving. Know what else starts on Thanksgiving? Christmas Movie Season. This is the first step. It is known.
Miracle on 34th Street opens on the big Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. See, Thanksgiving. Parade, turkey, awkward broken family. Then the real story begins. A very serious young girl named Susan doesn't believe in Santa Claus, even when she meets the real thing. Santa gets framed for a crime and all his friends rally around him in court, and surpriiiise, he makes the whole city believe. Even Susan and her tightly wound mother. I prefer the 1994 version, but the 1947 one works too, if you're lookin' to to old school.
If you have other Thanksgiving favorites, please let me know, 'cause I'm always looking for more good holiday movies!
