planetdan

Thursday, December 27, 2007 :::

The New Classics

I think it's awesomely cavalier that cable TV can force a movie into "classic" status just by running it 24 hours straight or ad nauseum, as if excessive repetition is all it takes to make the American people think they actually like something. TNT has even dubbed Mel Gibson's craptastic What Women Want as a "new classic", simply because they plan on airing it three nights in a row.

At least TBS picked a worthy movie to "classicify" when they chose to start running A Christmas Story for 24 hours straight every xmas eve, because it's one of the best movies ever made, and it's barely even 25 years old. Good ol' Ralphie doesn't even look that old these days:

Look at those baby blues! Although this picture is more intriguing:

Um, you'll DEFINITELY shoot your eye out, kid.
His younger brother didn't age as well, though:

And so help me god, Scut Farkas does NOT have yellow eyes anymore:

Unfortunately, Ralphie's papa died last year, but his mama is still going strong, and I was surprised to realize that I last saw her onscreen as the cokehead's mother in Magnolia, a recent favorite of mine:

Anyway, A Christmas Story is the one movie that is well deserving of the "new classic" label. I managed to watch it three times this year. Here are a few more not-so-worthy movies that TNT has declared to be "classic":

• Air Force One
• CastAway
• Con Air
• The Fifth Element
• Hitch
• Maverick
• Ocean's Eleven
• Shrek
• Signs
• Titanic
• What Lies Beneath

Hmmmm, perhaps we need to propose a referendum.

Oh, ok, just one more, it's Flick:

::: posted by dan at 9:23 PM :: [ link ] :: (13) comments

Comments are Closed On this Post

13 previous comments:

Did you know that Flick used to work in porn? Gross, I know. But apparently true. Check out his IMDB page.

By

Jess, at 11:29 AM

Not at all surprising, check out that moustache.

By

dan, at 12:23 PM

Randy is super cute...
We watched this like ten times this year...
Tbs has ruined many a movie with their all weekend marathon's
I think Elf was on 364 times this year. I love elf so now that it has been played almost as many times as stepmom it has officialy been changed to a "TBS" movie for me which sucks.

By

Stacy, at 1:32 PM

I have 2 confessions to make.

1. I have never watched a Christmas story all the way through. (which is amazing seeming as though it was on for 24 hrs at my sister's house for xmas)

2. I love Elf so much that I have to ground myself from it for February through November.

And Ralphie is arian gone wrong. I am a big fan of blonde/blue eyed boys, but no thanks.

By

sarah, at 3:34 PM

I don't know if you should read too much into the gun picture. There's a lot of fire power there but Ralphie's just holding a BB gun.

By

Sissy, at 7:53 PM

Glad to know I'm not the only one who's never seen 'Christmas Story' from beginning to end - for whatever reason, I just don't *care* if I ever see it in its entirety.

'Fifth Element,' OTOH, *totally* ROCKS! "Anybody else wanna negotiate?" :-D

By

Riograce, at 9:39 PM

Did you know Ralphie was in Elf?? And apparently The Breakup too? I had no idea...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0082526/

By

Anonymous, at 2:11 PM

what, no Soul Plane? Perhaps we all have a different idea of what's "classic"

By

Mr. Your On Fire Mr., at 10:06 AM

Definately don't read into the gun picture - Billingsly was a co-exec producer with Jon Favreau on DINNER FOR FIVE (the TV show where celebs ate dinner and talked) and I'm sure this was for some project they were working on. He is still adorable.

By

Anonymous, at 11:59 AM

I got a mini leg lamp for Christmas this year. It's a major prize.

By

Nick Manson, at 1:07 PM

major AWARD.
duh.

By

Anonymous, at 8:54 AM

Yeah, I used to watch that as a kid all the time - i would've watched it this year again, but they don't show it here in Germany, and, unfortunately, the videotape I had it recorded on is ruined. :( xmas without Ralphie is like an army without guns. oh well, it probably woulda sucked dubbed in German any way...

By

Richard, at 4:25 AM

OMG, Scut can so totally put it in my butt! Too bad for Ralphie, though. Man, a life of porn and meth will make your face looked like you wash it with soap and crowbars.

By

Chino, at 9:38 PM

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