SPEROPICTURES: COMING ATTRACTIONS | CHRISTMAS MOVIE SPECIAL

Sparrow pictures podcast where we focus on the stories and not the headlines because we believe that stories can change the world Get ready because the show starts now Hey there spare pictures crew. Welcome back to coming attractions. I'm your host right there and I am mr Joy, and if you haven't guessed from our rather audacious attire, it is our Christmas special So Yeah, what are we gonna talk about? Elf ears. Oh, yes, I have I was bequeathed by my grandfather with Elf ears also know you could extend that to elephant ears What are we gonna be talking about we are gonna be talking about our top five Favorite Christmas favorite. I think it take it a little bit further favorite family Christmas Yes, favorite family Christmas movie because in your favorite Christmas movie list you have diehard You think I am mr. Falcon Yes, I wouldn't put that on the family-friendly list necessarily no not necessarily family-friendly but definitely a Christmas movie You can actually pull up Christmas references from the movie itself From the script it's actually right there in the movie Give us give us some lines from the movie in the description or in the comments below So but we're not here to talk about diehard or to get into that long and sordid debate we are here to talk about movies that are actually on the approved I guess there is maybe is there approved list of Christmas movies like you're a Christmas movie if you Are tick these boxes? I don't know Samantha I can't go caroling with you The Christmas megastore is gonna put my mom and pop ornament shop out of business Oh Bruce All I cared about was my career, but then we had that moment at Christmas Creek and things change Cut cut you idiots are using the names from the last one of these we shot just Sandra and Jeff now All right, moving on to the Oh the golden retriever Christmas sweater fashion show So, you know talking about what makes a Christmas film yes number five is actually not quite a Christmas film It's a Thanksgiving film Kind of snuck in there. It's not getting there So we put it in the Christmas category because it's in the holiday category It's in the holiday category and it is one that we watch regularly. I just not many Thanksgiving films There's not very many scamping films, right? But I was just at the dentist I I had some some happy gas. Yes at the dentist. You were very happy. I watched the film all over again and This time I watched it with the subtitles and I laughed the whole time. What was it planes trains and automobiles mad at me? There were so many great one lines that match the action so well and then there was some you were laughing at the at the scene That they're driving the car while they're being pulled over by the police officer because they're driving the car that has been burnt Yeah, do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway travel? Yes, I do. Yes, I really do I believe that I know it's not pretty to look at but it'll get you where you want to go Now you got no outside mirror. No, we lost that you have no functioning gauges. No, not a one However, the radio still works Because that may seem with all this mess that the radio is the only thing that's really working good and it's as clear as a bell Don't ask me how Steve Martin and John Candy. I you just can't find no comedy like this anymore No, you know for heaven's sake no I think I was entertaining the dentist and the dental assistant with my comments because while this was rated R well, this is rated R at the time and definitely, you know like there's a little bit of language in there, but You just can't find that kind of just I mean clever good Slapstick kind of comedy anymore. What was funny because when you were high at the dentist Listen, you're like, it's the home alone house. Look at that Cuz there's been a ton of stuff filmed at the home alone house But all of a sudden I'm going look it. It's the whole front door. It's the whole staircase And so you're just like, oh my goodness, we're back there. Yeah, and didn't even realize it until well That was actually predated home alone. That movie came out before. Yeah, I came out I think the home alone house is actually the planes trains and automobiles house. That's true. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes Macaulay Culkin bought the place mom Dad, I think family has is a real heavy theme on Christmas movies And so he's trying to get back to his family and John Candy Dell he doesn't have a family anymore. And so but you don't know that you don't know that through the whole film Because he's just talking like he's going home and find out at the end that he doesn't have anywhere to go And and then you know, of course, it's it's you know, a really great buddy comedy odd couple just all of those normal types of comedy Yeah, like odd couple tropes, but it's but it's got that heart at the end where Steve Martin is like, oh dude Like I'll just take you home. And that's one of the things that I love about John Hughes is John Hughes knows how to Knew because he's unfortunately no longer with us But he knew how to pull on the heartstrings and then ramp up the comedy and he just had this really amazing balance in that way kind of similar to like a Taika Waititi kind of where he knows how to you know, push on the heartstrings and then all of a sudden a couple of minutes Later, you're laughing. Yeah, the one-liners in there are just spectacular They're so on point makes a really good script, which is why you watch it year after year I think like you're saying is the other thing with Christmas is we oftentimes think of family But it's those that are lonely, you know, God places the lonely in a family And so for those that are down on their luck Those are things that pull on our heartstrings every year is we want to make places for other people to connect So number five number five Christmas movie close family-friendly ask There's some stuff that you're gonna be covering kids eyes. Yeah. Yeah We've got a couple more of those that are family-friendly ask now that I'm thinking right? Yeah. Okay number four number four is Elf Elf is I think Was a really surprising movie for me when I first saw it because it's really hard to make a good Christmas movie That becomes a classic. Yeah, because you know, and there's some there's some people, you know Cuz there's all these Hallmark ones now and right all of these Christmas movies that you know They try to come out with a Christmas movie, you know once a year But Elf just hit all of the just ticked all of the boxes. You look like you came from the North Pole Exactly where I came from Santa must have called you. Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah, just got off the cell phone with me I think the the Raskin bass Animation that they that they played on, you know, the the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and so Jon Favreau's direction With that was perfect Because and that's what I love about Jon Favreau. Is that he he did this with with the Mandalorian series. He's done this with Iron Man, of course the jungle book in that anything that he kind of touches you can really feel the love that he has For some of these nostalgic things so like the Raskin bass Animation that everybody grew up. Well, at least our Watching and our parents watched and so You know having that in there I think ticked that nostalgia box for people right and so it made it a classic in that way Plus then you got Will Ferrell who just plays such a lovable, you know kind of buffoon idiot that you know, the village idiot that kind of comes to New York He's a fake Will Ferrell was just the perfect Actor for that because he plays that kind of character really well He does our kids watched it the other day at our friend's house, and they were like, oh my gosh He's got three favorite food groups candy candy and syrup Just thought it was so great. You know, but my favorite scene is still one of my favorite memes Okay, what am I fit cuz I well memes like gifts, yeah You speak love language. My love language is gifts not gifts gifts and The one of my favorite ones is when he's trying to get the star up on the top of the tree What do you think the theme is of elf elf again, it's just it's family and the importance of family and and Innocence, you know, and I think that That's one of the things that it's funny because it's like you live your entire childhood trying to you know grow up and get away from that innocence and then all of a sudden it gets to a point in your in your Adulthood where you wish you could go back and some people actually are able to capture that again But yeah Something that both movies have in common is both of them have some kind of douchebag in it Mm-hmm. So you got Steve Martin, but he just is, you know, very selfish self-centered and annoyed then James Caan And then you got James Caan who plays Will Ferrell's dad, right? So why why why are those things that we're all so drawn to in that kind of? Well, I think it's because it's kind of like they're curmudgeonly the kind of Scrooge character We'd love to see your act. In fact, we'd hate to miss your act. In fact, we'd love to hate your act Scrooge has kind of become Just part of the Christmas, right, you know kind of Matrix in a way and so when you make a Christmas movie, you usually have to have somebody who's like a bah humbug Kind of a character and who do you think the bah humbug is here? Now don't answer. It's not mr. Joy All right, number three Number three number three is homeless really great Netflix special Not that documentary series. It's like the movies that made us and They did a really great one on home alone We're talked about like the banking of and the behind the scenes and how they did the flooding of the houses they built the the sets in in an old-school pool and Flooded the pool and stuff like that, but but I remember when Mike when I was when I first saw the movie When I was like 10 or 11 years old and Joe Pesci's headlights on fire He would rewind that part of the movie Yeah, and we would rewind that part of the movie over and over and over again and just watch his head We would just we would just roll crying and then also Daniel Stern When I try to oh when the iron hit his face Larity ensued, you know, they say that about kids is they just think that when some kind of violent act like that happens They just think it's hilarious. This is why the the America's Funniest Home Videos were funny. Yeah, is you've got some kid whacking their dad in the ball with a rig Whatever on accident and kids are just well, you know, I mean we grew up with Wile E. Coyote See and while you think these things were funny because you watched him on TV I was probably living that in real life I Was surrounded by a bunch of boys like whose head can we light on fire? Who brought the anvil yeah But really that kind of comes from vaudeville really I mean, you know, it's like, you know a lot of What made Warner Brothers? cartoons work was that kind of Groucho Marx vaudeville, you know kind of style humor Well, you're making up your mind I'll go slip out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini. Yeah, I mean really shaped a lot of how we See humor and the beats of humor and all of that Do you think we've gotten away from that because people are too politically correct right now? Yes. Yeah yep, because the you know, the comedy can't be funny because we're constantly offending somebody or People will say well that you can't do that It's you know comedy is about you know, like a lot of comedy not all comedy But a lot of comedy is about pointing out differences. Mm-hmm And when you're not allowed to point out differences anymore, it takes away a lot of material, right? So unfortunately All right, number two number two right now number two is actually on top of my list But because I'm a good husband, I went ahead and put it down I took a sec. I took the backseat took my seat bigger bigger man, but National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Another John Hughes movie Wow Well, he was just he was a master at it and so but I remember when that movie because that movie also came out in 1988 I mean or 1989 somewhere in there. I don't I don't think they came out at the same the same year but yeah, cuz but National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation just became a perennial favorite At the Thayer household as we were as I was growing up. It was like every Thanksgiving night We would roll out National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We'd put up a few holiday decorations and we'd eat Pumpkin pie and Cool Whip. How many one-liners do you think that you could quote off the top of your head from that film? Let's see Clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant Unfortunately, most of the ones that are coming to my head have bad words in them and so yeah, right. Yeah, exactly So that one's again we were gonna talk about family-friendly films not not really on the family-friendly list Not not necessarily. No, it depends on the how old your family is. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, if you've got kids that are in teenagers, you know, then you know, there you go. But But He's like, okay But most people have seen it at this point because it again it's like it's one of those movies that Generally makes it to the top. Like if you say National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation people are just like yes Yeah, again, I do enjoy it. We do watch it every single year. Yes, and sometimes a couple times Yeah in a year and at one point you and I dressed up Like them and sent out Christmas cards with our photo Superimposed on their faces. I mean, it's like my favorites. I think gosh dang It's so hard to find if to think of your favorite scene in in that movie like because you've got so many great, you know moments like when he puts the when he puts the spray on the sled No, hell another between the ground of my brain with a piece of government plastic You really think it matters Eddie when I was younger we would go sledding we lived in in the mountains in Northern, California And so my mom and my aunt Barb, they got these laundry baskets We also grew up pretty poor and so they got laundry baskets and they were sledding down the hill in these laundry baskets So this is just one story. I've got so many sledding stories that I'm gonna I'm gonna share a couple with you So then we kids didn't have a sled and so we took my Swimming pool, but you know, let's Walmart swimming pool Greased up the bottom of it and sled down the hill with that thing and we launched it Like we like we would go on these and so then that was when I was probably about four or five That we were doing that and then we also had What we had was our for our water source in town was called the reservoir So one year we go to the reservoir and where we are Doing sledding there. We got on a giant inner tube from a tractor thing with everybody I mean we could get 10-15 people on it We were dangerous people and so we got this we launched down there and we land in the water in the reservoir And this is middle winter freezing cold. And then when we met every year we'd go to a Mountain called Eskimo Hill on Christmas Day. And the rule was is that sledding was over when somebody got hurt? Sometimes that was me. So no wonder you laughed so hard So it to me this was again my growing up my childhood And I think the first year we met we went sledding and I launched off of the giant sled hill over the the jump and the sled went out from underneath of me and I landed and and Bruised my bum cheek and my thigh and then it was like, all right, we're out Only I had back the money that me and Catherine sent that TV preacher that was screwing the hockey players What I love about that movie Okay is some of the stuff that doesn't really get noticed but I've always like just tickled me So like when he goes to drop off the the Christmas gift with his boss and he turns around Everybody got the boss the exact same thing, you know, and it's just this oddly shaped package those little kind of things like or like when Randy Quaid They call that mock turtleneck Dickey Dickey, you know, they got the Dickey on right and and and then they had that little wooden That little wooden windmill thing that kind of like spins because He hits it and it just falls apart and you know Those little moments for me is kind of what makes the film because it's like they're kind of like these little throwaway gags But it's just it's it's what makes those John Hughes Christmas movies those John Hughes movies in general Just special because he doesn't waste those moments like he puts a little something in there That that you can just kind of you know, I don't know just I don't think they have Dickies anymore No, I think they banned them If you don't know what they are is it's a turtleneck But it's just the neck and so it kind of is like a napkin Kind of thing that goes here to here. And so if you grew up in our generation, you probably wore one He had a brown one underneath of a white or cream colored And then the little thing that you're talking about that it's it's it's basically the wardrobe equivalent to a clip-on tie It's pretty much. Yes. Yeah Yeah, and then we would always do that white elephant gifts and most likely that little wooden thing that's been around was All the time. All right. So now we have reached our number one and It is not Special I know you guys probably thought that that was what it's gonna be but it's it's not I'm sorry to let you know No, but why isn't it the Star Wars Christmas special though? Because I was the kind of leaning towards the Star Wars Christmas special. Oh just because it's really bad. Okay. Yeah, okay We don't want to mention no, but there is a documentary coming out about it Hmm about how bad it was. Yeah about the making of it and all that sort of stuff So I've I've heard that it's coming and looking forward to seeing that nice Now my favorite Christmas film of all time is it's a wonderful life What a shock. Thank you for letting that come in the top I appreciate it now. Okay. I do not understand. Mm-hmm how that movie can be labeled a Christmas movie and die hard is not Because that movie literally only a fraction of the movie is is it happens on Christmas happens on Christmas Eve I mean, it's like he it You know, but I mean the entire movie of diehard happens on Christmas Eve It does you're right. You're right. You've made a point Matt Matt wins the argument All of those that will only hear me say that maybe three times in my life But back to it's a wonderful life. What do you like about? It's a wonderful life. What's your? There's so many things that I like about it, but I was thinking about the other day is really what is my all-time favorite? part and It wasn't that he was willing to sacrifice It wasn't that he went through so many hard things and that the community came around him It was really that the angel Clarence at the end Showed him that without his life that the world would be different and so I think that that's really what it boiled down to is that each one of us have a call and a purpose on Our life and even though we might not know it We might not what know what our purpose is and we might feel Frustrated constantly because things aren't working out how we thought or different things like that That was the most significant part is that God is looking out for us and we we should be doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do not because we're looking for a reward and That we will benefit humanity if we are on that path and then also just discovering that we have value favorite scene favorite scene About things like this, but I never Shame on you. I'm going to tell your mother on you. My mother's way up in the corner Their way downtown they'd be on my side, too Maybe I could sell tickets Let's see. No that The point is in order to get this robe. I've got it. I'll make a deal with you Mary First one that comes to my mind would be when they're walking home from the dance and she loses her bathrobe That was exactly the first scene that came Yeah, that was that was just this, you know precarious moment Wasn't quite inappropriate. It didn't cross the line, but you know made you laugh and also go You're supposed to be this gentleman or like when everybody's dancing at the dance and all of a sudden the pool opens and they all fall In oh, that's fabulous. Yeah For those of you that don't know, uh-huh trivia question, okay Which little rascals showed up in that scene? So do we need to have them put it in a comment or do we are we gonna tell them? No, we'll tell okay, which one? Alfalfa Alfalfa Alfalfa, he was in the scene of that dancing and dancing It's wonderful, we're gonna have to we're gonna have to go back and watch it with fresh new eyes. Yeah. Well speaking of Family Christmas movies we have got to be a part of one this year for the first time There's tons that are coming out every year all the time our friends over at Damascus Road We're part of a production of bringing back Christmas, which is the story of Joseph and Mary in a modern-day fun twist. Yeah, it's kind of a it's it's kind of a little bit of it It's a wonderful life a little bit of it's kind of a back to the future kind of thing where an angel takes somebody back to see Mary and Joseph as they lead up to Bethlehem and so it's a really fun concept and You've been a part of helping get it out because they push it out there And so you've been a part of the marketing for that, right? I think part of one of my favorite scenes in that one. Yeah, I think there's a couple our friend Ryan O'Quinn is What is he? I can't remember whose father he is. He's uh, he's he's Mary's Mary's father and he's he's hilarious. He did a great so funny and They're arguing the parents are arguing That kind of New York Jew you can get there in half the time if you cut through Samaria No, respectable person will cut through Samaria. Everybody knows that well I'll tell you this a smart person on a donkey with a pregnant wife who wants to get to Bethlehem and back in order to Have our grandchild at home. They would show you the story of Joseph and Mary and in a way You've never seen it or experienced it before so you can go to bringing back Christmas movie calm You can watch that one tonight with your entire family We could list off tons of Christmas movies I could just watch the holiday with my mom and And Nancy and different people, but I think that Nobody argues if lethal weapon is a Christmas movie. They might argue that Diehard is why don't they have that argument? Why is diehard the one that gets brought up? I don't know Celebrates the birth of Christ now put the presents under the tree Do you have any desire ever to direct a Christmas movie? And if so What would it be about Yeah, no, I think that would be fun It would I want I would I don't know. I mean, I'd want it to be something different I wouldn't want it to just be just you know You know, what a girl from the city meets country guy in the flannel, you know kind of no No, no homework But it but something I mean, I really I thought I mean the the the bringing back Christmas Concept was really really strong. And when I heard about that, I was like, oh, that's a really good. Yeah I hope so. I hope so Anyway, we appreciate you hanging out with us having a great time. You know what my hot chocolate's missing but some adult There's no schnapps in my hot chocolate I was about to say more hot chocolate more hot chocolate But we do we really appreciate you guys hanging out with us every week and listening to us talk about films And so this coming attractions obviously about the coming attraction of bring back Christmas Let us know action of just Christmas and the coming attraction of Christmas. I think Christmas is an amazing Let us know your favorite film why it's your favorite film why other people should watch it What do you enjoy about it? Yeah, leave the comments below and then what would you like to see Matt and I make if we ever made a Christmas film? I think we would do a Christmas comedy My favorite film is on on the Christmas list was the only really serious one They were all funny and that was more of a dramatic and not and we enjoy humor Quite a bit. So anyway, we really appreciate you guys Christmas romantic the holiday was fun. I thought the holiday was really yeah, I think if you're talking about romantic ones, there's not a lot of Me I'm just not that type of a girl that likes the Hallmark kind of film But I like the holiday the holiday was good We just watched it and I for I didn't watch all of it because it was on the other day when your mom was over You guys I don't remember why you guys were watching it, but I forgot we were cooking for Thanksgiving Okay, I forgot that it had all of those like movie trailer moments where all of a sudden she were she was imagining her life in a movie trailer and That's the best part about it is I think that there's some great one lines and stuff I think most of the time when it comes to Romantic movies or romantic holiday movies. I get irritated at how quickly a girl falls in love with a boy or how those relationships I just go away just irritated like you met over a weekend. You guys are now sleeping together You're getting married. And so I'm like I'd rather watch die hard We'll see you later