I know that the holidays are a time for cheer, goodwill towards others, and all that good stuff. But with all the stress, crowds, and busy schedules that also come with the season, it’s hard not to want to blow off a little steam. If you are willing to risk getting a last minute addition to the “naughty list,” here are some pranks inspired by holiday films that should keep you laughing (albeit usually at the expensive of someone else). I mean, who said April 1st is the only acceptable day out of the year to pull pranks?

Oh, the holidays. That time of year when everyone wants to stay indoors, cuddle up on the couch, and lose themselves in the arms of another person. Hot cocoa, pot roast, and an endless supply of movies, what else could a single person want or need? Oh, how about those arms I mentioned earlier? Well, if the movies of Christmas have taught me anything in my long-winded existence, it’s that once the snow starts to fall love could be just around the corner. And thank goodness for that, because spending uninterrupted time with one’s family is always made better when you have a cute guy or gal with you. You might be asking, “Gwen, how am I supposed to find love in just two weeks?” Well, unfortunately I can’t really help you with that specific deadline, however I do think the movies of the season can lend a bit of assistance in the right direction.

Yeah, we know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but that hasn’t stopped the advertisers and the studios from assaulting us with Christmas-related stuff. So what better way to take the edge off the early holiday onslaught by tipping back a glass or two of eggnog and watching one of the bigger early Christmas releases. And if you’re lucky, Jim Carrey may just start to look less creepy as you move through this film.

Re-releases are a tough business, I tell you. And this week is full of them. Be they the re-lighting of the old flame that still burns from Chaplin’s last trip as the Little Tramp or James Cameron’s twice released (this year) mega-event movie Avatar, This Week in Blu-ray is full of stuff that we’ve seen before, in various capacities. That doesn’t mean that some of these titles aren’t worth buying, as you might expect. A few of these titles will be welcomed additions to your collection. They may also have you cursing the names of faceless Fox executives who duped you into buying Avatar the first time around. Or Blu-ray column writers who recommended it, despite the obvious lack of special features… Actually, lets not focus on that last part. Why don’t we just move on to this week’s selection of high definition wonders.

Join us each week as Rob Hunter takes a look at new DVD releases and gives his highly unqualified opinion as to which titles are worth BUYing, which are better off as RENTals, and which should be AVOIDed at all costs. And remember, these listings and category placements are meant as informational conversation starters only. But you can still tell Hunter how wrong he is in the comment section below. This week sees two titles worth buying, and they’re both Criterion releases. Also out and worthy of your time or dismissal are A Christmas Carol, RoboGeisha, Best Worst Movie, The Kids Are All Right, an even longer cut of Avatar, and more.

Wow. I knew the fans of The Twilight Saga: New Moon were crazy for this movie, but I didn’t realize they were going to be THIS crazy. It’s an enormous $140 million opening domestic haul for the whole weekend for New Moon.

Well, this weekend’s box office numbers were definitely not the end of the world. Years from now people are going to look back at 2012 and say, “Oh yes, 2012. A very good year. A very good box office opening, too.”

Yesterday, Variety published the list of films that have made the cut of 20 for the race to get the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Allow me to break this down for you…

Here are my thoughts on what happened this weekend at the box office, with Disney’s A Christmas Carol leading the way at $31 million.

Brian Salisbury goes into Robert Zemeckis’ highly animated retelling of A Christmas Carol with high hopes. He emerges however, with less than high praise.

Kevin Carr takes a look at this week’s movie releases, including A Christmas Carol, The Fourth Kind and The Box.

Will Disney’s A Christmas Carol worm it’s way into your hearts and homes and become as much of a holiday staple as rum balls and spotted dick are now? Rob Hunter answers this and more…

As you can tell it’s November, Halloween is now over and Christmas is right around the corner. How do we know this? Because the Christmas movies have started with A Christmas Carol. We also have the horror flick The Box, the thriller The Fourth Kind, and the Oscar season movie The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Kevin and Neil stare at some goats, grumble about not being allowed to open a box, visit the uncanny valley and debate whether Kevin is spoiling the viewing experience for The Fourth Kind.

Hello again movie fans! You may have noticed that there was no Movie Watcher’s Guide to October. There are several completely legitimate reasons for this, but instead of boring you with details please allow me to give a quick recap of the month’s box-office releases… The Invention of Lying, Whip It, Amelia, Astro Boy, Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, and Saw VI all pretty much bombed, while Zombieland, Couples Retreat, Law Abiding Citizen, Where the Wild Things Are, and Paranormal Activity all did fair to brisk business. There, now you’re caught up through October. On to November! November 6th The Box Who did it? Directed and written by Richard Kelly; starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella What is it? A young couple receives a mysterious box containing only a button and a note. Press the button and two things will happen… one, they’ll receive $1 million dollars, and two, someone in the world will die. Will they press the button? Duh… What about it? Kelly has taken a classic short story by Richard Matheson (“Button, Button”), which was previously made into an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” and turned it into a movie. It’s not always a wise move to stretch something from a much shorter medium to a feature film, and early reviews (like the one at Gone Elsewhere) have been fair to meh about it which doesn’t bode too well for the movie. Or for Kelly… who some are starting to suspect was nothing but lucky with his debut film, Donnie Darko. Watch [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

I would bet my life that I’ve seen this full trailer for A Christmas Carol before, but apparently its brand new. Either I’m psychic or I’ve gone insane. As a test, I’ll need you to choose a number between 1 and 100. Was it 43?

Disney is laying a lot on the line with A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, and Tron. But they seemed to impress the geeks in attendance.

In order to help you keep all of the movie-related stuff straight, we’ve put together a list of the 13 must see movie-related events of Comic-Con 2009. So get out your pencil and your day calendar (the one with the kittens on it) and write down the following events.

Poster goodness for I Love You Phillip Morris and A Christmas Carol.

Strangely enough, it’s the look of the animation that will nauseate and not just Jim Carrey playing Scrooge playing Jim Carrey in Robert Zemeckis’s latest.