Why Watch? How else do you think they get the Santa to your local mall? For fans of Rare Exports, this is a special short film treat. For those who haven’t yet fallen in love with the Finnish flick from Jalmari Helander about the accidental awakening of an ancient demon named Santa Claus, here’s a great introduction. Fair warning though, there’s some old man penis involved. Plus, it’s a beautifully shot commercial for a company based in the land of the original Father Christmas. Order yours today, and have a hell of a holiday. What does it cost? Just 7 minutes of your time. Trust us. You have time for more short films.

Why Watch? It’s the story about a snowman with no arms on an adventure to find some. It echoes Rankin & Bass, and it’s pleasantly low-budget the way the first South Park Christmas videos were. Plus, it’s delightful and only a little bit creepy. Enjoy the ending! Happy holidays! What does it cost? Just 8 minutes of your time. Trust us. You have time for more short films.

Recently, I found myself looking for a movie to watch that was Christmasy and festive, but not necessarily something so holiday-themed that it had Santa Clauses, reindeer, and Jesuses in it. You know, something about normal people but set around the time of the holidays. While perusing all of the top ten holiday movie lists that I could find around the web, I saw one title keep popping up again and again, Richard Curtis’s Love Actually. I never saw this one when it came out, it just looked like another generic romantic comedy to me, but it turns out a lot of people love to watch it every year around the Christmas season. And further research led me to the fact that a lot of people mention it as one of the few romantic comedies that’s actually good from the last decade as well. Sounded strong enough for me to give it a watch. It turns out I didn’t much care for the film, though, and my need for something Christmasy had been left unsated. Not willing to go out on another limb, I decided to revisit a film that I had already seen before, one that I remembered enjoying much more than I was expecting to back when it was released. This second choice was Thomas Bezucha’s 2005 film The Family Stone, which already seems to be rather forgotten. Luckily for me, time did not prove my idiocy, because upon a second watch I found that I still enjoyed [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]

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, Ben Solovey explains why he’s personally restoring a 16mm print of Manos: The Hands of Fate, one of the worst movies ever made. Plus, I Melt With You director Mark Pellington talks drugs and demons, and it’s Fat Guy Kevin Carr versus Geek Tyrant editor-in-chief Jim Napier in a Movie News Pop Quiz that will change everything forever and ever. Download This Episode

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.

Well, Merry whatever you celebrate. Because no matter what it is, we’ll be there to celebrate (and drink heavily) right alongside you. All of you. Seriously.

This week’s Culture Warrior asks why there aren’t more movies about Thanksgiving. Christmas always seems to hog all the good ones.

There are many elements that go into our favorite Christmas movies. The least of which often being the quality of the actual film. In general, I’ve found that most people cling to Christmas movies to which they can relate, or that they’ve shared fondly in years past with friends and family.

There are a slew of Christmas movies out there, which seems rather unfair because it’s the only holiday where movies are made specifically for it.

Not just the best Christmas film, but one of the best films ever made.

We know this is a bit of a cop-out, but it’s Christmas.

It’s Christmas dammit. Put a little love in your heart.

It’s Christmas Eve. A desperate man is suicidal, certain that his entire life has been worthless, and he’s facing a ruinous scandal. But heaven has better things in store for George Bailey.

Things are very different today than they were when we were kids… or at least when I was a kid.

Curiously, Santa Claus: The Movie is one of those Christmas movies that, unless you were a child in the 80s, or had a child in the 80s, you completely missed out on.

To hell with Anchorman and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Will Ferrell’s milestone performance so far has been Buddy the Elf.

It should also be illegal for anyone to take iconic television characters from the 1960s and use them in a Christmas-themed movie in the mid 90s.

While some of you may have already watched this around Halloween, I prefer my nightmares to happen right around Christmas time.

Black Christmas draws its malevolent power from the disconnect between the cheery trappings of Christmas and the ever-present dark side of human nature.

There are some true Christmas classics, ones which the holiday isn’t complete without, and for me, one of those is definitely The Muppet Christmas Carol.