The Secret of NIMH (1982) | Don Bluth

Don Bluth’s first big screen effort under his own name after splitting from Disney, along with several other Disney animators and artists, in order to try to return to the kind of groundbreaking style and commitments to storytelling that their former company had been skimping out on during the 1960s and 1970s.  THE SECRET OF […]

Scrooged (1988) | Richard Donner

I look back at a film that some people herald as a great Christmas film.  I’ve always had issues, but wanted to give it another shot.  Do I come around? Bill Murray stars as Frank Cross in this modern take on the Charles Dickens’ class, “A Christmas Carol”. Richard Donner directs.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) | Jeremiah S. Chechik

The third in National Lampoon’s Vacation series, Christmas Vacation has gone on from being a minor blip to a holiday favorite for many families over the years.  Chevy Chase at his most slapstick-y sets the formula for many dysfunctional Christmas comedies to follow.  John Hughes scripts.

A Christmas Story (1983) | Bob Clark

Bob Clark directs and co-writes my favorite Christmas film of the 1980s, and perhaps my favorite of any era, A CHRISTMAS STORY, a nostalgic look at childhood that makes me nostalgic for my own.  Peter Billingsley stars as Ralphie, who wants more than anything to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, even though […]

The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) | Joel Schumacher

Lily Tomlin stars in this wacky comedy from 1981, playing multiple roles, exploring the satirical themes of the diminishing role of the American housekeeper in the period, getting smaller, literally, by the day, as she eventually measures only two inches tall.  Zany antics ensue in this first feature directed by Joel Schumacher.