HO, HO, HUMBUG

by Deborah Elliott-Upton

Holiday themed cartoons, movies and sitcoms are rampant this time of year. “Scrooged” starring Bill Murray has been listed on at least one channel every night for a few weeks and last night it was back-to-back on the same channel. Isn’t it time someone wrote a new Christmas-themed story? Why do they all seem to be based on someone else’s story?

Ebenezer Scrooge has been done to death, yet each season someone takes a stab at retelling the story about a workaholic who doesn’t like people any more than they like him.

I’m tired of re-makes. Surprisingly, there are many talented writers out here who would love to create new characters, but it seems the moviemakers think that redoing “True Grit,” “Harvey” and “Total Recall” makes more sense. One of the best things about those movies were they were new and different.

But, back to holiday stories. My favorites are (in no certain order):

• A Christmas Story
• Miracle on 34th Street (the original with Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood)
• The Bishop’s Wife (the original with Loretta Young, Cary Grant and David Niven)
• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Christmas Vacation
• Home Alone
• White Christmas
• The Santa Claus

And my favorite:

• It’s A Wonderful Life

Sure, I like a little Grinch, a little Scrooge, and a bit of Rudolph. But aren’t the taking-place-during-the-holiday movies combined with a bit of action and mystery pretty darn good, too? Throw a bag of popcorn in the mix, grab a blanket, and let’s cuddle on the couch, watch “Die Hard,” and see John McClane save the world (or at least Los Angeles) on Christmas. Yippee, ki, ya, yea!

This year for Christmas I want a brand new holiday mystery. Something with Johnny Depp would be nice, but now my thoughts digress. Maybe I’ll go watch “The Tourist.”