LIST: The Best Thanksgiving movies

Joshua Ligairi » 11.23.11 »

Despite all of the obvious reasons to dislike Thanksgiving, I happen to enjoy the holiday. Mostly because I like eating large portions of mashed potatoes and gravy, but also because I love the coziness of the holiday and the opportunity to spend time with family. There is a Dutch word for that feeling. It's "gezelligheid." And boy are my family gatherings gezellig.

Another thing I like doing around this time of year is watch movies. Occassionally I'll be tempted off to a theater with a friend, but because I "spare the turkey," my food coma often subsides a little sooner than those of my friends and family and that makes for a perfect time to stretch out on my grandparents couch and watch a movie. But, what to watch? As you may remember from earlier posts, I tend to be very specific about my thematic movie watching. Problem is, there aren't many Thanksgiving films to choose from. In fact, the only two I can even really think of are A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (which doesn't hold a candle to the Halloween or Christmas specials) and Home for the Holidays (which I can't remember anything about).

So, until Eli Roth gets off his lazy butt and finishes his completely inappropriate horror romp, I'm stuck with my "Top 7 Not-Quite-Thanksgiving Films" that still manage to put me in the desired mood. Sorry, 7 was all I could come up with, and I was even stretching it with some of those. Though these films may or may not actually have anything to do with Thanksgiving, most of these take place in that wonderful transitional period between Autumn and Winter, have a strong nostalgic value around family and friendship, or are just plain good movies.

7. Indian Summer
6. Dutch
5. Grumpy Old Men
4. Hannah and Her Sisters
3. Dan in Real Life
2. The New World
1. Planes Trains & Automobiles

Any surprises? Certainly not with the number one. And isn't that a sad commentary on the state of Thanksgiving movies? Maybe, as mentioned before, Thanksgiving just isn't a very inspiring holiday. I mean, they made a better film out of Groundhog Day for crying out loud!
But let's consider this a challenge to young, Thanksgiving-loving filmmakers everywhere. The competition is almost non-existent. This is your chance to break into the American collective consciousness. But what's the story? Maybe a "Black Friday" Thanksgiving campout movie? No, that would suck. What I'd really like to see is an honest historical depiction of the first Thanksgiving. Something like The New World, but focused on the lead up to the initial celebration could be really cool.

Anyway, here are some honorable mentions: Son In Law (if you prefer weasels to turkeys), Leatherheads (if you are watching with your Grandparents), and maybe One Good Man (if your family happens to be both cheesy and Mormon like mine).

By the way, don't even think about giving me a hard time about omitting from my list films such as Pieces of April, House of Yes, Tadpole, The Ice Storm. Despite varied cult status and critical acclaim, these are not, IMHO, great movies and are certainly not great Thanksgiving movies. Also, please don't show your children that terrible Disney version of Pocahontas. The New World is far less sexist and racist and a much better all-around film.

Now, off to prep some homemade cranberry sauce. Which reminds me of another Dutch phrase I like to use this time of year: "Eets makkelijk!"

BLOG: Edward Burns' homage trailers

This is a re-post of a piece I wrote for FilmJunk.com, where I am an occasional contributor. While there is no real "writing" here to speak of, I wanted to pass this on because I absolutely love the subject matter.

Joshua Ligairi » 10.13.2010 »

With it’s sappy-sweet first trailer premiering to much online criticism, Edward Burns has taken the marketing of his new film, Nice Guy Johnny, into his own hands and, in my opinion, in a very exciting new direction. Burns, with the help of someone named “Reel Movie Guy“, has recut the Johnny trailer in the style of several classic films. So far, five such trailers have been released.

Want to test your own movie knowledge? You can play along at home. See if you can figure out which classic films’ trailers are being homaged by Burns et al. Nice Guy Johnny "homage trailers" (and the original trailers they are homaging) below. Sadly, something to do with my Blogger settings crops the right side of these videos, but if youclick on the YouTube logo in the bottom right corner, you can just watch the trailers on YouTube.

1. Nice Guy Johnny Homage Trailer 1

2. Nice Guy Johnny Homage Trailer 2

3. Nice Guy Johnny Homage Trailer 3

4. Nice Guy Johnny Homage Trailer 4

5. Nice Guy Johnny Homage Trailer 5

And now, the originals. How did you do? There are some tricky ones in here. Like, number four is obviously a Woody Allen film, but how do you tell it apart from the 100 or so other Woody Allen trailers with the exact same font and very similar jazz music? If we were playing Scene It, I could have guessed Husbands and Wives just as easily. And what about number two? This is essentially the same trailer as Godard's trailer for Breathless. It is just the font at the beginning that gives it away. Frankly, i think they cheated a little bit, using "the pretty girl" and "the bad boy" from Breathless, but once you realize they are going for Contempt rather than Breathless, jokes like "the Cutlass Supreme" play a lot better. I was able to identify most of these trailers on my own, all except for number three (which is a bummer because it is my favorite). Thankfully, Film Junk reader "Alex" helped me out with that one. What a fucking awesome awesome trailer! They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

1. L’Avventura (The Adventure) Trailer

2. Contempt Trailer

3. The Thomas Crown Affair Trailer

4. Hannah and Her Sisters Trailer

5. Love Story Trailer

I love that someone in Burns’ position is not only sticking with indie film in a very tough time for it, but is also willing to put himself and his film on the line with such a unique form of marketing. What a lovely tribute to the work that inspired him an d what an effective example of how marketing can effect our impression of a film.

I’ll be checking the film out based on this campaign alone, hoping that a filmmaker with this level of guts and creativity will deliver a comparable film.

More info on Nice Guy Johnny can be found on the official website.