Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

The Best Christmas Movie Is...

...would you believe? ... "It's A Wonderful Christmas Story Actually." 

It's a three-way run-off!

With Christmas only a few days away now, Americans are doing their part to jump-start the national economy by buying things they don't need in order to employ people they don't know and it's your last chance to vote in the 2008 run-off of our Movie Smackdown Christmas Movie Poll.

Last year, we asked ten of our SmackRefs to each recommend a Christmas film that they have a special fondness for, something that can stand the test of repeat viewing.  That poll turned out to be a squeaker with an unexpected winner when traditional favorite "It's A Wonderful Life" fell narrowly to the period "A Christmas Story" with a strong third place by the relatively new "Love Actually."  In any case, the past is just nostalgia. To get you in the holiday spirit again, we've put those top three finishers in the Run-off Ring against each other to decide, once and for all (at least until next year) who the real champion is in the "No-Humbug Zone."

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The Dark Knight (2008) -vs- The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Best Sequel EVER?

The Smackdown.  When "The Dark Knight" hit movie screens earlier this year, critics screamed that cinema history had just been made, that it was even better than the movie that spawned it and, just possibly, one of the best films ever released.  In 1974, the same thing happened.  "The Godfather, Part II" was not only seen as the best sequel ever but it stood up as a great film, winning the Oscar for Best Picture, like its predecessor from two years earlier. The test for these sequels is whether they managed to continue and expand upon the originals that came before them, by charting fresh new territory, raising the stakes and deepening the concepts.  Now is the perfect time for this true Smackdown of Champions since "The Dark Knight" has just been released on DVD and Blu-ray and "The Godfather, Part II" was recently released as part of the meticulously done Coppola restoration, also in both formats.  

Just like any film, sequels must justify their very existence to even be made. However, sequels also pull double duty, having to prove not just "why make it?" but also "why make more?" The answer, usually, is because new films make more money and, hopefully, establish a franchise for the studios that make them.  Sometimes, and these two films are prime examples, something else happens and the answer to "why make more?" is simply that there is more story to tell with characters that filmmakers and audiences just aren't done with. 

Which one of our two films is the Best Sequel Ever Made?  Is it the one starring Batman, the crime-fighter in The Dark Knight, or is it the one with Michael Corleone, the crime-lord in The Godfather, Part II?  Our battle is likely to be disastrous, brutal and raw -- like the films themselves.  Let's introduce the challenger...

Cold Warriors from Outer Space

Alien-Human Smackdown, 50s Edition

To help us celebrate the holidays this year, on December 12th, 20th Century Fox releases its remake of the classic 1951 sci-fi film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu Reeves in the role of "Klaatu," first played by Michael Rennie 57 years ago.  Movie Smackdown will, of course, be putting the two films in the ring against each other and maybe even several times in different combinations.  To us, well, this is like an event of historical proportions.

Today we've asked SmackRef Bob Nowotny to get the laser beams flying by introducing us to the joys of 1950s sci-fi invasion films.  We knew he was the right man for the job since he actually believes, and I'm quoting:

"What one cannot argue (at least convincingly) is that any science fiction/alien invasion movie produced after 1959 is the equal of these well respected classics.  Yes, there have been subsequent science fiction films brought to the screen, but they are all pretenders to the crown."

After Bob's Blurb (note to Bob: we gift you this as the name of your next blog), you'll find a brand-new fresh-off-the-bus SmackPoll where you can express your own opinion(s).  Our goal is to find an "Alien Invasion" film winner from the Classic era, and put it up against a similar winner from the Modern era.  This is, admittedly, a pretty ambitious goal for a site run only on blood, sweat and tears but, given the subject matter, maybe the fate of the Earth rests on it.  In the meantime, here's Bob and his alien-infested trip down memory lane.

It's A Wonderful Christmas Story Actually

With Thanksgiving behind us now, Americans are doing their part to jump-start the national economy by buying things they don't need in order to employ people they don't know and, of course, Movie Smackdown has a new Christmas poll.  Holidays are about tradition, right?  This is ours and we're sticking with it. 

Last year, we asked ten of our SmackRefs to each recommend a Christmas film that they have a special fondness for, something that can stand the test of repeat viewing.  That poll turned out to be a squeaker with an unexpected winner when traditional favorite "It's A Wonderful Life" fell narrowly to the period "A Christmas Story" with a strong third place by the relatively new "Love Actually."  Those are the finalists in this year's reader's poll.

Last year's winning vote-getter was "A Christmas Story," advocated by SmackRef Scott Baradell who picked up on the pop culture momentum of film to take the prize. It is true that the other two top films from 2007 came from SmackRefs with last names that end in, well, Zabel, (i.e. Lauren with "Love Actually" and Jonathan with "It's A Wonderful Life") but they beat out seven other critics with their picks to show.  And, by the way, yours truly picked "Home Alone" which, sadly, did not make the cut.  Three of our most prolific SmackRefs also failed to rally the voters a year ago:  Mark Sanchez liked "The Ref," Beau DeMayo favored "Polar Express," and Jay Amicarella pulled up the Polar Caboose with his pick of "A Child's Christmas in Wales."

In any case, the past is just nostalgia.  Now to get you in the holiday spirit again, we're putting those top three finishers in the ring against each other to decide, once and for all (at least until next year) who the real champion is in the "No-Humbug Zone."

After the jump, you'll read the SmackRef's statements of support for the top three vote-getting films from last years ten competitiors, followed by both the original 2007 poll and this year's 2008 poll.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The Godfather (1972) -vs- The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Vote Now: An Offer You Can't Refuse...

The Smackdown.  By now it's all become a part of our collective cultural memory -- the horse's head showing up in the bed, making an "offer he can't refuse" and that haunting score by Nino Rota.  Imagine being in the theaters though, almost four decades ago when the original "The Godfather" was in release back in 1972. For years new viewers of the Godfather Trilogy were exposed to either increasingly degraded theatrical prints or VHS or DVD copies that were, in many cases, even worse.  For the past two years, though, Francis Ford Coppola and a small army of digital restoration experts have been at work reclaiming the golden glory for high-definition Blu-ray, standard DVD and even a few more theatrical prints out in some major cities.  It's not the purpose of this Smackdown to lay out that process but if you want to know more about "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration," there have been some excellent articles including The New York Times and Slate Magazine.

What is most astonishing about "The Godfather" which won the 1972 Oscar for "Best Picture" is that two years later "The Godfather, Part II" also won the Oscar for "Best Picture."  This pretty much qualifies the second film as the unquestioned best sequel of all-time (although there are supporters now for "The Dark Knight").  And, of course, it triggers a Smackdown to find out which of these two extraordinary films is the best.  We'll give the competition our usual treatment with an added bonus.  Five of our critics weigh in at the end with their individual essays.  Joe Rassulo, Scott Baradell, Sherry Coben, Mark Sanchez and Jay Amicarella all come at the material with damned unique POVs, and it's a fun read.  Finally, at the end of this review, you can put in your own two cents by voting in our Smack-Poll.

The Defending Champion.  If you think about it now, the "Godfather" films are the modern world's version of those Shakespeare plays about kings and princes.  This is the film where Vito Corleone, the aging Don of a powerful Mafia family hands off the power, reluctantly, to his youngest son Michael, delivering one of the saddest lines in cinema, "Michael, I never wanted this for you."  Al Pacino's Michael Corleone is one of the greatest acting performances on screen ever and his transformation from shy son to ruthless criminal makes you forgive any of the actor's excesses over the years.  The film opens on a wedding where Michael has returned from World War II just in time to see his sister Connie get married. All of the men in Michael's family are involved with the Mafia and it's assumed that the older brothers will handle the criminal duties while Michael lives a legit and decent life. It's truly the story of the family but the engine that drives the action is about a drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo who wants Don Corleone (Marlon Brandon) to go into the drug trade with him.  Corleone refuses, gets shot by hit men, barely survives.  This opens the door for his son to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo that changes him and his family forever.  It's the story of the old ways surrendering, violently, to the new ways.  You probably know all this.  Beautifully photographed, scored, directed, written.  Most people have it on their Top Ten lists and more than a few place it as #1.