Thursday Movie Picks - Holiday Party

Wandering Through the Shelves hosts Thursday Movie Picks. It's a weekly series where bloggers post and share various movie picks every Thursday. 

The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

This week's theme is Holiday Party.

You've Got Mail

Struggling boutique bookseller Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) accidentally develops a blossoming companionship with her biggest rival - Foxbooks chain store owner Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) - through an anonymous internet chatroom. When Joe learns that the enchanting woman he's involved with is Kathleen, he must reconcile their strong distaste for each other to see if there is a real connection beyond the cyber world.

Nora Ephron created year-long movie magic with You've Got Mail..because you can watch it any time and it fits spring, summer, fall, and winter. One of the best scenes is Kathleen discovering that one of her patrons is her biggest rival. It's a good thing Frank gets there in time to put down the knife. F-O-X.

Scrooge

Ebenezer Scrooge (Albert Finney) is the definition of a miser. On Christmas Eve, he is in store for a rude awakening when he is visited by three ghosts, including the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Edith Evans) and Present (Kenneth More).

I was so sad to discover that songwriter Leslie Bricusse passed away in October 2021. He contributed to so many musicals over the years like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Victor Victoria. Even when it gets depressing or scary towards the end (hello third ghost!), I loved how he turned A Christmas Carol into a tender musical. I hope it still finds it way to the stage in the upcoming years. This is probably my favorite version next to A Muppet Christmas Carol.

Die Hard

One of my favorite scenes of all time - not gonna lie. Pretty amazing how 99% of the whole movie is a holiday party but the debate still lives on if it's Christmas-y enough.