The Watchers' Christmas Movie Quiz 2020

Ho ho ho! Hope everyone is doing well and getting geared up for Christmas. No doubt it's going to feel a bit different this year, but- wherever you are and however you spend it- we hope you have yourselves a Merry little Christmas.

For a little bit of fun, here's a quiz about Christmas movies past and present. 30 festive brain-teasers to test the little grey cells. There are no prizes (except possibly some bragging rights), this is just for fun. We'll post the answers over the weekend. Without further ado... here we go!

The Watchers' Christmas Movie Quiz 2020

1. Name the two films in which Jim Broadbent has played (or voiced) Santa.

2. Who wrote the original novel that Christmas With The Kranks (2004) is based on?

3. In Love Actually (2003), which song by Joni Mitchell plays as Karen (Emma Thompson) cries, realising her husband Harry (Alan Rickman) has bought a necklace for another woman?

4. In Elf (2003), what does Buddy say are elves' "four main food groups"?

5. Mae Questel, who plays Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), provided the voice for which female cartoon character throughout the 1930s, starting with "Silly Scandals" (1931) and ending with "So Does An Automobile" (1939)?

6. Based on a book by Chris Van Allsburg, which 2004 Christmas movie- directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks- made it into the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the "first all-digital capture" film?

7. Which grouchy Christmas character has been played on screen by Jim Carrey, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Boris Karloff?

8. What is the full name of the angel (played by Henry Travers) who comes to help George Bailey (James Stewart) in It's A Wonderful Life (1946)?

9. Which actress plays Santa's mother in both Bad Santa 2 (2016) and Fred Claus (2007)?

10. In Surviving Christmas (2004), how much does Drew Latham (Ben Affleck) offer to pay Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) to allow him to stay with them for the holidays?

11. Which holiday song does Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and the Plastics dance to during the Christmas show in Mean Girls (2004)?

12. Name the four Oscar-winning actors who play Brad and Kate's (Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) divorced parents in Four Christmases (2008)?

13. Which role is played by Kenneth More in Scrooge (1970), Edward Woodward in A Christmas Carol (1984), and Carol Kane in Scrooged (1988)?

14. Which First World War event is the basis of Joyeux Noël (2005)?

15. In which 1944 musical comedy-drama directed by Vincente Minnelli does Judy Garland sing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"?

16. In A Christmas Story (1983), what gift does Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) ask his mother for?

17. Which Oscar-winning actress plays Iris Simpkins in The Holiday (2006)?

18. By what gang name are criminals Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) known as in Home Alone (1990) 

19. Which 1974 seasonal horror film, directed by Bob Clark, was marketed with the taglines "Have yourself a scary little Christmas", "It's beginning to look a lot like... bloodshed" and "If this movie doesn't make your skin crawl... it's on TOO TIGHT"

20. The title song of White Christmas (1954) also featured in which 1942 musical comedy-drama, which also starred Bing Crosby?

21. True or false: Die Hard (1988) is based on a novel by Roderick Thorp?

22. Which character in Gremlins (1984) is played by Howie Mandel?

23. In Batman Returns (1992), which festive plant is discussed by Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) and Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) saying it can be deadly if you eat it, but a kiss under it can be deadlier- if you mean it?

24. In The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), who does Lock, Shock and Barrel kidnap first thinking it was "Sandy Claws"?

25. Edmund Gwenn plays Kris Kringle in the 1947 version of Miracle On 34th Street; who plays Kringle in the 1994 remake?

26. Which character does Martin Short play in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)?

27. A harrassed father's attempts to get his son a Turbo Man action figure is the basis for which 1996 family comedy-adventure, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger?

28. In The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), which Muppet plays the jovial businessman with whom the young Scrooge is apprenticed, at his rubber chicken factory?

29. Which Oscar-nominated actor plays villainous toy manufacturer B.Z. in Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)?

30. Which 1994 comedy-drama- co-written and directed by Nora Ephron and starring Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, and Juliette Lewis- is based on a 1982 French comedy titled Le Père Noël Est Une Ordure [Santa Claus Is A Stinker]?

Alan Rickman (1946-2016)

Like many, we at The Watchers were deeply upset to hear of the sudden and unexpected passing of the great Alan Rickman who has died at the age of 69.

Born in Acton in 1946, Rickman did not start acting until he was 28 and graduated from RADA in 1974. One of his earliest TV roles was as Tybalt in the BBC Shakespeare version of Romeo And Juliet. He was always very comfortable on the stage, playing Mark Antony opposite Helen Mirren as Cleopatra and playing the Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses onstage to great acclaim in both London and on Broadway.

Die Hard was Rickman's first feature film role and his performance as Hans Gruber is one of the most indelible villainous roles in action cinema, even though Rickman himself never thought of Gruber as 'the villain'. He was cast by the producers on the strength of his stage performance in Les Liaisons Dengereuses. However, director John McTiernan found it necessary to cut away from Gruber whenever he fires a gun, as Rickman had an uncontrollable habit of flinching whenever he pulled the trigger. 

After playing Gruber, Rickman then went on to play a romantic lead in Anthony Minghella's tearjerking Truly Madly Deeply as a cellist who dies and returns to his grieving partner as a ghost. He is easily the best thing about Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, bringing a broad almost campy swagger to the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham, clearly relishing some of the more pointed lines in the script (such as the oft-quoted 'I'll cut your heart out with a spoon' and 'call off Christmas'). The film comes alive whenever he's on screen. He won a BAFTA for the role.

In Sense And Sensibility, Rickman went back to the romantic lead role as Colonel Brandon, delivering a wonderfully sensitive performance. He won a Primetime Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for playing Rasputin, and then appeared as Irish politician Eamon de Valera in Michael Collins. 

One of his best roles, as far as I'm concerned, is in Dogma, where he plays the Metatron (the voice of God). I remembered thinking at the time how, if God was real, you'd want him to have the voice of Alan Rickman. As the Metatron, he's flippant and incredibly funny, throwing out some delicious one-liners like 'do you go around drenching everybody that comes into your room with flame-retardant chemicals? No wonder you're single!' But there's also a sensitivity there, especially in the later scenes with Linda Fiorentino where he discusses talking to the young Jesus. 

However, if pushed to choose just one, I think my favourite Rickman film performance would be Galaxy Quest. He is just superb as Alexander Dane, a bumptious old luvvie sick and tired of trotting out the same old tired catchphrases as Dr Lazarus. There's something wonderful about his hauteur about falling so low- he played Richard III, there were five curtain calls- but yet he steps up and becomes the character again when needed. 

In 2003, he appeared in the British comedy-drama Love Actually. I've got a few issues with the film (it could do with a damn good edit for a start) but the strand involving Rickman and Emma Thompson as a couple whose relationship is tested when he is tempted to stray is one of the most compelling and well-acted parts of the film. It feels authentic against some of the broader stuff. 

He's the perfect fit for the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android in the 2005 version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and puts in a menacing turn as Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. He's also great as the voice of Absalom the Caterpillar in Alice In Wonderful (and had already recorded his lines to reprise the role for Alice Through The Looking Glass). 

Other great Rickman performances are in the video for 'In Demand' by Texas (dancing with Sharleen Spiteri in a petrol station), as a disembodied head in the TV adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Play and reuniting with Emma Thompson as a pair of old flames who meet for dinner in The Song Of Lunch. He was also a director, directing Emma Thompson and Phyllida Law in the 1997 film The Winter Guest and the 2014 film A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts and in which he also played King Louis XIV.

But for many people, it will be his role as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise for which Rickman will be most remembered. He was J.K. Rowling's first choice- indeed, she wrote the character with Rickman in mind- but he was only given the role after Tim Roth (who was the studio's preferred choice) backed out. Rowling even told him more about Snape's character than had been revealed in the books at that point to better inform his performance. In a franchise that's stuffed to the ginnels with the cream of British acting talent and so many wonderful performance, it takes something to stand out - and he does. Sneering, sarcastic and dry, like all the best characters, he has another side to him and throughout the course of the eight films, Snape moves from out-and-out antagonist to something more like a hero, albeit with some shades of grey. 

As an actor, Alan Rickman was often typecast as a villain (thanks to his superb roles in Die Hard and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves) but was equally adept as a romantic lead, in comedic roles, in period pieces and contemporary ones. Many will feel the fact he was never nominated for an Oscar as an egregious oversight.

He is survived by his wife, Rima Horton, who he was with for over fifty years and who he married in 2012. Our thoughts and with her, his family and friends at this time.

Tez
for The Watchers

Programme 28: Die Hard Special

Programme 28 is here!

In this Die Hard special, Rhys takes a look back at this twenty-five year old film franchise (doesn't that make you pause for thought?) before delivering his verdict on the fifth film. But was it A Good Day To Die Hard?

Enjoy!

The Watchers' Advent Calendar: 14th December

Day 14 of The Watchers' Advent Calendar and, as promised yesterday, today we have the second part of The Watchers' Christmas Quiz: a festive exercise for the little grey cells (or your search engine prowess, whichever comes first).

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The Watchers' Christmas Quiz (Part Two)

This is the second of three short quizzes, all related (more or less) to films that have Christmas in them. Please note this is just for fun; there are no prizes. The answers will be given tomorrow.

So here is your second set of questions:

1.  Which actor won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Kris Kringle in the 1947 version of Miracle On 34th Street?

2.  In The Muppet Christmas Carol, who does The Great Gonzo play?

3. John Waters' movie Female Trouble starts at Christmas. What does Dawn Davenport (Divine) want for Christmas- and flies into a rage when she doesn't get it?

4. The Nakatomi Plaza building, the setting for Die Hard, is supposed to be in which US city?

5. In Jingle All The Way, what is the name of the action figure that Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has to get for his son?

Hopefully those questions will keep you thinking til tomorrow when we'll have something a little different for you...

Programme 2: 50/50 and Alternative Christmas Films

Our second show reviewed drama-comedy film 50/50 as well as a discussion of what we termed 'alternative' Christmas films.

The news round-up revealed details about The Dark Knight Rises and casting news for Skyfall as well as the possibility of a new Doctor Who feature film.

This show can also be found as a podcast here and on iTunes here.