Desk Set (1957), directed by Walter Lang. Speaking of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Bosley Crowther remarks, "They can tote phone books on their heads or balance feathers on their chins and be amusing—." And they are amusing in this delightful look at automation in the work force. In this film, four women who run a research department for a large corporation find their jobs threatened by a large piece of hardware known as a computer. I include this film at this time of year because it is a Christmas movie. Well, if Die Hard can be a Christmas movie, then Desk Set can too. The Christmas Party in Desk Set is far more festive than the one in Die Hard. Indeed, the entire sensibility of Desk Set has something festive about it. Even Emmerich the feminine computer has twinkling lights and tinkling sounds. The film was released in 1957 and computers were a tad more cumbersome than the ones we now wear on our wrists or tuck in our shirt pockets, and so the whole computer vs human brain power thing seems rather quaint now. Nevertheless, the principals are likeable, the colours bright, and the wide screen wider than wide. 

Reindeer Games (2000), directed by John Frankenheimer. This director has made some noteworthy films. This is not one of them. Oh, it is okay as a heist movie with twists and turns aplenty. And it has the added fun of having the five robbers dress as Santa Claus. The action takes place in a wintry Michigan at Christmas time, and the soundtrack uses familiar seasonal songs in a wry manner. The whole thing plays out as a sort of grunge version of Ocean’s Eleven. Characters are one-dimensional for all their changes of direction, and the plot, for all its baroque twists, is predictable. The actors are easy on the eyes, and Ben Affleck plays a dopey everyman believably, even if the plot he inhabits is hardly believable. Frankenheimer moves the action efficiently, and the opening shots of dead Santas is catching. All in all, this film is okay, but it will not (and has not) become a holiday classic.