8-Bit Christmas (2021)

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Flack
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8-Bit Christmas (2021)

Post by Flack »



All Jake Doyle's (Neil Patrick Harris) daughter wants for Christmas is a new cell phone so her friends can text and call her directly without having to embarrassingly contact her through her dad's phone. When the two arrive early to a holiday gathering at Jake's childhood home, Jake kills some time by showing his daughter his prized childhood possession, a Nintendo. As Jake and his daughter play games, he tells her the story of how he acquired his NES. Cue the flashback, and the film.

Although not an official remake/reimagining, 8-Bit Christmas feels very similar to another Christmas classic, A Christmas Story. Instead of Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB Gun, we get young Doyle and his quest for an NES. Instead of hearing "you'll shoot your eye out," Doyle's parents are convinced that playing video games will turn your brain to goo, and that they're no match for playing outdoors, even in Chicago's brutal winter weather. Like A Christmas Story, we get regular narration from the older Doyle. There's a bully that seems familiar too, and in place of Ralphie's pink bunny pajamas we get Jake's purple snow boots.

There's a lot of Nintendo in 8-Bit Christmas. Children gather at the home of a rich classmate for the honor of watching him play Nintendo with the newest accessory, the Power Glove. In another scene, Jake discovers a NES kiosk at the mall which begs him to play games. Even when there's no Nintendo on screen, you'll hear the word a lot. Nintendo Nintendo Nintendo.

After his parents deny his requests and his attempt at winning a system by selling Christmas wreaths fails, Jake and his friends hatch a plan just so crazy it might work. The ending of the film about the "real spirit of Christmas" felt tacked on for the sake of cramming some holiday feels into a movie that frankly didn't have any.

Like most period films, the movie plays it fast and loose with time-appropriate references. The older Jake mentions in the beginning that he can't really remember what year it was, but this entire movie about every kid on the planet wanting an NES for Christmas. The NES came out in February of 1986. The Doyle Christmas home movies toward the end of the film are dated 12/25/88 -- a stretch, but not unbelievable. The Power Glove wasn't released until 1989, so things already don't line up. And throughout the entire film, Jake's sister begs for a Cabbage Patch Doll. They even go to a store and the entire aisle is wiped out of dolls. The late 80s is way too late for that.

(One plot point involves a kid owning a 42" CRT TV. In 1988.)

8-Bit Christmas was okay although I didn't love the ending. I ended up watching it a second time with my wife and by the end I wish I had spent 90 minutes playing Nintendo instead.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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AArdvark
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Re: 8-Bit Christmas (2021)

Post by AArdvark »

I read somewhere, possibly on the BBC website, that the majority of the upcoming movies are nostalgia/relying on established franchises. Clearly the public psyche is afraid of the future. Or the Suits that provide the money to make the movies are afraid of what the future will bring.

Edit:nothing ever really goes away on the internet

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