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It's the first week of December and this thread is continuing (merged) for everyone to post their recommendations for seasonal viewing. Hong Kong, Panasian, or Western, let's hear what you will be watching or recommending from now through New Years.

Here's a few to consider. I'll be adding more recommendations every few days:

Twelve Nights (HK 2000): This romantic downer is notably watchable . Jeannie's (Cecilia Cheung) birthdate falls on Christmas Day and the film opens with her hanging out with her gal pals and discussing her love life Eason Chan being the only guy in attendance and sulking in silence (you find out why later). Needless to say, Jeannies relationships are rocky and will get rockier through the course of the movie. The film ends on Christmas Day one year later.

One Night In Mongkok (HK 2004): Another CC movie, this time with Daniel Wu. The story spans 12/23 to 12/25 and follows the misadventures of Lai Fu (DW) and Dan Dan (CC) in a journey of darkness. Lai Fu is a mainland hick, an out-of-town shooter hired to settle a score between dueling triad gangsters and also on a personal mission. Dan Dan is an opportunistic mainland prostitute, tagging along for the ride and getting into more than she bargained for. Veteran detectives Milo (Alex Fong), Brandon (Chin Kar-Lok) and hot-on-the-trigger rookie Ben (Anson Leung already w/2 notches on his pistol grip) will have their Christmas Eve dinner plans ruined along with a lot of other cops putting in overtime. Despite all the human ugliness, there is a faint moment of peace and beauty in Derek Yee's gritty look at urban low life. On Christmas Eve, Lai Fu tells Dan Dan "The Future is yours to decide. Choose a good way and you will lead a good life..."

1941 (USA 1979): Just days after the Pearl Harbor attack and Southern California is in a panic over the prospect of a Japanese invasion of the mainland coast. Of course, no one's going to let that ruin their Christmas season. Stephen Spielberg, John Milius and Robert Zemeckis are the guilty parties responsible for this train wreck of a movie with a cast that includes Dan Akroyd, John Candy, John Belushi, Treat Williams, Slim Pickens, Robert Stack and Nancy Alllen. Oh yes, who are the villains out to attack California? Toshiro Mifune as an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine commander and Christopher Lee as his German U-Boat advisor. Their mission: To destroy Hollywood.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (USA 1965): A Modern American Classic going on for over 40 years. What more needs to be said. Charles Schulz's immortal characters and Vince Guaraldi's jazz score ensure that this TV program will still be watched a hundred years from now.

Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (USA 1964): Totally ridiculous and rated as one of the 100 worst movies of all time on IMDB. You have got to experience this piece of crap at least once yourself.

Yep, there's some good viewing out there. More to come.

Yes, MST3K treatment of some of these "bad" movies certainly makes them much more tolerable.

Anything Rankin/Bass goes on my desirable viewing list. R/B was top-notch stop motion animation in their day -- besides the characters from Rudolf and the Island of Misfit Toys lent themselves to release as a wide range of PVC action figures a few years back.