Bad Santa/Reindeer Games (2004)

Two untraditional Christmas tales are collected together in this release: the black comedy BAD SANTA and the action film REINDEER GAMES. BAD SANTA: Billy Bob Thornton is terrific as Willie T. Stokes, a lowlife department-store Santa in Terry Zwigoff's outrageous comedic follow-up to his offbeat hit GHOST WORLD. Every year, Stokes takes a job as Santa in a different place in order to rob the store he's working in. The diminutive Tony Cox plays his horny sidekick, Marcus, the real mastermind, who is even more foulmouthed than Stokes. Brett Kelly is Thurman Merman, an eight-year-old who desperately needs to believe in the real Santa Claus--and just might have a good enough heart to change Stokes's evil ways. Or maybe not. And Lauren Graham plays Sue, a young sexpot who wants to get a different kind of gift from Santa. Providing excellent comic relief in this black comedy is John Ritter, in his last film role, as the mousy mall manager, and Bernie Mac as Gin, the mall security guard who suspects something is not right. Be warned--BAD SANTA is not a family holiday movie. It is lewd, crude, and very funny, but it is most definitely not for children. Joel and Ethan Coen, the brothers behind such quirky hits as RAISING ARIZONA and BARTON FINK, are the executive producers who came up with the idea in the first place, influenced by the likes of THE BAD NEWS BEARS and SOUTH PARK.REINDEER GAMES: Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) is a small-time car thief about to be released from jail in time for Christmas. When his cellmate, Nick, is suddenly killed, Rudy decides to take on his identity in order to meet Nick's beautiful pen-pal girlfriend, Ashley (Charlize Theron). The couple has fun until her psychotic brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise), shows up. Gabriel and his gang want to hold up a casino where Nick had once worked, and they blackmail Rudy/Nick into going along with the scheme. Rudy has to bluff his way through the crime, pretending to be Nick in order to avoid being killed while trying to sabotage the plans of the bad guys. Will Rudy be able to outsmart the bad guys, or will he end up facedown in the snow?Double crosses abound in this frosty film noir action movie boasting a twisty script by writer Ehren Kruger (SCREAM 3, ARLINGTON ROAD) and assured direction by veteran John Frankenheimer (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, RONIN), plus a sneaky sense of humor and plenty of Christmas references.