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New Day
Tis The Season For A Holiday Film; Best Strategies For Low Prices After Christmas; Amazing Holiday Displays Around The Globe
Aired December 25, 2014 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: David Oyelowo played Dr. Martin Luther King and he does, Michaela, a masterful job at this.
Yes, really she really had to do some creative movie making on this because she wasn't granted the rights to use any of Dr. King's speeches. So she really had to work around it.
But when you see how they put this film together, it's beautiful and it's so relevant right now with everything going on in the country with the protests and uprising and now the calls for change, you see this movie and it makes you think, wow, I mean, is this 2015 or is it 1965. It's really important --
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds like the movie is right on time. I want to know about some ones for the family. What are good films we can load up the minivan and head out with kids?
TURNER: If you love Meryl Streep like I do, then run, not walk to go see "Into The Woods." Now usually I'm not a fan of the musical. Because I think, God, they sometimes feel disjointed and the singing comes out of nowhere.
PEREIRA: Why can't they just talk?
TURNER: Exactly. But this musical is one of the best that has been made in my opinion in a very long time. Rob Marshall does a wonderful job. Meryl Streep is so great.
She's the witch in "Into The Woods," but it has Anna Kendrick, Emily Blunt, a newcomer, James Cordon, who is one of the funniest people that I have ever met. Tracy Ullman steals every scene that she's in, in this movie, and Johnny Depp as the big bad wolf --
PEREIRA: Excellent. Enough said. You got my ticket already bought. I hate doing this, but are there any movies we should say, I'll skip it in theaters and maybe watch it on video.
TURNER: I hate doing this because I love every single person in this movie. But I have to tell you the movie "Annie" is getting mixed reviews. I would say this, families, go see "Annie." I'm told that Quvenzhane Wallace is the best thing about this film. She is adorable beyond belief as Annie.
But some parts of this film may not work. And I have to tell you, when you have the original that is so iconic and so fantastic, it's tough to do a sequel or reboot or an updated version, a lot of people feel like you never live up to it.
So this movie may have a couple problems, I would still say take the family to see "Annie" and see "Big Hero 6." It's been out for a while --
PEREIRA: It's good?
TURNER: Great film, very good animated film. I would take the family to see this kind of revisit it.
PEREIRA: Right. Last but not least, I want to know what you're going to be snuggling up with, with your spiked eggnog and watching in your pajamas with footies. What are some of your favorite holiday movies?
TURNER: Well, Michaela, you know me. I'm the biggest kid of them all.
PEREIRA: You're a sap too.
TURNER: I can skip all of that movie-movie stuff and give me the Claymation, just give me the animated film. I'm a big fan of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." I could watch it 8,000 times.
I also love Charlie Brown's Christmas, but if I'm just watching a Christmas movie I'm a big fan of "The Family Stone." I think it's hilarious and it has a lot of heart. What about you?
PEREIRA: Go ahead, guess it.
TURNER: "Love Actually."
PEREIRA: Gets me every time. The scene where the kids are dancing in the doorway when the prime minister opens the door, it's so good. Don't watch it with your kids because it's got some adult themes.
TURNER: Can I tell you one comedy, which is a good date night if you and your loved one just want to go see "Top Five?"
PEREIRA: Sure.
TURNER: Go see "Top Five." It's one of the funniest movies that I've seen this year. Chris Rock is fantastic. He wrote it. He directed it. He stars in it and it's a great movie, funny from start to finish. Cedric the entertainer, Kevin Heart, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Rosario Dawson, it's a great film.
PEREIRA: Everybody.
TURNER: It's a great film, yes.
PEREIRA: All right, Nischelle, all the best to you on this Christmas day. Merry Christmas and thank you for the list -- all right, Chris and Alisyn, back to you, guys.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's just talk a little truth here for one second. We all get them -- gifts that don't fit, don't look right, just plain terrible. We're going to tell you what you need to know about returning those gifts that just won't do.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: But first, let's listen to the Young People's Chorus of New York City singing an original song, singing "What Is Christmas Made Of" and it's co-written by Francisco Nunez and Jim Papulis.
(CHOIR SINGING "WHAT IS CHRISTMAS MADE OF")
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: For some, Christmas day means holiday shopping is over and done with, but for a lot of us it is just beginning. And if you spent big on Christmas gifts, probably too much, it is now time to redeem yourself. Prices on a few of your favorite things are as low as they can go. So you can get a bargain.
Let's bring in Christine Romans to tell us where to find the steepest discounts starting tomorrow -- Merry Christmas to you.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Merry Christmas to you. Get your shopping done. Whenever we talk about Thanksgiving people run out for the bargains, but the real bargains come after Christmas. You're going to see clothing very big, big discounts on clothing.
PEREIRA: Wait, wait, you want us to shop. Normally she's telling us, save your pennies.
ROMANS: This is the cheap time to shop. Let me be clear. Don't buy things you can't pay for by the end of January. Assuming you can pay for it by the end of January, very big deals on clothing. You need to find coupon codes go, To Retail Me Not.
Another website called Deals Plus, Deal News usually tells you a lot of where there are different kinds of coupon codes and different searches can you do, 25 to 75 percent off. My advice is closer to 75 percent off is where you want to be on those coupon codes because they are cheap and they are going to get cheaper.
CAMEROTA: OK, beyond clothing, what should we be looking for?
ROMANS: So a lot of different things you should be looking for, in February the new furniture lines come out. In January, if you wait a few more days, in January you're going to start to see big discounts on beds, couches, on end tables.
So if you're looking for furniture, it's a really good time to look for that. So New Year's you're going to start seeing more on that a lot of people think electronics is a good time to buy, around Black Friday.
CUOMO: Or Digital Monday.
ROMANS: Cybermonday, you're going to see some steep deals on electronics, digital cameras, high-def TVs, lots of other devices, once the 2015 models have debut. Stores are itching to get rid of older stocks. So you're going to see a lot of that stuff coming out too.
And sometimes you see these big TV deals coming around the Superbowl, electronics ads coming around the Superbowl so you have a few weeks here where going to see some good stuff.
PEREIRA: Here's a question not because I'm that girl but I might be. Let's say I got a gift I didn't really care for and I wanted to return it. Do you have any advice --
CUOMO: It better not be that five-foot picture of me I gave you.
ROMANS: Keep the receipt and be aware that sometimes around this time of year the return policy may be as short as seven days so really be careful on that. Bring your I.D., because they might tell you no, you can't return it without the I.D. Know the return policy. Seven days to 14 days, by 30 days no one's going to take it back and there's something called restocking fees.
CUOMO: Is it (inaudible) the restocking fee?
ROMANS: Is that an Italian word?
CAMEROTA: It's an Italian word for fake.
ROMANS: Yes, there are restocking fees are very careful. If he gives you a big toaster oven, don't open the box if you want to return it, because you want to make sure it's all sealed up.
PEREIRA: If he gives you a toaster oven for Christmas, there's a whole other conversation you need to have.
ROMANS: Maybe he gave you a gift card -- I held a lot of gift cards in my top drawer that I don't use or shop at that store. You can turn it into money.
CAMEROTA: What?
ROMANS: There are all kinds of web sites that will buy these, trade these for a different brand.
CUOMO: Is this black market, secondary, illegal.
ROMANS: Card Hub is one of them. There's a whole bunch of them. Cardcash.com, giftcardgranny.com, Card Hub is the other one. I guess you can go to the Coinstar Exchange Kiosks and they will also exchange a gift card for money.
PEREIRA: This is a game-changer, Christine Romans.
ROMANS: They're going to take a little service charge. But if you're not going to shop at wherever he's going to give you a gift card to, then there you go.
CUOMO: Where are we with the culture of giving gift cards? Are they OK now? It used to be like you didn't think about me enough. ROMANS: I personally am not a fan because I have a drawerful of gift cards. But I do understand the ease especially if your family is far away.
ROMANS: You're good with the gift card.
CUOMO: Not that I'm hinting.
CAMEROTA: In case you need it.
ROMANS: Is it fugaze?
CUOMO: I didn't make up the word. It's a real word.
ROMANS: It's not a word.
CUOMO: It is a real word.
CAMEROTA: It's a Cuomo-ism.
CUOMO: You know what I deal with here.
ROMANS: If you can't pay for it by the end of January, give your family the Christmas gift of financial security and don't buy it.
CUOMO: What about when they say no payments for a year. No, it's not free. There's no such thing as free.
CUOMO: Free is fugazey.
CAMEROTA: That is the motto. I think, I realize you're going to walk out of here with.
ROMANS: Clothing, cameras, TVs, furniture.
CAMEROTA: Merry Christmas, Christine Romans.
Well, Christmas lights would stop Clark Griswold in his tracks and make Las Vegas look dim. We're showing you some of the most incredible holiday displays out there. There's lots of creativity and lots of electricity.
CUOMO: That's smart.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: That is a new level. Now we're more in my vein.
CAMEROTA: You could you do that?
CUOMO: No. But I grew up in a place --
CAMEROTA: That's what your living room looked like?
CUOMO: That's what it looks like right now. Excessive or not, festive decorations around the globe looking to break records and the fuse boxes this year with Christmas light shows that really just going to wow you. We have our top five that we believe outshine the rest.
All right, first, let me take you down under to Canberra, Australia, where this is a lawyer named David Richards, he and his family broke for the second year in a row, they broke the Guinness World Record for the most lights on a residential property.
Just how many bulbs are blanketing the house? Take a guess, you're wrong, a little over half a million lights, 502,165 bulbs, this year, almost 1.2 million.
PEREIRA: On one house?
CUOMO: Let's quantify it, 71 miles of lights. The electric bill is $2500 for the month of December.
CAMEROTA: That's all?
CUOMO: God only knows. They're doing it for a wonderful cause. They're doing it to raise money for a local charity which supports families with sudden infant deaths.
All right, so we are getting closer to the states just across the pond. We have a real technological festivity. I mean, this one is tough to beat. This is not a 3D light display but it's a 4D. I don't know what that means fourth dimension.
The city of Bath in England, it's about 13 miles west in London, 4-d bricks on the pillars, the buildings, wrapped like a present and this whole 21st Century Christmas show was created by Howie, a graphic artist from the U.K., who specializes in video mapping.
He took measurements of the building, turned it into a 3D model at home and then combined the graphic software in order for the images to interact with the physical space. I don't know what I just said.
Howie is no joke. We may have to call him Howard just because he's so righteous. How about America? Garry, Indiana, a light show as boo-tiful as this, it's the top of 100 port-a-potties.
CAMEROTA: Stop it.
CUOMO: It's 1,200 LED light sequences arranged to music by Indiana University Acapella Group. Servicessanitation.com is bringing us this display in the name of sanitation awareness.
If I've talked to you about it once I've talked to you about it 100 times. Sanitation awareness, portable restrooms save over 100 million gallons of water a day. How about southwest?
Number one animated film of all-time inspired John Storm and his family from Texas, you know it "Frozen." They let it go this year going all out stringing over 25,000 lights across their home.
PEREIRA: Parents hate it. CUOMO: Dancing around to "Let It Go," the song by Broadway star, Nina Menzel, John has been stringing lights his whole life and says it takes about three full weekends to finish this bad boy.
If you watch closely there's a single cactus dancing along, John making sure there's a hint of Texas, tejas means friendly, by the way, holiday spirit.
Last but not least, look at this one, best of the landscaper, Bob Mangan's house in Cleveland. That's a house in there somewhere.
PEREIRA: How would you find the front door?
CUOMO: I like American. Landscaper by day, Griswold by night, man who truly loves Christmas. This year, 45,000 lights blanketing his home and yard. Task he started when? October.
CAMEROTA: Wow.
CUOMO: Now that's the look. An entire storage unit dedicated to Christmas supplies. Reminds me of that lady in the "Who" movie with the big gun. Look on top of the toilet there.
PEREIRA: There is a Santa toilet.
CUOMO: Even the seat. Bob has a total of 29 Christmas trees in his house.
CAMEROTA: How many stockings?
CAMEROTA: Why the over-the-top holiday decorum, for his grandkids. He says I like to see people happy when they walk through. It makes me happy. Giving is getting. Merry Christmas to you, Bob, and all you have crazy people. Thank you very much. Give it up.
CAMEROTA: There's a show tune trapped in here.
CUOMO: How did I do with the "Frozen" song? I hit a note I didn't think I would, because my throat hurt. Many sides of me.
CAMEROTA: As you know it's Christmas. It's a day centered around religion. Look at the role that faith played in 2014.
PEREIRA: But after the song, we should let the professionals do it. Let's listen once again to the Young People's Chorus of New York City sing "Away In A Manger" on a special holiday edition of NEW DAY.
(CHOIR SINGING "AWAY IN A MANGER")
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: As Christians around the world celebrate this holy day, we're going to take a look at the role religion and faith played in the news in 2014.
CAMEROTA: And this say day to separate the naughty from the nice. We're talking about which politicians deserve gifts this morning and who should get a lump of coal.
PEREIRA: Plus on this day the family celebrates together, Anderson Cooper gets to know his family better, a journey to his own personal roots that he wants to share with you.
CUOMO: Your special holiday edition of NEW DAY continues right now.
(CHOIR SINGING "JINGLE BELLS")
