Favorite Christmas Movies

[tomswift2002]

With the Christmas Season upon us, what are some of your favorite Christmas movies?

Some of mine are:

"Miracle on 34th Street", both the 1947 and 1994 versions
"The Grinch" - the 2000 live action movie "I'm watching it right now. Jim Carey was great as the Grinch. Actually he was great as Scrooge in the 2009 version of "A Christmas Carol".

The Santa Clause Trilogy is another movie series that I watch yearly, along with the 1938, 1951, and 1999 versions of "A Christmas Carol".

I also enjoy the Hanna-Barberra mini-movie "The Nativity". It was a direct-to-video release back in the 1980's. Unfortunately Warner Brothers has not seen fit to release it on DVD yet, so it is only available on VHS (and I'm not sure about Laserdisc).

 

[Masiral]

RUdolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas are perennial favorites in my family. We also watch Elf, but not always at Christmastime.

 

[tomalak301]

Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Die Hard
Bad Santa

 

[auntiehill]

The Grinch--animated cartoon ONLY

A Christmas Carol--Alistair Sim version is my favorite but I'll also watch the George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart versions.

It's a Wonderful Life.

Love, Actually. Yes, I am THAT big of a sap.

A Christmas Story. My dark sense of humor just loves this, even if TBS plays it for what seems like days at a time.

I'm also very fond of The Snowman, The Polar Express, Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Bishop's Wife (with Cary Grant), even though the religion puts me off a bit.

 

[AgentCoop]

I love It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Home Alone and Miracle On 34th Street. Also most versions of A Christmas Carol, but especially the musical version starring Albert Finney.

No love for Batman Returns?

 

[RodrigoBrowncoat]

Die Hard 1 & 2
Home Alone 1 & 2
Batman Returns
Rocky IV

 

[tomalak301]

I love It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Home Alone and Miracle On 34th Street. Also most versions of A Christmas Carol, but especially the musical version starring Albert Finney.

No love for Batman Returns?

I think Batman Returns might be my favorite of any of the films in the last 20 years. Maybe a step below Dark Knight but it was a great film.

 

[AgentCoop]

Die Hard 1 & 2
Home Alone 1 & 2
Batman Returns
Rocky IV

I love It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Home Alone and Miracle On 34th Street. Also most versions of A Christmas Carol, but especially the musical version starring Albert Finney.

No love for Batman Returns?

I think Batman Returns might be my favorite of any of the films in the last 20 years. Maybe a step below Dark Knight but it was a great film.

Ah, this warms my heart. Batman Returns is truly an under-appreciated gem. Bat-fist-bumps all around!

 

[Admiral2]

Scrooged is the only Christmas movie that actually made me cry.

Other than that, my favorites:

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Mickey's Christmas Carol (Alan Young rules as Scrooge McDuck)

Home Alone

Miracle on 34th Street (1947. The remake was far more wimpy and PC...)

It's a Wonderful Life (watching this is a family tradition)

 

[the G-man]

As far as "Christmas" movies, go I think an argument can be made that the first "Lethal Weapon" is actually one of the most traditional "Christmas" movies of the past 30 years.

The entire movie takes place during the Christmas season and filmmakers make it a point to remind us from the very beginning that it's set at Christmas. It opens with the Christmas song and ends with a Christmas song.

The protagonist is a man who is haunted by his past and contemplating suicide at the holiday season.

He has to save people from an evil businessman. He encounters a white haired fellow with special powers who tests him. He is reminded of the importance of friends and family.

And then, at the end, he realizes that his life has meaning and he sits down for a Christmas dinner with his new "family."

It is basically "it's a wonderful life" with explosions, car chases, Kung fu and machine guns.

 

[od0_ital]

Die Hard
Batman Returns
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Scrooged
A Christmas Carol with George C Scott

Those are the top five for me.

 

[the G-man]

"The Grinch" - the 2000 live action movie "I'm watching it right now.

Yeah, that was a great movie, especially how they completely fucked over the message that Dr. Suess was trying to convey.

The book and the cartoon were all about how the Grinch hated Christmas for no good reason and, in fact, the Whos weren't really about the noise and the presents. The Grinch learned that and his heart grew.

That abortion of a movie was about how the Whos were a bunch of bigots who only cared about the spectacle of Christmas and the Grinch was a put upon victim of their Whovian racial purity.

Ron Howard might as well have done a live action Charlie Brown where the message is "buy the big shiny aluminum Christmas tree, make Lucy the pageant queen and tell Linus to shut the hell up."

 

[Admiral2]

"The Grinch" - the 2000 live action movie "I'm watching it right now.

Yeah, that was a great movie, especially how they completely fucked over the message that Dr. Suess was trying to convey.

The book and the cartoon were all about how the Grinch hated Christmas for no good reason and, in fact, the Whos weren't really about the noise and the presents. The Grinch learned that and his heart grew.

That abortion of a movie was about how the Whos were a bunch of bigots who only cared about the spectacle of Christmas and the Grinch was a put upon victim of their Whovian racial purity.

Ron Howard might as well have done a live action Charlie Brown where the message is "buy the big shiny aluminum Christmas tree, make Lucy the pageant queen and tell Linus to shut the hell up."

Hear freaking hear!

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm having trouble thinking of one....Let me get back to you....

 

[Taylirious]

The Family Man

 

[tomswift2002]

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I just finished taping my city's Santa Claus Parade tonight and someone actually entered the parade with a station-wagon that looked like the Griswald station wagon from the movie, with a tree tied down that stretched from the back of the car, right over the front hood, and still had dirt in the root system. I don't know where they found the wood panelled station wagon (or how the driver was able to see out the front windshield), but they did a terrific job with it. (The parade's theme was Christmas at the movies, so while this was the only Vacation inspired entry, it was a good one and I wouldn't be surprised if it won an award, when it's only other competition were a bunch of Grinch themed floats.)

 

[Green Shirt]

A Christmas Carol--Alistair Sim version is my favorite

Mine, too.

 

[Mojochi]

Among some others already mentioned here, Elf has warmed up to me

I guess Nightmare Before Christmas qualifies too

 

[Lonemagpie]

Die Hard is the perfect Xmas movie. And Die Hard 2 is fun.
The Bishop's Wife.
Gremlins.
Patrick Stewart's version of A Christmas Carol
Muppet Xmas Carol
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Ghostbusters (which isn't actually a seasonal movie, but came out in the UK - and most of the rest of the world - in December 1984, so I do associate it with the season.)
Scrooged
Lethal Weapon
Long Kiss Goodnight
Batman Returns
Invasion USA, well that one's more of a guilty pleasure, but the bit when the bad guys start firing rocket launchers at everybody's outdoor trashy lawn decorations always cracks me up...
Where Eagles Dare, just cos of all the snow.

I tend to think of Nightmare Before Christmas as a Halloween movie, but what the hell...

 

[bbjeg]

My top three (in no particular order), A Christmas Story, Die Hard, and Bad Santa.