Movies & TV blog

What are your favorite Christmas movies?

By Zack McGhee | Saturday, December 24, 2005, 06:22 PM

It being Christmas Eve, this being a movie blog, and being that I nearly balled my eyes out at Miracle on 34th Street this morning, I came up with my ten (or so) favorite Christmas movies.

Before getting started, I want to pay lip service to the hallmark TV specials and shorts Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), which I’d put on this list if they were feature films, and which would’ve warrented spots on my Top 10 Christmas Specials of all time, if there were more than three slots filled on it.

I wanted to put John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) on the list, but discerning readers will remember that it’s actually a Thanksgiving movie, so I suppose that disqualifies it.

Caveats aside, here’s the list, in descending order:

1. Most people see A Christmas Story (1983) at least twelve times each year — often consecutively. I’m not sure that even Citizen Kane or Vertigo would hold up under such intense scrutiny.

2. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) is the funniest movie on this list. It captures, with equal amounts authenticity and exaggeration, the irritation and the joy of spending time with family over the holidays.

3. Frank Capra’s great It’s a Wonderful Life was released in 1946 — almost sixty years ago! — but it barely shows its age.

4. Bill Murray’s performance in Scrooged (1988) is one of his best, and the movie might be the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol yet. Terrific turns by Ghosts of Christmas David Johansen (Past) and the luminous Carol Kane (Present).

5. Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa is the most vulgar, crass, crude, profane Christmas movie ever made. It’s packed with laughs, but it’s also teeming with sadness.

6. A tie between two versions of Miracle on 34th Street. The 1947 black and white classic with Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood, and the 1994 remake with an enchanting performance by the great Sir Richard Attenborough.

7. If Richard Curtis’ Love Actually isn’t a response to the destruction and pain felt by the victims of terrorism and war, it certainly has become one. It’s a lovely, optimistic movie, but it also deals with heartache and loneliness. It’s also on HBO around the clock.

8. Alfonso Cuarón’s A Little Princess doesn’t entirely take place at Christmas, but it’s a beautiful story that captures its spirit.

9. The Muppet Christmas Carol is just genius. Gonzo is here to tell the story, and Rizzo is here for the food.

10. A tie between three movies most people wouldn’t think to watch at Christmas. Stanley Kubrick’s great Eyes Wide Shut (1999) is a movie about intimacy that takes place entirely at Christmas; others have called it a dream, but it’s more like a nightmare. Gregg Araki’s haunting Mysterious Skin (2004) is a heartbreaking story of loss and isolation, and the key to its central mystery is revealed to its characters while Christmas carolers comfort them unknowingly. Doug Liman’s fast-paced Go (1999) is an alternative pick for people whose friends are practically family.

OK, I’ve had my say. What are your favorite movies to watch over the holidays?

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