What do you watch again every year? What’s new or offbeat that makes a great Christmas movie?
Of course we like the standard: A Christmas Story. Our older daughter was six last year and finally started appreciating it, which was a lot of fun.
My husband and I like to watch The Ref as we wrap presents on Christmas eve. So many great actors, and so much snark. How can you not love the mom from Mary Poppins saying, “You don’t have the balls!”
I’m trying to start a tradition of all of us watching Star Wars: A New Hope on Christmas eve. I think the movie is magical and fun if you come to love it as a kid - if we wait till they’re 12 it’s going to be outdated and boring. So I reckon if it’s part of staying up late at Christmastime, it will have enough draw to get them interested, and will be inextricably entwined with good memories. (Yes, I am unashamedly trying to indoctrinate my kids into my entertainment preferences. If anyone has a good timetable for getting kids into Dr. Who, let me know!)
Scrooged is a lot of fun, and Muppet Christmas Carol is actually one of my favorite versions.
I just grabbed a copy of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, since it’s got a quote thread here. We’ll see how it goes over.
It’s a Wonderful Life has never done much for me, probably because it was playing in a constant loop during my childhood Christmases. So I’ve seen it all, and lots of scenes many times, but not sat down and watched it all in order more than once.
A Christmas Tale is in my Netflix queue - it got some good buzz, so I’m interested.
Trading Places (love it when Dan Akroyd stuffs the whole salmon in his Santa suit. The original version has a great topless shot of Jamie Lee Curtis. Actually, I love every minute of this movie. “It was the Dukes! It was the Dukes!”)
The Bishop’s Wife (the original with Cary Grant and Loretta Young)
*A Christmas Without Snow *(Community Chorus learns Handel’s Messiah. You have to love the Messiah to love this movie. John Houseman plays Professor Kingsfield in it.)
Bad Santa, A Nightmare before Christmas and the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas special. I know you said movies but since i already threw in a TV show special let me add all of the Southpark christmas episodes, every last one of them is a work of genius.
I used to love Emmett Otter, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and a Muppet Family Christmas. Which are all locked up in Disney’s safe and unavailable unless you have old videos or DVDs.
I do like the old version of Christmas in Connecticut, and the old Miracle on 34th Street. Whether this is just nostalgia (from remembering younger, happier times) or whether the new versions really and truly suck beyond measure - it/s 50/50. (and let me put in here, not exactly movies, but those old fashioned Celebrity Family Christmas Specials - Andy Williams, Kathie Lee Gifford, etc. where they all dress alike, stand around a fake fireplace, dad wearing a Santa hat, passing around fake gifts, everyone smiling and singing and exuding clouds of Christmas Joy - I miss those!)
I would happily plonk myself down in front of the TV on Christmas Day, with a pizza, some eggnog and sugar cookies, and a nice bottle of wine for later, and watch A Christmas Story on TBS over and over until it ended. I only get to see bits here and there because I’m endangering my life and sanity driving in a blizzard or ice storm to a horrendous ‘family Christmas’ every year. So my favorite is ACS.
Another one my late H used to love was “An American Christmas Carol” where Henry Winkler was the Scrooge character- he ran a furniture factory. It’s pretty good.
BTW the Cary Grant-Loretta Young version of “The Bishop’s Wife” was in TCM today.
The Nightmare Before Christmas - one of my all-time favorites
It’s A Wonderful LIfe - it’s become fashionable to bag on it, but I love every minute of this movie. I think it’s perfect.
**Elf **- I’m not a Will Ferrel fan, but I like him (and especially the rest of the cast) in this.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - Steve Martin and John Candy are both hilarious.
Love Actually - saccharin and unrealistic, but hey, that’s what Christmas is all about! It’s all a bit tongue-in-cheek anyway, and I can’t help but feel good while watching this. The all-star cast is fun to watch.
The Shop Around the Corner - Watched this for the first time last year and loved it. Jimmy Stewart is great, as are the rest of the cast.
A Christmas Story Love Actually Holiday Inn–where’s the love for this piece of nostalgia with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and the original “White Christmas”? Yeah, it’s a little dated, and that blackface Abraham Lincoln number makes me cringe, but the singing and dancing are lovely, and it wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without it. Nat. Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Trading Places Die Hard #1
I too love A Christmas Story, Elf, Bad Santa, Scrooged, Die Hard, Trading Places, The Nightmare Before Christmas and some others mentioned, but one of my favorites is too too obscure.
Comfort and Joy, directed by Bill Forsyth (Local Hero, Gregory’s Girl). It’s about a well-known DJ whose kleptomaniac girlfriend leaves him right before Christmas, and he then accidentally gets involved in a bizarre dispute between two rival ice cream companies. It’s a quiet, gently wacky, amusing, and moving movie. Here are a few scenes.
I watched on the Hallmark Channel yesterday “The Santa Suit” because it starred Kevin Sorbo, whom I adore (he’s such a cute man! never changes his looks). It was a silly ‘big important executive gets knocked down a peg or two and learns the true meaning of Christmas’, but it was as agreeable a timewaster as any other.
