So this holiday, you've trimmed the tree, you've hung the stocking by the chimney with care. Hell, maybe you even roasted some chestnuts. Now that you've exhausted yourself over the Christmas season, why not take a break and enjoy the true reason for the season. Presents? No! Jesus? Please! I'm talking about Christmas movies! To help you during this season, here are the top 10 Christmas films to help you get through the holidays.
Runner-Up: A Christmas Tale
Arnaud Desplechin’s story of the Vuillards, a family filled with conflicts, problems and awkward moments, gets together for the holidays, which may be their mother’s last if she doesn’t receive a much needed transplant. With the Vuillard’s house packed and the family disagreements rising up once again, the family must rise up over their anger towards each other in order to save their family. The always wonderful Catherine Deneuve is radiant as the mother and Mathieu Amalric, as Henri the son that trouble follows, shine in a cast that is brimming with talent.
10. The Santa Clause
The first of Tim Allen’s many holiday movies, The Santa Clause actually holds quite a twisted premise. Allen’s character accidentally startles Santa Claus, making him fall off the chimney, ultimately killing him. He then puts on the dead man’s clothes, proceeds to essentially take over his identity, and begins to take on characteristics of the man. Sounds more like The Talented Mr. Ripley than a Disney Christmas classic.
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Only Tim Burton could be whacked enough to attempt to create a film about both Halloween and Christmas at the same time. But his tale of the king of Halloweentown wanting to bring Christmas to his neck of the woods ends up becoming a sweet tale, even though the Easter Bunny and Santa get kidnapped, the police attempt to shoot down Santa’s sleigh and several children receive decapitated heads for Christmas. But Jack Skellington showed that Christmas can be enjoyed by anyone who puts their heart into it in this charming, albeit unusual film.
8. The Muppet Christmas Carol
Combining The Muppets, a Charles Dickens story and Academy Award winner Michael Caine sounds more like a crazy acid flashback then a adorable retelling of Christmas classic. But the last great Muppet film is always a pleasant surprise. Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat tell the story of Ebenezer Scrooge only the way The Muppets could: with offbeat humor, great characters and a silliness that breathes new life into Dickens.
7. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Almost every father who has ever wanted to give his family the greatest holidays ever can probably see part of themselves in Clark Griswold. The man does everything he can to make the week of Christmas spectacular, yet falls short in almost every way. But as he suffers through his own personal hell on a quest for perfection, his family pulls together to save him from himself. Yet this irreverent holiday favorite shows that sometimes the last thing you want for Christmas is your family.
6. The Shop Around the Corner
Director Ernst Lubitsch brings romance to the retail counter as two employees of a gift shop that can’t stand each other fall in love unknowingly as pen pals over the holiday season. Almost fifty years later it would be remade with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks as You’ve Got Mail, but Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart have perfect chemistry together and the emotional final scene is enough to fill you will holiday cheer.
5. Elf
Already, Elf is touted as one of the great holiday films, yet it’s hard not to agree. Will Ferrell as Buddy, the elf who leaves the North Pole to find his New York publisher father, who just happens to be on the naughty list, is as adorable as it is random. Ferrell blends awkwardness and naïveté to a character that could have been irritating, but instead is the perfect embodiment of the Christmas season.
4. Love, Actually
While there have been many films since Love, Actually that attempt to gather a wide variety of actors and have their stories interconnect through various romantic entanglements over a holiday, Love, Actually is one of the originals and the best. The film deals with the many different types of love people encounter over the holidays and what is genuinely surprising is that not everyone has a merry Christmas (sorry Emma Thompson), and there are several different archetypes of character that you believe you have seen, until the rug gets pulled out from other you. For a romantic comedy to completely blow away your expectations, is something special, and Love, Actually is one of the best.
3. A Christmas Story
Anyone who has ever turned on TBS Christmas has seen this much beloved story of the Parker family and poor little Ralphie who just wants his Red Ryder BB gun. Ralphie’s determination to get the toy that everyone tells him will make him “shoot your eye out” will be familiar to anyone who has just wanted that one present so badly. The recollection and absurdity of Ralphie's remembrance of his past is hilariously overblown and will remind everyone of holiday's past.
2. Home Alone & Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Every kid that has grown up over the 90’s has at some time or another wanted to be Kevin McCallister. They have wanted to toboggan down their stairs (which when I tried as a child, left a dent in the floor, unlike Kevin), or set up traps for some unexpected visitors, or just had free reign over the house. But Kevin’s antics of being alone for not one, but two holidays, and being invaded by the Wet Bandits, later known as the Sticky Bandits, has not only become one of the highest grossing films of all time, but is also now a no-brainer in the line up of classic Christmas movies.
1. It's a Wonderful Life
It is amazing to hear that Frank Capra’s timeless film, which is now synonymous with Christmas, was a flop when released in 1947. But now, the story of George Bailey, played by the famous everyman James Stewart, is one of those perfect feel-good films that shows that every little person matters in this overwhelming world of ours. It is the type of film that will make you feel like you could lasso the moon, believe that everytime a bell rings an angel gets its wings and make you feel like the richest man in town
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