Here are my top ten greatest Christmas films:
10. The Santa Clause (1994)--Pretty solid effort by Tim Allen playing a lovable but skeptical workholic dad named Scott Calvin who puts on a Santa suit and suddenly becomes Kris Kringle in over a year.
9. Gremlins (1984)--I know, I know, it's not really a Christmas film, but it takes on that holiday with a young bank assitant (Zach Gallghan) who has pet Mogwais (1 good, many evil). A very underrated big budget picture that no one really talks about anymore.
8. Scrooged (1988)--Bill Murray plays a different kind of role playing a Scrooge like TV exec who connects with his former lover (Karen Allen), but must deal with three ghosts to change his selfish ways. Hilarious twist on a Charles Dickens' classic.
7. Die Hard (1988)--Like Gremlins, it doesn't really have to with Christmas despite the fact that the events happened to take place around Christmas time. Why did I put that movie on the list? Because it's DIE HARD!
6. Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)--Another Dickens' retelling, this time with Uncle Scrooge (voiced by Mr. Ed's Alan Young) playing the selfish angry boss. The end of the film might scare the holy hell out of very young children. Still, it's one of the best retellings of A Christmas Carol ever.
5. The Ref (1993)--Denis Leary plays a thief who stumbles upon a self-centered family led by Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis. So he tries to rob them, but ends up conseling them. Great performances by Leary, Spacey, and Davis make this a holiday classic.
4. A Christmas Carol (1950)--The British classic is the best film based on the Charles Dickens' tale. Alstair Sim plays a perfect Scrooge and it's widely considered one of the greatest Christmas classics of all-time.
3. Home Alone (1990)--I remember seeing this film when I was eight years old, it was a choice between Kindergarten Cop and Home Alone, so I chose the latter because I could relate to Mac Culkin more considering I was eight years old and it wasn't an easy choice. Culkin's performance, Hilarious, charming, and sentimental moments, and John Williams' score makes this one a true holiday classic.
2. Bad Santa (2003)--This is the only true Christmas film that I could watch even when it's not Christmas and plus Billy Bob Thornton did a tremedous job playing a thief who only did the Santa job because he was going no where in life until an unlikely eight year old brighten up his life. This is a film that's obviously kid proof, but it's still a Christmas essential classic.
and #1 MERRIEST CHRISTMAS FILM OF ALL-TIME....
A Christmas Story (1983)--TNT has been doing 24-hour movie marathons of this film since the mid '90s and there is a reason why because it's the most perfect Christmas film of all-time. It's about a midwestern nine year old boy in the 1940s (Peter Billingsley) who wanted a B.B. gun for Christmas. There's many a great moment in this film. My family used to watch this film all the time now we watch it every Christmas.
20 Dec 2010, 1:02 am
