Comments on: What are some good Christmas movies?

Question: What are some good Christmas movies?

Nick Fisher — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:38:13 -0800

What are some good Christmas movies?

I am trying to think of GOOD Christmas movies because i am planning a Christmas party with my friends. However, I can not think of many movies for a day full of fun and exciting Christmas related movies.

The only movies I can think of are Elf, Die Hard, and the Home Alone movies.

Any suggestions?

By: MadamM

MadamM — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:41:33 -0800

Classics!
Miracle on 34th Street
A Christmas Story
It's a Wonderful Life

Love Actually isn't a classic, per se, but it's a very nice romantic comedy if you're into those.

I'm sure other people will have some suggestions for you, as I've just given the standards.

By: reenum

reenum — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:42:43 -0800

I've never celebrated Christmas, but National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is always a good one to watch around that time.

By: Seamus

Seamus — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:47:30 -0800

A Christmas Story for Jean Shepherd goodness.

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:49:46 -0800

Thirding A Christmas Story. It's not just a great Christmas movie - it's a great movie.

By: kitty teeth

kitty teeth — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 16:52:12 -0800

I really liked Bad Santa.

By: tdabbott

tdabbott — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:11:59 -0800

A Christmas Story...why not play it non-stop like TBS does on Christmas Day?

By: justonegirl

justonegirl — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:14:12 -0800

Nthing A Christmas Story, though it does get kind of played out this time of year. I am fully on board with the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation suggestion.

What about A Nightmare Before Christmas?

Also, I've found lots of grownups appreciate the kitsch factor of the classic kids' Christmas movies/specials (Rudolph, Charlie Brown, Grinch, Year Without a Santa Claus, etc).

By: null terminated

null terminated — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:16:14 -0800

The Muppet Christmas Carol
, which is actually one of the better Christmas Carol adaptations.

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:18:31 -0800

On the topic of Christmas Carol adaptations, Scrooged is good too.

By: JonahBlack

JonahBlack — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:20:38 -0800

I love the classic Christmas cartoons: The Grinch is always a must see for me (but not the movie with Jim Carey), and the Peanuts Christmas movie is good too, I love the sad tree and the dancing. I never got much into the more serious movies, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas without the Grinch.

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:21:33 -0800

If you're flexible enough to throw in a TV show now and then, I'd also highly recommend the episode of Twilight Zone with Art Carney. Classic.

By: ncc1701d

ncc1701d — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:22:00 -0800

Objectively speaking, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is the best Christmas movie.

By: Nick Fisher

Nick Fisher — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:22:36 -0800

"What about A Nightmare Before Christmas?" -justonegirl

See I never know when to play that movie for my parties. Should I play it on Halloween? Christmas? sometime in between?

That is a good suggestion i kind of inadvertently put that out of mind.

By: arcticwoman

arcticwoman — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:29:34 -0800

I'd say "Nightmare Before Christmas" is more of a Christmas movie than a Halloween one. I think it would be great at a Christmas party!

By: steef

steef — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:34:23 -0800

Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. Untamed Heart. 1941. Gremlins. Lethal Weapon. Better Off Dead.... Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

By: timeistight

timeistight — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:41:12 -0800

The best Christmas movie, and one of my favourite movies of any kind, is Scrooge, with Alastair Sim in the title role.

Be sure not to get the colorized version.

By: landedjentry

landedjentry — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:46:33 -0800

A Claymation Christmas Celebration. I think it was only on TV like twice, when the California Raisins were in there. Hooray for the '80s!

The full video is here if you prefer.

By: landedjentry

landedjentry — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:47:21 -0800

oops, here.

By: a_green_man

a_green_man — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:52:29 -0800

A second vote for tossing Bad Santa into the mix to keep things from getting too serious/retro.

By: crinklebat

crinklebat — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:00:39 -0800

Seconding the Alastair Sim Scrooge. I watch it every year. I also love Charlie Brown Christmas, but it's devastatingly sincere compared to the movies you listed. I mean, it ALWAYS makes me cry when they surprise Charlie Brown by prettying up his tree. I try desperately to control myself but at this point it's Pavlovian. Same thing happens in It's a Wonderful Life when everyone shows up with the money. I only recommend Alastair Sim because it's such a freaking quality adaptation. It's extremely faithful to the book.

I think you might actually be better served by moving toward really kitschy, dorky TV specials. I'm thinking specifically of the Star Wars and Pee-Wee's Playhouse specials, but I'm sure there are a million more. The Pee-Wee one is actually pretty dope, lots of random weirdos on it, but I guess you have to actually dig Pee-Wee to tolerate it. I think also the Simpsons episode where they get Santa's Little Helper is pretty much a Christmas classic.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:06:37 -0800

Die Hard.

By: plokent

plokent — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:03:13 -0800

Trading Places - Dan Akroyd's Drunk Santa Scene
Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:08:27 -0800

"Meet Me In St. Louis" (Origin of the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas")

The first part of "Fanny and Alexander." The movie takes a very different turn after that part, but man! what a Christmas party!

"The Apartment" is a wonderful Billy Wilder comedy that takes place during the Christmas season.

"The Box of Delights" is a made for television (BBC). It's a great Christmas fantasy.

"Lady in the Lake" is a Raymond Chandler mystery which takes place at Christmas. The movie is hokey and fun and shot totally from the point-of-view of the detective. You only see the main character when he's looking at himself in the mirror.

By: Mael Oui

Mael Oui — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:35:44 -0800

I'd show 'White Christmas' followed by the television movie, 'A Very Brady Christmas.' Maybe that's why no one ever wants to come to my home!

By: ninazer0

ninazer0 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:55:15 -0800

Bernard and the Genie. Might be a little hard to find. But cute.

By: theora55

theora55 — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:05:31 -0800

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street

By: clockwork

clockwork — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:07:29 -0800

Die Hard 2.

By: any major dude

any major dude — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 21:29:28 -0800

Christmas in Connecticut hasn't been mentioned yet. My all time favorite is It's a Wonderful Life. I'm old enough to remember when it was still in the public domain and played like 5 times a day on random channels. Now we are lucky if it's on once a year...

By: radioamy

radioamy — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:12:05 -0800

I love "Miracle on 34th Street." See if you can rent it in b&w rather than colorized - I think it's much more authentic that way. Don't watch the 90's remake, it wasn't very good.

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:23:42 -0800

There's always the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Christmas episode, where they show "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians." (Actually there's two Christmas eps, but I only count the Joel years.)

It'd help if one of your friends was already a fan of the show, because the premise can be hard to explain. But basically, a guy and two robot puppets "watch" the movie in a theater, and make sarcastic jokes back at it. This episode also includes the musical skit, "A Patrick Swayze Christmas," inspired by "Roadhouse."

And you can't go wrong with a Charlie Brown Christmas, even if you've never seen it since you were a kid. You'd be surprised how funny it is seeing it as a grown-up (or however old you are...).

By: Ulleskelf

Ulleskelf — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:18:10 -0800

BBC Radio Five Live's resident film critic, Mark Kermode, has chosen his favourite ten Christmas films, and the public can now vote for their top one from the list.

The list is:

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Brazil (1985)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Black Christmas (1974)
Die Hard (1988)
Scrooged (1988)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

I voted the Muppet Christmas Carol

By: dpcoffin

dpcoffin — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:49:35 -0800

The Bishops Wife, either version
Noel
Joyeux Noel
.....um....
... Hey, wait. Theyre all here!

Except Great Rupert. All the more reason to check that one out.

By: Nice Guy Mike

Nice Guy Mike — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:21:00 -0800

Ulleskelf - Brazil!?!

I know some people hate christmas, but that's a real open-your-wrist depressing movie, IMHO...

As for the original question - Die Hard and Lethal Weapon have already been mentioned, how about Ronin?

By: loosemouth

loosemouth — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 02:46:59 -0800

We're No Angels has Bogart and Ustinov. It is "Christmasy" funny but when you have three escaped prisoners not above using murder to make a family happy, you've got black humor, too. The House without a Christmas Tree was a TV movie I haven't seen in about 30 years but it was very, very good.

By: sarahkeebs

sarahkeebs — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 04:49:10 -0800

I love non-holiday holiday movies, and one all time fav not mentioned here is The Ref. Denis Leary, Kevin Spacey, the mom from Mary Poppins...

I also find the South Park Christmas specials to be a cut above the rest, but YMMV.

By: sgobbare

sgobbare — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:49:28 -0800

The Family Man with Nicholas Cage. Took me by surprize and shook my Christmas tree 4 sure!!

By: Sara Anne

Sara Anne — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 09:36:49 -0800

About A Boy. Ordinarily my overwhelming hatred of Hugh Grant leads me to avoid anything he's in, but he does a solid job as an immature, self-involved asshole and it's good for a Christmas movie.

By: nax

nax — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 09:38:49 -0800

Set up: In the early 80s (when we were young and free) our close friends based their annual Christmas party on a viewing of White Christmas. Believe it or not, this was in the days before VCRs were standard equipment, so they rented a projector and basically turned their apartment into a theater.

The pay-off. During the final scene, where the whole cast sings the title song, everyone at the party joined in and sang the whole thing. It remains one of my sweetest memories. I don't think it would have happened if the film was showing on a cathode ray tube (or, now, a HD monitor). Something about the clack-clack-clack of the projector.

So in addition to finding some great movie to show, I would recommend going really retro and see if you can set up something like this. It was absolutely magical.

By: McLir

McLir — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 09:40:26 -0800

Santa Claus as done by MST3K

By: GlowWyrm

GlowWyrm — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:20:30 -0800

Hope this isn't too late. My favorite is One Magic Christmas.

By: Nick Fisher

Nick Fisher — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:40:13 -0800

Alright, This is what I have choosen for my party. (seeing as all of my guests and myself are in the 15-16 age range, I didn't choose many older movies, despite the fact that I like and have watched many of them with my brother, John Kenneth Fisher, because i feel that my guests probably wouldn't show much interest in them)

-Star Wars Holiday Special
-Die Hard
-Gremlins
-Gremlins 2: The New Batch
-Bad Santa
-National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
-Twilight Zone Christmas episode with Art Carney
-Scrooged
- The Muppet Christmas Carol
-Charlie Brown Christmas
-Elf

Mystery Science Theater 3000
-Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
-Santa Claus

Of course do time constraints we wont be able to watch all of the movies, but we will have the option

Thank you for all the suggestions!
:-)

By: Nick Fisher

Nick Fisher — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 11:46:12 -0800

oh and Nightmare Before Christmas! Forgot that.

By: concourse

concourse — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 22:40:59 -0800

Millions was a hit at my house during Christmastime