December 3, 2012

Movie Monday: My Top 5 Christmas Films

'Tis the season!  Time to break out some wintery movies!  I celebrate Christmas myself, and I have some favorite films that I try to watch every year.

In no particular order:

Home Alone 5. Home Alone

To some degree, Christmas films are all about nostalgia.  And as such, I'm not even going to try to pretend to be cool.  I've read many criticisms about Home Alone that I agree with, but it's still one of my favorites.  And honestly, I think a little boy is free to use however much force he wants to protect himself from burglars.  The thieves were free to stop the violence at any time by leaving the premises.

Die Hard 4. Die Hard

I got this one from my mom.  Die Hard is the movie she watches every Christmas to celebrate the season, so I got in the habit too. Sometimes we even watch the sequels, even though the second one is truly awful.  I do wish Alexander Godunov had more good acting parts after this film.  (Hey, I'm always a fan of the ballet dancers.)  At least Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman have done other nifty stuff.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3. The Nightmare Before Christmas

The music alone makes this one a classic.  I don't think Danny Elfman's ever topped his work for The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Harry Selick did an amazing job of directing.  The stop motion animation is beautiful, and many of the visuals are truly memorable.  Personally, I can never forget the trees, each marked with a different holiday symbol.  So simple, but such a great image.  Okay, and I remember more famous stuff too, like the crazy toys.

Love Actually 2. Love Actually

Love Actually started a terrible trend.  None of the holiday ensemble movies that have followed are any good.  But the first is quite cute and I love getting together with friends to drink cider, eat cookies, and watch Love Actually.  This movie and a dear former roommater are why I sometimes say "I hate Uncle Jaime!" when things go wrong, and you can never hate a movie that gives you such a useful phrase.  Don't resist the cheese - there's a heart inside!

Elf 1. Elf

Elf is a heartwarming comedy that's much better than it has any right to be, given it's your basic Will Ferrell movie plugged into Christmas.  But hey, I like Will Ferrell movies and it is cute, sweet, and in the spirit of the season.  Most importantly, it's hilarious.  I find it hard to believe that there's anyone who doesn't love Elf, but I suppose there's always someone without taste.  And it even has Peter Dinklage for you Game of Thrones fans.

9 comments:

  1. Home Alone is a must here, and it's great they still put it on TV year after year so you don't have to dig the DVDs out. Love Actually's a favourite, too. I love the old Father Christmas movie as well, and Miracle on 34th Street.

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    1. Yep, but with the DVD there's no commercials!

      I don't think I've ever seen Father Christmas.

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  2. You're gonna do a second edition next week, right, because these can't be ALL the great Christmas movies you're watching, right? lol...

    I love all of these (husband, like your Mom, includes Die Hard as a holiday movie too!) but would have to add a couple more: "Christmas Vacation" and "Hogfather."

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    1. I probably won't do a second edition, because you can do an almost infinite number of great Christmas movies! Except for It's a Wonderful Life - I find that one boring.

      Christmas Vacation is fun, and I need to see Hogfather! I do love the book.

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  3. I really like Love Actually!

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  4. Great list! The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorites too. And I also liked Love Actually.

    I haven't heard of Elf... will check it out :) Thanks for the rec!

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  5. Oh I LOVE Elf, and Nightmare Before Christmas is... well, it's something very sapecial.

    I also love The Polar Express. I watch it every Christmas Eve and tell anyone who'll listen that I still believe in Santa :D

    Ummm... what else. My husband is crazy over The National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, but I cry every time the cat gets electrocuted, and I have a silyl nostalgia thing over The Santa Clause.

    OH. And I can't forget: Miracle on 34th Street. I don't care if it's the Matilda version or the B&W version, they're both wonderful.

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    1. Good choices! I have thought of ones I didn't include on the list since I posted it. But as I said above, I could probably go on infinitely about great Christmas films.

      (I am sad for not including The Sound of Music, which I always watch at this time of year.)

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