Favorite Christmas time movies

[Mike Eskimo]

The George C Scott version of A Christmas Carol is really great as is The Muppets version (maybe the best ?)

 

[tery]

The Polar Express ........... "I believe"

 

[wlewisiii]

Die Hard is really all I can say I like.

I utterly despise "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Christmas Story".

 

[Frank'n'censed]

2. Comfort and Joy - The 1984 Bill Forsyth movie. It's the same guy who did Local Hero and Mark Knopfler did the music (the reason I first saw it). It's got the same quirky feel as Local hero. Unfortunately you can't find it anymore. We have a really crappy VHS transferred to DVD.

I don't think I've ever seen that one...will keep an eye out. Thanks.

 

[straightface]

Rudolph is my favorite. I try to watch it every year even if the kids aren't around. Love the old black and white versions of A Christmas Carol (even the more modern versions are good with George C. Scott and the Star Trek guy whose name is escaping me at the moment), Miracle on 34th Street, and of course It's a Wonderful Life. Also, Prancer is a pretty good one that I don't see every year. The Homecoming, which spawned the show The Waltons is excellent but I almost never see that any more. Then there is Die Hard, with Hans Gruber, one of my all time favorite bad guys.

 

[guitarguy97]

Die Hard
Elf
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Home Alone

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Die Hard is really all I can say I like.

I utterly despise "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Christmas Story".

As I mentioned in another thread, I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" for the first time recently. I really disagree with the idea of seeing what it would be like if you never existed. What if his little brother, whose life he saved, grew up to be a mass murderer?

And the ending is the sappiest ever. I guess Frank Capra had just come off making propaganda films during the war.

 

[Frank'n'censed]

As I mentioned in another thread, I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" for the first time recently. I really disagree with the idea of seeing what it would be like if you never existed. What if his little brother, whose life he saved, grew up to be a mass murderer?

And the ending is the sappiest ever. I guess Frank Capra had just come off making propaganda films during the war.

Even Frank was bemused at his own "Capracorn", moniker...

 

[Ash Telecaster]

Christmas Vacation has got to be number one.

The miracle on 34th street. The original, not the [email protected], ridiculously lousy, insultingly bad, waste of film the remake was.

Charlie Brown Christmas
The Grinch, both versions
A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), numerous versions
It's a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Elf
Home Alone
The Santa Clause
Scrooged

There are a few that aren't holiday movies but we watch at holidays anyway like African Queen and Forrest Gump.

 

[craigster59]

I like the older movies. Christmas in Connecticut, It happened On 5th Ave, The Shop Around The Corner, etc.

I also like the newer stuff. Elf, Jingle All The Way even Grumpy Old Men has a Christmas vibe to it.

And concerning Christmas Story and stuff that Peter Billingsley has done afterwards, he's now a producer (Iron Man movies) and director (Couples Retreat). He teamed up with Jon Favreau and has been on a roll.

 

[wyclif]

A Christmas Carol (w/ Alastair Sim)
It's a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street (the original black & white one)
The Bishop's Wife (Loretta Young's eyes can melt the coldest 'bah humbug' heart)
A Charlie Brown Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Scrooge (the Albert Finney/Alec Guinness version from 1970)
A Christmas Story
Gremlins
Edward Scissorhands
The Nightmare Before Christmas

 

[HotRodSteve]

For some reason my favorite Christmas movie is Slap Shot. Must be the Melinda Dillon link to A Christmas Story?

 

[Colo Springs E]

I like a lot of the standards mentioned here. Some of my favorites include "Four Christmases," "Surviving Christmas," "The Family Stone," "Elf," and a lot of others.

Has anyone ever seen "The Gathering" with Ed Asner? Tear jerker that I caught again last year, hadn't seen it since I was a teenager.

 

[ZackyDog]

 

[Frank'n'censed]

I don't think I've ever seen that one...will keep an eye out. Thanks.

Local listing have it playing on Christmas Day, but its the newer remake & not the '84 original...I'll pass.

 

[ravindave_3600]

3. Die Hard (the anti-saccharine Christmas without being crass)
2. Miracle on 34th Street (OHara/Gwenn/Wood)
1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (best 25 minutes and best music of any Christmas movie)

 

[cj11l]

Love me some Emmet Otters Jugband Christmas

 

[Collirem]

Mr. Magoo Christmas. I am not kidding. Made in the 60's for TV. The music is fabulous.

 

[Telemarkman]

This fantastic French-Romanian-Russian musical from 1976 has been a firm Christmas favorite in Norway for years and years. It's loosely based on the Grimm fairytale about the Goat and her kids. Enjoy!

 

[surfoverb]

Bad Santa -hilarious!
Shop around the Corner- its got everything you want in an xmas movie: suicide, comedy, romance
Meet John Doe- Barbara freaking Stanwyck!, suicide, Gary Cooper, less Christmasy than Capras other movie (barf), although I like the contrast in Wonderful Life of suicide and extreme cornball sentimentality
Nightmare before Christmas
The Apartment-great rom-com, its got everything: suicide,
jack lemmon

notables:
Harry Potter (1-3)
Gremlins (young Phoebe Cates)
Polar Express
Die Hard