Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The revolution will be supervised.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

This really is a full service blog.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

We still have time to mess this up!

Infrastructure week. at last.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

“But what about the lurkers?”

You are here: Home / Guest Posts / Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Christmas Movies

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Christmas Movies

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In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in.  We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.

Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Christmas Movies

As a bit of a “Bah, humbug” person, I’m not wild about Christmas/Holiday movies, and I especially loathe Christmas music. I have a soft spot for the Grinch, but that’s about it.

In this week’s Medium Cool, give us your favorite holiday films. I’m particularly interested in hearing a case made for films that aren’t explicitly holiday-focused, but are still holiday favorites (“Die Hard,” for example).

Reader Interactions

218Comments

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    I love “Christmas with Joe Manchin “ just kidding we’re boring and love Christmas in Connecticut and love actually ?

  7. 7.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Jingle All the Way. It’s pretty corny. It’s an Arnie flick, but it has it’s moments. Sinbad (the comedian) is in it and god is he dreadful.

    I was watching some Freakazoid clips on YouTube a few weeks ago and Freakazoid was telling a ghost story to campers where he goes, “The scariest thing in the world is Sinbad getting another TV show.” Cue screaming lol

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    @zhena gogolia: Christmas With Joe Manchin (2021, dir. Chris Columbus): A corrupt Senator from a poor state fucks over his constituents and the entire country, mercifully sparing rich assholes and insuring the planet gets one step closer to oblivion.

  11. 11.

    JoyceH

    In my family, a Christmas viewing was 1776. I think just because we watched it one Christmas and everyone liked it so it became tradition. As for specific Christmas movies, love Die Hard, loathe Elf. Wonderful Life is okay…ish.

  15. 15.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Trading Places is my favorite not really a Christmas movie. Akroyd’s Santa on the subway is a great scene, the scrooges get screwed and the good guys chilling on the beach.

  16. 16.

    TheOtherHank

    I’m a sucker for A Christmas Story. It’s sequel (with an entierly different cast), My Summer Story is pretty fun, too.

    Also any story where ghosts torment a rich asshole until he decides to pay his employees more is a good story.

  19. 19.

    Beldar

    Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

    It’s a Finnish film, where Santa is a kind of elder evil a la HP Lovecraft. Be sure to watch the two short films it’s based on as well.

  23. 23.

    Mike in NC

    “Die Hard” is on Netflix, so we’ll watch it tonight. Last night we watched “A Christmas Story” and last week we watched “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (an annual staple).

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BGinCHI: I don’t care much for Christmas music that was written after the time of A Christmas Carol.  A major exception is the Grinch song by Boris Karloff.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m a sucker for a good Christmas Carol adaptation, the Mr Magoo version being the obvious best

  34. 34.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Elf.  It’s the best Xmas movie, imo and I never really get tired of it.

    Scrooged is also fun.

    Most of the classics are way too sappy.

    I never really got into A Christmas Story.  I saw it years after everyone else and they had hyped it up so much that I was totally unimpressed with the actual movie compared to the hype of my friends.

  39. 39.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Ugh don’t remind me of that. One of Carrey’s first stinkers imo. It was definitely a product of it’s time. Late 90s and early 2000s comedy tended to be pretty raunchy for whatever reason

  44. 44.

    dexwood

    @Mike in NC: With you on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s silly, funny, and always makes me laugh, We watch it every Christmas Eve. Otherwise, I work hard trying to ignore all Christmas movies and music, though, A Christmas Story sometimes gets my attention, parts of it anyway.

    .

  45. 45.

    AliceBlue

    A Charlie Brown Christmas (not really a movie but…). I love the music.
    Remember the Night– Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray are as good as it gets.
    The Man Who Invented Christmas
    A Christmas Carol with Alistair Simm of course.
    Christmas Vacation
    Scrooged – Ex New York Doll David Johansen as a taxi-driving Ghost of Christmas Past, Carol Kane as a kooky Ghose of Christmas Present and Bill Murray

    Almost forgot Christmas in Connecticut.

  46. 46.

    Yutsano

    I was told in no uncertain terms that Gremlins is a Christmas movie. I found it hard to argue.

    Plus the fact that  Moomins and the Winter Wonderland exists is enough for me. I haven’t seen it yet but anything Moomins is worthwhile. No I’m not Finnish why do you ask?

  48. 48.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I’ve watched Home Alone 5x in the last week due to a little person seeing it for the 1st time and becoming addicted. It makes me laugh every time.  KEVIN!

  49. 49.

    prostratedragon

    @Omnes Omnibus:  My favorite, though I haven’t seen a version I didn’t enjoy. Have the disc, so will watch it on the Eve.

    At one time It’s a Wonderful Life was almost strangled to death from overexposure, but after many years of avoidance I saw it a couple of years ago and decided I really like it. Be sure to see the early sequences.

    A lot of Blue Xmas* movies are on my year-round favorites list. Near the top is Brazil, where the society is so meretricious that you’re not sure the Christmas trappings aren’t just a continuous marketing ploy. Saw a new one to me last night on Noir Alley, Blast of Silence, which had some visuals that seem to echo prominently in Brazil.

    ____
    * For the Blue Xmas crowd, Miles Davis and Bob Dorough. I like most Christmas music, of any genre, but apart from the best, like that Bach cantata that was mentioned, can stand to be played only for a few weeks a year.

  50. 50.

    BGinCHI

    @AliceBlue: Wow, I’ve never seen “Remember the Night,” but that cast (Double Indemnity!), helmed by Mitchell Leisen, and written by Preston Sturges!

    Will watch tonight (Hulu). Thanks!

  52. 52.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Scout211: Miracle on 34th Street is my favorite too.  When I was growing up, my mother had a copy of the novelization, which I read before seeing the movie.

  55. 55.

    prostratedragon

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​ Magoo is second to me, and quite good.

    I’d forgot that Trading Places ends during the Christmas season. I think they wound up taking the New Years Eve Metroliner run. Funny movie in any case.

  56. 56.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Mike in NC:

    @dexwood:

    There were two customers on two different occasions at work who thought they could win a vacation because they were looking at the “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” themed scratch-offs lol

  57. 57.

    AliceBlue

    @BGinCHI:   Barbara is a shoplifter who’s tried and found guilty on Christmas Eve, Fred’s the prosecutor who feels badly about her being locked up over Christmas, so he pays her bail and takes her with him to visit his family in Indiana.  It’s not the slapstick comedy that it sounds like–there are some dramatic moments as well.

  58. 58.

    James E Powell

    I’m normally not one for sappy stuff, but I love It’s a Wonderful Life, even though I gather that in real life Jimmy Stewart was more like Mr. Potter than George Bailey.

    I love A Christmas Story. Watched it being filmed when I was in law school. Reminds me of my own childhood in many way.

    I like all versions of A Christmas Carol – Alastair Sim version the most – along with the meta Christmas Carol, Scrooged.

    Miracle on 34th Street – the original only.

    Charlie Brown & original cartoon Grinch are always appreciated.

    Also like Family Man, Christmas Chronicles & The Santa Clause among the more recent movies.

  59. 59.

    HumboldtBlue

    @BGinCHI:

    Yes, the cast is excellent and it’s a very entertaining movie.

    Another I enjoy is Joyeux Noel, a former co-worker gave me a copy about 10 years ago.

    It’s about the truce on the Western Front during the first Xmas of the Great War.

  62. 62.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @James E Powell:

    For awhile didn’t Stewart get typecast as George Bailey types?

    I’ve never really liked It’s a Wonderful Life if only because I didn’t like the implication that unmarried women had to be miserable loners

  63. 63.

    oldgold

    Robert Redford’s spy thriller, Three Days  of the Condor, is considered to be a Christmas movie.

  70. 70.

    MomSense

    @BGinCHI:

    I saw diehard at a small theater about a year after it was first released.  Someone in the audience called out 1 after the first death and then the game was on. It became such a silly experience. I can’t remember the final count (89 maybe?) but it was a memorable night full of unexpected laughter.
    Have to do a shout out to Alexander Godunov.  He played the bad guy with the long hair. He was a brilliant Russian ballet dancer who defected to the west.  Not only was he a great dancer, but he was tall which meant that tall dancers like me all dreamed of dancing with him.
    He died after a tragic battle with substance abuse but if you do watch Diehard again, please take a glance at him and maybe check out one of his ballet performances.  He was special.

  71. 71.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    I have to go with It’s a Wonderful Life as my number one Christmas film.  After seeing it dozens and dozens of times through the decades, it still holds up.  Also a big fan of A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim, Miracle on 34th Street and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Absolutely love Vince Guaraldi’s music for A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Also love those Christmas messages that the Beatles recorded for their fan club members.

    For any other fans of It’s a Wonderful Life, check out this article:

    How Jimmy Stewart’s war service affected ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

    Nina Metz

    Chicago Tribune

    Nov 30, 2016

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-jimmy-stewart-book-mov-1202-20161201-column.html

  72. 72.

    cope

    Last Holiday is a nice little movie with Queen Latifah. It’s actually a remake of a 50s movie originally written by J. B. Priestly.

  74. 74.

    RSA

    @delk:

    The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Bishop’s Wife for back to back proto-bear Monty Wooley.

    Great choices. I wish I had something to add, but I can’t think of any that haven’t been mentioned. (Occasionally I’ll read a cozy mystery set during Christmas time, though, which is fun.)

  76. 76.

    debbie

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    I have to go with It’s a Wonderful Life as my number one Christmas film.

    Mine also. When you’ve seen it as many times as I have, you discover all the tiny, tiny details that made each scene so rich.

  80. 80.

    BSR

    In our house, “It’s a Wonderful Life” is required viewing each season.

    Not too many others – my wife enjoys “White Christmas” but I find it’s a bit too much Bing for me.

    She likes “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as well – I would just listen to the music.  She waxes nostalgic for the original Grinch and even Frosty the Snowman, but I hate those.

    I do enjoy weird/off-beat holiday music this time of year.  I have a playlist that goes on rotation between Thanksgiving and Christmas (by which time I’m sick of it again).  Lots of it has come from one source:  DJ Riko has done a Merry Mixmas compilation for around 20 years now.  You can find them all to download at djriko.com.

  84. 84.

    bmoak

    Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas never got the love it deserves.   Maybe because it was an HBO-exclusive back before cable and HBO were universal things.

  87. 87.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @debbie:

    Absolutely agree with you.  At some point, I’m going to read the short story that inspired the film.

    I once heard a film historian being interviewed about the making of It’s a Wonderful Life and he said that Cary Grant desperately wanted to play the role of George Bailey.

  88. 88.

    MrsCoachB

    I’ll watch any version or variation of A Christmas Carol.   My favorites are with Patrick Stewart, the  Muppets, Vanessa William (A Divas Christmas), Scrooges, and Susan Lucchi…no particular order.    Mr Coach loves A Christmas Story, it’s a big favorite with he and his sisters.   I also love White Christmas and Holiday Inn.  Last suggestion is “Meet Me in St Louis” with Judy Garland, it’s delightful movie covering all the seasons and the backstory to “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas ” is interesting.

  90. 90.

    Jay

    Die Hard isn’t a Christmas Movie.

    Bruce Willis spends all night trying to get away from Alan Rickman in a tower.

    It’s a Harry Potter movie.

  91. 91.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Is Popeye Doyle playing a sidewalk Santa Claus in The French Connection sufficient to classify it as a Christmas film? If so, I’ll add it to my previous list along with The Man Who Came to Dinner.

  101. 101.

    Mo MacArbie

    Burroughs’ The Junky’s Christmas isn’t feature length, but it’s a heartwarming tradition all the same.

  102. 102.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @debbie:

    As much as I love Cary Grant, there’s no way in Hell that I could ever see him pulling off the role of George Bailey.  I’m sure there were other A list actors who could have done a good job in the role of George Bailey, but James Stewart absolutely nailed it and I’m thankful that Lionel Barrymore convinced him not to quit the film.

  103. 103.

    James E Powell

    @prostratedragon:

    I have a pretty good rock & soul Christmas playlist. The highlight is “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love, the song she first did on Letterman in 1986 then every year from 1994 to 2014.

    It’s fun to watch how the production of the song grows each year. Also how the entrance of the sax soloist changes.

    Every year I watched, every year I cried. Something about that woman’s voice just goes right to the heart.

  105. 105.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    I’m thankful that Lionel Barrymore convinced him not to quit the film.

    Huh, I never heard that

    Barrymore was such a great villain, that nasally sneer as he lectures George about “a lazy, discontented rabble instead of a thrifty working class…”

    (I’ll leave out the Joe Manchin comparison?)

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    The original TV “Grinch” with the voices of Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft is the best Christmas special. It’s not even close. Chuck Jones’ animation, Dr. Seuss’s writing and visual design, the narration and the songs, even the delivery of the story’s moral at the end, all of it is just completely satisfying.

    “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is in second place, but when I was a kid it always bothered me a little because it seemed unresolved–it was ostensibly about preparations for a Christmas pageant, but we never see them do the show. Linus delivers his little sermon out of the book of Luke, there is the miracle of the Christmas tree, and then the special considers that resolution enough and ends, but it’s still before showtime. I always had a bit of an “is that it?” feeling.

    All the others are way, way behind, including all of the Rankin-Bass ones, which are cute but often have kind of muddled tones and messages.

  110. 110.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @BSR: Re Adam Sandler, I can’t entirely agree because Tia Leone and Cloris Leachman in Spanglish were the bomb.

    Favorite line by Mother Cloris to Daughter Tia: “Lately, your low self–esteem is just good common sense.”

  115. 115.

    guachi

    White Christmas is pretty good. I hadn’t watched it from start to finish until about five years ago. Other movies set at Christmas that I like (at least, like enough to own them) in no particular order.

    Christmas Carol (TV version starring George C Scott)

    Christmas Carol (Muppets version)

    Die Hard (in 4k HDR!)

    White Christmas

    Christmas Story

    Hogfather

    How the Grinch Stole Christmas

    Home Alone 1 (in 4k HDR!)

    Sound of Music (because I watched it a lot on TV around Christmas)

  116. 116.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @WaterGirl:

    Fair enough.. His over-the-top acting, while a little more subdued in The Truman Show than in say, Dumb and Dumber, isn’t for everyone

  118. 118.

    Leto

    @Wyatt Salamanca: I read that article, or one very similar to it, a few years ago and it changed how I viewed that movie. Doing that movie so soon after returning, still struggling with PTSD, trying to rebuild your life into something resembling what your former life looked like… I think about how reviewers initially described the movie as too “saccharine” and thought how badly some people needed a message like that after the previous 5 years.

  119. 119.

    JoyceH

    @Mike in NC: I remember seeing the trailers for Die Hard on television before it was released, and my hilarious incredulity. “Bruce Willis?! Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Remember that action stars of the day were of the musclebound Stallone model. Whoever produced that movie must have had balls of steel! “I’m making this big splashy ‘tent pole’ action movie, lots of shooting, lots of explosions. My hero is a former TV romcom star and for the villain I’m going with a British stage actor.”

  120. 120.

    citizen dave

    I heard around 3 hours of xmas time music today via Amazon Music.  I put in “Jazz Christmas”, but at some point it stopped, and I reset it, and eventually I remembered that:
    The choir of children sing their song
    They practiced all year long

    Ding dong, ding dong
    Ding dong, ding dong
    Ding dong, ding dong
    Ding dong, ding, ooh, ooh
    The party’s on
    The spirits up
    We’re here tonight
    And that’s enough
    Simply havin’ a wonderful Christmastime
    We’re simply havin’ a wonderful Christmastime

    ….and it was truly christmas yet again having endured the worst ever xmas tune.  Amazon showing the lyrics on my tv elevated it to a new level of awfulness, to wit the excerpt above.  The kids practiced singing Ding Dong all year long?  How much pot were you smoking when you wrote this one, Paul?

  125. 125.

    Greg Ferguson

    “The Ref”(1994) — my favorite; phenomenal cast, wicked script (puts “IAWL” in its place, thank you…), and a sweet ending completely appropriate for the season.
    Except that it is set for Thanksgiving, I also love “Home for the Holidays” (1995) — warmer family dynamics, but similarly brilliant cast, and the bitter stuff sticks with you. Some things you can’t fiX. This is a movie that makes you feel for Steve Guttenberg, ffs…. ??

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    As for kids’ Christmas movies: Arthur Christmas is a relatively recent, underrated classic. I like that they took the Rankin-Bass-style “behind the scenes with Santa Claus/we have to save Christmas” storyline and managed to do it without a villain, or even any really grotesque behavior–it ends even with the character who would conventionally be in the “villain” role finding his niche. And it’s very funny. Bill Nighy’s performance as the retired Grand-Santa is funny enough to be worth watching the movie on its own.

  127. 127.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Love the lesbians, but most of us really hated “The Happiest Season”* because we identified with the long-suffering girlfriend, Abby, who was put through some awful shit by her not-out-of-the-closet fiancé, Harper.

    I appreciate they were trying to tweak the Xmas Rom-Com by crossing it with a coming out story. but (probably because it’s semi-autobiographical) it focuses too much on Harper struggle with being closeted and overlooks how her behavior affects Abby.

    What’s unfortunate is that with some small script changes they could’ve made it work — show people doing The Work and then have the happy reconciliation (required by the genre) the following Christmas.

    That said, Abby should have run off with Riley, which easily could’ve been make to work — and ironically is more in line with the genre: woman goes to a small town and unexpectedly finds her true love.

    —

    *Interestingly, most of my straight friends loved it and found it touching, likely because they were focused on Harper’s coming out story.

  130. 130.

    Rokka

    The President’s Analyst which starts at Christmas, ends at Christmas and came out the week before Christmas.

  134. 134.

    cope

    Having mentioned one modern rom-com earlier, I might as well throw in another, The Holiday with Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black and Jude Law.

  135. 135.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JoyceH: Casting Willis in “Die Hard” was on par with casting Michael Keaton, a comic actor best known for playing gross, disheveled characters, as Batman! I remember the general puzzlement over that one. And then the movie was this astronomical hit. (not a Christmas movie, but the sequel was!)

  136. 136.

    Citizen Alan

    In no particular order:

    A Christmas Story

    The Bishop’s Wife

    A Christmas Carol (Sims)

    White Christmas

    I viscerally hate It’s A Wonderful Life for personal reasons and once literally sat out on the back porch by myself for two hours on Christmas Eve b/c my sister insisted on the family watching it.

  137. 137.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I was surprised as well when I heard that anecdote, but at some point James Stewart began having big reservations about the film and just wanted to drop out of it.

    @debbie:

    That final scene ranks as one of my top five.

    @Leto:

    I second your sentiments exactly.

  140. 140.

    citizen dave

    @cope: I was scoping out The Holiday for a re-watch the other night on one of the streamers.  I recall being very pleasantly surprised at how funny it was.  Then again, I’m a fairly big Jack Black fan.

  142. 142.

    Yutsano

    @Matt McIrvin:  Die Hard was also the very first movie and the very first Hollywood production Alan Rickman had ever done. I’d say he did a pretty bang-up job there.

  143. 143.

    cope

    And I’ll finish at the other end of the spectrum from modern rom-coms and suggest the John Wayne (shudder) version of Three Godfathers. The ten year old me loved it.

  146. 146.

    Kent

    Great thread guys.

    I happen to have a houseful of teenage girls tonight.  I was thinking of forcing them to watch a Christmas movie with snacks and such.  Any special recommendations for that age group?  I was thinking maybe National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  They have seen all the other modern classics like Elf, The Santa Clause, and Home Alone multiple times.  But I’m not sure about that one.

    Alternatively something like and old classic that isn’t Wonderful Life as we’ve seen that several times.

    BTW, the Netflix animated Christmas film Klaus is exceptional.  I showed it to a class on Friday and was very pleasantly surprised.

  147. 147.

    p.a.

    Not surprised no mention of Family Man: Nick Cage.  But on the plus side: Téa Leoni, Don Cheadle.

    Christmas Carol w Patrick Stewart.

  148. 148.

    Mike in NC

    Just saw a scene in “Die Hard” at a gas station, where a gallon costs 75 cents, in Los Angeles!

  149. 149.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Yutsano: I have not seen it either but it looks like an adaptation of Moominland Midwinter, which is a great book–sort of the beginning of Jansson’s late, melancholy period.

  158. 158.

    Uncle Omar

    What happened to “Donovan’s Reef” with Lee Marvin and John Wayne?  It used to be a staple of late night Christmas movies.  It was stock John Wayne schlock with Lee Marvin playing the Robert Mitchum character and moved to somewhere in the South Pacific instead of a Western US town during cattle stealing season.

  161. 161.

    Ivan X

    I am significantly perturbed that none of our blackhearted regulars have yet mentioned Bad Santa, which will always be my and Ms. X’s untoppable Christmas movie. It is perfect (though the “Director’s Cut” and “Badder Santa” versions, which are now more widely available, suffer from minor flaws). The cast, including Billy Bob Thornton, Lauren Graham, John Ritter, Bernie Mac, and Tony Cox, and an odd kid, all really show up for the job. I make this recommendation this as a Jewish person who grew up envying/hating Christmas; it was made for me. If you want warm Christmas fuzzies, skip it.

    Less sublime, but still plenty seedy, and seasonally nihilistic, is The Ice Harvest, with John Cusack, Billy Bob again, Patton Oswalt, and Connie Nielsen, directed by Harold Ramis.

    An underseen Canadian Christmas gem is The Silent Partner, with Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer (very chilling as a thief and killer).

    Finally, let us not forget the notorious Santa slasher film: Silent Night, Deadly Night. The title says it all!

    ETA: Mike in NC beat me to it!

  166. 166.

    James E Powell

    @p.a.:

    Not surprised no mention of Family Man: Nick Cage.  But on the plus side: Téa Leoni, Don Cheadle.

    See #58, above. I really like that movie, mostly because of Tea Leoni, but also Cheadle and Piven. When Nicolas Cage is in a role that fits him, he’s fine.

  169. 169.

    Central Planning

    We go through the Muppet Christmas Carol, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, and the current favorite: Elf. I think this year we are going to add Gremlins to the mix and see how that goes.

    For music, this year my brain has decided it likes New Orleans jazz/blues renditions of songs (and also ones I haven’t heard before). I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps that style of music is what I need right now, or it’s artists I’ve never heard of putting a Cajun spin on holiday classics

    Anyway, Spotify has a ton of that style, and you can always find more when you click the radio icon to generate a “station” based on what you’re listening to.

  171. 171.

    Feathers

    My personal fave Christmas movie is Bell, Book and Candle. James Stewart and Kim Novak (came out the same year as Vertigo!) Set in a magical mid-century Greenwich Village, she’s a witch who decides to make Jimmy fall in love with her. Elsa Lancaster is her dotty aunt and Jack Lemmon her bongo playing brother. Spells go astray, endangering the coven. Manages to mix dreamy romanticism and slapstick comedy in a very unique way. Great music. I want to spend every Christmas Eve at the Zodiac Club.

    Die Hard is on a lot of lists here, but my fave from Shane Black is Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang. Robert Downey, Jr. in an homage to pulp fiction detective stories.

    Class Hollywood? The two Stanwyck movies already mentioned – Christmas in Connecticut & Remember the Night.

    ETA: Actually have The Holiday on pause right now. It holds up. May have to pick up the DVD. Great actors, Christmas isn’t overly sentimentalized, and double house porn.

    Also, my upstairs neighbors just started vacuuming for some reason. I’ll assume it’s a good one and not some whim.

  174. 174.

    Geminid

    @prostratedragon: I thought The Apartment was great! It’s a Holidays movie, running from a few days before Christmas until early New Year’s morning.

     Director Billy Wilder had a hardscrabble life as a young man in Vienna before he moved to Berlin and broke into the movie biz. Wilder was Jewish, and he was able to get out of Europe just in time. Wilder found success in Hollywood, but he retained his outsider’s point of view, and I think that helped make The Apartment such a good movie.

  176. 176.

    eddie blake

    the 1964 rudolph the red-nosed raindeer. also a big fan of the nightmare before christmas, muppets christmas carol and emmett otter’s jug-band christmas.

  178. 178.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Leto:

    Haha, I’m sure. I tend to forget that incomes were also comparatively lower too, so $0.75/gallon wasn’t the same as $0.75 today

  179. 179.

    different-church-lady

    At about the age of 11, “It’s a Wonderful Life” became the gauge upon which I measure my life: would the world be better or worse off if I had never existed?

    40+ years later, I don’t think it’s making much of a difference one way or the other.

  180. 180.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Greg Ferguson: yes “The Ref” is just a funny funny well written movie with a talented cast.

    “Christmas in Connecticut”  old cute B&W 40’s  Hollywood movie with Barbara Stanwyck.

  181. 181.

    piratedan

    Here we are this far into the thread and no one has mentioned the MST3K version of Santa Claus versus the Martians… and i thought this was a serious discussion about cinema… sheesh.

  183. 183.

    Leto

    @different-church-lady: I wonder if that would change if we had the ability to “zoom out” of our life, seeing how our actions (or non-actions) affected people/society. Essentially 3rd, 4th, 5th order consequences. Maybe it’s just as simple as you’ve brought joy to so many people as only you could, and that’s wealth beyond measure.

  185. 185.

    Cowgirl in the Sandi

    I nominate White Christmas ONLY for Vera Ellen’s dancing. I could watch her dance forever!

  186. 186.

    Spanish Moss

    My favorite is “The Snowman”. It is animated with an “illustration style” that is similar to the children’s book. It has very few words, just a few at the beginning and at the end. The music is beautiful. The “Walking in the Air” sequence, when they are flying above the world, feels like a spiritual experience to me. They are “swimming in the frozen sky”, whales breaching, northern lights, … I watch it several times every Christmas season.

  189. 189.

    Leto

    @Spanish Moss: I remember watching that as a child and loving everything about it. I think I saw it close to it’s original 1982 airing.

    For everyone else: The Snowman 1982 with Original Introduction

    The Snowman is a children’s picture book without words by English author Raymond Briggs, first published in 1978 by Hamish Hamilton in the U.K., and published by Random House in the U.S. that November.

    The book was adapted into a 26-minute animated film in 1982 which debuted on British television that 26 December

    “Walking in the Air” is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs’ 1978 children’s book The Snowman.

    The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal perennial on British television.

    YouTube, 26 mins.

  190. 190.

    Han

    One of my favorite Christmas movies that no one else ever seems to have heard of is A Midwinter’s Tale, a lesser-known Kenneth Brannaugh directed film about a group of out of work actors putting on a production of Hamlet in the Christmas season.

  191. 191.

    Mike in NC

    Ben Affleck and Chalize Theron did “Reindeer Games” about a Christmas heist at an Indian reservation casino.

  193. 193.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    I lov Frosty the Snowman only because Hocus the rabbit and Jimmy Durante’s narration.

  194. 194.

    sherparick

    The Apartment starring Jack Lennon, Shirley MacLaine, and Billy Wilder. Like Die Hard, you don’t think of it as a Christmas Movie at first thought, but definitely a Christmas Movie.

  196. 196.

    Eric K

    Right there with you, so my list is:

    The Grinch
    Christmas Vacation
    A Christmas Story

    and one I can’t remember what it is called, a few years ago there was a Scandinavian horror movie where Santa is an evil being who some village is responsible for keeping contained and he escapes.

  197. 197.

    The Dangerman

    Christmas is all about traditions for me and, since Family has diminished in number naturally over the recent  past, that means music and movies. Same ones. Bing and Bowie. Same song, just a little louder, with For King and Country. You could guess the movies. Every year. I still mist up at the appropriate places. Every year. Sad really.

  198. 198.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Nina: Lion in Winter.

     

    @SiubhanDuinne: “What shall we hang? The holly, or each other?”

     Henry: [reading from a package] To Henry. [weighing it] Heavy. [delighted] It’s my headstone. Eleanor, you spoil me.

  199. 199.

    Mike E

    Great recommendations, I’ve seen a whole bunch of these movies with a fair few faded from my memory…I did finally get Miss E to watch Die Hard a couple of years ago and she was duly impressed with it’s audacity and violent holiday cheer, heh. She picked last year’s Xmas viewing choice, Troop Zero, definitely not a holiday film except for the main character with the name of Christmas Flint. We enjoyed it, though.

  201. 201.

    brendancalling

    So far as Christmas Day scenes go, it’s hard to beat Dawn Davenport’s disappointment that she didn’t get the cha-cha shoes she wanted in John Waters’ holiday classic, “Female Trouble.”

    The family caroling is also quite moving.

  204. 204.

    Kristine

    @Josie: That’s a favorite of mine.

    Also Auntie Mame. Once sequence, where Rosalind Russell goofs up her job at a department store and meets her future husband (played by Forrest Tucker) takes place during the Christmas season

    And a double thumbs-up for The Lion in Winter.

  205. 205.

    OldDave

    @RSA: The Man Who Came to Dinner

    The movie premiered at the Capitol Theater in (wait for it) Paragould Arkansas.  Why, you ask?  Because one of the stars (Richard Travis) grew up there.  So did I, and my childhood included movies at that theater.

    It’s a small world.

  206. 206.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    It’s a Wonderful Life is worth watching at least once. It didn’t need to be canonized,  though.

    I think it gained new popularity because it fell into the public domain and was televised often.

    But it is a very good piece of filmmaking.

    Also, characters in the film provided the names for Bert and Ernie in Sesame Street.

  208. 208.

    ET

    Don’t love lots of Christmas music but there are some songs, – Carol of the Bells (Deanna Carter), Little Drummer Boy (Crosby/Bowie), Good King Wenceslas, Oh Holy Night, and Ríu, ríu Chíu.

  209. 209.

    prostratedragon

    @Leto:  Coming to recognize all that was part of how I re-evaluated that movie, and other things.  People had hard lives and a great deal of collective trauma.  Some of the cynicism of other movies of that period is from people on overload.

  213. 213.

    The Lodger

    As long as we are including music videos, Fairytale of New York by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl.

  215. 215.

    NotMax

    Late, late, late to the thread so will toss in just a smattering of possibly less well known ones which may not have been mentioned above (haven’t yet looked.)

    The Coca-Cola Kid
    The Man Who Came to Dinner
    8 Women
    The Dead
    The Ref
    Tangerine
    Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
    Go
    .

  216. 216.

    Emmyelle

    Best Christmas movie is the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol. The earlier ones are too full of hyperbolic silver screen era theatrics and the later ones are a hot mess. The story itself is great-a lonely man who is basically traumatized by the loss and scarcity that characterized that characterized his early life in Victorian England that he hordes what he has. Great depiction of social inequality. The ghost of Christmas present turning quickly from jovial to fucking scary, with Ignorance and Want making an appearance from out of nowhere. The well-earned happy ending.

    for non-Christmas Christmas movies I like When Harry Met Sally, which is more like a New Years movie, even though it was a summer blockbuster in 1989. But Harry and Sally go through a few Christmases and some big things happen at a New Years Party, all while Harry Connick  belts out jazzy Christmas songs. And a well-earned happy ending.

    and speaking of Christmas songs, well I like old stuff, like church music, chorale, instrumental, and jazz updates.

    But the best Christmas song ever is Dar Williams The Christians and the Pagans. It has a well-earned happy ending.

  218. 218.

    MarySNJ

    @Wyatt Salamanca: I was privileged to see It’s a Wonderful Life at the theater at the Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY a few weeks ago. The actors who played Zuzu and Tommy and were there and talked about some of their experiences on set as children. They and the Director of the “It’s a Wonderful Life” Museum from Seneca Falls, NY also mentioned Jimmy Stewart’s feelings about his career in Hollywood and the movie after his experiences in the war, until Lionel Barrymore’s pep talk.

    I was surprised to learn that the movie was a flop in its own time, so maybe Jimmy Stewart wasn’t wrong about the reception after the war. But as a result, when the copyright came due for renewal, no one bothered to renew it. And that is why IAWL started to get a lot of play on TV because it was in the public domain, and new generations got to see and appreciate it.  A happy ending for the movie and all of us who fell in love with this movie in the 1970s.

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