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Every year, people around the world gather in front of their TVs, big-screen home theaters, or laptops to watch their favorite Christmas movies.
Everyone has their favorite Christmas or Holiday movies; some are perennial choices that appear on Best Of lists every year.
Obvious stuff like "It's a Wonderful Life," "White Christmas," "Miracle on 34th Street," "A Christmas Carol," "Meet Me in St. Louis," "Christmas in Connecticut," "The Bishop's Wife," "The Shop Around the Corner," and of course "A Christmas Story" which is broadcast on cable non-stop for 24 hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas night.
More modern classics like "Scrooged," "The Santa Clause," "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "Elf," "The Holiday," "Love, Actually," "Home Alone," "Bad Santa," "The Polar Express," "Fred Claus," "Four Christmases," "Jingle All the Way," "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," and more, have been added to the must-see yearly viewing list (although I must say, there are many on this list that I absolutely hate).
I'm sharing my 10 favorite Christmas movies here. These are films that I love to watch nearly every year. Some are weird, some are dark and nontraditional, but some are well-known and beloved (I think). Now, despite the style, tone, and subject matter of a few, all of them are Christmas movies, and all of them are entertaining and make me happy every holiday season.
My Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies
My absolute favorite Christmas movie of all time is this smart and funny dark comedy about a thief who takes a family hostage on Christmas Eve until the coast is clear for him to make his getaway. Unfortunately, he kidnaps the most dysfunctional family ever, and chaos ensues when the relatives arrive for an unhealthy holiday dinner.
The incredible cast, led by a hilarious Denis Leary, includes Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey, Glynis Johns, Richard Bright, Christine Baranski, and Adam LeFevre. They all shine under the sharp direction of the late, great Ted Demme and with a brilliant script by Richard LaGravenese and Marie Weiss. I watch this film every year, and I love it more each time I watch it because it's so true and brutally accurate.
Creepy, moody, terrifying, and very, very Christmassy, this incredible thriller from 1974 (the original, not the terrible remakes) is one of the most influential and imitated horror movies of all time. The simple premise of an unseen killer terrorizing a sorority house full of girls during Christmas is executed perfectly. The result is a deeply and disturbingly scary movie, and I absolutely adore it.
Directed by Bob Clark, who happens to be the same guy who directed "A Christmas Story," and featuring a terrific cast including Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Art Hindle, Andrea Martin, Margot Kidder, and the great John Saxon, this movie will give you nightmares but also get you in the Christmas spirit. A horror classic.
This twisted holiday heist-comedy has been criminally underseen and underrated since its very quiet release in 2005. It is brilliantly directed by the late, great Harold Ramis (his best film) and features career-best performances by John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Platt, Randy Quaid, and Connie Nielsen.
The script by Richard Russo and Robert Benton is perfect, and I mean perfect. It is one of the greatest, smartest, and most efficient screenplays ever written. It is loaded with fantastic dialogue and beautifully constructed plot dynamics, with a breathtaking mix of outrageous dark comedy and plaintive crime drama.
There isn't a Christmas that goes by that I don't watch this little masterpiece.
Yeah, I chose the sequel over the original. In the past 25 years or so, as the argument of whether "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie or not rages on (it absolutely is, by the way), no one ever mentions the superior sequel, which also takes place on Christmas.
I have always preferred Renny Harlin's insanely entertaining sequel to the original, and I always will. While everyone else on earth is watching John McClane running around barefoot and climbing through the air ducts of Nakatomi Plaza, I'm watching McClane running around Dulles International Airport and ejecting himself from exploding planes. "Die Hard 2 is not only a better Christmas movie than the original, but it's also a better action movie.
Yeah, you know this one, and you probably watch it during the holidays, too. For good reason...it rules, and it's one of the craziest, darkest, funniest, and coolest Christmas movies ever made.
John Landis' hilarious, sharp, and beautifully cast film covers all of the holidays between Thanksgiving and New Year's, so you can watch it at least three times yearly during the season.
You all know this one too, and you all probably watch it as well, and why not...look at this cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, and Paul Gleason.
Look, it's a classic. Even though I still don't know what the hell happens during the climactic trading sequence near the end, it's one of my favorite comedies of the 1980s. It is loaded with classic, quotable moments. It's a perfect "R"-rated comedy for the holidays.
This was easily my favorite Batman movie until Matt Reeves' "The Batman" was released a couple of years ago, but it still remains one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time. Directed brilliantly by Tim Burton (whose "Edward Scissorhands" is also a great holiday classic), this thing oozes Christmas. It is both visually and thematically rich in the holiday spirit.
Michael Keaton remains the best big-screen Batman of all time, and his remarkable co-stars in this classic, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy, and the absolutely incredible Michelle Pfeiffer as the best Catwoman of all time, all light up the screen.
"Batman Returns" is a Christmas movie disguised as a superhero movie and a must-see during the holiday season.
Stanley Kubrick's final film is this twisted look at sex and marriage that happens to take place during the Christmas holiday. It is also loaded with Christmas imagery, lights, feeling, and mood, not to mention the full-frontal nudity, sex, drama, weirdos in masks, and murder.
Tom Cruise and a stunningly great Nicole Kidman play a well-to-do married couple whose conversations and nightmares about sex and infidelity result in a jealousy-spurred all-night romp through New York (none of which was shot in New York, by the way) experienced by Cruise.
All of the twisted insanity leads to one of the funniest and most brutal final lines of dialogue (delivered By Kidman) in film history. I love that people try to deeply analyze this film when it's just a simple story of a jealous jagoff experiencing some surreal insanity until he finds out that his wife just really wants to get laid. Merry Christmas.
Written by Shane Black (who loves to set his action movies during the holidays) and directed by the fabulous Renny Harlin (who also directed number 4 on this very list), this batshit crazy, completely over-the-top action film is about a housewife whose memory returns and she realizes that she is a top government assassin and spy. Explosive, exciting, and bloody insanity ensues.
Geena Davis (who was married to Harlin at the time) gives one of the best performances of her career here. She deftly handles the ridiculous plot twists, the wild shifts in tone, and the very physical action stunts she is required to do. It's a remarkable piece of work by Davis, and teaming her up with Samuel L. Jackson is truly inspired and results in a fabulous partnership.
This is at the bottom of the list only because it was released less than a year ago, so it's still new, but I guarantee that 25 years from now, people will be watching this wonderful film every year during the holiday season.
The great Alexander Payne's beautiful, funny, heartbreaking, and incredibly well-acted film has a simple premise: Three outcasts are stuck together at a New England prep school during Christmas break.
The always amazing Paul Giamatti (reuniting with Payne almost 20 years after "Sideways"), Oscar-winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and newcomer Dominic Sessa play the trio of oddballs who confront their problems, overcome much sadness, and learn the real meaning of the holidays.
This is an exceptional piece of work that will stir every emotion you can possibly have and make you laugh, cry, and think. It is, without question, one of the very best Christmas movies ever made.
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