BEST MOVIES TO WATCH OVER CHRISTMAS MOVIE
BEST MOVIES TO WATCH OVER CHRISTMAS UPDATE

BEST MOVIES TO WATCH OVER CHRISTMAS UPDATE

But what makes this Reagan-era update on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol - in which Murray plays a cold-hearted TV network president visited by Christmas spirits - flawed also makes it fascinating, and Carol Kane is especially fun as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Is it a pitch-black comedy about the commercialization of Christmas? Is it a cynical send-up of our once-a-year celebration of kindness and selflessness? Is it a sincere depiction of a man being transformed by the holidays? It’s a tough film to pin down, probably because the darkly comic sensibilities of star Bill Murray and writers Mitch Glazer and Michael O’Donoghue often seem at odds with that of blockbuster director Richard Donner. What is Scrooged trying to say, anyway? You can watch the film over and over - easy to do if you have a cable subscription in December, when it plays all the time - and never quite figure it out. In the spirit of the season, we erred on the side of generosity. Not every title will be for everyone, but there should be something for everyone here, whether you want Jimmy Stewart welcoming the season or Santa’s demonic counterpart threatening a dysfunctional family. We also opted to include a wide variety of Christmas movies, ranging from established classics to cult horror movies.

BEST MOVIES TO WATCH OVER CHRISTMAS MOVIE

That means Hallmark Channel Christmas movies about young people who don’t like each other but then end up liking each other a lot weren’t considered nor was Netflix’s recent movie featuring Kurt Russell as a hot Santa. Another qualifier: We stuck with films that received a theatrical release, mostly features but with a few shorts thrown in as well.

So, sorry, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation - just because you’re unavoidable doesn’t earn you a spot on the list. There’s a cynical reason to make a Christmas movie: The demand is high, even for the bad ones, every holiday season, when cable plays them ad nauseam to satisfy Christmas-crazed subscribers. More than twinkling lights and gift-making elves, we looked to these elements when putting the list together.Īlso, the movies on this list have to be good. The story of a man trying to repair his life, earn redemption, and keep his family together, Die Hard engages with some key Christmas-movie themes.

And not just because it takes place at Christmas. Well, does it? Opting for a big-tent definition of what constitutes a Christmas movie, this list of the greatest Christmas movies ever made argues, yes, it does, very much so. No one would argue that that early effort was anything but a Christmas movie, but these days, the question comes up frequently: What exactly is a Christmas movie? Is merely being set at Christmas enough? Or is there some elusive other element that makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie? It’s the old “Does Die Hard count?” debate. In that one, Santa slides down a chimney, stuffs some stockings, and promptly disappears into the ether the whole film runs just over one minute long. The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s time to put away our differences in the interest of peace on earth, goodwill toward others, etc., etc., and kick back with a great Christmas movie, a filmmaking tradition that dates back to the 1898 film Santa Claus.

This story was originally published in 2018 and is being republished in the spirit of the season. Photo: Liberty Films, New Line Cinema and Twentieth Century Fox

Best movies to watch over christmas