Christmas Movies!
Anyone who knows me is aware I am not really into Christmas, but believe it or not I’m not totally dead inside.
So through the lens of Christmas and movies that make me think about Christmas or I associate with Christmas.
So here is my top 10 Christmas movies of all time.
- Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
Directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, and David Huddleston. Hundreds of years ago a man named Claus (Huddleston) made and delivered toys to children in and around his small village. One bleak winter night he becomes stranded in a snowstorm with his wife and it looks like they will die. Miraculously they are rescued by a group of Elves who take them to their magic realm where they have been waiting for an ancient prophecy to be fulfilled that a man would be found to become “Santa” and deliver their toys to all the world's children. One of the expert toy-making Elves Patch (Moore) becomes disgruntled and runs away to New York City and unknowingly puts the future of Christmas at risk when he goes to work for an evil businessman B.Z. (Lithgow) only Santa Claus can save Christmas with the help of two New York kids.
Ok… This movie gets a hard time, It's not amazingly good by any stretch of the imagination but what it lacks in quality it makes up for in nostalgia as far as I’m concerned. It is so 80s even though the kids living in New York seem to have the dynamic of living in Victorian-era London but with Coca-Cola!
This movie is nuts! Apparently, ALL children around the world celebrate Christmas and believe in Santa?! Wow, I feel that is not accurate! John Lithgow is scary and David Huddleston and Judy Cornwell are adorable as Mr & Mrs Clause.
It is fun and well worth a watch if you want to feel a bit more Christmassy!
It is streaming and is included with your Prime subscription.
You can buy the movie via Apple TV for £9.99
If you want to add this to your physical media collection you can buy it from HMV
DVD £9.99, Blu-ray £14.99 and now on 4K for £22.99.
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Directed by Chuck Jones & Ben Washam, Written by Dr Seuss, Starring Boris Karloff, June Foray, Thurl Ravenscroft and Del McKennon.
This is an animated short based on the Dr Seuss story that was made for TV by cartoon legend Chuck Jones. Anything that can bring Boris Karloff into Christmas must be a good thing. This is tricky to see you can buy it on Apple TV for £7.99 or perhaps you could find it on Youtube.
- Die Hard (1988)
Directed by John McTiernan and starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman & Bonnie Bedelia.
Tough New York Cop John McClane (Willis) is visiting his estranged wife Holly (Bedelia) and his two daughters for Christmas in Los Angeles. He joins Holly at a holiday party in the headquarters of the Japanese-owned business she works for. But the festivities are interrupted by a group of terrorists who take over the high-rise and everyone in it. Very soon McClane realises that only he can save everyone.
Is this a Christmas movie? Yes, it is!
McClane travels to be with his family for Christmas and while negotiating the situation he realises his shortcomings as a man, husband and father and he grows as a person and all in time for Christmas. Is it an action movie yes but it is a Christmas movie. To deny this is like saying “A Christmas Carol” isn't a Christmas movie it’s a ghost movie or “It’s a Wonderful Life” is just a movie about Banking, capitalism and mental health.
Die Hard is awesome it reinvented Bruce Willis from a TV actor to an action movie star and gave up one of the best movie villains of all time Hans Gruber brought to life by the late great Alan Rickman.
You can watch it on Disney+ with a subscription
It is available to buy on 4KUHD Disc from HMV for £14.99
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
and Henry Travers.
George Bailey (Stewart) has so many problems he is thinking of suicide and it’s Christmas. We see his life in a flashback which has led to this moment. George is about to jump from a bridge but then encounters Clarence (Travers) who turns out to be George’s guardian angel and goes on to show George what his town would have become if it wasn't for all the great things George had done over the years.
This is a stone-cold classic! It didn’t make money at the box office and didn’t become part of the Christmas zeitgeist until it went into very heavy rotation on TV in the 70s because it was very cheap for stations to show. This is yet another example of how box office numbers have nothing to do with how good a movie is.
I like it because it is heartwarming and touches on men's mental health issues and some of the more outdated stuff in this movie is funny For example If George had not married his beautiful wife she would have been an awkward bespectacled spinster librarian. Amazing!
You can watch this for free on the Channel 4 streaming service All4
Or you could own it forever by buying it from HMV
Blu-ray £9.99 or on 4KUHD £19.99
- Gremlins (1984)
Directed by Joe Dante, Written by Chris Columbus and Starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Corey Feldman & Gizmo the Mogwai
A gadget salesman wants to buy a special Christmas gift for his son. While visiting a curiosity shop in Chinatown he discovers the shopkeeper has a creature unlike anything the salesman had seen before a “Mogwai”. The shopkeeper reluctantly sells the creature but does and issues a strict list of care instructions. Things go very wrong.
Is this a Christmas movie? Yes! A teen boy receives a Christmas present that gets out of hand and leads to high jinks and adventure. Sounds like a Christmas story to me.
I am very open about being a massive Joe Dante fanboy! So this is on the list! I love it!
Watch it!!
You can rent it on Apple TV or Amazon Prime for £3.49
But what would be even better is buying your own copy from HMV
DVD Gremlins and Gremlins 2 £6.99, Gremlins Blu-ray £7.99, Gremlins 4KUHD £19.99
- A Christmas Story (1983)
Directed by Bob Clark and starring Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon.
A film based on the work of author Jean Shepherd follows the exploits of youngster Ralphie Parker (Billingsley) who spends his time dodging the neighbourhood bully and dreaming of getting a “Red Ryder air rifle” even though everyone knows if he got one “you’ll shoot your eye out” constant run-ins with his cranky dad being soothed by his doting mother. Will Ralphie get his dream Christmas after all?
Super fun movie that really captures that youthful state where the most important things in your life were what you were getting for Christmas or bigger kids on your street were an existential threat to your well being. This film has become a cult favourite. It's not a perfect movie but The Father character is so funny. it's a fun watch.
You can stream it on Prime video which is included with your subscription.
You can buy it from HMV on DVD for £4.99 or k4UHD for £19.99
- Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
Directed by Jalmari Helander and starring Onni Tommila, Ilmari Jarvenpaa, Jorma Tommila, and Tommi Korpela.
A young boy named Pietari (Tommila) and his friend Juuso (Jarvenpaa) think a mining project on a mountain near their home in northern Finland has uncovered the ancient tomb of Santa Claus. The young friends discover the true story behind Santa is deeply sinister and frightening. When Pietari’s father captures a feral old man in a wolf trap, this bearded wildman may hold the answers to why reindeer are being mutilated and local children are going missing.
This film is tremendous! I would describe it as “Pan’s Labyrinth” meets “The Goonies” mixed with a creature feature like Howard Hawks' “The Thing from Another World”
It would be an amazing double-feature with the Norwegian movie 2010 Trollhunter both the films involve reading subtitles but I imagine anyone reading this won’t have a problem with that… surely!
- Scrooged (1988)
Directed by Richard Donner and starring Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen, Carol Kane, Michael J. Pollard & Alfre Woodard.
The classic Dickens tale gets a serious 1980s rework in this holiday classic.
Frank Cross (Murray) is a rich and successful TV executive whose ruthless ambition and almost cruel nature has driven away the love of his life Claire (Allen). But reaching the new low of firing a staff member on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him the chance to learn from his past and hopefully change his ways.
This movie is amazing! directed by Richard Donner the man who gave us “The Goonies”, “Superman: The Movie”, “The Omen”, “Ladyhawke” and the Lethal Weapon movies offers up this slice of 80’s excess starring Bill Murray (Still at his peak) and just a host of solid talent and even more solid gags and some real tear-jerking moments. This is a must for a December watch to maybe get in the Xmas spirit.
Scrooged is currently streaming included with Prime Video and is on the Channel 4 ALL4 streaming service.
You can add it to your collection by picking it up on Blu-ray from HMV for £7.99 or 4kUHD for £22.99.
- The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Directed by Brian Henson starring Michael Caine, The Great Gonzo, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and Rizzo the Rat.
Arguably the finest screen adaptation of the Dickens classic ghost story. Kermit the Frog wonderfully portrays Bob Cratchit the downtrodden clerk of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge played by Sir Michael Canine in easily one of the top 10 performances of his career. This film seamlessly weaves songs and the humour of The Muppets with the classic festive ghost-driven morality play.
What can I say I genuinely watch this every Christmas it is deeply charming and wonderfully made and is an absolute gem!
You can stream this on Disney+ or Buy it used. check out eBay.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Directed by Henry Selick starring Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara and Paul Reubens.
Jack Skellington The Pumpkin KIng rules over Halloween town. He has become bored of the same annual routine of scaring people. One night Jack wanders out of his realm and discovers Christmastown, radiant with bright colours and good cheer. Jack decides he would be much happier being in charge of this… Christmas!
He plots with his fellow ghouls and monsters to hijack the holiday by kidnapping Santa Claus so Jack can take his place. The population of Halloween Town soon discover they lack the skills to bring festive cheer and goodwill to the “Real World”. Can the day be saved?!
This just had to be number one. It is a perfect “Twofer” for me I am a much bigger fan of Halloween than Christmas so this is perfect. From the imagination of Tim Burton but ushered into existence by Henry Selick and his team of over 120 artists and technicians who worked for over two years filming the stop-motion animation. It is a masterpiece and a technical marvel. Wonderful visuals mixed with an engaging story and catchy showstopping tunes.
It is a must-watch either in October or December!
You can watch A Nightmare Before Christmas on Disney+ or you can buy it from HMV on DVD for £4.99 or 4KUHD Disc for £24.99
I hope you have a good festive season.
I would love to know your favourite Christmas movies you could leave a comment below.
