Top 30 Christmas Movies of ALL TIME! *

[Lamboinee]

Please be sure to tune in and share the misery with me as I placate my lovely wife and watch every conceivable "ALL NEW" version of "lady has (insert small business/dream) and achieves it while finding love during Christmas." It airs 26 hours a day for all 33 days in December.  Please note that this year also includes "Hanukkah on Rye" which I think is when my uncle Jacob and I get into my rye whiskey cabinet and then we make sandwiches?...IDK, but I'll be sure to find out! I hope Sarah Silverman plays the lead female role. Oy Vey.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays everyone!

 

*not actual fact

[NSXCIGAR]

[JohnS]

@NSXCIGAR, so no chance of us two catching 'It's a Wonderful Life' together during the holiday season, at some point down-the-track? 🤣 😂

[Ken Gargett]

i have no idea if they are real movies (reel movies??) or made up. never seen one.

john, 'wonderful life' is a cracker,of course. 'love actually' is always worth a a re-watch. great cast, lots of fun. some of the threads don't work but those that do make it worthwhile. 

but bad santa, trading places and the king of them all, die hard, take top spots i think. 

[Chucko8]

Exactly my thoughts echoed there @Ken Gargett

Die Hard is the ultimate Xmas movie

[ayedfy]

Oh they’ll be real movies alright, and exactly what you can expect. Scripts written by an algorithm, gun-for-higher directors specifically told not to impart any artistic vision, actors and crew phoning it in for the paycheck in one take before moving to the adjacent soundstage the following day for the next movie in the franchise. Steady work if you can get it, factory-line machine-rolled cinema.

Marvel movies without the superheroes, basically.

[Cletus]

This is spot on.  "A Christmas for Christmas" 

 

[Fuzz]

A Christmas Story is the best Christmas movie of all time, closely followed by Die Hard.

[cwrightthruya]

Die hard, for sure.

I'm lucky my wife likes lethal weapon, die hard, nightmare before christmas and etc. as christmas movies over hallmark movies any day of the week and twice on the 25th...

[joeypots]

Bad Santa. 

 

[DikkeSigaar]

Die hard & Love actually 

[VictorEremita]

[Goodfortune]

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

 

[steelcity]

We do our annual showing of Clark outside on the projector with good friends.  I usually get 20-25 pounds of stone crab to demolish beforehand.

[jakebarnes]

I am a bit of a bah humbug about the holidays. It's usually chaos laced with insanity. To top it off, I spent the earlier years of my life in retail, which meant hearing the same 10 christmas songs on a loop and making my brain slowly turn into mush. I really dislike the music (I do have an "approved" list of covers combined with new christmas songs that I am willing to listen to during the actual week of christmas). That's a long way of saying-- I don't really do Christmas movies but for one VERY specific circumstance.

My wife and I have a very set Christmas Eve tradition that allows us to slow down a bit and find some sanity in the chaos that is Christmas season. The morning is spent prepping the dishes for the evening--basically most dishes go into their respective immersion circulator once prepped. We snack through a champagne lunch with crab claws, shrimp cocktail, and whitefish dip. Dinner is the fish of choice for my wife and the best cut of red meat I can find along with teh sides we prepped and accompanied by the best wine we have on hand. 

Then try to stave off the food coma by walking through the neighborhood with hot toddies and look at all the decorations. Die Hard and bourbon spiked eggnogs are the nightcap waiting for us at home. Perfect Christmas for me. 

[NSXCIGAR]

20 hours ago, JohnS said:

@NSXCIGAR, so no chance of us two catching 'It's a Wonderful Life' together during the holiday season, at some point down-the-track? 🤣 😂

Every time a bell rings I contemplate self-termination. 

I'm always down for Die Hard or Lethal Weapon though.

 

13 hours ago, Goodfortune said:

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

This movie may be the textbook case of a movie never getting old. 

[Chibearsv]

I'll never agree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.  I love it though.

The first 40 times I watched Its a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Carol, they were great, but now I've seen enough of those.

A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation are top of the list for me along with...Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Burl Ives singing is outstanding.  I had the Gene Autry record album as a kid and that music brings me back to being a little kid; tearing pages out of the Sears catalog so I could remember all the things I needed to tell Santa I wanted for Christmas.

[Fuzz]

38 minutes ago, Chibearsv said:

I'll never agree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.  I love it though.

The first 40 times I watched Its a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Carol, they were great, but now I've seen enough of those.

A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation are top of the list for me along with...Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Burl Ives singing is outstanding.  I had the Gene Autry record album as a kid and that music brings me back to being a little kid; tearing pages out of the Sears catalog so I could remember all the things I needed to tell Santa I wanted for Christmas.

Come on! Die Hard is so a Christmas movie.

• It's set during Christmas, there's plenty of Christmas music throughout the movie, and lots of Christmas references
• John attends a Christmas party, where many shenanigans take place
• Even though it is in California, Ellis manages to catch some powder
• Hans has plenty of gifts to give out
• John and his wife (her name "Holly" is even Christmas related) learn there's nothing more important than family
• At the end of the movie, a big fat man saves the day (ok, he's not Santa, but still), and it even starts snowing... paper from the blown out office windows.

I mean, "It's A Wonderful Life" barely qualifies as a Christmas movie, as most of it is set outside of Christmas!

[LOMTL]

It's Christmas when I watch Hans Gruber fall off the Nakatomi Plaza along with a glass of Champagne...

[rolaand]

I saw gremlins on a Christmas movie list the other day. So if you think die hard is a stretch…

[Lamboinee]

17 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

Every time a bell rings I contemplate self-termination. 

How do you call your butlers if not with a silver bell? With a kazoo? Perhaps a whistle?! Slack thread??? You gave the butler a phone?! SOOOOOOOO nuevo riche. Lol.  It's a wonderful life is not my favorite classic either. 

 

6 hours ago, Fuzz said:

• It's set during Christmas, there's plenty of Christmas music throughout the movie, and lots of Christmas references
• John attends a Christmas party, where many shenanigans take place
• Even though it is in California, Ellis manages to catch some powder
• Hans has plenty of gifts to give out
• John and his wife (her name "Holly" is even Christmas related) learn there's nothing more important than family
• At the end of the movie, a big fat man saves the day (ok, he's not Santa, but still), and it even starts snowing... paper from the blown out office windows

Which of these are necessary and which are merely sufficient? Your answer could help solve a hotly debated topic amongst a specific group with which I watch Christmas movies. 

[NSXCIGAR]

15 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

I'll never agree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. 

If It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas and Love, Actually are Christmas movies then Die Hard qualifies. 

If you search for "what makes a movie a Christmas movie" you will see result after result of Die Hard being debated. Anything debated that hard for that long gets the nod. 

13 hours ago, rolaand said:

I saw gremlins on a Christmas movie list the other day. So if you think die hard is a stretch…

I would say Gremlins does not qualify as it is lacking something Die Hard has--a traditional Christmas theme such as redemption, hope, faith, family or generosity. In Die Hard Sgt. Al is redeemed and McClane presumably reconciles with his wife and family. 

I would also say is even some redemption (and family) in Lethal Weapon. Murtaugh becomes more accepting and revitalized in his career and Riggs who was suicidal becomes less reckless and even finds a friend and family in Murtaugh. 

[Fuzz]

5 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I would say Gremlins does not qualify as it is lacking something Die Hard has--a traditional Christmas theme such as redemption, hope, faith, family or generosity. In Die Hard Sgt. Al is redeemed and McClane presumably reconciles with his wife and family. 

I would also say is even some redemption (and family) in Lethal Weapon. Murtaugh becomes more accepting and revitalized in his career and Riggs who was suicidal becomes less reckless and even finds a friend and family in Murtaugh. 

I say Gremlins is also a Christmas movie.

• It is set during Christmas
• There are plenty of Christmas themes and music
• The father buys Gizmo as a present for his son
• The story is about the dangers of the commercialisation of Christmas
  • The Gremlins are the representation of greed
  • The father is buying his kids off by getting them presents, instead of spending time with his family
  • The Gremlins multiplying so quickly is a warning of how the commercialisation of Christmas is out of control
• There's also a theme that Christmas is not always a happy time for everyone. The way Kate learns that there is no Santa, shows that Christmas is a dark reminder for her.
• And despite all the struggles in the movie, at the end everyone is together safe and sound, enjoying Christmas together. Proving that Christmas is really about spending time with your loved ones. And Gizmo is reunited with his "father".

[WarriorPrincess]

It has to be ELF love it always good for a laugh 

[hawkeye5050]

On 12/2/2022 at 2:07 AM, Ken Gargett said:

trading places

 

Trading Places is the best Christmas movie. If you have not seen it recently I encourage you to give it a watch. Personally this is one of the few movies I rewatch once a year.