What’s the Best Christmas Movie?
It seems everybody has an opinion about what the best Christmas movie is, but there are a few examples that seem to rise to the top every year. What everyone agrees on is that a good Christmas movie is one every family should watch together. The true test of a good Christmas movie is if you can watch it every year and still laugh (or cry) at the appropriate moments.
Following are a few recommendations for families looking for a Christmas movie to enjoy.
No Christmas movie list would be complete without including It’s a Wonderful Life. This Christmas movie classic has been shown millions of times and has truly proven to be a keeper.
For many, A Christmas Story is on its way to becoming an annual holiday classic, one to keep on the shelf with It`s a Wonderful Life, the puppet-animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Directed by Bob Clark, it`s based on the childhood memoirs of humorist Jean Shepherd (from his hilarious book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash). And it is Shepherd`s wry, deadly accurate and gently nostalgic comic sensibility that shines through in this kid`s-eye-view of an all-American Christmas in the 1940s.
For others, what comes to mind is the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. It’s the story of an old man who hates Christmas being taught the true meaning and spirit of Christmas by ghosts who show him his own past and present. He is also shown what the future holds for him if he doesn’t change his behavior. There are numerous versions of this Christmas classic including the popular A Muppet Christmas Carol.
Another popular Christmas movie classic is White Christmas, the semi-remake of Holiday Inn (the first movie in which Irving Berlin`s perennial, Oscar-winning holiday anthem was featured). It doesn`t have much of a story, but what it does have is Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, an all-Irving Berlin song score, classy direction by Hollywood vet Michael Curtiz, VistaVision (the very first feature ever shot in that widescreen format), and ultrafestive Technicolor!
A few other Christmas movie favorites are:
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause
Scrooged with Bill Murray
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Christmas Movie Shopping
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