Best Christmas movies 2004

Christmas is a special time of year when we all warm up to each other as the weather turns cold. We show our affection by watching television in front of a well lit tree, stuffing our faces with cookies, and giving each other extravagant gifts. I’m not sure why but Christmas seems to be a television oriented holiday. I always though of Thanksgiving as a television oriented holiday with the relatives watching football all day, but it is really Christmas that has generated the largest string of themed movies and television shows. Since this is a movie site I won’t go into such television classics as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or A Charlie Brown Christmas. Instead I will go straight to the big Christmas movie extravaganzas that warm our hearts as the years go by. In compiling this list I though it interesting that there have been a number of recent great Christmas movies but that there are a number of endearing classics from the ’40s as well.

1. A Christmas Story (1983) - I can’t imagine Christmas without a 24 hour marathon of this film on TNT (or in this year’s case TBS). I don’t know what people watched on television Christmas Day before this movie came about nor would I want to. It seems un-Christmas-like to not watch this movie at least 3 times in fragments throughout Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The adventures of Ralphie Parker and his hilarious family on the days leading up to Christmas inn the 1940’s is a wonder. Performances by Peter Billingsly and Darren McGavin are over the top but put this heartwarming film on the map. Since I already mentioned that there are a number of great Christmas movies from the 40’s it is interesting that the greatest Christmas movie of the modern era is set in the 1940’s in a typical suburban family.

2. Holiday Inn (1942) - Personally I’m not a big fan of the Christmas film White Christmas though I am sure that it tops numerous other Christmas film lists. I always felt that it was too slick and refined. That is why I prefer this earlier Bing Crosby gem that features the first use of White Christmas. Of course this being a film about an inn that is only open for major holidays it occurs over a number of years and includes songs for Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and Lincoln’s Birthday as well. But all of the major action occurs around Christmas and the films is suitably festive. Some of the numbers seem dated and have not worn well, but Bing crooning White Christmas never gets old.

3. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) - I suppose this is what everyone watched on Christmas before A Christmas Story came along. I am a big fan of Jimmy Stewart and of Frank Capra and this film is a gem. Oft repeated this is the story of George Bailey who loses faith in life at Christmas when things turn bad for his savings and loan. An angel named Clarence comes to earth and shows George how his life affected those around him and gives him the perspective he need to keep living his life. It points out that every life no matter how small has a big impact on those it touches. It is a bit overly sentimental and some of it hasn’t aged well, but the story and the acting is timeless.

4. A Christmas Carol (1951) - You can take your pick of the Scrooge related remakes of Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic but it is generally agreed that no one played Scrooge as well as Alastair Sim. If you don’t like the old man in a bathrobe character try the updated Scrooged starring Bill Murray as a miserly television executive.

5. The Santa Claus (1994) - Tim Taylor as Santa? This film starts with the concept that if you kill Santa on his yearly route and take up his suit that you become the new Santa. Though I thought this morbid, kids seem to gloss over that for the amazing visuals of the North Pole. Tim Allen made the jump from television to movies based mainly on this portrayal of Scott Calvin, Santa Claus-in-training. Scott is a man who is too tied up in his business to take time with his family who eventually grows into the job of taking an interest in everyone’s families.

6. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) - The Griswold family events are well documented even if the series is somewhat uneven. It reached its pinnacle with this Christmas disaster film, starring Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, when the family, including cousin Eddie get together at the Griswold homestead to celebrate Christmas. The mayhem includes a septic system explosion, an inhabited Christmas tree, electrocution, and of course a kidnapping. If only all of our holiday’s went so well.

7. Elf (2003) - There have been a glut of so-so Christmas movies of late but Elf is truly a fun fest for the family. About an orphaned baby who climbed into Santa’s sack one Christmas and was raised by elves. Will Farrell is endearing as the man-child, or would it be man-elf, who goes to New York to meet his real father. He of course turns the city on its ear with his bizarre elf ways not the least of which involves putting syrup on everything. Think Crocodile Dundee with a Christmas theme.

Runners Up:
Nightmare before Christmas - love it but I see it more as a Halloween movie
White Christmas - the story of old army buddies and a snowless inn, shiny and full of songs, see above
Christmas in Connecticut - fun story about a city girl columnist pretending to be a Connecticut homemaker entertaining a soldier for the holidays
Miracle on 34th Street - courtroom drama about a man claiming to be Santa is charming but at times slow