Kevin's top 12 movies of Christmas
Lately I’ve been making my top 10 movie lists within specific genres on my own Facial Novel feed. They’ve been well received and for that reason, I’ve decided to kick off my new blog with my personal 12 movies of Christmas. It’s kind of a special event so in the spirit of giving I’m not only giving you 2 extra movies, but in the age of DLC, you get this extra list for the original sales price of free!
For those that are new to my top 10 lists, these are solely based on my personal enjoyment alone. They are in no way heavily critiqued or based on any outside criteria. You’re entitled to disagree and can argue against it all you’d like, (you may even persuade me to your line of thinking) but these are my favorites at the time of conception. Without further adieu, here’s my top 12 Christmas movies.
12. A Christmas Carol – Seems like a no brainer however my personal favorite rendition was the Jim Carrey version directed by Robert Zemeckis. It gets a lot of flak, but I enjoyed it. It’s beautifully animated which brings something fresh to the Dickens classic. Jim Carrey is exceptional, no easy feat when starring in a movie alongside Gary Oldman and Colin Firth. In the end, A Christmas Carol gives me the warm fuzzy.
11. White Christmas – You should know up front that I am a huge Danny Kaye fan! Also, I remember post-puberty family Christmas get-togethers at my grandparent’s house where I delighted in fooling family members by singing White Christmas in my best Bing Crosby voice. Often times someone would think it was the radio until they would realize that it was coming from me. I usually stopped after getting hit for tricking them. Ah, family. Anyway, this is a film I’ve long wanted to re-write for modern audiences as I feel it would be fun to do. The themes are rooted in family, either by birth or by ones choosing.
10. Rise of the Guardians – More of a holiday movie in general, but I love it. Having a young daughter, my holiday viewing often times is relegated to family and kids movies, but this is one that I quite enjoyed. Maybe even more than my kid! The cast is phenomenal and Chris Pine absolutely blows me away with his voice work. I like Piney, but not always. This is among my favorite roles for him, perhaps even my top Piney role… but that’s another list. At the end of the day, Rise of the Guardians is a beautiful animated film and it’s highly enjoyable. And the best part is the tatted up Santa Clause voiced by Alec Baldwin!
9. Scrooged – There’s a very small minority in the world that doesn’t love Bill Murray. Those people are wrong. Scrooged is a “modern” day telling of the Dickens classic and a direct line to my funny bone. Alfre Woodard is her usual fantastic self and even Bobcat Goldthwait is overly enjoyable as he trounces through the studio with a shotgun. You know, in retrospect and thinking about today’s societal problems, perhaps that’s not the greatest selling point… but still, I do love the movie. And here’s a bonus fun fact: Jamie Farr, the guy who was most famous for playing Corporal Klinger on the hit TV show M*A*S*H was Jacob Marley! The only thing bad about the movie is the fourth wall break at the end as Bill Murray addresses the theater audience. I have never had the opportunity to see it in a theater and so it leaves me longing the full Scrooged experience.
8. Lethal Weapon – Who didn’t love Mel Gibson before he went off the rails? And he had a mullet to boot!? Gibson was teamed up with Danny Glover and both were fantastic. Yeah, there were more in the series, which made the “I’m too old for this shit” line a bit of a joke. In the context of the first one it carried so much more weight, not to mention the title makes so much more sense in Gibson’s Riggs character. Oh, and I didn’t mention the whack-a-doodle Gary Busey being whack-a-doodle Gary Busy! Not quite his level of crazy that we know and love him for today, but a different level of crazy that you may not be accustomed to. The holiday season is just not so without Lethal Weapon.
7. Home Alone – Ah, Riggs in Lethal Weapon is the psychopath on the list and Kevin McCallister is the sociopath. Home Alone is one of the first movies I remember seeing in the theater and it was amazing to 9-year-old me. And the main character shared my name! Suffice to say, my poor parents had to deal with the hell spawn I became after watching the exploits of this mischievous character! Sadly, I haven’t seen this movie since I owned it last, which was on VHS, but I still vividly remember so much of it. And back in 1990, this was considered family friendly! It was a simpler time…
6. Elf – I don’t know what it is about this movie but damn. When stationed at my first duty station in South Dakota after joining the Air Force, my piss mate (person I shared a bathroom with in the base dormitories) and I started our own Christmas tradition of watching Elf every Christmas Eve. It was his idea as I hadn’t seen it that first holiday we shared, but I’ve watched it every December since, going on 11 years! Will Ferrell delights (I’m hit or miss on him to be honest) and I’m in love with Mary Steenburgen. Ed Asner is a fantastic Santa Claus and Bob Newhart is Bob freaking Newhart to the umpteenth degree! And at the risk of completely embarrassing myself, I cry almost every time I watch it. (Don’t tell anyone!)
5. Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas – I’m talking about the original animated one here people, so don’t jump on me about Jim Carrey! Nothing against that version, but the animated movie is a widely accepted Christmas classic for a reason. Plus, the Who’s down in Whoville don’t look absolutely terrifying!
4. Love Actually – If I don’t get an abundance of flak for the emotional reactions to Elf, I know I will here. And really, I don’t care what you have to say as this is my list and though it’s one of my wife’s favorite movies and I’ve seen it dozens of times, it’s still fantastic and deserves its place on my list. I tend to like ensemble films when they’re well executed and this on was. Not to mention the cast is so fantastic all around! From Bill Nighy opening the movie, Liam Neeson’s heartbreaking loss and Emma Thompson’s love of Janis Joplin… lord (Trying not to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it so no mention of what’s going on behind the Joplin comment). The cast is so deep and every single story line brings some level of interest. Martin Freeman, Colin Firth, Kris Marshall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Rowan Atkinson, Billy Bob Thornton, and even Claudia Schiffer! The cast alone speaks volumes. Oh, and I usually can’t stand Hugh Grant, but he is (sort of) the lead of it all. Well, aside from Thomas Brodie-Sangster who plays Sam. Sam is everyone’s favorite and is an amazing drummer in the name of love. Oh, and another fun fact: Rodrigo Santoro, the guy who plays the guy that Laura Linney’s character is infatuated with, Karl. Yeah, that dude played Xerxes in 300. Maybe that’s not that fun of a fact, but it blows my mind every time I think about it…
3. The Muppet Christmas Carol – C’mon! You know this gem is going to be at the top! In my mind, this is the quintessential telling of the Dickens classic. And Michael Caine’s Scrooge can rival almost anyone’s out there! Perhaps it’s sentiment as I’ve not seen it in years, but I don’t see how as it tops many a movie fan’s list as well. Who doesn’t love the Muppets!? I wish they’d go back to telling the classics like in this and Muppet Treasure Island.
2. Die Hard – Boys and girls, here it is! It may surprise you folks that know me that Die Hard is so low on the list! (Yeah, fought with myself for quite a while over this one). Die Hard could very well be my quintessential Christmas movie. In fact, I’ve watched it twice this week already! Another fantastic cast and after all of the family and kids movies I watch now, it’s nice to throw on some unadulterated violence. The beauty of Die Hard though, is found in the bromance of Bruce Willis’ John McClane and Reginald VelJohnson’s Al Powell (I’ll forever see VelJohnson in a police uniform however, as I grew up knowing him as Carl Winslow). Oh, fun fact time: This was Alan Rickman’s first movie! (Not counting TV movies you naysayers). There’s a couple of things that I’d like to mention here. One, Die Hard is one of the top heist movies of all time and the vault that Gruber’s team was breaking into is more elaborate than any seen on film before or since (complete generalization but I can’t honestly think of one more difficult, even Tom Cruise in M:I and the Ocean’s 11 crew had easier vaults in comparison). The next thing is Al Powell, the hero of the film. If you look at the “Heroes Journey”, it’s Powell that goes on said journey. He goes through the biggest change and has a helluva character arc by film’s end. We all love McClane, but just as he’s about to make his life altering change, he has an epiphany and abandons the path. I’m not saying Powell is greater than McClane, but at least Powell is one of the few that could hang, and even Sam Jackson struggled with that in Die Hard with a Vengeance!
1. It’s a Wonderful Life – It’s tradition in my family to watch It’s a Wonderful Life every year. I’m a big Frank Capra fan and I adore Jimmy Stewart. This movie was Stewart’s first foray back into the world of filmmaking after WWII and was the only film that the newly formed “Liberty Films” made. It wasn’t a great success until years later but I’m glad it found its way. Stewart is amazing and it’s hard not to feel raw emotion when watching. Especially with Harry Bailey’s toast “to the richest man in Bedford Falls!” It gets me every time. I could speak on this film for a good long while but I think it’s best if we let it stand on its own. If you haven’t seen any movie on this list, It’s a Wonderful Life would be the one I’d most highly recommend.
We’ve reached the end of the list. I thank you if you’ve stuck with me this far and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of Holidays. If you’re trying to figure out the dates to watch for a 12 days of Christmas nightly movie marathon, I’d recommend the 12th as you’d finish on the 23rd and not run the risk of having your movie time interrupted by obligations of hosting/visiting on Christmas Eve. But that’s how my family does it, I don’t know the intricacies of yours so adjust accordingly. Or you could be traditional and start watching Christmas movies on Christmas day and continue through the New Year, but as a majority of Christmas movies take place on Christmas Eve, I find that counter-intuitive. My opinion, take it or leave it.
Some honorable mentions include but are not limited to: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Gremlins, Batman Returns, Miracle on 34th Street, Trading Places and Santa Claus: The Movie.
