We all have our favorite Christmas movies that we watch every year and it is once again time to figure out which of our favorite Christmas classics we want to pull off the shelf yet again and pretend as if we haven’t seen them a million times before. I have gone through many different phases over the past few holiday seasons as I will love watching one Christmas movie one year and then have no interest in it the next. This year it was Bad(der) Santa (2003), which is the only way to watch that movie. Regardless, here are a few movies that I have enjoyed re-watching over the past few years that I figured I would share …
Here are five movies to watch on Christmas.
Home Alone (1990)
This was my favorite movie when I was a kid growing up and it didn’t even have anything to do with the fact that it was a Christmas movie. I just loved the idea of being a kid who would be crazy, wild and out of control without any type of parental advisory to stop me from doing whatever I wanted to do. At that point in time, I hadn’t a clue who John Hughes and it wasn’t until I finally watched the Breakfast Club (1985) that I decided to check out his other works and discovered that he write Home Alone (1990). I just went back and rewatched this movie for the first time a few years ago in I don’t know how long and I fell in love with it all over again. This is one of those movies that will always hold a special place in people’s hearts and it deserves to hailed as the greatest Christmas movie ever made.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
This movie has gotten a bad reputation over the years but I don’t care. This is one of my favorite Christmas movies and I would take this over many, many of the other classics and it has everything to do with Jim Carrey. He brought a lot of joy and laughter to me when I was a child as I was growing up during a time when he was on top of the world and there is no way that I am going to be able to forget that. So, even though I do agree that this movie butchers the source material almost to the point where it’s a completely different movie in and of itself and Jim Carrey is just playing the same zany character he was known for since Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) … but no matter who he is or what he has chosen to turn himself into in recent years, I will always have a special admiration for him.
Batman Return (1992)
Yeah, I figured I’d throw an oddball on this list … but the truth is, it’s not that far of a stretch to imagine Batman Returns (1992) as a ‘Christmas’ movie. Even though the story has nothing to do with Christmas, the fact that there is a scene with a gigantic Christmas tree and takes place around the holiday is enough for me. This is one movie that I never particularly cared for until just recently, I chose to thrown it on a few years ago and for some reason could not stop rewatching it. I almost want to call this movie ‘so bad, it’s good’ but that isn’t fair because this is a good movie and I don’t know why I didn’t see it before and Tim Burton did an excellent job with the the story and characters despite the source material at the time. The third act with the penguins is a little silly but other than that, it has a lot going for it.
Bad Santa 2 (2016)
Now, don’t get me wrong … this is not a good movie. In fact, all it does is rehash all of the same jokes from the first one and manages to butcher every single one in the process. This movie doesn’t work for many reasons: both John Ritter and Bernie Mac have passed away, Brett Kelly’s whole ‘stupid’ schtick as Thurman Merman really doesn’t work when it’s coming out of an adult’s mouth and Tony Cox wasn’t as enthusiastic. The only true saving grace this movie has is Kathy Bates who plays Willie’s estranged mother. I’m not sure what exactly compelled anybody to think that making a sequel with half of the original cast was a good idea, but everybody involved in making this movie should be ashamed of themselves. So, why should you watch this movie? Billy Bob Thornton, of course!
A Christmas Carol (2009)
This movie had to grow on me after many, many rewatches. I don’t know why, but this was one movie that I was excited for but after watching it, it ultimately left feeling underwhelmed … and I’m not really sure why. I think it had to do with the fact that it is so dark which I can’t complain too much about because the book is fairly dark, as well. That said, there is a bright side to this film and that bright side is that the people involved took a good look at the source material of Charles Dicken‘s beloved classic seriously and made an adaption that can truly be claimed as the definitive version. I’m not sure that having Jim Carrey voice all of the apparitions was the best call but he makes it work for what it is and even though this isn’t my favorite adaption of A Christmas Carol, but it’s definitely the best.
Which movies do you enjoy watching during the holidays?