My Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies
10. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Yes, I’m aware that this film was released in July, however, this film takes place during Christmas season so there for it is a Christmas movie. 1999 had a huge number of phenomenal great films and Eyes Wide Shut is definitely in my top 10. Tom Cruise plays Dr. Bill Harford and is emotionally struggling to cheat on his wife Alice (played by Nicole Kidman) after she confesses that she has thoughts of sleeping with another man. Because of this Bill discovers and underground sex cult but realizes that he may be a little in over his head. Word of advice: don’t watch this with your parents.
9. Christmas With The Kranks (2004)
This movie is extremely underrated. This is a very slept on Christmas film that doesn’t get enough love. When Luther and Nora Krank decide to go on a cruise for Christmas instead of celebrating at home, their neighbors and everyone they know feel betrayed because of this. The upbeat positivity of their neighbors is not only annoying because the Kranks get constantly gaslighted and harassed for not wanting to celebrate the holiday but their neighbors are very nosy and disrespectful as well. To make matters worse Luther and Nora are forced to rearrange their plans when their daughter changes her Christmas plans to spend time with them.
8. Home Alone (1990)
As much as I love me some Home Alone I feel like it’d be a bit too obvious if it was higher up on the list. For a kid Kevin really knows how to take care of himself. Honestly, ‘til this day I'm still wondering two things: how did his parents not notice Kevin was gone and why didn't he just call the cops? This has became a cult classic and I never get tired of this film either.
7. Black Christmas (2006)
Black Christmas is a remake of the original titled film about sorority sisters being stalked by a mysterious killer on Christmas. The original film is good but I think the remake ups the violence, the acting is better and the backstory added to the killer was a lot more terrifying. The pacing is also handled a lot better in this film. If you're not good with intense violent scenes and you're extremely squirmish then I suggest don't watch this film and just stick to the original.
6. Black Friday (2021)
Trust and believe me when I say this: I will watch ANYTHING with Bruce Campbell in it. On Black Friday a group of disgruntled toy store employees fight against a horde of parasite infected shoppers. This film is a close to an hour-an-half and they absolutely made the best of it because it is hilarious. Bruce Campbell is great at playing the asshole manager that only cares about making money for the holidays over the safety of his employees. Not only did I hate his character but I also hated the employees that were sucking up to him.
5. Krampus (2015)
There are rarely any PG-13 horror movies that hit the mark but when it's done right then it's great and Krampus was great. I think that this would've benefited more if it was a Rated-R film, but the premise just screams, “family friendly" to me. Have you ever wondered what would happen if people stopped believing in the spirit of Christmas? Well, you certainly have your answer with Krampus because we get demonic elves, psychotic ginger bread men, an evil Santa and much more.
After Max gives up in the spirit of Christmas, him and his family is haunted to Krampus because he stopped believing in the magic of Christmas. With this you get the best of two worlds: horror fans and Christmas lovers.
4. Something From Tiffany's (2022)
I’m going to say this a million times over: Zoey Deutch is the romcom princess. Ethan who is a single father travels to New York during Christmas week so he can propose to his girlfriend. However, Ethan accidentally ends up switching gifts with Rachel's (played by Zoey Deutch) boyfriend Gary (played by Ray Nicholson) after he is hit by a taxi. Ethan is such a nice guy that when he finds out that Rachel is wearing his girlfriend's ring that he is going to propose to her with he doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to crush her dreams.
It was very interesting seeing how all of this was going to turn out because everyone was too afraid to speak up. Ethan didn't want to break Rachel's heart by telling her that the ring doesn't belong to her, Rachel didn't want to break Gary's heart because she didn’t want to get married to him, Gary didn't want to break Rachel's heart by telling her she that he didn't buy the ring and Ethan didn’t want to break Vanessa's heart by making her feel unwanted. Hell, if everyone would've spoken up then no one would have had this problem.
3. Klaus (2019)
Typically, Netflix takes a lot of ‘L's’ in terms of their original films. But Klaus from beginning to end is a magnificent story about the origin of Santa Claus and how he came to be. The animation is beautiful and it's hard to look away because of it. Jesper is sent to Smeerensburg by his father after flunking out of the Postal Academy. Jesper is a lazy, irresponsible young man so being sent to Smeerensburg by his father to stamp 1,000 letters can teach him some sense of responsibility.
Everything about the creation of this ‘Santa Clause’ figure depicted in this film was all just a happy accident. Jesper being Jesper just wanted to go back to his lavish life where everyone waits on him hand and foot but giving kids something to smile about, befriending Klaus and Alva gives him a feeling a self-worth.
2. The Holdovers (2023)
When was the last time we got a great Christmas film like The Holdovers? I can't even remember how I found out about this film but I loved it right away. It was hilarious, sad and phenomenal performances all around especially from newcomer Dominic Sessa. In just the couple of weeks that Paul and Angus spent together they both gain something from each other: Paul learns to be more confident in himself and to stand up for himself more. And Angus learns that despite his behavior he has a lot of potential. Even though their relationship starts off rocky I really enjoyed watching Paul and Angus find the human side of each other despite being totally different from one another.
1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Saved the best for last. It's a Wonderful Life is not only one of the best Christmas movies, but it's one of the greatest movies ever. Yes, this film might have tanked financially but received critical acclaim and is widely praised in the film community. James Stewart plays George Bailey, a man with big dreams who has to put all of those dreams aside to help out the people of his town of Bedford Falls. But when James loses $8,000 and is wrecken with sadness and thoughts of suicide a guardian angel named Clarence Odbody is sent to show James the lives he helped and what his life would be like if he was never born.
What makes this movie so great in my opinion is that it taught me two valuable lessons: 1. Appreciate everything in your life while you have it because it can all be gone in a second. And the second, thing I learned is that sometimes you have to out your selfishness aside to help others. In this case there were several times throughout the film where James could've skipped town, went to college and pursued his career but he didn't because I think deep down James knew that Bedford Falls was his home and everyone needed him just as much as he needed them
