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Best for me... The Polar Express

Worst for me... Christmas with the Kranks (makes me cringe at so many points... *shudder* )



What are the best and worst Christmas movies for you?

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever sat down and watched a Christmas movie... unless you count those old Rankin-Bass TV specials. In which case I'd say that Frosty the Snowman is my favorite, while either Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey or The First White Christmas are the worst. (They're not bad per se, just kind of dull compared to the others.)

Edit: How could I forget A Charlie Brown Christmas? Now there's a classic.

'White Christmas' and 'It's a Wonderful Life' are favourites.

If we're just talking movies that take place at Christmas, without being remotely Christmassy, 'The Lion in Winter' is pretty hard to beat.

I'm about good and sick of 'A Christmas Story'. I like it when Randy holes up in the cupboard, crying because he's convinced tne Old Man is literally going to murder stupid Ralphie. Also I like when Randy gets his dumb toy zeppelin and goes bananas with it. Rest of the movie stinks on ice.

gremlins is good

I like 'Small One'. Also many of the variegated 'Christmas Carols' (Mickey's, Mr. Magoo's, the Muppets', the Alistair Sims one, the George C. Scott one, and 'Scrooged'. Good old 'Scrooged').

...man. It's been ages since I've watched 'Mickey's Christmas Carol'. That thing is replete with Disney characters that many kids today simply wouldn't recognise. Jiminy Cricket, Willy the Giant, Pete the Cat, Rat, Mole, Mr. Toad and all. Likely Scrooge McDuck himself, as well, had Disney not just rebooted 'DuckTales'.

Good Christmas and Christmas-Adjacent Movies:
SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 2
It's a Wonderful Life
Muppets Christmas Carol
Gremlins
Die Hard
Elf
Charlie Brown Christmas
It's a Wonderful Life
Home Alone and to a lesser extent Home Alone 2
It's a Wonderful Life
The Nightmare Before Christmas

Bad Christmas Movies:
Christmas With the Kranks
Fred Claus
Jim Carrey Grinch
Home Alone sequels
The Santa Clause sequels
White Christmas
Jack Frost

Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story are both fine but I never need to see either of them again.

My pal Shane and I had an opportunity to see 'Christmas Vacation' on the big screen whilst hanging out two weeks back. The multiplex was just randomly showing it. We walked in, it was like a half-hour til showtime, so we thought, 'why not?'

...and then we thought 'why?'. 'Christmas Vacation' isn't good enough to pay money to see in-theatre. There are a few movies I've never seen in-theatre that I would love to ('Fifth Element' and 'Tombstone' top the list)----------most other things can piss off.

We went back to my place and played 'Rayman Legends' instead. Lots of high-fiving and congratulating each other. Friendship-strengthening biz, man. If we'd watched the movie, presumably it would have been a crummier time.

The good:
Muppet Christmas Carol
Elf
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The Grinch
Santa Clause
A Wish for Wings that Work
It's a Wonderful Life
Die Hard
Iron Man 3
Nightmare Before Christmas
The Christmas Chronicles
Charlie Brown Christmas
Holiday Inn

The mediocre:
Santa Clause 2
Polar Express
Scrooged
Micky's Christmas Carol
Christmas Prince
Home Alone 1 & 2
Love Actually
A Christmas Story
Miracle on 34th Street
All the Rankin-Bass shorts

The bad:
Santa Clause 3
Die Hard 2
White Christmas
Fred Claus
The Princess Switch
Home Alone 3
The Holiday
Jingle All the Way
Most Hallmark movies

The ugly:
Christmas Vacation (I still cannot get past that awful opening song)
Olive the Other Reindeer (the art/animation is painful, Drew Barrymore's voice acting is bland, & everything to do with the main plot & protagonist is stupid & awful. that said, somehow everything ELSE--the other characters' voices, the other characters' dialogue, the other characters' subplots--is fun)

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

^Oh, you get the heck out of here. 'White Christmas', bad? Worse than 'Jingle All the Way'? Come off it.

I like White Christmas a lot, but the "White Christmas is bad" camp is strongly represented on this here forum alone.

i love the first two Home Alones. and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, in addition to being one of the best anime movies ever, also takes place partially during Christmas.

on the flipside, I never ever ever want to see A Christmas Story again. also i saw Christmas Vacation once and was pretty unimpressed

The best ever Christmas movie is 2046. Depressing, pretentious, overlong... just how I like my Christmas movies. Nothing says "Happy Holidays" quite like a lonely Tony Leung combing his hair to Nat King Cole singing "The Christmas Song."

A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya are also acceptable answers.

... I now realize that I need to make a video dubbing dialogue and music from A Charlie Brown Christmas over scenes from 2046.

Booyakasha wrote: ↑

Sun Dec 23, 2018 1:10 pm

^Oh, you get the heck out of here. 'White Christmas', bad? Worse than 'Jingle All the Way'? Come off it.

Actually, you're right; I should've put Jingle All The Way on the bad list too.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

Man. I just realised 'Cobra' is another non-Christmas movie that takes place at Christmas.

...'Cobra' isn't good, but I really like it. It's kind of the movie equivalent of watching a kid play with his action figures after he's seen 'Lethal Weapon'. Kind of reminds me of Godzilla movies, or them old chop-socky flicks. They're all charming in their stupidity.

the biggest problem with Jingle All The Way is that the whole movie falls just short of being campy. like the climax of the movie is good because its just completely absurd by that point but everything else just feels like lame jokes played straight.

HarkZero wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 25, 2018 7:24 am

the biggest problem with Jingle All The Way is that the whole movie falls just short of being campy. like the climax of the movie is good because its just completely absurd by that point but everything else just feels like lame jokes played straight.

Yeah, if Jingle All The Way understood what it was, it could be fun. But as it stands it just kinda hurts to watch

...not gonna lie--------I kind of miss Sinbad. He was funny, and likeable.

He had a recurring role on SU a couple years back----------glad he's still getting work.

Watched White Christmas again last night and I still really enjoy that movie

The values are outdated and it’s the whitest movie I’ve ever seen in my life, but the music and dancing are a lot of fun

the dancing really does carry that movie, some of the sequences are dazzling

I. . .am so sorry HotD but I can't stand The Polar Express. It's not just because I find the CGI to fall into the "uncanny valley" category of movies, but I honestly find it immensely boring. I first watched it in college around Christmastime my sophomore year. A friend said it was her favorite Christmas movie and halfway through it I found it difficult to keep my eyes open.

Favorite Christmas Movies:
Batman Returns
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Die Hard
Elf
A Charlie Brown Christmas

Also - has anyone ever watched the 1959 Santa Claus movie? It was produced in Mexico and is sometimes referred to as "The Mexican Santa Clause movie" or "Santa Claus vs the Devil" - because it literally is about Santa Claus versus Satan. Also, Merlin the Wizard is involved. For some reason. It's awful but also one of my favorites in the sense that it's so bizarre that it's one of those movies to watch drunk with friends who love watching bad, obscure movies.

I never grew up watching Home Alone or It's a Wonderful Life, surprisingly enough. I only recently (like within the past 2 years) watched them for the first time. Home Alone is a good, classic John Hughes flick. Albeit, it's obviously very contrived at certain points in order to force its plot to move along. It's funny to think that a plot like that is pretty much impossible to do in today's world with today's technology.

I wasn't that amazed by It's a Wonderful Life. It's a classic storyline but when I watched it for the first time my reaction was like, "Oh, this is it?" It's too long. And a bulk of it doesn't have much conflict until the later half.

I never watched The Nightmare Before Christmas during Christmastime. I always watched it during Halloween.