Ho Ho Ho, 10 of My Best Christmas Films to Get Us in The Holiday Spirit

 

1. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

A movie which is nothing short of iconic, and one which would take something seriously special to shift it from the top spot. James Stewart stars as a suicidal man about to jump to his death, before a mysterious guardian angel takes him on a journey which shows him that his existence has been far from futile all along. The very definition of a ‘feel good’ film, It’s A Wonderful Life is a solid gold holiday classic.

2. The Family Man (2000)

This is the touching story of a rich man who gets a glimpse of what his life would have been like if he had married the love of his life, a woman he dated back in college. Starring Nicolas Cage and the marvelous Tea Leoni.

3. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

Anothers ‘80s cracker, and the second John Hughes scripts on this list, this one sees family man Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) try his damndest to provide the perfect family Christmas and continually fall foul of his own expectations, his nasty neighbours, his parsimonious boss and his rowdy relations (top honours, of course, to Randy Quaid’s none-more-redneck cousin). The plot is essentially a demonstration of Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. The moral of the story, we believe, is that one should always kidnap the boss if your bonus isn’t up to scratch, and that squirrels and Christmas trees are a bad combination.

4. Diva’s Christmas Carol (2000)

A modern-day remake of the classic “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, “A Diva’s Christmas Carol” centers on ego-driven diva superstar singer Ebony (Vanessa Williams), who decides at the end of a long European tour that she wants to headline a Christmas Day charity show in New York City. While her overworked manager Bob Cratchett (Brian McNamara) and touring crew balk at the added inconvenience of being away from their own long-suffering families for the holiday, Ebony rules regardless, telling Bob that “Christmas is a marketing machine we can’t ignore.”

At her luxury hotel suite in New York City on Christmas Eve, Ebony rejects an invitation from her niece Olivia to spend some time with her family, then settles in for the night. A loud rap on the door signals not room service, however, but a frightening appearance by the ghost of Marli Jacob (Chilli), Ebony’s late former singing partner, who warns the diva that her loss of holiday spirit will ultimately mean the loss of her soul. According to Marli, Ebony has but one chance to turn her life around, and that chance will come tonight when she’s visited by three spirits, led by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Kathy Griffin) and the Ghost of Christmas Present (John Taylor).

5. You’ve Got Mail (1998)

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryanstar in this great movie about two loverse-Mailing each other without ever realizing that they actually know the other person. Now, that might be great if in fact they had same feelings about the real persons as they do for their online personalities.

Joe “NY152” Foxand Kathleen “Shopgirl” Kellyfight regarding her “Shop around the corner” bookstore as Joe and Kathleen while having a successful online relationship as “NY152” and “Shopgirl.”

While this may not be original plot, the movie remains great and there are some Christmas scenes in it. In the era of Facebook and online dating, this movie perfectly depicts the fact that online and real-life personalities can and do differ but not always for the worse.

6. Home Alone 2 (1992)

A sequel that doesn’t shame the original, so something of a rarity right off the bat, Home Alone 2 inevitably tries to up the stakes of the previous film by stranding our hero away from home rather than in his house. While that does make a lie of the title, it gives him a bigger canvas to play on and, in a major New York department store, a lot more tricks and weapons to turn against would-be thieves Pesci and Stern. What have the burglars done to Kevin that he was forced to mess up big time with them?

7. Four Christmases (2008)

Brad and Kate have plans for Fiji for Christmas vacation, but things go awry and the couple is stuck visiting their divorced parents—four families in total. Between dealing with dysfunctional family members and discovering revelations from the past, Brad and Kate doubt whether they really know each other and if they really know what they want anymore after three years of being together.

8. Coming to America (1988)

Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy), the prince and heir to the throne of the fictitious African country of great wealth called Zamunda, is discontented with being pampered all his life. The final straw comes when his parents, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones) and Queen Aeoleon (Madge Sinclair), present him with a bride-to-be, Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell), whom he has never met, and who is trained to obey his every command. Akeem concocts a plan to travel to the United States to find a wife he can both love and respect and who accepts him for himself, not his status. He and his friend and personal aide, Semmi (Arsenio Hall) arrive in Queens, New York City, because according to Akeem “What better place to find a queen than the city of Queens?”

9. Christmas In Canaan (2009)

In the rising heat of the Civil Rights Movement, Daniel Burton (Billy Ray Cyrus), a widowed farmer struggling to make ends meet, forces his young son, DJ (Zak Ludwig), who has begun to show racist tendencies, to spend time with his black classmate, Rodney (Jaishon Fisher), leading to an unexpected friendship. As the years pass and racial tensions in their town build, an unforgettable Christmas will teach the boys the importance of hope and the true meaning of family.

10. Perfect Strangers: A Christmas Story (1986)

In this particular sitcom, all ‚cousin‘ Larry wants is to get back to Madison so he can be ‘the Christmas Boy’ with his family, but a snowstorm leaves him and Balki stranded.

 

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