My Top Ten (Plus One) Christmas Movies

Whelp, I did my Top Ten Christmas Songs here, so I figured I might as well jump into my favorite Christmas films. A few notes: No, I haven’t seen It’s a Wonderful Life. Yes, I hate myself. And yes, I’m correcting that egregious error by watching it TONIGHT. Yes, Die Hard counts as a Christmas movie. No, I have no shame or embarrassment from having Jingle All the Way or Jack Frost on this list. I grew up with these films and I love them. Unlike the Christmas song list, this one is in particular order from top to bottom. I’ll give a blurb to my picks, too.

1. Die Hard (1988)

What says Merry Christmas like, “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” Not only is this the greatest action movie of all time, but it’s also the best Christmas movie of all time, as far as I (and I’m sure plenty of others) are concerned. It’s bad-ass. It’s broken feet on glass. It’s…I’m out of rhymes.

2. Home Alone (1990):

I hadn’t realized that this movie wasn’t all that critically well-received, even though it made buckets of money, but to me, it’s the best non-Bruce Willis Christmas movie. Child actors tend to fall on either being really great, beyond their years or they’re awful. There’s no in-between. Luckily, Macaulay Culkin was born to play the role with the charming, sentimental direction of Christopher Columbus, this makes for a favorite of mine.

3. The Santa Claus (1994)

So charming, so Tim Allen-y. It’s magical; it’s the quintessential Christmas movie to my tastes.

4. Elf (2003)

Come on, it’s basically my generation’s Christmas movie. Believe it or not, I’m not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but he’s spotless perfection here. He plays the role opposite James Caan, also playing his Grinch character well. It’s funny, charming and cute.

5. Jingle All the Way (1997)

I’m a sucker for an Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle that’s beyond his usual action movie wheelhouse and this is the perfect combination of Home Alone-like silliness and fun.

6. A Christmas Story (1983)

Honestly, this should probably be in my top three, but I’m so worn out by it. I’ve seen it countless times and yes, it’s still funny and still has its moments, but goodness.

7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

It’s basically The Ugly Duckling story, so I’ve always related and gravitated toward it. Plus, look at that animation! It’s so cute and such a throwback.

8. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Just as much awesomely fun hi-jinks as the first one.

9. Jack Frost (1998)

Aside from probably Batman, this is my favorite Keaton film. I don’t care how ridiculous it is; it’s magic and fun. “My balls are freezing!” always cracked me up as a kid and still does…

10. Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Kinda shows you the time period because no way Frosty would have a pipe in his mouth in a 2014 version, haha. Anyhow, fun animation and a cute story.

11. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version) (1967)

Probably should have this one a lot higher and on another day, I probably would. The animation compared to the others featured on this list from the 1960s is a real standout with its vibrancy. Great voice acting, too.

Interesting, aside from a few, most of these flicks are from the 1960s or the 1990s. Hmmm. Hope you enjoyed it!