A Small Victory

"Fra-JEE-lay!"

I love all the cliche ones. A Christmas Story, White Christmas, Miracle on 34th St., The Nutcracker... Even the Home Alone movies, and Rudolph of course (the original one), Charlie Brown too.

Although I've never actually seen It's a Wonderful Life. Really should do that one of these years!

Oh c'mon. I said this last year and I'll say it again this year: Die Hard is the greatest Christmas movie ever!

"Diwe Hard" is right!

"Yippy-ki-yay mother-fu**a."

Call me an old softie, but I've always been partial to "The Homecoming", the TV movie that spawned "The Waltons".

Also, it's not Christmas without the Alistair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol"

Does anybody else remember the Cabbage Patch Kids Christmas Special? I can quote from that one too. Like you care.

Just for the record, I'm not nominating it.

I agree Slarti, A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim is a must for me every year.

I also like the original Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov's "Where No Angels". My kinda humor I guess.

For music, I guess Transiberian Orchestra, and there is a female singer who does traditional carols (Boars Head Carol, Christmas Pipes, ect.) can't remember her name but she has violins, harps and ulian pipes in the pieces. I'm biased in favor of harps.

And a relativly new yearly tradition for me is the Christmas season reading of "Hogfather" by Terry Pratchett.

Deck the hars wef brows of ha-ree, Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra!

Gremlins was a great christmas movie. little monsters running around, getting drunk and dying in kitchen appliances, driving tractors, terrorizing small town USA. classic holiday flick.

And the movie The Ref with Kevin Spacey and Dennis Leary, where Leary is the bugular who breaks in one the most disfunctional family get-togethers this side of the Jacksons. Here's the quote from Spacey: "You know what I'm going to get you next Christmas, Mom? A big wooden(he should have said fucking, IMO) cross, so that every time you feel unappreciated for your sacrifices, you can climb on up and nail yourself to it." good flick.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation:

Clark: "Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f*cking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."

I guess I'm not really a Miracle on 34th Street kinda person. :-)

A Christmas Story always ranks high on my list. Since I've got softy tatooed on my forehead, I will admit a certain fondness for It's A Wonderful Life.

Geez, I thought that I was the only person who remembered The Homecoming. I even read the book to boot.

Bell, Book & Candle

Toys

My favorite Christmas movie is "Scrooge," the movie musical version of "A Christmas Carol", starring Albert Finney. I bought the DVD last year and I watched it four or five times at least.

Another vote for Die Hard, with honorable mention to Scrooged.

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

Another vote for Christmas Vacation here, also Scrooged with Bill Murray.

Burnt out on Christmas Story.

Two under-rated versions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL are Mr. Magoo's and the early 1980s made-for-tv version starring George C. Scott. The Magoo version is a cartoon musical but remains very faithful to both the spirit and much of the letter of the original, and the songs are very good. One of them, "Winter is Warm," gets me verklemnt every time I hear it. Scott is the best Scrooge I have ever seen, and the supporting cast is very good and well cast. You know Ebenezer Scrooge is in trouble when the Ghost of Christmas Present is The Equalizer! The production values are also first-rate, too. It also contains a very touching scene missing from most other productions (just a few lines in the Dickens story but fleshed out in the scrpt) of Scrooge's overdue reconciliation with his nephew, Fred. RUDOLPH is good, too, with a nice pro-individualist theme in the Hermie/Herbie subplot, but far, far inferior to the MAD TV version, "Martin Scorsese's 'Raging Rudolph'" and its sequel, "The Reinfather." ("I do renounce the Grinch and all his works . . .")

KISS Saves Santa!

Second or third on Die Hard as well. I do, though, really like the "traditional" Wonderful- Miracle- Scrooge stuff... but the originals, not the cheesy PC remakes.

I agree. KISS Saves Santa.

Hands down, it's THE REF.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh...ffffffuuuuuuuudge..."

Classic. I'd also nominate It's a Wonderful Life and the short known as "Raging Rudolph."

I'd have to say Scrooged with Bill Murray or Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart.

Christmas Vacation tops everything!

"Eddie, if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be anymore surprised than I am right now."

Nightmare before Christmas....combining the two best holidays ANDviolating Michele's no combining rule at the same time--while being good.

Albert Finney's Scrooge musical.

Edward Scissorhands is pretty good....even though the Christmas in it is pretty incidental....

Do claymation moives count? If so, definitely "Year Without a Santa Claus". Hands. Down.

"Yellow eyes! So help me - yellow eyes!"

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Better Off Dead yet.

"Dying when you're not really sick is really sick, you know? Really."

(BTW, "It's a Christmas miracle!" is a household expression for me and mine. Especially when Christmas is 7 or 8 months away.)

I'm afraid claymation (and woodmation and any other stop-motion animation movies) make me want to put a gun in my mouth.

How about the xmas '77 TV special a star wars christmas?
While I'm sure I saw it at the time, I don't remember it. It was reportedly quite bad, and carrie fisher was stoned off her ass.

I love so many but the top 3 have to be:

1) A Christmas Story - for all the reasons already list

2) A Christmas Vacation - the blinding of Julia Luis Dryefuss

3) Scrooged - in addition to be funny as hell, you are made of stone if you don't tear up when little Calvin says "God Bless Us...every one."

I was going to mention "The Ref" if no one else had, but I see it has. Not too many great lines, but a constant stream of good ones.

I don't think anyone mentioned "Black Christmas," one of the worst (and therefore hilarious) slasher flicks.

I haven't seen "Bad Santa" or "Elf" yet. Anyone like them?

If I remember correctly, "The Sure Thing" happens over holiday break. I rather enjoyed it for mindless fun.

"Trading Places" has a warm spot in my heart, even though I don't think it has aged well.

And which "Silent Night, Deadly Night"? There were at least 5! lol

All of our favorites have been mentioned except for this one - "The Snowman". It's an animated film based on the children's story; lovely artwork and music...my sons still demand to see it and they're 25 and 21.

And of course, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas"....the original.

Maybe I'm just a sap, but I can never get enough of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

My 2 favorites were already mentioned.

Alastair Sim's "Scrooge" (Actual title, check the title shot. Popularly known as "A Christmas Carol"). Patrick Stewart is too wooden, and the Scott production is just overdone on many points.

"Miracle on 34th St." original version.

I'm not enthusiastic about "It's a Wonderful Life" because I was overexposed to it on TV before the copyright was re-asserted. (Interestingly, I once heard an old half-hour radio version of it with Arthur Q. Bryan as Clarence. Yes, the voice of Elmer Fudd! Very strange.)

That there's an R - V
Now don't you go fallin' in love with her Clark, 'cause we'll be takin' her with us when we leave here next month.

also there's the finest line in all Christmas Movie-dom

Shitter's Full!

Honey, have we checked our shitters?

"Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"

Best. Christmas. Movie. EVER.

Would this be a good time to tell you what God's favorite Christmas movie is? I'm kidding.

White Christmas

I'll have to go with the Christmas Vacation and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special as well.

But my all time favorite Christmas movie has to be Muppet Christmas Carol. Hell, I don't even feel like apologizing about mentioning it.

It's a great movie. Family tradition to watch it every Christmas.

Yes!!!! The Muppets rock!

Personally, I think "Ernest Saves Christmas" makes "Jack Frost" look like "Jingle All The Way".

A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th St.(the orginal) are at the top of my list. Trish was the first to mention the original Grinch (you're a mean one, Mr. Grinch)..plus all the off beat ones I love, like Die Hard ("I'm not the one that just got buttf*cked on national tv, Dwayne.")

But no one has mentioned yet one of my other fave old ones (I think Wonderful Life is highly overrated..when it's on I never fail to miss it).. "The Bishop's Wife"..the original with Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young.

A Christmas Story. I watch it every year. I noticed someone mentioned Better Off Dead. I never really thought of it as a Christmas movie, but it is one of my favorites.

That's a Christmas Present.
Do you have Christmas in France?
CHRISSSSS MASSSS.CHRISSSSS MASSSS.

Oh, and of course Silent Night, Deadly Night. ;)

"I'm here to eat candy canes and kick ass, and I'm all out of candy canes!"

-- Santa, MST3K's version of Santa Claus

Tim Buton's Nightmare Before Christmas.

I just watched Silent Night, Deadly Night about a month ago. Punish....

There has only ever been one mass-media-oriented Christmas tradition in my family, and that is The Muppet Family Christmas, which somehow has been semi-forgotten but is THE BEST EVER.

Bad Santa.

Jack Frost, baby! The one with the catchphrase, "He's Chillin' and Killin'", not the cheesy Michael Keaton version.

Jack Frost 2 wasn't nearly as good as the original. Steer clear of it.