Klaus (2019)

Every year, a new Christmas animated film sees the light of the day. And every year, although the story is different, the substance doesn’t really change and hence it feels like opening the same present only with a different wrapping paper. Netflix’s first original animated feature, Klaus, shies away from it as it is as refreshing and unique as it is heartwarming and emotional — arguably 2019’s best animated film. 

Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

I tried to watch this version of Miracle on 34th Street when I was a kid but it was so boring I stopped watching after 10 minutes. I did enjoy the 1947 version though so this year I decided to give this one another chance.

The film takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and follows the story of the original film in which a department store executive, Dorey Walker (Elizabeth Perkins) and her young daughter, Susan (Mara Wilson), do not believe in Christmas and Santa Claus. When the Santa (Jack McGee) she hired turns out to be a drunk, Dorey hires Kriss Kringle (Richard Attenborough), an old man who claims to be the real Santa. Kriss quickly becomes popular and a new source of incomings for the department store, so a rival store tries to put them out of business by having Kriss arrested and declared insane. It's up to Dorey's neighbour, lawyer Bryan Bedford (Dylan McDermott), to save Santa.

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

The first time I watched While You Were Sleeping, I did for Sandra Bullock. The second time and all the others that followed, I did because I fell in love with the movie. It's been a while since I last saw it so I figured it was about time to rewatch it. 

The film follows Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a lonely Chicago Transit Authority token collector who has fallen in love with a commuter named Peter (Peter Gallagher) who passes her by every day. On Christmas day, the man is mugged and falls onto the rails, Lucy saves him but he goes into a coma. At the hospital, Lucy is mistaken for Peter's fiancée. Embraced by Peter's warm and welcoming family, Lucy goes along with the lie. But Peter's brother, Jack (Bill Pullman), is very suspicious as Lucy is not Peter's type at all.

The Star (2017)

As I've said a couple of times in the past, there isn't a lot to choose from when it comes to animated Christmas/holiday movies. The limited choice isn't the only reason I watched The Star though as the film has a stellar cast and I was intrigued in seeing how they would present the nativity story to kids. 

As I just said, the film is yet another retelling of the first Christmas, but it's different than your typical story as it follows Bo (voiced by Steven Yeun), a small but brave donkey who finds the courage to break free and go on the adventure of his dreams. When Mary (voiced by Gina Rodriguez) gets pregnant with God's baby, word spreads out, and the king's henchman hunts them down, Bo, with the help of a sheep (voiced by Aidy Bryant) and a dove (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), tries to save them.

Four Christmases (2008)

When I picked the Christmas movies I'd watch this year, I left the 22nd out as I was supposed to watch Aquaman on the 21st. Turns out they moved the release date to January 1 because of the new Mary Poppins movie —I hope it flops with all of my heart— and I found myself short of a movie. Four Christmases is the first I stumbled upon, I saw it had Reese Witherspoon —believe it or not, I like her— and I went with it. 

The film follows Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon), a couple who met in a bar around Christmas who has managed to avoid spending Christmas with their families for the past three years by going on heavenly vacations. This year, their plan fails as all the flights have been cancelled and a television news crew interviews them revealing to their families where they are. Having no way out, they are forced to spend time with their families, which means four Christmases the same day since both Brad and Kate parents are divorced.

Office Christmas Party (2016)

I have a soft spot for Jason Bateman so I don't care about how bad a movie sounds or how low it's rated, I'm gonna watch it anyway. I did pass Office Christmas Party though and kept putting it off for the past two years because I'm not much of a Christmas person and I had read some negative reviews and I was not in the mood for another crappy Christmas comedy. 

In this one, Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller), the Chicago branch manager of IT sales company Zenotek, his Chief Technical of Technical Advancement, Josh Parker (Jason Bateman), and Tracey Hughes (Olivia Munn), his Chief of R&D, throw a big office Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client (Courtney B. Vance) so that they can save the branch and all of their employers and co-workers' jobs. 

A Christmas Tale (2008)

I wanted to see A Christmas Tale (French: Un conte de Noël) last year around Christmas time but I searched the movie for weeks and I couldn't find it anywhere so I gave up on the idea of watching it. This year, I basically stumbled upon it and I watched it. 

Set around Christmas time, the film follows the Vuillard family —Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon), their daughter Elizabeth (Anne Consigny) and their sons Henri (Mathieu Amalric) and Ivan (Melvil Poupaud)— as they gather for the holidays when Junon discovers that she suffers from leukaemia, just like her first son who died at the age of 6, and needs a bone marrow transplant. The only compatible donors are Elizabeth's son, Paul (Emile Berling), and Henri, the black sheep of the family who returns after a 6-year-long banishment from the family.

A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014)

It's been so long since I added A Merry Friggin' Christmas on my watchlist that I forgot why it was there. So it's knowing nothing about it that I finally decided to watch it (it turned out it was because of Robin Williams). 

The film follows Boyd Mitchler (Joel McHale), a father who does all he can to give his kids a perfect Christmas because his childhood was ruined by his drunken father, Mitch (Robin Williams), who ruined Santa Claus and Christmas, and pretty much everything for him. When his younger brother, Nelson (Clark Duke), asks him to come his son's baptism which will be held on Christmas Eve in their hometown, Boyd is forced to spend Christmas with his family and estranged father. It gets even worse when he realises that he forgot his son's Christmas presents, decides to make an eight-hour round trip to get them and his father tags along to help.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

It was around this time last year when I complained about the fact that there are not enough animated Christmas movies out there and Dell from Dell on Movies suggested How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Being a bit of a Grinch myself, and annoyed by Jim Carrey's version, I decided to give it a shot. 

As you know, unless you've been living under a rock for your entire life, this short animated film tells the story of the Grinch (voiced by Boris Karloff), a grumpy and hateful creature who hates Christmas and all the people having a happy time celebrating it. For this reason, he disguises himself as Santa and his dog as one of Santa's reindeers and raids the village to steal all the Christmas things so that everyone will have a very sad Christmas this year.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

I was looking for must-watch Christmas movies and Meet Me in St. Louis popped out. It was already on my watchlist —I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Birgit over BB Creations talked about it in one of her Thursday Movie Picks post— so I checked it out, and it was a very pleasant surprise —I'm not a fan of musicals, after all. 

Set in early 1900s St. Louis, the film follows Smith family in the months leading up to the city's 1904 World's Fair. The second eldest of the four Smith girls, Esther (Judy Garland), has an endless crush on the boy next door, John Truett (Tom Drake), who hasn't noticed her yet; the oldest sister, Rose (Lucille Bremer), has a romance with Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully) who is now in New York City; the other two Smith girls, the younger ones, Agnes (Joan Carroll) and Tootie (Margaret O'Brien), engage in shenanigans. The family's dynamics are disrupted when the father, Alonzo (Leon Ames), decides to take a new position in New York City.

Christmas Present (1986)

I stumbled upon Pupi Avati's Christmas Present (Italian: Regalo di Natale) last year while I was looking for non-idiotic Italian Christmas movies —we have plenty of those as we get new ones every single year— but at that point I already had picked some other non-English language movies so I postponed the watch to this December. 

Set on Christmas night, the film follows a group of old friends, Franco (Diego Abatantuono), Ugo (Gianni Cavina), Gabriele (Alessandro Haber), and Stefano (George Eastman), as they reunite after a very long time to play a poker game, which used to be their tradition. It's not nostalgia that brings them back together, but the opportunity to rip off a rich and mysterious industrialist (Carlo Delle Piane). 

Die Hard (1988)

I've seen many action movies over the years, but Die Hard has a special place in my heart. Two are the reasons: it's one of the first action movies I've seen (and probably the first cop thriller as well) and it's one of the greatest I've ever seen (let's make it three since there's a young and good-looking Bruce Willis too). 

It's Christmas Eve and NYPD officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) just arrived in LA to spend the holidays with his family. While he's at his wife's company headquarters for the Christmas party, a group of terrorists take control of the building and hold everyone hostage. It's up to McClane to save them all.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Remeber when I told you there aren't many animated Christmas movies around? Turns out it's true and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is pretty much all there's left for me to watch and since it looks like quite charming, I decided to give it a try.

Through Sam the Snowman (Burl Ives), the film tells the story of Rudolph (Billy Richards) before he became Santa Clause's (Stan Francis) most iconic reindeer. Born with a shining red nose, Rudolph was actually ostracized by the other reindeer and looked down upon by his own father (Paul Kligman). So he runs away and that's when he meets another misfit, Hermey (Paul Soles), the elf who wants to be a dentist, and together they leave the North Pole. On their journey, they meet up with Yukon Cornelius (Larry Mann), a prospector obsessed with silver and gold. Together they discover the island of Misfit toys and they must face the Abominable Snowman.

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)

After going through several painful Christmas comedies, I decided to watch one I knew would be terrible and, having not seen the other two movies of the Harold & Kumar series (because I'm awful), I thought watching A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas was the right thing to do.

Six years after Guantanamo Bay (don't ask me what happened because, like I said above, I haven't seen that one), Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are estranged from one another and live very different lives. Harold works at Wall Street, got married and has his own home. Kumar is unemployed, single and still lives in the apartment he used to share with Harold. Then on Christmas Eve, Kumar shows up at Harold's house with a mysterious package and he inadvertently burns down Harold's father-in-law's (Danny Trejo) Christmas tree. Afraid of how his father-in-law is going to react, the two set out to find the perfect Christmas tree.

Plácido (1961)

My knowledge of Spanish cinema is limited to a lot of Pedro Almodóvar and very little of Alejandro Amenábar, so I took advantage of Christmas to expand my knowledge and watch Luis García Berlanga's Plácido.

Set on Christmas Eve in a small Spanish town, it follows a 'sit a poor man at your table' charity which consists of wealthy townsfolks having a homeless person over for dinner that night. The celebrations also include a parade and in it there's Plácido (Cassen), a humble three-wheeler owner whose family lives in a public lavatory because of the lack of money, and we follow him as he tries to earn the money he needs to pay an overdue on his truck before midnight.

Christmas Vacation (1989)

I read somewhere that Christmas Vacation (or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) is a must during the holidays. It's hilarious and easily one of the best Christmas comedies ever made, it said. It was true.

Clark Wilhelm Griswold Jr (Chevy Chase) is really into Christmas this year and wants to give his family the best Christmas ever. But things never run smoothly for Clark and his family, and, between his obnoxious guests and the bonus check that is not arriving, everything he wants to happen goes against his favour, and the disaster is just around the corner.

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

While searching for Christmas movies to feel the Christmas spirit, I stumbled upon Tokyo Godfathers (東京ゴッドファーザーズ Tōkyō goddofāzāzu) and, after reading the plot (yes, I did such thing), I decided to give it a chance. I didn't know what to expect because I haven't seen anything from Satoshi Kon, but now I know what to expect if I ever watch one of his movies again, a charming film. 

Tokyo, Christmas Eve. Three homeless friends, Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki), a transvestite, Gin (Tōru Emori), a middle-aged bum, and Miyuki (Aya Okamoto), a young girl, find an abandoned newborn in the trash. Since Hana grew up without a family and refuses to bring the child to the authorities, they set on a journey to find the baby's parents, starting with a key they found with the baby.

The Ten: Best Christmas Movies of All Time

Just in case you haven't noticed, who knows, maybe you live in a cave or you're an Amish (but I'm pretty sure you don't/aren't otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this), Christmas is coming which for me pretty much translates into food, more food and even more food. And Christmas movies, duh. And thanks to Dell (I cannot thank you enough as I really wanted to do this) this blogathon too.

Christmas Eve (2015)

Patrick Stewart has the ability to fit pretty much any role he's given. That's why I like him and why I decided to give Christmas Eve a chance. How bad could it be, right? Well, apparently a lot. 

It's Christmas Eve, a man driving a van has an accident and ends up cutting the power of part of Manhattan. Because of that, six different groups of New Yorkers get stuck inside elevators. With nowhere to go, they are forced to interact with those trapped with them and their lives will be transformed.

Trading Places (1983)

There are some movies that are on TV around Christmas time every single year, Trading Places being one of those. But every single year I have something better to do (at least that's what I've been telling myself for the past, what, 10 years?) and I never watch it. Part of me always thought it was a dumb movie and avoided for that reason. Then not long ago I saw The Blue Brothers, also directed by John Landis and it was brilliant so I gave this one a chance. 

Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) is a successful broker with a big house, a servant (Denholm Elliott) and a beautiful fiancée (Kristin Holby). Billy Ray (Eddie Murphy) is a street con artist who gets arrested after Winthorpe bumps into him and accuses him of theft. That's when Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph Duke (Ralph Bellamy), Winthorpe's bosses, bet that they could turn a common criminal into a successful businessman. So Billy is given the job and home of Louis who is then set up for crimes he didn't commit to see if he resorts to crime.