My Top Ten List of Christmas Movies (#5-#7)

(For the criteria used to determine my top ten, see Sunday's post)

7. Scrooged


In the original Christmas Carol, we can feel somewhat insulated from the lesson—not many of us have Scrooge’s money to withhold from the poor, and if the movie started seeking a new cast, many of us would probably make up the peasants snubbed by Scrooge. In Murray’s remake, though, the message seems much more immediate, even if we aren’t network executives. Perhaps it’s the quintessential late-80’s clothing that makes it feel more “current” or the ghosts that make it more scary (who would ever get into a cab with the ghost of Christmas past or share a drink with crusty, Jacob Marley stand-in Lew Hayward?). It’s Murray’s sarcastic humor that sells the creepiness. Murray, the holiday movie genius (his Groundhog Day would also make my list of top Groundhog Day movies). Maybe if The Nightmare Before Christmas had similar comedic relief from all the horror it would have made my list.

But this movie is important (and ranked this high) for its message, a simple message and one we need at Christmas: straighten yourself out or you’ll have some pretty screwed up shit to deal with.

6. Home Alone / Home Alone 2: Lost in New York


Because the two movies are so closely parallel (Young Boy – Parents + Dimwitted Crooks + House Full of Dangerous Things + “Guardian Angel” (Old Man with Shovel/Pigeon Lady) + Eventual Family Reunion Just in Time for Christmas = Movie Gold), I’ve decided to group these two movies together. I’d give the nod to Home Alone 2 for the Talkboy, the New York limo ride, the kick ass hotel suite, but how can I argue with the original? I must admit that nothing puts me in the Christmas mood better than watching to criminals gets their faces continually bashed in by the machinations of a cute eight year old. Perhaps these movies are partly responsible for and helped sparked my generation’s fascination with needless violence. Rockstar Games, thank Macaulay Culkin for all your success.

5. Elf


Will Ferrell can be annoying. Think Ricky Bobby or Phil Weston from Kicking and Screaming. In Elf, however, he creates such an endearing character, you quickly forget that this is the same comedian who frequently strips off his clothes in a cheap attempt at humor. Despite a predictable, maudlin ending, Elf is nearly flawless from the cartoonishly-designed North Pole to the department store fight to the bathroom rendition of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” to my personal favorite moment, his conversation with a fellow mail room worker (in the clip, it starts at 1:03). It’s Ferrell’s full-hearted and earnest portrayal of Buddy the Elf that makes this movie an instant holiday classic.