Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Top 20 Movies to Watch on X-Mas

Getting in the mood for Christmas is normally pretty easy, but keeping everyone happy coming up to Christmas and on the big day can sometimes be a nightmare. Over the years, regardless of what country you live in, there are always a number of select movies that are played on the television.which really puts the spirit of Christmas into you. But oh no! What if your favorite movie isn't playing this year,what to do, what to do? In this modern age, just about everything is on DVD, which makes for some great stocking filler!


So here's our top 20 run down, we'd love to hear what you think, whether we've missed your favorite movie, or share some of your memories from the movies in the list.


Some of my fondest Christmas memories were spent in front of a television watching such classics as the animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and many more. In any event, here's wishing you a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. Now sit back and dig into some of the best Christmas content by Guerilla inc.


So without further ado,  here is our big, big list of holiday specials!



1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)




Living on snowy Mount Crumpit, a steep mountain just north of Whoville, from which the Christmas loving Who’s inhabit. The Grinch hates the Christmas festivities in Whoville, taking his anger out on the warm-hearted Who’s he snatches up all the presents from under their Christmas tree’s to prevent Christmas from coming this year. Will the Grinch come to his senses and realize Christmas is more than gifts and presents? A great movie that can teach kids a valuable lesson (yeah right!).


2. The Snowman (1982)




The Snowman is the shortest movie on our list, lasting only 26 minutes with hardly a word muttered apart from the memorable “Walking in the Air” song. Based on the book by English author Raymond Briggs, The Snowman has inspired millions of children worldwide to build snowmen at Christmas time; you never know what will happen when the clock strikes 12!


3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1944/1948)




The other reindeer in Christmas-town don't make Rudolph feel very welcome and they constantly make fun of his shiny red nose. But when bad weather threatens to keep Santa Claus from making his annual toy-giving rounds, Rudolph is added to the team precisely for that bright nose, which guides Santa's sleigh like a beacon in the night.



4. Frosty the Snowman (1969)






A living snowman and a little girl struggle to elude a greedy magician who is after the snowman's magic hat.A discarded silk tophat becomes the focus of a struggle between a washed-up stage magician and a group of schoolchildren after it magically brings a snowman to life. Realizing that newly-living Frosty will melt in spring unless he takes refuge in a colder climate, Frosty and a young girl who he befriends stow away on a freight train headed for the North Pole. Little do they know that the magician is following them, and he wants his hat back? This animated short is based on the popular Christmas song of the same name.


5. Home Alone (1990)




It is Christmas Time and the McAllister family is preparing for a vacation in Paris, France. But, the youngest in the family named Kevin got into a scuffle with his older brother Buzz and was sent to his room which is on the third floor of his house. Then, the next morning, while the rest of the family was in a rush to make it to the airport on time, they completely forgot about Kevin who now has the house all to himself. Being home alone was fun for Kevin, having a pizza all to him, jumping on his parents' bed and making a mess. Then, Kevin discovers about 2 burglars, Harry and Marv about to rob his house on Christmas Eve. Kevin acts quickly by wiring his own house with makeshift booby traps to stop the burglars and to bring them to justice.


6. Home Alone 2 – Lost in New York (1992)




Kevin McCallister is back. But this time he's in New York City with enough cash and credit cards to turn the Big Apple into his very own playground. But Kevin won't be alone for long. The notorious Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv, still smarting from their last encounter with Kevin, are bound for New York too, plotting a huge holiday heist! Kevin's ready to welcome them with more battery of booby traps the bumbling bandits will never forget!


7. Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)




It's the same old classic Charles Dickens story with an all star Disney cast. Uncle Scrooge McDuck is appropriately enough Scrooge and is visited by his dead partner and 3 spirits one night to remember the joys of Christmas.


8. The Polar Express (2004)




This is the story of a young hero boy on Christmas Eve who boards on a powerful magical train that's headed to the North Pole and Santa Claus's home. What unfolds is an adventure which follows a doubting boy, who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole; during this ride, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery which shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe.


9. A Christmas Carol (2009)




Mister Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
10. Elf (2003)




Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who stowed away in Santa's sack and ended up at the North Pole. Later, as an adult human who happened to be raised by elves, Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs. Hobbs, on Santa's naughty list for being a heartless jerk, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City (and human culture) as only an elf can. When Walter's relationship with Buddy interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.
11. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)




Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, is bored with doing the same thing every year for Halloween. One day he stumbles into Christmas Town, and is so taken with the idea of Christmas that he tries to get the resident bats, ghouls, and goblins of Halloween town to help him put on Christmas instead of Halloween but alas, they can't get it quite right.
12. The Santa Clause (1994)


Divorcee Scott Calvin is disgusted to learn that his ex and her husband have tried and failed to break it easy to their 6-year-old son Charlie that Santa isn't real. On Christmas Eve, Scott reads The Night Before Christmas... then receives an unexpected visitor on his roof. When he's startled by Scott's calling out and falls, the Santa impersonator disappears, leaving only an 8-reindeer sleigh and a suit with instructions to put it on if he's involved in an accident. Scott does, and is transported around the town dropping gifts through chimneys until he's taken to the North Pole and informed by a group who claim they're elves that he is now Santa. Charlie is proud of his dad's new job, though Scott's convinced it's a dream. Until his hair turns white, his beard refuses to stay shaved, he gains weight inexplicably, even for his sudden love of junk food. Now he's accepted it, there's just one problem: how to keep it secret from his disbelieving family?
13. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)






Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and the entire cast of the Muppet universe come together to re-tell Charles Dicken's immortal classic "A Christmas Carol" This was the first time the Muppets appeared on screen since Jim Henson's death in 1990. Michael Caine gives a magnificent performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in a world full of Muppet comedy and almost scary performances from the "Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and yet to come"


14. Christmas Vacation (1989)




Its Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.
15. Jingle All the Way (1996)


Meet Howard Langston, a salesman for a mattress company is constantly busy at his job, and he also constantly disappoints his son, after he misses his son's karate exposition, he tries hard to come up with a way to make it up to him, this is when his son tells Howard that he wants for Christmas is an action figure of his son's television hero, Turbo Man. Unfortunately for Howard, it is Christmas Eve, and every store is sold out of Turbo Man figures, now Howard must travel all over town and compete with everybody else including a mail man named Myron to find a Turbo Man action figure, and to make it to the Wintertainment parade which will feature Turbo Man.
16. Love Actually (2003)


The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch throughout the movie. Most of the movie is filmed in London, during Christmas and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport a very uplifting note.
17. Bad Santa (2003)


"Bad Santa" is the story of two conman who go on a road trip to malls dressed as Santa and his elf. Rather than spreading good cheer, the duo's motive is to rob each establishment, a strategy that becomes complicated when they encounter an 8-year-old who teaches them the true meaning of Christmas.


18. A Christmas Story (1983)




Ralphie, a young boy growing up in the '40's, dreams of owning a Red Rider BB gun. He sets out to convince the world this is the perfect gift. But along the way, he runs into opposition from his parents, his teacher, and even good 'old Santa Claus himself.
19. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)


At the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades the old man to take his place. The old man proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to be the store Santa at the main Macy's outlet. While he is successful, Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by Kringle's doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas amidst the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways.
20. Santa Claus (1985)




The first half of this film, set hundreds of years ago, shows how the old man who eventually became Santa Claus was given immortality and chosen to deliver toys to all the children of the world. The second half moves into the modern era, in which Patch, the inventing elf, strikes out on his own and falls in with an evil toy manufacturer who wants to corner the market and eliminate Santa Claus.


A couple of extra picks:


Some TV specials in the x-mas genre that are classics in their own right and merit your time.


The first three were made by the stop motion animation company of Rankin/Bass
  • Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) TV Special

  • Frosty the Snowman  (1969) TV Special this also one of the picks above. But nonetheless from the same company as the other two picks and with a video here.

  • Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (1970) TV Special















The last TV special is from the comic strip Peanuts of Charline Brown and his gang of friends.
  • A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) TV Special



Well, that’s it folks! We hope you enjoyed reliving some fond Christmas memories, I know we did. Please leave a comment below to tell us how you think we did, and what changes you’d make!


No comments:

Post a Comment