Favorite/Least Favorite Holiday Films

[Melvin Smif]

The holidays never fail to add a slew of new films to world of cinema, and whether you celebrate any of those holidays or not you've likely seen at least some of the many movies they inspire. As they will soon be upon many of us I just wanted to strike up a conversation to see what films struck a chord with you one way or the other.

Some of my favorite:
-"A Muppet Christmas Carol" - Maybe it’s the kid in me but this remains my favorite rendition of Dickens’s tale that I've ever seen.
-"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"- Remember when the words "National Lampoon's" inspired at least a passing interest or in the case of this film actual interest? This movie reminds me so much of the interactions of my own family that I can't help loving it.
-"Die Hard"- Whether or not you think the Die Hard films have "nuked the fridge" with the fourth installment, I would have to say I love the original.
-"A Christmas Story"- Reminds me of a lot of my own childhood experiences.

Honorable mentions:
“Love Actually”
“Gremlins”
“Planes Trains and Automobiles”

Some of my hated:
-"A Charlie Brown Christmas"- I know this will leave many scratching their collective heads and I catch a lot of flak for it but I just don't like it. It always seemed to me like everyone had to bend over backwards just to make Charlie Brown happy, even at the expense of their own Christmas fun sometimes. Although Vince Guaraldi's musicianship on this film is not something to be downplayed.
-”Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas”- What was Ron Howard thinking?! I mean I rarely enjoy his work but this was just awful. He actually made the Who’s look like jerks, and Jim Carrey was just painful.

I may add more later, but those are just a few to get the ball rolling. I realize this webpage is a global community which I find is part of the reason I love it ( wouldn’t have seen many of the foreign films I love had I not joined) so please don’t feel you need to limit this discussion to American holidays. Enjoy!

*also I wasn’t able to find this topic in the forums but I may have missed it I’ll gladly erase it if the topic has been started before.

[Bojangles]

Christmas Vacation is the best, and actually one of the better 'descent into madness' films I've seen. "Hallelujah, and holy shit! Where's the tylenol?"

Christmas with the Kranks is unwatchable and not worth talking about any further.

[Melvin Smif]

Christmas with the Kranks is unwatchable and not worth talking about any further.

Oh God! I forgot about that wretched piece of crap. Tim Allen....groan, Jaime Lee Curtis...blow my head off with a shotgun please. Thank the heavens I never watched it.

[Derrick]

DIE HARD
TRANCERS
LETHAL WEAPON
THE LAST KISS GOODNIGHT

[miss jesus]

It's beyond me how somebody could hate Scrooged. I'd love to see an explanation for that. I don't mean to sound snarky--seriously, what's wrong with Scrooged?

The only ones I love that I haven't seen mentioned are Trading Places and The Ref.

[Pickpocket]

Worst = Santa's Slay and any of the Santa Clause movies with Tim Allen.

Best = It's a Wonderful Life

[Kusanagi]

Favs:
Tokyo Godfathers
Die Hard
Nightmare Before Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (original)
A Christmas Story

Least Favs:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (remake)

[Melvin Smif]

Favs:
Tokyo Godfathers
Die Hard
Nightmare Before Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (original)
A Christmas Story

Least Favs:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (remake)

Good call on "Nightmare" and "Tokyo" these are also favorites of mine.

[Stewball]

Damn few

Worst:
It's a Wonderful Life--Hoaky, cheesy, sappy and irritating as hell, with Jimmy Stewart to match, the most overrated actor in Hollywood history. It's a wonder that they never matched him up with Susan Hayward or Olivia de Havilland (their collective 4 Oscars notwithstanding). If they all had been in the same movie, the film would have caramelized.

Favorite:
The Man Who Came to Dinner--Same era, same black & white, but very well done. Montey Woolley is as good as JS is bad. (Anybody seen it?)

I enjoy almost all versions of A Christmas Carol, even the first b&w talkie, but I really like Disney's latest the best.

[Melvin Smif]

I enjoy almost all versions of A Christmas Carol, even the first b&w talkie, but I really like Disney's latest the best.

I haven't seen it but from what I hear its only decent with the exception that Carrey does a really good job voicing Scrooge.