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Anna's Favorite Christmas Film

There's only one film on my list- Michael Curtiz's White Christmas (1954) with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney. Need I explain why? This movie has it all: comedy, romance, fabulous dance routines and the beautiful voice of Mr. Crosby. Even after multiple viewings, whenever I hear him sing "White Christmas" to the troops on Christmas Eve, I get choked up. It just doesn't get any better.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!

Ben Beard's Favorite Christmas Film

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)--Not just my favorite Christmas film but my favorite film of all time. Jimmy Stewart gives the performance of a lifetime playing a bitter, broken-down man looking for meaning in his stifled, frustrated existence. An overexposed and misunderstood film, It's a Wonderful Life delivers one of the darkest, saddest stories in American cinema . . . until the last ten minutes. Yes, the ending is saccharine and over the top, but both George Bailey and the audience have earned this sappy happy ending after watching a man's dreams torn into little pieces.

Chris Woods' Holiday Movie Spectacular

1. A Christmas Story (1983)
Although drastically overplayed every December, A Christmas Story is a holiday staple.  This tale of Ralphie and his obsession with getting a "Red Ryder" BB gun for Christmas can't miss when it comes to holiday laughter and good cheer. It also begs the question, "Will a kid back down when he's 'triple-dog-dared' to stick his tongue to an icy cold flag pole?"  Jean Shepard's book, which he also transferred into a screenplay, has been Ted Turner's "go to" for years and shows no sign of stopping. Great for children and adults.

2.  Scrooged (1988)
Don't go looking for the Charles Dickens classic, "A Christmas Carol," despite its parallels in Scrooged.  This parody to the masterpiece stars Bill Murray as Frank Cross (described by the sign above his office door: "Cross: Something you hang someone on.") who has lost any sense of good will towards men, women, children, or even field mice!  However, on the night before Christmas Frank is visited by three ghosts who show him the true meaning of life.  The lampoon of Dickens legendary story keeps the sentiment but adds some wry humor that only a Murray can deliver.  Great for all ages, but be warned that Bobcat Goldthwait is in the movie.

3.  Christmas Vacation (1989)
Well, one good lampoon deserves another and Christmas Vacation, courtesy of National Lampoon, is that movie.  This third edition to the Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) family may not be the gem that the original was, but for the Christmas season it's earned the right as a classic. 

Clark is a Christmas freak and his family couldn't be more unenthused with his jolly overindulged sense of the Christian high-holy-day.  So the whole family comes to the Griswold's for the holidays - some they want and some they don't.  Yes, Eddie (Randy Quid) and his trailer-trash family shows up unexpectedly just when Clark can't think anything else could go wrong.  "May I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat?  Drive you out to the middle of nowhere, leave you for dead?" Clark muses under his breath to the unwanted Eddie.

However, it's Christmas and the Griswold's always manage to bring things together at the end.  It's a fun ride and Juliette Lewis and Julia Lewis-Dreyfus are in it too! Another family winner.

Coco Delgado's Christmas Films

I actually have a top 5 list...

#5: Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Sigh. I love when Jack first sees Christmas Town.

#4: While You Were Sleeping (1995). Mainly because it takes place that magical week between Christmas and New Year's, including both. My absolute favourite week of the year.

#3: A Christmas Story (1983). The last scene in the Chinese restaurant is one of my all time favorite movie moments.

#2: Bell, Book and Candle (1958). Oh man. This is one of my all time favorite movies ever and the fact that it takes place at Christmas gets it here, too. "Why don't you get me him for Christmas, Pye?"

And my #1 Christmas movie ever: White Christmas (1954). Well, duh. I love the scene where Bing and Danny do the Sisters number...because Bing totally loses it and they look like they're having such a blast.

Del Harvey's Favorite Christmas Films

No. 1 Favorite All-Time Christmas Film: It's A Wonderful Life
Frank Capra is one of America's greatest filmmakers, and he was very much in tough with the idealist spirit that made this country great.  For me, by far, his best work is embodied by the sentiment and philosophy in this film.  And the conclusion is one of the finest and most touching in American film.  The heart soars and the eyes tear up whenever little Zuzu says, "Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."  Or reading the inscription left by Clarence in the Mark Twain book, "Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."  How very true.

No. 2: Scrooged
Bill Murray's finest hour, next to Groundhog Day.  But as Frank Cross he is Beetlejuice, Jack Nicholson, and the Worst Boss You Ever Had all rolled up into one.  He's so sick he's laffable.  And he's the perfect Ebenezer, even if his name is Frank Cross.  Somewhere deep under all that dark, cynical humor beats a heart of pure Christmas goo, just waiting to crawl up Frank Cross' gullet and choke him on a tear or two. 

No. 3: One Hundred and One Dalmatians
I was tiny when this film first came out, but it left a huge impression on me.  Because of that connection, it remains one of my all-time favorite Disney films, animated films, and family films. Like It's a Wonderful Life, there is so much schmaltz and sentiment here, but it's also consistently true and on target, from Pongo and Perdida to The Twilight Bark and all the way through to Cruella de Ville.  Don't we all know someone who resembles one of these characters?

Runner's Up:
Die Hard
The Christmas Story
Pocketful of Miracles

Clint Fletcher's Favorite Christmas Films:

1) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation(1989) - As Clark Griswold attempts to create the "good, old fashioned family Christmas," I can't help but wonder how much his dysfunctional family reminds me of my own dysfunctional family. Throw Cousin Eddie into the mix and you have a movie as funny and outrageous as the holidays can get. 'Tis a tradition to watch this every year at least twice in my household.

2) A Christmas Story (1983)- I know, I know. How could I like this when TNT plays it nonstop during the Christmas season (literally). But who can resist the legendary story of Ralphie and his Red-Ryder- Carbine-Action-Two-Hundred-Shot-Range-Model-Air-Rifle, with a compos and a stock. I am not a nerd. The most precious of Christmas classics.

3) Surviving Christmas (2004) - Ben Affleck stars in this wonderfully written - HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I can't even pretend. Juuuust kidding.

3) Die Hard (1988) - There's just something about action movies that take place at Christmas. I get the same warm feeling watching McClane blow terrorists away among holiday cheer in Die Hard 2 as well. I don't really have to type much else because... well, who DOESN'T like Die Hard? This is also a must-see within the month of December, regardless of how many times I've already seen it.

Runner's Up:
Home Alone
The Ref

Gary Schultz's Three Favorite Christmas Films

The Christmas Story (1983) - Directed by Bob Clark who also did Porky's and Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. Someone always plays 24 hours of The Christmas Story non-stop on Christmas day and I watch it continuously. I think it's usually TBS. This is a modern classic of a middle class Indiana family celebrating Christmas in the 1950's. Ralphy wants a Red Ryder Beebe gun more than anything. Will he get it? Or will he just shoot his eye out? If you don't like The Christmas Story you have no soul.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) - Yeah, I'm a big Peanuts fan. Charlie Brown Christmas is a classic. This is my favorite next to The Great Pumpkin. The end scene where they all decorate Charlie Brown's crappy little tree with love and it suddenly looks stronger and all Christmas professional is timeless. Good times for all. Oh and Charles Shultz is in no relation to Gary Schultz.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - One of my favorite films pulled straight out of Tim Burton's head's. This is the story of Jack Skellington, king of Halloweentown as he discovers Christmas Town, but doesn't quite understand the concept of it so he kidnaps Santa Claus. This is the best stop motion animation ever and an amazing film. Danny Elfman plays Jack and there are even a few catchy tunes.

Hank Yuloff's Favorite Christmas Films

It's A Wonderful Life -  The Spirit of Eternal Hope and Doing Unto Others are the two main themes of this 1946 holiday classic.  To watch James Stewart triumph over the bad guy (Lionel Barrymore) AND get the girl (Donna Reed) brings a tear to everyone's eye.

Bad Santa (2003) - If IAWL is the perfect holiday film, then this 2003 release is the perfect anti-holiday flick.  Billy Bob Thornton and Tony Cox are just so perfect as the store robbing Santa/Elf team.  And Lauren Graham (The Gilmore Girls) has forever given me the most memorable holiday line:  F*** Me Santa, F*** Me Santa, F*** Me Santa, F*** Me Santa!

Die Hard (1988) -  Die Hard?  Yep.  Bruce Willis sums up all those unwanted holiday trips with the immortal line: "Come to the Coast.... see the family."  Best of all, there is a happy ending as again, the good guy gets the girl, and the bad guys, William Atherton as the TV Reporter and Alan Rickman, DEFINING the term bad guy, get it in the end.

Jon Bastian's Favorite Christmas Films

Badder Santa -- the unrated version of the classic, heartwarming Christmas tale in which Billy Bob Thornton plays a severely alcoholic safe cracker. What makes the film work is that it isn't a comedy per se -- the terms are all drama -- but it's still scathingly funny because the characters play everything for real, and there are no easy solutions or pat, happy answers. The more despicable Billy Bob acts, the more we understand his pain.

A Christmas Story -- my favorite holiday film, because it manages to combine 1940s innocence with a modern edge. Not to mention that it introduced the world to the "Leg Lamp", and made a whole new generation want to blow an eye out with their Daisy Air Rifles.

Brazil -- yes, surprise surprise, it's a Christmas movie, but it exposes the holiday for all the shallow, meaningless commercialism that it is. An hilarious running gag is that every government bureaucrat in the Ministry of Information gives each other exactly the same gift, an executive decision-maker that reduces everything to a binary yes or no. Plus it's also Terry Gilliam's most accomplished work to date, the best version of 1984 ever made.

Kristin Schrader's Favorite Christmas Film

Edward Scissorhands (1990) So wintry, even when it isn't.  The film begins with a grandmother explaining where snow comes from, then unto suburbia a child is introduced.  The music is crystalline and the end scene where Edward is making snow makes your skating party a little more poignant, and your hot chocolate a little less comforting.  That's how holidays should be.

Sandra Ray's Favorite Christmas Films

The Santa Clause
Each Christmas, I try to find shows to watch that appeal to the whole family. One of my favorites is The Santa Clause. Tim Allen's performance makes one of the most believable Santa's I've seen, even if he is a little unwilling. For all those people out there who never believed in Santa, watch this one. You never know why you didn't get what you asked for that year!

Miracle on 34th Street
Who hasn't seen this timeless classic? Is there anyone out there who doesn't like it? I've been known to set an alarm clock to watch this one during the early morning hours. I think some of the acting is a little overdone, though. Still, there's just enough Christmas magic to keep me coming back year after year.

Shaun Manning's Favorite Christmas Film

My favorite Christmas film is actually a Hallowe'en film, though bridging this gap makes it appropriate for any occasion. I am, of course, talking about Tim Burton's  Nightmare Before Christmas. Quirky characters, a rich and beautiful animated world, and the catchy Danny Elfman soundtrack elevate Nightmare Before Christmas to "instant classic" status. Not just for goths!

Todd Kimmelman's Favorite Christmas Film

The Ref (1994) - Brilliant performances by Denis Leary and Judy Davis.  Hilarious supporting cast, including Christine Baranski.  Delightful farce/dark comic look at a "traditional" New England town and its non-traditional inhabitants.  The Ref is the only film that truly appreciates traditional Scandinavian Christmas traditions, and the only Christmas film (that I know of) that includes the following exchange: 

John Chasseur (Phillip Nicoll) : Mom, the TV's broken. What are we gonna do all night?
Connie Chasseur (Christine Baranski): Celebrate the birth of Christ!

Todd Lillethun's Favorite Christmas Film

You guys have missed the boat. Gremlins is THE best holiday flick of all time. It has everything you'd ever want: horror, camp, and a thorough skewering of holiday chintz. Remember Zach's mom getting stalked in the kitchen and then attacked by the Christmas tree? And the ugly demise of Ms. Deagle? Real fun, scary stuff, plus it has hot young actors, and it's funny. The green guys' sing-along to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" is a hoot, while Phoebe Cates's monologue about her dad getting killed coming down the chimney evokes both a tear and a smirk. No one should brave this season without such cheerful bedlam.

Wayne Case's Favorite Christmas Films

Bests:
Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
Love Actually (2003)
Bad Santa (2003)

Worst: 
Jingle All The Way (1996) starring Ar-nuld

Best Christmas Film Song/Sequence:
Judy Garland sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" in Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)