Merry Christmas, my top winter/Christmas films

Yes, time for that Christmas-themed post. The last couple of years I’ve made Christmas or winter-themed playlists. I’m quite proud of the two years I did that, and really happy with last year’s. This year I wanted to do something a bit different: Christmas/winter-themed films. Why? Well, I was running out of hidden gems and I thought this would be easier to do. As it turns out, collecting together 25 movies is quite a task! Perhaps I’ll do a playlist this year again, but much smaller than the 25 I’ve done twice in a row now. After 50 songs in total, adding another 25 not listened to is quite a challenge. At some point, I will run out of songs.

Anyway, the point of this post, which I have not started to draft in October! I promise! is about Christmas films/winter (themes). I initially tried to compile a list of 25 films, but finding 25 movies I can remember turned out to be quite hard. I don’t really watch Christmas movies, so. After cutting several films, I came up with a Top 10, which I consider to be quite good—films I can remember and enjoy watching. The order is by original release date, so here we go.

The Definitive Top 10

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
   • Small confession: I’ve not seen this in years, but I do enjoy the soundtrack a lot. One of the songs ended up on my Christmas playlist.
2. The Snowman (1982)
   • I consider this to be a classic. It’s based on a graphic novel, which turned into an animation, which got a sequel and various updates. The art style here is hand-drawn; later ones have some computer graphics but still maintain a similar style.
3. Die Hard (1988)
   • There’s been quite a few debates over the years: is this a Christmas movie or not? I consider it one. It is unconventional—more of an action movie over a standard classic. Bruce Willis and the late Alan Rickman gave great performances.
4. The Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)
   • A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has been adapted so many times since 1843, and it’s now a staple of Christmas. This movie is a love letter to Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, and the first film after his death and that of Richard Hunt. Dedicated to both men, Brian Henson (Jim’s son) produced and directed the movie. I consider this to be the best adaptation of the story. It treats the story material with love and care but not only that, it adds to it, bringing Muppets into this world with human actors. It understands the art form of puppets and how to make a story. It feels modern even though it came out in the 90s.
5. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1994)
   • Tim Burton’s mind has produced some of the most creative and ahead-of-his-time movies. Why not mix the twisted world of Halloween with Christmas? An animated classic that brings together both worlds. After all these years, its style is timeless and a classic.
6. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
   • A remake of the Dr. Seuss classic that, similar to The Muppets, takes the source material and recreates it. It is a love letter to Dr. Seuss with minor details, and Jim Carrey fits the role so well. Perfect casting all around.
7. Elf (2003)
   • As a concept, this is quite genius, and Will Ferrell does a great job here. It feels like a mix of other pre-existing ideas coming together to do something new with it. It feels fresh and well, good.
8. Love Actually (2003)
   • This is a Christmas movie love romance comedy, a small British film that just does its job. The budget was just $40 million. It’s a shame the gay storyline was cut from the film, but it does a lot with so many characters. I can understand why some people hate it. It did come out when there was a flood of similar movies.
9. Arthur Christmas (2011)
   • Aardman Animations, showing they can do more than just stop-motion. It was the studio’s second try at computer animation. You still get that classic Aardman feel here, but a bit wider. Taking old ideas with a new twist, it feels well, fresh. It’s good-hearted, sweet, and silly, but somehow they made a Christmas classic from it. Not without its flaws, but it works.
10. Klaus (2019)
    • An alternate version of the Santa Claus origin story. Set in the 19th century, the plot is about a postman in the far north befriending an old toy maker called Klaus. Hand-drawn animation somehow made for Netflix on a $40 million budget. It’s a heartwarming story that makes it a possible future classic and stands on its own with this reimagined story.

The Films That Didn’t Make It

So what did the other list look like? I know what you’re thinking, and here’s what I did consider but removed. I decided to be quite brutal, cutting films I had not seen or something that did not stick in my mind. That meant 8 movies in total were cut.

• Home Alone (1990): Just was not the tone I wanted to focus on. It’s still a good movie.
• Miracle on 34th Street (1994): Comes from a group of similar movies based around Santa. It still sticks in my mind but at moments shows its flaws.
• Jingle All the Way (1996): The plot is simple: two dads trying to get a toy for Christmas. Toys selling out at Christmas is a movie of the time, something you can relate to today. Arnold Schwarzenegger does what he can with a silly script, but the performance is not good here. The whole movie is rather okay with weaknesses all over.
  • (You may have noticed a small trend here—all being 90s movies.)
• It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002): Second Muppets movie on the list and the weaker of the two. Focused more about a theater closing down over being a Christmas story. It’s still a good time and honestly one of the better movies here.
• Tokyo Godfathers (2003): This was an easy cut, as I had not seen it, but it looks good. An anime movie set on Christmas Eve, the plot sounds interesting and not what you would expect, really. Honestly, I’m going to watch this because it sounds interesting.
• The Polar Express (2004): Similar reasons to Tokyo Godfathers: I had not seen it, or couldn’t remember it. Maybe it’s worth watching, but I do know it got mixed reviews.
• Click and Collect (2018): Is an unofficial sequel or remake of Jingle All the Way with a British twist. Not that bad all things considered. It works for what it does on a smaller budget.
• The Christmas Chronicles (2018): This reminded me too much of some similar films. It’s not bad and one of the better movies here. Just, I felt like it was too similar to the rest on the list.

The Worst Christmas Movie? Red One

Speaking of films I watched… one movie I was genuinely tempted to put on the list was Red One (2024), the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movie, simply due to how god-awful it is. Frankly, it’s an insult to cinema. Sometimes Dwayne can deliver a great performance, but other times he ends up on projects like this. To be fair, he does not need to work due to being so rich and can do whatever he wants, but this one is, in my opinion, his worst film (and he has plenty of them, as it turns out). It’s so bad it’s watchable, just to see the depths of its failure. And yet, somehow, it ended up on the Rotten Tomatoes Top 100 Christmas movies at number 99.

Going over these films, I’m going to rewatch some of them during the holiday season. I have a few in mind that should be watched. Tokyo Godfathers is on the list, along with the Muppets being obvious ones. The Nightmare Before Christmas is something I watch on Halloween, oddly enough.