Top 5 “Classic” Christmas film Countdown!

There’s only 29 days until Christmas! Have you done your shopping yet? (If not, I have some brilliant hints for you here: http://hazny182.blogspot.com/2011/11/top-ten-tips-for-christmas-shopping.html)

Anyway, to get you into that Christmas spirit, I thought I’d run down my personal top 5 Christmas films, some classics some… well, you’ll see. I may, at a later date, do a list of my least favourite too (because there are some truly awful Christmas films out there… and some that should be awful but are in fact ruddy marvellous)

I would like to remind you now that all this is my own opinion and that I haven’t been sponsored or anything like that (for a start, I’m nowhere near famous enough to be influential…)

So, in the words of a very famous, fictional, Italian plumber – Here we go!

5.       The Santa Clause (1995) – the Christmas film that puts the laughter in manslaughter… fairly sure they didn’t put that on any of the promotional material, but it’s true. Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) accidently kills Santa and gets more than he bargains for when he dons the suite himself. I think what made the film for me is the brilliantly dry and sarcastic elf Bernard (David Krumholtz). The second film (The Santa Clause 2) is also good however “Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” I found to be a bit of a let-down, possibly because of the severe lack of Bernard but mostly due to the annoyingly cheesy ending.

4.       Die Hard (1988) – It’s set at Christmas, so it counts. Fact. Bruce Willis (who still has hair at this point) plays New York cop John McClane who ends up stuck in a sky scraper that’s been over-run by terrorists and is the only one who can save the hostages from the building’s Christmas party – including his wife. It’s full of brilliant stunts, violence and explosions and McClane’s humour is the icing on the Christmas cake. The other 3 films in the series are also excellent, but sadly only the first and second films have any relevance to Christmas… but, hey, that’s two films for you guys to argue with your partners about watching!

3.       Home Alone (1990) – a brilliant, if terribly unrealistic, film full of comedy to suite the whole family. 8-year-old Kevin McCallister is left behind by his family when they go to Paris for the holidays and comes up with various ingenious ways to stop two dim-witted burglars from breaking into his house. The idea of a young child out-smarting two fully grown men is funny in itself, but McCallister’s witty lines and the copious amounts of slap-stick add to the hilarity and make it suitable for all ages.

2.       The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) – It’s a Charles Dickens’ classic with the Muppets and Michael Caine in it… what else could you possibly want? Essentially a re-telling of the traditional story where Scrooge (Michael Caine) is visited by three ghosts that just so happen to be puppets… The whole thing is narrated by Gonzo the Great and Rizzo the Rat, whose relationship adds an extra layer of hilarity to an already funny film.

1.       Scrooged (1988) – Bill. Murray. That is all…

Frank Cross (Murray), a cynical and selfish TV executive, is visited by 3 ghosts on Christmas Eve whilst he tries to put on a live performance of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” which, as I’m sure you can imagine, has hilarious consequences. The modern twist this film put on the Dickens classic makes it both more relevant and funnier and Bill Murray is excellent, as usual.

You will never understand how hard it was to narrow it down to just 5 films… Some other brilliant films that didn’t quite make the cut (but possibly would have if I had made this list a few days ago or a few days from now) include:

·         Gremlins (1984)

·         Miracle on 34^th Street (1994)

·         Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)

And, arguably not a Christmas film, but there’s snow so I think it counts:

·         Edward Scissorhands (1990)

So, there you are. If that’s not enough to get your Christmas juices flowing, you should probably start practising saying “Bah-humbug!”

Until next time, merry 29 days ‘til Christmas!