What’s your favourite Christmas movie? For me, no matter how many great films I watch, Home Alone will always remain my go to holiday special. Great Christmas productions come out every year, but here are a few classics. So get your cup of mulled wine, or hot chocolate, your favourite blanket and get cosy in front of the TV.
1. Home Alone (1990)
When I was growing up, two to three weeks before Christmas, on Saturday, the first Home Alone movie aired, starting at 8 pm. Every year, without fail, my brother, my parents and I got in front of the TV and watched the story we got to know by heart.
2. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Of course, the Saturday after that, at 8 pm, on the same channel, the second Home Alone aired. After a while they started showing the following movies, without Macaulay Culkin, but honestly, they just aren’t the same. One more reason to watch Lost in New York this year is that the movie celebrates its 30th anniversary. Feeling old already?
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
No Christmas is complete without the Grinch! The first on screen adaptation of Dr Seuss’ book is and will forever remain the best. There is simply nothing that can compare to Thurl Ravenscroft singing “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch”.
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Talking about animations, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is as heart-warming as it is spooky. It’s a tough choice for this one, is it Halloween movie, is it a Christmas movie? Even though it revolves around these two holidays, Jack Skellington is a year-round kind of character. I even have the soundtrack saved as one of my favourite Spotify playlists. The album comes with an extra Reprise, not featured in the movie, that couldn’t have been a more perfect ending for the story.
5. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Since we’re on Tim Burton, his first of many brilliant collaborations with Johnny Depp will never get old. I’m not going to spoil the ending for you, but I’m just going to say it challenges the common conception of happy ending without lacking a load of sweetness.
6. Last Christmas (2019)
Speaking of unconventional happy endings, the title of Last Christmas comes exactly where you think it comes from – Wham!’s holiday hit. But you’re in for a surprise because, while the movie starts as your regular rom com, it takes a turn that maybe I should have seen coming, but I’m so glad I didn’t.
7. Harry Potter
The first few Harry Potter movies are pretty light and cheerful, before the story becomes more serious. The festive atmosphere at Hogwarts fades away each year as the plot darkens, but before that the trees in the dining hall, the floating candles, everything is, well, magical, pardon my pun.
8. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
There’s a reason this old-time classic is at the top of every Christmas movies list that’s out there and generally among the best movies ever made. That’s all I’m going to say about it.
9. The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
We all know and love Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The 1843 novella has been adapted for the big screens on many occasions, but this time, Bharat Nalluri decided to tell the story behind the story. Based on Les Standiford’s 2008 non-fiction book The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits, the movie follows Dickens as he writes Ebenezer Scrooge’s spiritual encounters.
10. Every Christmas episode in Friends
Ok, this isn’t a movie, but if you watch the Christmas specials of every season in Friends, it’s kind of like a movie and an absolutely amazing one. Plus, what kind of Christmas would it be without the Holiday Armadillo?
