Poll – Favorite Christmas Movie

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Family, decorations, presents, TV specials and movies celebrating the holiday … eveyrhing from warm & fuzzy to downright scary and everything in between, from drama to comedy. I’ve had a ritual for several years to spend a few nights before Santa’s arrival watching some of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. You can’t go wrong with the classic It’s a Wonderful Life, a Christmas movie that’s sure to tug the heartstrings. I love the movie’s small town charm and alt-universe look at how things would have turned out had good old George Bailey never existed. Kind of makes you wonder how much impact your own life has had on the world. If you love the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, there are many, many options to chose from, but my all-time favorite is the 1951 Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge). Sim perfectly embodies the character of Scrooge, and the film is just magical, foreboding and joyful by the end. If you like your Scrooge story with a modern twist, you can’t go wrong with The Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine as Scrooge. It really is one of the best modern versions of the story, and even with Muppets playing the majority of the Dickens characters, it still remains faithful to the source. Another twist on the tale comes from Bill Murray‘s Scrooged, which is probably the best modernized take on Dickens, with a great cast that includes everyone from Alfre Woodard to Carol Kane to John Forsythe. I usually kick off my holiday marathon with a film that’s not really a full-blown Christmas movie, Meet Me in St. Louis, but it does contain a segment that takes place during the holdays and features one of the best — and saddest — Christmas songs ever, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” If you’ve only heard this song performed by a plethora of artists over the years, they’ve usually livened it up a bit to make it sound more chipper, but the original version (with a slightly different lyric) performed by Judy Garland during an emotional scene in the movie is just devastating. I cannot hear the song anywhere without tearing up, and the Garland version will reduce me to nearly sobbing in public. It’s embarassing, but that’s the power of the song and the performance. Once you see the movie, you’ll never hear the song the same way again. And, of course, you can’t get through Christmas without A Christmas Story. I love how the film just perfectly captures the look and feel of the era. And Elf puts me in the Christmas spirit.

I asked my CliqueClack colleagues about their favorite holiday movies and this is what they had to say:

Ivey: As far as more traditional Christmas movies go, for me the list begins and ends with Scrooged. It’s the only one I really connect with. As far as non-traditional, the greatest action movie ever made, Die Hard. Gotta love it. Honorable mention? Love, Actually. Believe it or not, I’m a romantic at heart :)

Chuck: Good choices.  I actually do love Love, Actually.  That was my number one movie of the year it was released.

Katie: Christmas Vacation is a holiday standard with my family. It’s just the right mix of laughs, snark and heart. My dad highly relates to Clark during most of this movie, and there is one relative that reminds us of Cousin Eddie. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without watching Christmas Vacation with my dad.

My other must see movie is the one I watch with my mom — White Christmas. Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby lip-syncing in semi-drag is hilarious, especially when you know that they improv-ed a good amount of the “choreography” in that scene. The music is great, the chemistry between the characters is great and the ending makes me cry everytime. Plus, Danny Kaye “shushing” during the Snow song… just classic.

Chuck: Yes, Christmas Vacation is another favorite.

Jeremy: I’ve always been partial to that fairly okay Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Caine. Always enjoyed the puppetry work there.

So what are your holiday traditions when it comes to Christmas movies?  Take our poll below and if we missed anything, let us know in the comments section!

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Dec 19, 2011 @ 09:00 EST5EDT