What's your favorite Christmas movie, and why?

It's genuinely Die Hard. Calling it a Christmas movie used to be something I said for fun, but somewhere along the line, watching it at Christmas has become an actual tradition that I look forward to

Absolutely in the same boat as you. Used to be home alone (1&2) but the past 5 years or so the first Christmas movie I put on is Die Hard and I can’t imagine that changing anytime in the future.
- Home alone is a great choice too. Love those ones. Such great comedy, so many good memories of watching it with my family.
If you're the kind of person who counts Die Hard as a Christmas movie, I seriously suggest you watch The Long Kiss Goodnight as a contender. Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson co-starring in a Christmas flavored spy adventure roadtrip.

Here's a minute and a half to make my point.
- I love that movie! :)
It's like how Star wars movies are Christmas movies.
- Not at all.
  
  Die Hard at its heart it is a story of a man trying to bring his family together. His presence in the story is one of traditional family values thrown into a world where they aren't valued.
- I don't mean it like that. I'm not trying to meme or anything. Yeah, meming is why I first started watching it at Christmas, but it's long stopped being about the meme and and debates about whether it's a Christmas movie.
  
  I watch it every Christmas now because it has become a genuine tradition for me
- Have you seen the Star Wars Christmas special?

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Honestly it's one of the few Christmas movies I still really look forward to watching. Not only have I always loved the muppets, but it's just a really good movie. Micheal Caine is gives it 100% and the story adaptation is really well done. And having Gonzo narrating as Dickens plus Rizzo for breaking tension was pulled off so well.

It's my pick too. I've never seen another rendition I liked any better and it's actually pretty loyal to the book. Caine's Scrooge is actually very sympathetic and his character growth is really satisfying. It's funny and wholesome and nicely grounded in what the holiday means to me personally. I'm an atheist but I love Christmas because of the reminder to share our appreciation and gratitude to the ones we love, and come together to share our good fortune or commiserate over bad. Plus the songs are so catchy.
I have such fond memories of this film. Going to see it at our local small-town cinema when it came out and I was like 8 or 9 years old. Me and my little brother used to get dropped off there every Saturday morning with a couple packets of sweets up our sleeves and just left to watch whatever was on while our parents did mysterious grownup errands.

Anyway I remembered it being great but was worried it was just a nostalgia thing. Saw it again a couple years ago and nope! Still holds up! It's a genuinely great film and anyone who hasn't seen it should do so immediately.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

What's this?
- Tim Burton masterpiece
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare_Before_Christmas
- A 1993 animation film produced by Tim Burton and a great (dark) Christmas film. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare_Before_Christmas
I'm upset I had to scroll this far down to find this is my go to movie for Halloween and 🤮mas

~~sorry I just really fucking hate Christmas~~

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Home Alone.

That's my favorite. Also Home Alone 2, mostly for the scene where Marv becomes a skeleton.
- My 4 years old watched these movies for the first time 2 weeks ago and he still talks about Marv being electrocuted and turning into a skeleton.

Hogfather. Based on the Terry Pratchett book of the same name. The hogfather (santa) is missing so Death has to fill in.

The 2006 mini series or the 2007 movie?
- I haven't watched it, but I think the 2007 movie is just a re-airing of the miniseries (which was two parts) as a single part. At least that's what it seems like looking around the internet.
  
  I'm definitely watching it this holiday. I love Pratchett.

For me it has to be National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, along with other seasonal offerings, Groundhog day, Trading Places, Love Actually, & The Family Stone..

A Christmas Story! It always runs 24/7 on some channel come the holidays. It's also just one of my favorite movies. Nothing overstays, all the actors are great, the little daydream scenes, I love it all.

Since it is well established that Die Hard qualifies, by the same criterion so does Gilliam's Brazil from 1985, and that would be mine, for its gloriously nightmarish dystopia - closely followed by Klaus (2019), which is a far more conventional seasonal tale: an animation with a beautiful style of artwork and a great story.

Klaus was really good, far better than I expected.

The Grinch (2000). Jim Carrey's tortured performance slays me.

Followed by White Christmas (1954) because I love Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen.

The makeup tortured him so much they had to hire CIA operatives to teach him how to resist torture.
- Yes. We know. It comes up every time it's mentioned.
  
  And Bing Crosby was a POS who beat his kids.

I love that Arnold is so famous in Western culture that no one has to say his last name. He is the only Arnold that matters and it will be a great sadness to the hemisphere the day he leaves us.

Hey Arnold! ended in 2004. Arnold's been gone for a long time now.
- That show was wonderful though

A Muppet Family Christmas
It has everything, muppets, sesame street, fraggle rock, songs, jokes, swedish chef. It was my favorite as a kid and still makes me laugh every year.

Watch out for the icy patch!

I don't even recall seeing it as a kid in the 80s, but I found it once I had kids and it's absolutely our favorite to watch as a family. In fact, now that the kids are teenagers, this is probably the only one that will draw them out of their rooms to watch together still.

Hear me out: Ernest Saves Christmas

Been quoting lines from this movie for years:

Every time we see Santa at the mall: (lean it to the wife) "His real name is 'Santos'"
Everytime we see a sleigh decoration: "'Slay'! Not 'Sleigh'"
"Call it a fifth sense. Call it extra sensory perspiration."
"Right as rain sugar. Pork's my meat!"
"It's all dem movie people want. Poison!"
"Having walked from the airport, I'll be dead soon"
... and much much more

Holy Christmas I thought I was the only one. When he's talking to Vern in his house, and he's trying to set the lights up, and while he's talking to Vern he's pulling the corn and it's ripping out of the wall and then it ends up going to the chandelier then he pulls the chandelier but it won't fall, so he walks away saying he's going to get some wire cutters. I can't believe how funny this movie is. And I literally watched it last night too lol.

For me it’s Wonderful Life from Frank Capra!

Home Alone. For me, only the first one. The soundtrack is also a legit good Christmas album.

Muppet Christmas Carol. Michael Caine with the straightman performance of the century sharing screentime with Rizzo the rat. Masterpiece from start to finish.

the one with the leg lamp

Oh fudge!

But I didn't say fudge...
Permanently Deleted

Can't believe I don't see Gremlins anywhere here! The first one is inarguably a Christmas movie.

I love when his mom fires up the blender and when stripe rewires Mrs. Deagle's stair climber.

8/10 Christmas rating.
Ooh that's a good one.

Bad Santa. It’s cynical and hilarious and still ends up weirdly heartwarming.

Shit happens when you party naked.
The first time I saw that movie it was actually in the theater on Christmas day. It was me, one elderly couple, and one other guy in the entire theater. The elderly couple got up and left before the title even made it on screen, and I was already laughing. I've watched it every single year since.

The Year Without A Santa Clause (1974)

Those meiser jingles are too good and the claymation has big Christmas vibes to it.

"Shitter was full!"

have you checked our shitters honey?

Home Alone 2 for me! There is something super cozy about the snowy New York City setting. Especially when I was younger I really appreciated those vibes.

Home alone 2 and gta 4 are the reasons I feel nostalgia whenever I see pictures of NYC. I'm not even from the US and I was a 1 year old the last time I was in New York so I remember nothing
- Isn’t it funny how much of an impact film and video games can have on us?
  
  I now reside in the US, but I also have tons of nostalgia from the early 90s American movies even though I wasn’t here at the time.

Alien (1979). When the cryogenic sleep pods open at the beginning it reminds me of those dioramas people do of Baby J, the three wise men etc. The alien is like one of the animals, although a little more aggressive.

I don't think there's any topping It's A Wonderful Life, but it almost feels like cheating.

scrooged

Die hard. It's the the only one that comes to mind.

Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas

Excellent music, a wholesome story, and a Snake that plays Bass.

What's not to love?

Classic

Rare Exports

die hard

Arthur Christmas (no, not THAT Arthur)

It's a computer animated film from Aardman Animations, the studio that makes Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, etc. I watch it at least once a year, and every time I do I laugh hysterically, I cry, and I get wrapped up in the action. And, the story has four main characters with four really good arcs.

Eight crazy nights is a staple in our family, no kids yet so that will probably change if we ever have those lol

an old favorite for me is Prancer from 1989 with Sam Elliott. We taped it off the TV, so the old commercials and tracking lines and distorted audio all play into it. Man I miss that tape.

Classic: A Christmas Carol, the 1951 version with Alastair Sim. Sim's giddy portrayal of Scrooge on Christmas morning is one of my favorite performances of any actor.

Modern: A Christmas Story, and Elf.

Ever notice how Arnold is always punching random animals, from deer to the camels in Conan the barbarian's tribe to I think a horse in one of the other movies? Wondering if that's a thing he asks for, like in every movie he asks "can I punch an animal in a part of the movie".

But anyways, I know Die Hard sounds cliché and like a dead meme at this point to choose, but aside from Elf, all the Christmas movies are so gimmicky in none of the good ways. In Die Hard, it's not trying too hard, which is exactly why I choose it even though it also makes it exempt from Christmas movie status to a lot of people.

For some reason this made for TV movie called The Night They Saved Christmas with Jaclyn Smith and Art Carney.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_They_Saved_Christmas

idk why. It’s got one of the most annoying kids in it, and it’s the first thing I think of watching every time around.

edit: I just read the plot summary and it sounds fairly insane.

Late 90s Macedonian flick "Goodbye, 20th Century".

Santa scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBWqVaI_gfk

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Just friends

Also Klaus is good

I actually really like The Night Before. That ~~Joe~~ Seth Rogan movie. It's the only one I've been rewatching over the last few years.

It’s the “Christmas in the Car” episode of Bob’s Burgers. Yeah, sure it’s not a movie but it’s the most Christmassy feeling thing I’ve watched since I left home and it inspired my new favorite Christmas morning dish (a Dutch Baby) and I just love the scene when they’re cowering in their car in the forest and the car’s off and it starts to snow because it really captures how it feels to be out in the dark that’s not really dark because there’s snow everywhere.

If you haven’t made a dutch baby, it’s incredibly easy and extremely delicious and a good reason to buy a cast iron skillet if you haven’t already.

The bleakening is my favorite Bob's Burger Christmas episode. Twinkly Lights has become one of my favorite Christmas songs.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985 film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Adventures_of_Santa_Claus_(1985_film)

Classic Rankin/Bass's stop motion like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa
Elves
Toys
Flying reindeer

also

Immortals
Wood Nymph's
Evil invisible creatures called the Awgwas

i much prefer the 2000 adaptation

Violent Night

Die Hard!

Happiest Season felt surprisingly new as a family, love tragedy christmas movie and I really like it. It isn't an older movie but since it came out, it is a must watch every christmas season.

Before this, it definitely was The Long Kiss Goodnight (and funny thing, the german title translates to "deadly christmas")

I love Happiest Season! It's got such a dumb, quirky humor to it that always cracks me up.

White Christmas. Nothing special about it, but it’s the movie my family watched every year when I was growing up. I can probably quote more of it than is healthy.

“When what’s left of you gets around to getting what’s left to be gotten, what’s left to be gotten won’t be worth getting, whatever it is you’ve got left.”

Has to be Krampus, and Anna and the Apocalypse.

Krampus really scratches that nostalgic itch every year and I don't know why. The broken family dynamics, the environment, the sound and set designs are amazing. And it has a lesson like every good Christmas movie should.

And Anna and the Apocalypse is similar. It is funny, musical, and ultimately an allegory about growing up and leaving everyone behind to forge your own path. A good reminder that you never know when it will be your last Christmas with someone. Or maybe I'm looking into it too much and I just like zombie musicals.

We swap between two movies each year.

Even years it is A LION IN WINTER, an amazing film with insanely quotable dialogue. (EDIT: Why? On "star power" alone, this movie is outrageously cast.)

Odd years it is A CHRISTMAS STORY, which is equally quotable (perhaps more so). (EDIT: Why? Because so many things in this film ring true to my own childhood - having to have last-minute dinner at a Chinese restaurant because of a disaster, for example, or begging for a b-b-gun...)

Home for the Holidays.

The Mistle-Tones. It's so bad, and I love it so much! It's a family tradition now to get high and watch it every year, and it's my favorite tradition.

Noelle (2019)

Black Christmas is one of my favorites I haven't seen mentioned yet. I am a big fan of horror movies and it's a bit of a classic a surprising amount of people haven't seen.

There's a ton of movies called that. What year?
- The 1974 original! Directed by Bob Clark, who would also give us Porky's and A Christmas Story.
- I said it was considered a classic, I was referring to the original from 1974.

I've never seen Die Hard and have no interest in seeing it anytime soon. I hope at least one person is offended by that.

Also Christmas Vacation is our tradition

Every time I have tried to watch die hard, I have failed. It just isn't very good imo