Favorite Christmas Movies | Group Chat

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year for Muppets, Leg Lamps, and a visit to Bedford Falls.

Note: From time to time, Cinemantic’s four main contributors — Tyler MacQueen, Graham Piro, Caleb Boyer, and Daniel Mitchell — will jump on a call to chat about anything and everything movie-related. This conversation is on the topic of our favorite (and occasionally least favorite) Christmas movies.

---

What Is Your Favorite Christmas Movie?

Graham: The Muppet Christmas Carol. It's the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol because its narrator conceit allows it to pull lines directly from Dickens's prose, which is a stroke of genius. Michael Caine anchors the film; the songs are hilarious, and every shot feels like it had hours of work poured into it. It's incredibly funny in ways that children and adults will appreciate, and it isn't afraid to get dark and emotional. It is a film that only gets better with age and rewatches as you grow to appreciate the artistry on the screen. It may be a little cheesy at times, but we all need a little cheeses for us meeces.

Caleb: It's a Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic, but I hold a special place in my heart for Home Alone. Sure, it is not the most profound Christmas movie, but it still makes me nostalgic and laugh, and I often find myself quoting it even when the holidays are over. Plus, nothing reminds me of Christmas like John William's incredible score.

Daniel: It's a Wonderful Life. It captures the best of the Christmas spirit with a tale that gets more and more emotional every year I watch it. The first part is a charming small town movie about a man with big dreams, and then the final act of despair, redemption, and friendship makes me so grateful for my life, family, and friends. I also want the record to reflect that there is nothing wrong with Mary being a librarian in the Pottersville scene.

Tyler: I hold a trifecta of Christmas movies close to my heart. The first two have been spoken for, which leaves the third to claim: A Christmas Story. Yes, this movie is essential yearly viewing in my house, and we Ohioans proudly claim it as our own. Still, I chose it because it's a bittersweet, nostalgic, and often funny examination of the American Christmas. Each scene is memorable and rewards each viewing with a major award even better than the Leg Lamp.

What Is The Most Underrated Christmas Movie?

Graham: Fatman. It's a thoughtful and meditative film about growing old and the compromises you have to make as you age. Mel Gibson is great as a battle-scarred and weathered Kris Kringle, and Walton Goggins knocks it out of the park as the hitman. For a movie with a premise as absurd as "bitter kid hires hitman to kill Santa Claus," it's remarkably restrained and poignant.

Tyler: The Polar Express. Dead eyes of the motion capture animation aside, this movie is often a very dark and somber reflection on faith, considering how often elementary school kids watch it. There are moments, both musical and not, that have stuck with me long after the holiday season comes and goes. It deserves more respect.

Caleb: Jingle All the Way. Unless you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, you can't bench press your way out of watching this underrated Christmas movie. If you're looking for a fun, zany Christmas story that isn't Home Alone or Elf, look no further than this 1996 classic.

Daniel: A Charlie Brown Christmas. I love the tradition of watching this with my family in December. The music feels perhaps the most "Christmasy" to me and it's always put me in the Christmas spirit. The music is great, of course, but it's Linus telling the true meaning of Christmas that is the high point here. Despite its popularity, it's still underrated.

What Is The Most Overrated Christmas movie?

Graham: Home Alone 2. I fully admit I'm not the biggest Home Alone fan, but the first one is a charming, funny, and occasionally wicked movie. The second is just a completely derivative and soulless piece of filmmaking. The New York setting offers a nice change of scenery and opportunity for various amusing cameos, but the second half of the film is just the first film all over again, and this time the humor is gone and it just becomes an incredibly mean-spirited movie. There's minimal charm and the film's attempts at pulling on the heartstrings is just hitting the same notes as the first movie again.

Tyler: Love Actually. The first time you watch it, the movie is tolerable enough to make you smile almost the entire time. Think about it any deeper, and you quickly realize how outdated and creepy it is.

Caleb: The Nightmare Before Christmas. While undoubtedly original and featuring incredible stop-motion animation, nothing puts me in the holiday spirit less than the dark, strange misadventures of Halloweentown's pumpkin king, Jack Skellington. Visions of sugarplums were not dancing in my head when I first watched this self-proclaimed nightmare as a kid. Take me back to the stop-motion Christmas movies of the 60s and 70s so I can be lulled to sleep by the beautiful crooning voices of Fred Astaire and Burl Ives.

Daniel: Elf. I enjoy it; it's cute and fun. I think Christmas has become a little too saturated with Elf content. Silly, over-the-top Christmas is not my preferred style.

Favorite Holiday Movie Memories:

Graham: Watching Black Adder's Christmas Carol with Christmas cookies and hot chocolate on Christmas Eve. If that doesn't sound familiar, it's a hilarious inversion of the Christmas Carol story with a panoply of British comedic talents. It's the funniest 45 minutes you'll spend this Christmas.

Tyler: Every Thanksgiving, after the meals were finished and the plates cleared, we'd start decorating for Christmas and put on a different version of A Christmas Carol every year. There weren't many chances to watch the same version twice with so many versions!

Caleb: It may seem odd that my favorite holiday movie memory has little and yet somehow a lot to do with the themes of Christmas, but I will always cherish watching the extended version of the Lord of the Rings with my family every time the holidays and Santa came to town. It was often the only time of year when our entire family could sit down and spend that much time together, enjoying one of the best stories about the importance and power of friendship and goodness.

Daniel: A few nights before Christmas, my wife and I are usually up late baking various types of cookies. We set up a projector in the kitchen and we do a double feature of Die Hard and White Christmas. There's so many quotable lines between the two movies, and it's become one of our favorite traditions.

Rapid Fire Round!

---

Holiday Desert Island: What 4 Christmas Movies are you watching?

Graham: Muppet Christmas Carol, Fatman, Batman Returns, It's a Wonderful Life.

Tyler: Muppet Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, The Polar Express.

Caleb: It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, Violent Night, White Christmas.

Daniel: Muppet Christmas Carol, White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, Charlie Brown Christmas.

Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

Graham: Yes. “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho.”

Tyler: No. I'm not doing this again.

Caleb: Yes. Welcome to the party, pal!

Daniel: Yes. “Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs!”

What Holiday Family Do You Most Want to Join?

Graham: The Kratchits (but only the Muppet version).

Tyler: The Baileys.

Caleb: The McClanes.

Daniel: The siblings from The Holiday - Christmas in London sounds perfect.

Which Version of The Grinch is your Favorite?

Graham: Boris Karloff. Jim Carrey's Grinch is an abomination.

Tyler: Jim Carrey. “6:30, dinner with myself. I can’t cancel that again!”

Caleb: Jim Carrey. You gonna cuff me? Put me in a chokehold? Blind me with pepper spray?

Daniel: Animated Boris Karloff.