If you have known me for a while, you know that I collect Christmas movies. Every year, I host a "Three-Week Christmas Movie Marathon Extravaganza." Needless to say, I watch most of the Christmas movies I own once (if not twice or three) times a year. Over the years, I have grown to love most of them and enjoy almost every night of the Marathon Extravaganza.
Here are my
Top 5 Favorite Christmas Movies:
Spoiler Alert!
5. Home Alone: There are several reasons I love Home Alone. First, is that it is very....Christmasy. I appreciate the Christmas movies that are committed to being Christmas movies and not just a movie that happens to happen on Christmas. So, in Home Alone, there is snow, Christmas decor, and other Christmas movie references. Kevin is also almost always seen wearing festive clothing. Another reason Home Alone is ranked is because of all of the hilarious references that almost everyone who's seen the movie understands. Although, I usually don't like slapstick comedy, it is admittedly pretty hilarious to see the idiot bad guys get their heads caught on fire, and nails go through their feet, and irons fall on their faces, and fall down flights of stairs...
4. The Family Stone: This movie may not be on your personal top Christmas movies list, but just hear me out. Not only does it have a great cast, the characters portrayed are so well-developed. You've got the classic territorial mom, the understanding dad, the perfect son, and the new uptight girlfriend who doesn't fit in. Add in several other siblings, all with a list of character flaws, and it makes for a pretty entertaining movie! A bigger reason The Family Stone is fourth on my list is all of the raw emotion. Throughout the movie, you feel what the characters feel, whether its happiness, appreciation, spite, or sorrow. Additionally, Rachel McAdams is arguably my favorite actress, so that just makes me like it more. There, I said it.
3. The Polar Express: I'm not exactly sure why I like The Polar Express so much. Could it be the singing? Could it be Tom Hanks? Could it be the fact that it is an off-the-beaten-path type of Christmas movie? Probably all of the above. Or it might just be that it would be freakin' awesome to have a train pull up to your doorstep and take you to the Polar Express. No, really, I honestly don't know why I like this movie so much. I love the association of being able to hear the bell and believing in Santa. Let's not even talk about how the small boy always makes me cry when he sings.
Ok, somebody fix me some hot chocolate.
2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: People either love it, or they hate it. My parents watched this movie every year since I can remember. Whenever I was little, the only part I thought was funny was when Chevy Chase falls through the attic floor while he is watching old Christmas home videos and crying. Now as an adult and as a fairly quick-witted lady, I find most, if not all, of the scenes and quotes hilarious. I think this is one of those movies you have to watch several times before you can really appreciate it. So, those of you who have seen it once, you know what they say: "Don't knock it until you've tried it [five or more times*]."
*Quote additions added by me.
1. White Christmas: This is my favorite for 2 reasons.
1. We all know how I feel about musicals.
2. Bing Crosby's voice when he sings "White Christmas."
More like "I'm dreaming of a Bing Crosby"
As I mentioned, I honestly do love almost all of the Christmas movies that I own. There are, however, a few that I thoroughly dread to watch. Granted, I realize that there ARE some really badly-made TV Christmas movies out there, but I'm not referring to those types. I'm referring to Christmas movies that most people love and adore, but to be quite honest, get on my last nerve. When Christmastime rolls around, I feel so torn; I feel an obligation to watch these along with the others that I like.
These are those movies, aka
The Top 3 Most Annoying Christmas Movies:
3. Jingle All the Way: The story is ok. The kid is a brat. The dad is the Terminator. Sinbad is super annoying. The acting is TERRIBLE. I'm not going to lie, there are some parts that I like. I love the part where Arnold is naming off Santa's eight reindeer over and over in his Austrian accent. That is pretty darn funny.
2. Frosty the Snowman: Am I the only one who thinks Frosty is dumb? Not really Frosty as in the story, but Frosty as in the snowman. I appreciate the family-friendliness of the story, but Frosty is just too dense for me to really like him.
1. It's a Wonderful Life: My reasoning for disliking It's a Wonderful Life is kind of a dumb reason, and I realize that, but its my reasoning, none-the-less. It all started when I started collecting Christmas movies by this time in my life. It had been several years of my collection, and I still had not every seen It's a Wonderful Life. "Oh, you have to see it" they said. "Oh, its a classic" they said. So, finally, I got it and I watched it. All I can say is I'm not impressed. Maybe I got my hopes up for the Christmas movie of all Christmas movies. Maybe I though it was annoying because the majority of the movie isn't even on Christmas. Maybe I just randomly don't like it. For those of you who love it, to each his own. Its still a good movie, especially for 1946, its just not as good as everyone makes it out to be. Similarly to "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, but thats a different post.
So, as you can see, its sort of hard for me to come up with reasons why I don't like these movies. Like I alluded, these aren't terrible movies, they just get on my nerves. So really this blog post should have been called "Ashley's Favorite Christmas Movies and the Ones that Annoy her the Most," but that's too long, I think we can all agree. What is your favorite Christmas movie and why? Leave a comment below.
Merry Christmas! Enjoy every Christmas movie like its your favorite Christmas movie!
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