
In a performance that glides from teenage swagger to adult despair with discomforting ease, Stewart personifies everything hopeful and dreary about the holiday season. But mostly, it comes down to Jimmy Stewart's shadow-strewn face.
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Ho ho ho, right?Īnd yet, this is the movie we turn to every holiday season: Why? Well, for one thing, there's the small-town sweetness of Bedford Falls, the even-handed assurance of Frank Capra's direction, and the moon-lassoing charms of Donna Reed as Mary Bailey. Despite its cheery title, It's a Wonderful Life is an oft-depressing parable that asks unpleasant questions and provides few definitive answers. Only a second-class angel, sent down from the heavens after viewing a celestial recap of George's life, can save him. So it only makes sense that the most popular and universally beloved Christmas movie is about a suicidal guy named George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) who gets his ass metaphorically beaten by the forces of capitalism personified by a rich, bald banker who likes naming things after himself.

With all the family, forced cheer, and spiked eggnog, the holidays are often a time for maudlin self-reflection. Where to watch it: Stream on Disney+ rent on Amazon, iTunes, VUDU, and YouTube 20th Century Fox Warm, witty, and wonderful, The Muppet Christmas Carol is a testament to Jim Henson's achievements-literally, as his son Brian directed the film shortly after Henson's passing, and dedicated it to his late father. - Matt Patches Shepard's Wind in the Willows illustrations. Kermit, in period threads, comes closest to enlivening E. The bubbly Ghost of Christmas Present deserves a place on the Christmas tree. Threaded together by The Muppet Movie songwriter Paul Williams' original tunes, and given meta-cleverness by Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) narration, The Muppet Christmas Carol renews the Victorian classic with an ornamental sense of wonder. With a century's worth of Ebenezer Scrooges grumping around the movie history books, it's Michael Caine's performance, towering over and barking at Jim Henson's innocent, felt ensemble, that feels the most immortal, the most Christmas. Where to watch it: Stream on Disney+ rent on Amazon, iTunes, VUDU, and YouTube Paramount Pictures The psychology doesn't undercut the grandeur from the candlelit extravagance of Christmas Present's grand entrance to the legitimately terrifying horrors of Christmas Future, Zemeckis doesn't hold back, giving us the blockbuster take on the material that we didn't know we needed. The twist turns this time-honored tale into a more psychedelic ride through time-that may all be a figment of Scrooge's imagination (and lends credence to the aging businessman's gut instinct on the Ghost of Christmas Past: "You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato."). New Line Cinemaįor his animated take on the classic Charles Dickens serial, Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis recruited living-cartoon Jim Carrey to play Ebenezer Scrooge and the three Ghosts of Christmas through the magic of motion-capture technology. (Or, if you're feeling ambitious, dig up the old VHS copies stashed away somewhere.) What would Christmas be without instant gratification?įor more holiday options, check out our list of the best Christmas movies on Netflix this year. Who only checks a list twice? We're also telling you where to watch them right now, with an emphasis on streaming services that include them with a subscription, though you can usually rent most of these movies from the likes of Amazon, iTunes, VUDU, and YouTube. Like Santa Claus himself, we're making a list, but we're checking it more than twice because-seriously-this is important. So, with apologies to John McClane and fellow "set your action thriller on Christmas" enthusiast Shane Black, the movies you're about to read about are actually about Christmas-with all the joys, anxieties, and surprises they bring. But you probably don't ring in yuletide cheer by fighting off terrorists at Nakatomi Plaza. We don't want to make any assumptions about what your family or friends are like-maybe they're all claymation characters.



Since we all have different traditions, that means Christmas films can take many chestnut-roasting, Jack Frost-nipping forms: unrelentingly cheery musicals, vaguely religious dramas, defiantly grim horror films, or gleefully vulgar comedies. A truly great Christmas movie should channel the mood of the holiday season.
