It’s Christmas Eve. Most of us are celebrating with our family, friends, and loved ones. If you choose to spend some of that time watching movies, I have some help for you when deciding what to watch. Don’t waste your time watching other Christmas movies before you finish these 12. It just so happens that some of the greatest Christmas movies of all-time are not kid friendly, so I have included the ratings. The best Christmas movies are those you can watch year in and year out and still be entertained. Be sure to leave a comment or drop an email unafraidshow@gmail.com.
Here is the definitive list of the 12 Best Christmas movies of all time:
12. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation(PG-13)
Come hell or highwater, Clark Griswold is determined to have a great Christmas. He hastles his wife and kids while trying to make sure the lights, tree and everything else are perfect. Between unplanned family members showing up and not getting a holiday bonus at work all hell breaks lose.
11. Miracle on 34th Street (PG)
You can’t go wrong with either version of this Christmas classic. The story of a man on trial for claiming to be Santa Claus. It is impossible to leave Miracle on 34th Street off the list despite only needing to see it once.
10. Gremlins (PG)
There’s far more naughtiness than niceness on display in the 1984 horror-comedy Gremlins. There is a mystical Chinese creature known as a “mogwai” named Gizmo. It looks cute and cuddly, but when fed after midnight or touched by water it gives bubbling birth to mischievous monsters.
9. The Best Man Holiday (R)
The Best Man Holiday is completely underrated as a Christmas movie. It has everything you want. There is football, family, food, presents, and surprises. You laugh and cry when friends and family get together for the first time in 15 years.
8. A Charlie Brown Christmas (G)
Charlie Brown complains about the overwhelming materialism that he sees everywhere during the Christmas season. Lucy suggests that he become director of the school Christmas pageant, and Charlie Brown accepts. He tries to restore the proper Christmas spirit and teach those around him.
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (PG)
You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel
You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!
You really are a heel
You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch
You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel!
A classic Dr. Seuss book adapted for the movies. The people of Whoville get their villain and hero in one.
6. Bad Santa (R)
Bad Santa is a hilarious dark comedy. Santa Claus is a cold-hearted, drunk, sex-addict, and thief who robs department stores. The story ends well when Santas ends up finding hope and a heart in from a little boy who is determined to give him a Christmas present.
5. Die Hard (R)
I cannot believe that some people have the nerve to debate the validity of Die Hard as a Christmas movie. It is set on Christmas Eve, John McClane delivers the gift of freedom, there’s a pregnant woman, and it has a great Christmas Song (Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC).
4. Home Alone (PG)
There is no limit on the number of times that a person can watch and enjoy Home Alone. Macaulay Culkin is forgotten at home by his family as they leave on a trip. He is forced to battle a couple of dimwit thieves who he catches in the act of robbing a home.
3. It’s a Wonderful Life (PG)
Not only is this a Christmas movie, it is a classic movie despite the genre. Few films define Christmas like Frank Capra’s 1946 fantasy starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, who, on the verge of committing suicide, is visited by an angel who shows him the true importance of his life.
2. Trading Places (R)
Trading Places doesn’t get enough praise as a Christmas movie. This movie embodies everything about the Christmas spirit. It starts a few days before Christmas and ends after New Years Day. What better way to embody the Christmas spirit than by charity, love, and a little payback!
1. A Christmas Story (PG)
Absolutely and unequivocally the Best Christmas movie of all-time! This movie teaches you about bullying, leg lamps, washing your mouth out with soap, and air rifles. It is impossible to forget the best line from the entire movie, “You’ll shoot your eye out.”