Top 5: Holiday Movies

It's that time of year...when your TV set is bombarded with ads for diamonds and HDTVs (which are both great gift ideas if you were thinking of sending me something) and holiday movies like It's a Wonderful Life. And while I do love a good morality tale, you won't find me watching Jimmy Stewart this time of year. Instead, here are the 5 films that get me in the holiday mood:

1. Scrooged - My all time favorite Christmas movie and, in my opinion, the best telling of A Christmas Carol ever (Yes. Even better then the one with Mickey and Scrooge McDuck). Bill Murray is funny as ever and pretty much makes the entire movie. Sure the supporting cast is wonderful, but this is Bill Murray's movie. I still remember seeing it in the theater and people singing along at the end...makes the world seem a little brighter during the holidays.

2. A Christmas Story - I think most people regard this as a modern Christmas classic...and rightly so (they don't play it for 24 hours every Christmas Eve for nothin'). I think my favorite moment is when the family is at the Chinese restaurant for dinner (because the neighbor's dogs have ruined Christmas dinner) and Father is trying to get the Chinese waiters to sing "fa-la-la-la-la" rather than "Fa-rah-rah-rah-rah." Hilarious. And I learned some valuable lessons from this movie...don't stick your tongue to a frozen pole or it will get stuck; eating soap can make you blind; "fragile" is Italian; "fudge" is a perfectly acceptable alternative to "fuck"...valuable lessons, all.

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - I've never seen the Bass and Rainkin stop motion movies (like Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Year Without Santa Claus), which I'm sure is creating a serious hole in my life, but HTGSC has always been enough to fill the void. This wonderful (original) animated telling of the Dr. Seuss story is always a highlight of the holiday season (we'll just pretend the dreadful live action version never happened).

4. White Christmas - This is about as old-school classic as you can get. Bing Crosby is so charming and Danny Kaye is just phenomenal. I also really like Holiday Inn (which is basically the exact same movie and the first time Bing Crosby sang White Christmas). They both make me wish I lived somewhere with snow...if only during the holidays.

5. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - It's kinda sad the National Lampoon movies have become such crap because the Griswolds were a truly great American family. I know this film is not what you would call "good" or "smart" or "original" or, I dunno, worth watching multiple times, but I love it and have probably seen it 20 times (though it has been awhile). Sure it has the exact same plot as all the other Vacation movies (Chevy Chase is an idiot, screws up as much as possible, gets really angry at someone and does something illegal and it all works out in the end), but this is holiday film making at it's finest! (That last bit is completely untrue)

So, what are your favorite holiday movies?