Sometimes I get very over the top reactions from people when I tell them my favourite movie to watch Christmas Eve is Die Hard. Sure, I actually do watch it every Christmas Eve, it’s kind of a tradition at our place to wrap presents and have it on. It’s not my favourite movie, though.
Love, Actually is the big winner for me, it ticks all the boxes – funny, sad, heart-warming, at times ridiculous, a bit of love, a bit of sorrow all with a leadup to Christmas backdrop. And it makes me laugh hard at times – Hugh Grant’s Prime Ministerial Dance and Billy Mack’s onstage antics always get me. And I rarely laugh at mainstream comedies – I might chuckle, but a lifetime of absurd humour from Monty Python and Ricky Gervais has probably ruined me for the typical sitcom.
I also have a very dark sense of humour , so Bad Santa, Scrooged, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation are all on my must-watch list.
And I can get just as nostalgic as the next person, so the classics – It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th, A Christmas Carol and such all deserve a viewing this holiday season.
In small doses, I like the claymation classics – Rudolph and Frosty.
Yes I also like the Home Alones, and a bit of Elf.
But the film that always puts me in the Christmas Spirit is Charlie Brown’s Christmas. All the child actors just sound so earnest and real (which makes sense, they were real kids cast for the voice acting which was unheard of back then) The soundtrack and the little bit of singing is superb, and the central message the film sends (thank you Linus) is the one that I identify with the most during the holiday season.
So what is your favourite Christmas movie? There are no wrong answers. You can even say Rocky IV since technically the big fight with Drago takes place on Christmas Day.
