Editor’s Note: While we know many of you are having to forgo your usual holiday traditions this season, we hope our annual Christmas Movies list is one tradition you’ll be able to maintain and enjoy this year. Happy holidays from Consequence of Sound.
If nothing else, we know this: Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Songs sing it to us, ads sell it to us, and those credit card bills that arrive in January remind us all over again. So, with all the hubbub, it’s no wonder that Hollywood and television have a long tradition of joining in that holiday spirit. But that doesn’t mean it’s all Santa, snowmen, and chestnuts roasting on open fires.
Sure, there’s plenty of traditional fare out there, some of which have become classics and must-sees each and every holiday season. But there are also plenty of alternative takes on this festive season and even films that, like the song goes, don’t even seem to know that it’s Christmas. So, here are our very favorite movies set around the Christmas holiday. And whether there are yuletide lessons to be learned, laughs to be had, or even murders to be covered up, all of the movies on this list remind us just how wonderful, or at least interesting, this time of the year really can be.
Fidelio.
–Matt Melis
Editorial Director
25. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Dr. Seuss’ despicable, green-furred, red-eyed, cardiovascularly challenged, Christmas-hating Grinch implements a diabolical plot to disguise himself as Santa and steal the holiday from his Christmas-adoring neighbors in Whoville.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… Not only does the Grinch learn that you can’t stop a good thing like Christmas, but we see him transform, like Ebeneezer Scrooge before him, into a goodhearted soul — a reminder that Christmas truly is a time for miracles. Now, pass the roast beast. Actually, what’s the vegan option?
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Matt Melis
24. Toys (1992)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Toys brings war to a landscape of joy and innocence: a toy factory, where Robin Williams has to stop his evil uncle from jump-starting drone warfare. Barry Levinson’s surreal fable is as eerie in its precognition as it is beautiful.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… Christmas, in all its idyllic FAO Schwartz glory, frames Toys and is key to ushering viewers into the film’s left-of-reality world. This visually stunning black comedy also houses a spectacular score/soundtrack, crowned by Wendy and Lisa’s goosebump-inducing holiday single “Closing of the Year”.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Cap Blackard
23. Scrooged (1988)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Bill Murray finds his inner Ebenezer Scrooge in this incredibly ’80s black comedy that further embellishes the eccentricities of Richard Donner’s filmography. Guy has done every genre.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… It’s funny, it’s spooky, and it’s a little macabre, but Scrooged still holds up as a go-to Christmas classic, if only to watch Murray go toe to toe with a bedlam of ’80s ghosts — literally and metaphorically.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Michael Roffman
22. In Bruges (2008)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… After a hit goes about as horribly wrong as a hit possibly can, two contract killers (Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell) are instructed to lay low in the picturesque town of Bruges, Belgium, during the most wonderful time of the year. Soon, restlessness and the specter of Ralph Fiennes’ foulmouthed crime boss rear their heads to bring chaos to the idyllic town.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… Martin McDonagh’s directorial debut is one of astounding quality and the kind of skewed take on the aesthetics of Christmastime that some will find themselves craving after so many carols and so much tinsel. It’s a violent, profane, lonely movie, and somehow it’s also funny as hell without ever caving on any of those other traits.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
21. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Sam the Snowman recalls the year that Christmas almost got cancelled due to a terrible snowstorm. Luckily, a certain red-nosed reindeer and his misfit friends saved the day and allowed Santa to ring in Christmas on schedule. Ho ho ho.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… It’s the pinnacle achievement of the Rankin/Bass claymation specials, featuring now-classic songs sung by the likes of Burl Ives, unforgettable characters from Hermey (an aspiring elf dentist) to Yukon Cornelius (a kind, oafish prospector), and the timeless message that our differences should be embraced and serve to bring us together, not cast us apart.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Matt Melis
20. A Christmas Tale (2008)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… A French family overseen by an assured matriarch returns under one roof for the first time in years to celebrate Christmas, and as is usually the case with dysfunctional families, this unearths all manner of long-held secrets, resentments, and vendettas.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… Arnaud Desplechin’s story of forgiveness, contempt, and death might not exactly instill the kind of warm fuzzies that many chase in their holiday movies, but A Christmas Tale stands as one of the best-ever holiday-centric stories of the ties that bind. Nobody’s ever capable of being more loving or more truly cruel to you than your family, something that the film understands well. And Catherine Deneuve is absolutely exceptional, as is her custom.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
19. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) takes over as the Santa at the Macy’s flagship store in New York, only to find himself embroiled in legal turmoil when his insistence that he is in fact the real Santa Claus leads to his being forced to stand trial for his alleged insanity.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… One of the original Christmas movies also remains one of the best, from Gwenn’s unforgettable performance as an iconic Santa to the film’s message of laying aside skepticism in favor of mirth and magic. There’s a serious case to be made that the subgenre of the Christmas movie wouldn’t exist at all without Miracle on 34th Street paving the way, and in a list full of movies that take an odder glance at the season, we can’t help but succumb to its idealistic charms all over again.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
18. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Shane Black takes us back to Los Angeles in this neo-noir black comedy that sends Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, and a fiery Michelle Monaghan through one warped holiday whodunnit.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… With Christmas once again his backdrop, Black wraps all of his taped-together action into a razor-sharp script that matches the 120 mph mannerisms of Downey, Jr. and the cutting stoicism of Kilmer.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Michael Roffman
17. Elf (2003)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) knows he’s not like the other elves at the North Pole. His voice is lower, he’s terrible at toymaking, and he’s several feet taller than anyone else. So Buddy takes off for the magical land of New York City in hopes of finding his real father and bringing his own brand of Christmas cheer to a jaded modern world.
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… Ferrell’s joyous delivery of every Buddy line is as infectious as the film itself, which remains one of Jon Favreau’s better directorial outings. It’s a movie that not only understands how singularly creepy “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is, but that the most earnest Christmas warmth comes from the most cynical among us setting aside their adult bitterness in favor of seasonal kindness.
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
16. Trading Places (1983)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas… The Duke brothers, a couple of white-collar “bookies,” run a social experiment with a one-dollar wager riding on whether they can turn a rich man to crime and send a poor man to the penthouse all for their holiday amusement. These old fogies are some festive fucks, aren’t they?
It’s the Most Wonderful Film… Of course, some yuletide justice gets dished out when the unknowing pawns in their game — a snobby Dan Aykroyd, a hustling Eddie Murphy, and a street-walking Jamie Lee Curtis — find out they’re being manipulated and develop their own plan to bankrupt the rich bastards. So, what do you want for Christmas this year, little boys? Um, we’ll take some revenge, Santa!
Greatest Gift to Cinema:
–Matt Melis
