Well, in the immortal words of Porky Pig, “That’s All Folks!”. I hope that you’ve all enjoyed my personal look at a selection of festive films from throughout movie history. This is not intended to be a definitive or diverse look at the genre, but simply a selection of reviews of films which I have watched with my family over the festive period.
But it’s time to take one last look at the movies which I had chosen to review in an effort to get some sense of how Christmas movies rate in the grand scheme of my movie fanaticism.
–
- THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 1994 8/10
- ARTHUR CHRISTMAS 3D 2011 8/10
- THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL 1992 6/10
- THE GRINCH 2000 6/10
- THE POLAR EXPRESS 2004 8/10
- GREMLINS 1984 8/10
- IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE 1946 9/10
- ELF 2003 4/10
- SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE 1985 6/10
- FOUR CHRISTMASES 2008 5/10
–
OVERALL RATING: 6.0/10 which would mean that my movie mood for the festive period has been a GOOD.
The top rated Christmas movie this year was It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) with 9/10, in spite of the fact that it was released in the U.S. on January 7th 1947!
But what’s missing? Well, there was an absence of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the modern Bill Murray classic, Scrooged (1988) and what about Die Hard (1988) or Die Hard II (1990)? Well, stay tuned next December…
Clearly, even though I love Christmas and spending time with my family, the films which I must watch which my wife and five kids do little for me on the whole, and Christmas Schmaltz is more palatable that I often give it credit for. In small doses, its saccharine taste can be bearable but something which I can live without for the remaining 11 months of the year. Science Fiction & Fantasy led the way though, with It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1994), The Polar Express (2004), Gremlins (1984) and Arthur Christmas 3D (2011) leading the way, and the festive Elf (2003), falling well behind.
Well, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this little taste of Christmas on the pearl screen that you’ve all had a very Happy Christmas and will go on to have a wonderful, film filled New Year.