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| Is this a Christmas movie? |
Today is designated as a national day to watch a marathon of Christmas movies. December 23rd seems a bit early for that, since I'm working today, but maybe a lot of people take a whole week off for the holiday.
It seems that whenever a conversation starts concerning Christmas movies, the first question, "Is Diehard a Christmas movie?"
Those arguing that it is a Christmas movie make the case that there is an office Christmas party in one of the movie's scenes. Those arguing no, contend if the movie isn't 'about Christmas,' it's not a Christmas film.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Diehard is the eleventh best Christmas movie of all time.
Here's the top 10 of the Rotten Tomatoes Top 100 Christmas Movies:
11. Diehard
9. Carol
8. Klaus
7. Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
6. Little Women
5. Miracle on 34th Street
4. Tangerine
3. The Holdovers
2. Meet me in St. Louis
1. The Shop Around the Corner
From this list, I've seen five: Meet Me in St, Louis; The Holdovers; Miracle on 34th Street; It's a Wonderful Life; and Diehard.
It hadn't occurred to me that Meet Me in St, Louis was a Christmas movie because the first two things I think of is that Judy Garland starred in the movie and it centered on the World's Fair coming to St. Louis.
The Holdovers is a recent movie with Paul Giamatii as a teacher in a boarding who was assigned to look after students who couldn't go home for the holiday. It was a nice movie.
Miracle on 34th Street is a classic tale about a couple, a boy, and the Santa at Macy's Department Store. It's heart-warming without being sentimental.
I hadn't seen Klaus, but my colleagues at work place it among their favorites, so I felt like I needed to check it out. That happened last evening, when I found it on Netflix. It's a good movie with a different take on the origins of Santa.
It's a Wonderful Life didn't succeed when it was first released, but it's become a Christmas staple, shown on a variety of channel during the holidays.
I don't consider Diehard as a Christmas movie. I hadn't seen it until it got on our Covid Cinema list of movies to watch and we watched all of the Diehard films.
As I scanned the Top 100 list, I was surprised to see The Apartment, which starred Fred MacMurray, Shirley McClaine, and Jack Lemon. The movie is about a young guy in the office who is persuaded to let his co-workers borrow his home for romance; I don't remember Christmas playing a big part in this one either.
I was surprised to see the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and The Grinch on the list because they are TV shows, so I don't consider them movies I've seen.
The 40th best Christmas movie is The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, just a few spots behind White Christmas at 37. Elf is on the list at 27; A Muppet Christmas Carol is 35 and the movie that is usually shown for 24-hours straight, A Christmas Story is 20th. I watched all of these except the Star Wars special.
Two holiday movies I liked and thought were popular were far down the list; Home Alone is 78th and Polar Express stands at 90.
What are your favorite Christmas movies?
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