Now that the Christmas season is back again you might find yourself in a situation in which you’re required to watch a Christmas movie. From here you might find yourself being forced to suffer through the usual assortment of family friendly holiday tales that, though loaded on heart, are empty on awesome. From this collection there’s everything from the appearance of Santa Claus in New York to a little boy who nearly shot his eye out while an older version of himself drones narration. These movies may be nice, but they’re hardly awesome. Here is a short list of Christmas movies you can watch over the holiday season that are jam packed with awesome.
“Die Hard:” This has got to be, quite possibly, the greatest Christmas movie ever made. It’s story of an ordinary man, played by Bruce Willis, saving his wife from the clutches of Hans Gruber and is filled with holiday spirit! Alright, so the main theme is Christmas and it might just be one of the biggest action movies of the late eighties instead, but it does feature not one but two Christmas songs, and a thinly veiled reason to watch “Die hard” is good enough. It is also perfectly acceptable to watch “Die Harder” as a substitute for lesser, more meaningful Christmas movies. The third and fourth movies in the series take place during the summer, and thusly do not count.
“Scrooged:” This is not your ordinary rendition of Charles Dicken’s classic story. It is a dark film that is stylistically similar to “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” and genuinely funny as well. The main character isn’t Scrooge, but is rather a Scrooge type, heartless and overly demanding of his employees. Bill Murray plays Frank Cross, a television producer that is visited by the ghost of Christmas past, represented by a disgruntled taxi cab driver, the ghost of Christmas present, represented by a violent pixie, and the ghost of Christmas future, represented by a ghoul with a television screen for a face. This movie is a perfect example of taking an old story and making it interesting again.
“Christmas Vacation:” This is the third of the vacation movies, following the antics of the Griswolds, and is arguably the best. This time Clark’s aims are simple: to provide for his family the greatest Christmas ever, matching his ideal Christmas back in the day. It’s a simple movie, but every moment of it is absolutely hilarious. Having genuine holiday cheer is a bonus.
This may be a short list of Christmas movies, and it could surely contain others such as “A Nightmare Before Christmas,” of which I haven’t seen, and “Jingle All the Way,” which was actually a pretty funny movie. What’s important is realizing that good Christmas movies are out there, and you don’t have to settle on the same old and boring holiday favorites.