Just got through watching The Santa Clause on tv again a little bit ago and it made me realize that out of all the Christmas movies I've seen the original Santa Clause with Tim Allen is still my favorite one of all. I also have a soft spot for the original Home Alone and the original black and white version of A Christmas Carol and even last year's The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet was a surprisingly good film, but overall I still think the first Santa Clause beats them all. I have no idea if the Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is any good since I have yet to see it and don't know if I ever will since the second one just wasn't very good in my opinion and I'd be shocked if this new one is any better, but either way I doubt if it would hold a candle to the original anyway. So there's my list of the all-time best Christmas movies I've seen. What are yours?

I can't say whether or not any of these are the "best", but these are the ones that I find myself going back to time and time again...

A Christmas Story (The Red Ryder BB Gun movie)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Elf (The best new Christmas movie in a long time)
Home Alone
Home Alone 2
An American Christmas Carol (Henry Winkler)
A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart)
The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause 2 (I liked the second one...thought the 3rd was weak though.)
It's A Wonderful Life
The Polar Express (Not everything it could have been, but still quite charming.)
Ernest Saves Christmas
Scrooged (Bill Murray)

and of course the specials...

A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Wish For Wings That Work (Newly on DVD! YEAH!!!)
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Santa Clause Is Coming To Town
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
The Year Without A Santa Claus (The Miser Brothers)
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol
Twas The Night Before Christmas (Rankin Bass)
Raymond Briggs' The Snowman
A Chipmunk Christmas

and I'm sure I'm leaving some things out. (I'm still working my way through all of these this year!)

One thing I absolutely didn't care for...the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch. I just thought that it was too over the top and lacking in charm. It did nothing to upgrade or replace the original in my mind.

the christmas story - fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra. ra ra

A Christmas Story actually flopped when it was released in 1983, but has become a beloved classic after infinite airings on TV. They really did perfectly capture a specific time period--although Melinda Dillon is a bit wacky for a Mom of the late 1940s or early 50s.

Walter covered most of the good ones. I'll just add Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean, which I have to watch every season. The creche scene is a brilliant bit of comedy. And I'll give my annual plug to 2002's It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, whcih I think is an instant classic.

Boy, do I wish some label would issue a soundtrack CD for Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. I can find no mention that it was ever even available on vinyl.

One thats forgotten is Pee Wee's Christmas Special. What a gem!

I just saw Paul Rubens on the ABC show Pushing Daisies last night.

I avoided A Christmas Story when it first came out as I was a big fan of the Jean Shephard stories that inspired it, and I was afriad they would mess it up. Of course my worries were for nothing. It's a great movie.

Another one I like which is far less known is Comfort & Joy, a 1984 comedy about a disc jocky trying to make sense of his life after a breakup, and somehow getting in the middle of a turf war between rival ice cream sellers. It takes place during the Christmas season and as you might have guessed from the description, is a bit quirky ... just as you would expect from the director of Local Hero and Gregory's Girl. I love it. Last I checked, though, it was not available on DVD in the states, and if you see it in the TV listings it usually turns out to be a totally different movie with the same title. Worth looking for, though.

Jimbo...is that "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean" available on its own, or only as part of a larger set?

Oh yeah, another more recent animated TV favorite is A Pinky & The Brain Christmas, in which the title pair masquerade as elves in Santa's workshop, as part of a plot to take over the world. The head elf's name is Schotzie, what more do you need to know?

Pinky: "I don't wanna be an elf any more, Brain."
Brain: "What do you want to be Pinky?"
Pinky: "A dentist."

Pinky: "Hey Brain, we've been invited to the reindeer's Christmas party at Donner's place."
Brain: "The last thing we want to do is attend the Donner Party."

Walter: I bought a DVD titled Mr. Bean's Best Bits primarily for the Christmas show, but was shocked to discover that it was edited--an entire scene where he wins a huge turkey is deleted. Therefore, I'm holding on to my old VHS tape.

Ziggy's Gift is easily the best animated Christmas special I've ever seen-we watch it every year. Quite the tear-jerker actually! I sold the VHS for somewhere around $100 when it was out of print years ago and now have the DVD.
Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas also rules-especially when the River Bottom Nightmare Band perform-hilarious! Is the soundtrack on CD anywhere?
As for movies, Home Alone and Home Alone 2 are great, Elf was genius before Will Ferrell started making garbage, 29th Street to me is one of the best hidden gems of a Christmas movie-has anyone ever seen this? It came out around 1993 or so and it's amazing-it stars Antnony LaPaglia and I think Danny Aiello, it's been a few years since I watched it.
For whatever reason ever since high school we get together and drink as we watch Gremlins every Christmas-it all takes place at christmas and it qualifies in my book! I usually pop in the first two Die Hards as well due to the Christmas Eve factor. Plus, bad guys get killed for the holidays.
Oh yeah, Nightmare Before Christmas is simply awesome though I consider it more of a Halloween movie than Christmas.

Oh yeah, I'm also a fan of Emmett Otter--I'm just a Muppets kind of guy. There's never been a soundtrack release for that, either vinyl or CD.

"Scrooge" as released in 1951 in the UK, known as "A Christmas Carol" in the US is easily the frontrunner for me. It's widely considered the definitive screen treatment of Dicken's novel, I love it and never tire of watching it. The brand new version released this year will probably never be topped in quality because they were allowed access to the original 35mm film elements. It's restoration must be seen to be believed.

Note that there are additional screen versions of "A Christmas Carol", each of which has it's qualities. 1938's UK release starring Reginald Owen stays most faithful to the novel, but Alistair Sim in 1951's "Scrooge"/"A Christmas Carol" is widely considered the best performance as Scrooge. There are several other earlier British versions which have their own good points.

I definitely agree with Leonard Maltin that "there's no Christmas Carol (Alistair Sim's) quite like this version!"

Also agree with Gene Shalit that "There have been at least 8 movie versions of A Christmas Carol"....but the single enduring version is the 1951 film starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge...an incomparable Christmas present".

In any case, "A Christmas Carol" screws your head on the right way no matter which version is watched. Even Mister Magoo's cartoon treatment is fun. Even better, read the novel. Dickens was an amazing writer.

"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"

Besides many of the ones listed, I also like "White Christmas" with Crosby and Kaye.

I almost forgot...on the subject of Christmas specials, there's also "John Denver & The Muppets - A Christmas Together" which definitely deserves a DVD release.

I also can't believe I forgot this one when listing full length titles..."O'Henry's Full House". It's a classic and a heartwarming favorite, though not necessarily just about Christmas.

Just to clarify: the DVD I have is called The Best of Mr. Bean, which has the edit on the Xmas episode. There is also a set called Best Bits, but I cannot say if that one is edited too.

In addition to some that others have mentioned ("White Christmas" and
"It's a Wonderful Life"...and did anyone say "Holiday Inn"?), old classics that I have to make time to see every year are "The Bishop's Wife" (Cary Grant makes a charming angel), "Christmas in Connecticut" (I've got a crush on Barbara Stanwyck), and "Shop Around the Corner" and "Meet John Doe" (technically, neither is a Christmas movie, but each has climactic scenes that take place at Christmas).

Out of the ones mentioned I can't believe I forgot about Elf and Scrooged. I haven't seen Elf in almost 3 years now but when I did I absolutely loved it both times and I agree that this is probably the best performance Will Ferrel has ever done though I really loved him in Kicking & Screaming also and have yet to see Stranger Than Fiction. And believe it or not I hadn't seen Scrooged all the way through until earlier this year when I finally sat down and saw it on tv, but I certainly wish I had seen it sooner since it's really hilarious and I especially liked Bill Murray in it in what is easily tied with Groundhog's Day as his best performance ever. Also didn't mention Home Alone 2 in my initial post since I don't think it's quite as charming or funny as the original but still is pretty darn good in its own right and definitely deserves a mention here.

Surprisingly the only movie mentioned I've seen that I didn't care for at all was The Polar Express, because there's just something about that movie that left me feeling creeped out and unsettled and oddly cold in the end. Plus that one kid who got nothing but stupid underwear for Christmas had one of the most annoying voices I've ever heard in my life. I admit the animation up until they get to the north pole is pretty outstanding with the scenery being breathtaking to look at and the children looking especially lifelike and real, but for some reason that movie left me seriously disappointed in it and like I said very cold in the end as well.

And if we're also talking about Christmas specials my personal favorite would have to be the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas at #1 with Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, The Year Without a Santa Clause, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, and Amy Grant's Tennessee Christmas Special and The Lion and the Lamb all tying for the number two spot lol.

The Riverbottom Nightmare Band were awesome.

They woulda got my vote in the talent contest!

Besides Mr. Bean, I also gotta mention Blackadder's Christmas Carol, from Rowan Atkinson's other TV show. In which Ebenezer Blackadder, the kindest, most generous man in Victorian England winds up learning the wrong lesson from 3 visiting ghosts. Hilarious!

"WKRP in Cincinnati" did a great hourlong Christmas special back in the day called "Bah Humbug"--a takeoff on "A Christmas Carol" in which Mr. Carlson eats one of Johnny's "special" brownies, falls asleep, and dreams about Christmas Past (We see Les Nessman receive his very first bow tie!) and Christmas Future, in which Herb Tarlek is the only remaining employee of an all automated WKRP and we find out what happened to the rest of the staff:

Johnny's Ghost: Bailey runs a television station in Chicago. Travis is breeding guard dogs in New Mexico. Venus owns a clothing company called "Upwardly Mobile." Jennifer married and bought herself an entire island off the coast of Sardinia. Les Nessman? The Republican whip of the United States Senate!
Mr. Carlson: What about you and me? Fever and me?
Johnny's Ghost: Well, Fever just sort of ... disappeared. There were rumors, of course, but really not much else.

There's a theory that the closer something gets to being almost (but not quite) lifelike, the creepier it gets. This is why big dolls give most people the creeps, and I think that's the problem some people have with The Polar Express.

Speaking of which, I saw a 20-minute "4-D" version of the movie a few weeks ago at Stone Mountain in Georgia. The "4-D" part means that in addition to having a 3-D picture, there are also special effects in the therater itself, like feeling a sprinkle of cold water in the face when the train skids on ice. Being so drasically editied, it was a bit disjointed, but I liked the brevity of it in this day when it seems every movie is a 2 and 1/2 hour-plus endurance test.