Some people will tell you Christmas is all about family, giving and receiving gifts, religion, or eating your own bodyweight in Pringles.
I think it’s all about Christmas Movies. Well, some of it is anyway, a lot of it is about all those other things, of course.
Every year, as well as wearing my vast collection of Christmas themed clothing, there are certain films I have to have seen over the Christmas period or it’s just not Christmas yet. Some people assume that as a Vintage fan I probably spend all my time watching old movies, and while I do love an old movie, there’s actually only one on my Christmas essentials list that really qualifies under that bracket. The rest are just slightly aged!
In our house we have what we rather grandly call a Cinema Room. It’s actually a spare bedroom with a projector screen that goes over the window as a blind, a sofa bed, a projector and a laptop, but Cinema Room sounds way fancier. When the room isn’t full of washing that I haven’t yet got around to putting away it’s great fun to spend an evening in there with Mulled Wine mince pies and a box of Quality Street watching some of the films on this list.
It’s not a ground breaking list, I doubt very much whether there are any films on here you HAVEN’T seen, but if there are, I recommend getting hold of it immediately, because you don’t know what you’re missing.
This is only at number 6 because I couldn’t quite decide whether it was a Christmas film or not. I think it is, it finishes with snow and I’m sure it’s Christmas at the end in the film as well. I would re watch it just to check, but ever since I first saw it (at the Cinema back in 1991, you could still smoke in Cinemas in those days and I remember someone behind us chain smoking all the way through) I have been unable to watch Edward Scissorhands without crying. By crying I don’t mean “wiping away an elegant tear” I mean BAWLING MY EYES OUT. I mean blotchy face, snotty nosed, hiccupping breaths and I can’t be seen in public for at least 3 hours crying.
At number 5, it’s a take on Dickens A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray. This is on Netflix as well, so knock yourself out!
I thought long and hard about the ordering of the next 2 films, and I decided Die Hard belonged at number 4. There’s nothing like Bruce Willis in a vest to make you feel festive. Die Hard 2
is also enjoyable festive, it even has snow. After that they give up on the whole Christmas thing.
Yep, at number 3 on my favourite Christmas movies list is Gremlins. If you’ve ever worried that you’ve bought someone a Christmas present that isn’t great, at least you can be sure that it hasn’t spawned an army of tiny green killing machines. Probably.
I know, probably the greatest Christmas movie ever and it only makes number 2 on Retro Chicks list? Well, this is MY list, and it goes in the order of MY favourites. I love It’s a Wonderful Life. Who could fail to finish it with a tiny tear in the corner of their eye (or massive body shaking sobs.)
Sorry folk, in the taste free void that is the Retro Chick household at Christmas Elf trumps all those other amazing Christmas Classics. For a celebration of the sheer joy of Christmas it just can’t be beaten, and it also makes me cry at the end. All the best Christmas movies should make you cry, that’s a fact.
What is YOUR favourite Christmas movie?
header image by JD Hancock on Flickr
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