Christmas Tips

There are some movies that you just have to watch around Christmas time. Christmas simply would not be Christmas without watching at least one or more of these movies. A combination of Christmas Action Movies and comedies, old movies and new, there is something here for everyone and I suspect most of you reading this will have fond Christmas memories of some or all of these movies.

10. ‘Die Hard’ (1988)

Yeah, I know, but here me out: it takes place on Christmas Eve and Bruce Willis in all his buff glory fights bad guy terrorists and delivers great one-liners. Qualifies as a Christmas movie in my book. Based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, Die Hard stars Bruce Willis as NYPD officer John McClane and Alan Rickman as terrorist thief Hans Gruber. Filled with action, explosions and cliffhanger scenes, Die Hard deserves to make the Christmas best list.

9. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

You can’t have a family and not love the National Lampoon Vacation movies. Chevy Chase is every dad and with his traditional physical comedy it will have you in stitches. The third in the Vacation series finds Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase , trying to capture the perfect Christmas for his family. Of course, his noble attempts are squashed at every turn, when he can’t find the right tree, when the boss neglects to give out Christmas bonuses, when the extended family comes for an extended stay. But in the end, the magic of Christmas wins out.

8. Trading Places (1983)

Dan Akroyd, Eddie Murphy and Jamie Lee Curtis in the same movie, get the TV ready and grab they popcorn, there are going to be some laughs. The premise is two snobby brokers hold a bet about nurture vs. nature. One believes that a well-bred man faced with failure will conquer the odds and find his way, while an ill-bred individual will always fail. The other believes just the opposite. The bet culminates when the two test subjects come face to face at a company Christmas party. But when one of the “subjects” (Dan Akroyd) overhears the two businessmen discussing the details of the bet, he conspires with the other subject (Eddie Murphy) to get back at the businessmen. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a hooker with a heart of gold, of course, who nurses Akroyd back to physical, and mental, health, need I say more?

7. Lethal Weapon (1987)

This action-comedy film is the first in the Lethal Weapon series directed by Richard Donner and starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as LAPD detectives. Glover as Detective Roger Murtaugh, is depressed at reaching 50 and feeling like his better days are behind him. Mel Gison as Detective Martin Riggs is depressed following the recent death of his wife.

The reluctant partners become tight friends after a series of near-death experiences, fights, kidnappings, explosions and other edge of your seat situations. On Christmas Day at the Murtaugh home, Riggs gives Murtaugh a symbolic gift the unfired hollow-point bullet, which he had intended to sue to commit suicide, which he doesn’t need anymore. Aww, the buddy cop movie reigns.

6. White Christmas (1954)

Who hasn’t ever dreamt of a ‘White Christmas’? The movie starring Bing “Mr. Christmas” Crosby and Danny Kaye is one of those “they don’t make them like that anymore movies. The plot surrounds the two GIs as they come home from WWII. After the war, their entertainment skills help them find success as an act and eventually as producers. Then fate steps in when they receive a letter from a mess sergeant they knew in the war, asking them to audition his two sisters. When they go to the club to audition the act (“Sisters”), Betty (Rosemary Clooney) reveals that her sister, Judy (Vera-Ellen), sent the letter. After a series of mishaps the group end up in Vermont and discover that the Columbia Inn in Pine Tree, Vermont, is run by their former commanding officer, Major General Tom Waverly, and it’s about to go bankrupt. Wallace and Davis along with the girls decide to help. Love and unforgetting musical transpires

5. Scrooged (1988)

As cold-hearted television executive, Francis Cross Bill Murray can use a little visit from a ghost or two to put him back in the Christmas spirit, which is exactly what happens in this modern take on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Only in this version hilarity surrounds the fact that Cross is also heading up a live production of A Christmas Carol. His real life soon begins to mirror the production. In true Dickens’ fashion Cross mends his ways and begs for forgiveness.

4. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

A classic of Christmas tale of false pretenses, misunderstandings and love triangles. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sydney Greenstreet the film begins in WWII when a German U-boat sinks an American vessel. The two survivors are rescued and hospitalized. One of the men, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) tries to gain favor with a nurse to get her to give him special treatment. Instead the nurse falls for him and is intent on marrying him. Love can be so funny.

3. The Ref (1994)

Caustic wit gets a full-body workout in this 1994 comedy, in which a cat burglar (Denis Leary) gets trapped in an affluent Connecticut neighborhood and is forced to hold a bickering couple hostage on Christmas Eve, only to discover that their Yuletide spirit is anything but cheerful. Caroline (Judy Davis) and her husband, Lloyd (Kevin Spacey), have been at each other’s throats for so long that they’ve developed domestic arguments into an art form, and the would-be kidnapper turns into a reluctant mediator, even after he’s got the battling couple wound up in bungee cords. The situation grows even more complicated when the couple’s smart-aleck son comes home from military school, but it’s not the plot here that’s a top priority. Instead it’s the sheer pleasure of witnessing a three-way verbal jousting match, written with razor-sharp skill and delivered by actors who are perfect for their roles.

2. The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight arrives with tremendous hype, and incredibly, it lives up to all of it. What makes the movie great–in addition to pitch-perfect casting, outstanding writing, and a compelling vision–is that it bypasses the normal fantasy element of the superhero genre and makes it all terrifyingly real. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is Gotham City’s new district attorney, charged with cleaning up the crime rings that have paralyzed the city. He enters an uneasy alliance with the young police lieutenant, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Batman (Christian Bale), the caped vigilante who seems to trust only Gordon–and whom only Gordon seems to trust. They make progress until a psychotic and deadly new player enters the game: the Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers the crime bosses a solution–kill the Batman. Further complicating matters is that Dent is now dating Rachel Dawes, the longtime love of Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne.

1. Where Eagles Dare (1969)

My all time favorite Christmas Movie! Watching ‘Where Eagles Dare’ after a Turkey and trimmings, sitting in the armchair ends the perfect Christmas day for me. This is an action packed thrilling non stop war movie with a twisting story line and fantastic acting. Starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood lead a joint British American commando team to rescue American General Carnaby who has been shot down over a German-occupied area of Bavaria. The Germans are holding Carnaby prisoner in an old castle on the mountains. Carnaby is believed to be holding information about the upcoming D-Day invasion so the future of the far is at stake. Christmas Day movie watching at it’s best!

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