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Christmas / winter holiday Movies?


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These are what I call "unlikely Christmas movies." Their main focus is not Christmas, but there are Christmas references, or even whole acts, in them.

Funny Farm.

Auntie Mame (the Christmas act in this one makes me cry).

Both Jumanjis

Die Hard is *totally* an unlikely Christmas movie. 🙂  So is "The Borne Identity."

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The Nativity Story (2006) -- historical period piece; the birth of Christ
The Family Man (2000) -- a sort-of reverse "It's a Wonderful Life"
Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) -- animated; Halloween town takes over/makes over Christmas
Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) -- pathos of the story of Scrooge, humor of the muppets
Edward Scissorhands (1990) -- early Tim Burton; climax is at Christmas time
The Apartment (1960) -- ouch-sharp dramedy, with a painful office Christmas party and New Year's Eve party
3 Godfathers (1948) -- a John Ford western that climaxes on Christmas Eve
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) -- light-hearted, charming comedy set all during Christmas season
It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) -- hobo who stays at a mansion when the wealthy family leaves at Christmas
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) -- Judy Garland musical, much of which happens in winter around Christmas time
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) -- humor, verbal sparring leading to romance
The Thin Man (1934) -- first of the light-hearted Nick & Nora wealthy socialite mystery solving movies; takes place during Christmas season

Edited by Lori D.
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My favorite is "Christmas in Connecticut"  Kind of features a fake Martha Stewart lady who falls in love with a soldier.

I like the Tim Allen "Santa Clause" movies

"Shop Around the Corner"/"You Got Mail"

"Home Alone"

"The Bishop's Wife" (Cary Grant or Whitney Houston versions)

"Love Actually" is on Netflix I think now

 

Will think about this more... :)  

 

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10 hours ago, history-fan said:

I keep seeing Die Hard on movie lists.

Die Hard is totally a Christmas movie. Ds & I agree that it is the best Christmas movie. 😄

This year is the 30th anniversary of the movie release; ds & I went to a special showing of it about a month ago. It has aged just fine.

Plus, Alan Rickman. Can't go wrong there. 😉

And, from a reliable source (Time Magazine): The Die Hard Writer Just Settled the Christmas Movie Debate Once and For All

(I also like Home Alone, Elf, Love Actually, and While You Were Sleeping.)

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These are dubbed, but we love them. 

Joulutarina (aka "Christmas Story") - a Finnish Christmas drama that gives a take on how Santa Claus came to be (starts on a sad note to set the stage, but moves on from there).

Reisen til Julestjernen (aka "Journey to the Christmas Star") - a Norwegian Christmas story with a similar feel to the above (although not about Santa Claus).

Both of these are probably aimed for tweens and teens, but we (all ages) liked them.

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I'm weird and I like to watch Groundhog Day for Christmas.. .It's wintery... and it definitely has that "It's a Wonderful Life" vibe.  Just pretend that Groundhog day is in Dec. 🙂  

 

Another Die Hard fan.  I don't normally like traditional Christmas movies..  I may give Santa Clause another go... I always enjoy Tim Allen

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Other options here:

Pocketful of Miracles

Tenth Avenue Angel

Of course, I'm partial to old movies.  We really love It Happened on Fifth Avenue.  My dh who doesn't really care for Christmas movies has watched this with us several times.  And I'm not sure I saw It's a Wonderful Life in the lists above. 

Off to look for Three Godfathers.  :)

Edited by Tina
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One of "The Thin Man" movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy has a Christmas scene.  I think it's the first one (The Thin Man).  If you haven't seen them....they're a fun wealthy detective duo with their dog Asta.  From the early 30s.  Lots of post-prohibition alcohol consumption.  Fast witty dialogue.  

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10 hours ago, PrincessMommy said:

I'm weird and I like to watch Groundhog Day for Christmas.. .It's wintery... and it definitely has that "It's a Wonderful Life" vibe.  Just pretend that Groundhog day is in Dec. 🙂  

 

Another Die Hard fan.  I don't normally like traditional Christmas movies..  I may give Santa Clause another go... I always enjoy Tim Allen

in that case - you should enjoy 'we're no angels' with humphrey bogart.   and the best character never seen, only talked about.  adolph.  a viper.

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So, it sounds crazy, but one I really like is "Nativity 2, Danger In the Manger".  It's more directed to kids but I liked it.  It's goofy a bit, but also pretty well done - David Tennent plays the lead role.  It's a sequel, and the first is also pretty ok, but not quite as good.  It has Martin Freeman.  There are a few others in the same series but I haven't seen them.

There are a number of Christmas specials I like - Mr Bean and Blackadder in particular.  

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This is the first year Hallmark Christmas movies are in Canada (or if they were before, it wasn't on a channel I had) so I'm totally binge watching them. (I also listen to the Deck the Hallmark podcast which adds to the whole experience). I suddenly want to go to a tree lot because apparently they're all staffed by amazingly handsome dudes....and also, I didn't know that lighting the tree required a countdown. I've been doing it all wrong?! 

Yesterday dd & I got up at 6am to watch one that as far as we could tell would not be replaying and it sounded so good we had to see it... it did not disappoint! 

About 50% of them seem to be filmed in my city so it's extra fun spotting all the locations and laughing at the fact that it's Vancouver and it's raining while they're filming fake piles of snow. 

 

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