THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER
In Budapest, Hungary, Matuschek and Company’s store is owned by Mr. Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan) and the bachelor Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) is his best and most experienced salesman.
But everything seems to go awry when Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) is hired by Mr Matuschek, but from the first moment Kralik and she do not get along.
Over the weeks that follows the lonely and dedicated Kralik has an unknown pen pal and through their correspondence he falls in love with her and intends to propose to her.
However simultaneously his relationship with his employer deteriorates and he is fired without explanation by Mr Matuschek on the night that he is going to meet his secret love and propose.
He goes to the bar that night regardless where they have scheduled their meeting with his colleague Pirovitch (Felix Bressart) and he surprisingly finds that Klara is his correspondent, he chooses not disclose his identity to her because he feels ashamed after being sacked.
But following a shocking incident, Matuschek has a change of heart and hires him back again but this time to manage the shop.
However as Klara is still fascinated with her correspondent she pays little or no attention to Alfred so it would take all his guile and cunning to work out a plan to reveal himself to Klara's who his is.
But anything is possible, it is Christmas after all and everyone loves a happy ending.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – SMALL CHAIRS
Family friends Sam Reed (Dustin Milligan) and Kat Patton (Danica McKellar) spend every Christmas Eve at the Children's Table from the age of three.
Over the years they grew up together, sharing the highs and lows of young adulthood.
But at the age of thirty, Sam realizes that Kat is the one...but he's afraid that the past will get in the way.
A real gem of a Christmas movie and Danica McKellar is an absolute delight.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – DIE HARD
NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) goes on a Christmas vacation to visit his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles where she works for the Nakatomi Corporation.
He is picked up from the airport by limo driver Argyle (De'voreaux White) who drops him at the Nakatomi Tower where the office Christmas party was taking place.
While they are there amidst a tense reunion, a group of bank robbers, led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) takes control of the building and holds everyone hostage, with the exception of John, who escapes up the fire escape while the bad guys plan to perform a lucrative heist.
Unable to escape and with no immediate police response, John is forced to take matters into his own hands.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS NOTE
Gretchen Daniels (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) moves back to her hometown with her son Ethan (Dylan Kingwell) but without her serviceman husband and finds her life in disarray as Christmas approaches.
But she discovers new purpose when she helps to deliver a message to her neighbour, Melissa McCreary (Leah Gibson).
Thanks to her son, a friendship begins which ends with her being an ally in the quest to find the neighbour’s sibling she never knew she had.
The women become bonded not only by the search, but by the understanding that being there for each other means they're no longer alone and this friendship becomes the greatest Christmas gift of their lives.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – SCROOGE (1970)
Albert Finney stars as miser Ebenezer Scrooge in this musical retelling of Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol”.
The classic tale in which he is taught the true meaning of Christmas by three Spirits who visit him, revealing to him the truth about his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current catalogue of cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways.
Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold, death or redemption.
The Spirits are played by Edith Evans (Past), Kenneth More (Present) and Paddy Stone (Future)
The other key characters and portrayed by Alec Guinness (Marley), Suzanne Neve (Belle), David Collings and Frances Cuka (The Cratchit’s), Richard Beaumont (Tiny Tim), Laurence Naismith and Kay Walsh (The Fezziwig’s), Michael Medwin (Fred) and Anton Rodgers (Tom Jenkins).
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS COOKIES
Aunt Sally's Christmas Cookie Company is sold to a large conglomerate and executive Hannah Harper (Jill Wagner) must seal the deal and shut down the factory in the small town of Cookie Jar, which is the lifeblood of the town.
What was supposed to be a simple assignment for Hannah becomes complicated when she meets Jake Carter (Wes Brown), the factory owner, who is determined to keep the factory in the town.
Despite Jill not being a fan of the holiday, the Christmas spirit in this small town is infectious and she gets swept up in the joy of the season while also falling in love.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (1988)
As World War 2 rages on in Europe the Bundy family are making plans for a Christmas reunion in the small town of Rockport.
The matriarch Martha (Eva Marie Saint) cashes in all of her ration-stamps to purchase the best Christmas dinner she can with everyone expected round the table.
Rockport is a small town where everyone knows everyone else and the tough times bring them even closer.
But the one person no one wants to see at their door is the Western Union man, because most of the news he delivers are telegrams from the War Department, reporting the death of a loved one and sadly he makes his rounds far too often.
This is a wonderful Christmas movies with happiness and sadness in equal measure and some strong performances, Hal Holbrook as head of the family, Joseph, Courteney Cox as expectant daughter in law Nora, and the strongest of all Nancy Travis as young widow Leah.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
Molly Logan (Lacey Chabert) and Lucas Bishop (Corey Sevier) were childhood friends and high school sweethearts in Danbury Falls, Vermont, where Molly's family founded the town two hundred years earlier, and with her immediately family still living on the same property, where her parents, Gordon and Betty Logan (Eric Keenleyside and Lini Evans), have continued the family business of operating a Christmas tree farm.
Since they were children, Molly knew she wanted to become a writer, a dream which her parents supported while Lucas knew he wanted to become a photographer, something his banker father, Elliot Bishop (James Kidnie) vehemently opposed him pursuing as a career, he believed only in careers like his own, and making money by any and all means.
When he would not follow her to New York, where they would have pursued their professional dreams together, Molly and Lucas broke up and had not seen each other since.
After getting an MBA, Lucas returned to Danbury Falls to work at the bank for his father.
Molly works at a publishing house, where she is treated more as a 24/7 PA by her recently widowed boss, Walter Dunlap (Jim Thorburn) at the expense of her writing career.
When Molly hears from her brother Ryan (Matthew Kevin Anderson) that the bank is foreclosing on a mortgage for the tree farm property they both head back to Danbury Falls to help their parents save the farm from being turned into a golf resort.
On her return, Molly runs into Lucas, who is heading the search for investors for the development proposal and then Christmas begins to work its magic.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – NOVEMBER CHRISTMAS
This is the beautiful tale of love and generosity of spirit where neighbours go above and beyond with their wonderful surprises to make a little girl happy.
At the heart of the story is Vanessa Marks (Emily Alyn Lind) a brave young girl who is battling cancer, which has an effect on the people around her.
In particular her parents Tom and Beth (John Corbett and Sarah Paulson) and her brother Gordon (Max Charles).
But when it looks like she may not see Christmas her parents decide to bring Christmas forward so that she will see another Christmas if the worst came to the worst.
Which is how they came to meet Jess and Claire Sanford (Sam Elliott and Karen Allen) who had themselves lost a child, and high school student Tammy (Elizabeth McLaughlin) who between them made sure Vanessa had Christmas in November.
The look on young Vanessa’s face when she sees the result is an absolute joy, Emily Alyn Lind’s performance in the film steals the show, and I say that despite the fact she is in very esteemed company.
November Christmas is a lovely family movie, a real, hot chocolate, warm fuzzy blanket kind of film, oh and a box of tissues for all those tender moments, of which there are many.
If you only ever watch one Christmas movie in your life, make sure it’s this one.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – I’M NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS
Holly Nolan (Alicia Witt) lives in a world where lying has become second nature for her. However, she finds after telling a few too many lies and disappointing those around her once too often that her life's about to change, because Holly's niece, Anna, (Mia Bagley), asks Santa Claus (Dan Lauria) to make Holly incapable of telling a lie as her Christmas wish.
The engaging story that follows is a tale of how telling the truth changes Holly's life in ways she could never have anticipated before.
It’s an enjoyable Christmas movie especially with Alicia Witt’s performance who never disappoints.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – A HUSBAND FOR CHRISTMAS (2016)
Two co-workers, American Brooke Harris (Vivica A. Fox) and Brit Roger Burkett (Ricco Ross) agree to a loveless marriage of convenience, but as they become acquainted, an unrealized chemistry grows between them.
But when a work colleague informs on them to immigration it looks like their world was falling apart, but Christmas and love have a way of redressing the balance.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – FINDING CHRISTMAS (2013)
Sean Tucker (Mark Lutz), who runs an advertising agency in New York City, and Owen Harrison (J.T. Hodges), a small-town handyman and musician, swap homes for the holidays. Mia (Cristina Rosato) works for Sean and is asked to help Owen get settled into his new apartment while Ryan Harrison (Tricia Helfer) meets Sean after Owen asks her to fix a broken heater, and then finds herself helping Sean find the charm of living in a small town.
Holiday romance ensues in the charming Christmas tale with misunderstandings soul-searching and secrets along the way.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS REUNION (2015)
Madison Avenue executive, Amy Stone (Denise Richards), discovers a rather unusual Christmas surprise when she inherits her Aunt's hometown bakery.
But that’s only half of it as the real surprise comes when she learns that the other half of the bakery was left to her long-ago boyfriend, Jack Evans (Patrick Muldoon).
Inevitably the unresolved personal issues of their past together resurface, as the exes return home to co-manage the store as well as its traditional holiday cookie bake-off.
It’s a nice holiday romantic comedy but the wonderful Catherine Hicks is the star as cunning Aunt Linda.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT
Newly widowed Kathy Howard (Kellie Martin) has no plans to “deck the halls” or “trim the tree” on her first Christmas without him, so she tries to avoid anything that will bring back memories of her late husband.
The only Christmas tradition that she will allow is baking cookies for her friends, a passion of hers since she was a child.
When Kathy meets handsome Christmas tree shop owner Tim Pierce (Cameron Mathison), there is an instant spark and an undeniable chemistry, and that along with an ornament Tim gives her that symbolizes hope, actually helps Kathy open up again to the joys of the season.
Aided by the support of her best friend Jenna Lowe (Jewel Staite), and the budding relationship with Tim, Kathy begins to embrace the hopeful message of the ornament but there is still a rough road ahead because although she wants to take a chance on Tim, she struggles to find the balance between preserving the memory of her late husband and moving on with her own future, so is the Christmas ornament a sign that she can have a hopeful future? Watch and enjoy as you find out.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (2004)
Sarah (Tracey Needham) and her estranged sister Beth (Natasha Gregson Wagner) are reunited after their father Buddy (Ronny Cox) suffers a mild stroke.
Buddy, who's never accepted the loss of his wife Lorraine (Meredith Baxter), wants only one thing and that is to return home for Christmas.
With sweet memories of a life gone by, Sarah makes an impossible wish that her mother could be there too and by morning it is as if a winter prayer had been answered and bearing a message of hope, healing, and everlasting love, a miracle has arrived in the form of their mother Lorraine.
