THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – A CHRISTMAS CAROL: SCROOGE'S GHOSTLY TALE (2006)

 

A Christmas Carol: Scrooge's Ghostly Tale is an animated retelling of Charles Dickens' tale about miser Ebenezer Scrooge “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 vocal talents of Tim Bentinck, Brian Bowles, Teresa Gallagher, Keith Wickham, Jo Wyatt, Adam Rhys Dee and Alan Marriott bring the story to life.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE FAMILY MAN

 

The Family man is a Capraesque style film in many ways, in which Jack Campbell (Nicholas Cage) a happy singleton with a successful career as a talented businessman wakes up to find his world turned upside down.

He has everything he could ever want, or so he thinks, then one day he wakes up in a completely different life where he is married to his old college girlfriend Kate (Tea Leoni).

He now lives in Jersey with Kate and their two kids and instead of being president of an Investment House he sells tires for his father in law Big Ed.

He desperately wants his life back, he wants his Ferrari back and not the temperamental family mini-van.

But after a bad start, day by day he become's more comfortable in his new life and starts to see what he's been missing and it turns out in the best Frank Capra tradition that money isn’t everything and love wins out.

 

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)

 

Christmas Eve is a magical time, but for many people, the coldest, loneliest night of the year falls on Christmas Eve.

“The Night Before Christmas” tells the story of one of those people, Nick Allman (Mike Kelley), a disillusioned young man, who has broken up with his girlfriend and has lost touch with the true spirit of the holidays.

The story is set in Chicago on Christmas Eve, and it follows Nick’s day, from the moment his alarm goes off in the morning until beyond midnight as he encounters a variety of characters who help renew his belief in the festive season where everyone's expectations run high.

 

As a veteran devotee of Christmas movies, I watch more than my fare share and although this is by no means perfect, it is exceptional as it does something original with the material.

It is slow paced and has a very definite “film noir” feel about it with its use of Chicago's north side neighbourhood’s and has a very realistic feel, and at the end you are left, not with a happy ever after, but something much more precious, hope.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – FOUR CHRISTMASES

 

Brad (Vince Vaughan) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) have been together for three years. They are very much in love and spend their time having fun and doing a great deal of things together purely for their own enjoyment.

They have no intention to marry or have children and do their level best not to spend the holidays with their families.

However, on Christmas morning, they are on their way to Fiji, having told their two sets of divorced parents that they're off to do charity work.

But the flight is cancelled and when, they are caught on camera by a TV news crew at the airport, they are forced to visit each of their four idiosyncratic parents.

As the day wears on, Brad and Kate remember their respective childhoods, and each learns more about the other.

As a result, Kate realizes that her life isn’t as good as it could be and finds she wants more from the relationship.

But does she want more than Brad can give?

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – DEAR SANTA

This is certainly cheesy and clichéd yet still manages to be a wonderful movie.

Amy Acker steals your heart as the poor little rich girl, told to do something useful with her life or lose her financial support.

Which she does after inadvertently intercepting a child’s letter to Santa, which brings her into contact with Haydn-Jones and his daughter Olivia Gowan.

She instantly falls in love with him and forms a close bond with her.

Gina Holden is excellent as the evil queen character as Haydn-Jones girlfriend who is at her worst/best when Acker comes between the two of them.

It’s a really sweet Christmas film not to be taken too seriously but is to be enjoyed.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL: A FAMILY STORY (1998)

The Christmas Angel is the heart-warming and beautifully portrayed story in a Nutcracker meets Disney on Ice style offering performed by Dorothy Hamill and other equally talented skaters.

Chip Davis and Olivia Newton-John narrate the story of a decorative angel that is stolen from the top of a Christmas tree by a villain called the Gargon. The toys under the tree will not become presents until the angel is found so with the toys' help, a young mother must defeat the Gargon and save Christmas.

Mannheim Steamroller provide the music and helps to set the mood of each scene in a great family movie that won’t disappoint fans of Mannheim Steamroller or Disney on Ice.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (2017)

Realtor Jane McKendrick (Catherine Bell), is an overprotective widowed single mom who has to maintain the balance between her career and her teenage daughter Betsy (Matreya Fedor), and even denies herself a love life with friend and admirer Jackson Hart (Victor Webster).

Mother and daughter have a good relationship, at least they did before Betsy met and fell in love with a serving soldier Tyler Sloane (Anthony Konechny).

Jane tries her best to steer her daughter away from the heartache, as her husband had been a soldier who was killed in action, but Betsy is determined to share a long-distance relationship with her active-duty soldier in the line of fire.

But she comes to the conclusion that her mother was right when it is reported that Tyler was killed in Afghanistan.

However they don’t realise that they are about to learn important lessons of the heart and that taking chances can make this Christmas one they will cherish forever.