“A Christmas Tale” (2008)
Within the Christmas genre, there’s that subgenre of the home-for-the-holidays film, where a dysfunctional, often estranged family are reunited for Thanksgiving or Christmas, with secrets pouring out and bittersweet laughs and tears following. It’s normally done poorly —think “The Family Stone” or that Coopers film that’s in theaters at the moment— but Arnaud Desplechin knocked it out of the park with his tremendous “A Christmas Tale.” Giving a very Gallic spin to the set-up (we have semi-open marriages, discussions of Nietzsche, you name it), this picture sees the reunion of the Vuillard family when matriarch Junon (Catherine Deneuve) is diagnosed with leukaemia, and black sheep Henri (Mathieu Amalric) returns for the first time in years. In theory, not that much differentiates this film from its American cousins, but Desplechin’s usually finely-honed sense of drama and comedy and a willingness to go deeper and darker than other similar films make it so much more. There’s a real, absolute sense of the interactions, frustrations and love built into a family, with a phenomenal cast (including Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud and Chiara Mastroianni, among others) and Desplecin’s usual deft tonal command and formal playfulness elevate it into something rich, deeply moving and hugely enjoyable. One of the best films on this list.
“Die Hard” (1988)
There’s something irritably smug about the people who announce, usually unprovoked, that “Die Hard” is their favorite Christmas movie —it’s like people whose favorite Beatle is Ringo, or who never fail to mention how they’re not on Facebook. But that doesn’t change the fact that “Die Hard” is one of the three or four best action movies ever made and an indisputably excellent Christmas film, or at least Christmas-set film. Adapted from Roderick Thorp’s novel, it’s a lean, perfectly constructed thriller that sees NYPD Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) heading to L.A, where his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) is working, to attempt to win her back, only to be caught up when terrorists take over the building where she works. Sure, the film mostly uses Christmas as iconography and backdrop, and yes, the film wasn’t released during the season (it opened in July of that year), but the film works in part because of the backbone of reuniting an estranged family, and what’s more Christmas-y than that? Of course, it also works because of the terrific performances by Willis, Alan Rickman and others, the immaculate direction by John McTiernan, the terrific script, and more. But also: Christmas.
“Elf” (2003)
Nearly all of Will Ferrell’s characters seem possessed by a sort of indefinable mania. Sometimes it’s is hidden beneath a fairly normal veneer (“Old School”, “The Other Guys”), and other times it is not (“Step Brothers”). In Jon Favreau’s charming yuletide yarn “Elf,” Ferrell dials down the vulgarity and aggression that his dunderheaded comic characters often exudes and turns in one of his most earnest, poignant performances to date. The film isn’t exactly substantial —even at its best, it’s light as a cream puff— but as an example of its genre, it’s got heart and laughs to spare. The plot of the film involves Ferrell as one of Santa’s elves who grows up and travels to New Yawk to find his biological father (who turns out to be James Caan) and his apparently never-ending quest to spread Christmas cheer, even where it is clearly not wanted. The film reflects Buddy’s restlessly optimistic tone, making it a decidedly old-fashioned and satisfying holiday entertainment (the stop-motion animation that’s heavily present early in the film fondly recalls Rankin Bass’s animated special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”). A winning mix of traditional holiday farce and a typically irreverent Ferrell vehicle (check pre-“Game of Thrones” Peter Dinklage’s cameo as an explosive, insecure writer of children’s books) “Elf” holds up probably better than it should —it’s just the right mix of old and new and features one of Ferrell’s most heartrending turns.
“Gremlins” (1984)
This season will see “Krampus” try to capture a mix of horror, comedy and festive spirit that’s really only been pulled off once, via Joe Dante’s glorious “Gremlins.” Like “Die Hard,” released in the summer but set at Christmas, it’s a gorgeously and subversively funny, splattery monster movie with a big heart, but aside from its snowy setting, its greatest contribution to the Christmas canon might be Phoebe Cates’ dry, darkly hilarious monologue. “The worst thing that ever happened to me was on Christmas. Oh, God. It was so horrible. It was Christmas Eve. I was 9 years old. Me and Mom were decorating the tree, waiting for Dad to come home from work. A couple hours went by. Dad wasn’t home. So Mom called the office. No answer. Christmas Day came and went, and still nothing. So the police began a search. Four or five days went by. Neither one of us could eat or sleep. Everything was falling apart. It was snowing outside. The house was freezing, so I went to try to light up the fire. That’s when I noticed the smell. The firemen came and broke through the chimney top. And me and Mom were expecting them to pull out a dead cat or a bird. And instead they pulled out my father. He was dressed in a Santa Claus suit. He’d been climbing down the chimney… his arms loaded with presents. He was gonna surprise us. He slipped and broke his neck. He died instantly. And that’s how I found out there was no Santa Claus.”
“Home Alone” (1990)
The film that was until recently the most successful live-action comedy of all time, and also the inspiration for a whole generation of ’90s kids to create imaginary, elaborate traps with which they could thwart intruders, “Home Alone” is really an escalating series of frenzied, violent gags culminating is a not-so-surprisingly sentimental finish. It’s somewhat comforting in its familiarity: even if you’ve seen the film dozens of times and can see the gags coming from a mile away, “Home Alone” is still the zippy, spirited holiday classic that made Macaulay Culkin a star and cemented Joe Pesci (the same year he starred in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” go figure) and Daniel Stern as bumbling suburban bogeymen. It’s easy to see the appeal that Culkin’s Kevin McCallister has for the younger viewer: he is an unapologetic rule-breaker, living by his own set of principles. What does he do when his parents leave him alone at home for Christmas vacation? Why, he binges on junk food, watches violent movies and uses his wits and know-how to fend off two incompetent crooks who’ve been casing his parent’s posh Chicago home. The film’s violence is juvenile and slightly overblown —that staircase scene with the tarantula sure is icky— although it’s nowhere near the brutal nadir of its far less successful sequel “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”. Again, there’s something comforting about that ending, even if you can’t help but marvel at how cheesy it is. Then again, is cheese necessarily a bad thing for a Christmas movie?