What defines a Christmas movie? In recent years, the definition has expanded to include practically any film in which a lighted tree makes a background cameo – no matter how loosely it’s related to the holiday.
I’m a bit more of a Christmas movie traditionalist. It goes beyond a date on the calendar – there needs to be holiday cheer, comforting sentimentality, themes of togetherness and families of all shapes and sizes. A proper Christmas movie features a generosity of spirit that shines through even the most cookie-cutter plots and performances – a conscious lowering of standards and opening of hearts.
And while the true Christmas movie classics may be few and far between, with only a smattering of masterpieces being added to the pantheon in recent years, there is a seemingly never-ending supply of red and green-tinted romances, dysfunctional family comedies and reimagined mythical figures to be found – a handful of them worth your while.
Tired of revisiting the same old nostalgic standbys? Now that Halloween has ended, here are a few to add to your queue this holiday season, which seems to creep earlier and earlier on the calendar every year. But who amongst us doesn’t need the warm hug of Christmas content with loved ones in difficult times such as these?
Christmas Eve in Miller's Point (2024)
Christmas Eve in Miller's Point, the third film from director Tyler Thomas Taormina, is a difficult film to recommend to just anyone – and yet, I can't help myself. To be sure, if you want a more conventional Christmas tale, look to other selections on this list. There is no traditional narrative structure to be found here. There are not even any clear main characters. But if you fancy yourself a people watcher, this is as sumptuous a banquet for the eyes as you're likely to find.
This a fly-on-the-wall nostalgia piece that avoids ever feeling sentimental, following more than 20 extended family members who have gathered in a small suburban American home in the early 2000s for what may be their final holiday together. They're united by the ailing matriarch of the family, and while there is joy, there are also many squabbles and secrets, and years of grudges that likely will never be overcome.
The film jumps around from person to person, showing us snippets of conversations, ritual activities, and bits of action. And if you watch closely, you'll notice how considered the film is. Each shot is gorgeously framed and imbued of meaning. Each vignette carries a meaning either big or small. By the end, it's deeply emotionally affecting, as the many scattered parts coalesce into to more than their sum. Let yourself properly invest in it, and you'll find a film you'll want to revisit again and again.
The Holdovers (2023)
There’s a deep sadness at the centre of director Alexander Payne’s comeback masterpiece The Holdovers, and in each one of its misfit characters. It’s set in America in the frozen months of 1970, following a student no one likes, whose family never picked him up for Christmas break. The man tasked with looking after him is a curmudgeonly teacher who rarely leaves the campus, no family to go home to. Stuck with them is the school’s cafeteria manager, a grief-stricken woman who just lost her young son and former star student to the ravages of war.
So why is this a new Christmas classic exactly? Because for too many, there’s no lonelier time of the year. For those separated from their loved ones either temporarily or in perpetuity, the warm fires of the holiday can feel like a glimmer in the distance. And The Holdovers doesn’t try to fix that with hollow sentiment, but with earnest empathy.
In it are moments of true kindness, in which a little bit of love and understanding pulls those standing at the fringes back from the darkness. It’s a realistic salve to real-world pains, never offering cheap solutions and instead calling for us to show a bit more care to the people around us we may ignore. Merry Christmas indeed.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024)
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, based on the 1972 book of the same name by Barbara Robinson, is the rare thing in the modern film landscape – a genuine sleeper hit. Beloved by audiences and critics alike, the film has grossed $37 million on a $10 million budget in a time when pure Christmas movies rarely make it to cinemas and, even if they do, are rarely profitable. Red One, the big-budget action film about a kidnapped Santa Claus starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, was released in cinemas a week later, and has still only made back a fraction of its budget.
While the baffling Red One may have dominated conversation this year thanks to its omnipresent marketing campaign, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is the one to add to your list. It's a charmer, following a group of troublemaking children who find themselves starring in the town's pageant, and nearly ruin everything before discovering the true meaning of the holiday.
The Velveteen Rabbit (2023)
Long before Toy Story 3 caused every millennial to openly sob at the loss of their childhood, Margery Williams's 1921 book The Velveteen Rabbit was pulling nostalgic heartstrings for every new generation that discovered it. In it, a young boy is given a stuffed rabbit, which slowly becomes his most prized companion, to the point where the rabbit, too, believes he is real.
The boy loves the rabbit so much he clings to it, even when he comes down with a case of scarlet fever. And when he recovers, the rabbit is taken to be burned. But with a bit of magic, it may not be the last time he sees the boy he loves so much.
The Apple TV+ special, thankfully, doesn’t try to pad out the simplicity of this powerful tale to feature length. At a tight 44 minutes, it’s a magical blend of live action and animation, keeping much of the power of the children’s book.
A Biltmore Christmas (2023)
On Hallmark in the US, Christmas is big business. This year alone, the channel will release 32 new Christmas films, most imbued with a comforting bland sameness, and many featuring fantastical romances.
The best of the more than 100 released this decade so far is A Biltmore Christmas, a time-travel story that sends a young screenwriter back to the set of a 1947 Christmas classic she's been tasked with writing a remake of. There, she'll have to set things right, and perhaps find some love along the way. Sentimental without becoming overly saccharine, this is a charmer.
Spirited (2022)
Spirited could have been a disaster. After all, the only thing more over-saturated than Charles Dickens's classic redemption tale A Christmas Carol is Ryan Reynolds. And his co-star Will Ferrell has felt lost as a comedic performer since splitting from creative partner Adam McKay.
While it may be a bit overlong, Spirited has enough moxie to make it a worthy holiday watch, featuring enough energy and jokes to stop you from swapping it out for the Muppets version. The ending has the same emotional power as the best Scrooge adaptations.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022)
James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films are all full of nostalgic throwbacks in story, music and characterisation. But before he closed out his trilogy and left the Marvel shop, Gunn made his most nostalgic move of all by crafting a made-for-streaming Christmas special done in the style of the notorious Star Wars one-off of the 1970s.
It features a gang of misfit aliens trying to recreate the holiday for their human friend by kidnapping his favourite actor, Kevin Bacon, and offering the deeply confused actor as an unlikely gift. Full of the same found-family charm as the rest of the franchise, this is as ridiculous as it is touching.
8-Bit Christmas (2021)
Though Arnold Schwarzenegger's Jingle All the Way was one of the biggest disasters of his career when it was released in 1996, it’s become a cult classic for those who grew up with it (myself included) and 8-Bit Christmas, set in the late 1980s, scratches the same itch.
In it, a boy goes above and beyond to obtain the most sought-after game console of the day, the Nintendo Entertainment System. But it's not a mere ode to consumerism, as it becomes more about his bond with his father towards the end.
An Unexpected Christmas (2021)
Alright, one more Hallmark original couldn't hurt. This one follows their most tried-and-tested formula, a young woman working in a creative field in the big city who returns to her small hometown for the holidays only to run into her ex-boyfriend and is then forced to pretend they're still together for the sake of their parents. What makes this one different? It's got great chemistry between its two leads, who never allow the film to feel like they're going through the motions.
A Boy Called Christmas (2021)
While this may not be the best Netflix original film to mix up the Santa Claus myth (I've saved that one for a special mention later on), A Boy Called Christmas is a warm and enjoyable reimagining. The story follows a boy named Nicholas, who travels north to the land of elves in search of his father. Featuring an all-star cast of British favourites including Jim Broadbent and the late Dame Maggie Smith, it ends up as heartening as you hope it will be.
A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)
While the world may have forgotten the eccentric and involved anecdotes that humourist Jean Shepherd entertained millions with on American radio in the mid-20th century, A Christmas Story endures. Based on Shepherd’s 1966 semi-autobiographical book, the 1983 film is still perhaps the most universally relatable holiday classic, full of keenly observed moments of small-town life.
A Christmas Story Christmas may not match its highs, but it’s a loving, worthwhile ode to the original, featuring much of its cast and excerpts from Shepherd’s other books. It’s nostalgia for nostalgia, and what better defines our current creative era?
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)
Perhaps if David E Talbert's maximalist musical fantasy had first appeared on Broadway instead of Netflix, it may have made a dent in the cultural memory, but as it stands, Jingle Jangle has not received its due.
Produced by John Legend with committed performances from Forest Whitaker, Hugh Bonneville, Phylicia Rashad, Keegan-Michael Key and Ricky Martin (yep, really), this is sweet holiday indulgence, full of catchy songs and colourful costumes. It's overstuffed, sure, but who hasn't gone overboard over the holidays?
Honourable mention
Klaus (2019)
Klaus missed the cut-off by just seven weeks, hitting Netflix on November 8, 2019, so it couldn't make the top 10, but this is one of the most irresistible Christmas films of the century, full of genuinely stunning animation and a story both emotive and downright odd, a quality that helps distinguish it from the droves of Holiday films that seem to follow the same formula year after year.
Reimagining the Santa Claus story like never before, this is a singular holiday film, full of warmth and compassion. If you missed it, add it to your queue this year, in what is likely the start of a new Christmas tradition.
