Prodigious Filmdom 5: Christmas Movies

Check out Brandon Vick's five favorite Christmas movies this holiday season.

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Many people out there in the world probably wish it could be Christmas every day. Personally, I’m glad it’s not due to the sole reason that it wouldn’t be such a special time. Plus, no one really wants to listen to holiday music all year long. Along with embracing the Christmas spirit, there’s little intimate traditions we handle with care, never wanting them to cease. We all know movies are no exception.

For every generation, there is a holiday film that warms your heart and blesses your soul. You may never lay your eyes on it 11 of the 12 months, however, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you cannot get enough of it. Then we give ourselves about a year to recuperate and repeat the process again. And guess what? It feels like a new experience each and every time. That’s the beauty of these mainstay holiday movies that oddly fulfill a small piece of us. Too dramatic?

Well grab some hot chocolate (better be marshmallows in there, too), perhaps a sugar cookie snowman, and sit by the brightly colored fake Christmas tree as I unveil the top holiday movies that have been a part of my growing up in these harsh Nashville streets.

Christmas Vacation

The Griswold family adventures are outrageously comic gold, and this seasonal classic provides scenes you’ll never forget with lines you will quote for the rest of your days. The word “dysfunctional” universally is attached to families, yet Christmas cheer pours out in every scene and through their variety of trials and tribulations. Never has there been a movie with the right kind of genuine spirit for the holidays, remembering what it’s supposed to be about instead of what you force it to be about. The Griswolds just have a hilariously idiomatic way of showing it.


The Polar Express

Robert Zemeckis’ Christmas spectacle is visually fetching and has the endearing Tom Hanks playing multiple characters including Santa himself. How could you go wrong?! Through the marvelously well-crafted technology is an inward story told through a child’s eyes about retaining a belief in the impenetrable. It speaks volumes not only about the specialty of Christmas that kids hold so dear, but to the adults whom have altogether deserted that enriching feeling.

 Home Alone

Rambunctious and funny, Home Alone is every kid’s version of heaven. Perhaps minus the burglars trying to break in to your home. But having the entire place to yourself. No annoying brothers and sisters or grown-ups telling you what to do. A wish come true! Though with that said, there’s real sincerity with Kevin and his family, and wanting to be together for Christmas. Kevin is charismatic and beloved, but I believe I speak for millions of people when I say the execution of the traps letting loose and the agonizing pain endured by Marv and Harry is truly why we watch every single year.

Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights

This is no Polar Express. Sure, it’s animated but the similarities stop right there. Insanely full of immaturity, crudeness, and outright stupidity. Go figure. It’s an Adam Sandler movie after all! Nonetheless, you can’t help but laugh at it all and that’s exactly the point! No one can say there isn’t wacky affection flowing through the asinine story and antics. Speaking of affection, I’d love for Whitey and Eleanor to be a part of my family. I know deep down so do you.

Jingle All the Way

Just like with Eight Crazy Nights, you have to leave your intelligence and sensibility outside in the cold. A good indicator of this would be the two stars in this yuletide tale: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad. Topics of greed, materialism, and selfishness are wrapped all around the plot, but that’s just as much part of the holiday as Christmas carolers and lights at this point. We know that. What places this movie on my list is its silliness and over-dramatization of the mussed season. The entire cast seems to be having the absolute best time. You should be doing the same while watching this. Providing a good time never hurt anyone.

On that note…

MERRY CHRISTMAS YA FILTHY ANIMALS!

Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.

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