THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – WISHIN' AND HOPIN'

 

This film is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by award-winning author Wally Lamb and is a slice of vivid 1960s life, a wise-and-witty holiday tale that celebrates the “look how far we've come” philosophy.

It takes place in1964 in the small town of Three Rivers, where Felix Funicello (Wyatt Ralff) is a Catholic school fifth-grader at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School.

And his only claim to fame is his cousin Annette Funicello (Krysta Rodriguez), the famous Mouseketeer and teen movie queen.

But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette (Molly Ringwald) and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova (Siobhan Cohen) and Felix’s world is turned upside down in this witty and endearing Christmas offering.

Annabella Sciorra puts in a great performance as his ma and Meat Loaf is outrageous as Monsignor Muldoon which just adds to the overall quality.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE ENGAGEMENT CLAUSE (2016)

 

This is the story of two sisters, Carrie and Katie Tate (Jes Macallan and April Bowlby) who are as different as chalk and cheese.

Katie is away doing her own thing with no business brain or even any interest in commerce, while Carrie has been working hard for several years building the family business at the expense of a personal life.

But the bottom falls out of her world when Katie suddenly announces that she's getting married on Christmas Eve and all hell breaks loose in the Tate household.

And it’s all because there is some family chauvinistic contract which states that the new husband of whichever girl marries first gets control of the business.

So the race is on, will Carrie find a husband of her own in time to save the business she loves or will she reprioritize her life.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER

 

Carolyn Giblin (Connie Selleca) is a therapist living in Los Angeles with her pre-teen daughter Jordy (Asia Vieira) and has just gone through an extremely painful divorce.

Carolyn is anxious to move on so she tells her daughter they are leaving LA and moving back to Mayville, North Carolina, her hometown and Jordy is less than thrilled.

When they arrive at Carolyn's grandma's old house they find it is in great need of many and varied repairs.

Being a small town Carolyn soon runs into an old flame, Clay Traynor (Randy Travis) whom she left at the alter a long time ago, but he's still angry about it, but his loving aunt, Miz Leona (Rue McClanahan) is delighted to see Carolyn and to meet Jordy which angers Clay further.

One night, on hearing noises, Carolyn discovers that a young homeless boy William (Kyle Fairlie) is living in her basement.

He won't reveal where he is from or who his parents are and Carolyn befriend the boy, much to the chagrin of the town's social worker Eve Stevens (Brenda Bazinet), who also happens to have her eye on Clay.

With a possible romantic triangle brewing, two energetic kids, a Christmas pageant, and more, what will happen next in Mayville?

This is an excellent holiday offering for fans of romantic comedy but it is that and far more.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1959)

 

Fredric March stars as miser Ebenezer Scrooge in this live TV 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 BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – WINDOW WONDERLAND

 

Two Manhattan department store employees, Sloan Van Doren (Chyler Leigh) and Jake Dooley (Paul Campbell), both apply for the same job during the busy Christmas season.

Sloan is a driven young woman determined to become the next window dresser at McGuire's department store and to uphold a 95-year-old artistic holiday tradition, she is serious and professional, infact she's the polar opposite of the happy-go-lucky Jake, who also wants the job.

But when Mr. Fitch (Matty Finochio) the head of advertising and promotions fails to give the job to either of them, but offers them a compromise solution instead and proposes a challenge, a competition where each will create a series of seasonal storefront windows, twice a week until Christmas and the creator of whichever window display gets the most attention from passers-by will get the job.

As they go through their paces, with Jake's obvious talent grabbing the public's attention, a silent but mutual attraction develops between the pair, but progress was hampered by the contest and the presence of Kenneth Carlyle (Cameron Mathison), Sloan's blueblood boyfriend, who can't understand the importance Sloan is placing on this job.

However there were supporters of the efforts of the window dressers in the shape of McGuire's veteran window washer Mac (Terence Kelly) and brassy bathroom attendant Rita Dorentella (Naomi Judd) who also have eyes for each other but haven't done anything about it yet.

So love is in the air at McGuire's for Mac and Rita but how will the love triangle be resolved, and will it be before Christmas?

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS IN MY HOMETOWN

 

Executive Jacob (Jake) Peterson (Tim Matheson) is sent to a small town to assess which of the workers in the local tractor factory, on which the town relies on as the chief source of employment, should be laid off when the planned downsizing begins.

However he gets side tracked when he falls in love with a local single mom Emma Murphy (Melissa Gilbert) which her daughter Noelle (Michelle Trachtenberg) encourages.

But is there any future in their relationship if he does what he was sent to the town to do?

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS ANGEL (2012)

 

Grade school student Olivia Mead (Izabela Vidovic) believes that the Christmas wishes read out in class by her classmates are beginning to come true.

She and her friend Lucas Conroy (Tyler Humphrey) believe it's the long-abandoned house next door to hers which she believes houses an angel that grants the wishes, as long as the wish is made while throwing a rock at it, but then Olivia meets a reclusive old woman living inside, Elsie Waybright (Della Reese), and together they begin reviewing the wishes left at the gate in a “wish box” placed there to stop people from damaging the property any further.

Olivia makes a wish for a new husband for her single mom (Teri Polo), and the landlord of the abandoned house (Kevin Sorbo) comes into their lives, but Olivia would rather her mom had the new substitute teacher (Rob Boltin) but she just had to let the Angel do her work.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS STALLION

 

Sixteen year old Gwen Davies (Siân MacLean) adores the horses she and her grandfather have raised on the beautiful Welsh Mountains. However, when her grandfather dies without naming her as heir the farm passes to her uncle Alan (Daniel J. Travanti) who left Wales many years earlier and made a home in America and now must either sell the farm to a greedy land developer, or allow Gwen to keep the farm, opening the wounds of his tragic past in the process.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – MAGIC (1978)

 

“Magic” is a Horror Drama, screenplay written by William Goldman from his own Novel and Directed by Richard Attenborough.

 

Magician's assistant Corky (Sir Anthony Hopkins) performs disastrously at his first solo appearance, but his mentor, Merlin (E.J. André), tells him he needs to find some charm, and he chooses to do that by getting a ventriloquist dummy called “Fats” to improve his act, and within a few years, Corky is at the height of fame, thanks to his foul-mouthed dummy, however along the way Fats develops a mind of his own, so much so that Corky’s agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) wonders who is actually in control of who.

After refusing the to have a medical exam for a big Network gig he escapes to his old hometown to get his head straight, and finds the town very changed apart from his old crush Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret) who he falls in love with anew, much to the displeasure of Fats and her husband Duke (Ed Lauter).

Goldman's intensely suspenseful, spooky novel shows up on the big screen unabridged and complete in all its terrifying splendour.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER (1992)

 

“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” is an action thriller, screenplay by Doug Richardson and Steven E. de Souza from the Novel by Walter Wager, and Directed by Renny Harlin.

The sequel to Die Hard follows on from the terrifying events in Los Angeles, NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) is about to go through it all again as he goes on another Christmas vacation to meet his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and he is in Washington where he is at the airport meeting Holly off the LA flight.

But while he is waiting, a team of terrorists, led by Col. Stuart (William Sadler), holds the entire airport hostage, while they plan to rescue a drug Lord, Esperanza (Franco Nero) from justice.

As part of that plan they have seized control of all the control systems affecting all aircraft, with no runway lights available, and no means to contact them, all aircraft have to remain in the air, with fuel running low, so if McClane is going to save the day again he will need to be fast.

It’s another great action thriller with Willis still at the top of his game.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – DIE HARD (1988)

 

“Die Hard” is an action thriller, screenplay by Jeb Stuart Steven and E. de Souza, from the novel by Roderick Thorp, and Directed by John McTiernan.

The story centres on NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) who 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.

However, unable to leave the building and with no immediate police response, John is forced to take matters into his own hands and causes havoc while the bad guys try to execute their plan to perform a lucrative heist.

It’s a great action thriller with Willis at the top of his game.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)

 

“The Shop Around the Corner” is a romantic comedy, based on a play by Nikolaus Laszlo and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

In Budapest, Hungary, Matuschek and Company’s gift store is owned by Mr. Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan) and 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 meet they do not get along.

Over the weeks that follows the lonely and dedicated Kralik has an anonymous pen pal and through their correspondence he falls in love with her and intends to propose to her.

Simultaneously however his relationship with his employer deteriorates and he is fired without explanation by Mr Matuschek on the very same 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, however he chooses not disclose his identity to her because he feels ashamed after being sacked.

But following a shocking incident, involving salesman Ferencz Vadas (Joseph Schildkraut), shop boy Pepi Katona (William Tracy) and Matuschek himself, he has a change of heart and hires Kralik 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 who exactly he is.

But anything is possible, it is Christmas after all and everyone loves a happy ending.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)

 “It’s A Wonderful Life” is a fantasy family drama co-written and Directed by Frank Capra based on the story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

The film is a slightly dark, almost bittersweet tale of a savings and loan manager George Bailey (James Stewart), a bit an earnest do-gooder who struggles against a greedy banker Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) and his own self-doubting nature in a small town.

After suffering a financial catastrophe, he see’s suicide as a possible solution to his predicament only to be rescued by a whimsical, endearing, trainee-angel named Clarence (Henry Travers).

However its only when George says he wished he had never been born that Clarence is able to show him what life would be like for his mother (Beulah Bondi) and Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell), his friends Ernie, Bert and Violet, (Frank Faylen, Ward Bond and Gloria Grahame), former employer Mr. Gower (H.B. Warner) and his loving wife Mary (Donna Reed), in a world in which he had never existed.

So, George Bailey, after years of feeling trapped in a small town finally recognizes his life to be wonderful and truly rich.

A typical performance by the ever-dependable James Stewart and ably supported by the beautiful Donna Reed and the incomparable Lionel Barrymore as the grasping villain of the piece.

It’s definitely not the kind of film that would be made today as it is definitely on the schmaltzy side and nobody seems to write happy endings anymore, but no Christmas would be complete without watching Frank Capra’s Christmas classic.
Even thought it was not a success at the box office at the time, it is now one of the most popular and heart-warming films ever made...

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS GRACE

 

Christmas Grace is set over several Christmas seasons and tells the tale of rival toy store owners, Gary (Ryan-Iver Klann) and Mr. Tollman (Tim Kaiser) who have very different approaches to their stores and their lives.

Gary walks the path of Christ and lives his life righteously, while Mr. Tollman lives his on a different path of avarice, greed and dishonesty.

But despite their different methodologies they still find God's grace hard at work in both their lives.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – EARTHQUAKE (1974)

 

“Earthquake” is an action thriller disaster movie, screenplay by George Fox and Mario Puzo and Directed by Mark Robson.

The story focuses on a varied group of people in Los Angeles, construction Engineer Stuart Graff (Charlton Heston) who is estranged from his jealously possessive wife, Remy (Ava Gardner), and is having an affair with the widow of a co-worker, Denise Marshall (Geneviève Bujold) and Remy pressurises her father, Sam Royce (Lorne Greene), Stuart's boss, to stop Stuart from seeing Denise.

Also Rogue policeman, Lew Slade (George Kennedy), is suspended from the L.A.P.D. for punching another officer and contemplates quitting the force.

Jody (Marjoe Gortner) is a perverted grocery store manager, who lusts after Rosa Amici (Victoria Principal), and Rosa’s sister Sal (Gabriel Dell), is the assistant to Miles Quade (Richard Roundtree), an aspiring daredevil motor cyclist.

All the lives of all these people are devastated when a major earthquake rips through Los Angeles and reduces the city to ruins.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)

 

“The Poseidon Adventure” is an action thriller disaster movie, screenplay by Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes from the Novel by Paul Gallico and Directed by Ronald Neame.

The story takes place aboard the SS Poseidon, an aged luxury liner on her final voyage from New York City to Athens before being sent to the scrapyard.

However the new owners pressurise Captain Harrison (Leslie Nielsen) to push the Poseidon to her limits to save on the dismantling fees at their destination and as a result, on New Year's Eve, she is hit by a tidal wave which completely capsized her, so that all the internal rooms are suddenly upside down with the Passengers and crew trapped inside.

From the ensuing chaos a rebellious Priest Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman) takes a mixed band of survivors on a journey through the bowels of the ship in an attempt to survive.

The film won two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award, aided in no small way by a fine Ensemble cast including, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Albertson, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O'Connell and Eric Shea.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – WESTWORLD (1973)

 “Westworld” is a Sci-Fi Thriller, written and Directed by Michael Crichton.

The story takes place at Delos, an exclusive vacation resort, an amusement park for rich, where guests get the choice of Medieval World, Roman World or Westworld, to live out their fantasies through the use of robots that provide anything they want.

Two of the vacationers Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) and John Blane (James Brolin) choose a wild west adventure, however, after a couple of days, a computer breakdown leads to a system wide malfunction, and they find that they are now being stalked by a rogue robot gunslinger (Yul Brynner).

A great movie of its time, although the technology dates it, but it is still very watchable and Brynner as the gunfighter is truly excellent.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – AIRPORT (1970)

“Airport” is an action thriller disaster movie, the first of a series, screenplay by George Seaton from the Novel by Arthur Hailey and Directed by George Seaton and Henry Hathaway.

The movie revolves around the airport manager of Lincoln International Airport, near Chicago, Mel Bakersfeld (Burt Lancaster), who has to contend with a paralyzing snowstorm, environmental concerns over noise pollution, a blocked runway, schedule issues, an habitual elderly Trans Global Airlines stowaway, Ada Quonsett (Helen Hayes), manpower problems, frozen runways, equipment malfunctions and a suicide bomber, D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin) plans to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight.

A first class movie which was the for runner of the disaster movie genre, helped in no small measure by a great cast including: Dean Martin, Jean Seberg, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, Maureen Stapleton, Barry Nelson, Dana Wynter and Lloyd Nolan.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)

“The Towering Inferno” is an action thriller disaster movie, screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, from the Novel by Richard Martin Stern, Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, and Directed by John Guillermin.

The focal point of the movie is a colossal skyscraper, designed by Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman), which is nearing completion when he returns from a long vacation, but ahead of the “grand opening” party he discovers that his wiring specifications have not been followed and as a result the building has been experiencing an increasing number of electrical glitches.

He raises his concerns with his father in law, Jim Duncan (William Holden) and Project Manager Simmons (Richard Chamberlain) but they are brushed aside. 

Suffice is to say that during the party a fire breaks out and quickly spreads, which threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

So Michael O'Halleran (Steve McQueen), who is the chief on duty as a series of daring rescues punctuate the terror of a building too tall to have a fire successfully fought from the ground.

It’s a tense and thrilling tale with an amazing cast assembled by producer Irwin Allen, who succeed in getting McQueen and Newman to co-star, he also signed Faye Dunaway to play Newman's love interest and cast Fred Astaire, against type as a con-man, but even more astonishing than that, he lured reclusive and legendary film star Jennifer Jones out of retirement for the sympathetic role of Lisolette Mueller.

He also secured other notables which included Robert Wagner, Susan Blakely, Susan Flannery, Sheila Allen, Robert Vaughn, O.J. Simpson and Dabney Coleman.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER (1992)

 

“Die Hard 2: Die Harder” is an action thriller, screenplay by Doug Richardson and Steven E. de Souza from the Novel by Walter Wager, and Directed by Renny Harlin.

The sequel to Die Hard follows on from the terrifying events in Los Angeles, NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) is about to go through it all again as he goes on another Christmas vacation to meet his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and he is in Washington where he is at the airport meeting Holly off the LA flight.

But while he is waiting, a team of terrorists, led by Col. Stuart (William Sadler), holds the entire airport hostage, while they plan to rescue a drug Lord, Esperanza (Franco Nero) from justice.

As part of that plan they have seized control of all the control systems affecting all aircraft, with no runway lights available, and no means to contact them, all aircraft have to remain in the air, with fuel running low, so if McClane is going to save the day again he will need to be fast.

It’s another great action thriller with Willis still at the top of his game.