Beyond The Usual: Christmas Movies for Families to Enjoy
Posted on December 9, 2024 at 8:07 am
I love the Christmas classic movies and watch as many as I can every year. But there are many great Christmas films that don’t get mentioned as often and I like to remind families that these are worth making time for as well.
1. The Nativity Story This sincere and respectful story is a good way to remember that Christmas is about more than presents and parties. “Whale Rider’s” Keisha Castle-Hughes has a shy but dignified and resolute air and she glows believably as the very young woman who is selected as the mother of Jesus. And Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”) effectively conveys tenderness, doubt, courage, and transcendence as Joseph.
2. A Christmas Memory Truman Capote’s bittersweet memory of his childhood Christmas making fruitcakes with his elderly cousin, the only relative who cared about him, is beautifully filmed with the magnificent Geraldine Page as the fruitcake-baking cousin and Capote himself reading the narration.
3. Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas The California Raisins guys put together this Christmas special, with the highlight the funniest-ever performance of “Carol of the Bells.”
4. Come to the Stable Loretta Young and Celeste Holm are French nuns trying to raise money to build a hospital. Their faith and goodness transform those they meet.
5. Little Women “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” is the first line of this classic novel based on the loving if sometimes tumultuous family of author Louisa May Alcott. All of the lovely versions open with an important Christmas lesson about the joy of giving.
7. This Christmas I love this movie about a family with five adult children who return home to celebrate Christmas with their mother and youngest brother. The all-star cast includes Regina King, Idris Elba, Loretta Devine, and Chris Brown. Be sure to watch through the credits to see a great dance number.
8. Desk Set Before Google, companies had human beings to track down information. Katherine Hepburn plays the head of the all-female research department for a television network and Spencer Tracy is the engineer who is installing the company’s first computer, which takes up a whole wall and uses punch cards and vacuum tubes. Sparks fly — and not just in the equipment.
9. Die Hard Bruce Willis plays a cop visiting his estranged wife at her office Christmas party when the building is taken over by bad guys led by Alan Rickman in this action-movie classic, and yes, it is a Christmas movie.
10. The Polar Express Tom Hanks stars in this animated story based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg about a magical train ride to the North Pole.
11. Home Alone This comedy smash hit stars Macauley Culkin as a little boy who is accidentally left home when his family goes away for the holidays and has to take care of himself and guard the house from a couple of inept thieves. The slapstick is over the top but the message of Christmas is surprisingly touching.
12. Annie The story of the plucky orphan from the comic pages became one of the biggest Broadway musicals of all time and one of its highlights is Christmas with Daddy Warbucks. There are at least three versions, all good!
13. The Holiday Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz swap houses and find love with Jack Black and Jude Law in one of Nancy Meyers’ most endearing romances.
14. The Man Who Invented Christmas Dan Stevens stars as Charles Dickens, who is under enormous family and financial pressure to produce a new book that will sell. It is a delight to see how the story of “The Christmas Carol” comes together.
15. Klaus (Netflix) In this absolutely gorgeous animated film, the father of a spoiled young man punishes him by sending him to a remote snow-covered village and putting him to work. The young man ends up inventing some of the most beloved Christmas traditions.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving This is the one with the famous episode about Charlie Brown trying to kick the football Lucy keeps snatching away from him. And Peppermint Patty invites herself to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving and he is too kind-hearted to tell her that he won’t be there because his family is going to his grandmother’s. When the Peanuts gang comes over for a feast prepared by Charlie Brown himself, Patty gets angry at being served toast and jelly beans. But when she realizes how hard her friend tried to be hospitable, she learns what gratitude really means.
Copyright 1947 20th Century Fox
Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas movie, but it begins with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and it is a great family movie (for those who are comfortable with questions about Santa’s being real. The original is a classic with an adorable Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn won an Oscar for playing Kris Kringle. But the remake is nice, too.
Squanto and the First Thanksgiving , Native American actor Graham Greene and musician Paul McCandless tell the story of Squanto’s extraordinary generosity and leadership in reaching out to the Pilgrims after he had been sold into slavery by earlier European arrivals in the New World.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Okay, I have to admit I don’t love this movie the way so many other people do. Parts of it seem mean-spirited to me. But we can all identify with the frustrations of holiday travel and with the unexpected connections we sometimes are lucky enough to find along the way.
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving Jacqueline Bisset stars in this warm-hearted tale, based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott (Little Women).
My favorite Thanksgiving movies are “What’s Cooking?” with four families preparing for the holiday and “Pieces of April,” about a family, including a terminally ill mother, driving to an estranged daughter for Thanksgiving. Both are funny, touching, and wise. Wishing all of you a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude for being together, even the crazy parts.
This holiday started as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died in our country’s service and was originally called Armistice Day. It fell on Nov. 11 because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. However, in 1954, the holiday was changed to “Veterans Day” in order to account for all veterans in all wars.
We celebrate and honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.
Some movies for families to watch about real-life US military:
WWI
They Shall Not Grow Old On the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, Peter Jackson used 21st century technology to make archival footage and audio feel contemporary, to make the experience of these men seem as though it happened to people we know.
1917 Two young soldiers are sent on a very dangerous mission to deliver a vital message. Remarkably, this film seems like it was all one continuous shot, a breathtaking achievement.
WWII
Band of Brothers Historian Stephen Ambrose’s book was made into a stirring miniseries about “Easy” Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training in the United States through its participation in major actions in Europe, up until the end of the war.
Midway is the story. of a brutal battle that was a turning point for the Allies.
Korean War
M*A*S*H is a dark anti-war comedy based on the real-life experiences of an Army surgeon. It inspired the long-running television series.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War The documentary from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick tells the story.
Persian Gulf War/Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Jarhead Jamie Foxx and Jake Gyllenhaal star in Sam Mendes’ film based on the memoir of Anthony Swofford about his experiences as a Marine Sniper in Gulf War I.
Restrepo is a documentary about U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, serving in a remote 15-man outpost, “Restrepo,” named after a platoon medic who was killed in action.
American Sniper Bradley Cooper stars as the late Chris Kyle, a top sniper who served four tours of duty in Iraq, and then was killed by a veteran he was trying to help after he got home.
The Outpost, based on the book by Jake Tapper, is the story of an attack on Combat Outpost Keating, located in Afghanistan, just 14 miles from the Pakistani border. are war stories that are about strategy and courage and triumph over evil that let us channel the heroism of the characters on screen. And then there are war stories that are all of that but also engage in the most visceral terms with questions of purpose and meaning that touch us all. “The Outpost” is an intimate, immersive drama from director Rod Lurie, a West Point graduate and Army veteran who knows this world inside out and brings us from the outside in.
On Labor Day we pay tribute to workers, especially those who have worked for better conditions for everyone. These movies can help us understand their challenges and their contributions. Last year, the writers and actors in Hollywood were on strike. This year, it’s the video game companies whose performers are striking. Some movies about labor and management:
Sally Field won an Oscar for “Norma Rae,” a real-life story about a courageous woman who helped mill workers form a union. It was inspired by Crystal Lee Sutton, a courageous advocate for workers’ rights.
Doris Day plays a union worker who falls for a new guy in management but doesn’t lose sight of the seven and a half cent raise the workers are bargaining for in the rollicking musical, “The Pajama Game.”
“Made in Dagenham” stars Sally Hawkins and and Rosamund Pike in the true and very heartwarming story of the British women who went on strike when they found that they were being paid far less by Ford Motor Company than the men.
“Pride”
I love this true story, about a group of LGBTQ activists who support the 1984 miners’ strike in Wales.
“10PM-Midnight: Working the Night Shift” is the story of the people who keep things going while the rest of us are asleep.
“Lifelines in the Lockdown” is a CBS News documentary from the early days of the pandemic about essential workers.
“Harlan County USA” is a documentary about a strike by mine workers.
“Bread and Roses” is based on the real-life story of a strike by undocumented janitorial workers, with Adrian Brody as their lawyer.
“Salt of the Earth” was inspired by an actual miners’ strike against the Empire Zinc Co. and the cast includes real-life miners who were involved in the strike
In “The Devil and Miss Jones,” a big boss goes undercover as an employee in his department store and learns some lessons about the workforce. The terrific cast includes Charles Coburn, Spring Byington, and Jean Arthur.
We might be getting a sequel to the classic “9 to 5,” starring the iconic Jane Fonda, Lili Tomlin, and Dolly Parton. Is there a better bad boss than Dabney Coleman? Or a better song than this film’s title sung by Parton? In the meantime, watch the original and the documentary about how it was made and the issues today.
Don’t miss the fireworks over the Capitol Building in Washington DC tonight on PBS! A Returning host Alfonso Ribeiro will be accompanied by an all-star lineup of broadway, pop, R&B and classical performances, with Smokey Robinson celebrating Motown’s 65th anniversary, the U.S. Army Chorus performing a Salute to American Heroes Past and Present, and The Color Purple’s Fantasia and Darren Criss of Glee.
