12 Days of Christmas: Holiday movies for your enjoyment
Merry Christmas my fellow Aggies! It’s that time of the year again where we start thinking of our New Year’s resolution and anxiously wait for our younger siblings to fall asleep so we can eat the cookies they left out for Santa.
Christmas may be the main event of December but another to remember is that this is the time of year where we also get a number of holiday-oriented films that try and do their best to capture the spirit of Christmas and leave us walking out of the theater feeling warmer than a cup of hot chocolate. There’s an endless number of good choices out there but also a number of bad ones. So to help you avoid the feeling of disappointment when you sit down and pop in a movie, here are my picks for the top five best Christmas movies to watch this year.
- National Lampoons Christmas Vacation:
This one probably seems like a cop-out because everyone watches this movie for Christmas, but there’s a reason they do so. What is probably the only “Vacation” movie in the series that is actually family friendly, “Christmas Vacation” tells the story of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) as he prepares to have both his and his wife’s family over for the holidays. Hoping for the perfect holiday, Clark begins to watch his hopes and dreams dash away as a series of unfortunate events begin to ruin his perfect holiday. “Christmas Vacation” is filled with the perfect amount of laughs and heart-warming moments that will put you right in the Christmas spirit. There’s a reason this movie is still watched year after year so if you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and jump on the bandwagon.
- A Christmas Story:
Again, another copout pick but like “Christmas Vacation,” “A Christmas Story” is one of the most, if the not the most beloved holiday film of all time. Taking place in the early 40s, “A Christmas Story” tells the tale of Ralphie Parker, a nine year-old boy who wants nothing more than a BB gun for Christmas. Throughout the entire movie we watch as Ralphie tries again and again to get his parents to say yes to his wish only to have it all backfire on him. For most people, this is the ultimate Christmas movie and to be honest it probably is, I mean TBS shows this movie for 24 straight hours on Christmas Eve. It’s funny, charming and after all these years it still has a magical way of making you feel like you’re watching it for the first time. If you haven’t seen this yet or even if you have, this is a definite must-see for the holiday season.
- The Family Man:
Out of every Christmas film out there, none of them quite remind us what Christmas is all about quite like “The Family Man” does. Starring Nicholas Cage (Yes! Nicholas Cage!) and Tea Leoni, “The Family Man” is a movie about a man who only cares about his job and how good he looks doing it. When he encounters a mysterious stranger, he wakes up the next day to discover that he is now living a completely life. One where he is married with children and lives in a small town working at a tire shop. Unsure how to handle it, he does his best to try and live out his new life and see if it’s one he really wants or if he was happy the way his life was before. Cage gets a really bad rep these days. People forget though that for about 20 years, he actually made some really good movies and this is one of them. It reminds us about the people who are most important in our life and has the capability to make you laugh and cry all in the same scene. Forget about your hate for the Cage just for a moment and give this one a shot
- Love Actually:
This is the ultimate romantic comedy. This movie has it all, laughs, tears and one show stopping musical number! Out of all the movies on this list this one has the biggest chance of making you cry whether it be out of sorrow or joy. Filled with one of the most impressive casts you’ll ever see, “Love Actually” tells the story about 15 different individuals as they prepare for Christmas day. This movie is my favorite romantic comedy of all time only because it’s so much more than that. The ending speech is worth the watch alone. If you’re the kind of person who loves the feeling of being in love, than this movie is the one for you because it’ll remind those who have someone about why they love their significant other and for those who are single, it’ll motivate them to run outside and tell their secret crush how much they really love them. I watch this movie every December and I never grow tired of it and neither will you.
- The Family Stone:
Another movie filled with one of the most star-studded casts you’ll ever see, “The Family Stone” is my pick for number one because it is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. “The Family Stone” tells the story about a woman getting ready to spend the holidays with her boyfriend’s family only to discover they hate her and want her gone. Wanting to win their approval, she goes to desperate measures trying to win them over only to embarrass herself in the worst way possible. Sure, it sounds like a cheesy chick-flick but trust me when I say it’s a laugh-out-loud movie that will also manage to make you shed some tears by the end of it. It’s a movie about family and the importance of it, and reminds us to appreciate those in our life while we still can. No matter how many times I watch this movie I never grow tired of it and it always makes me feel full in a way no other movie can. Do yourself a favor and sit down with those closest to you and watch a modern-day Christmas classic in the making. You won’t regret it.
— keithariaz1@gmail.com