Top 10 Christmas Season Movies - #4-3

This week, in anticipation of the Christmas season, we at The Cinema King would like to bring you more than just your usual share of recommendations.  So we present to you:  this week’s Top 10 list.  More specifically “The Top 10 Christmas Season Movies.”  Rather than fill the list with “obvious” choices of Christmas-y movies, there are a few “alternative” choices on the list – the overarching determining criterion is whether or not this is a movie that I will watch beginning to end, especially during (but not limited to) the Christmas season.

#4 – The Godfather (1972)
Honestly, The Godfather belongs on any Top 10 list this side of Hollywood, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it landed here.  When I reviewed it back in April, I couldn’t say enough nice things about it, and my most recent rewatch reminded me just how perfect this film is.  So it meets the year-round requirement, because there’s honestly never a day that I wouldn’t watch this movie if I had the three hours to spare.  But what makes this movie seasonally appealing is that the end of the first act is set during the holiday seasons, a detail most might not remember.  To be fair, there’s so much about this film that’s unforgettable, and Christmas is perhaps a small detail on which to fixate.  But when the Don is shot by Sollozzo’s goons, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) is out Christmas shopping, Michael (Al Pacino) is at a holiday matinee with his girl Kay (Diane Keaton), and snow falls amid the Christmas lights adorning the hospital where the Don lays in state.  Although Sollozzo is insincere when he bids Tom “Merry Christmas!” the cheer the film brings is a fine fit for the festive season.

#3 – The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Tim Burton for the hat-trick!  Though he didn’t direct The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick did), his influence as producer and story-writer is acutely felt in this holiday double-dipper, suitable for Halloween and for Christmas.  Be honest, you already know all the lines by heart, and there’s a little part of you that can’t help but sing “What’s This?” every time you see the first snowfall of the season (which, up in my neck of the woods, still has yet to be).  As the spooky setting of Halloween Town gives way to the cheery bliss of Christmas Town, share in the sense of magic and wonder as Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon and Danny Elfman) rediscovers all that is charming about the December holiday.  Even though the residents of Halloween Town (spoilers?) get it wrong in the end, the spirit of Christmas – embodied by Santa Claus – reminds them that their hearts were in the right place, and the sweetness of the film is matched only by its infectious enthusiasm for its own unique concept.

Come back tomorrow for the epic conclusion:  Movies #2-1!  Place your bets now, ladies and gentlemen...