Streaming services gift users with classic Christmas movies
What movie to watch, an old-time favorite or a new-school entry in the Christmas canon? There are plenty of both available across the top streaming services. Here are 10 Christmas favorites — some new, some old — and where to stream them this holiday season.
‘Elf’: Will Ferrell is Buddy, an overgrown elf who exists on sugar in Jon Favreau’s 2003 holiday hit. Revisit the joyful delight of Ferrell’s performance in this cuddly holiday comedy. HBO Max
‘Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey’: A joyous, spirited, inventive Christmas musical, writer-director David E. Talbert’s holiday fantasy stars Forest Whitaker as Jeronicus Jangle, an inventor and toymaker whose creations are the stuff of childhood dreams. When his apprentice, Gustafson (KeeganMichael Key) steals his book of ideas, well, it’s time for a Christmas miracle to save the day, and this festive, fantastical tale delivers the goods. Netflix
‘Home Alone’: Macaulay Culkin gets left home alone for the holidays and has the time of his life, until a pair of pesky robbers come knocking at his door. Violence ensues, but it’s the sweet heart at the center of this Christmas tale that makes it stand the test of time. Disney+
‘Die Hard’: The 1988 Bruce Willis classic’s Christmas status has been intensely debated, but this action film is every bit a Christmas movie. Rent on Amazon Prime Video
‘Miracle on 34th Street’: Edmund Gwenn stars in
this 1947 holiday classic from writer-director George Seaton as a department store Santa at Macy’s who claims he’s the real McCoy and is put on trial to find out the truth. HBO Max
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’: The story of George Bailey (James Stewart), an average man who gets the chance to see what life would have been like without his existence in this 1946 Christmas staple, still has plenty to offer, including a message of togetherness and a lesson that “each man’s life touches so many other lives,” which is still important to remember today. Rent on Amazon Prime Video
‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’:
He’s just a family man who wants everyone to be together at the holidays. The 1989 Chevy Chase vehicle grows in stature every year because it acknowledges everything that makes the holidays the holidays, from the alternating stress and warmth of family to the feeling of accomplishment of hanging your Christmas lights just so. HBO Max
‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’: Writer-director Shane
Black is a real sucker for the holidays. Here, he casts Robert Downey Jr. alongside Val Kilmer in a black comedy crime noir with plenty of flash, style and, oh yeah, holiday cheer. Rent on Amazon Prime Video
‘Fatman’: Mel Gibson plays a grizzled, hardnosed Chris Cringle, a workin’ stiff just like the rest of us, in this hardboiled Christmas tale that prefers a shot and a beer to a glass of egg nog. Walton Goggins is a riot as a psychotic hitman who wants Santa dead, leading to a bloody showdown in the snow in writer-directors Eshom and Ian Nelms’ comedic action drama, which puts a modern spin on familiar holiday happenings. Peacock
‘Klaus’: There’s lots to love in this sweet, nostalgic, hand-drawn animated tale, with J.K. Simmons as the voice of Santa Claus and Jason Schwartzman as a postman who befriends him. But perhaps most welcome is the fact that it employs the voice talents of the late Norm Macdonald, who died this year at age 61, who plays a wry boat captain who sounds exactly like, well, Norm Macdonald. Netflix