Sunday Best: Christmas Movie Watchlist 2025 (repost)

     Most of the below article is from 2024

This either speaks to the fact that these movies are so good that they still endure as the years go on or the fact that nothing in the last few years has been able to match them.  Or it could be both.

Anyway, enjoy the read and share your thoughts in the comments section.

And no, I don't talk about the Star Wars Holiday Special. 

No one should talk about the Star Wars Holiday Special.

-----

There are some movies that I only watching during the 25 days leading up to Christmas.  So at least once a year these movies will be played at the Catholic Skywalker house, especially during Christmas activities like putting up the Christmas tree and present wrapping.

(not surprisingly, a good portion of the choices below are from my previous Sunday Best list of best Christmas movies of all time).

Spirited

Since seeing this movie in the theater, I have watched it a few more times and it has grown on me even more.  The music has woven its way into my consciousness and I find myself revisiting the musical numbers out of sheer delight.  There are parts I skip over, especially in the first half (not a fan of the Ghost of Christmas Past in this movie) and it is just a bit too vulgar for a holiday film.  But it is overall a heart-warming, feel-good Christmas tale.

8-Bit Christmas

Now, this could be simply because I am a Gen-X '80's child who grew up on 8-bit video games.  There was an authenticity to the world they created in its over-the-top strangeness.  But there is a reason why this movie is on here and not A Christmas Story

A Christmas Story works because of how it never strays from its tone of utter irony and cynicism while cloaked in 1950's nostalgia.  It is utterly bold to never have Ralphie learn the lesson that material things are not the true meaning of Christmas.  For that reason, A Christmas Story tends to stand out.

Superficially, 8-Bit Christmas is almost the exact same movie, only set 30 years forward.  But the movie is in many ways the opposite of A Christmas Story.  While A Christmas Story has the outward appearance of wholesomeness while inside is hollow cynicism, 8-Bit Christmas is packaged as a disposable, cynical Nintendo commercial, but I was literally shocked at the beating heart that was underneath.  The movie is not earth-shattering, but was surprisingly touching.

The movie is still fresh, so I will see if it lingers long enough in my memory to be back on this list next year.



Emmet Otter' Jugband Christmas

I remember seeing this back in grade school and it was unlike any other Muppet production I had seen. It was so… sad.  There was a melancholy to this movie that I had never really encountered in a puppet based film, let alone a Christmas movie.  But that is part of its amazing charm.  Nothing in the world of Emmet Otter is easy, but the smallest things are so heavily valued.

And I can't help but love the music.  It has a diverse range of emotions, from sentimental, to silly, to heartbreaking.  One of the things I love about it the most is that it reminds us that life is unfair, but often things work out for the best.  I remember as a kid hating the Riverbottom Nightmare Band and thinking about how they stole the prize from Emmet and his mother.  But the Nightmare didn't do anything wrong.  They simply won.

And Emmet and his mom got something better than a temporary prize.  They found something that could sustain them for life.  I think that is a beautiful reflection for Christmas: how it isn't just a single day of gifts, but a place to begin making life better.

White Christmas

What a great song and dance team Crosby and Kaye make.  This movie is just pure fun and heart.  And it has one of my favorite movie dance numbers of all time.  Danny Kaye is one of the true greats and I love him in almost anything he does.

 Love Actually.

This movie expertly interweaves seemingly disparate stories and reminds us that Christmas is about love.  Christmas is a time when love, any kind of love, should be made more manifest.

Men discover that they truly love their friends.  Lovers pour out their hearts to each other.  Parents and children dare to dream for each other.

There are issues with the film, though I will not try to argue against them here.  I could definitely do without the gratuitous nudity and vulgarity.

It also has one of my favorite comedic bits with Rowan Atkinson.  I always claimed that he played an angel in the movie and I think my theory has borne out to be true.


Expertly directed, sharply written, and splendidly acted.

Elf

What this movie gets right is that it captures the fun and heart of the old TV Christmas specials like Rudolph and Frosty, all the while setting it in our modern, cynical world.  But more than that, we would rather be Buddy in his boundless enthusiasm and love.

The laughs are big and it will leave you with a desire to spread Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear!

 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

This is, hands down, the best portrayal of Santa Claus I have ever seen.  He was big and beefy, with grey hair, but he was not slothful and slow.  He was a Santa Claus who was up to doing his yearly heroic mission. The gifts Santa Claus brings serve as a clarion call to fight on the side of the King of Christmas.

The Nativity Story

This is probably the best movie I have seen that is centered around the birth of Christ.   It is filmed beautifully by Catherine Hardwicke.  The landscapes, the homes, the costumes all feel so genuine.  And I love Oscar Isaacs' Joseph.  I love that he is portrayed as a young man who is still trying to find his place in this world.  He is a simple carpenter who just wants a simple life, but God has other plans.  I love how Isaacs performance of this man so overwhelmed that he almost buckles.  But he mans up and trusts in God and Mary.  For me, he is the real lynchpin of the movie.


I watch this movie every Christmas Eve to remind me of the heavenly peace of the Nativity.

The Muppets Christmas Carol

This is, hands down, the best screen adaptation of Ebenezer Scrooge's story.  It is also the move that the Muppets have made.

Michael Caine is perfect.  The music is fantastic.  And how can anyone not love the Ghost of Christmas Present?

 The Muppets make an excellent fit to the magical world depicted.  I also love that they did not eschew the explicitly religious elements, but brings out how essential Christ is in Christmas.

 Scrooged.

One of the reasons Scrooged works so well is that it is hysterical.  Bill Murray milks every ounce of humor from every quip and every glance.  To this day, I can't help but smile as the elves go for their automatic machine guns.

But what puts this movie over the top is the closing monologue.  The last 10 minutes of the movie are Murray preaching to the audience the meaning of Christmas.  It is one of the best performances of his life, if not the best.  It is almost exhausting to watch how he pours everything he has emotionally into that performance.

And it is a special movie that can get an entire movie theater of strangers singing at the end.

 It's A Wonderful Life

As a Catholic, I love that it starts with the collected prayers of the people of Bedford Falls.  This is ultimately, the story of a man whose prayers have been answered.  And I love the fact that God answers his prayers in a way that he doesn't expect.  God has a knack for doing the unexpected and better thing.

If God had simply given George the $8,000, then he never would have realized what a wonderful life he was living.  The point of the story is not the ending where the people give him the money (as the mighty John Nolte has pointed out).  When he returns from seeing the alternate reality, all of George's problems remain: he's deaf in one ear, bleeding from a punch, and he's going to lose his business and his freedom.  But even with all that, George is deliriously happy because he realizes that even with all of those problems, he still has a wonderful life: he has friends, he has a loving wife, and a treasure in his children.

The older I get, the more the worries and problems of the world begin to weigh on me.  But this movie is a reminder that our lives are not defined simply by the problems we face.  It is defined by the friends and family in our lives.  That is the real treasure of life and how sad it is for those who cannot see it.


In the movie, George has a plaque underneath the picture of his father that says: "The only thing you can take with you is that which you give away."  It's A Wonderful Life makes me want to be a better person.

I can't think of a better compliment to give a movie, especially the best Christmas movie of all time.

(ADDENDUM)



I also have to watch the claymation Christmas episode of Community

And maybe also the BBC Office Christmas Special.

And the Linus monologue from A Charlie Brown Christmas

Trailer Time: Supergirl - Official Teaser

I have to say that of all the Supergirl storylines from the comic books, the one that interested me the least was Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  Here she is drunk and cynical, something that has not been a part of her lore.  So I was not very happy when it was announced that this story would be the basis for the upcoming Supergirl movie.

But I have to say... I kind of dig it.

I could be totally misreading the movie, but it looks less like she's an insufferable Mary Sue and more that she is a broken person on a character arc.  Last summer's Superman portrayed a person who was morally righteous from the beginning and remained in that goodness, like Steve Rogers.  Supergirl looks like someone who is a great deal of pain and is numbing it with alcohol and violence, like Tony Stark.  If they balance this out correctly, they could satisfyingly foil one off of the other.

The thing that struck me is that Milly Alcock actually looks cool.  A lot of the overpowered female protagonists in recent sci-fi (Rey Skywalker, Carol Danvers) may have some good qualities, but they did not come off as cool.  I like the way Supergirl struts in her trench coat and smirks at the hordes who are surrounding her.

And even though James Gunn is not directing it, Supergirl feels like it was filmed in the same universe as Guardians of the Galaxy.

Now, I am not completely sold on the movie.  Like I said, the source material is very cynical.  The line "Gods are not that kind," is fine in the context of her pain, but it could hint at a larger anti-religious bent.  Also, I hate the tag line about Superman: "He sees the good in everyone.  I see the truth."  This would imply that we are not all good and redeemable at our core, which is a very anti-Christian way to look at the world.  My hope is that this is a statement from earlier in her character arc where she moves slowly from cynicism to sincerity.  

I also like the tease of Lobo on screen.

Like I said, I wasn't expecting to really like Alcock's Supergirl, but I am more open to this movie now than before seeing the teaser.

Thoughts?

Film Flash: Eternity

    

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Great performances cannot save this thematically ugly piece of cinema

Film Flash: Fackham Hall

   

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Good effort at trying to do an Airplane!-style Downton Abbey parody  that is sporadically funny.

Film Flash: Rental Family

  

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Heartfelt film that almost makes sin seem virtuous (but it's more complicated than that)

Film Review: Predator - Badlands

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

The original Predator is one of the greatest action movies of all time.  It is pure masculine mayhem in the best possible way.  It is unlikely that any movie will be able to come close to capture that lightning in a bottle.

In the years since, there have been several sequels that have attempted to recapture that magic, with varying degrees of success.  The latest attempt, Predator: Badlands, decides to do something radical: make the Predator the hero of the story.  As the sage once said: "It's a bold strategy, Cotton, let's see if pays off for 'em."

The movie centers around a Predator named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatanji) who is the runt of the clan.  Because of this, he needs to prove himself by going to the most dangerous planet known as Genna and kill the unkillable creature known as the Kalisk.  Dek crash lands on the planet and soon discovers that everything here is deadly from the animals to the flora and fauna.  Along the way he encounters Thia (Elle Fanning) a Weyland-Yutani android who is is missing everything below her torso.  She makes a deal with Dek to help him find the Kalisk if he gets her back to her people.  What follows is the standard reluctant partnership that slowly turns into friendship as the journey changes both of them.

If that plot summary sounds like this is a kinder, gentler Predator movie, that's because it is.  This looks and feels a lot more like a Marvel movie than a standard Predator film.  The tone, the humor, the action, the characters, and the violence feel like the could have come out of Guardians of the Galaxy spin-off.  

And here is the catch: if that is a deal-breaker for you, then this movie is not for you.

If, however, you are like me and can accept this change in tone, then Predator: Badlands is fairly enjoyable.  There is something lost when you remove the mystery and mystique of the Predators.  But what you get instead is a fairly straightforward reluctant friendship adventure.  Some people I have read found Thia cloying and off-putting.  However, I found her to be the right counterbalance to Bek.  Her constant chattiness and optimism are foiled against Bek's stoic silence.  

Plot-wise, the film is fairly standard with no real depth.  But that doesn't mean that it is bad.  The chemistry between the characters is fairly decent.  And the movie does one of the things I really like which is that it has good payoffs in the 3rd act that are set up in the 1st act without you realizing that they are being set up.  The movie rewards you for paying closer attention to how this world operates.  And it is fun to see Bek adapt to the surroundings, going from barely surviving to thriving.  It echoes Dutch from the original Predator, but the callback works.

The special effects work nicely in this film.  You get a strong sense of the ever-present danger of the planet.  The overall look of the Predator suffers by bringing it directly into the light and not keeping him in the dark shadows.  The action is very competently executed, with excitement and flair.  Bek can't rely on the normal bag of tricks that we've seen in other Predator films, but has to get creative, which adds to the enjoyment.

As I mentioned, the story's simplicity is reflected in its themes.  But those themes are still pleasing to see play out.  Bek's clan hates weakness and sees mercy as poison.  But in finding friendship and cooperation, Bek becomes stronger and better.  Again, it isn't revolutionary stuff, but the writers understand what their assignment is and they hit the correct thematic notes throughout.

No Predator film has lived up to the original.  But Predator: Badlands is not a bad way to spend a couple of hours of sci-fi adventure.

New Evangelizers Post: The Purpose of Penance

                                 

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

This post might seem more appropriate for the Lent. However, Advent is also a penitential season in the Church. We tend to forget that because of all the gifts, shopping, parties, and food during this time. But just like Lent, Advent should be a time of penance in preparation for the holy day of Christmas.

Here in this article by “penance,” I do not mean the Sacrament of Penance, also known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By “penance,” I mean those spiritual works we do after we repent of sin.

I have often puzzled about the true meaning of penance. For many years, it felt like it was some kind of spiritual punishment. After we receive absolution in Reconciliation, we do our penance. For many people this feels like the spiritual debt that we pay for our sins. Sadly, that is how I treated penance for many years of my life.

But the idea of penance being spiritual punishment doesn’t quite jibe with our faith. Christ paid the debt of sin on the cross. We therefore do not earn our salvation by contributing to the payment of that debt. That isn’t to say there isn’t a need for reparation. All sin causes damage to the community. That damage, even if forgiven, needs to be repaired. If I break old Mrs. Krestel’s window while playing stickball in the street, I have an obligation to repair the damage done, even if she forgives me.

This is partly the meaning of penance. When sin has been done, there must be something done to repair in the world that which is damaged. I was speaking with a priest recently about one of his mission trips. While he was there, someone had desecrated the Blessed Sacrament at one of his churches. When Rome reached out to them regarding what needed to be done, one of the things that was required was that the entire community do penance. To be clear, the person who desecrated the Eucharist was apparently outside of this community. Nevertheless, the Vatican said that the community was required to do penance for the outrage. The penance was partial done because the community had failed to properly evangelize or witness to the perpetrator.

But the main purpose of penance is to live out your holiness.

In penance, I live out the life of Christ in me. When I do this, I voluntarily take up the cross. I don’t do this so that I can “earn” credit towards my salvation. Instead, by doing this I am uniting myself to Jesus, my Savior. And in doing so, I make my life more like His.

A penance can be passive. For example, fasting during Lent is a way to passively not partake in our desire for food. We can also passively accept some trouble or misfortune that comes our way and offer it up in union with the cross.

But you can also have an active penance. In this way, you can take on an activity like feeding the hungry or visiting the sick. The missionary priest I mentioned earlier asked his community what penance they wanted to do. They chose to perform an ancient tradition where each person picked the heaviest stone they could carry and bring it up the nearby mountain. He said that this penance was done as a community and the event was actually quite joyous. In carrying the penance together, the whole community drew closer to the joy of God.

And key to penance is that it should be done for God. This means that if you take up a penance of cleaning, it should be done as if you are doing it for God. This particular penance would be difficult for me, because my method of cleaning is basically to shove everything in a closet or cover it with a blanket. If I did it as a penance, I wouldn’t do it in such a slip-shod manner. Instead, I put all of my best efforts because I am not cleaning for myself, but for God.

A penance can be many things: it can be fasting, writing letters to the homebound, gardening, giving an hour of your expertise to help anohter, working a food bank, going to mass at a shrine, attending a funeral mass for someone, memorizing a new prayer, studying a book of the Bible, wake up at an early hour to prayer, a technology fast, domestic cleaning, going out of your way to help someone feel special, going on pilgrimage, etc. As you can see, there are many varied ways to live out your holiness so you can find one that is best at bringing your closer to God.

There are three things a penance should have:

You can read the whole article here.