12 Days of Christmas: A Christmas Story

The final day for the 12 Days of Christmas and the last movie I picked is a classic that everyone knows, so I won't explain the plot - A Christmas Story.

It's on 24 hours this Christmas on TBS and if you haven't seen it, go sit down and catch a showing of it. It has stood the test of time and remains a lot of people's favorite Christmas movie.

12 Days of Christmas: It's a Wonderful Life

It’s Christmas Eve and we’ve reached day eleven on the 12 Days of Christmas and today’s movie is the classic everyone knows – It’s a Wonderful Life.
The movie is set in the year 1946 and takes place on Christmas Eve. We meet George Bailey (James Stewart) a man who is suicidal and is on the verge of jumping off a bridge. As he prepares himself to actually do it, he’s stopped at the last minute by a man (who is an angel) named Clarence (Henry Travers).
The movie then takes us back to show us George’s past and how he got to the point of almost killing himself. We learn that George is married to a woman named Mary (Donna Reed) and he also has four children. We see him owning his own business, which he inherited by his father, all seems well, and then we start seeing what went wrong.
George’s Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) loses the money that Bailey Building and Loan owes the bank. This throws George’s life upside down and to make matters worse, the bank is owned by Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) a man who is as cold hearted as Scrooge.
Is Clarence able to help George back onto the right path? Well, that’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself.
If you haven’t seen this movie, you are truly missing out. The movie is very similar to A Christmas Carol in a lot of ways and that’s not a bad thing.
Jimmy Stewart always pulls off great performances, but this performance is fantastic and the role I always think of when someone mentions his name.
The movie is a true classic that has stood the test of time and will remain a movie that hits the heart for generations to come.

12 Days of Christmas: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

The 10th movie on the list is a film that follows the Griswold family as they entertain their relatives during the Christmas holiday. Today’s movie is Christmas Vacation.
Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) wants to have the greatest Christmas he’s ever had. He then decides to host all of his relatives in the effort to capture and share the holiday spirit. This only leads to slap stick comedy and also my favorite Vacation movie.
I don’t want to give a lot of the plot away, because if you haven’t seen the movie I want you to watch and see all the funny parts and enjoy them without any idea of what’s going to happen.
Randy Quaid returns to the series bringing back to life his famous Cousin Eddie, he delivers some of my favorite scenes in the movie.
I strongly recommend this holiday film, like all the other movies on this list.

12 Days of Christmas: A Christmas Carol "Scrooge"

I know this one is a day late, but today instead of one movie you get two. This movie that was supposed to make its appearance yesterday is what I like to call the best Scrooge movie, not as magical as the Muppets version but better on the drama. Today's movie is A Christmas Carol "Scrooge".

This movie, originally released in 1951, stars Alastair Sim as the cold hearted Ebeneezer Scrooge. The movie sticks to the plot of the book so faithfully, that this is considered the most faithful adaptation of the Dickens’ novel.
After watching several movies based off of the novel, I would say that this one really delivers the spirit of the book. After seeing it you’ll feel like you just read the classic once again.
Another great thing about this movie is the performance Sim gives as Scrooge; he delivers the role like no one as ever and succeeds tremendously.
The film has aged well, but younger audiences might just pass this one by with out ever looking at it and I advise everyone to give it a shot.

12 Days of Christmas: The Muppet Christmas Carol

With only four more days to Christmas I bring you a very well done re-telling of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” with Michael Caine as Scrooge and Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit in the 1992 film – The Muppet Christmas Carol.
The movie follows the story of the classic story, Ebenezer Scrooge is a heartless man who cares only about work and the money he’s making. On Christmas Eve he returns home to only be visited by three ghosts that show him Christmas’ of his past, present and yet to come. All told with Muppets playing key characters.
This is the yet another great holiday film with great music and also has this real magic to it – a unique magic that only the Muppets seem to be able to bring out in this classic story.
If you are looking for a good film based off of this material to watch with your kids or to just enjoy yourself I strongly recommend it. It’s a movie I watched when I was young and it’s still a movie I watch each year around Christmas time. I warn you though; the music will get stuck in your head.

12 Days of Christmas: Die Hard

It’s day seven of the 12 Days of Christmas and I bring you a movie that I was really hesitant on adding, but Brad Carroll insisted that it should be on the list. Today’s movie is Die Hard.
Yes, the movie is considered a holiday film by many people, because the film itself is set around Christmas.
The movie stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, a New York City detective who is traveling to Los Angeles to try reconciliation with his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). When McClane meets up with his wife, she is attending a Christmas party thrown by her employer, Takagi, in Nakatomi Plaza (it’s a high rise building).
During this party a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) take control of the building and of course hold all the party goers hostage. McClane, being resourceful, is able to sneak away into the building’s maintenance areas. We then learn that Gruber is after $640 million in bearer bonds, which are stored in the buildings vault.
The film offers a great pace, great action and most likely the best holiday classic action film. The greatest thing about this movie is the villain Hans; he’s a great villain and a worthy advisory to put up against the common man McClane.
The movie spawned three more sequels, but as the series went on McClane became less and less of the common man and more of a superhero. If you saw Live Free and Die Hard, you know what I'm talking about. So, the first is the only one in the series that I really liked.
Do yourself a favor and check out Die Hard if you haven’t already.

12 Days of Christmas: Home Alone

Day six of the 12 Days of Christmas and today I bring you the holiday classic that made Macaulay Culkin a household name – Home Alone.
The film opens up with the McCallister family rushing around the house and getting prepared for their family vacation to Europe.
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is the youngest of his family, the one that gets made fun of and the one that gets the bad end of the deal all the time. The night before their big trip, Kevin gets into a fight with his older brother Buzz, causing his mother to send him to bed up in the attic. He believes that his family has gone to far, so he puts a wish in place for them all just to dissapear.
The next morning the family all over sleep and are soon in a rush to catch their flight. With all the comotion they forget to wake up Kevin, which lead them to leaving him behind.
Kevin wakes up after they have left and discover that he is home alone and his wish must of worked. Little does he know that two robbers played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are lurking the neighborhood and have their eyes on the McCallister house.
A holiday movie that everyone should know about and love. The movie did give us three more sequels and those sequels weren’t as good as the original, which usually is the case in franchises such as this.The movie is a family film that keeps itself going through its runtime with any dull moments. I know some people are split on this movie and I don’t think you should be, the film captures the season of Christmas beatifully and also captures the meaning of family in a very heart tugging way. It’s a great holiday classic that everyone should have the chance to see.