So, perhaps “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” is too old, “Krampus” too new, and “The Ref” too obscure (though how can you argue with Dennis Leary and Kevin Spacey?) — but what were NAPA Net readers’ favorite holiday movies?
Bear in mind that this is essentially a “cage match” competition, with various movies pitted against each other. But, starting at the bottom of the Top 25 list, we have:
25. Meet Me in St. Louis (OK, not really a Christmas movie, per se, but you can’t miss “I’ll be home for Christmas”)
24. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (who hasn’t had road trips like this?)
23. Christmas Vacation (who doesn’t have family members like the Griswolds?)
22. Die Hard (Yippie-Ki-Yay, Mother…)
21. The Santa Clause (yes, dear, that's why I’m putting on weight)
Then we had:
20. Elf (except for that maple syrup on spaghetti scene)
19. Scrooged (“For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be!”)
18. Miracle on 34th Street (not the Natalie Wood version)
17. A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version)
16. A Christmas Story (you’ll put your eye out!)
And then came what I tend to think of as the “Christmas Carol” bracket:
15. The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant version — Denzel Washington was in the remake)
14. A Christmas Carol (Alistair Sim version)
13. A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott version)
12. A Christmas Carol (Reginald Owen version)
11. Love, Actually (see a pre-Walking Dead Rick)
The next five definitely were in that bracket:
10. Muppet's Christmas Carol (yes, another Christmas Carol)
9. Frosty the Snowman (honestly, I’ve never been able to stay awake all the way through this one)
8. The Polar Express
7. White Christmas
6. Home Alone (Kevin versus the “wet bandits”)
Which brings us, of course, to the top five, three of which were animated:
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon original, with Boris Karloff)
4. A Charlie Brown Christmas (with the world’s favorite Christmas tree)
3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (with Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the elf who wanted to be a dentist, and… brrrr… the abominable!)
But the top two turned out to be traditional favorites:
2. It's a Wonderful Life
1. Miracle on 34th Street (traditional, with Natalie Wood)
Here’s hoping you all get to check out your holiday favorites this holiday season! Thanks to everyone who participated in our weekly reader poll!
