True Patriot Love - The Best Christmas Movies Ever Made

00:00:00.000 so jim i have been tasked uh as the resident movie guy okay to uh talk about our favorite

00:00:10.720 christmas films yes of the year and they do lend themselves to good movies they do the thing i love

00:00:17.200 about uh christmas movies and this time of year when out when we get into movies is it's it's a

00:00:22.160 time to get back to movies that are just a tight 90 minutes yes yes that are entertaining and uh

00:00:27.920 and wealth and formatted and well paced uh maybe it's because they're older films but i don't know

00:00:32.240 this might get into my uh my my criticisms of modern filmmaking but at the same time yeah these

00:00:37.920 movies uh definitely much easier watch uh to me even every year even though it's the same movie

00:00:44.480 over and over again i'm glad you brought that up nick because they're called classics for a reason

00:00:48.320 and then seem every holiday time let's watch this movie let's watch that movie and i find some of

00:00:53.920 them i pick up different things maybe i miss from the time before yeah absolutely and that's that's

00:00:58.880 a good thing about uh that's what uh that's a quality in movies that i i really do appreciate

00:01:03.440 is when you can re-watch it second third fourth whatever time and there's still something new

00:01:08.480 that you're picking out about it that that you love um something that you didn't notice the first

00:01:12.000 time that you that you really liked that that affected you okay you know um i definitely agree with

00:01:16.800 you there for sure for sure so uh what would be your what's what's the one movie you're you're looking

00:01:22.240 forward to every year every year it's rudolph the red-nosed reindeer okay okay now a lot of

00:01:28.080 people don't realize this but it's got a huge canadian contingent in it i didn't know that so most of

00:01:33.200 the voice actors larry mann who was yukon cornelius and paul souls who's hermy the elf and a lot of the

00:01:39.120 voice actors were canadian no kidding yes no kidding it's funny my uh uh my my wife's not not from canada

00:01:46.160 and uh she's uh you know not from a christian nation she's from turkey um so this was all new

00:01:53.440 all these christmas movies are new to her and i did what we did watch rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

00:01:58.400 um because it's it's also a staple for me yeah when i was a kid growing up there always came on tv

00:02:03.280 we always managed to see it and uh yeah it was just a little the old claymation it's just there's a certain

00:02:08.640 charm to it still absolutely but my wife was more taken back by it really we're used to it we're used

00:02:15.920 to it uh you know her her take is that santa just seems like a giant and i i have to

00:02:22.720 agree well he was pretty grumpy for most of the movie yeah yeah yeah quite quite prejudiced very

00:02:28.480 very off-put by this red nose and this reindeer uh unsettlingly so and i think in our modern times

00:02:34.400 perhaps there's there's something about it that just doesn't sit right with uh with a new the new

00:02:39.200 viewer but for me it's it's bumble it's yukon cornelius it's hermy uh just the whole everything

00:02:47.520 about it the story the island of misfit toys and so it's become part of our vernacular yeah and there'll

00:02:54.880 be a different group saying we're the island of misfit toys or you know like something like that and

00:03:00.080 it's it's one of those ones i i i know everything's gonna happen i see it every year yeah and i still

00:03:04.960 get excited yeah yeah no it's it's great it's it's still a great uh great special it's funny i i've

00:03:11.680 seen i've seen rudolph the red-nosed reindeer a million times but i've never seen santa claus's

00:03:15.760 coming to town oh with burger meister meister burger yes never seen the heat miser i i just know

00:03:21.600 this through people i've never actually seen it you got one foot in front of the other yeah that's the

00:03:26.240 song it's it's really good yeah i i i still i've still failed to watch okay okay but yeah again

00:03:32.160 that's that's another okay what's your number one my number one um very simple home alone really

00:03:38.560 home alone is something okay i can't watch it too early we watch home alone too early in december

00:03:44.560 that's the policy yes uh just to get our original yeah yeah we don't want to we don't want to uh uh

00:03:51.040 uh blow a shot with with home alone right away but we still want to watch home alone so we watch

00:03:55.360 home alone two which is the same movie um but not quite as good as home alone one in my opinion

00:04:02.960 it just as a parent i still can't believe they were on the plane when they realized they forgot kevin

00:04:08.640 yes this this is a stretch but i i don't know i don't know what it's like to have 12 children

00:04:15.040 you know yeah that's that that's the that's how they get away with it i guess is there's there's

00:04:20.880 so many kids that you just like you lose track of and again toronto's catherine o'hara is brilliant

00:04:25.440 in the movie catherine o'hara absolutely brilliant yeah absolutely brilliant i i watched this movie

00:04:29.600 when i was nine years old i was probably i was just a year or two younger than uh i was gonna say

00:04:34.480 mcculligan right yeah and it this movie had me just screaming in the theater just losing my mind to

00:04:42.000 seeing you know a nine-year-old kid hurt adults uh with cartoon violence and doing pg level swears

00:04:50.400 was just the most mind-blowing thing when i was nine yeah filthy animal exactly yeah filthy oh god

00:04:57.200 such great such great scenes uh again a very tight movie it's entertaining from beginning to end yep and

00:05:04.720 it brings up well it really does it really does and it's aged fairly well i mean some some i know i think

00:05:10.880 a lot of parents would say this is a bit too violent for a nine-year-old well consider the

00:05:16.160 video games that some of these nine-year-olds play so that's the thing that's the thing i mean it's

00:05:20.480 it's just uh i i i give it a pass i'd let my nine-year-old daughter who is not nine yet but would

00:05:27.920 watch this movie now my other one is the grinch the grinch who stole christmas both the original

00:05:32.480 animated and jim carrey uh with ron howard directing did a really cool one and jeffrey tamber is in it and

00:05:39.760 christina branski and it's well done but the original the grinch with max the dog and cindy

00:05:46.000 luhu and to this day when someone's being grouchy in the holidays we're like don't be a grinch don't

00:05:51.920 be a grinch yeah i mean i agree with you for the original cartoon the ron howard i just feel like

00:05:58.080 everything that needed to be said was said in that in that original cartoon and then the expanded

00:06:03.520 grinch universe said i don't care yeah this this is just me maybe i'm maybe i'm just cynical

00:06:09.120 but absolutely the grinch great story absolutely um let me think um so we we have uh you know then

00:06:16.320 there's die heart i'm i think we're best on both of our lives that's a christmas movie

00:06:21.040 it's an office christmas party the only reason john mclean flew from new york to la to the nakatomi tower

00:06:27.200 was to be with holly at the office christmas party and it ends with let it snow right exactly

00:06:32.800 absolutely it's absolutely a christmas movie and the the thing the thing with die hard people will

00:06:38.560 roll their eyes it's just a change of pace from the typical christmas movie you know sometimes we

00:06:43.760 just want to see you know some some good action and and that movie uh it's another movie where i i

00:06:50.080 find something new to appreciate appreciate about it every time i know it's it's a genre it's a genre

00:06:55.120 film it's it's people shooting at each other but you know upon watching it the last few years it's

00:07:00.960 really how great the cinematography is fantastic the pacing is so good it just keeps it keeps you

00:07:06.240 hooked the whole time ellen rickman people forget this i just read about this not that long ago i

00:07:11.520 it was his first movie first movie he was a theater stage actor and he was so brilliant as hans you know

00:07:18.240 the uppity criminal the gang leader was brilliant in it absolutely brilliant and uh i i i miss i miss

00:07:26.080 movies like this you know i still think there are only three die hard movies but yes i miss movies

00:07:31.120 like this these tight 90 minutes i think i think die hard's about two hours i think two hours and

00:07:35.200 change thunder but you you don't feel it you don't feel it because of the health issues of bruce willis

00:07:40.320 is going through right now i appreciate it even more now next door because i know that he's having a

00:07:45.600 tough time physically and his daughters and demi moore his ex-wife have been posting about it but uh at that

00:07:51.840 time bruce willis um yippie-ki-yay blank blank blank everything was it was so cool and it was such a

00:07:59.520 great late 80s movie and i just there's so many things about it like you like i i just pick up and

00:08:06.240 i enjoy it yeah no it's it's absolutely absolutely one of my faves yeah uh any easy re-watch and there

00:08:12.560 are a few movies like that for me for sure for sure so i thought we'd get into uh you know we we have

00:08:18.320 these older movies that we go on and us us old geezers here yeah well but there are but there are

00:08:23.760 newer movies okay that that are i think are worthwhile and that's why i thought we we put that

00:08:28.960 a bit um that you know we could possibly add to the repertoire i've we've had i've had three new

00:08:34.320 ads so three three movies that i watch every year now that are from the last 10 years all right so

00:08:39.440 that i think are worthwhile maybe people should check out and it depends on your taste of course but uh

00:08:43.920 the first one um is the night before have you heard of this movie is that the one with uh seth rogan

00:08:51.280 yes uh and he's wearing the uh the uh the jewish with the uh the star david hanukkah sweater right

00:08:59.280 yeah stuff like yeah um what i'd say about that one is you know it's sort of a screwball comedy it's

00:09:04.320 sort of a drug you know it's almost yeah yeah it's like a it's like the hangover but christmas yeah

00:09:08.960 yeah uh with with some with the supernatural element it's sort of a spoof there's sort of a

00:09:13.120 spoof of uh of a christmas carol yes there is a bit of that vibe to it you're right yeah yeah michael

00:09:19.040 shannon i think is the best part of of this movie he's plays a drug dealer and of course he's like

00:09:24.240 he's just now in nuremberg he's one of the most accomplished actors in hollywood well that's the

00:09:29.040 great his intensity makes it so great he's just this very intense you know he's michael shannon as a

00:09:33.920 drug dealer yeah yeah it's it's absolutely hysterical love it love it love it so yeah

00:09:38.320 night before okay that's a good not everyone's speed but i think it's definitely my speed i would

00:09:43.440 say for sure and uh next one uh klaus close have you heard of this one no it's a shame because it

00:09:52.400 almost won best animated picture a couple years back i think around the pandemic times um it lost

00:09:57.840 out to toy story four which i think is a shame um um so it's a 3d 3d film almost looks 2d it's almost

00:10:06.400 two and a half d looking um it's a it's a uh origin story movie about santa okay uh takes place in um

00:10:16.720 i forget whether it's norway it's some scandinavian scandinavian country um and just tells this this

00:10:23.040 really this really beautiful story about santa and a mailman who who invent uh the whole okay

00:10:29.120 whole santa myth who are the voices there's the uh there's jk simmons as klaus oh perfect yeah

00:10:35.760 with one of the best speaking voices in hollywood yeah uh jason schwartzman as as the the mail carrier

00:10:41.840 okay great um there's uh rashida jones as the as the lead female fantastic fantastic really great and uh

00:10:49.040 norm mcdonald the late norm mcdonald oh yeah it still makes me sad yeah um and he's and he's great

00:10:54.960 in that as well okay that's one i'll take a look for yeah yeah uh definitely easy to re-watch okay

00:10:59.120 definitely definitely a strong one in my opinion um the last one is and this this one i'm not sure i'm

00:11:06.000 not sure how people would feel is four christmases oh uh and it's with vince vaughn yes vince vaughn and

00:11:12.560 it's fantastic really good and robert devolves in it yes robert devolves yeah it's actually a really

00:11:18.080 good movie amazing you know as a guy who comes from a divorced family this is so point you know

00:11:22.640 being so in the basic plot of it is uh you know a couple um but they're trying to bounce around to

00:11:28.000 the different families and how different they are exactly they both they both come from divorced

00:11:31.840 families yes for christmases it's for for both parents yeah each of them and and you know each of

00:11:36.720 those these families are insane in their own way and it really feels like you really get that sense of

00:11:41.520 like the the battling personalities you know when you're dealing with people with troubled families and

00:11:47.200 nick there's a lot of people watching this right now who are about to experience the very same thing

00:11:51.360 absolutely absolutely that's why it hits so close to home and it's funny it's you know it's well

00:11:56.320 structured it's actually it kind of it really surprised me how much i enjoyed it yeah and how

00:12:02.160 much uh well i the kick i got out of it yeah yeah and again you can watch it again that's yeah it's

00:12:06.960 it's very rewatchable so yeah those would be my three picks i don't know if you have any i but what

00:12:11.840 it's 2009 so it's not too old close enough and it's jim carrey and gary oldman in the updated version

00:12:19.440 of the christmas carol okay and it's robert zemeckis directs it and he uses the same technology from the

00:12:25.280 polar express right and it's fantastic jim carrey his mannerisms his voice and i'm such a huge gary

00:12:33.120 oldman fan i'm really getting into slow horses now and he's so good at it and that it's such a timeless

00:12:39.040 story charles dickens the christmas carol and it's got a bit of a modern twist to it but still

00:12:44.880 true to the original with the modern actors so jim carrey and um gary oldman and i i think it's very

00:12:52.000 watchable if you if you don't want the stodgy old black and white christmas carol this is a good

00:12:57.600 version of it and it's sort of like a live animation with jim carrey gary oldman it's very well done oh yeah

00:13:02.880 i'll definitely check it out i haven't seen it but i definitely got to check it out because i'm looking

00:13:07.040 for a christmas carol to watch this this is very watchable yeah it's very watchable i mean the other

00:13:13.040 one that i guess goes with that is bill marine scrooged yes and i i was just at the tip of my

00:13:19.840 tongue i definitely want to talk about scrooged because i think that's another underrated classic

00:13:24.800 film absolutely i mean basically the premise is he's a tv director producer who wants to do a live show

00:13:32.000 like christmas eve you know all the crew and everything and it's so it's a it's a bit of a

00:13:37.200 farce but there's a lot of good story to it as well it's so dark and it's yeah it's a great retelling

00:13:45.600 it's great modern retelling you know in the 1980s new york yes and um i was gonna say i think i don't

00:13:51.920 an underrated an underrated uh i'm using underrated too much but one of my favorite characters in that

00:13:58.240 uh in that movie is uh the ghost of christmas past the cab driver uh david johansson was the actor

00:14:05.520 he was he was a singer with the new york dolls exactly yes yes yeah he's very good in it yeah

00:14:10.480 my favorite my favorite part of the movie is is uh is the is the cab driver you know and there's that

00:14:15.760 there's a one scene where that goes take me to the mbc building and he goes which floor i love it

00:14:21.520 love it yeah very good yeah yeah now we would be remiss if we're talking christmas movies if we

00:14:28.960 didn't talk about love actually ah well what's your opinion of love actually before i enjoy it and and

00:14:34.400 and there are certain scenes like bill nye when he's when he starts doing a song and he strips down

00:14:41.920 and all that and it's funny but really colin firth when he goes to the restaurant and he's speaking

00:14:47.600 portuguese to extend his love and dying love to the girl i just i don't know i love it i just

00:14:53.840 really enjoy it i i just don't know what kind of uh uses a typewriter outdoors well i'm a laptop guy

00:15:01.840 myself but it just added to the charm of the movie i guess i guess but i as a writer myself i look at

00:15:08.080 this and just go what are you doing yeah yeah yeah what are you doing still using a typewriter outdoors

00:15:12.240 yeah i i feel the same way as you do i i do i do really enjoy a lot of of love actually and i i

00:15:20.400 can re-watch it but there's there unlike these other movies there's stuff that makes me kind of go

00:15:24.960 tilt yeah a bit while watching it and and there's been a lot of uh of you know rehashing love actually

00:15:31.760 and is this actually a good movie or not i think it's a good movie sure i i definitely it definitely

00:15:36.720 obviously people love it um my criticism of love actually my biggest criticism of love actually

00:15:42.960 is the incel guy plot i i don't know if it maybe you don't remember it that well because it's i i feel

00:15:50.880 like it's the it's the worst part of the movie in my opinion and that's the guy who can't seem to get a

00:15:57.200 date can't seem to get laid right in in the uk yeah and this his whole he has this whole speech about

00:16:03.600 you know he's talking with his friend about oh i can go to america my people will want my accent

00:16:08.240 yeah and i'll get all the women and that right okay yes now yes yes okay so and and what happens

00:16:15.440 in that plot well he does do that he goes to america he got the first bar he sits his ass down into

00:16:21.040 all of a sudden he has three women on his arm right all of a sudden which happens all the time all the

00:16:26.080 time this is yes definitely if you're from the uk just go there it's just it's just free it's just you

00:16:30.720 know and it's and that that's that's that's the beginning the end of it he goes to the us yeah

00:16:36.000 and january jones suddenly is just enthralled with this guy and they they invite him back and he has

00:16:41.280 he has a threesome or foursome or something like that and it's just like is that the message you're

00:16:46.240 giving is that you know and i feel like the plot should have been he goes to the u the u.s january

00:16:53.200 jones says get out of here dork yeah you know yeah and he comes back to the uk in shame and then you know

00:16:59.920 in that moment of vulnerability he learns that you know being himself you know he he then he finds you

00:17:07.040 know a girl in the uk just just by being himself and or whatever there there's some kind of character

00:17:11.680 development here there's some kind of lesson but they're no in this this plot there's no lesson

00:17:15.840 just go you know just go to a foreign country with your with your fancy accent and and women will

00:17:20.080 throw themselves at you that to me was garbage but you have think about this colin firth

00:17:26.320 liam neeson emma thompson keira knightley alan rickman uh laura linney who i think is really

00:17:32.640 good at martin freeman and i'm a big fan of martin freeman you talk about star-studded it's incredible

00:17:38.960 absolutely absolutely great cast yeah and it's you know hugh grant here's the thing about these and

00:17:46.640 every year netflix and all the streaming services basically it's page after page a holiday movie i think

00:17:53.040 sometime with all the stress everything nick we just want to feel good sure we want to laugh maybe

00:17:58.960 there's something they do something silly or stupid and you laugh at them and that's why i think national

00:18:04.400 on poons christmas vacation when he hooks the light up there's someone that lives a couple blocks my

00:18:09.600 house that basically oh it's the we call them the griswolds because they have so many lights right yeah

00:18:15.600 oh and everyone's got a cousin eddie yes exactly it's very relatable very yeah absolutely and

00:18:22.800 absolutely funny and yeah just fantastic movie fantastic now i our daughters are in their 20s

00:18:29.200 and they sometimes cringe because my partner and i will we like these sort of sappy and they're like

00:18:33.920 oh so we have to balance it out with the kids okay which one do you want to watch we each take her

00:18:38.960 turn in that so there's a little harmony in the tv room and what do they turn to they i mean they love

00:18:45.920 they love the jim carrey grinch okay they love that um they i think rudolph is a big that's my big one

00:18:53.040 they dig they go with that but i think they just love actually is a good one charlie brown christmas

00:18:58.720 you can't go wrong with it sure i think that's a standard but just it's so somber movies yeah but the

00:19:05.280 one thing i know the girls because they're such big seth rogan fans they they do like last night

00:19:10.240 right just because that's their kind of wheelhouse for movies and stuff like that yeah again it's a

00:19:14.480 different speed of christmas movie it's darker it's more uh it's it's dirtier it's raunchier but

00:19:19.520 now the one of the ultimate it's nsfw is billy bob thornton and bad santa okay yeah now it is even he

00:19:29.520 i remember seeing an interview with him he can't believe like that he did it how popular it became

00:19:35.840 and it's you want to talk about dark movies right but there is like some tender moments in it like

00:19:41.360 it's crazy yeah well that's that's uh that's a really fun quality when you when you watch a movie

00:19:46.560 that that's you're just it's it's just seems like it's a dirty film but then it hits you somehow yes

00:19:53.040 it does yeah that's the brilliance of it and if it's if it was just sheer raunch then i think it

00:19:57.840 wouldn't have the same impact that it does absolutely and maybe one day they'll make a movie as good as

00:20:02.800 die hard someday someday they're gonna reboot it that's what they're gonna do oh no i know no please

00:20:08.160 no i don't want it either no just make a new movie for you have to make it please yes please hollywood

00:20:13.520 make a new movie america simpson's happy holidays

True Patriot Love - December 25, 2025

The Best Christmas Movies Ever Made

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