Mr. E’s Top 7 Holiday Classics

When the holidays are upon us movie lovers of the world look to their favorite classics to put them in the right spirits. As a young man in America my top list is very different from my grandfathers. You won’t find It’s a Wonderful Life on this list!

What puts me in my happy holiday mood is enjoying all of the following classics in order.

Enjoy my first annual Mr. E’s Top 7 Holiday Classics picks!

7. Gremlins

If you think this flick about vicious green monsters tearing up a small town during the holidays isn’t very Christmas-like, thank your lucky stars they nixed plans for scenes in which Gremlins behead Billy’s mom, eat his dog and chow down on McDonald’s patrons (but strangely not the burgers). Merry Christmas!

6. Scrooged

Only Bill Murray could so expertly walk the fine line between pathos and hilarity, as he does playing miserly TV exec Frank Cross. Complete with a taxi-driving Ghost of Christmas Past and a (literally) ball-busting Ghost of Christmas Present, this Dickens send-up is so offbeat and fun, Yule love it!

5. Bad Santa

There are two types of movie fans: those who expect their Santa noble and god-fearing, with perhaps a hint of safe Tim Allen-esque humor, and those who’ll allow him the occasional slip into vulgarity, promiscuity and armed burglary. To the latter group, this black comedy’s a classic. To the former, we’re sorry.

4. Die Hard

There’s no better way to get in the Christmas spirit than watching a wife-beater-clad Bruce Willis single-handedly decimate a skyscraper full of terrorists on Christmas Eve. The classic one liners, the genre-redefining action, the genius use of a Run-DMC holiday tune — it’s like a gift from Jesus himself.

3. Home Alone

It made Macaulay Culkin the biggest child star on the planet, reigned at the box office for 12 straight weeks and grossed $533 million worldwide, but the best thing about this holiday staple is watching an 8-year-old kid toss burglars Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern a good old-fashioned Christmas beat-down.

2. Christmas Vacation

Chevy Chase is at the top of his game in this sight-gag-and-one-liner-laden homage to the love/hate event that is the family Christmas. Where, besides this list, is there a place big enough for a movie with Yule laughs this huge? As Clark Griswold would say, “Bend over and I’ll show you.”

1. A Christmas Story

There’s nary a scene to forget in this near-perfect nostalgic look at where America and Christmas time meet. The story of a young boy’s epic quest to get his hands on a Red Ryder BB gun provides the hilarious backdrop for a timeless tale rife with family hijinks, frozen tongues and, of course, sex-oozing leg lamps.

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