Christmas!!!

Elf does for audiences what any good Christmas film should: it makes you want to be a kid again.

Jon Favreau does a great job in paying homage to Christmas classics past while creating an entirely new classic for future generations to enjoy.

Will Ferrell is his usual man-child self. Bob Newhart makes the best of his 2 minutes of screen time. Zooey Deschanel isn't known for playing cutesy characters, but her usual pessimistic attitude is somehow lovable once you dye her hair blond and stick her on the streets of New York in the middle of Winter. Showcasing her beautiful voice helps. Having her sing in the shower helps more.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is the definition of Tim Burton's unmistakable style, with stop-motion animation that is still ahead of our time and a story rivaled in creativity by none.

If it weren't for A Christmas Story, movies like Bad Santa wouldn't exist.

Though this film doesn't really have a point to it, and Ralphie seems a little Andy Milonakis-ish (looks like a little kid but is actually in his 20's), the humor and tone of the film makes it watchable over and over again.

A classic Christmas movie, but like Ernest Saves Christmas, follows a franchise formula. If you like the National Lampoon Vacation movies, you will like this one. Also, don't be put off by Chevy Chase's recent unfunny work; he was quite funny in the 80's.

Todd: "Hey Griswold, where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?"

Clark: Bend over and I'll show you.

Todd: You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, Griswold.

Clark: I wasn't talking to you.

Ernest Saves Christmas is less a Christmas movie and more an Ernest movie. I don't know, I just dig the honesty and sincerity of the Ernest character. Plus, I can never get tired of the way he fucks up Vern's house. And in Ernest Saves Christmas, he fucks it up pretty good.

Those two guys that are always in the Ernest movies (the shifty-eyed fat guy and the skinny guy, a.k.a. the original Penn and Teller) are here too. And Noelle Parker plays Harmony, a fast-talking street-smart teen. Parker is decent, but what really surprises is her Lolita-like prison scene. A little out-of-place in an Ernest movie, but welcome nonetheless. You can see that Parker's experience in sexy lolitaness here pays off later when she has the second biggest role of her career in the Amy Fisher TV movie. I'm not complaining.

If you're asking for a Christmas classic, this may not be the answer, but fans of Ernest will definitely like this one. I am at one with the yuletide, knowhutImean?

Jingle All The Way is surprisingly the only film so far to address holiday toy mania most commonly associated with Tickle-Me-Elmos, and it does it in a way that manages to give Schwarzenegger his trademark catchphrases and action scenes. Phil Hartman was the best at being slimy, and his performance here is a classic example.

Why couldn't they recognize Arnold is Turbo-Man until he actually takes off the helmet? As if the SEE-THROUGH visor on the helmet weren't enough, if your dad were the only one in town that spoke with an Austrian accent, you'd think you'd make the connection.

Oh, these cookies!

A classic. That's all there is to it. One question, though-- who the Hell is Yukon Cornelius?

Miracle on 34th Street is an understandable classic-- but sometimes I just can't get behind the Shakespearean melodramatic style of acting in those days.