Christmas classics

A selfish postman and a quiet toymaker stumble into inventing Christmas, and it is the softest movie Netflix owns. Hand-drawn, a little sad, and the one we put on when the room needs to exhale.

Buddy the elf goes to New York to find his dad and treats the whole city like the North Pole. Will Ferrell, 2003, and it is on Prime and Max. If the room can only agree on one movie, it is often this.

Kevin gets left behind, the house becomes a fortress, and a lot of us still know the soundtrack by heart. On Disney+. The 1990 one, not a remix.

Michael Caine plays Scrooge with a straight face and the Muppets do the rest. It might be the best Christmas movie, and we will not be taking questions. Disney+.

Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, two sisters, and a Vermont inn that needs a miracle and a song. On Prime and Paramount+. If the room wants one classic, this is a very good vote.

A department-store Santa might be the real one, and a little girl is trying to decide what she is allowed to believe. The 1947 film, on Disney+ and Prime. Still the gentlest argument for wonder.

A crusty teacher, a student with nowhere to go, and a cook who is grieving spend Christmas break at an empty boarding school. Paul Giamatti. Rated R for language, and it is one of the best Christmas films in years. On Peacock.

A boy who is starting to doubt gets a train to the North Pole. The motion-capture looks like a dream, the song is stuck in the culture, and Max has it.

Clark Griswold wants a perfect Christmas and the house, the relatives, and a squirrel have other plans. On Max. Quote it only if everyone in the room can take a PG-13 joke.

Ralphie wants a Red Ryder BB gun, the Old Man battles the furnace, and a lamp shaped like a leg arrives. On Max. You can recite parts of it and still be happy it is on.

A pile of London love stories collide at Christmas, some delightful and some that have aged worse than others. Rated R. On Netflix and Peacock. We still put it on, with a little side-eye at a couple of the plots.

Kurt Russell plays Santa like a rock star who lost his sleigh, and two kids have to help him get it back. It is loud in the best way, and it is still on Netflix.

Jack Skellington tries to run Christmas and gets the joy all wrong before he gets it right. Halloween bones, Christmas heart, and it is on Disney+.

Santa's daughter has to find her brother and maybe take the sleigh herself. Anna Kendrick, a bright Disney+ original, good for kids who want a present-day North Pole.

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch in the 2018 animated one, which is brighter and kinder than you might remember from the trailer. On Peacock. Very easy for kids.

Jim Carrey in the full green makeup, committing completely. The 2000 live-action Grinch, on Peacock. Louder than the cartoon, and a lot of millennials want exactly that.

The March sisters grow up, argue, write, and come home. Greta Gerwig's film ends in winter and feels like a wool coat. On Hulu. One of the best movies of its decade, holiday or not.

A boy goes looking for his father and finds the beginning of Christmas instead. It is a storybook movie, a little dark at the edges, and very kind in the middle.

Jim Carrey plays the whole haunting in the motion-capture Carol. It is darker than the Muppet one and very watchable. Prime and Disney+ both have it.

Patrick Stewart plays Scrooge like a man who has been cold for a long time and is tired of it. The 1999 television Carol, included with Prime.

George C. Scott plays Scrooge like a businessman you would not want to owe money. The 1984 version, free on Tubi. A strong, straight Carol.

Alastair Sim's 1951 Scrooge, the one a lot of families still call the real one. Free on Tubi. Black-and-white, and it has the best transformation.

Ralphie is the dad now, and he wants the Christmas he remembers for his own kids. The 2022 sequel, on Max, for people who grew up with the lamp.

A family comes apart over the holidays, and a basset hound narrates the long way back together. New on Netflix this November, from the people who wrote A Dog's Purpose. Have the tissues where you can reach them.

Madea gets dragged into a small-town Christmas and the town does not survive unchanged. Tyler Perry, PG-13, on Prime. You know if Madea is your December person.

A family tries to cook their late mother's recipes and not fall apart doing it. Danny Glover holds the center. On Hulu and Peacock. Have a plate nearby.

Eddie Murphy makes a wish to win the decorating contest and the wish has fine print. A big Prime comedy, PG-13, with enough chaos for a Friday.

One long Christmas Eve party in a small town, overheard more than plotted. An indie on Hulu for people who like the noise of a real house.

A famous food writer who cannot cook is forced to host a perfect farmhouse Christmas she does not actually have. Barbara Stanwyck, 1945, on Prime. Screwball, and a good one.

The Kranks try to skip Christmas and the neighborhood will not allow it. Broad, sunny, and on Max. A good one when you want the comedy turned up.

Two neighbors go to war over Christmas lights, and the lights are winning. Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito, on Netflix. Broad on purpose.

A rich woman wants to sell her hometown out from under the Christmas festival, and Dolly is not going to allow it. A musical with a sermon's heart. Sing along or just sit with it.

A workaholic dad wishes for more time and gets Melissa McCarthy as a genie instead. It is a Christmas movie even though the wish is the headline, and Peacock has it.

A fairy godmother in training picks the wrong kind of client and ends up fixing a tired adult life instead of a ball. Isla Fisher, Disney+, and softer than the title sounds.

Bing Crosby as a young priest who wins over a parish with music and patience. A 1944 best-picture winner on Prime. Not only a Christmas movie, and still a deeply cozy one.

A war widow, a toy train, and Robert Mitchum refusing to let her stay careful. A 1949 charmer on Prime and Tubi. Short, black-and-white, and very easy to love.

Bing Crosby at an inn that opens for the holidays, and the movie that gave us the song White Christmas. It is on Prime. One musical number has aged badly. Skip past it if you are watching with kids, or choose White Christmas itself for the warmer visit.

Kevin and the same two burglars, this time in a toy-store New York. Bigger, louder, and still the sequel people quote. Disney+ again.

A different kid, a different set of crooks, and a remote-control car that does a lot of work. It is the 1997 one. Lower stakes, same Disney+ shelf, fine if the first two are worn out.

Twenty-six minutes, Boris Karloff, and the song. The original TV special, on Peacock. This is the one to watch when dinner is in the oven and you still want the real Grinch.

A college kid has to get home for Christmas or lose the car, and the country between him and the dinner table does not cooperate. A 1998 Disney comedy. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, if that name just warmed you.

A man without a home quietly spends the winter in a mansion, and then the owner shows up. A 1947 comedy on Prime that feels like someone saved you a seat.

The 1979 Rankin/Bass winter tale, about an hour, with the old stop-motion charm. On Prime. Not the 1998 Michael Keaton one, which we could not confirm on a service this week.

A toymaker who stopped believing gets a second chance, and the whole thing is a musical with gears and glitter. Put it on when you want Christmas to feel handmade.

Scrooge McDuck, twenty-four minutes, and a surprisingly complete Carol. Disney+ has it for the night you want the story and you also want to be in bed soon.

Richard Attenborough is Kris Kringle in the remake, and the department store is still on trial. It landed on Hulu. A good one if the 1947 film feels too old for the room and you still want the belief.

Santa gets kidnapped and Dwayne Johnson has to get him back before Christmas morning. Big, silly, PG-13, and on Prime because Amazon made it. A blockbuster, not a lullaby.

A direct-to-video Richie Rich Christmas from 1998, which is exactly the time capsule it sounds like. On Disney+ and Prime. Kids who like a silly rich-kid plot will be fine. Adults may feel the decade.

Rudolph has a New Year's errand, which is how you keep the Christmas special feeling going one more night. About fifty minutes, on Prime.

Bill Murray is a mean television executive getting the Dickens treatment in real time. Loud, funny, PG-13, and on Prime and Paramount+. The modern Carol for people who like a joke with their ghost.

Old friends pack into one house for Christmas and the secrets come out with the gifts. It is rated R and it earns the feeling. On Prime and Peacock. Have it for a grown-up night.

An angel, played by Cary Grant, arrives to help a bishop who has forgotten why he wanted the cathedral. Christmas, romance, and a very light touch. On Prime and Tubi.

The kids are older, the North Pole is in trouble, and Kurt Russell's Santa has a score to settle. A bigger, brighter sequel for the night the first one was not enough.

Nicolas Cage's high-finance life wakes up as a suburban dad, and Christmas is the thing that might make him stay. On Hulu and Peacock. A what-if with a soft landing.

A pastor inherits a hurting church and has to find his faith again before Christmas, with a room full of gospel voices helping. Tyler Perry's new one, on Netflix as of November 11.

Charles Dickens is broke, blocked, and haunted into writing A Christmas Carol. Dan Stevens and Christopher Plummer, on Max. A lovely making-of for people who love the book.

Tim Allen's workaholic dad puts on the suit and the job starts to stick. The 1994 movie that made a generation believe the beard comes with paperwork. On Disney+.

Santa has to get married or lose the job, which is a very specific HR problem. The sequel is sillier and still on Disney+ with the first.

Jack Frost wants the workshop, and the family has to survive a visit from the in-laws. The third one is the broadest. Kids who already love the first two will not mind.

Two shop clerks who cannot stand each other are falling in love by letter, and neither one knows. The 1940 film that later became You've Got Mail. On Max. Still perfect.

The moms are stressed, the grandmothers arrive, and Christmas becomes a contest. It is rated R and it means it. Funny if your December is already too much. Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock.

Christmas Eve at an airport, a suitcase, and a voice in an earpiece that will not let a TSA agent off the hook. Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman. PG-13, tense, on Netflix. This is the one for when the cocoa movies are too quiet.

John McClane just wants to get to his wife's office party, and then the building gets taken. Rated R, full of things exploding, and a Christmas movie if your house says it is. On Hulu and Prime. Not the one for little kids.