“Forbes” has a list of the 10 best Christmas movies of the 21st Century, which is now entering its 18TH holiday season, if you can believe that.
They only included full length, theatrical movies, and naturally they all include Christmas themes or settings . . . so it’s not just movies that were released during the holiday season, like those new “Star Wars” movies. Here’s the list:
1. “Elf”, 2003 . . . This one is a no-brainer. It’s now a Christmas classic.
2. “Iron Man 3”, 2013 . . . This one might not immediately come to mind when thinking of Christmas movies, but it’s set during Christmas, and the plot features references to “A Christmas Carol”.
3. “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale”, 2010 . . . This is the most off-the-wall selection on the list. It’s an R-rated horror movie from Finland about people who discover the secret behind Santa.
If you’re looking for a dark, DIFFERENT Christmas movie, check it out. It’s really cool.
4. “The Man Who Invented Christmas”, 2017 . . . A drama about Charles Dickens at the time when he wrote “A Christmas Carol”, and about how Ebenezer Scrooge was influenced by Charles’ real-life father.
5. “Joyeux Noel”, 2005 . . . A war drama based on the Christmas Truce of 1914, during World War I. It’s a French movie, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
6. “Arthur Christmas”, 2011 . . . An animated kids movie. “Forbes” says it has, quote, “beautiful visuals, excellent humorous storytelling, and nonstop charm.”
7. “Krampus”, 2015 . . . A horror movie offering an alternative take on Christmas and Santa Claus.
8. “The Grinch”, 2018 . . . This is the 3-D animated movie that just came out.
9. “A Christmas Carol”, 2009 . . . The one that stars Jim Carrey in a bunch of CGI roles, including Ebenezer Scrooge as a young, middle-aged, and old man, and the three ghosts who haunt him.
10. “The Polar Express”, 2004 . . . The CGI movie where Tom Hanks plays the conductor of a train headed for the North Pole.
(Hit up Forbes.com for brief write-ups on each.)