9. Joe Pera Helps You Find the Perfect Christmas Tree (2016) is a particular type of humor. A modern red green? Possibly. I never watched any of the other Joe Pera shorts when they were airing. Deserves a spot on your Christmas watching though. 4⭐

8. Gremlins (1984), subject of debate on what constitutes a Christmas movie, arguably one of the highest on the scale in our jaunt this year. The puppetry here is still wonderful and the story itself, as usual, has more than you remember. The propmasters had to have fun with those inventions too. 4⭐

7. A Christmas Melody (2015) is our first Hallmark Film of the season. Mariah Carey directs and stars. It's plastic from start to end but there's definitely something about these that are just cozy. It mentions Ohio peripherally but there's no real conflict or progression here. 2⭐

6. The Insects' Christmas (1913) is charming stop animation and honestly a nice achievement for more than a century ago. It probably benefits from being the shortest entry on the list so far. 3⭐

5. Rocky IV (1985) continuing our Stallone day with this one. I haven't seen Rocky 1-3 but I feel like I understand the highlights from montages in this one. Feels like they had about five scenes written and just patched the rest together. A few good characters and lines I recognized. 1⭐

4. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) is a classic. Strong anti-capitalist vibes here, which makes sense given the general views of Shultz. If this one brings nothing else, it gives us Vince Guaraldi's timeless amazing soundtrack. There's also something always great about the tree glow-up as well. 4⭐

3. First Blood (1982) is one that I missed until now. I didn't catch the Christmas part of this, but also somehow Stallone has a writing credit? Doesn't really make sense unless you understand how much hippies and drifters were maligned post-vietnam. ACAB as usual. Not bad, but not good either. 2⭐

2. Trading Places (1983) was one that I've watched censored often before, with plenty of scenes cut out for TV. Still pretty enjoyable even if I forgot part of it had Aykroyd in a Santa Suit. I wonder if they made that foam out of something edible. Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't get enough credit. 3⭐

1. The Great Rupert (1950) is less well-preserved on the list, a story of a squirrel that becomes a god - or at least answers prayers. The set of characters is charming if a bit one-dimensional, but the story is cute at least. Durante is great all the way, and the antagonist gets theirs, twice. 3⭐