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Walking In A Winter Movie Wonderland: Christmas Films for Adults
Watching films is a regular Christmas tradition for many, right alongside home decorating and meeting up with family and friends for special meals and swapping presents. In these COVID-19 quarantine times, seeing a movie at home might be one of the safest celebration options.
Here is a list of 40 different holiday-related films to borrow for free from the library that span a wide variety of genres, including classic dramas, musicals, romance, action films, family melodramas, comedies and horror flicks. There are many options to fit your particular film tastes or mood, and related links are included for the films that are based on books.
Season's greetings and happy home viewing!
Classics and Musicals
Small town banker George Bailey reconsiders suicide with the help of his guardian angel, Clarence.
This holiday morality tale by Charles Dickens follows the life and regrets of one extremely stingy businessman, Ebenezer Scrooge. The book has been adapted into many films and other stories, including a film about Dickens writing the story, The Man Who Invented Christmas.
A single New York food writer pretending to be a Connecticut farm wife for work suddenly falls in love with a returning World War II veteran.
A small-town Georgia church choir competes as an underdog in a national competition.
This classic Louisa May Alcott novel about four sisters has been turned into several films and television adaptations. It contains a very memorable New England Christmas scene that's been turned into its own children's book. The novel is also available at the library in Spanish.
Spend a year with the Smith family as they look forward to the 1904 World's Fair. One of the film's most memorable scenes is Judy Garland's performance of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."
A guardian angel helps a struggling New York City pastor restore his faith and marriage. This 1996 film updates the 1947 film The Bishop's Wife.
Based on a 1937 Hungarian play, two feuding co-workers in a leather goods store inadvertently fall in love during the holiday time via anonymous letters. Remakes include the 1998 film You've Got Mail and the musicals She Loves Me and In the Good Old Summertime.
Two World War II veterans/performers and a pair of sisters put on a show to save a failing Vermont inn. Irving Berlin's popular Christmas song has also been turned into a children's picture book.
Drama and Family Dramas
The dysfunctional Meyers family consisting of a retired widower, his four adult children and other relatives holds their first Christmas celebration after the death of their wife/mother. Internal squabbling and hilarity ensue in this drama/comedy.
In this modern reinterpretation of the Langston Hughes play, an evicted Baltimore teen learns about the importance of family when he is sent to New York City to spend Christmas with his estranged grandparents.
Married couple Kate and Brad have to individually visit their four divorced parents and siblings for Christmas—all in one chaotic day.
Claudia, a divorced single mom who has just been fired from her job, goes home alone to celebrate Christmas with her dysfunctional family.
This Academy Award-nominated film dramatized the real-life temporary Christmastime truce between French, German and Scottish troops during World War I.
Four generations of the flawed Cooper family gather together under one roof for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?
Family misunderstandings are sorted out and romances are rekindled in this comedy/drama when the Rodriguez family comes together for one final Christmas.
Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender working girl who was just released from jail, roams around Hollywood on Christmas Eve in search of her cheating ex-boyfriend.
Romance
Insurance company worker Bud lets his managers use his Upper West Side apartment for romantic affairs. Complications follow when Bud falls in love his boss's ex-mistress, Fran.
A group of college friends reunite to celebrate a Christmas weekend together, reigniting rivalries and romances.
In this modern take on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones spends the year navigating love and self-improvement. The novel is available as a book and e-book in English and an e-book in Spanish.
Aspiring artist and holiday toy store clerk Theresa becomes romantically intrigued by elegant divorcé Carol in this film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Price of Salt.
A London newspaper columnist and Los Angeles film producer swap homes for the holidays and find new, local love interests while on vacation.
Kate, an aspiring singer stuck in a dead-end job as a Christmas store elf, is encouraged to improve her life by Tom, a mysterious and handsome stranger.
Eight different couples in London sort out their complicated love lives during Christmastime.
Chicago transit worker Lucy saves a handsome commuter from being run over by a train on Christmas Day. Then she gets mistaken for being his fiancé when she visits him in a local hospital.
Surprise, Yes, It's a Christmas Movie
Batman spars with Catwoman and the Penguin during the winter holidays in this superhero film.
New York Detective John McClane has to save his wife and several other Christmas party hostages who are taken prisoner by German terrorists in a Los Angeles skyscraper.
Superhero Tony Stark undergoes an emotional and philosophical transformation in this superhero reimagination of A Christmas Carol.
Who wouldn't want to go to a dinosaur theme park during their Christmas vacation?
Three police officers investigate a series of unusual murders in 1950s Los Angeles. Based on the noir novel by James Ellroy, available as a part of the L.A. Quartet and translated in Spanish.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Halloween "Pumpkin King" Jack Skellington attempts to take over Christmas in this dark, musical stop-animation film. A children's picture book version is available.
Eight East Village friends experience love and loss over the course of a year in this 2005 film adaptation of the award-winning 1996 Broadway musical, which, in turns, updates Giacomo Puccini's 1895 opera, La Boheme.
Baltimore reporter Annie falls in love with Seattle architect Sam while listening to his voice on a talk radio show during Christmas. Will they ever meet in person?
Comedy and Horror Films
Three overworked, underappreciated young mothers have their holiday plans derailed when their own mothers unexpectedly visit town.
A group of college sorority sisters are murdered one-by-one just before the Christmas break in this 2019 slasher film remake.
A lot of bad behavior happens at this Chicago corporate Christmas party.
Instead of a visit from Santa Claus, the Engel family is haunted by the demonic Krampus during the holidays. This horror tale spawned three graphic novels and an e-audio book.
Three New York City friends have one last holiday hurrah in this raunchy adult comedy.
A Wall Street commodities trader and a con artist swap lives as part of a bet in this 1983 adult comedy.
A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas
Former best friends Harold and Kumar are reunited and go on a wild adventure when they try to find a replacement Christmas tree for the one they accidentally burn down.
Other Christmas reading recommendations and holiday delights:
- Christmas Movie & Book Pairings by Cierra Bland
- Ho, Ho, Ho: Humorous Books to Laugh Your Way Through the Holidays by Alvin Tulshi
- Cozy Christmas Reads by Anne Rouyer
- Charles Dickens and His Christmas Stories by Jessica Pigza
- Neil Gaiman Reads "A Christmas Carol"
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