Hey everyone! In today's lesson we are counting down my Top 10 Christmas Movies of All Time!
Now, I absolutely love Christmas, I love the decorations, the traditions, spending time
with family and especially the movies. So I'm very excited to share these ones with you today,
but before we jump into it, I want to let you know that we help you to learn fast
English without getting lost, without missing the jokes and without subtitles! Just like this fan,
who says that our lessons are fun, interesting and easy to understand. So don't forget to hit
that Subscribe button and the Bell down below, so that you don't miss any of our new lessons!
Okay, so the first one is a comedy of course, a little bit of action in it as well, because it
stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it's Jingle All The Way. In this movie he is up against another
father played by Simbad and they are going around different shops on Christmas Eve to try and find
this action figure toy for their sons. So this is a really funny one and you
can travel around the whole city with them trying to find this toy and being
up against each other as well, along the way. Okay so Number 9 on my list isn't your typical
Christmas movie, but it is classed as a Christmas movie by many because it's set during Christmas
and during an office Christmas party, and this is the classic movie Die Hard. So this movie stars
Bruce Willis as the police officer John McClane and also Alan Rickman, who is the villain Hans
Gruber and is absolutely excellent in it. So what happens here is during an office Christmas party
some terrorists come and hijack the building. And John McClane is there by chance and they don't
actually know he's there to begin with, and I don't want to give anything away but it is just a
great movie and because it's set during this time it is a great one to watch at Ahristmas as well.
And there are some really funny quotes by John McClane as well, that have become very famous.
So Number 8 on my list is quite a recent one because it was only released last Christmas
in 2019, and that is the name of this film Last Christmas. It's based on the Wham! song, which was
written by George Michael and it does have music by George Michael and Wham! throughout the movie
as well. That was one of the concepts of it, so it has a great soundtrack and it stars Emilia Clarke
as an aspiring singer who works as an elf in a Christmas shop in Covent Garden, in Central London
that is open all year round. So it's definitely one of the most recent but it makes my Top 10
list. I highly recommend you watch it, and if you enjoy learning English with music and songs
then I highly recommend you check out this lesson where you can learn 41 words with Christmas
songs. So you can click up here or down in the description box below to watch that lesson next.
So the next movie on my list is a classic one again, and it has a great cast.
It stars Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black. So in this movie Kate Winslet
and Cameron Diaz's characters decide to house swap for the Christmas holidays,
so that they can each escape their lives in England and L.A.
And it follows their relationships and just their experience in living
in a completely different country and in very different lives actually because their lives
are completely different, so that makes this film even more interesting. It's also great for
English language learners because there is a range of accents that you will hear, so you
have the British accent and the American accent, so it's great to be exposed to these two as well.
Okay so the next one on my list is a classic and it is quite an old one as well it's from
the late 80's, and this is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. So this movie follows the
Griswold family. They do have other movies as well and they made this one especially for Christmas.
Now what makes this movie so funny is that this family is absolutely calamitous, meaning that
they are very clumsy and lots of disastrous things happen in a very funny way during their Christmas
holiday, where their family comes to visit. You might even recognize some of the actors
because the sun in the film actually is Leonard from The Big Bang Theory, so he was very young
in this movie and also the daughter is Juliette Lewis, who went on to have a really successful
acting career as well. Now I grew up watching this movie and what I love about it is that it
has more of a slapstick comedy, which is a very American type of comedy, as opposed to the British
which is a little bit more dry and not as obvious. So this one will definitely make you laugh a lot
with the very obvious comedy and all the disasters that happen to this family.
Now next on my list is Serendipity, but first of all let's find out what this beautiful word means.
So serendipity is the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance and the adjective
form is serendipitous, and what this means is being in the right place at the right time. For
example you could bump into a good friend at an unusual location or you could find 20 pounds or
50 euros, or some sort of money on the floor as you're walking down the street. So I think this
word is absolutely beautiful and it describes the movie perfectly. It's set in New York City
where these two characters meet for the first time when they are Christmas shopping,
and throughout the movie they have some more serendipitous encounters with each other.
So the movie isn't set during Christmas the whole time but we do see Christmas throughout it and
it's just beautiful to see New York City at Christmas time, is just so beautiful and that's
another thing that I love about this movie. is seeing this city during this time of year.
Speaking of New York City, would you love to better understand fast speaking natives?
Then I highly recommend our Fluent with Friends course! In this 48-week course you
will learn with first 2 seasons of Friends. You'll receive PDF power lessons every week,
vocabulary memorization software, access to our Fluency Circle Global Community and so much more!
And the best part is you can try it right now for FREE with our 3-Part Masterclass! All you have to
do is click up here or down in the description box below to learn more and sign up now.
The next movie is Miracle on 34th Street. Now this was a remake so it was made many decades
ago and they remade it again in the 90's, and it stars Mara Wilson, who you might recognize
as she was a very famous child actress and she also played in Mrs. Doubtfire and also Matilda.
It also stars the late Lord Attenborough, Richard Attenborough, who was an actor and filmmaker and
you might recognize him from Jurassic Park, which was one of his most famous movies.
So this story follows a lawyer and a little girl who must prove that a man who claims
to be Santa Claus is in fact telling the truth and is in fact the real deal.
So what this film is all about is the spirit of Christmas, making people believe again and just
feel that love, that connection and building relationships. So I really love this one
and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you watch it during this festive season.
Okay so now i'm getting very excited because we are rolling into my Top 3 movies, so they are my
absolute favorites and I can't wait to share them with you. So the first one which is Number
3 on my list is Love Actually. So this movie features an ensemble cast meaning that there
are many principal characters and we follow the different stories that are linked in some way.
Once again, the cast is absolutely amazing! There are some major stars in this movie and it's just
a feel-good comedy-romantic-Christmas movie and what makes it so fun is that you get to see lots
of different relationships and lots of different characters, but then also the way that they are
linked together in some way. It's also quite British, so you're going to learn a lot about
British culture in this movie. It even stars the Prime Minister, so Hugh Grant actually plays the
Prime Minister of the UK in this movie, and he gets up to some mischief too. So it's definitely
worth watching for that. Not only this but it is again set in London during Christmas time,
so you really get a feel for what it's like in London during this time of year.
And for me this is absolutely one of the best Christmas movies ever made.
So now moving on to one of my favorite British movies of all time to one of my favorite American
ones, and this had to be in my Top 2. It is Elf. So Elf stars Will Ferrell as a man who
is raised as an elf in the North Pole, but then discovers that he's actually not really an elf.
So what he does is he sets off on an adventure to New York City to find his real dad. There are so
many great moments in this movie, it's absolutely hilarious because you are watching a grown man
who hasn't been raised in the real world, instead he's been raised as an elf in the North Pole
there's lots of things in a city that's as tough as New York City, that he doesn't know,
he's never encountered before, so it's just hilarious to see the way that he sees the world
and the way that he sees this city. Another great thing about this is that he's just so happy in it
and makes the most of everything and again there are some classic moments, some classic scenes and
even some classic sayings, that we all say during the Christmas period, that is synonymous with Elf.
Now before I reveal which movie is Number 1 on my list there are quite a few more
Christmas movies that I think are amazing, that didn't quite make it into my Top 10.
It was a really difficult decision and I went back and forth, changing it round a few times
but I do think that these Christmas movies deserve mention, so have a little look here
maybe one of your favorites is here or you'll get some ideas of movies to watch as well.
So without a doubt Number 1 on my list is Home Alone. So the first one for sure is the best,
but I also highly recommend that you watch Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, because it's just as
magical. Now I think that no matter your age you've probably grown up watching this movie,
but if you haven't don't despair, don't worry you can start right now with this Christmas. If you
haven't seen it you have to watch it! The first movie was released 30 years ago. That's right it
was released in 1990, but this is one that stands the test of time. It doesn't matter what year it
gets to this is always going to remain the best Christmas movie of all time and the best classic.
So as the title suggests Macaulay Culkin character Kevin McAllister gets left at
home alone during the Christmas period, when his family traveled to Paris for the holidays.
But what happens is there are two pesky robbers around the neighborhood looking for all the empty
houses to rob and so you get to see this adventure through Kevin McAllister's eyes and how he deals
with this problem. Again there are some very famous scenes during the whole film and I think
the soundtrack is just wonderful as well, it has that very christmassy feel to it, you'll hear
a lot of typical Christmas songs as well, famous Christmas hits. And in the second installment Home
Alone 2: Lost in New York, the McAllister this time are traveling to Miami for the Christmas
holiday and somehow Kevin boards a flight to New York City instead, so he is lost in New York City.
So there you have it: my Top 10 Christmas Movies of All Time! I hope that if you haven't watched
them all, you now have a great list that you can start watching over the next couple of weeks
during the festive period, and if I missed any of your favorites please let me know down in the
comments below, and share some other ones that you think are fantastic. But in the meantime,
if you're celebrating during this period, I'd love to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.