New Christmas Holiday Movie Classics: 2000-2009

Most Entertaining New Christmas Movie Classic:
The Holiday, 2006. Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet star as two women halfway around the world from each other who switch houses for the Christmas holiday after break-ups with their boyfriends. Seeking peace of mind and a change of pace, they find new adventures and love interests. Jack Black, funny yet surprisingly gallant, and the enormously handsome and charming Jude Law are their main costars. Not just for women - plenty of comedy shtick for the guys. See my earlier full review of The Holiday here.

Value: Although single fatherhood is explored through Law's character, there isn't a "moral of the Christmas story" and The Holiday doesn't require heavy thinking...just a great romantic comedy with lots of familiar faces, a couple of new adorable ones, and awesome scenery. Age Group:Except for talk of sex and two implied love scenes, this movie would have been appropriate for All.

Most Biblical New Christmas Movie Classic:
The Nativity Story, 2006 - I love a good new Bible-based movie during Christmas. The Nativity Story has no big stars, which makes it easier to imagine them as the characters they play. A familiar face is Shohreh Aghdashloo of the TV series "24" as Elizabeth. Keisha Castle-Hughes and Oscar Isaac are Mary and Joseph.

Value: For those who believe the Bible for its spiritual content about the birth of Jesus and/or its historical value, this gives a realistic portrayal of the ancient Hebrew culture. It is gritty, the travel scenes are dirty and unglamorous, and it explores the dilemma between Joseph and Mary when they discover she is pregnant, since unwed women could be stoned to death or exiled in those days. The revelation that she is actually carrying God's child, the Light of the World, spurs them on. The rest of the movie centers on their hard road to Bethlehem for the census, with a fresh look at how Joseph and Mary's love might have grown during the grueling trip. Age Group: All.

Most Romantic Yet Suspenseful New Christmas Movie Classic:
Serendipity, 2001. John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale meet while fighting over a pair of gloves as a Christmas gift in a department store. Totally taken with each other, they spend the whole night talking, but then decide that whether or not they should be together is better left to fate by not exchanging phone numbers or even last names. A signed book and $5.00 bill, which they give away, will decide if they meet again. Fast forward ten years to another winter; while engaged to other people, they realize something's missing and must find the book and the money to find each other. Jeremy Piven is engaging as usual, playing Cusack's sidekick.

Value: Mostly entertainment, but if you're looking for a moral - Don't waste ten years when you find your soul mate! Other hearts could get broken in the process. Age Group: All.

Most Poignant Ending to a New Christmas Movie Classic:
The Family Stone, 2005. Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker play a horribly mismatched engaged couple. Christmas is her first meeting with his family (Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson) and everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

Value: The lesson-appearances don't make a relationship or the inner person. A disastrous dinner conversation shows misunderstanding on both sides of the gay relationship issue through one of the sons. The mom's illness brings unity and another Christmas finds resolution of the love story. Age Group: Teens to Adults.

Most Ridiculously Filthy-Funny New Christmas Movie Classic:
Bad Santa, 2003. Billy Bob Thornton is hysterically foul-mouthed and bad-mannered as a criminal department store Santa. His foil, little person Tony Cox, is the perfect straight man and his partner in thievery. Heather Graham is Thornton's unlikely girlfriend and an outcast little boy changes everything.

Value: If you can stand the foul language, laugh your Christmas socks off and feel guilty for it afterward. But amid the comic escapades there's a good lesson for kids on bullying. Too bad the Age Group for this movie is Adults Only.

Honorable Mention of a Christmas Movie Classic Re-Make that Should be Released Now:
Although this falls outside my 2000-2009 parameter, Miracle on 34th St. (the 1994 re-make, with Dylan McDermott, Elizabeth Perkins, Richard Attenborough) should have been made for 2009. In 1994, it was still appropriate in the Hollywood mainstream to explore the possibility that God does exist and is worth talking about. Perkins plays a store P.R. person looking for an appropriate Santa; McDermott the neighbor who loves her, and Attenborough the "real" Santa and matchmaker.

Value: The courtroom scene commentary about "In God We Trust" on the dollar bill is still in the movie, just like in the 1947 original... if we can't prove Santa isn't real, then we can't prove God isn't real either. The movie illustrates that, like Santa, God can be a great source of hope in our world and shouldn't be discounted. Age Group: All.

Honorable Mention of a TV Christmas Movie that should have played the Big Screen:
The Christmas Shoes, 2002. Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams-Paisley portray the characters from the popular song about a little boy who wants to buy red shoes as a Christmas gift for his dying mother.

Value: Lowe is a work-consumed man whose heart turns tender toward the real meaning of life, and gives the boy the money. Get your Kleenex. Age Group: All.

Source for Movie Casts and Date Info: IMDb, http://www.imdb.com/.