The Whiz Kid Awards: Christmas Edition

I went to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on opening night (Thursday 12/19), but I’m not going to tell you what I thought of it. I’ll save that for when I write my quick review on it, coming soon.

I’m back with another post! That’s right, I’m making up for lost time in between March and April, May and September, and September and October. I’m not gonna dilly-dally this time. In fact, I’m gonna start the Whiz Kid Awards right now!

There are a few things, as usual, to note, however. (1) I haven’t seen all of the films (most of them, though), so I just go from what people say for some of them. (2) I announced the nominations in my Top 10 Christmas Films of All Time post (which you can check out on the main page). (3) I was going to make this into a YouTube video, but I didn’t have time, so we’re doing this instead. (4) There have been a slight change in the nominations:

• Replacing Gremlins in the Visual Effects category is the 2009 animated feature A Christmas Carol
• Replacing The Christmas Chronicles in the Film Editing category is The Polar Express
• Replacing The Muppet Christmas Carol in the Production Design category is How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• Replacing Scrooged in the Musical Choreography category is The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Replacing Cameron Seely from The Grinch in the Voice and/or Motion-Capture performance is Gary Oldman from the 2009 A Christmas Carol
• Replacing The Nightmare Before Christmas in the Popular Film category is Love Actually

(5) I wanted to give a list of how many times each film was nominated. However, I didn’t put the ones that were below two nominations.

• Elf — 13
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas — 11
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — 10
• The Polar Express — 10
• Home Alone — 9
• Die Hard — 7
• The Muppet Christmas Carol — 7
• White Christmas — 7
• Gremlins — 6
• A Christmas Carol (2009) — 4
• A Christmas Story — 4
• It’s a Wonderful Life — 4
• Miracle on 34th Street — 4
• Arthur Christmas — 3
• Love Actually — 3
• The Nightmare Before Christmas — 3
• The Santa Clause — 3
• The Christmas Chronicles — 2
• The Grinch — 2
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York — 2
• Scrooged — 2

(6) As stated in an earlier post, I’ve deleted the categories Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary, Best Documentary Short, Best Live Action Short Film, and Best Foreign Language Film, which are made up by the categories I created:

• Best Stunt Coordination
• Best Musical Choreography
• Best Casting
• Best Voice and/or Motion-Capture Performance
• Best Popular Film

And last but not least, my post where I rank the top ten Christmas films has no effect on what film will win Best Picture or any of the other categories. Just keep that in mind!

So let’s start the Whiz Kid Awards: Christmas Edition! Get out your ballots, ladies and gentlemen, and fill out your predictions before starting!

Best Visual Effects

• Nominees: A Christmas Carol, The Christmas Chronicles, Die Hard, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Polar Express
• Winner: The Polar Express (2004)
• Fun Fact About the Winner: One of the reasons The Polar Express was made completely out of CG was so that Tom Hanks could play six different characters.
• Cast of the Winner: Tom Hanks, Nona Gaye, Peter Scolari, Eddie Deezen, Leslie Zemeckis

The Polar Express was the first film to be made entirely out of CGI. It may seem like an animated film, and the CG can be dated at times, but it won overall for its ability to create a unique film through the dependent use of visual effects.

Best Sound Mixing

• Nominees: Die Hard, Gremlins, Home Alone, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Polar Express
• Winner: Gremlins (1984)
• Fun Fact About the Winner: Chris Columbus (writer of Gremlins) based the Gremlins off of mice that invaded his apartment
• Cast of the Winner: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Dick Miller, Corey Feldman, Glynn Turman, Howie Mandel, Frank Welker

This was a tough call, but Gremlins seemed like the film that had the best sound mixing with all of the unique sounds that were made through unexpected usages. A well-deserved victory!

Best Sound Editing

• Nominees: The Christmas Chronicles, Die Hard, Gremlins, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Polar Express
• Winner: Die Hard (1988)
• Fun Fact About the Winner: Die Hard was famous star Alan Rickman’s film debut
• Cast of the Winner: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, William Atherton, Robert Davi, Bonnie Bedelia, George Christy

Another tough call. However, Die Hard is an action film, and action films have the best sound editing. With explosions, gun sound effects, and other ear-popping sounds, Die Hard proves it is worthy to win Best Sound Editing!

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Nominees: Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Santa Clause
• Winner: How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• Fun Fact About the Winner: Jim Carrey had to have makeup put on for two and a half hours and removed for one hour . . . ninety-two days (he described it as being “buried alive” everyday).
• Cast of the Winner: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Howard, Josh Ryan Evans, Kelley the Dog

If you watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas, you’ll see that every single character (except Max the Dog) has either a ton of makeup on (e.g. The Grinch) or a huge crazy hairstyle (e.g. Cindy Lou-Who). I’m sure both the actors and the makeup department went through pure torture everyday, but it turned out better than well in the end. Great job!

Best Film Editing

• Nominees: The Christmas Chronicles, Die Hard, Elf, Gremlins, The Muppet Christmas Carol
• Winner: Die Hard
• (Another) Fun Fact About the Winner: Frank Sinatra was originally the choice to play Bruce Willis’ character John McClane

Again, Die Hard is an action film. The film editing is amazing in action movies. I obviously haven’t seen this R-rated film, but I know that the editing is great with the continuity of explosions, gun fights, and other stuff.

Best Costume Design

• Nominees: A Christmas Story, Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, White Christmas
• Winner: The Muppet Christmas Carol
• Fun Fact About the Winner: You may notice that Scooter was strangely absent from the film. He was originally going to play the Ghost of Christmas Past, but was ultimately cut from the film when the filmmakers decided to create new Muppets to play the roles of Christmas Past, Present (which Miss Piggy was originally going to play), and Yet to Come (which Gonzo was going to play).
• Cast of the Winner: Michael Caine, Gonzo the Great, Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Robin the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, Statler, Waldorf

Why I chose The Muppet Christmas Carol is because the costumers (Polly Smith and Ann Hollowood) did a miraculous job creating 19th century costumes for Muppets. Yes, the tiny little puppets that somehow wear tiny little costumes that managed to both fit and look good. Ebenezer Scrooge’s wardrobe is stellar as well, and it all adds up to a very well-costumed Muppet film.

Best Production Design

• Nominees: A Christmas Story, Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Scrooged
• Winner: Elf
• Fun Fact About the Winner: A lot of the locations in Elf (Gimbels, Walter Hobbs’ apartment, the mailroom that Buddy visits, the jail, and the doctor’s office) were built and filmed in the Riverview Hospital in Vancouver, where Freddy vs. Jason was also filmed right before.
• Cast of the Winner: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay, Ed Asner, Bob Newhart, Amy Sedaris, Faizon Love, Peter Dinklage, Andy Richter, Kyle Gass, Michael Lerner, Peter Billingsley

Elf was chosen to win this category because of how the North Pole set was built to be small for Will Ferrell, and how it was made to resemble Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And what was built in the Riverview Hospital. Pretty crazy! Rusty Smith did a pretty great job.

Best Cinematography

• Nominees: Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Polar Epxress
• Winner: Elf
• (Another) Fun Fact About the Winner: Using a combination of the North Pole sets, props, and a specific camera angle is how it made Buddy look a lot bigger than the other elves.

This is one category that I could’ve gone any way on. Ron Howard (director) instructed the cameraman for How the Grinch Stole Christmas to sometimes shoot at a curved angle to make it more Dr. Seuss-like. The Muppet Christmas Carol‘s cinematography is unique because of how the camera operators had to precisely position the camera to not show the strings attached to the Muppets. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was simple yet classic and well-illustrated while The Polar Express had to be positioned so that the visual effects later added in could be fully shown. However, Elf won because of its interesting dynamic with the sets that help with the optical illusion that Buddy is larger. It’s still perfect throughout the rest of the film as well, which is why it was ultimately chosen.

Best Casting

• Nominees: Elf, Home Alone, Love Actually, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, White Christmas
• Winner: Love Actually
• Fun Fact About the Winner: Each actor or actress was given their own personal trailer park road/village during filming (e.g. Hugh Grant Avenue)
• Cast of the Winner: Rowan Atkinson, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman, Hugh Grant, January Jones, Keira Knightley, Andrew Lincoln, Laura Linney, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Olivia Olson, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton

This was another tough one, but Love Actually was the only one for this category.  It was chosen for its huge cast and how the casting directors somehow managed to find the perfect actors and actresses for each and every character.  The cast itself is not only huge, but has a bunch of famous and award-winning actors.  Another well-deserved victory!

Best Musical Choreography

• Nominees: Love Actually, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Polar Express, White Christmas
• Winner: White Christmas
• Fun Fact About the Winner: Well-known dance star and Holiday Inn actor Fred Astaire was originally going to play Phil Davis (played by Danny Kaye), but had retired and wasn’t willing to do it.
• Cast of the Winner: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes, Anne Whitfield

Another tough one – and tough one to nominate, for that!  There aren’t a ton of Christmas films that have dancing in them, so it was difficult to find the ones that did.  Anyway, White Christmas won because of all of the original songs it brings to the table and the perfect choreography that complements those songs in a fun-to-watch, old-fashioned way.

Best Stunt Coordination

• Nominees: Die Hard, Gremlins, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• Winner: Home Alone
• Fun Fact About the Winner: All of the torturous traps that Kevin sets up in the film were actually performed by the stuntmen (who somehow survived).
• Cast of the Winner: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara, John Heard, Roberts Blossom, John Candy, Devin Ratray, Gerry Bamman, Kieran Culkin, Terrie Snell

I watched a Netflix episode about Home Alone and how it was created – the TV show is called The Movies That Made Us, though the other episodes are inappropriate – and it is very shocking and interesting, especially with the stunts.  After learning about how those were performed, this one was an obvious winner for me.

Best Original Song

• Nominees: “All Alone on Christmas” from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Written by Steve Van Zandt & Sung by Darlene Love), “Christmas Vacation” from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Written by Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Sung by Mavis Staples), “One More Sleep ‘Til Christmas” from The Muppet Christmas Carol (Written by Paul Williams & Sung by Kermit the Frog), “Snow” from White Christmas (Written by Irving Berlin & Sung by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooneys, and Trudy Stevens), “Somewhere in My Memory” from Home Alone (Written by John Williams & Leslie Bricusse)
• Winner: “Somewhere in My Memory” from Home Alone
• (Another) Fun Fact: While filming the scene when the Wet Bandits catch Kevin, Joe Pesci accidentally bit Macaulay Culkin’s fingers too hard and gave him a nasty scar that Culkin still has today.

You may be wondering why I didn’t have some of the classics as original songs in this category: for example, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from Meet Me in St. Louis or “White Christmas” from Holiday Inn.  Well, I decided to leave those out of the mix on this one – also, I would’ve nominated Holiday Inn for a bunch of categories, but I didn’t since it really isn’t a Christmas film.  Moving on, this was another really tough one to choose from, because a lot of the songs are very different.  But I ended up picking “Somewhere in My Memory” from Home Alone because of not only the special uniqueness that it brings, but how it has the strong potential to become a Christmas classic and the emotional scene that comes with it, as well.

Best Original Score

• Nominees: Elf (John Debney), Home Alone (John Williams), The Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman), The Polar Express (Alan Silvestri), Scrooged (Danny Elfman)
• Winner: Home Alone (John Williams)
• (Yet Another) Fun Fact: Another composer had originally been hired to score Home Alone, but became unavailable, so when the film was done being edited, it was horrible because there wasn’t any music.  However, as a joke, director Chris Columbus said “we should get John Williams”.  However, a bit later, the crew sent Williams the film and he agreed to score it.

Home Alone is the most well-known Christmas score, I believe.  That’s mostly because John Williams was the composer.  You may recognize that name from the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, Jurassic Park, or Harry Potter movies, which he all scored.  The music for this film is perfect in many ways, whether it’s in a scene that makes you cry, laugh, or all of the above.  Williams did a great job, and Home Alone wouldn’t be the same without him.

Best Animated Feature

• Nominees: A Christmas Carol, Arthur Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Polar Express
• Winner: Arthur Christmas
• Fun Fact: Elf cameos in Arthur Christmas include Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter Films), Joan Cusack (Toy Story films, The Addams Family films), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings films, Planet of the Apes films), Rhys Darby (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Yes Man), and Dominic West (John Carter, Tomb Raider).
• Cast: James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Eva Longoria, Laura Linney, Marc Wootton, Ramona Marquez

The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol really shouldn’t be in this category because they technically aren’t animated films, but I threw them in anyway. Arthur Christmas may not be my favorite animated Christmas film, but it deserves to win this category for several reasons.  For one, it is a proper animated film that has stuff for kids and adults alike, which I love.  It’s a conceivable story and makes great use of the writers’ imaginative minds.  A bonus is that the cast is terrific.  Altogether, a fun film that you need to watch for Christmas!

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Nominees: A Christmas Carol (Robert Zemeckis), A Christmas Story (Leigh Brown, Bob Clark, and Jean Shepherd), Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (Michael LeSieur & Tommy Swerdlow), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman)
• Winner: A Christmas Story (Leigh Brown, Bob Clark, and Jean Shepherd)
• Fun Fact: Jean Shepherd, who both wrote the film and the book that the film was based off of (In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash) voiced the narrator, and made a cameo appearance in Higbee’s Department Store.
• Cast: Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Scott Schwartz, Jean Shepherd, Ian Petrella, Tedde Moore, R.D. Robb, Zack Ward, Yano Anaya, Jeff Gillen, Peter Billingsley

A Christmas Story is possibly the most classic Christmas film of all time.  At times, it may be seen as a farce, but it really isn’t.  Its hilarious antics were introduced by Jean Shepherd, an absolute genius.  The screenplay is so well-captured from the original book, yet it offers tons of new and improved gags that have been cherished for thirty-six years.  A Christmas Story has one of the best, if not the best, Christmas script(s) of all time.  What I’m trying to say is that this film has some pretty spectacular writing that we couldn’t live without.  A very well-deserved win!

Best Original Screenplay

• Nominees: Elf (David Berenbaum), Gremlins (Chris Columbus), It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Jo Swerling, and Michael Wilson), Miracle on 34^th Street (George Seaton), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (John Hughes)
• Winner: Miracle on 34^th Street (George Seaton)
• Fun Fact: In 1946, Edmund Gwenn (Kris Kringle) actually appeared at Santa in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with cameras set up to film him.
• Cast: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood, Porter Hall, William Frawley, Jerome Cowan, Philip Tonge

Another “miracle” of creation (pun intended) is Miracle on 34^th Street, a genius film about a man named Kris Kringle who claims that he’s Santa Claus, and goes through several rough patches for it, including a trial to discover whether he really is Santa.  The idea of making a film out of this was brilliant, and it ended up winning a few Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay.  Although this film may not be as well-known or as watched as A Christmas Story, it deserves credit for its intelligent writing.

Best Voice and/or Motion-Capture Performance

• Nominees: Jim Carrey (A Christmas Carol), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Grinch), Tom Hanks (The Polar Express), Gary Oldman (A Christmas Carol), James McAvoy (Arthur Christmas)
• Winner: Tom Hanks
• Fun Fact: The six characters that Tom Hanks played were the Hero Boy, the Conductor, Santa Claus, the Hobo, the Scrooge Puppet, and the Father.  If two or more of the characters he played were in a scene together, he would perform his lines as one character opposite of a stand-in who had no mo-cap technology on, and then perform the other character after that.  (Sorry if it sounds confusing.)

Tom Hanks did an incredible job portraying several different characters in The Polar Express.  Not only did he differentiate them with voices, he also used diverse body language as well.  The film was almost entirely a one-man show, with Tom Hanks playing almost all the main characters.  However, A Christmas Carol (also directed by Robert Zemeckis) was different in that it had a few more actors to play different roles – that could be that it wasn’t an original film like The Polar Express was, which might’ve been written specifically to have only a few actors, while A Christmas Carol wasn’t, since it needed to have almost all the characters in it.  Case in point, Hanks did a great job with his acting in many different forms.

Best Supporting Actor

• Nominees: James Caan (Elf), Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34^th Street), Randy Quaid (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), Joe Pesci (Home Alone), Alan Rickman (Die Hard)
• Winner: Edmund Gwenn
• Fun Fact: Edmund Gwenn’s cousin Cecil Kellaway was asked to play the role of Kris Kringle, but he refused (even though he later played Santa in an episode of Bewitched), so the role went to Edmund Gwenn, who later won an Academy Award for his performance.

Edmund Gwenn’s performance as Kris Kringle is just about as magical as the jolly old man himself.  He doesn’t just convince you that he is Santa Claus, he convinces disbelievers that Santa Claus is real!  In fact, little actress Natalie Wood thought he really was Santa onset.  Gwenn is such a great actor that he shines as possibly the best Santa Claus actor of all time.  Ho ho ho!

Best Supporting Actress

• Nominees: Rosemary Clooney (White Christmas), Beverly D’Angelo (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), Zooey Deschanel (Elf), Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone), Elizabeth Mitchell (The Santa Clause 2)
• Winner: Beverly D’Angelo
• Fun Fact: When Clark (Chevy Chase) explodes when he doesn’t get a Christmas bonus check and rants about his boss Mr. Shirley (Brian Doyle-Murray), the actors in front of him actually were wearing cue cards to help him get the huge line perfect.
• Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Miriam Flynn, William Hickey, Mae Questel, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, Doris Roberts, E.G. Marshall, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, Nicholas Guest, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brian Doyle-Murray, Cody Burger, Ellen Latzen

This was an incredibly tough one.  I originally had somebody else (I won’t say who, though) pinned down to win this, but changed my mind at the very last minute – which I don’t regret the more I think about it.  D’Angelo brings a performance that makes you think about her character . . . is she as crazy as some of her other family members, or is she just doing what she must?  She has great chemistry with Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, and others with her spot-on comedic timing that’s absolutely perfection.

Best Actress

• Nominees: Emilia Clarke (Last Christmas), Maureen O’Hara (Miracle on 34^th Street), Emma Thompson (Love Actually), Kate Winslet (The Holiday), Reese Witherspoon (Four Christmases)
• Winner: Maureen O’Hara
• Fun Fact: John Payne (Fred Gailey) really wanted to have a sequel of Miracle on 34^th Street filmed, so he wrote a script for it and was going to send it to Maureen O’Hara (Doris Walker), but passed away before he could.  However, he sort of got his wish when a reboot of the film released in 1994.

Maureen O’Hara is a downright good actress.  Miracle on 34^th Street’s entire cast is fantastic, but O’Hara stands out in several ways.  She plays her character so good that she, too, is convincing – you believe that she doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and you believe her when (*spoiler alert*) she does later in the film.  And though she may not be the best parent, you still feel the slight stiffness between her and her daughter Susan, and also the incredibly strong relation between each other.  She may also seem like a “bad guy” at some points, although she plays it so well that you don’t know if she is or not.  I don’t know if what I’m saying makes any sense, but my conclusion to O’Hara’s performance is a believable, emotional, and characterized execution.

Best Actor

• Nominees: Tim Allen (The Santa Clause), Jim Carrey (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), Chevy Chase (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), Will Ferrell (Elf), Jimmy Stewart (It’s a Wonderful Life)
• Winners: Jim Carrey and Jimmy Stewart
• Fun Fact #1: When RKO Pictures had control of It’s a Wonderful Life, they had Cary Grant in the lead as George Bailey.  However, RKO later sold the production to Frank Capra, who decided to cast Jimmy Stewart instead.
• Fun Fact #2: Ron Howard (director of Grinch) wanted to experience what it was like being the Grinch, so he had the makeup and costume department dress him up with full makeup and costume for one day.

The reason that there are two winners for this category is somewhat hard to explain, but I’ll do my best.  These two performances are very, very different.  Stewart plays a depressed salesman who is about to commit suicide but is saved by an angel; Carrey portrays a slapstick, green, furry . . . thing that hates Christmas and will do anything to repel it.  Stewart was chosen because, like Gwenn and O’Hara, he makes the performance so real.  He hardly has a single mistake in his well-executed version of how he perceives George Bailey.  Carrey was chosen because he had to endure torture everyday and somehow still do his job: act.  He plays a perfect Grinch and nobody has and will ever beat him, especially with his spot-on comedic timing.  Both shine in their own way, and that’s why they were chosen.

Best Director

• Nominees: Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life), Chris Columbus (Home Alone), Jon Favreau (Elf), Ron Howard (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express)
• Winner: Jon Favreau
• Fun Fact: Jon Favreau played several parts in Elf, including the doctor, Mr. Narwhal, the raccoon, and several stop-motion characters that Buddy encounters.  He almost always plays at least one part in the films he directs.

Jon Favreau has gone on to do huge things – directing Disney’s The Jungle Book and The Lion King, directing and starring in some Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and even creating the new live-action Star Wars show The Mandalorian.  This was, in a way, his starting point.  Favreau is a fantastic director and did a great job on creating a Christmas film about a human in an elf’s, and later a human’s, world.  He had a very unique take on the movie, never using CGI whenever possible and wanting the set to be similar to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  He bridged the gap between old Christmas films and new Christmas films in a satisfying, positive, and hilarious way.  Well done, Jon!

Best Popular Film

• Nominees: Bad Santa, A Christmas Story, Die Hard, Home Alone, Love Actually
• Winner: A Christmas Story
• Fun Fact: During the tongue-sticking-to-the-pole gag, a vacuum inside the pole was what was holding Scott Schwartz’s (Flick’s) tongue to the pole through a tiny hole.

A Christmas Story is not only the most popular out of these, but also the most well-made and well-written overall.  I don’t have much to say on this one, except that this is a Christmas classic that will never go away and one-hundred-percent deserves this win!

Best Picture

• Nominees: See above
• Winner:

Well, it’s really hard to judge what the best Christmas film is, isn’t it?  It’s really a matter of opinion.  If I was the chairman of the Academy Awards and I had to pick the best Christmas film, I would pick Miracle on 34^th Street.  However, that’s technically not my favorite Christmas film.  It’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  So, I really can’t say who won this category, except that “all films are created equal” . . . well, not really.  That’s sort of a dumb statement.  Since I can’t decide, I need your help.  Yes, that’s right, I’m talking to you.  You comment down below and say what you think the best Christmas film is.  Within a few weeks – probably two – I’ll compile the results and see which film came in first.  I don’t have a lot of commenters, so spread the word to family and friends, please!

Well, I would stay longer, but I can’t, because I need to get to my family’s Christmas Eve party!  In conclusion, be sure to vote, have a merry Christmas, and a happy new year!

Whiz Kid out

P.S. I got all of the fun facts from Fun Fact Films, Mental Floss, and some other websites that I can’t remember.