A few old favorites and a few that won’t need to be revisited.

We start with the 2003 animated Tokyo Godfathers. Odd. Quirky. Heartwarming. And beautifully rendered. I give it a 2/10 but the masses show it quite a bit of love putting it in the second thousand.

Bad news. NEXT year the Star Wars Christmas Special will likely make the list. Good news: Hogfather made it THIS year. From Terry Pratchet’s Discworld series. Just fun. Michelle Dockery from Downton Abbey brightens the festivities but not enough to make it better than 2/10

My list give us the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol, featuring the entire Lockhart family. My sister prefers the ’51 version but for some unknown reason this one tugs my strings. I give it a 9/10 even though the masses disagree, putting it in the top 5,000.

1985 gave us Mary Steenburgen, Harry Dean Stanton and a couple other familiar faces in One Magic Christmas. It’s a tough one to watch. I’ll give it 3/10 but I’m not sure why.

The Bishop’s Wife, David Niven, Loretta Young and Cary Grant, from 1947. Light fluffy festive escapism. The first movie on our list from both me and the masses. 9/10.

And an unexpected freebie. Hulu was streaming the 2019 A Christmas Carol with Guy Pierce and Andy Serkis. NOT your fathers Christmas Carol. Scrooge is <ahem> MUCH nastier in this one. Some interesting casting choices. Some good special effects. Overall this perhaps comes closer to the “against type” ghost story Dickens was TRYING to tell than the treacly offerings the cinematic world has given us. Currently I’ll give it a 9/10 but subsequent viewing may lower it. We expect it to be back next year.