It's High Time We Get a New Classic Christmas Movie

When it comes to films, the Christmas canon is made up of old favorites like It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, and Miracle on 34th Street that are, well, old—and it's high time that changed. The 21st century is the "dark ages" of holiday movie going, writes ST VanAirsdale in Esquire, leaving viewers "adrift in a roiling tide of middling dramas as temporary as tinsel—and not much more valuable, either." How else do you explain Christmas films with names like Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus and Holiday in Handcuffs?

To get you in the Christmas spirit, VanAirsdale recommends Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, or Annie Hall. "The magic of Bruce Willis blowing the hell out of his estranged wife's holiday party and Mel Gibson kicking ass in a Christmas-tree lot transcends those more spiritual lessons of giving, sharing, and family togetherness," he writes. Hollywood needs to "wake up and smell the eggnog." No more Elf. It's time for films that embody all the seasonal shades: red, green—and gray.

(More A Christmas Carol stories.)