It just wouldn’t feel like the Christmas season without TBS running “A Christmas Story” 24/7 leading up to the big day. The Bumpkiss hounds are running through the house eating roast turkey, Ralphy is wishing for his Red Rider BB Gun, the leg lamp is shining in the window and a blanket of white snow has quieted the neighborhood bullies, if only for Christmas Day. This is just one of many nostalgic movies that light up our hearts this holiday season.

Christmas classics seem to reign supreme for the baby boomer generation. The black-and-white nostalgia of “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) captures the innocence and the good will of a nation struggling to regain a sense of optimism following World War II. James Stewart and Donna Reed give compelling performances in a heart-wrenching tale of a suicidal man’s realization that he meant so much to so many people. Another old Christmas season classic from the same era is “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947), which was remade in 1994. A department store Santa finds himself in court when he professes to be the real deal, which captures the heart of a six-year-old skeptic. Lastly, White Christmas (1954), starring Bing Crosby, where dance, romance and hard economic times take center stage.

If you’re a family who likes to laugh together and your kids are a bit older, then perhaps Christmas dysfunction is more your motif. In addition to the ever-popular “A Christmas Story” (1983), don’t forget “Home Alone” and “Trapped In Paradise” (1994). A 2008 dysfunctional Merry Xmas tale is “Four Christmases,” starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn who try to race from place to place to see all their divorced parents. Then there’s always the reliably hilarious “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989), starring Chevy Chase. “He wants a wonderful experience with his in-laws, who turn out to be creeps. He wants a close relationship with his kids, but it is stressed. He considers his decorating a grand achievement, but it’s mocked as a disaster,” explains Gary Hoppenstand, a professor of American Studies at Michigan State University. “The holidays can be a depressing time. Comedy can help us laugh at ourselves and realize we are fallible, too.”

Some Christmas movies re-visited later in lfe may strike you as quite odd the second time around. “Babes in Toyland” (1986) is definitely one of those movies. Suddenly you recognize Lisa Piper as a young Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves as “Jack Be Nimble.” At its heart, it is a story about a child who grows up too fast, but on the exterior there is an evil villain bowling his home down the streets of Toyland, bizarre minions fighting toy soldiers and a rather fantastical setting. Of course, there were many other versions of this tale as well, most notably the film featuring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

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5. Austin Powers (Mike Myers, the Austin Powers trilogy)

Austin Powers is the ultimate James Bond spoof, mixed with a bit of bizarre 60s eccentricity and a whole lot of ‘mojo’. He thinks he is the essence of spy-movie cool, and is oblivious to the fact that he’s really nothing but a funny, if slightly disturbing, parody. As for gadgets, if it’s possible to imagine it, Austin Powers most likely has it. Forget hidden cameras, tiny guns and secret voice recorders. Here we have giant lasers meant for blowing up the planet, ‘fembots’ with machine guns in their nipples and even a time travelling car!

4. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible)

In his quest to prove his innocence over the murder of the rest of his team, Tom Cruise’s Hunt proves himself to be the perfect sleek, efficient secret agent. He has the right skills, loads of gadgets (including camera-glasses, exploding chewing gum, and who could forget those awesome masks!) and that annoying ability to get through anything, including a spectacular high-speed chase involving a train, a helicopter and the channel tunnel… and still look like he’s just stepped out of the hosue at the end of it all.

3. Charlie’s Angels (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, Charlie’s Angels)

These three femmes fatales are the ultimate team of secret agents. Working under the direction of the mysterious Charlie and with the help of his assistant, they go around fighting crime and, well, kicking ass. They may seem all sweetness and innocence ar first but when these girls get angry, you wouldn’t want to be on their wrong side. And with the help of Charlie’s technological genius (they can plant voice recorders and trackers in people’s teeth!) there really is no stopping them.

2. James Bond

The ultimate movie spy who needs no introduction. Bond, in all his guises, sets the standard for spy movies in every way.  He’s suave, sophisticated and has a seemingly neverending arsenal of inconceivable gadgets and awesome cars. And of course, he always gets the girl!

1. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon, the Bourne trilogy)

Bourne is maybe the best spy of them all. After he wakes up with amnesia he has no idea who he is or why he’s there, but he still has the skill and cunning to stay alive and work it all out. He may not have many cool spy gadgets but it’s not like he needs them, he’s an expert at using everyday objects in unusual ways and he can fashion pretty much anything into a weapon!

The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the closest rival for all time DVD sales as it has sold a total of 4.7 million copies of the DVD in total. It is followed by third and fourth by Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Other top ten all time sellers include, 'Casino Royale' staring Daniel Craig and Shrek 2 which was the fastest selling animation during the last decade.

The latest landmark further underlines the popularity of Mamma Mia which is now the UK's official favorite film of all time. Yet it is not just the film which has done well, the soundtrack to the film also became the biggest selling soundtrack compilation of 2008 as they shifted over one million copies in total. The film became the fastest selling DVD when it was released in the middle of November, 2008 and has continued to sell over the festive period like hot pancakes! I myself had bought a copy for my mother and it appears as though everyone in the United Kingdom had the same idea! I have not seen the movie myself but I have heard it is something not just for women but for everyone to enjoy which is good. Personally, I can't imagine Pierce Brosnan dancing around with in a dress with old women instead of being James Bond but that is neither here nor there. This film is something nice for the whole family to enjoy and I would recommend it to everyone!

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10 – A Christmas Carol (1951)
Ok, it was sort of a toss-up for me between this version and the Muppets. There have been tons of versions of this story, we know it, we love it, and you’ve got to love the Muppets. For really telling a great story, though, there’s nothing like great actors – and this movie has them in abundance. The main thing about this film is, it gives a lot of backstory to Ebenezer Scrooge. A lot of other versions come off as a very stiff morality tale, this one actually lets you get in touch with the characters.

9 – Elf (2003) starring Will Ferrell
As an infant, Buddy (Will Farrell) accidentally finds himself in Santa’s toy bag. He is carried away to the North Pole where he is raised as an elf. Since Buddy doesn’t fit in with his elf family, he travels to New York City to be with his real family. Unfortunately for Buddy, his real family doesn’t believe in Santa or the true meaning of Christmas. Buddy takes the opportunity to find himself by reviving Christmas in his family and in New York.

8 – The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Animated
I am a big Tim Burton fan, and any film that can be watched for two holidays gets a thumbs up from me. I pull this one out at Halloween and we play it till New Year’s. The songs are great, the quirky characters are lovable in their own twisted ways, and I can’t think of any other film that has Santa Claus being questioned by a giant gambling ghost. Gets me in the Christmas spirit – pun intended.

7 – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
It just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Griswolds. Throw the kids in bed, grab some eggnog, and laugh about all the craziness. After Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and Aunt Bethany (Mae Questel) you will find yourself feeling much more relaxed about the in-laws.

6 – Bad Santa (2003) starring Billy Bob Thornton
Con men Willie and Marcus join forces each year to rob department stores at Christmas by posing as Santa and his little helper. Their plans are foiled when Willie meets a troubled 8-year old boy, who teaches them the real meaning of Christmas.

5 – Scrooged (1988)
Bill Murray stars as Frank Cross, a cynical TV executive, who just can’t get into the Christmas spirit. When the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future visit him, Frank realizes it’s time to make a change.

4 – The Santa Clause (1994)
Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) is reading his son Charlie a Christmas story one night when he hears something on the roof. After frightening Santa to death, Scott must take over as the new Santa. Charlie likes the fact his dad is Santa, but Scott doesn’t believe it — until his hair turns white and he puts on a couple pounds. Can Scott keep his new secret from his unsuspecting family?

3 – Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Schmaltzy? Sure. Love it anyway, and embrace that belief that there really is a Santa. Maureen O’Hara is of course stunningly glamorous. Black and white or colorized, it’s a great film.

2 – It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Life is falling apart for George Bailey and he begins to contemplate suicide, when his guardian angel appears to show how life would have been if he never existed. A timeless Jimmy Stewart classic that shows anything is possible with the love of friends and family.

That brings us to the number one Christmas movie in 2008:

1 – A Christmas Story (1983)
“You’ll shoot your eye out!” Ralphie’s quest for a Red Ryder BB gun, and the aunt who thinks he’s “a perpetual four” are something we can all relate to. I find something funnier every year as I get older, layers of both irony and that child-like hopefulness tied up inextricably together, as well as the remembered frustrations of childhood. (Let’s just say I sympathize deeply with the kid brother in the snowsuit.) Jean Shepherd’s writing is transferred nicely to film, his voice comes through in Ralphie’s hopes and daydreams beautifully.

There you have it, the Top Ten Christmas Movies of 2008! Throw another log on the fire and get to watching these timeless movies.

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1– Like the Poll Tax, the TV License takes no account of your ability to pay, nor how much (if any) of the service you use. It hits the lowest incomes hardest by percentage of income.

You could argue the same about food, drink, cleaning products, petrol, holidays, cars, trousers or virtually anything else. In fact, income tax is the ONLY thing that takes account of ability to pay. Everything else just costs what it costs. So the TV license fee follows the same pattern as 99.9999999% things in the universe. I don’t think this is a strong argument. Plus, as a percentage of income it’s fallen massively since the 50s. It’s now about 0.01% of average income, whereas it used to be about 0.07% – not a huge amount in either case, but definitely cheaper (in real terms) now. In fact, it costs slightly more than 38p per day. Crippling? I don’t think so!

2– When it started, there was only one use for a TV set, and only one broadcaster so a kitty type setup was fine, this has fragmented so much now that the BBC are a minority entertainment service that you can’t unsubscribe from.

Actually in the UK more people watch BBC programmes than any other channel. You may not like their programming in all cases (I don’t either) but that doesn’t mean your argument is correct. They’re not minority. They may not please everyone, but they have the largest share of audience, consistently, across all age and social groups. Fact.

3– The BBC forces itself onto the airways and we are required to pay for its upkeep regardless of whether or not we watch it. £139.50 is too much to pay for reality tv, vapid sitcoms and endless repeats.

Advertisers increase the cost of their products to pay for the adverts they show. The average cost of an Audi car, for instance, would fall by £7,000 if they did absolutely no marketing. You pay £7,000 per Audi, just for them to advertise to you. The same applies to everything you see advertised on TV. In 2000 the average ITV viewer paid more than £1000 per year in extra costs on products they saw advertised. Comparatively, the BBC is cheap! And vapid sitcoms? Yes. But also David Attenborough, The Office, BlackAdder, Fawlty Towers, Boys from the Blackstuff, Simon Schama, the best news channel in the world (without a doubt)… stuff you simply WOULD NOT see on a commercial channel. The BBC chase ratings, but they also produce masses of FANTASTIC material aimed at minorities who would otherwise be totally ignored.

4– At worst a service that you never use. We are forced to pay for a TV Licence, what ever happened to free choice?

True, that’s the strongest argument. But have you REALLY never watched ANYTHING on BBC, or listened to the radio? Do you ONLY watch ITV or Sky? I doubt it. And if you do, you’re missing out on Dr Who and Joolz Holland (to say the least).

5– This is a complete monopoly (For example, I am a avid sports fan, i pay my money to Virgin media and the only TV I watch is Setanta, Sky Sports and Eurosport. But the nice people at the BBC think its fair to force me to pay them for channels im not using)

Well, you only have yourself to blame. In 1980 all sport was shown for FREE as part of your license fee (which was about £60 back then). Now you pay about £40 PER MONTH on Sky, Setanta, etc – and extra for premiership games, top movies etc. If nobody had signed up for Sky, the BBC would still show everything you want. You VOLUNTEERED to pay £45 per month for something you were already getting for FREE. Is it the BBC’s fault that you made a stupid decision? No, it isn’t.

6– You wouldn’t pay £140 a year to tax a car that you dont use would you? (answer yes to this question and you are a moron and i will gladly let you pay my car tax)

I repeat, do you NEVER watch Dr Who, Extras or the news? Never? EVER?! And before you call us idiots, remember who’s volunteering to pay £40 a month for something the BBC used to give you for free.

7– Every other channel funds itself by advertising, so why cant the BBC do the same. They are already screwing us over by showing BBC programs on Dave and the UKTV Network. Where they recieve money from advertisements. They can’t have it both ways.

Why can’t they have it both ways? I mean, the government has prevented them from increasing the licence fee, so they raise the money they need commercially. Isn’t that what you argue for? OK, you may dislike the license fee in the first place, but it is INCREDIBLY cheap (38p per day), and provides 20+ TV channels, 50+ radio stations and the single best website in the world (it was voted best last year). If they didn’t sell old programmes to Dave, the cost of the license fee would rise to a terrifying 44p per day (ooh, how will we cope, 44p for about 250 hours of new programming every day!).

You should also consider this: advertising revenues on TV are plummeting. ITV lost 30% of its income over the last 5 years. If the BBC had to fund 250 hours of programming per day by ADVERTS, the few adverts there are would be spread thinner – especially as the BBC has the most popular channels. So the income of ALL TV would fall, and programmes would suffer enormously – not just the BBC, but everybody.

8– Im not saying get rid of the BBC, Just want them to fund themselves or allow us to opt out of their service.

I agree you should be able to opt out. But if you do, your radio, TV and Internet hardware would have to be amended to prevent you from accessing BBC content. And the cost of doing that would be prohibitively high. Can you imagine what you’d pay to have a thing fitted to your car to STOP you from getting BBC traffic news? Or what you’d pay to STOP your TV, digibox, Sky receiver, walkman, PC and every other device from getting Radio 1? It would be massively expensive. So yes, opting out is a good idea, but utterly impractical. Similarly, I’d like to opt out of paying towards the Iraq war by having my taxes cut. But it’s never going to happen, is it?

9– Why not have a system like PBS, where the rich and famous provide donations or a system that allows those on a lesser income to pay less? (can be done by the individuals tax code/band) – I am sure the likes of Beckham, Bono, Elton John to name a few, have got money to throw around. How about they contribute to the devices that got them their money in the first place?

So your argument is that you don’t like paying for TV, so you’d like someone else to pay your share instead? And the richest people are mostly city traders – how does the BBC make them rich, exactly? It’s just not a proper solution. And the poor pay less? Yes, I agree – but it is 38p per day, as I mentioned. That’s less than the cost of a Twix. How poor do you have to be before the “lower” threshold hits? So poor you can’t afford a Twix? Seems a bit extreme.

I can see why people dislike paying a license fee, but absolutely none of the arguments against it take into account what the costs of abolition would be.

Frankly if you want to save money, start pushing for government to abolish ALL taxation except income tax. Income tax is the only truly fair tax, but it’s been slashed (to make tax look low) while other unfair tax has been increased. Scrap road fund license, TV license, VAT and all other taxes, and increase income tax by 5%. It would be a fair reflection of people’s ability to pay, and nobody would moan about paying for the BBC any more.