Feeling a little bah humbug? These 15 Christmas flicks will put you in the spirit

Will Ferrell warms our Christmas stockings in Elf. Source: Supplied

A blink of the eye and it's all over - Christmas has come and gone yet again, and you're standing there, befuddled, wondering 'how did I miss it this year'?

Your promising yourself, 'next year, it'll be different'. But it never is, is it?

Fear not, forgotten festive folk. Don't get bogged down by your overwhelmingly long to-do list, curl up on the couch and spend a few hours rediscovering Christmas, with our list of the best Christmas flicks ever.

15. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

We can't go past a list like this without honouring the original Christmas classic, Miracle on 34th Street. Adaptations of the film-turned-novel have come and gone, but nothing beats the original, starring Maureen O'Hara and John Payne.

14. DIE HARD

No one messes with John McClane's family on Christmas. All right, so Die Hard isn't exactly full of merriment and Christmas cheer, but what it does have are the perfect ingredients for a Christmas blockbuster; good versus evil, ghosts of Christmas past, present and future and a festive setting that sets Bruce Willis up to kick some major Grinch-esque bootie.

13. NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION

The Griswald family just can't catch a break in this hilarious Yuletide offering from the National Lampoon series. It's slapstick comedy at its best, receiving a respectable 7.4/10 user rating on imdb.com.

12. A MOM FOR CHRISTMAS

A young girl gets her Christmas wish when a department store mannequin comes to life. This little known cult classic, starring our very own Olivia Newton-John, is '90s Christmas nostalgia at its best. Think bad perms, scrunchy socks, and a Christmas soundtrack that beats Newton-John's recent abysmal efforts.

11. HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK

We all know Home Alone rocks our Christmas socks, but let's be real here. The follow-up, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, is way better. It follows the same winning formula as the first, but moves Kevin McCallister to New York where he "coincidentally" runs into Marv and Harry, and the adventures begin for a bigger and better knock-em-down experience that both the kids and adults will love.

10. THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL

Only the Muppets can turn a classic like A Christmas Carol into a comedy. Released in 1992 and starring all our favourites, it was a hit for Walt Disney Pictures, grossing nearly $30 million in the US alone.

9. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Disney is no doubt thankful for giving the go ahead for Tim Burton's animated masterpiece. Originally deemed "too scary for kids" it has emerged as a Christmas favourite, scoring a whopping 96 per cent approval rating on rottentomatoes.com.

"In the 13 years since it was released to a predictably puzzled family audience, Tim Burton's macabre stop motion musical has wound its way through cult affection (and survived mall-Goth appropriation) to earn its rightful place as a genuine classic," wrote Empire Magazine's Luke Goodsell.

8. THE SANTA CLAUSE

In his feature film debut, Tim Allen's Christmas flick hit was so well received it spawned a Santa Clause trilogy, but the original is by far the best, spawning a generation of wannabe Santa Clause's in its wake. It's a good old-fashioned holiday film that'll get you in the spirit in no time.

7. JINGLE ALL THE WAY

Oh dear. Critics panned Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to cash in on Christmas and while it's no Oscar-winning performance, we take it for what it is; Arnie in a Santa suit. What more could we ask for? "A career low-point for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes, even worse than Batman and Robin," wrote KFOR's Blake Davis. We still love it.

6. I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

I'll Be Home for Christmas may have marked the beginning of the end for teen heart-throb and Home Improvement star Jonathon Taylor-Thomas, whose 1998 flick bombed at the box office. With a budget of $30 million, the film took in less than half at the US box office, grossing just over $12 million. The redeeming feature? A young Jessica Biel as JTT's love interest.

5. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

Jim Carrey is perfect as the mean, green, stealing machine in Ron Howard's feature adaptation of Dr. Seuss' classic. It was a hit at the box office, claiming $259 million in the US alone, but left critics divided over the film; some cheering Carey for his performance and others' wondering how the film ever made it to the screen. "Shrill, strenuous and entirely without charm," wrote Variety's Todd McCarthy.

4. LOVE ACTUALLY

Who doesn't love this film? From Four Weddings and a Funeral writer Richard Curtis, Love Actually is the ultimate Christmas rom-com, giving us singles out there hope that romance can come in the most surprising of places, at the most surprising of times and in the most unexpected of ways. And while we're there, here are 10 thing you never knew about Love Actually .

3. ELF

There's always a moral at the end of each Christmas flick, and Will Ferrell does a great job at making this comedy more than a cheap laugh, but one which shows you can achieve anything, no matter how big or small you are.

2. BAD SANTA

He's so bad, it's so good. Billy Bob Thornton as con man Willie T. Stokes won't be to everyone's taste, but director Terry Zwigoff takes this "gloriously rude" black comedy where other Christmas flick director's dare not go. It's offensive and certainly not suitable for the kids, but as Time Out's Geoff Andrews wrote, "Wonderfully tasteless, gloriously non-PC, admirably bilious; humourless souls should steer clear." Hear, hear.

1. LAST HOLIDAY

In Queen Latifah's straight-to-DVD rom-com starring LL Cool J, Georgia Byrd (Latifah) plays a woman who, when told she has only three weeks to live, cashes in her life savings and heads to Europe for the holiday of a lifetime. A remake of the 1950 British comedy starring Alec Guinnes, Latifah holds her own as a woman dealing with impeding death, but without the heaviness. As the Toronto Star's Peter Howell wrote, "it is as bright as a Christmas bauble."

What's your favourite Christmas flick? Continue the conversation by commenting below, or via Twitter @the_mattyoung | @newscomauHQ