The 2. 4 Best Christmas Movie Characters. We’ve talked before about the Best Christmas Movies but now we want to focus in a little more closely. Who are the best characters in all these seasonal films? What personalities stand out when the Christmas presents are down?

Some iconic and some not, Empire's 24 Best Christmas Characters is the definitive list. Hi Julia hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving – I knew a few of the movies – my son made me watch Alvin a couple of years ago well thats my story and I’m sticking to. It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story "The Greatest Gift", which.

Here is how to watch Hallmark Christmas movies online, live as they air, even without cable. Find out all the details here. We've put together a list of 25 Christmas movies that are the perfect way to distract yourself from the turn of another year.

Here, for our money, are the contenders…Buddy the Elf. Film: Elf (2. 00. Played by: Will Ferrell. Typical line: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”What to give him for Christmas: Anything tooth- rotting! Distinguishing features: Propensity to wear tights, pointy hat; uncanny ability with Christmas decorations; big smile; high levels of dental insurance (we hope)In terms of enthusiasm, there’s no gainsaying Buddy The Elf’s Christmas spirit; in terms of energy, he makes John Motson look like John Major.

He makes Santa Claus look like Scrooge. If baby Jesus had an entertainer at his birthday party, it would be Buddy the Elf folding little balloon shepherds and painting everyone’s faces like archangels. But he’s also a fascinating individual: reared by elves and ol’ Saint Nick himself, he has a unique outlook on life that emphasises all that is best in the world, and in these cynical times that’s to be treasured. His sense of style (heavy on the green- and- red), unique approach to nutrition (heavy on the sugar) and even phone technique (“Hi I’m Buddy, what’s your favourite colour?”) make him an icon for the times – or at least for this time of year.

Billy Mack. Film: Love Actually (2. Played by: Bill Nighy. Distinguishing features: Fondness for leather trousers and snakeskin; hair in need of a good trim; rock styling; occasional public nudity; air of dissolution. Typical line: “Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!”What to give him for Christmas: Anything as long as it’s snakeskin. Everyone loves a character who learns the true meaning of Christmas – witness the enduring popularity of one Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Billy Mack isn’t that bad to start off with, since there’s no particular sign of outright villainy on his part, merely a sense of ennui with the music industry and a penchant for saying outrageous things on air. Still, it’s nice to see him realise that Christmas is about more than playing your appalling Christmas song naked on prime- time TV. It’s also about declaring your (platonic) love for your scruffy manager.

Groupies come and go, but friends, after all, are forever. Jack Skellington. Film: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1. Played by: (voice) Chris Sarandon & Danny Elfman (singing)Distinguishing features: Extremely elongated limbs; giant skull head; penchant for pinstripes and Goth accessories; often to be seen with a ghost dog, and we don’t mean the Way of the Samurai type. Typical line: “You know, I think this Christmas thing is not as tricky as it seems! But why should they have all the fun? It should belong to anyone!

Not anyone, in fact, but me!”What to give him for Christmas: Some really long, really skinny pyjamas with little bats on. Let’s face it: Jack Skellington was born to celebrate Halloween rather than Christmas. That face was surely never meant to eat mince pies or sing carols. And yet here we are, in a world where he’s one of the most popular Christmas characters out there. As the Halloween Town denizen who discovers the magic of Christmas, you can’t fault his delight in the season nor his determination to share it with his neighbours.

Admittedly, you can fault his decision to kidnap Santa, and his failure to rein in said neighbours when they proceed to unleash hell under a million Christmas trees, but if it’s the thought that counts he’s OK by us. Gonzo. Film: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1. Played by: The Great Gonzo (Dave Goelz)Distinguishing features: 1. Indeed, uncertain planetary origin. Typical line: “I told you, storytellers are omniscient; I know everything!”What to give him for Christmas: A cannon. Let’s face it, he’s more naturally suited to being fired from cannons. When you are trying to cast Charles Dickens, titan of English literature and enthusiastic writer of Christmas- set stories, you naturally need an actor with gravitas, with a bold personality and with immense personal appeal to communicate Dickens’ genius and huge personality.

Who else, then, than The Great Gonzo, a performer so committed that he regularly fires himself out of cannons with only the most minimal of safety equipment and who engages in groundbreaking live work like eating a rubber tyre to the tune of Flight Of The Bumblebee? What’s that? Simon Callow? Don’t be silly: he’s not even blue. In any case, Gonzo’s performance in The Muppet Christmas Carol is his most restrained and literate ever, just proving that he was the right muppet for the job, and his comic double- act with Rizzo the Rat a constant delight. Clarence Odbody. Film: It’s A Wonderful Life (1.

Played by: Henry Travers (left)Distinguishing features: Genial manner; old- fashioned clothes; occasional appearance as small star or twinkle of light. Typical line: “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?”What to give him for Christmas: Wings. It’s all he ever talks about. You know what’s not Christmassy? Trying to top yourself on Christmas Eve and leave your family to face disgrace and poverty.

So George Bailey isn’t sufficiently Christmassy for this list, giving way to the optimistic and rather sweet Clarence, an angel- in- training who figures out the perfect way to get our George back on the straight and narrow, at some risk to his own afterlife. First Clarence throws himself off a bridge, forcing the suicidal George to put aside his own plans and leap to the stranger’s aid, and then he gives George a glimpse of a world where he’d never existed and puts his problems in perspective. Job done. No wonder bells are soon ringing and Clarence is soon winging about. We assume. Harry Lime.

Film: Home Alone (1. Played by: Joe Pesci. Distinguishing features: Prominent gold tooth; slightly ratlike expression; propensity to rob homes left empty over Christmas. Typical line: “I think we're getting scammed by a kindergartener.”What to give him for Christmas: A good lawyer Let’s get this out of the way: Macauley Culkin’s Kevin Mc.

Allister is NOT a Christmassy character. No one who was truly full of the festive spirit would ever drop a heated iron on another person’s head. Joe Pesci’s Harry, however, has a better case. After all, he greets the advent of the Christmas season with considerable enthusiasm, visiting houses around the neighbourhood and smiling benevolently at the children he meets. Sure, he then burgles the lot – but for all we know he has an ailing granny and sixteen adorable children to support (each with puppies!) until an obnoxious, spoiled and violent little rich kid puts him in the slammer. Watch A Field In England Online Hulu. It’s probably in the deleted scenes. Pietari Kontio. Film: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2.

Played by: Onni Tommila. Distinguishing features: Permanently wary expression; suspicion of anything landing on the roof; reluctance to sleep during Advent season; small stuffed toy he carries at all times. Typical line: “Santa’s been buried!”What to give him for Christmas: A safe room that Santa absolutely cannot reach. You all know how kids are supposed to behave in Christmas movies, right? They are there to get excited about presents, visit Father Christmas and possibly fight off determined burglars.