Just in time to help you maximize the few minutes left before Christmas, here are the top 16 holiday movies captured in their most famous scenes. This is just enough of a dose of some of them to make you fondly remember your first viewing and save you from a trip to the video store. Many of them, in my opinion, are a bit too cloying for re-viewing again now. And for cynics, read today’s excellent article in the New York Times on the sad dismal life of George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. The writer, Wendell Jamieson, opines that the world would have actually been a better more prosperous place without George, citing his felony theft, upstate New York economic trends, and the dismal...

What is it about the Shrek franchise that makes both kids and dads laugh out loud? All the Shreks have been good, mostly clean, family fare that work on both adult and kid levels. My kids and I watched Shrek the Halls last night and both my four-year old boy and eight year-old girl laughed through the whole thing. At one point, I even had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard. Clocking in at 22 minutes, this video is a a very short diversion that may even become a classic about the holiday season like “It’s a Wonderful LIfe” or The Grinch. At least you can tell yourselves that when you take a break from wrapping presents to indulge for a few minutes. The movie’s premise...