My favorite Holiday flicks

Since Christmas is a week away, I thought I would share some of my favorite holiday movies (Happy Birthday Jane Austen and Noel Coward).

My first pick is Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Sure it's a cartoon and it stars Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge, but it's utterly charming and totally true to the spirit of Charles Dicken's. The songs are lovely and I always get a little weepy at the scenes of young Scrooge at his boarding school singing "Alone in the World." And what person wouldn't be affected by Tiny Tim's death, even if he's a cartoon.

My second pick for favorite holiday movie is the 1950's version of White Christmas starring Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye. Even though it's pretty much a remake of Holiday Inn, I still love this version. I think it was Rosemary Clooneys' first film. It's a charming romantic comedy where Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are a musical act and of course so are Rosemary Clooney and her sister Vera Ellen.

Two talented song-and-dance men--reserve officers--team up after the war with a sister act and trek to Vermont for a white Christmas. Shenanigans begin when they discover that the inn they've chosen is run by their old army general, who's in financial trouble. Hilarity and hijinks ensure, and Bing Crosby learns the meaning of Christmas. There's a stage production going on right now in both Boston and Toronto, so somebody check it out and let me know how it is.

My final holiday flick is a relatively new film, well it's about four years old. Richard Curtis's film of Love Actually starring Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson and a cast of thousands. Seriously it seems like every actor in Britain is in this film. This movie has more plot than a Harry Potter book. Hugh Grant plays the Prime Minister who falls in love with his tea lady Martine McCutcheon. His sister played by Emma Thompson discovers that her husband played by Alan Rickman has bought a gift for his very pretty and flirtatious secretary. There's a heartbreaking scene when she realizes that the necklace that she found was not for her. Liam Neeson just lost his wife but he has to help his stepson Sam with his romantic problems. Laura Linney is in love with a guy in her office, but she's also taking care of her schizophrenic brother. That's just for starters and I haven't even gotten to Colin Firth's plot or Kris Marshall, not to mention the incomparable Bill Nighy as Billy Mack.

Not only do I love this move, but I also love the soundtrack, especially Eva Cassidy's version of Fleetwood Mac's Songbird.

What are your favorite holiday flicks? And will you watch anything that Colin Firth is in?