From December 1st until Christmas Eve, here on the LAMB, we’ll be determining what is the BEST Christmas movie of all time. We’ve asked you all which films are the main contenders, and twenty-four of you replied with your choices, which will bauble battle it out for seasonal supremacy. It’s a head-to-head, single elimination tournament, so whichever film wins today moves onto the next round. However, here is not the only place to vote. No, head to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see the same poll there, and it’ll be the total of all four results that determines the winner.

Today’s tinsel tussle is the first match-up in the Family Group, and is between the number two seed, Millions, and the first play-off winner, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation:

Millions vs National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Millions, championed by Alfredo Castil from FilmYarn

Millions is your favorite Christmas movie, you just (probably) haven’t seen it yet. It’s also Danny Boyle’s best movie.

It doesn’t lean on the cheap secularity of holiday movies, and it doesn’t bore you with the story of the actual birth of Jesus, it threads the line between religious devotion and the difficulty of just being good. All of this wrapped in a crime drama set in an alternate reality where the Euro takes over the British Pound (this is pre-Brexit after all) and the best use of a Muse song in a movie. Ever.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, championed by Matthew Stewart from Simplistic Reviews

Honestly, I’ve never really gotten the devoted fandom of the National Lampoon films, namely the Vacation series, but when it comes to the holiday season, nothing tops Christmas Vacation.

Maybe it’s the time of year, the fact that it takes places in one static location instead of all over the country, Europe or Las Vegas, or the idea that Christmas is a time where we can all get nostalgic, be around family and have the highest of hi-jinks, simply… works. I remember seeing this as a kid in the theater and loving every minute of it, and seeing it as a “full grown man” I still get the warm and fuzzies when the lights finally kick on at the Griswald house, Clark gets his bonus, and when Eddie proclaims, “Shitter’s Full!”

Which is the better Christmas movie?

Tags: FilmYarn, Millions, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Simplistic Reviews