1. How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
'Dr Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas!' is a twenty-six minute masterpiece that has put many a fireside family in a festive mood for almost fifty years. The only way Ron Howard's 200o live-action adaptation would give you that same warm glow inside is if you used it for kindling. As the titular green grump, Jim Carrey is at his hyperkinetic worst: mired in three hours of makeup every day and then suddenly let loose on the camera like a rabid dog. Rarely has our protagonist fought so hard for our attention. In fact, spending so much time with him cooped up in his cave, you begin to worry just how long it'll be until Stockholm Syndrome kicks in. For everything about the film, from the sets to the songs, is a gaudy, snow-coated candy cane that sticks in your throat. Even simply sitting there and watching its avalanche of awful crash over you is extremely hard work. If you really want to ruin Christmas, don't leave a leave of lump of coal in someone's stocking. Leave this, instead.