While I love plenty of worthy or intellectual films, heavy science fiction or discovering foreign gems, I still have a soft spot for traditional feel good family flicks, especially at this time of year. As much as I love to be challenged and surprised by movies, there is definitely room for more familiar, sentimental films, the kind of films that appeal to your inner child and sentimental nature.

Part of the charm of these festive family films is the fact that we do know what to expect. Of course they all may differ in style or story (well sometimes they do), but we can be fairly sure that the good guys will win in the end and someone will learn all about love and the true meaning of Christmas or some other such sentimental nonsense.

If I sound a little scornful I am simply mocking myself, as I unashamedly adore some of the cheesiest sentimental Christmas claptrap out there. Despite the cheese (or maybe even because if it) I do believe that there are some really brilliant films in this genre, with truly some truly great performances. We all have our favourites, the ones we watched as a child till the Betamax tape wore out, or films that make a regular appearance on Xmas time TV, but for me the best of the Christmas films all come from the best Christmas story ever penned… A Christmas Carol.

If you haven’t come across Dickens’s festive tale in some format I will be highly surprised, as it is the basis for countless Christmas themed films, TV shows and Simpson’s episodes. While the Patrick Stewart version is probably my favourite, I love many others including Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, Scrooged, the original film version and even The Muppet Christmas Carol. While I know the tale and it’s message inside out I always enjoy a new take on it, and will never tire of the underlying message of Christmas joy and love that oozes through the story.

At this time of year I am always compelled to watch Tim Burton’s gorgeous stop motion feature film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Like all the best Christmas stories it combines the spooky and the festive to create a magically rich fantasy. This film has it all, great music and stunning visually. Memorable characters with plenty of humour and emotion. Plenty of lessons to be learned about friendship, love, romance and that good old meaning of Christmas. The Nightmare Before Christmas manages to combine traditional festive imagery with great new ideas and characters to create an instant classic, which will no doubt be a part of Christmas viewing for generations to come.

There are a number of Christmas films I grew up watching year after year, and even the worst of them will put me in a festive mood. The most memorable from my childhood would have to be Gremlins, Santa Claus: The Movie and (as mentioned earlier) Bill Murray in Scrooged.

Gremlins is a really bizarre yet fun 80′s comedy horror which conveniently takes place at Christmas time in small town America. An eccentric dad gets his son a strange fluffy creature as a Christmas gift, and unfortunately the innocently adorable Mogwai inadvertently spawns a huge pile of badly behaved little monsters (or Gremlins) that proceed to spread festive havoc throughout the town. In addition to being a great example of 80′s comedy the film certainly conveys the Christmas spirit. It has all the required elements, from romance to learning the meaning of Christmas, and also the most bizarre accidental Santa based death anecdote of all time. Yes you heard me right… our love interest lost her enjoyment of the festive season after her Dad got stuck up a chimney pretending to be Santa and rotted there for a few days before they realised. Festive or what?

Scrooged is another great 80′s film starring the incomparable Bill Murray. Based on A Christmas Carol, Murray has become a selfish and greedy man who doesn’t care about Christmas or indeed other people, but after visits from a corpse and some ghosts he regains his love of the the festive season and kindness in general. This of course leads to romance, general merriment and the sense that everything will be alright as long as we get into a merry mood. If you have ever thought “I love Ghost busters but I wish it was more Christmasy” then this is the film for you. Okay so it isn’t as good as Ghost Busters (what is?), but Murray gives a great performance in this festive feature, making it worthy of any Christmas viewing schedule.

Then we have Santa Claus: The Movie, an unashamedly festive film which explores the Santa Claus myth. As cheesy as it might seem now, my young self was completely enchanted with this movie, as like most children the idea of Santa, his elves, the workshop and flying reindeer was the perfect festive fantasy. I haven’t seen this film for many years, as I fear it may be a bit over the top for my adult self, but I will always have fond memories of this film and how much I enjoyed it.

Of course there are plenty of other great Christmas movies including the traditional It’s a Wonderful Life, the less typical Die Hard (which unfolds on Xmas eve), or more recent festive features like ELF or Polar Express. There are also plenty of films that are not specifically Christmas themed, yet are watched frequently over the holidays, such as The Sound of Music, The Great Escape or countless Bond Films. I am also fairly partial to a good TV Christmas special, and last year was thrilled by Crooked House, a spooky Christmas treat from Mark Gatiss and the BBC.

I’m always eager to discover and enjoy plenty of great new festive films this, so please share your favourites in comments. If you haven’t seen any of the films I have mentioned above do yourself a favour, snuggle up in front of them with your loved ones and let your inner child enjoy the festive fantasy before it’s too late.