From as far back as Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which struggled to find its footing in the end-of-the-year glut of late December 1946, predicting the canon of Christmas movie future has never been easy. Some of today’s favorites had to survive a critical drubbing, or a ho-hum box office. And still others just didn’t seem like holiday movies, becoming classics almost accidentally thanks to reclassification or cult followings. Here’s a sample of 10 that are currently available to stream — some established favorites, others quirky upstarts — along with excerpts from what our critics first thought of them and links to their full reviews. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)Stream it on Amazon.

Source: New York Times December 11, 2018 16:52 UTC