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Top-ten lists of holiday films abound right about now, but what about picking the top three Christmas movies ever made? Certainly there's plenty to choose from. Christmas movies are almost a genre unto themselves: between live-action and animated features, there are literally hundreds of titles out there. Inevitably, some are pretty bad, others amusingly cheesy.

Though we live in the era of the multi-hyphenate and multi-tasker, we still get a boot out of personalities we know for one function, showing up in a totally unexpected context, and in doing so revealing an otherwise hidden side—and hidden talents.  When a non-actor appears on-screen there is a moment of held breath. Will he or she be…good? After all, acting is hard. Acting takes sweat and years of training, whether in techniques by Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, or doing improv on weeknights for decades, with no break in sight. And yet, from out of the blue, a soccer star, jazz musician, or gossip columnist will cruise onto the set and turn in the performance of a seasoned vet.

Hard to believe, but it’s been five years since Netflix first aired “Five Came Back”, the Emmy-winning documentary that recounts how five top Hollywood directors used their cameras to help us achieve victory in World War 2. The names of these men should be familiar, as they made some of the best movies of their time: Frank Capra, John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, and George Stevens.

For a truly memorable holiday movie night, it’s hard to beat 1947’s “The Bishop’s Wife,” starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young and and David Niven.

Recently I was asked to name the five movies that most affected me growing up. In identifying them, I didn’t think too hard. This required more of an emotional, instinctual response than a purely rational one. “The Best Years of Our Lives” was one of the films I selected. It has always stayed with me. While I cannot claim it’s the all-time best war movie, I think it may be our best drama about war. This intensely human film  portrays the effects and aftermath of war, but includes no battle scenes.

Myrna Loy is one of those stars whose appeal is timeless. Across the decades, her beautiful eyes project a keen intelligence and self-assurance. It was no illusion.

No surprise then that so many movies feature couples tying the knot, for better or for worse. From acknowledged classics like “Gone with the Wind”(1939), “The Philadelphia Story” (1940), and “The Sound of Music” (1966), to more recent crowd pleasers like “Meet the Parents” (2000) and “Mamma Mia” (2008), a wedding always features in the plot.

Oscar season is now upon us, as the year’s prize-worthiest fare begins its annual rollout to theaters in time for the holidays, sliding in just under the wire for nomination eligibility.  It is never too soon to start handicapping the contenders in the acting category, so we have compiled a handy reference guide to some of the types of roles that Academy pops for year after year. Once one starts to look for them, it becomes easy to spot future winners. Many of the performances in the upcoming raft of releases will be jaw-dropping.