Christmas movies are 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.

Nothing completes the holiday experience more than an extra serving of Frank Capra's yule-tide yarn, It's A Wonderful Life. But for Karolyn Grimes, who played little Zuzu Bailey, it has become a wonderful full-time job.

This 63-year-old feature looked almost as if it had been shot last week. I was intensely aware of Moira Shearer's heavy make-up and could literally see Anton Walbrook's pores. It was fascinating, hypnotic, but also more than a little distracting.

I googled "best summer-themed movies" but I think what I got was "any summer-themed movie."For those who want a little extra quality in their summer fare, here comes a varied but more rewarding list.

Christian Bale strikes me as a complete enigma. Yes, his acting chops are prodigious, but he seems to me to be all technique and no heart; we get buckets of perfectly formed ice, but very little fire.

Even though Entertainment Weekly named him the 16th-best film director of all time, if I mention the name Ernst Lubitsch to my own middle-aged contemporaries, I usually get a hazy look.

The values and emotions imparted in these timeless films are sure to stoke the spirit of "Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men" (and women). Happy viewing!

When Hitchcock cast Grace Kelly in 1954's Dial M For Murder, he quickly knew he'd found his ideal female muse: an impossibly beautiful blonde who could convey ice on the surface while exuding fire underneath.

As we head into the Independence Day weekend, I wanted to suggest some classic titles scattered over the decades that each in their way evoke our country's unique character.