Best Christmas movies set in each state
By Reed Gaudens
![HOME ALONE - Eight year old Kevin MacAllister (Macaulay Culkin) gets lost in the shuffle as his large, upper-middle class suburban family rushes to make a plane that will ferry them off to their Christmas vacation in France; Kevin, having been banished to an attic room as punishment, is subsequently forgotten. At first this is a dream come true, as for the first time in his young life he has no one to answer to but himself, and he takes full advantage of his newfound freedom, eating junk food and watching late-night horror flicks. But when the bumbling Wet Bandits Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) target his house for a robbery, Kevin must step up to defend his home; he sets a maze of booby traps so elaborate that only an eight year old imagination could concoct them. (20TH CENTURY FOX)MACAULAY CULKIN HOME ALONE - Eight year old Kevin MacAllister (Macaulay Culkin) gets lost in the shuffle as his large, upper-middle class suburban family rushes to make a plane that will ferry them off to their Christmas vacation in France; Kevin, having been banished to an attic room as punishment, is subsequently forgotten. At first this is a dream come true, as for the first time in his young life he has no one to answer to but himself, and he takes full advantage of his newfound freedom, eating junk food and watching late-night horror flicks. But when the bumbling Wet Bandits Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) target his house for a robbery, Kevin must step up to defend his home; he sets a maze of booby traps so elaborate that only an eight year old imagination could concoct them. (20TH CENTURY FOX)MACAULAY CULKIN](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/965a70f9057bf5648675451b4fb7897b2521be59de3133b3daab4444247b6150.jpg)
Minnesota: Jingle All the Way
Release Year: 1996
Directed By: Brian Levant
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman, Rita Wilson, Jake Lloyd, Robert Conrad, Martin Mull, Jim Belushi, E.J. De La Pena, Laraine Newman, Harvey Korman, Richard Moll, Curtis Armstrong, Danny Woodburn, Paul Wright, Daniel Riordan, Phil Morris, Amy Pietz, Chris Parnell, Nick LaTour, Verne Troyer
One-time Terminator and governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in the ’90s classic Christmas movie Jingle All the Way as a workaholic dad named Howard Langston. When he tries to make up for his slacking with his wife, Liz (Rita Wilson), and son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd), Howard braves the Mall of America crowd in Minnesota in order to score the hottest toy on the market. On Christmas Eva, Howard battles for the sold-out Turbo-Man toy against fellow father on a mission, mailman Myron (Sinbad), leaving Howard to learn a thing or two about the meaning of the season.
Jingle All the Way comes from director Brian Levant, who also helmed such kids movie classics as Beethoven, The Flintstones, Are We There Yet? and The Spy Next Door. The film didn’t have critics jingling all the way to the theater with glee, but it still managed to jingle up a successful gross at the worldwide box office. Not to mention, family holiday comedy became a seasonal staple for the ’90s kid crowd, and even spawned a direct-to-video sequel in 2014 starring Larry the Cable Guy. If the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping is something you love and long for, hit the Twin Cities Mall of American in Minnesota with the Terminator in Jingle All the Way.