Everyone has their own opinion about what makes a good Christmas movie. Do you judge it on how good it makes you feel? How accurate is it to its holiday setting? Or the memories it evokes while you watch it? How about all of the above? Watch With Us has dared to compile a list declaring the best movie of every decade from the 1940s to the present. From well-known classics featuring stars like Macaulay Culkin and Bill Murray to obscure anime titles, these movies represent the best the yuletide genre has to offer throughout the decades. 1940s: 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946) Some movies are classics for a reason, and it would be tough to argue that any other 1940s movie besides It's a Wonderful Life is the best Christmas movie of that decade. James Stewart stars as George Bailey, a down-on-his-luck family man who wants to kill himself on Christmas Eve. A mysterious stranger named Clarence suddenly appears and tries to convince him that even though he's experienced disappointment and misfortune, he's lived a wonderful life because his family and friends love and respect him. 10 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, Ranked by IMDb Score A lot of people think It's a Wonderful Life is syrupy and sentimental, but it's also a surprisingly dark tale that doesn't hesitate to push its troubled hero to the edge. What other Christmas classic has its hero on the verge of suicide? Maybe that's why It's a Wonderful Life still holds up - it's not afraid to depict the darker side of the holidays and how Christmas can make people feel sad and lonely. Its uplifting ending can persuade even the most cynical person to cheer up, at least until after New Year's Day. 1950s: 'White Christmas' (1954) White Christmas is the epitome of a classic Hollywood holiday movie - it's big, loud, colorful and stars Bing Crosby, who sings the title song that's still a Christmas staple. He plays Bob Wallace, who teams up with war buddy Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) to become a successful musical comedy duo. As they travel the country playing shows, they encounter sisters Betty and Judy Haynes (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen), two nightclub singers who are the perfect match for them. Together, they team up to save a countryside inn from going bankrupt by staging a charity concert. White Christmas doesn't reinvent the wheel - its chief appeal is how quaint, corny and old-fashioned it is. The movie's secret weapon is Kaye, who is hilarious as Crosby's zany buddy. Relentlessly energetic, he's like an Eisenhower-era Jim Carrey, and he livens up White Christmas when it threatens to get bogged down in soggy sentimentality. 1960s: 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' (1965) It's just not Christmas without Charlie Brown. When writer Charles Schulz and director Bill Melendez made A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, they put their own stamp on the Christmas holiday that still endures to this day. When a depressed Charlie Brown (voiced by Peter Robbins) wonders what the true meaning of Christmas really is, gal pal Lucy (Tracy Stratford) suggests he direct the annual play to cheer him up. Yet with a rowdy cast and a missing Christmas tree pop, Charlie's spirits continue to dampen. Will he ever get his holiday mojo back? At a brisk 25 minutes, A Charlie Brown Christmas is barely a short film, but it qualifies simply because it influenced other, later holiday hits like Home Alone. It also introduced a Christmas standard, "Christmas Time Is Here," which is still played in my home every season. 1970s: 'Black Christmas' (1974) Horror and the holidays don't often blend well together, but Black Christmas is an exception. One of the scariest movies ever made, it's also one of the most immersive Christmas films I've ever seen. The film is set just days before Christmas at a Canadian sorority house, where a serial killer has set up shop in the attic. As one sorority sister after another disappears, it's up to Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) to figure out who is stalking them and why. 5 Best Scary Christmas Movies, Ranked: 'Gremlins' and More The unsettling part about Black Christmas is that the killer is never really revealed, nor are his motivations ever explained. The only insight we get is through his periodic prank phone calls, which are filled with gibberish and random threats that he makes good on. All of this horror is cleverly juxtaposed with all the softly falling snow, melodic caroling and bright holiday decorations inside the sorority. In any other movie, it would be the ideal place to spend the holidays in, but in Black Christmas, it becomes a tomb from which you can't escape. 1980s: 'Scrooged' (1988) There's been a lot of great adaptations of Charles Dickens' classic story, A Christmas Carol, but none of them can hold a candle to Scrooged. Director Richard Donner moves up the time period from the Victorian era to the yuppie "greed is good" '80s, ditches industrial London for a crime-ridden New York City and changes Scrooge from a miserly shop owner to the ruthless network TV ex