Christmas Movie Recommendations

[markburgle]

Hiya luvs, would be great to hear about some lesser-known classics to add to the rotation (but feel free to wax waxy about stuff everyone bloody knows already, it is Christmas after all).

Klaus was a recent-ish discovery for me - animation about the invention of Santa. Has enough grit and grime for the alternative crowd (Norm MacDonald as the sarky one-man greek-chorus character!) but family friendly too.

Alright off you go

[Jerzy Bondov]

I had no idea Klaus has Norm in it. Having that.

I've recently got into the Barbara Stanwyck Christmas Cinematic Universe - Remember the Night and Christmas in Connecticut. Both fantastic.

edit: Check out Comfort and Joy (1984) as well - depressed Bill Paterson gets caught up in a turf war between rival ice cream van families in Glasgow.

[Johnboy]

,

[Neomod]

Check out Comfort and Joy (1984) as well - depressed Bill Paterson gets caught up in a turf war between rival ice cream van families in Glasgow.

Unsurprisingly I second this. It's one of my favourite films. "Hello Folks"

I'd add:

Scrooge! and Oliver! for your festive Dickensian shot.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (the Vince Guaraldi soundtrack is lovely)
Jesus Christ Superstar (Camp as Christmas)
Tom and Jerry - Night Before Christmas
Also, Deck the Halls, Christmas Vacation and Miracle on 34th Street (both versions)

[Magnum Valentino]

Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a good one, Christmas crime caper and you get to see a boobie in it.

[Wezzo]

If you have a decent tolerance for all-American sentimentality, 8-Bit Christmas and A Christmas Story Christmas (sequel to A Christmas Story) are good fun and have both flown a little under-the-radar.

UK TV movie Click & Collect, with Stephen Merchant and Asim Chaudhry, is a fun take on a Jingle All The Way type plot.

A Clusterfunke Christmas is a fun affectionate parody of Hallmark Christmas films.

US animated TV specials How Murray Saved Christmas and Olive the Other Reindeer are good (and both have Simpsons alums among the creatives).

Horror and genre-wise, Anna and the Apocalypse and Better Watch Out are good. Inside (À l'intérieur) is also great but despite being set on Christmas Eve is spectacularly un-festive.

[BlodwynPig]

Die Hard 5: A Christmas Movie

[Pink Gregory]

Got put onto a film on Netflix from Brazil a few years ago that I really ended up enjoying and remember fondly - Just Another Christmas

Basically, a man starts waking up on christmas day, every day, with no memory of the previous year of his life, and has to deal with the fallout of his increasingly mad actions in the meantime.  It's fun and knockabout at first but begins to strike a heartfelt and more serious tone towards the end as the actions of his other self start to compound.

[Mister Six]

Tokyo Godfathers is top-tier alterna-Christmas fun: three homeless people in Tokyo - an alcoholic widower, a feisty trans woman and a runaway girl - find a baby in the trash. Their vow to reunite the infant with her mother takes them on a larger-than-life odyssey across Tokyo that will force them to face their own difficult pasts and maybe even find a new future.

I love it because it's oddball enough to stand out from the usual festive film pack, while still being warm-hearted and uplifting enough to work as a proper Chrimbo treat. It's funny, moving and beautifully directed by gone-too-soon legit genius Satoshi Kon, whose films are all amazing (though none so accessible as this one).

Got put onto a film on Netflix from Brazil a few years ago that I really ended up enjoying and remember fondly - Just Another Christmas

Basically, a man starts waking up on christmas day, every day, with no memory of the previous year of his life, and has to deal with the fallout of his increasingly mad actions in the meantime.  It's fun and knockabout at first but begins to strike a heartfelt and more serious tone towards the end as the actions of his other self start to compound.

This sounds great.

[Magnum Valentino]

Oh, a great one I forgot about - Cash On Demand, an early 60s black and white Hammer film that plays out in real time during a bank robbery two days before Christmas. Features a curmudgeon moved towards redemption (as the season calls for!) and stars Peter Cushing and Andre Morell at the absolute top of their game. A properly great and definitely overlooked film.

[touchingcloth]

We always settle in just between Christmas lunch and our pudding to watch Come And See (1985).

[Midas]

It's time for my annual recommendation of Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt

[touchingcloth]

Vinter

Bit on the nose. Like recommending films by Ian Trimmins.

[markburgle]

Thanks for all the recs so far everyone, sorting into two lists:

Watch with culturally-timid swearing-averse parents:
Charlie Brown
A Christmas Story Christmas
Miracle On 34th St
Just Another Christmas

Watch away from culturally-timid swearing-averse parents:
The Hunt
Comfort and Joy
Cash On Demand
8 Bit Christmas
Tokyo Godfathers

These sortings are based on cursory readings of reviews and blurbs (trying to do it without giving away the plots to myself). If you think any of these sortings are unfair you may submit an appeal

[JesusAndYourBush]

Christmas Eve (2015)
A bunch of people get stuck in various lifts due to a power cut on Christmas Eve.
They've showed it on the Christmas movie channel the last few years but don't let that put you off, I really enjoyed it.
And Patrick Stewart is in it.

[jamiefairlie]

Thanks for all the recs so far everyone, sorting into two lists:

Watch with culturally-timid swearing-averse parents:
Charlie Brown
A Christmas Story Christmas
Miracle On 34th St
Just Another Christmas

Watch away from culturally-timid swearing-averse parents:
The Hunt
Comfort and Joy
Cash On Demand
8 Bit Christmas
Tokyo Godfathers

These sortings are based on cursory readings of reviews and blurbs (trying to do it without giving away the plots to myself). If you think any of these sortings are unfair you may submit an appeal

8-bit Christmas isn't sweary much is it? Just watched with my 7 year old and didn't hear much.

[Noodle Lizard]

And no one's mentioned The Muppets Christmas Carol. I know it's well-known, but so are half of these. Get some Muppets in.

I would put The Holdovers from this year on the list, and I think Krampus was a solid and underrated Christmas film.

[markburgle]

8-bit Christmas isn't sweary much is it? Just watched with my 7 year old and didn't hear much.

No I just thought the 80's cultural references would be more my generation than theirs, although it might not matter

[jamiefairlie]

And no one's mentioned The Muppets Christmas Carol. I know it's well-known, but so are half of these. Get some Muppets in.

I would put The Holdovers from this year on the list, and I think Krampus was a solid and underrated Christmas film.

Also A Muppet Family Christmas was a TV special from the Henson days and is really good family stuff.

[Dex Sawash]

Claymated undercard films

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970)
has best bad guy Burgmeister Meisterburger

and

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
is just odd and kind of great with weather controlling villains

[Magnum Valentino]

Thanks for all the recs so far everyone, sorting into two lists:

Watch with culturally-timid swearing-averse parents:
Charlie Brown
A Christmas Story Christmas
Miracle On 34th St
Just Another Christmas

Watch away from culturally-timid swearing-averse parents:
The Hunt
Comfort and Joy
Cash On Demand
8 Bit Christmas
Tokyo Godfathers

These sortings are based on cursory readings of reviews and blurbs (trying to do it without giving away the plots to myself). If you think any of these sortings are unfair you may submit an appeal

I'd say Cash on Demand is safe for your folks to watch - tight wee battle-of-wits thriller with no swearing and only the threat of violence. I imagine my auld fella would enjoy it, for example. But it's not one of the lurid, provocative Hammer films if that's what you're thinking.

[Norton Canes]

Last Christmas has been a fixture for the last couple of years. Cheesy AF, but worth a go.

Spoiler alert

Actually no, I won't even hint at the twist

[close]

[Thursday]

I quite like Tokyo Godfathers, but I always found it wasn't quite the movie people said it was. Despite the set-up it's largely a wacky comedy caper movie with lots of insane plot coincidences. I wanted it to be a slower, sad, reflective movie but there's really not that much of that.

[studpuppet]

On the hard disk in the 'Christmas' folder:

A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Carol Gone Wrong (the least unwatchable one of the genre)
Box Of Delights (watch one a day, finishing on Christmas Eve)
Bad Santa
Fun In Acapulco (I know, but you have to have an Elvis film at Christmas)
Home Alone
Muppet Christmas Carol
The Holiday (the film equivalent of a bottle of sherry for the ladies)
Krampus
Rare Exports - A Christmas Tale
The Day Of The Beast
Tokyo Godfathers

[Mr_Simnock]

Last Christmas has been a fixture for the last couple of years. Cheesy AF, but worth a go.

Took me a bit to warm to that film, thought it was going to be too cheesy and then..



Don't mind if it's on tv, could easily watch it again...

[El Unicornio, mang]

Happiest Season is one that's become a yearly watch since it came out in 2020



It's better than the poster would suggest

Also this one

[Magnum Valentino]

Happiest Season is one that's become a yearly watch since it came out in 2020



It's better than the poster would suggest

Also this one

I didn't know Clea DuVall was making movies. Still the invisible girl from the first series of Buffy to me!

[Jittlebags]

Do they make seasonal scud films?

[jamiefairlie]

Claymated undercard films

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970)
has best bad guy Burgmeister Meisterburger

and

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
is just odd and kind of great with weather controlling villains

All those Rankin/Bass things are great

[Sebastian Cobb]

Do they make seasonal scud films?

Obviously they do, but I suppose a more interesting question is whether there are any 'scud-adjacent' (exploitation) Christmas films.

One that springs to mind is Chopping Mall although I'm pretty sure it's not explicitly set at Christmas, just the "holiday season" not that it matters because it's still an ideal lazy Christmas watch regardless.

I haven't seen Black Christmas (the 1974 one), but it's getting downloaded. Surprisingly it seems it's a slasher rather than a blaxploitation flick.