Christmas Movie Recommendations

[jamiefairlie]

Just watched a couple of gentle heart-warming things tonight, "Robin Robin' and "The Velveteen Rabbit". Both earned a place in our Christmas rotation.

Don't bother with "The Naughty Nine" or "Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey", they're crass dumbass fucking shite.

[Mister Six]

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.

Yeah, it's a fabulous, magic-realist romp with a bit of understated darkness to make the happy ending work. It's a proper Christmas film, just an offbeat one, not one of those ironic suggestions that's actually stressful and miserable but happens to be set around Christmas *cough*TheHunt*cough.

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

You should definitely slot Klaus, which someone mentioned above, into the parents one. It's a beautifully hand-animated, (mostly) 2D flick with a decent sense of humour and lovely visuals. And Norm Macdonald.

Another suggestion - last year's Spirited. It's a self-aware Christmas Carol riff, with some decent songs and a solid cast. Yes, it's got Ryan Reynolds in it, but it's good fun, I swear!

Speaking of swears, it is a bit verbally rude - here's an excerpt from a review by Appalled Of Norwich on Common Sense Media:

Someone else posted that there were only a handful of swear words, but I counted at least 25, including such words as h**l, d**n, s**t, d**k (sometimes expanded to "Dickens," with a pause in the middle), bas***d, b***h, and a**. Also, some words such as "sexy," "piss," and "s—k it," which may be offensive to some. The characters use the phrase "good morning" to replace "f—- y—-," but the explanation there only mentions the initial for the f-word, and not the entire word. One character makes a couple of inappropriate gestures with his hands.

Maybe that's too fruity for your mum and dad, I dunno. The tone of it is mostly quite silly and knockabout, so it might not be too upsetting (it didn't bother my mum and dad last year), but if you're playing it safe, maybe not.

[markburgle]

You should definitely slot Klaus, which someone mentioned above, into the parents one. It's a beautifully hand-animated, (mostly) 2D flick with a decent sense of humour and lovely visuals. And Norm Macdonald.

Another suggestion - last year's Spirited. It's a self-aware Christmas Carol riff, with some decent songs and a solid cast. Yes, it's got Ryan Reynolds in it, but it's good fun, I swear!

Speaking of swears, it is a bit verbally rude - here's an excerpt from a review by Appalled Of Norwich on Common Sense Media:

That's actually a very helpful review from Outraged of Middlesex, I reckon my parents will be fine with all that, thanks for the rec!

It was actually me what mentioned Klaus, and I did first watch that as a Christmas-film-with-parents punt a couple of years ago. It went over well, although I didn't know who Norm was at the time. Was nice to rewatch recently and gradually him

[Mister Six]

Ha! I should have checked who mentioned Klaus.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Is Bad Santa too well known? As I love it, mostly for Bernie Mac continually offending the prissy sensibilities of John Ritter.

[Mister Six]

Was Bad Santa 2 any good?

[Thursday]

Sounds bad