Ready to tuck in with a warm blanket and a bowl of popcorn?

Peace Arch News reporters have put their heads together and come up with this list of recommended holiday viewing – including a few alternative options for those who find traditional holiday viewing a bit too sweet for their cinematic taste buds.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

It’s the definitive holiday classic with Michael Caine. And music. And muppets. If this now-beloved interpretation of Charles Dickens’ classic doesn’t capture your heart, we fear you may be beyond redemption. Caine delivers a brilliant performance as Ebenezer Scrooge whilst seeming not to notice that he’s surrounded by a variety of non-human creatures. Young and old alike will delight in the humour, the songs and the all-enveloping holiday love. 

Holiday Inn (1942) 

The grand-daddy of all multi-star Christmas movies, directed by Mark Sandrich for Paramount, which was also the debut of Irving Berlin’s classic White Christmas, as well as the enduring Let’s Start The New Year Right. With two of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century (Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire) both at the peak of their singing/dancing/comedic abilities as rivals for the affections of Virginia Dale and Marjorie Reynolds, what’s not to like? There is Christmas atmosphere aplenty, but since it’s about Bing starting a restaurant/club that opens only on holidays, there are also other numbers, such as Easter Parade, celebrating each season (Be Careful, It’s My Heart – for Valentine’s Day is a standout). Look for the appearances of such great scene stealers as Walter Abel as Bing and Fred’s hyper-tense agent, Irving Bacon as Bing’s unskilled driver, Leon Belasco as a flustered flower shop proprietor, and Kitty Kelly as an inebriated patron who fastens herself to Bing in one scene.
  

Klaus (2019)

This 2019 Netflix film about a selfish young postman, Jesper, banished to an inhospitable town in the Far North is a gem for all ages. Watch the strange town and its even stranger inhabitants, including the reclusive toymaker Klaus, work their magic on Jesper – and on you. 

The Star (2017)

This 2017 animated adventure may be aimed at kids, but it has the heart and humour to appeal to all ages. Follow along with the adventures of a small, brave donkey named Bo as he befriends a young couple named Mary and Joseph, and joins forces with his animal friends to become the hero of the very first Christmas. 

Arthur Christmas (2011)

This 2011 British offering offers an unexpectedly touching Christmas story, following the adventures of young Arthur Christmas as he battles to find his place in the Claus family – and to save Christmas in the most unexpected of ways. It may be a kids’ movie, but grown-ups will laugh out loud as a who’s who of great British actors (Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton) voices the quirky family behind the legend of Santa Claus.

Elf (2003)

A touching Christmas tribute that is also hilarious, Elf is a 2003 Christmas comedy starring Will Ferrell that is a must-watch each year. Not only were parts of the movie filmed in Vancouver, but a stellar cast including James Can, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Sttenburgen, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart supports the comical Ferrell. Ferrell plays Buddy, a human raised by Santa’s elves at the North Pole, who is searching for his human father in New York City. A modern classic where the importance of Christmas spirit is key, the good-natured, family comedy continues to charm every holiday season.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

Everyone has at least one family member who is relatable in this cult classic that tells the tale of Clark Griswold, a Chicago suburbanite who just wants to have an old-fashioned, family Christmas. Featuring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, a hysterical Randy Quaid, and a young Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki, the movie follows the Griswolds through the holiday season as things always, take a hilarious turn for the worse. From his home’s wattage-sucking, albeit impressive, Christmas light display to yuppie neighbours Todd and Margo, to the squirrel in the Christmas tree, Christmas Vacation is a timeless favourite to enjoy at this time of year.

Christmas with Luciano Pavarotti (TV special)

Recorded in Montreal’s Notre Dame Cathedral in 1978, this finds the late great tenor at the peak of his abilities singing a jewel-like selection of Christmas classical pieces such as O Holy Night, Pieta Signore, Silent Night, Ave Maria, Gesu Bambino, Agnus Dei and Panis Angelicus.

Joined by the Petits Chanteurs du Mont Royal, the Disciples de Massenet, and a symphony orchestra directed by Franz Paul Becker, this (by today’s standards) low-fi, low-res concert (which can be found on YouTube) was remarkably well-balanced for a location performance.

Clocking in at a few minutes under an hour, it’s a welcome holiday respite from more crassly commercial holiday themes, and the performance never fails to move listeners.

Pavarotti’s singing is sensitive, well-judged and passionate and his gloriously resonant head tones never had a more acoustically perfect showcase than this Canadian cathedral.

Ted Lasso, Carol of the Bells (S2, Episode 4)

From the Secret Santa gifts to Christmas at the Family Higgins, from Phoebe’s spectacularly bad breath and Love, Actually tribute to Rebecca and Ted’s gift-giving, Ted Lasso’s Carol of the Bells is a new(er) favourite Christmas-themed holiday episode to watch each year. It shares how many of the characters celebrate the season, and how the spirit of Christmas can unite people with widely varying backgrounds and beliefs, and even gives a quick glimpse of the Jolly Ol’ Elf himself if you watch closely.

ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS VIEWING

Die Hard (1988)

Let’s just settle this once and for all: Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie, and it’s a classic. For that we can thank the two stellar talents at its heart:  Bruce Willis as John McClane, the beleaguered New York City cop who finds himself at the centre of arguably the worst Christmas Eve office party ever; and Alan Rickman as the now-classic cinematic villain Hans Gruber. Yes, the violence and language mean this one’s probably best left till the kids are tucked safely into bed, but you just can’t miss with these two. Yippee ki yay.

The Lady in the Lake (1946) 

A film noir for Christmas? This adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel about private detective Philip Marlowe has a choir singing Christmas carols under the opening titles, and the action takes place during the holiday season in Los Angeles, although you might not notice for all the shootings, beatings and femme-fatale-ry on ample display. Director Robert Montgomery, who also played Marlowe, sacrificed many of the locations of the novel for a seldom-repeated gimmick – all of the action is seen first person (through the eyes of Marlowe, who is only glimpsed in mirror reflections, or shots of his arms and hands). This wildly experimental (for the time) technique placed unusual demands on the players (leading lady Audrey Totter smooching the camera, bad guy Lloyd Nolan punching it out) but it has acquired a guilty-pleasure status for aficionados of the genre.

I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)

 Another ’40s movie that doesn’t get a lot of attention during the holiday season, although the action plays out between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. It chronicles the brief romance of returned soldier Joseph Cotten and the woman he meets on the train home, Ginger Rogers. Where’s the drama in that? Well, Cotten is suffering from war-induced PTSD (before it was called that) and Rogers, rather than being a travelling saleslady, as she suggests, has actually been let out on a temporary good-behaviour furlough from serving a penitentiary sentence for manslaughter. Also complicating the scenario is Ginger’s judgmental teen niece (played by an almost adult Shirley Temple). Some very good small-town atmosphere suggests what Christmas celebrations were like in the war-time era, and also how humanity and empathy can overcome despair.   

The Ref (1994)

Denis Leary is an unfortunate cat burglar who finds himself coping with more than he bargained for after he takes an irritating couple hostage – and realizes he has to reconcile their differences, and that of their dysfunctional family, before he can get out of the situation. Known for its witty (albeit expletive-filled) dialogue, this is one to watch for anyone who’s had to cope with their own family dysfunction over the holidays.