TFI's Holiday Screening Guide
With the holidays upon us it's the prefect time to curl up next to the fire and watch a good movie. But what to watch?
We got a few ideas.
From the traditional favorites to movies we hope to catch in theaters soon to just really, really bizarre choices, we got options for everyone. And we've also listed how you can watch them right now.
Happy Holidays!
Jason Guerrasio Web Editor
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation I have to watch this at least once every year. The mastery of Chevy Chase as Clark W. Griswold is at it zenith, a father who will go to any length to provide the best holiday experience—whether it be digging a Christmas tree with his bare hands or decorating the house for Christmas to a level that may blow the town's power grid. And then the entrance of Randy Quaid as the crude yet adorable cousin Eddie is just icing on the cake.
Watch It Now: iTunes Netflix DVD only Google Play
Just Friends Don't ask me why I can't seem to stop watching this when it's on TV. Maybe it's because Ryan Reynolds is in a fat suit, maybe it's the bizarre hilarity of Anna Faris, but for the most part it's surprisingly entertaining. Yes, I said it! I challenge you not to at least chuckle when all hell breaks loose on the front lawn of Amy Smart's character's house, while Christmas carols are song in the background.
It's A Wonderful Life It's still the greatest holiday movie every made. Yes, A Christmas Story fans, step down. Frank Capra's glance at 1940s Americana is beautiful yet biting and unforgiving. We learn that life never is how we plan it but that's a good thing because it could lead to an even better outcome.
Watch It Now: iTunes Amazon Instant Google Play
Natalie Mooallem Manager, Feature Programming
Ghostbusters To this day, in times of intense focus, the threat of the proverbial Stay Puft Marshmallow Man keeps my mind-over-matter in check. Bill Murray as Venkman was the ideal man, and a sexy, possessed gawdess. Rounded out by legendary Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts, it’s a holiday hug from the ‘80s.
Watch It Now: iTunes Netflix DVD only
Gremlins An all-time classic and gifting-season must. Gizmo was a sweetly prominent figure of my childhood, and his potential to generate mucussy, devilish spawn promised the powers to come with adulthood. (And let us learn from Gizmo’s heroism and Stripe’s undoing – get your vitamin D in these twilit winter months!)
Watch It Now: Netflix DVD only
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Nagisa Oshima’s WW2 POW drama starring two of my favorites, Takeshi Kitano and David Bowie. One of the greatest, most underrated Bowie acting performances, not to mention a seriously amazing score.
Watch It Now: iTunes Netflix YouTube
Karla Rodriguez Education Programs Assistant
I’m not really into the holidays, so I love how made this sequel a little darker while set over Christmas time. And Michelle Pfeiffer is super badass as Catwoman!
Watch It Now: Netflix DVD only
Jose Rodriguez Manager, Documentary Programming
Escape into tortured artist Mark Hogancamp’s make-believe, WWII-era world where his action figurines are the main subjects of his jaw-droppingly realistic photographs. Director Jeff Malmberg profiles Hogancamp through an unfiltered lens and enables the viewer to be both enchanted by Hogancamp’s works but also sympathetic toward his psychological turmoil. Although this topic has practically become a sub-genre now in the doc film world, this film expertly encapsulates what it means to be consumed by art – and by one’s personal inner demons.
Watch It Now: iTunes Netflix
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work Many people consider Joan Rivers to be the total Grinch (and that’s putting it mildly), but Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg’s painfully honest documentary reveals a lot of nuance and layers to Rivers’ mean, abrasive public persona. The filmmakers subvert viewers’ expectations about who Rivers is as a comedian by gaining full access to her lifestyle and cosmetic surgery upkeeps, and in doing so the documentary skillfully depicts an artist’s relentless pursuit to be successful & accepted.
Best Worst Movie Itching to watch an awesomely bad horror movie while being back home for the holidays? Then take a look at this hilarious documentary that profiles one such lousy horror flick, Troll 2. Director Michael Stephenson, who appeared in Troll 2 when he was a young kid, revisits all of the main "actors" (emphasis on the quotation marks) as well as the frustrated Italian director who helmed the film, and reveals how this much-maligned film from the 90’s has now become a cult masterpiece. Belly laughs abound on this one!
Watch It Now: iTunes Netflix DVD only Amazon Instant
Shannon Vinson Office Manager
Love, Actually With an all-star ensemble cast (which may be even truer now than it was when first released - I’m looking at you Martin Freeman and Andrew Lincoln), a great soundtrack, and an uplifting storyline that ends up intertwining the lives of eight couples right up around Christmas time, this is the perfect holiday flick. The film is episodic, revealing small portraits of the characters’ lives. The drama stems from each character’s varying circumstances: dealing with the heartache of losing a loved one, trying to cure a case of writer’s block, searching for love during the holidays, etc. But never fear, however tragic the story, this feel good film ends with redemption for all and a montage featuring the Beach Boys. And if nothing else, you can enjoy watching the cartoonish (and George Bush inspired?) Billy Bob Thornton play a very obnoxious and culturally insensitive President of the United States.
Watch It Now: Netflix
The Tin Drum I’m not sure how this tradition came about—I’m pretty sure my dad told me to watch The Little Drummer Boy a long time ago and I accidentally watched this instead—but I always find myself watching this film around the holidays. It is not the most cheerful suggestion, but this controversial 1979 Palme d’Or winner imaginatively adapts the novel of the same name by Günter Grass. In what can only be described as a black comedy fairytale, the film tells the story of a young boy, Oskar, who decides on his third birthday to stop growing. With its political symbolism, virtuosic performances by an eleven-year-old David Bennent and Angela Winkler, and bold mise–en–scènes, this film is not to be missed.
Watch It Now: Netflix DVD only
The Hobbit Full disclosure: I haven’t actually seen this film yet. But since the release of the first Lord of the Rings installment back when I was in middle school and my parents had to drop me off at the theater with my friends in the somewhat chilly (I’m from Georgia) month of December, the LOTR franchise has and always will remind me of the holidays. Thus far, I’ve only heard good reviews from trusted sources, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter because regardless of the reviews I’m going to see the film in the next week or so, and the much-loved story of the ring and its hobbits will always remind me of finishing finals, piling into a car, and venturing to the movies to celebrate the holidays with friends. Currently in theaters.
