3 Quick Christmas Movie Recommendations
Let's talk about some Christmas bangers
Folks, I won’t lie to you. I’m simply having a wonderful Christmas time. I love this part of the year because I have time to really go nuts on watching movies and I love a movie that spins a Yuletide yarn.
Next week we’ll be returning with our annual Year In Review of our favorite and not so favorite movies of the year. Always a newsletter I actively look forward to. Before that, I wanted to drop a quick one to you that goes back to Working Title’s roots: recommending movies to watch.
It’s easy to return to the classics of Christmas, but I wanted to suggest 3 more recent movies that I have really enjoyed and think you might too.
Movie: The Holdovers
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime
This is a pretty obvious one and not exactly a sleeper pick. It was nominated for several Oscars last year and made our year end roundup as one of our favorite movies of the year. But this is the first year it’s been out of theaters and simply standing on it’s own for people to return to. I’ve been seeing a lot of people logging it on Letterboxd and talking about it on Twitter and BlueSky. That warms my heart.
In a time where being kind is becoming an increasingly political act, it’s nice to watch a movie that is really just three strangers slowly becoming nicer to each other.
Movie: The Night Before
Where To Watch: Hulu/Prime
I think this movie rocks and I don’t really see enough people talking about it this time of year so I wanted to go to bat for it. Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anthony Mackie are three friends trying to make it to a huge, mysterious party called the Nutcracker Ball. It also features an insane turn from Michael Shannon as “Mr. Green.” As they are trying to find this party, things inevitably go wrong and they have to wander all over NYC, putting their friendship to the test (and doing a bunch of drugs in the process).
This movie is kinda dumb, but it’s very funny to me and one that I quote to people and watch as those references go right over their heads because they haven’t seen this one. We gotta fix that. Watch and maybe even add it to the yearly rotation.
Movie: Klaus
Where To Watch: Netflix
In the tradition of Christmas, I had to include one animated movie on the list. I know a lot of people’s milage may vary on animated/kids movies, but this one is so well written and emotionally surprising that I think it’s worth giving a go if you haven’t watched it before. It’s essentially an alternative telling of the legend of St. Nicholas AKA Santa Clause ever heard of him? It’s got a wonderfully talented voice cast and it’s genuinely funny and moving. I think you’ll find it an incredibly rewarding watch. Plus it’s a nice, tight 90 minutes.
BONUS RECCOMENDATION
Movie: Den of Thieves
Where To Watch: MAX
Is this a Christmas movie? Technically, no. But does it EMBODY the spirit of Christmas? Also no. But it does kick all kinds of ass and DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA comes out January 10th and you’re going to wanna be up to speed so strap in and watch Gerard Butler go absolutely insane for 2 hours and 20 minutes.
3 wonderful Christmas movies and another one that isn’t Christmas related but still whips nuts. My gift to you all.
We’ll be back next week with our Year in Review. See you soon.
The Holdovers left theaters so fast in our area at this time last year that I had to play catch-up on Prime in January and wow, it did not disappoint (Giamatti's Oscar loss did, though). The Night Before came out when our kids were incredibly young and I had to be incredibly discerning about getting out to the theater. It may be time to give it a shot. Netflix has been shoving Klaus at us on the front page for weeks and we'll likely get to it. And Den of Thieves 2: Pantera? I saw some friends talking about this online and I truly thought they were talking about a video game!
You left out Die Hard....