Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings trilogy
The everyone’s favorite sagas are, hands down, the perfect accompaniment to the festive slumber: they’re long, they’re cozy, and most importantly, they’re comfortingly familiar; no matter when you wake up from a food-coma-induced nap, you’ll still recognize the moment, the characters, the lines and the surroundings. Also making them fitting is the fact that they are all, in fact, about magic (didn’t see that coming, did you), and thus can be savored so much more during the supposedly magical respite between the two years, when your tired brain is so lazy, and disposition so lenient, that you might just as well stomach the impossibility of the whole wizardry thing. Bah humbug approved.
Bridget Jones’s Diary
There are many things that are hard to swallow about this movie following the everywoman Bridget Jones as she tipsily muddles through the middle-age life backwater, but this can be smoothed over if you look at it as a satirical comment on womanhood in the 21st century, where it seems that everything has changed and me-too’ed (although, granted, BJD saw the light of the day, or the darkness of the screening room, long before this conversation began), but underneath (and not so deeply so) it’s the same age-old story. Nevertheless, such moments of unease overlooked, Bridget Jones’s Diary is a feast of slapstick humor peppered with reckless jokes and chucklesome predicaments, a great artifact of the modern British culture, as well as a light and entertaining watch highly complementary to a festive movie night.
Love Actually
One of Richard Curtis’ most acclaimed, and divisive, works, a 2003 Christmas-themed bittersweet romantic comedy Love Actually follows the story of over twenty people, all connected in some way or another, as they try to figure out their love stories and their lives. The best thing about this flick is that there is something for everyone in it, so if you don’t like some part and some people (Keira Knightley, for example), just wait a couple of minutes, and they’ll be gone. Though a bit sluggish and overly sentimental at times, it’s still very funny, warm, entertaining, stylishly made, and totally bewitching. Isn’t this enough to make a perfect Christmas movie?
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
Eerie, mystic, amusing, and exquisitely crafted, Robert Zemeckis’ 3D computer animated motion-capture fantasy A Christmas Carol is referred to by many critics as one of the best adaptations of Charles Dickens’ oft-told tale. Dickens purists can stay away, while others are welcome to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of Victorian London, flavored with a visual extravaganza of dazzling special effects and the versatility of Jim Carrey playing skinflint Scrooge. So if you’re looking for a nice yuletide flick and don’t mind rewatching some good old classics, give it a go!
Written by Anastasia Krasilnikova and Anastasiia Labunskaia.
