Holiday Movie Recommendations

Holiday Movie Recommendations

Past to Present

Emily Holleran

For The Clock

ejholleran@plymouth.edu

Home Alone (1990): In this Christmas comedy, 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is left behind when his family leaves their house in a hurry to catch their flight to Paris for Christmas vacation. At first elated with his newfound independence, Kevin’s feeling of freedom soon becomes fear as two burglars, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), turn their attention to the McCallister’s seemingly uninhabited house. If you’ve never had the time to see this Christmas classic, it will be screened at Plymouth’s own The Flying Monkey during Plymouth’s 2015 Hometown Holiday Celebration and Parade, Dec 4-6. It will be playing on Saturday from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m.

The Polar Express (2004): Who didn’t want the Polar Express to magically show up on Christmas Eve?  Based on the children's book of the same title by Chris Van Allsburg, “The Polar Express” follows a nameless protagonist as he boards the titular train on a journey to the North Pole in search of Christmas spirit. This film is not only a visual masterpiece, but it captures that nostalgic feeling of being a child.

A Christmas Story (1983):  “You’ll shoot your eye out!” It’s rare not to have met someone who hasn’t heard this phrase originating from the comedic holiday film, “A Christmas Story”. Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley) echoes every person’s childhood desire to get one particular gift on Christmas, and in his case, it’s a Red Ryder B.B. gun. Filled with plenty of quotable moments, “A Christmas Story” is reminiscent of the trials and tribulations of spending the holidays with family.

Krampus (Release Date: Dec. 4th, 2015): Christmas is normally portrayed as a joyous and festive holiday, and doesn’t include a horned beast wreaking havoc for the sake of punishing naughty children. From the first look at the trailer, “Krampus,” seems like a comedy about a dysfunctional family coming together on the holidays. Soon, the lighthearted atmosphere takes a dark turn when the family’s arguments cause young Max (Emjay Anthony) to lose his Christmas spirit thus summoning the titular demon, Krampus. Integrating ancient European folklore, this film seems like a nontraditional take on the “Holiday” movie genre, which makes it all the more anticipated.

Christmas Eve (Release Date: Dec. 4th, 2015): The seemingly feel-good holiday movie of this year, “Christmas Eve,” focuses on six separate groups of New Yorkers that all coincidentally become trapped in elevators on Christmas Eve. The experiences that they share within the confined space lead to humorous, romantic and even some personal moments.

The Night Before (Release Date: Nov. 20th, 2015): This film is about a group of three pals, Ethan Miller (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie). Every year, since Ethan’s parents passed away on Christmas Eve, they held a tradition of going out on Christmas Eve and have a grand time. However, this annual tradition seems to be coming to an end with the commitments of adulthood taking over. For one last hurrah, the three friends plan to locate the Nutcracka Ball, a sort of “Holy Grail” of Christmas parties in New York.