Christmas Mix [DVD] [2015] [Region 1] [NTSC]

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Miranda, a tech guru, has developed an app to help Christmas shoppers select the perfect gift for their loved ones. At a Christmas party, she is noticed by a mysterious Santa who seems to be on her wavelength, but they are parted before they can exchange numbers. Meanwhile, she is disappointed to learn that her app has been sold to another company and that they are merging with their greatest rivals. Did you know? This is a remake of the original 1947 film starring Maureen O’Hara and John Payne - which despite being a Christmas film was released in June that year! It was still a hit though. Unlike the original film, Macy’s department store in New York declined any involvement in the remake and a fictional store - Coles had to take its place instead. This Santa origin story pulls out all the stops and has become a cult classic. A woodcarver named Claus (Huddleston), delivers toys with his wife Anya to the village children. One night they are lost in a blizzard, are saved by elves and taken to the North Pole where the woodcarver fulfills his destiny to become Santa Claus. Walter is at first skeptical that Buddy is his son, but after a paternity test proves positive he takes him home to meet his stepmother (Steenburgen) and half-brother Michael, who eventually warm to him. Meanwhile, Buddy falls in love with Jovie (Deschanel), a co-worker at the Gimbles department store.

Adam one day breaks the commuter code, and dares to speak to his fellow travellers, and worse, invites them to a Christmas party. A deliciously sinister adaptation of the Christmas classic tale. Miserly banker, Ebeneezer Scrooge (Sim) is shown the error of his ways and the true meaning of Christmas Spirit by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Speaking of heteronorm-nativity, a glossy, mainstream Christmas romcom with a queer couple at its centre was long overdue – and boy did writer-director Clea DuVall deliver with Happiest Season. Starring Kristen Stewart as Abby, a kind-hearted Christmas-sceptic who must pretend to be straight when her closeted girlfriend (Makcenzie Davis) brings her home for the holidays, the film broke streaming records when it premiered on Hulu – the silver lining of its Coronavirus-scuppered cinema release. The film has its detractors – for some, the comic farce leans too far towards genuine emotional trauma – but in the long, slow struggle to make the yuletide a little bit more gay, it’s a great place to start.

There’s even more to watch.

From Wallace and Gromit to a festive How To Train Your Dragon: Homecoming special, there are plenty of films to keep everyone entertained over the festive period. When it comes to Christmas films, there is no shortage of love and romance – but it’s all overwhelmingly straight. Even Love Actually filmed a queer storyline among its 524 interweaving plots, before deciding it should be cut from the film, leaving that “Colin goes to America” abomination intact. And so Todd Haynes’s Carol, a beautifully shot adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel in which department store worker Therese (Rooney Mara) falls in love with a mysterious older woman (Cate Blanchett) in the run up to Christmas, is a welcome break from heteronorm-nativity. Here’s the thing, though: sure, most Christmas movies are fluffy exercises in nostalgia, imparting messages about the importance of showing goodwill toward your fellow man, wrapped up with a tinge of innocent consumerism… but not all of them. As you’ll see on our list of the 50 all-time greatest yuletide classics, some subvert the tropes of the season and cast a critical eye at the more commercial aspects of the holiday. Others feature a lot of swearing, explosions and even a few bloody slayings. Whatever you’re looking for to get in the mood for this next month of merriment and Mariah Carey, you’ll find it under our proverbial tree.

Dorey Walker (Perkins) is the director of special events for one of New York’s big department stores. She fires the store’s resident Santa Claus after he's found to be drunk before the Thanksgiving parade. Instead, she enlists the help of an elderly man called Kris Kringle (Attenborough) who looks like he really could be Santa. Kris does so well in the parade that Dorey hires him as the full time replacement. It's a love story, it's a comedy, it's so much more than that, I found it rather an enchanting watch, I got into it straight away, and found the characters so rich. Army buddies Bob (Crosby) and Phil (Kaye) team up as a musical double act after World War II and make it big. They go and watch two singing sisters - Betty (Clooney) and Judy (Vera-Ellen) - at a nightclub after a tip off. When widower Michael meets Olivia, his daughter’s dance teacher, a flame is sparked in the firefighter’s heart. However, young Lily’s jealousy and Olivia’s clouded outlook seem to extinguish any hope of romance.Romance blooms between Phil and Judy, then Bob and Betty, as they stage a show to rescue the hotel and let their old general know he is still remembered fondly by the regiment he left behind. Three new Muppets take on the parts of the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future to help Scrooge remember the magic of Christmas, soften his heart and scare him about what might happen if he refuses to change. Along the way there are familiar Muppet characters playing various characters. Did you know? For the role of B.Z., the producers originally offered the part to Harrison Ford who turned them down. They made offers to Dustin Hoffman, Burt Reynolds and Johnny Carson - all of whom, for one reason or another, also turned the part down, before it was offered to John Lithgow who made the role his own. If ever there was a film to showcase the talents of man-child Will Ferrell, this is it! The film follows the journey of Buddy (Ferrell), a human raised as an Elf as he journeys to New York to meet his biological father, a children’s book publisher by the name of Walter Hobbs (Caan) whom Buddy is horrified to discover is on Santa’s naughty list.