Everybody loves Christmas right? Now, I know there are some people who get annoyed by the songs that play non-stop, the busy shopping centres or the need to start talking about it sometime in July, but deep down very few of us are Scrooge. One of my favourite things this time of year is taking out the Radio Times and going through it with a highlighter, searching through all of the films on TV this Christmas. For those of you who don’t want to pay the £3.60 this year (I don’t blame you), I thought I’d go through a few that I’ve picked out. This is not an exhaustive list by any means and I’ve resisted the temptation to make “Film Four in the middle of the night” choices, but I’m sure whatever your taste you may be able to find something in here to make your Christmas that little bit better.
‘Pan’s Labryinth’ 21:00-23:15 Tuesday 23rd Freesat 138, Sky 319, Virgin 149 (15) Spanish subs
I’m not sure if everyone will be able to get this channel, but if you do, this is not to be missed. Arguably one of the best films since the start of this century, Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece is set in the last months of the Spanish Civil War and skilfully runs two stories in parallel. Ofelia lives with her mother and her new stepfather, the ruthless commander cracking down on anti-fascist rebels, while simultaneously she is drawn into a metaphysical labyrinth at times as scary as the “real” world outside. This is a film about a child but it is not for children, it is brutal, scary, but beautiful all at the same time; on the surface this is a movie that looks like a child escaping into a fantasy to avoid a terrible reality, but it is so much deeper than that. I took a friend to watch it who had never seen a film in subtitles and I had to drag him under false pretences or he would never have come… he left the cinema having changed his mind on foreign language film: if you don’t watch it this Christmas, it has to be a new year’s resolution, it’s that good!
‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!’ 16:40-18:05 Boxing Day BBC1 (U)
With political points being traded over ‘Wallace and Gromit’ in the last few years, you could be forgiven for thinking Aardman Animations was in decline and its only contribution was the more recent offerings of it two most famous characters. For those who rightly still love them, ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ (Christmas Eve, BBC1, 13:45-15:05) is still pretty great, but ‘Pirates’ is proof that their ability to create characters and stories extends beyond wensleydale cheese and crackers. Perhaps even more so than the ‘Wallace and Gromit’ films, try pausing ‘Pirates’ at any single frame and you will see the detail and humour that make this British studio unique. Whether it’s a pub named “Napoleon Blown-apart” or a crew member with a blue peter badge, this is one of those films where you will laugh from start to finish and perhaps even change your view of Charles Darwin…
‘Avengers Assemble’ 20:30-22:40 Boxing Day BBC1 (12A)/ ‘The Dark Knight’ 21:00-23:55 New Year’s Day ITV (12A)
Now I’m sure you will have seen at least one of these, but in my opinion they are two of the saviours of the modern superhero movie. If you have seen the timeline doing the rounds on fan-websites showing the huge number of superhero films coming to a cinema near you in the next few years, you will begin to wonder if there will be any screens left to show the new ‘Star Wars’. I suppose it must be no surprise that the makers of ‘Firefly’ and Inception can make interesting films, but before Nolan’s Batman Begins, the “caped crusader” was widely regarded (me included) as the most boring of the superheroes; but in ‘The Dark Knight’ we have something resembling a Nietzschean dichotomy (Two-face), you won’t find that many brain cells in your typical dumbed-down superhero film. If just one of the twenty-plus superhero films coming out in the next five years is anything like as intelligently idea-filled as ‘The Dark Knight’, or as fun as ‘Avengers Assemble’ (read this year’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’), then it may just be worth sitting through them.
‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ 13:40-15:35 Monday 29th BBC1 (U)
I would imagine most of you will have seen this at some point in your childhood, thought something like “meh, it’s just a worse version of ‘Mary Poppins’” and then gone off and worshipped other Disney films. There is nothing wrong with that and comparing anything to ‘Mary Poppins’ is high praise, but once you’re eating leftover turkey sandwiches and have watched ‘Frozen’ for the hundredth time, give ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ a(nother) go. Set in Britain during World War II, it involves witchcraft, cockney children and animated scenes on a par with entering the paintings in ‘Mary Poppins’. This is one of my favourites, and certainly one of the most ignored, Disney films as well as being as British and charming as they come. I could be wrong, I mean, I wholeheartedly believe Mulan is a better film than the Lion King…there, I’ve said it…but amongst the plethora of Disney greats, the forgotten ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ deserves another chance.
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