This holiday season, from this past Thanksgiving through onto New Years grab your softest plushiest blanket, a warm cup of cocoa, a load of popcorn, and get ready to hit your living room TV screens. Here are a few various movies that you might want to consider watching during your leisure time. So try to keep an open mind and let yourself sit back and just enjoy.
1. We’re No Angels (1955)
About the Film: This movie which came out in 1955 was directed by Michael Curtiz. Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov are three convicts who escaped from Three Devil’s Island prison before Christmas. They hide out at the local grocery store (a merchant’s home). Throughout the whole movie the three begin to have a change of character, their bad boy demeanor begins to sway and so does their change of heart.
2. Eastern Promises (2007)
About the Film: Directed by David Cronenberg, this British crime thriller stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Vincent Cassel. In the story, British midwife by the name of Anne (played by Watts) unsuspectingly finds herself interacting with the Russian Mafia in London as she stumbles into the underground Russian sex trafficking ring.
3. Rare Exports (2010)
About the Film: This one’s a bit weirder then the rest and most of all has got its own unique twist at the good old Christmas tale. Directed by Jalmari Helander, this Finnish horror film focuses on a local group of reindeer herders whom live near the Korvatunturi Mountains. It’s Christmas Eve and an archaeological dig 486 meters deep is set to occur. When Santa Claus has been un-earthed, children mysteriously begin disappearing. Rauno and his son Pietari capture Santa and try to sell him to the leader sponsoring the “archeological” dig. Soon however Santa’s elves catch up and attempt to free Santa from captivity, and all hell is broken loose.
4. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
About the Film: The director behind this beautiful, classic bittersweet drama and comedy is none other than Frank Capra. It’s about a character by the name of George Bailey who contemplates suicide after long considering himself a failure and simultaneously faces financial ruin and many other issues. On Christmas Eve George’s prayers touch the heavens above Bedford Falls, New York and an angel, Clarence Oddbody is sent to earth to keep desolate George from killing himself that night.
5. Duma (2005)
About this Film: Set in the country of South Africa, Xan (played by Alexander Michaeletos) is a young boy whom takes in a cheetah cub whose mother is killed by lions. Soon the cub (Duma) goes from being an orphan to a young boy’s best friend. Duma becomes family after years of being closely raised by Xan and Peter (Xan’s father). However the relationship between the two cannot last forever, and soon their strong bond is shaken up.
6. About a Boy (2002)
About this Film: The movie is a coming of age story regarding character Will (played by Hugh Grant), who’s thirty six years old. He’s a superficial guy who is living a carefree lifestyle off of the fortune from a successful Christmas song that was composed by his deceased father. Will is a Londoner, and he soon realizes one day that his friends are all involved with the responsibilities of married life, leaving him all alone. Attempting to pass himself off as a single father, he starts to meet a series of single mothers, however never fully committing to a relationship. Will’s hopes of a continued bachelorhood are nevertheless interrupted when he meets twelve years old Marcus; whom in many ways is more than his opposite.
