Cover Photo By Danni Lim
Cover Photo By Danni Lim.

Recs with context: “Christmas” films to watch this holiday season


Snuggle up and get your favorite comfy Christmas sweaters on as we recommend our favorite not-so-Christmas films for this holiday season.


By Ralph Regis, and Kate Loreno | Wednesday, 15 December 2021

T-minus 10 days before Christmas! The holiday season is indeed the perfect time to #LiveLaughLove with our family and friends. And what better way to spend the holidays than being surrounded by your loved ones watching funny, comforting, and heartfelt films. Of course, don’t forget your popcorn and hot cocoas!

 

If you’re tired of the same old holiday movies with the usual premises and tropes, why not spice up your movie nights with these films on our list? These aren’t technically Christmas movies, but we’ll just go along with it as we go! Shall we?

 

1215 Blip   Shazam!

13 going on 30 but instead of just turning 30, you turn into a superhero. The 14-year-old foster child Billy Batson (Asher Angel) transforms into the superhero (Zachary Levi) with incredible powers when he utters the word "Shazam." Deemed by the wizard Shazam as his new champion, Billy is now chased by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who is on the hunt for his god-like powers. 

 

Shazam! is all about the family you’ve found in the thick of it all during the festive holiday season. The rough around the edges leads to the formation of the “Shazam Family,” the superpowered alter egos of Billy, Freddy Freeman, Mary Marvel and the rest of the foster siblings.

 

Shazam! is currently streaming on Netflix Philippines.

 

1215 Blip   Black Christmas

A festive season suddenly turned into a series of murders. Based on the infamous urban legend "The babysitter and the man upstairs," Black Christmas follows a group of sorority sisters who receive disturbing phone calls from a deranged stalker and serial killer. 

 

Regarded as one of the earliest slasher films, Black Christmas gave birth to a popular subgenre in horror, eventually influencing 1978’s Halloween, directed by John Carpenter. With a spine-chilling twist towards the film’s end, this 1974 classic is a worthy holiday season watch if you’re still feeling the Halloween blues.

 

Black Christmas is available on Dailymotion and YouTube

 

121521 Blip   “christmas” Movie Recs   Gremlins

The rules are simple一no exposure to sunlight, no contact with water, and not feeding after midnight. With a “mogwai” named Gizmo being gifted to teenage Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan), all hell breaks loose when more gremlins terrorize a town on Christmas Eve in dissaray. 

 

The campy mix of comedy, horror, and fantasy under Joe Dante’s direction solidifies Gremlins as a film birthed in the 1980s that still lives up to this day. The film even features an opening sequence featuring Darlin Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” 

 

Gremlins is available to rent on Google Play Movies for Php 150.

 

1215 Blip   The Apartment

Billy Wilder’s direction and screenplay of this 1960 romantic-comedy is one for the ages. Insurance clerk C.C. “Bud” Baxter (Jack Lemmon) offers his apartment to co-workers and manager Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), to engage in their illicit affairs. However, Baxter is attracted to Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator girl in his office building, who is actually Mr. Sheldrake’s mistress.

 

Sometimes, you have to live a little. Christmas isn’t necessarily about the highs and joys of life. The Apartment offers a down-to-earth perspective towards love, career, and reality. It’s a constant reminder that one should learn to love oneself, as a Christmas gift for the holiday season.

 

The Apartment is available to rent on Google Play Movies for Php 150.

 

1215 Blip   Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Christmas in Los Angeles, a sinister Hollywood conspiracy, and not knowing where the night will take you—Shane Black’s directorial debut features Robert Downey Jr. in his pre-Iron Man days.

 

Thief-turned-actor Harry Lockhart (Downey Jr.) becomes a wannabe detective and discovers a corpse that puts him to work alongside his childhood crush Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan) and big-time private eye Perry Shrike (Val Kilmer), to solve a murder and uncover a Hollywood conspiracy.

 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is available to rent on Google Play Movies for Php 150.

 

121521 Blip   “christmas” Movie Recs   The Night Of The Hunter

Set in West Virginia during the Great Depression, serial killer Rev. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is blinded by faith and religion from good and evil as he targets women who use their sexuality to attract men. 

 

Powell meets condemned murderer Ben Harper (Peter Graves) in prison, who confesses to hiding stolen $10,000 loot. After being released, Powell tracks down the money and Harper’s family.

 

For its themes of love and hate, the film becomes a cat-and-mouse chase with Powell hunting down Harper’s two children: John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce). The holiday spirit runs through as the two children take refuge with Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), an old woman who looks after stray children.

 

The Night of the Hunter is available to rent on Google Play Movies for Php 150.

 

1215 Blip   Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone

For all Potterheads out there, the first installment of the beloved series, directed by Chris Columbus, still remains a childhood film for many. This adaptation stars the young Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger.  

 

You all know the drill, the story follows Harry's first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As Harry starts his wizardry education, he celebrates a magical Christmas with Ron inside the Gryffindor common room where he receives the infamous “invisibility cloak.” 

 

Feel the magic of the holidays as you watch the Golden trio uncover the secrets that lie beneath Hogwarts and all their antics in between.

 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is available on HBO Go Asia.

 

Supplementary recommendations

  • Paddington - Developed from a story by director Paul King and writer Hamish McColl and based on the stories of Paddington Bear created by British author Michael Bond, the Marmalade-loving bear who wants to travel to London finds the loving Brown family and gets into deep trouble with the museum taxidermist Millicent Clyde played by Nicole Kidman.

 

  • Paddington 2 - Followed up with a sequel, Paddington 2 is dedicated to Bond, who died the same year of its release. From being imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, the Brown family helps Paddington find the real thief of an antique pop-up book with a hidden fortune. A perfect family-friendly film, go into an adventure with the Paddington films and enjoy the holidays. 

 

  • Ang Tanging Ina franchise - This not-so-guilty pleasure film trilogy is directed by the late Wenn V. Deramas and stars actress and comedian Ai Ai de las Alas as Ina Montecillo, a widow of four husbands and mother to 12 children. She faces a myriad of challenges from juggling jobs after jobs to provide for her family, being elected as the President of the Philippines, and having a brain tumor scare. Ang Tanging Ina captures the hearts of many for its undoubtedly funny and iconic Filipino pop culture catchphrases such as:
    • “Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who my friends are, para barkada.” 
    • “Nobody is perfect, at dahil ako’y nobody noon, kaya siguro hindi ako perfect. But practice makes perfect, but then again nobody’s perfect, so why practice?” 
    • ''No guts, no glory, no ID, no entry!”