Lots of yes has changed in the last two years when it comes to holiday traditions. One thing isn’t there, though: gathering around the TV to watch new and classic movies with family and friends. The problem, if it can be called a problem, is that with each new streaming service there is a shift in what movies the streamers offer. We’re here to help — and give you a quick and handy guide to some holiday gems you’ve probably never seen before. Here are 15 titles that are sure to appeal to even those who are passionate about exploring the holiday spirit.
Home for the holiday
If you feel guilty that you won’t be coming to your parents’ Thanksgiving this year, here’s a tribute to the dysfunctional family get-togethers — directed by Jodie Foster — that can serve as a Completely realistic reminder of what really like when your loved ones gather under one roof. Holly Hunter plays an unemployed single mother who recently traveled from Chicago to Baltimore to spend Thanksgiving with her family — only to immediately regret the decision. (Yes, we’ve all been there.) Hunter’s character can best sum it up when she asks, “When you get home, do you look around and wonder: Who are these people? Where do I even come from? “A very beforeIron Man Robert Downey Jr.
Stream it where: Amazon Prime, YouTube
Happiest season
With the increased production of originals that major streaming networks like Netflix and Amazon Prime are releasing, it’s only a matter of time before they all catch the Christmas bug. Last year, that honor went to Hulu, which brought together an impressive cast you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see in a holiday rom-com (see: Kristen Stewart) for Happiest season. When Harper (Pause and catch fireMackenzie Davis’s Mackenzie Davis invites girlfriend Abby (Stewart) home for Christmas, but she neglects to tell her one thing: Harper never told her ultra-conservative family that she was are gay. Even though it’s a setting that sounds like it can be easily achieved Three .’s company The level of humor and tension, the seriousness with which the film is played by a brilliant cast – including Dan Levy, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Mary Steenburgen – pushes it neatly into the delightful space between farce and family movie.
Stream it where: Hulu
Vacation for the best man
Broadly speaking, the holidays are just the setting for Best Man Holiday, but when a movie features Taye Diggs, Terrence Howard, Harold Perrineau, and Morris Chestnut doing a dance and lip-sync song in New Edition, it’s that. Is that important? Almost 15 years after they all gathered for Lance (Chestnut)’s wedding (and almost 15 years after the release of The best man), a group of old friends gather in New York to celebrate Christmas together. As with all reunions of friends, everyone simultaneously remembers their closeness and long-simmering problems. There’s no need to spoil it here, but suffice it to say that the laughs are heartwarming and dramatic – cancer diagnosis, pregnancy, marriage – is high. The perfect movie for your Friends Festival.
Stream it where: Peacock
ThanksKilling
OK, so we won’t pretend like that ThanksKilling—A movie about a killer who has a foul turkey and uses the tagline “Gobble, Gobble, Motherf*cker”—is the most family-friendly film of Turkey Day. But since there’s so much more to Christmas movies than Thanksgiving movies, it’s important to note that this one really exists, especially for those who don’t mind a bit with their pumpkin pie. surname. If you like what you see here, there’s a sequel, ThanksKilling 3 (don’t ask what happened to season 2), available to rent on Amazon Prime.
Stream it where: Amazon Prime
Miracle on 34th Street
Natalie Wood is the epitome of Susan Walker, the wise out-of-age daughter of Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara), a single mother executive at Macy’s who consistently discourages her daughter from buying things. makeup- tin. But when a (legally) lookalike Santa named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) comes into their lives, he challenges their shared distaste for fairy tales — for the good. than.
Stream it where: Disney +
Preacher’s wife
Remake of this 1947 movie Bishop’s Wife, directed by Penny Marshall, Denzel Washington plays an angel named Dudley sent to help a pastor (Courtney B. Vance) who is struggling to keep his New York City church afloat. What happens, however, is that he falls in love with, yes, the preacher’s wife, a one-time nightclub singer turned choir star, played by Whitney Houston. Comedy and heartbreak and ultimately redemption ensued. If all that touching content wasn’t enough, it also features a bit of Houston’s forever perfect voiceover.
Stream it where: Amazon Prime
Nightmare before Christmas
No, Tim Burton is not directing Nightmare before Christmas (Henry Selick did). But he came up with the stories and the characters and produced it, and his loving handprint of the stop-motion animation is all on this masterpiece, which works just as well as a Halloween movie as a set. Christmas movie. When Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, stumbles upon Christmastown – a place that’s not about fear but more about comfort and fun – he hatches a plan to kidnap Santa Claus and bring him back to Halloweentown so the townspeople can experience yuletide delight. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the capers didn’t bloom as Jack had hoped. Even today, almost 30 years after its original release, Nightmare before Christmas Still a great piece that shows the true magic of stop-motion animation.
Stream it where: Disney +
Home alone
Until now, there are very few people who don’t know Home alone but anyway we’ll give you a recap: The night before the McCallisters went to France for a holiday in Paris, Kevin — annoyed at having to share a room with his cousin wetting his bed, yet tell that someone ate his pizza — wish his family would disappear. While that’s not exactly what’s going to happen (they just forget he’s sleeping in the attic when they wake up late for their flight), it means an 8-year-old is left out. into their own devices at Christmas. Among the problems he was forced to face? A neighbor he believes may be a serial killer and two dangerous thieves are ransacking his family home. Luckily for Kevin, he has a seriously sadistic side that allows him to come up with all sorts of creative ways to nearly kill these intruders as he learns to cherish his family a little more. (Same for them.)
If you want to see what happens when a family leaves their young son alone Monday time, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York also streaming on Disney +.
