12 saves of Christmas
From Top Gun to Paddington - these are the viewing options to help pull you through. James Croot lines up the best.
When you’re used to a multitude of viewing options, going home for the holidays can be a chastening experience. With the festive family gathering potentially somewhere remote or in a truly wi-fi free zone, that can mean the terror of limited TV options to help get you through that intense time either side of Santa’s delivery window.
If you’re trapped in a free-to-air Christmas, Stuff is here to help. We’ve come up with the list of the 12 TV saves of Christmas, a dozen options to help give you some extra cheer this festive season – and there’s not an ice-capade or sitcom special in sight.
CHRISTMAS EVE
The Nightmare Before Christmas (3.45pm, TVNZ2):
Stop-motion animation never looked so good. This Tim Burton-produced 1993 macabre masterpiece features toe-tapping songs, memorable characters and a wicked sense of humour, as he and director Henry Selick posit the theory that Halloween is better than December 25.
Arthur Christmas (7pm, TVNZ2):
Aardman refreshes the old ‘‘son of Santa’’ storyline with both wit and aplomb in this 2011 animated adventure.
The visuals are crisp and clean, and the script is jam-packed full of zingers and action.
Among a universally impressive vocal cast, Bill Nighy threatens to steal the show as the cantankerous and crafty Grandsanta.
The Graham Norton Christmas Special (9.05pm, Three):
The popular chat show host brings a touch of magic to the couch for this year’s festive season spectacular.
Virtually the entire episode is devoted to the new Disney movie Mary Poppins Returns, with cast members Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer all making an appearance.
And there’s a special throwback treat providing the music – Boy George and Culture Club. While You Were Sleeping (10.30pm, TVNZ2): Sandra Bullock is at her winsome best in this 1995 rom-com about a woman who decides to play the role of fiancee when a man falls into a coma at her workplace.
‘‘A formula film, but it has the kind of good cheer and fine tuning that occasionally give slickness a good name,’’ wrote The New York Times’ Elvis Mitchell. Just the tonic if you’re a little pre Christmas ennui.
Flashdance (12.30am, Bravo): For many, this is the apex of 1980s musical dramas.
Jennifer Beals plays a woman juggling two jobs (welder and an exotic dancer) who wants to get into ballet school.
It’s 1983 so that means frizzy hair, sweat pants and Kim Carnes.
‘‘It charms us, makes us want to refrain from scrutinising it too closely,’’ wrote the Boston Globe’s high-minded Jay Carr.
Top Gun (2.05am, Bravo):
If you still can’t get to sleep or are trying to stay up to see Santa, then what better way to while away the time than with this 1986 cult-classic action movie.
If you’ve got the need for speed or like your action ‘‘young and dumb’’, then this should more than satisfy.
Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Kelly McGillis and Val Kilmer star.
‘‘The story is risible, the direction routine, the underlying ethic highly questionable; but the flying stirs the blood like speed,’’ wrote Time Out magazine.