Movie magic:
Stars share their favourite Christmas movies.
Numerous films are set around the festive season and so many of them are screened on TV at this time of year. We asked a bunch of television personalities to tell us their favourites. Surprisingly, it turns out Die Hard seems to be just as popular as Love Actually.
Antonia Prebble, Westside
For years, my favourite Christmas movie was Love Actually, but the last time I watched it I realised it really hasn’t aged well and is actually quite problematic. So now I’m going to go with Home Alone – a nice reminder of simpler times.
Mark Richardson, The AM Show
It has to be Die Hard, or Die Hard 2, but I’d say if I had to pick it would be the original. Not a lot of people recognise that these movies are, in fact, Christmas movies, but they are. They are set at Christmas, have a Christmas soundtrack and are riddled with Christmas themes. Die Hard is a stark reminder of what can go wrong at the office Christmas party while Die Hard 2 highlights the dangers of trying to travel regionally on Christmas Eve. I think I prefer Die Hard the original because it’s also about family and, for me, Christmas is all about family.
Amanda Gillies, The AM Show
Christmas is without doubt my favourite time of year – the tree, the treats, the fairy lights... and watching The Holiday and Love Actually back to back with my family. And, just quietly, A Christmas Prince has just been added to the movie list. Yep, my hopeless romantic side is indulged over the festive season.
Tom McRae, Newshub
Anything but Love Actually. It’s hard to go past Home Alone or Die Hard – and, yes, that is definitely a Christmas movie in my opinion.
Ingrid Hipkiss, Newshub
I’m not hugely sentimental about Christmas movies, but one that springs to mind is Planes, Trains And Automobiles, a comedy with John Candy and Steve Martin, about the lengths they go to, to get home for the holiday season. It’s from 1987 so may have aged horribly, and I’ve now realised it’s about getting home for Thanksgiving not Christmas. However, I think it is suitably festive.
Melissa Chan-Green, Newshub
I have a new favourite called The Christmas Calendar. To be honest, it’s a pretty cheesy made-for-TV romcom but it’s the memory of watching it that is special for me. Last Christmas was the first with my son Busby, and he was just a month old, so it was a very quiet day watching Christmas movies on TV. Busby was just cuddled up in my arms sleeping happily while we watched this film and it was the best Christmas feeling ever.
Goran Paladin, Sky Sport
When it comes to Christmas films, there are a few. It’s really hard to go past Love Actually.
Hugh Grant’s Prime Minister, Bill Nighy’s legendary musician, Liam Neeson not killing people for a change, Rowan Atkinson’s cameo in the department store... It’s got so much going for it. And it also illustrates how a different accent in a foreign land can do wonders for a British battler’s love life... There’s hope for us all. Billy Bob Thornton was in the Love Actually mix too, but his best Christmas movie has to be Bad Santa. When you’ve got the mum from Gilmore Girls asking Thornton’s Santa to do naughty things to her, you’ve got an instant holiday classic, in my opinion. Also, does Die Hard qualify as a Christmas movie? It’s full of guns and killing, but at its heart it’s a Christmas flick, right?
Dai Henwood, 7 Days
Mine is A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. I spend so much time watching cartoons with the kids around Christmas, mainly Cat In The Hat Christmas specials,
that sometimes
I need one for myself. A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas is a somewhat middling movie I like a lot. Silly laughs, silly characters and, for some reason, it is comforting around the best time of the year. 6/10. Highly recommend if you have seen it, do not watch if you haven’t seen it.
Andrew Mulligan, The Crowd Goes Wild
Die Hard. It’s a love story wrapped up in an action flick boxed inside a thriller. What’s not to love about that? Yippee Ki Yay!
Kirstie Stanway, Sky Sport
I cannot go past Home Alone – this was a childhood favourite and I’m fairly certain every kid who has ever watched that movie has tried to replicate some of Macaulay Culkin’s shenanigans at some point in time.
Cristina Ionda, The Brokenwood Mysteries
I have a few favourite movies I like to watch during Christmas time: A Christmas Carol (based on Charles Dickens’ novel). It reminds me of the reason behind Christmas which is love and compassion. Love Actually and The Holiday are romantic comedies (that are) nice and light to watch. Home Alone is funny and relaxing.
Morgana O’Reilly, Mean Mums
Assuming I ever get a moment of peace and quiet during the mad eczema-inducing holiday season, my picture-perfect-festive-movie moment would be snug on the couch, cicadas hissing at the door, the smell of a real Christmas tree in the house and the shine of fairy lights on my cheeks, watching the beautiful James Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life. Festive bliss.
Todd Emerson, Westside
My friends and I weirdly love to watch really bad, trashy films and Christmas time always seems to throw up the best of the worst. We have a Christmas tradition to watch Holiday Heart, where Ving Rhames plays a drag queen called, well, Holiday Heart. After his boyfriend dies, he befriends a drug-addicted woman and her daughter and together they learn the true meaning of Christmas (whatever that is). Ving is hilariously miscast but it’s impossible to tear
your eyes away from the screen.
Jeremy Corbett, 7 Days
I’d happily take suggestions for a show or movie we can make a family tradition. But pushed for an answer I’ll go with an oldie but a goodie – The Life Of Brian. Not just a Python classic, full of quotable lines and their signature humour, but a salutary lesson in making sure you are worshipping the right deity and a reminder to be positive in your outlook on life.