The Xmas Films You Need to Stream on Netflix This Weekend
It’s that time of year: when Netflix gives us all the winter feels by steadily adding a stream of cheesy holiday movies for us to enjoy on the dark days before Christmas. There’s now so much Christmas content on the streaming service, it would probably take the entire year to watch it all. So we’ve picked the most talked about movies, so you make an informed choice on how you spend your rest days! Top tip: to access all Netflix’s Christmas content, you can use a cheat code in the search bar; 1394527 will bring up all the films we listed above.
Love Actually
Arguably the greatest Christmas film of all time, written and directed by Richard Curtis. In our humble opinion, it's not Christmas until you've watched Love Actually - it's one of our favourite things about the festive season.
The good: we resonate too much with so many of the characters in this film
The bad: nothing.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
The first Dr. Seuss book to be adapted into a full-length feature film, it's a little cheesy, but has an engaging storyline nonetheless. It's got a star-studded line up too - from Jimy Carrey to Taylor Momsen.
The good: the story-line & the general awesomeness that is Jim Carrey
The bad: The residents of Whoville are pretty creepy - a thing of Christmas nightmares
The Holiday Calendar
This has all the pre-requisites needed for a Christmas movie – unbelievable premise, cheesy dialogue and, of course, romance. The plot is paper thin: Kat Graham is a photographer (we’re not even going to go into that) who is gifted a handmade wooden advent calendar from her Grandfather. The calendar may or may not be magical and we won’t waste your time with any more plot details because there aren’t any.
The good: we made it through this one, so it wasn’t terrible.
The bad: the chemistry between the leads was pretty much non-existent.
The Princess Switch
Does what it says in the title. At least we think it does – we gave up when Vanessa Hudgens flew to London for a baking competition in the Kingdom of Belgravia, then immediately had to film at Wembley studios? This wasn’t even so bad it was good (see Christmas Prince), it was just... not worth it.
The good: Vanessa Hudgens is charismatic enough to deserve better.
The bad: The rest of the movie
A Christmas Prince
An instant classic. Last year’s cult hit was a delightful romp through awful film making. You know you’re in for a treat when the establishing shots of New York are very obviously, actually Chicago. Amber, a low ranking reporter inexplicability gets sent to made-up-European-country Aldovia to cover the succession of the throne by Prince Richard. This movie has everything: mistaken identity, playboy Prince, terrible investigative skills (check out Amber’s detailed note taking), an annoying precocious sister, a disapproving mother and a sledging montage.
The good: All of it
The bad: All of it
Christmas Wedding Planner
Another we didn’t make it through. We’re not even sure what the plot was. You know a movie is bad when the highlight is a cameo by an ex-member of NSync (hint: it’s not Justin).
The good: That former-NSyncer
The bad: The rest of it
Christmas Inheritance
A Christmas film obviously filmed in summer. An heiress has a contrived errand to complete before she earns her inheritance, which takes her to a small town where she’s promptly snowed in with the quirky townsfolk. Cue important life lessons learned and a sweet romance full of cheesy lines and looks. It’s very middle-of-the-road.
The good: The leads are cute together
The bad: The detergent-like fake snow
The Christmas Chronicles
This one is a mixed bag. It reminded us of the Christmas stories we grew up on: Santa Claus the Movie et al. It’s a fun little romp through Christmas Eve clichés and has the hallmarks that all good kids films seem to have (absent parent! ‘bad boy’ older sibling! learning the true meaning of believing!). That being said, this one should be left for the kids. It gets a little… much.
The good: Kurt Russell is a brilliant St. Nick
The bad: They lost us at the CGI elves