disneyplus.con/begin This week, we chose new and old, respectful and irreverent offerings from Apple TV+, Disney+, Paramount+, and Peacock, as we continue our lists of Christmas season selections from the main streaming services.
From a crazy decorator to an ugly sweater wearer, from a slasher to a con artist, from a Scrooge to a superhero, our list has something for everyone.
The 6 best Christmas movies on Apple
Table of Contents
Also, don’t miss our list of the best holiday movies available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu right now. I wish you all the best for the holidays!
1. Something Beautiful Left Behind (Paramount+)
Beautiful Something Left Behind (2021), a unique and poignant documentary by Katrine Philp, explores a topic that many people would rather avoid.
The video centres on Good Grief, a Morristown, New Jersey-based nonprofit dedicated to assisting children whose parents or other family members have died.
Only children aged 5 to 10 are interviewed on camera, and it’s moving to see one of the children, 8-year-old Nicky, wrinkle his brow and cry while crafting a small bracelet. Counselors and other children console him, reassuring him that crying is normal. (Another child suggests that it “cleans your eyes.”)
Children are also invited to play in an odd tiny sandbox with a small graveyard and headstones. (“He’s dead!” exclaims one child, smashing toy cars together.) A melancholy scene in the film takes place during Christmas, as the children’s new guardians attempt to make the holiday season a joyous one for them. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
2. Keep an eye out (Peacock)
Chris Peckover’s inventive, humorous Better Watch Out (2017) showcases enough creative concepts to earn it a surprising “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, just when it felt like there was nothing further that could be done in the subgenre of Christmas horror flicks.
Luke (Levi Miller), a 12-year-old boy, is head over heels in love with Ashley, his attractive 17-year-old babysitter (Olivia DeJonge).
Luke sets out to win Ashley’s heart after his parents (Virginia Madsen and Patrick Warburton) go out for the evening, which includes opening a bottle of champagne, snuggling while watching horror movies, and protecting her from a masked intruder.
The film opens with an almost absurd quantity of festive Christmas lights and decorations (Warburton is especially proud of his flashy holiday tie), as well as a comical opening phrase. As—ahem—other hues begin to take over the film’s palette, everything gets darker.
It all takes place in a world where horror movies exist, and as a result, the characters are smarter, but it also includes a nasty spin on an old Home Alone staple, as well as a few pleasantly unanticipated storey twists.
Catch Me If You Can (2002), based on true events, is one of Steven Spielberg’s most gratifying and delightful films. It tells the incredible storey of Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), one of the greatest con artists of all time.
He discovers that most people will accept anything he says, so he impersonates a teacher, a Secret Service agent, a doctor, and, most notably, an aeroplane pilot. Over the course of several years, he cashes tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent checks and begins to live the high life, despite the fact that he is always on the run.
As FBI agent Carl Hanratty, played by Tom Hanks, who is relentless in his pursuit of Frank, he is bright and humorous. Frank makes an emotional phone call to Carl once a year, around Christmastime, mainly because he has no one else to talk to.
For Spielberg, it was a welcome return to his earlier days of sheer amusement, with the “true storey” material treated with whiz-bang enthusiasm rather than boring solemnity.
Amy Adams plays one of Frank’s many girlfriends (women seem to be drawn to airline pilots in uniform) and the one who wins his heart early on. Frank’s sad, tragic father, played by Christopher Walken, won an Oscar nomination for his role as a guy whose life lessons for his son didn’t quite work out.
3. A Christmas with Charlie Brown (Apple TV+)
What else can be said about one of the first and longest-running animated television Christmas specials? A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), now available on Apple TV+, may not have the cleanest animation (the moment with the kids dancing is readily mimicked), but its teleplay, created by Charles M. Schulz himself, offers a most unique approach to the holiday.
Charlie Brown, who is depressed, is given the opportunity to direct the school’s Christmas show, while Snoopy enters a commercialised decorating contest. When Charlie Brown and Linus are given the task of selecting a Christmas tree, they choose a misfit tiny real tree over a lifeless aluminium one.
(Aluminum tree sales appear to have collapsed as a result of this.) The unconventional special managed to come together as something universal and magical, an ode to the True Meaning of Christmas, despite using untrained child voice actors, no laugh track, and a brilliant jazz score (Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack album went multi-platinum and remains an annual favourite).
4. Die Hard 2 is number four (Peacock)
Everyone knows Die Hard (1988) is a Christmas classic, but few people know about its sequel, Die Hard 2 (1990), which sets John McClane (Bruce Willis) against terrorists once more during the holiday season.
(There’s something about this guy that makes me think of the holidays….) The setup isn’t quite as ingenious, but it’s still gripping, earning the film a spot on Gene Siskel’s list of the top ten films of the year!
McClane arrives at the airport on Christmas Eve to pick up his wife (Bonnie Bedelia); however, evil men have taken control of the computers, and her jet is forced to circle until it runs out of fuel, or until McClane can concoct one of his crazy schemes.
It’s enough to say there’s a lot of gunfire and a few explosions. From the first film, William Atherton and Reginald VelJohnson reprise their roles as Dick and Sgt. Al Powell, respectively. It was based on a novel by Walter Wager, which had nothing to do with the original movie. Renny Harlin went on to direct The Long Kiss Goodnight, another Christmas film (1996).
5. Fatman is number five (Peacock)
Mel Gibson plays Chris Cringle, a hard-drinking—and presumably real—Christmas cult figure who takes out his frustrations on Christmas-themed cans in this unexpected Christmas cult classic.
His government subsidy check is disturbingly low this year—he is paid based on the amount of gifts delivered, and more and more kids are on the naughty list these days—and his workshop is on the verge of collapsing. Meanwhile, a nefarious little rich boy (Chance Hurstfield) hires a hitman (Walton Goggins) to put an end to Cringle’s existence; the hitman is more than happy to comply, having never received any gifts as a child.
Fatman (2020), directed by brothers Eshom and Ian Nelms, is a weird film that appears to be built up of used parts that don’t seem to fit together—until they do. It’s a weird mix of gruesome brutality and real festive cheer that sort of works. Mrs. Cringle, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, is a significant part of why it works.
6. The Following Friday (Peacock)
Friday After Next (2002) is the third instalment in Ice Cube’s Friday trilogy, and it’s a dark, perverted take on classic Christmas movies. It starts with an animated title sequence that harkens back to all those cherished old TV specials, but updated for today’s world. Then we meet Craig Jones (Cube), an ordinary person just trying to make ends meet, somewhat unlike to George Bailey. Craig and his ne’er-do-well cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) share an apartment, when a thief masquerading as Santa Claus breaks in and steals their rent money. They will be evicted and beaten by the landlady’s son if they do not pay up (Terry Crews).
As a result, they land jobs in a seedy, outdoor strip mall, which is teeming with strange individuals and decked out for Christmas in a way that emphasises Los Angeles’ lack of snow. The two eventually decide to have a Christmas rent-party. Though not fantastic, the film manages to blend a dash of festive cheer (with some classic, soulful Christmas carols) with a dash of harsh, everyday realism (and hardcore hip-hop) in a way that’s both effective and pleasant, like eggnog spiked with whiskey.
7. The Incredible Hulk (Disney+)
Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) loves to include Christmas in his action flicks, including the entertaining Iron Man 3 (2013), the eighth instalment in the massively famous Marvel Cinematic Universe. After their fantastic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Black reunited with star Robert Downey Jr. for this one (also a good Christmas movie).
After the events of The Avengers, Iron Man/Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is shell-shocked and must face a villain named The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), who may not be who he appears to be.
This film, like Black’s others, is full of smart inconsistencies and amusing methods of deconstructing the standard action genre; it toy with the idea of armour, shells, and disguises, and what they conceal and reveal. Colored lights and festive tinsel stand substitute for explosions in the meantime. Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, and Jon Favreau feature alongside Gwyneth Paltrow.
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