COMPILED BY THE FRIENDS OF THE KENTUCKY THEATRE STREAM TEAM
”In Bruges” is a dark comedy starring Colin Ferrell, Brendan Gleason and Ralph Fiennes, set in the picturesque Belgian town of Bruges during Christmastime. Photo furnished
“In Bruges” (2008)
Selected by Austin Rathbone, online learning specialist, Eastern Kentucky University
Have you ever travelled for the holidays and felt trapped by your surroundings and circumstances, just waiting for it to be over already? Set in a picturesque European town during Christmastime, ”In Bruges” suggests that maybe the prison you really find yourself in is one of your own creation. A story of redemption and forgiveness in which lessons are (sort of) learned and hatchets are buried, in a manner of speaking. A crudely hilarious, late-night holiday tale.
“The Star Wars Holiday Special” (television)
Selected by Bo List, producing artistic director, AthensWest Theatre Company
This is cheap garbage from beginning to end – and you cannot look away. Featuring a cheesy assortment of ‘70s TV/film icons (Harvey Korman! Bea Arthur! Art Carney!) and oddball additions like Jefferson Starship and Diahann Carroll, along with most of the entire “Star Wars” cast, this train wreck follows our favorite star-hoppers as they celebrate “Life Day,” in a debacle George Lucas tried to prevent (but couldn’t!). God-awful. Don’t miss it.
In Ingmar Bergman’s “Fanny and Alexander,” set in Sweden in the early 1900s, two Swedish children experience the comedies and tragedies of their family. Photo furnished
“Fanny and Alexander” (1982)
Selected by Brian McCall, procurement & warehouse liaison at eCampus
Christmas Eve 1907...We meet the Ekdahl family, full of love, joy and some eccentricities. Amid lush furnishings and a lavish feast, we watch these vivid, engaging people in celebration. There’s a brief miserable marriage, a theater production, a ghost. So much about family and the wonders of life from the children’s perspective come from this world created by director Ingmar Bergman, in which the utmost certainty exists side-by-side with spirits and magic and a gallery of remarkable characters. In addition to the cinematic version, a four-part television version was also released.
“Better Watch Out” (2016)
Selected by Edd MacKey, president of the Lexington Fashion Collaborative
What could be more of a piece of cake than babysitting during the holidays in the suburbs? Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) thought this would be the easiest holiday gig ever. Wrong! Everyone remembers the antics from “Home Alone,” but when you’re home with children and it’s an actual home invasion, the game plan is over-the-top since – less about toys and games and more about surviving a night of terror. One viewer said, “While the film is more cartoonish than psychologically believable, it’s willing to go to some genuinely uncomfortable places.” This is exactly what makes this horror a surprisingly funny and outlandish holiday treat.
“Fitzwilly” (1967)
Selected by Lucy Jones, Lexington Film League
I’m on constant lookout for overlooked holiday films to supplement my seasonal viewing. Last year, I stumbled upon the holy grail of forgotten Christmas classics: “Fitzwilly.” Any description of the plot would involve spoilers, so simply trust me when I say you want to take this ride. Set in New York City, the film includes romance, heists, comedy, glamour, gorgeous holiday department-store displays, familial tenderness, a dynamite score and one devastatingly charming Dick Van Dyke. Enough said!
“Eyes Wide Shut” (1999)
Selected by Max Morris, CD Central employee
Though Stanley Kubrick’s controversial final film may not scream “yuletide joy,” the film’s Christmastime-in-New-York setting, every corner awash in the hypnotic glow of twinkling lights and tacky tinsel, sets a perfectly dreamlike stage for the psychosexual journey of Dr. Bill Harford. The film’s holiday spirit extends beyond mere aesthetic purposes, however; its critique on the depravity of the ruling class and the transactional nature of our relationships makes the film a sly satire of the season’s hyper-consumerism.
“The Family Stone,” a 2005 movie starring Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Sarah Jessica Parker, captures the in-between moments of the holidays. Photo furnished
“The Family Stone” (2005)
Selected by Sarah Combs, author and Carnegie Center instructor
I love how this movie captures the in-between moments of the holidays: quiet kitchen after a chaotic meal, last wine glass set rim-down to dry; grown daughter asleep in TV glow, head resting on the lap of her pregnant sister. Like the movie itself, the family at its heart is flawed: “What’s so great about you guys?” Sarah Jessica Parker’s outsider character wails. “Nothing,” says Diane Keaton’s Sybil Stone, “it’s just that we’re all we’ve got.” And there it is: familial love, perfectly distilled.
“The Poseidon Adventure” (1973)
Selected by Sean Anderson, filmmaker
This 1973 Irwin Allen production, directed by Ronald Neame, makes perfect viewing for the holidays, in an era when every turn of the calendar bodes disaster. It’s a topsy-turvy New Year’s Eve party with a cast of stars – well, a few stars and several meteors – on a decrepit passenger ship that collides with a tsunami while the drunk passengers toast auld lang syne. The 2005 TV movie remake probably has better special effects, but does it have Stella Stevens, Roddy McDowell or Ernest Borgnine? No, it doesn’t.
“Nativity” (2009)
Selected by Steph Fitch, Film Studies coordinator, Bluegrass Community & Technical College
“Nativity” is the best Christmas movie because of its care-free absurdity. It’s genuine chaos that everyone has experienced and can relate to. It is hilarious at one moment and heartwarming at the next, and to top it all off, it features a death slide and BOB. This is a must-see film every Christmas. If you are still not convinced, maybe Mr. Poppy, the British Christmas-jumper-wearing cousin to Uncle Eddie, can convince you.
“The Bishop’s Wife” (1970)
Selected by Stuart Horodner, director of the University of Kentucky Art Museum
If a meddling angel is going to come to Earth and threaten your marriage while teaching you and everyone in the vicinity the meaning of Christmas, he really must be played by Cary Grant. Loretta Young is curiously smitten; David Niven is reasonably worried; and there’s some ice-skating and a bottomless bottle of sherry. In the end, kindness and tolerance win.
“Scrooge” (1951)
Selected by Walter Tunis, freelance journalist and contributing music columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
The definitive British film version of “A Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim as the miserly Scrooge, now 70 years old, retains an extraordinary old England feel with its stark black-and-white imagery. For a story so familiar and shopworn, this telling retains all the Dickensian essentials, especially qualities of grace, mercy and redemption – while remaining, above all, a ghost story. (The film was released as “A Christmas Carol” in the United States.)
“The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” (1985)
Selected by Wyn Morris, volunteer and board member at The Primate Rescue Center
One could argue that the better-known Rankin/Bass Christmas classics are all deeply strange beneath their familiar sugary surfaces. This one, based on a book by L. Frank Baum (author of the “Oz” series), takes things into the Santasphere! Baby Santa is found in the snowy woods by a group of immortals who look like ex-members of Slipknot, is raised by a lioness, and does battle with Gwar. In short, Santa is metal AF.