{"id":2622,"date":"2014-12-05T17:06:20","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T17:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/?p=2622"},"modified":"2015-01-06T09:34:15","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T09:34:15","slug":"7-underrated-christmas-movies-to-enjoy-this-festive-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/12\/05\/7-underrated-christmas-movies-to-enjoy-this-festive-season\/","title":{"rendered":"7 underrated Christmas movies to enjoy this festive season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The first weekend of December is traditionally when people dig out their Christmas DVDs and treat themselves to some feelgood schmaltz. Watching movies like <i>Miracle on 34<sup>th<\/sup> Street, It\u2019s A Wonderful Life<\/i> and <i>Elf<\/i> feels as warming and comforting as slipping on your favourite pair of (festive) slippers.<\/p>\n<p>But&#8230;well, don\u2019t you get a bit bored of watching the same few films every Christmas? Try something different this year and watch these underrated Christmas classics.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Arthur Christmas<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7tk-WZSqIGQ\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>Arthur Christmas<\/i> is often missed off \u201d\u02dcbest Christmas movie\u2019 lists, but that\u2019s probably because it hasn\u2019t been out long enough to claim its rightful place as a Christmas classic.<\/p>\n<p>This animation, written by Sarah Smith and Peter Baynham (who co-wrote, amongst other things, <i>I\u2019m Alan Partridge<\/i>) follows the son of Santa Claus (that\u2019s Arthur, who is voiced by James McAvoy) as he tries to deliver a present to a girl Santa has accidentally missed on his annual delivery rounds.<\/p>\n<p>Like <i>Elf<\/i>, <i>Arthur Christmas<\/i> is one of those lovely Christmas movies that adults and children can enjoy, with a brilliant cast of characters and some wonderful animation too.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Scrooged<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b2fTMi2hoYA\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There are countless modernisations of <i>A Christmas Carol, <\/i>but <i>Scrooged<\/i> has a distinct advantage over the rest: Bill Murray.<\/p>\n<p>Murray plays Frank, a television executive and modern-day version of Scrooge who makes bizarre and slightly terrifying Christmas commercials.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll know the rest if you\u2019ve ever seen or read <i>A Christmas Carol <\/i>(is there anyone who hasn&#8217;t?), but that doesn\u2019t stop Scrooged from being a breath of fresh air for those sick of sweeter-than-sweet Christmas movies. Did we mention Bill Murray is in it too?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Mr Willowby\u2019s Christmas Tree<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/htfmTSgdKfY\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Robert Downey Jr, Leslie Nielsen and Kermit the Frog (what a cast!) star in this US TV special, which tells the tale of a family of (Muppet) mice looking for a Christmas tree. It\u2019s a lot better than it sounds, honestly&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Even if the prospect of watching Muppet mice tussling with bears, owls and Iron Man over a tree doesn\u2019t appeal, superhero fans are bound to enjoy seeing Tony Stark singing about his love of Christmas trees (we\u2019d love to see a reprise in the next <i>Avengers <\/i>film&#8230;).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Jingle All The Way<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TwecyXBMDUQ\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>Jingle All The Way<\/i> is a movie a lot of people love to hate. It promotes rampant consumerism and teaches kids that toys are the most important part of Christmas, they say.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s fair enough: the movie is practically all about one man trying to make up for years of neglect by buying his son a Turboman doll.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, we\u2019d probably hate it too if it wasn\u2019t for Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose slightly-crazed performance perfectly captures the horrors of Christmas shopping.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Gremlins<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-14d51QTVjo\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A young boy receives a cute little critter called a Mogwai for Christmas. His only instructions are not to feed him after midnight or get him wet; you can probably guess what happens next.<\/p>\n<p>We can\u2019t help but think that this movie is some kind of metaphor for that moment when Dad has one sherry too many on Christmas Day and starts shouting at <i>Eastenders<\/i>&#8230;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Bad Santa<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xQvaoRScND4\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This black comedy (which definitely <i>isn\u2019t<\/i> suitable for kids) stars Billy Bob Thornton as an alcoholic thief who disguises himself as a Mall Santa so he can rob shops, and follows him as he befriends a young boy who thinks Billy Bob&#8217;s drunk Santa is the real deal.<\/p>\n<p>Although it\u2019s pretty much the opposite of a heart-warming Christmas film, <i>Bad Santa<\/i> is quite touching in its own right as young Thurman teaches pretty much the worst Santa to ever exist the error of his ways.<\/p>\n<p>Mainly, though, it\u2019s very, very funny.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Silent Night, Deadly Night<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UJ3qhpflogU\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Nothing says Christmas quite like&#8230;erm, a film about someone dressing up as Santa Claus and killing people with an axe.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to say that <i>Silent Night, Deadly Night<\/i> \u201d\u201c which is basically about a bloke who kills teenagers for being \u201d\u02dcnaughty\u2019 \u201d\u201c isn\u2019t your standard Christmas fare, but it\u2019s a pretty good horror film reminds us all that the idea of a chubby red fellow breaking into our homes while we sleep is actually quite terrifying.<\/p>\n<p>Fun fact: <i>Silent Night, Deadly Night<\/i> sparked moral outrage on release, with large crowds of protestors picketing the film throughout the US. That led to all adverts for the film being withdrawn less than a week after the film\u2019s release, and the film itself being withdrawn soon after.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Which alternative Christmas films do you enjoy? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n<p>And if you\u2019ve got any \u00a0Christmas DVDs (or any DVDs, for that matter) that you don\u2019t watch anymore, <a href=\"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/entertainment\/sell-dvds\/\">see how much you could get for them with musicMagpie<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first weekend of December is traditionally when people dig out their Christmas DVDs and treat themselves to some feelgood schmaltz. Watching movies like Miracle on 34th Street, It\u2019s A Wonderful Life and Elf feels as warming and comforting as slipping on your favourite pair of (festive) slippers. But&#8230;well, don\u2019t &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3000,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions\/3000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}