Top Christmas Film Picks

Below is a list of some of our writers’ favourite Christmas films to watch over the holiday season. So grab a hot chocolate and a blanket and watch them and you might just have a new favourite Christmas film!

Love Actually  

Hannah Guthrie  

Only the best Christmas rom-com of all time could make you sit through awkward porn with your family, hate Alan Rickman, laugh at the wonderfully terrible ‘Christmas is All Around’, cry over Liam Neeson’s widowing and Sarah’s care for her brother, love Colin Firth’s broken Portuguese proposal (and realise she learned English for him too), watch your mum really cry over Emma Thompson’s iconic Joni Mitchell moment, question why all Prime Ministers can’t be peak Hugh Grant, and enjoy telling everyone you know that Kiera Knightley was only 17 during filming (just four years older than Thomas Brodie-Sangster).   

It’s a Wonderful Life 

Haleeqa Hashmi 

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is the supreme story of faith and friendship with George Bailey, played by the icon James Stewart, being the heart of the film. He falls in love and then into despair, as the sacrifices he bears for his community slowly weigh heavier on his shoulders. Nevertheless, Bailey’s turn to God in his time of need is answered in the form of an Angel eager to show him the impact of his life on others. What makes the film great is the way it weaves Christian themes into the narrative. The spirit of Christmas is not evoked in this film through Santa Claus but rather through the depiction of an ordinary man whose extraordinary deeds save his community and make life worth living again.  

Nativity! 

Tom Ryan

Undeniably a little cheesy, yet full of nostalgia. There’s no other way to describe Nativity! On paper, a film about two rival primary schools staging school nativities with a despondent, heartbroken teacher (played by Martin Freeman) aiming to outdo his childhood rival (Jason Watkins) should never work. Yet, the marriage of joy, festivity, and feel-good music makes Nativity! the perfect family Christmas film. I have no shame in saying that I still love watching it every year, and, of course, no Warwick student should go through their degree without recreating the film’s iconic scenes at Coventry Cathedral. Who wouldn’t want to belt out ‘Sparkle and Shine’, while channelling their inner Bob or Crystal?  

Groundhog Day 

Martin Day 

Christmas in… February? 1993’s Groundhog Day may not seem like a Christmas film given the date of its titular holiday, but why not? An arrogant yet loveable Bill Murray is forced to repeat the same excruciating day forever until he can finally learn to treat those around him with kindness and charity, seize every opportunity, and see beauty in the mundanity of everyday life. What could be more in the Christmas spirit than that? Give it a watch, and before you know it, you too will be carving ice sculptures with chainsaws and giving your life savings to insurance salesmen. 

Klaus 

Archie Douglas-Hamilton 

Klaus is definitely an underrated favourite of mine. Set on a remote island at the top of the globe where everyone hates everyone, it follows a spoiled postman who, with the help of a reclusive lumberjack, starts a gift delivery system for the local children. It is essentially a Santa Claus origin story, armed with an all-star voice cast, creative animation, great comedy, and a refreshingly unique take on a classic Christmas story. It also never fails to make me sob by the end. I couldn’t recommend it enough.