Pop Culture

Movies to Watch This Holiday Season

Linett Mata, Section Editor|December 9, 2019

It is that time of the year again! The season of giving back and holiday cheer. If you’re in the mood for some holiday festivity, grab your hot chocolate and a blanket cause there’s a list of movies that you need to be watching this holiday.

1. Home Alone (1990)
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister and his family are going on a trip to Paris. Until Kevin acts out on his family the night before their flight to Paris. He is sent to sleep in the attic for the night. The morning of the flight, his family mistakenly forget him at home, and Kevin wakes up to think that his wish of his family leaving him alone, comes true. Kevin enjoys his time alone, till two no good men make a plan to rob his supposedly empty home, and it is up to him to protect his home.

2. The Polar Express (2004)
Based on the children’s book written by Chris Van Allsburg. On the night of Christmas Eve, a young boy sees a train mysteriously appear in front of his home. He meets a conductor and other children on board the train and embark on a trip to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus.

3) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
All citizens of Whoville love Christmas, but up in the mountaintop lives the mean grinch who utterly despises the thought of Christmas. As all Whos prepare for Christmas, the Grinch has a plan to steal all things holiday-related from the Whos. Until the Grinch meets young Cindy Lou Who.

4) A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, Jack Skellington, is tired of the same routine of scaring people in the “real world.” Till one day he discovers Christmastown and likes what he sees. He decides to bring Christmas to Halloweentown by kidnapping Santa Claus so he can take he can become Santa, causing a problem with both holidays.

5) Elf (2003)
Buddy is a man who lived in an Orphanage until he crawled into Santa’s bag of gifts and ended up being raised in the North Pole by elves. Once he got older, he discovers he is a human, and then decides to travel to New York to find his real dad. Walter Hobbs is Buddy’s actual father, who wasn’t aware of Buddy even existing. Walter Hobbs is a heartless, cynical man and happens to be on Santa’s naughty list. With both of them trying to get to know each other, Buddy is trying to spread Christmas cheer in New York.

6) The Princess Switch (2018)
Chicago baker Stacy goes the Belgravia to compete in a baking competition. When arriving in Belgravia, she meets Duchess Margaret, who looks exactly like her. Margaret is tired of being in the public’s eye. She comes up with the idea of both of them switching lives before Stacy has to do the baking competition and before Margaret’s big wedding.

7) Arthur Christmas (2011)
When it comes to delivering gifts to children all over the world, Santa Claus is a professional. With the help of his high tech delivery methods and his elves, he can accomplish delivering Christmas presents to anyone anywhere. But on Christmas day, Santa misses delivering a present to a little girl. His clumsy son, Arthur, is determined to hand deliver her gift under 2 hours with the help of his brother Steve.

8) The Santa Clause (1994)
Divorced dad Scott is spending Christmas Eve with his son Charlie.Scott hears something on the top of his roof, and decides to find out what it is. he sees Santa and accidentally kills him. Scott and his son are transported to the North Pole, where Scott has to take the role of Santa before next Christmas. Scott does not believe it, but as the months pass, his appearance starts to change, getting white hair and gaining weight. Now he has to learn to take on the duties of Santa Clause.

9) Let It Snow (2019)
During Christmas Eve, a snowstorm hits a small town, which brings a group of high schoolers together. They all go through different experiences of heartbreak, friendship, love, and family. Their lives end up changing after this Christmas.

Christmas is not the only holiday celebrated in December. Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days ¨commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Some people may not notice, but for those who are Jewish, see that there aren’t many Hanukkah movies. Writer, Charles Bramesco states ̈Hanukkah doesn’t easily lend itself to seasonal cheer ̈ and due to the story of Hanukkah being of ̈suffering and difficulty ¨it makes it difficult ̈reconciling the solemn roots of Hanukkah with the upbeat spirit that holiday movies demand remains a challenge for some enterprising screenwriter, but one eminently worth undertaking.

While there may not be many movies to celebrate the Jewish holiday, there are still some classics that are fun to watch. Some movies include Eight Crazy Nights, Full Court Miracle, An American Tail, and recently the Hallmark Channel has made two new Hanukkah movies for the first time. The first movie is called ”Holiday Dateand will air on December 14, and the second one is called ̈Double Holiday ̈, which airs on December 22.