Is there a movie you rewatch every December?
not your typical holiday movie list.
The sun currently sets at 4.30pm in Los Angeles which has really been testing my brain in terms of serotonin production. Movies to the rescue.
There are some movies that I associate so strongly with December - gloomy but festive, uneasy but strangely hopeful. I love a joyful holiday classic as much as the next person but there’s something to be said about the unlikely stories I return to for comfort during this time of year. David Fincher movies are top of that list for me, I rewatch Zodiac and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo pretty much every December. Something about the icy color palette, desolate locations and unstable characters - maybe they make the real world seem brighter in contrast?
Everyone’s definition of a “December movie” is different, so I asked some friends to share their favorites. Enjoy.
What's the best ‘Christmas film’ and why is it Eyes Wide Shut? When a wife confesses an unfulfilled sexual longing to her well-to-do doctor husband, her revelation sends him on a night-long erotic journey. But no matter how much money he doles out to everyone he meets, satisfaction evades him. His (masculine) reality can't even come close to matching her (feminine) fantasy.
There's a reason that every scene of this film contains Christmas lights: I can't imagine a more suitable film for this most consumerist of celebrations. As Zizek says and Nicole Kidman's Alice knows - “We don’t really want what we think we desire.”
see also: 15 questions with Zodiac Film Club
This is probably going to sound so sick, but I found myself watching one of my all-time favorites, Silence of the Lambs, on Christmas Eve in 2020 — I haven't stopped revisiting it every December since. A Charlie Brown Christmas is also one of my go-tos; I remember buying the theme song from that as the first song on my iPod in 2010.
see also: 15 questions with Vincent
I have gotten into the habit of watching The Social Network, Home Alone 2, Eyes Wide Shut and Pretty Woman every December. Home Alone 2 for its New York nostalgia and childhood charm, The Social Network for its fast wit and freezing Boston backdrop, Eyes Wide Shut for its strange Holiday spirit and Nicole Kidmanism, and Pretty Woman because I love entering January with Julia Roberts' toothy grin and curls front and center in my mind.
see also: 15 questions with Allegra
The Family Stone - THE family Christmas holiday movie. I watch it every year. I ran out of people to force feed this movie to, so I asked SJP if she wanted to talk about it and she did!
Closer - There is something about the emotional coldness, the bitter, sneering lifelessness (complimentary? lol) of this movie that draws me in every December/January.
Holiday - Some commotion for New Year's Eve movies, the rueful sibling of happy holiday movies! This Katharine Hepburn-Cary Grant movie is so dreamy. I also love Lew Ayres in this.
Not a specific movie, but interesting nonetheless: going through my watch history I watch a lot of Noah Baumbach movies every December. Last year it was Margot at the Wedding and Frances Ha. The two years before that, it was The Meyerowitz Stories (VERY underrated imo).
Every Noah Baumbach movie captures the feeling of standing around the edges of a party you'd be mad if you weren't invited to. I know that sounds bad, but I don't know, he brings that feeling to life really well.
see also: 15 questions with Hunter
Mine would be The Cat in the Hat (live action) and Matilda! No matter what teacher we had in my elementary school class we always watched these 2 movies in November/December. I have a vivid memory of a few of my classmates being afraid of Mike Myers in The Cat in the Hat but I thought he was so funny, I LOVE that movie!
see also: 15 questions with Emily
This is kind of a no-brainer, but every December, without fail, my husband and I watch It's a Wonderful Life! Though partly a Christmas classic because it’s part of the public domain, and thus ran relentlessly on the ever-present TVs of my youth; this anti-capitalist, feel-good yet-frankly-unhinged diddy has wormed its way into my coal encrusted little heart. I cry at the end every goddamned time.
I have a very deep and wide relationship with this movie, and as with most film media I care about, I tend to entangle those I love in that appreciation as well. So one of my first dates with my now husband was watching It's A Wonderful Life! at the IFC in New York. As it happened, Donna Reed's daughter presented the film that night and did a little Q&A. During the Q portion, a person in the audience invited her to their family Christmas dinner. She accepted. It was very heartwarming and strange and not a way that real people behave, which was in keeping with… read more
see also: 15 questions with Alisa
Pitch Perfect: Every Christmas Day, it is my personal objective to watch this movie because it is my favorite college film of all time. The Cup song? The Riff-Off? The Titanium dorm shower scene? NODES??? This movie was so important to me that it’s the sole reason I auditioned for an acapella group at my school. And who doesn’t love a DJ Earworm musical number finale throwback to The Breakfast Club?
see also: 15 questions with Candice
I have two that come to mind: The first is more of a traditional Christmas film, White Christmas. I love Rosemary Clooney’s voice and Vera-Ellen’s costumes more than most things. The second film which is more of a recent tradition is the 2020 adaption of Emma starring Ana Taylor-Joy and Mia Goth. Emma is my favorite Jane Austen novel, I have always felt akin to the character of Emma… My mom loves Jane Austen so we watch this one together every year around the holidays.
see also: 15 questions with Emily
Aaron, Hit Factory Podcast
As Hit Factory's resident Grinch, I dislike the idea of a 'Christmas movie' or really anything that only goes down well around the Holidays. If it's not good any day you might throw it on, is it really any good? But I digress...
As the year winds down, there's optimal room for rest, relaxation, and (even better) guilt free rewatches. Not yet a yearly tradition, but one that I believe is due that honor every year henceforth after a recent road test: David Wain's seminal lampooning of the romantic comedy They Came Together, which is minute-for-minute perhaps the funniest film of the 2010s. Watch it with your in-laws!
see also: 15 questions with Hit Factory Pod
Nora, Thanks It's From
How The Grinch Stole Christmas is a classic. If you don’t watch it during the holidays, let’s have a quick chat about why. Even just to see Max??!! I saw Stuck In Love for the first time in December years ago, so by default it has become a December movie for me. Go forth and cry <3
see also: 15 questions with Nora
Iron Man 3. It counts as a Christmas movie since it takes place during the holiday and there is more than one Christmas tree in it and the plot is heavily around anxiety and smoke and mirrors with things not being what they seem—exactly what the Christmas spirit should be!
see also: 15 questions with Heather
1. It is a quintessential New York Christmas movie because the Christmas scenes have a little bit of melancholy to them (because The Little Shop Around the Corner is closing), so it feels more appropriate because the holidays are so melancholy for New Yorkers.
2. I think about Meg Ryan carving that turkey constantly and wonder when I'll ever be invited to a New York literary party that involves a full ass turkey on the charcuterie board.
3. My grandmother is a serial movie rewatcher (which I am not), so I've seen this about a dozen times with her. I truly love her more than I love anyone else, so I like to rewatch it because it reminds me of her.
see also: 15 questions with Matthew
When I was younger my brother was obsessed with Bad Santa and watching it on Christmas has become tradition. We've been watching it as our holiday movie for the better part of a decade. One year I suggested we switch things up with another alt-xmas movie, Die Hard. It did not go over well, sorry Bruce Willis.
see also: 15 questions with Elissa
I put on Sunset Boulevard on the 31st, it’s one of my all time favorites and an unexpected New Year’s Eve movie.
see also: 15 questions with Marissa
Love this! Would add Metropolitan (1990)—classic New York Christmas in a way that’s fast disappearing.
I am now obsessed w the Family Stone thanks to this list… where has it been all my life!!