Netflix has Christmas movies galore available to stream this year. We sat through them all (yep!) to present to you the best of festive viewing. Happy Netflix Holidays from On TV Tonight!
10. THE HOLIDAY
What we think: Together with Love Actually, this would have to be one of the most popular Christmas romance movies. If you have watched it every Christmas since its release, you’ve watched it 15 times! The cast attached is superb and goes a long one to making this film a success. Cameron Diaz’s dazzling smile lights up the screen. In London, Iris writes a wedding column and nurtures an unrequited love for her colleague who announces at Christmas that he is engaged. In LA, the movie-trailers maker Amanda has split with her unfaithful boyfriend. Through a house exchange website, Amanda swaps her mansion for Iris’s cottage in Surrey for the holidays. In Surrey, Amanda meets Iris’s brother, and her holiday suddenly becomes very exciting. Meanwhile, in LA Iris meets her new next-door neighbour, the ninety-year-old screenplay writer Arthur, who helps her retrieve her self-esteem, and the film composer Miles, who is instantly smitten even though he’s in a relationship. Jack Black singing movie themes to Iris in the video store is absolutely hilarious. This film will definitely lift your mood.
Director: NANCY MEYERS
Cast: CAMERON DIAZ, KATE WINSLET, JUDE LAW, JACK BLACK, ELI WALLACH, EDWARD BURNS, RUFUS SEWELL, BILL MACY
9. A CHRISTMAS PRINCE
What we think: In this Christmas story we’re off to the small country of Aldovia… who comes up with these imaginary names! The location for the film was Romania, specifically the Peles Castle in the Carpathian Mountains. The setting is absolutely spectacular. We follow Amanda, a reporter who goes undercover as a tutor to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince. She gets tangled in some royal intrigue and ends up finding love – but will she be able to keep up her lie? If you find yourself hooked on this one, you can follow up with sequels A Royal Wedding and A Royal Baby.
Director: ALEX ZAMM
Cast: ROSE MCIVER, BEN LAMB, ALICE KRIGE, HONOR KNEAFSEY, THEO DEVANEY, DANIEL FATHERS, EMMA LOUISE SAUNDERS
8. LOVE HARD
What we think: Now, this one wasn’t too bad. It holds the attention as it’s a bit of a different story line than the normal Christmas fare, plus it’s got a rock-out Christmas song over the end credits – Very, Very, Merry Christmas. It’s light-hearted romantic comedy that chronicles the attempts to find love of hopeless romantic but eternally single LA journalist Natalie who thinks things are beginning to look up when she swipes right on a dreamy guy from the East Coast. Taking a leap of faith, she jumps on a flight to surprise her crush for the holidays, only to discover that she’s been catfished by Tag’s childhood friend. It gets pretty crazy from there, but these situations usually work out in the end.
Director: HERNAN JIMENEZ
Cast: NINA DOBREV, JIMMY O. YANG, DARREN BARNET, JAMES SAITO, REBECCA STAAB, HEATHER MCMAHAN, MIKAELA HOOVER
7. A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS
What we think: This film was never going to win any awards, but the setting in Petaluma, California is a bit different to the normal Christmas surroundings. Needing to acquire a California family farm to complete a business deal, CEO Amy Van Aston forces her son Joseph to seduce the woman owner into complying or else lose his lavish lifestyle. Mistaken for an expected ranch hand, Joseph accepts the job to infiltrate the situation and get the owner, Callie, to sell. Unfortunately, manual labour isn’t in his background, and neither is falling for a woman he’s trying to seduce. But this is a difficult task as Callie points out that money is not her priority. The lead actors Lauren and Josh Swickard are also partners off the screen.
Director: THEODORE MELFI
Cast: LAUREN SWICKARD, JOSH SWICKARD, ALI AFSHAR, AMANDA DETMER, DAVID DEL RIO, NATALIA MANN, GUNNAR ANDERSON
6. HOLIDAY IN THE WILD
What we think: Christmas in Africa is a refreshing plot here, plus we’ve got Rob Lowe in Africa, accompanied by elephants. That’s got to be a winner. Throw in Kristin Davis from Sex and the City and Rob Lowe’s son John Owen Lowe and it starts to look promising. Jilted by her husband on the eve of embarking on an African safari, Kate travels to the continent alone where she meets an elephant conservationist. As Kate was a vet prior to her marriage, she is able to use some of her skills from her former profession to assist with the care of the elephants and becomes enamoured with her charges. In some of the shots, the mountains seemed familiar and indeed it was the Drakensbergs in South Africa. Also used was the Game Rangers International Elephant Orphanage in Zambia. This film may not have won the critics over, but there is a message here about the plight of elephants in Africa, which can only be a positive.
Director: ERNIE BARBARASH
Cast: ROB LOWE, KRISTIN DAVIS, FEZILE MPELA, JOHN OWEN LOWE, COLIN MOSS, KGAHLISO SOLOMON, THANDI PUREN
5. THE KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
What we think: This film is quite entertaining if you like Santa to deliver you a Medieval knight for Christmas. After a sorceress transports medieval knight Sir Cole to present-day Ohio during the holiday season, he befriends Brooke, a clever and kind science teacher who’s been disillusioned by love. Brooke helps Sir Cole navigate the modern world and tries to help him discover how to fulfill his mysterious one true quest – the only act that will return him home. But as he and Brooke grow closer, Sir Cole begins to wonder just how much he wants to return to his old life. Some amusing moments in this one. Suitable for all the family.
Director: MONIKA MITCHELL
Cast: VANESSA HUDGENS, JOSH WHITEHOUSE, EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI, ELLA KENION, HARRY JARVIS, ISABELLE FRANCA, ARNOLD PINNOCK
4. HOLIDATE
What we think: Randomly meeting at a store return counter introduces Sloane to Jackson. Both tired of nightmare dates (him) and meddling family (her) during the holidays, they strike an arrangement, whereby they meet as a couple only during the holidays to make life at the very least tolerable. Slowly, so slowly, while scoffing at the cliches of romance (and to their surprise), their relationship grows into something deeper.
Director: JOHN WHITESELL
Cast: EMMA ROBERTS, LUKE BRACEY, KRISTIN CHENOWETH, FRANCES FISHER, ANDREW BACHELOR, JESSICA CAPSHAW
3. MIDNIGHT AT THE MAGNOLIA
What we think: Must have had a brain explosion when suggesting a list of Christmas movies! This one is very schmaltzy, romantic and all that goes with it. Maggie and Jack are childhood family friends and now as adults give dating advice together on their popular local radio show. When they find out their show is being shopped around for national syndication, their boss encourages them to introduce their significant others to their families for a live, on-air New Year’s Eve special. Knowing their fathers’ local jazz club, The Magnolia, is struggling financially, Maggie and Jack agree to the special as long as it’s hosted at the club. But when Maggie and Jack are both dumped before the big event, Jack suggests they pretend to be a couple and surprise their listeners with the news during a midnight kiss on New Year’s Eve! All doesn’t go according to plan, until it does, of course. Through the whole movie I’m wondering where I’ve seen Evan Williams, finally realising it was in the series Versailles. Totally different to this!
Director: MAX MCGUIRE
Cast: NATALIE HALL, EVAN WILLIAMS, ALISON BROOKS, STEVE CUMYN, PETER MICHAEL DILLON, HANNAH GORDON, OLIVIER RENAUD
2. LET IT SNOW
What we think: Okay, we’re down to No. 2 on the Christmas Movie List. But don’t fret, there are hundreds more on Netflix so you can watch one a day for all of the holidays. You know you want to! In a small town on Christmas Eve, a snowstorm brings together a group of young people, but the soon find their friendships and love lives conflicting. It’s all fairly predictable, but it ticks all the romantic comedy boxes for the teen audience it’s aimed at.
Director: LUKE SNELLIN
Cast: ISABELA MERCED, SHAMEIK MOORE, ODEYA RUSH, LIV HEWSON, JACOB BATALON MATTHEW NOSZKA, KIERNAN SHIPKA
1. YOU ARE MY HOME
What we think: Although this film is fiction, it is not far from the real-life situation that there are hundreds of migrant children missing their parents in the USA. This drama follows the relationship of a heartbroken woman and a young immigrant girl whose mother is arrested and deported by ICE agents, coming together just before Christmas. Alysa Milano stars as Sloane, a woman trying to keep children from going into care homes. Happy Netflix Holidays!
Director: AMANDA RAYMOND
Cast: ANGEL PARKER, EVA ARIEL BINDER, ALYSSA MILANO, CRISTIAN DE LA FUENTE, JOEL STEINGOLD, JOEL MICHAELY