TMW #4: The 10 best Christmas movies of the 21st century

Ranking our festive faves from the last quarter-century. Plus: a new look at Nosferatu and a Dwayne Johnson-themed Wingman Quiz

Ho ho ho,

And welcome to The (Christmas) Movie Wingman. There’s less than a week till Christmas-movie season is officially in full swing (though Hot Frosty would beg to differ…), so we’re counting down the 10 best Christmas movies of the 21st century to keep those cosy evenings in front of the TV suitably festive. Everyone knows the classics, but are there any true greats from the last quarter-century? Read on and find out (and if you’re reading on an email client like Gmail, but sure to click through at the bottom to view the whole list and test your Dwayne Johnson knowledge in the latest Wingman Quiz). 

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Thanks for reading, and let us know your Christmas favourites in the comments below. We’ll be back on Friday with reviews of Moana 2, Conclave and more…

Jordan (Matt and Matthew)

Christmas movie countdown

10. Kiss Kiss Bang (2005) / Iron Man 3 (2013)

Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (credit: ©Warner Bros Intl Television)

This list would be a bit of an empty cracker without Shane Black, the patron saint of action comedies set at Christmas (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight…). The writer’s directorial debut Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a Raymond Chandler-riffing neo-noir that gives us jazzy spins on Yuletide standards, naked go-go dancers in reindeer antlers and the none-more-Black line ‘Merry Christmas. Sorry I fucked you over.’ KKBB paved the way to Marvel for comeback kid Robert Downey Jr., who reteamed with Black for Iron Man 3, which may contain the most subversive moment of the filmmaker’s Christmas canon: a weaponised blue bauble that sends ill will to all goons. (ML)

9. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Ella Hunt in Anna and the Apocalypse (credit: © 2017 Anna and the Apocalypse Ltd)

This zombie Christmas musical has steadily built a cult following over the years since its release. But despite the ambitious genre blend and the presence of that bloke from the Nationwide adverts, it plays the concept straighter than you might expect, finding a surprising amount of heart amid the entrails. Anna (Ella Hunt) is in her final year of school and juggling various sources of angst. But things get all the more complicated when her small Scottish town becomes overrun with the walking dead. It’s easy to admire director John McPhail’s chutzpah in treading the tonal tightwalk, and despite Christmas movies being known for adhering to formula, AatA manages to frequently swerve expectations. (MM)

8. Krampus (2015)

Toni Collette and Emjay Anthony in Krampus (credit: © Universal Pictures)

Not to be confused with the deluge of duff direct-to-video Krampus slashers (Krampus: Origins, Krampus: Unleashed, Return of Krampus…), this cult favourite is writer/director Michael Dougherty’s follow-up to Halloween-themed gem Trick ‘r Treat. Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner and Allison Tolman are among the extended family members besieged by the monstrous anti-Santa after Max (Emjay Anthony) loses his Christmas spirit. Fun rather than frightening, it features fantastically gnarly practical creature design courtesy of Weta Workshop and a terrifically enjoyable sequence involving murderous gingerbread men. The Blu-ray cover, meanwhile, spoils the final twist so, er, maybe don’t look at that. (JF)

7. The Night Before (2015)

Seth Rogen in The Night Before (credit: © 2015 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.)

A festive bromance centred on the winning trio of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie, The Night Before splices the Christmas movie with the one-wild-night trope, surprisingly effectively. As the film hangs on a tradition - three pals get together every Christmas Eve because Ethan (JG-L) lost his parents on that day many years earlier - it’s easy to make it into a yearly staple of your own. You get NYC, a near-mythical party and a ton of recreational drugs, but there’s also just enough sincerity to warm the cockles at the most wonderful time of the year. Cameos from Miley Cyrus and Michael Shannon add a bit of extra sparkle. (MM)

6. Arthur Christmas (2011)

Bryony (voiced by Ashley Jensen) and Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy) in Arthur Christmas (credit: © 2011 Sony Pictures Animation Inc.)

Back when Aardman made a brief foray into CG animation, they quietly knocked out one of the best animated Christmas films of recent years. Like all of the Bristol animation studio’s finest output, Arthur Christmas feels distinctly British. Leaning heavily into the high-tech details of Santa’s flagship operation, it follows the Claus family as the current Santa gets ready to pass on the mantle. James McAvoy voices the title character, the bumbling youngest son with his heart in the right place; he gets to prove his worth when he sets out to deliver a mislaid present, just so that one kid doesn’t have to wake up disappointed on 25 December. The delight here is in the invention levels of the North Pole operation (the S-1 super-sleigh, elves with SWAT skills) and the voice cast that also includes Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie. (MM)

5. Klaus (2019)

Klaus, Alva and Jesper in Klaus (Netflix)

Forget this year’s dismal Red One - Klaus is the J.K. Simmons-plays-Santa movie to beat. Directed by Sergio Pablos, this traditionally animated Netflix ‘toon serves as an alt-origin story for the rotund toymaker. Set in the fictional, feuding 19th-century Nordic town of Smeerensburg, Jason Schwartzman stars as Jesper, an exiled postman who sees in the reclusive Klaus (Simmons) a way to win back his father’s favour, but finds renewed purpose in delivering Klaus’ handmade toys to the town’s glum children. Though liberated from most Christmas-movie trappings, it’s a big-hearted film that perfectly renders the spirit of the season and packs a genuine emotional wallop in Klaus’ tragic backstory. Best ask Santa for a fresh box of tissues. (JF)

4. Bad Santa (2003)

Billy Bob Thornton and Tony Cox in Bad Santa (Credit: ©2002 Miramax Films)

A grizzled misanthrope is redeemed by the charity of a wide-eyed child. On paper, it sounds like something that might air mid-afternoon on the GREAT! Christmas channel. On screen, Terry Zwigoff’s cult comedy (exec-produced by the Coens) is as vicious as a Boxing Day hangover, with a hard-drinking, self-loathing, Santa-suit-soiling performance from Billy Bob Thornton that makes the Grinch look like Dickie Attenborough. Some critics labelled it a one-joke movie, but with Thornton’s foul-gobbed ‘elf’ accomplice Tony Cox equally committed to freezing your cockles, it’s a joke that yields no end of dark, unseasonal laughs. (ML)

3. Carol (2015)

Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in Carol (© 2015 StudioCanal Limited)

Todd Haynes’ sublime Patricia Highsmith adap is among the best films of the century, so it’s a no-brainer inclusion on any best-Christmas-films list. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star as would-be lesbian lovers who lock eyes over the counter of a New York department store during the 1952 Christmas season. Mara’s Therese is an aspiring photographer, Blanchett’s Carol is a glamorous socialite in the midst of a fraught divorce from Kyle Chandler’s Harge, who aims to weaponise Carol’s ‘morally objectionable’ sexual proclivities in the custody battle for their daughter. A swooning, mournful melodrama with a stunning Carter Burwell score and exquisite Edward Lachman cinematography, it’s not the kind of lightweight Christmas fare that goes down well post-turkey, but should be considered a festive classic (NB. contains no actual carol singing). (JF)

2. The Holdovers (2023)

Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers (credit: © 2023 Miramax Distribution Services, LLC)

The newest film on this list looks several decades older, thanks to director Alexander Payne’s uncanny feel for 70s-style grit and grain. His tragi-comedy also taps deep into the melancholy that often thrives in the shadow of Christmas cheer, focusing on three lonely souls stuck with each other at a New England boarding school. Sarky, self-satisfied and spouting more classical references than Boris Johnson giving a leaving speech, Paul Giamatti’s Mr Hunham is the loveable curmudgeon who oh-so-slowly bonds with pissed-off pupil Angus (Dominic Sessa). But it’s Da’vine Joy Randolph who is the star atop the tree, her Oscar-winning portrait of maternal grief hitting its heart-piercing peak in the film’s stand-out party scene. (ML)

1. Elf (2003)

Will Ferrell in Elf (credit: © Warner Bros. Ent.)

No other Christmas film this century has quite so firmly secured itself in the canon. “On the set, we even stated that our goal was, ‘If we do this right, it’s going to be on TV every year,’” said director Jon Favreau. “And that was the goal, to make it look like it had been on TV every year.” It’s fair to say that Favs and co succeeded. The unpretentious charm of Elf rests on the green-felted shoulders of Will Ferrell, at his loveable-manchild best as the North Pole helper who finds himself a fish-out-of-water when looking for his real dad in NYC. It has all the trimmings a Christmas movie needs, plays as well to adults as kids, and features one of the best-cast movie Santas in Ed Asner. Only the most cynical cotton-headed ninny-muggins could fail to be charmed by it. (MM)

See also…

Five more you’re obliged to watch every year despite them not being good, actually

• Love Actually (2003)

• The Polar Express (2004)

• The Family Stone (2005)

• The Holiday (2006)

• Nativity! (2009)

Five more great films set at Christmas that aren’t festive enough to make the cut

• 2046 (2004)

• Eastern Promises (2007)

• Tangerine (2015)

• The Green Knight (2021)

• Spencer (2021)

Fresh Blood

There’s a new poster for Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu to gawp it, and we’re inching closer to a full reveal of Bill Skarsgård’s Count Orlok - aquiline nose confirmed! Two-thirds of Wingman have seen the film already, and let’s just say Eggers (and Skarsgård) do not disappoint. We’re also intimately familiar with this particular poster. Former Total Film readers might be able to guess why… (JF)

The Wingman Quiz: Dwayne Johnson-starring Sequels

Dwayne Johnson in Fast & Furious 8 (credit: © 2017 Universal City Studios Productions LLLP)

A Rock-themed Moana 2 tie-in? You’re welcome! Scroll down for the answers…

1. In what year was Johnson’s movie debut The Mummy Returns released?

2. Name the sequel in which he played a character called Elliot Wilhelm.

3. Johnson starred in two sequels in 2013. What were they?

4. Including spin-offs, how many Fast & Furious movies has DJ appeared in to date?

5. Johnson also plays his character’s own father in which sequel?

(Quizmaster: Matthew Leyland)

Quiz Answers

1. 2001

2. Be Cool (the sequel to Get Shorty)

3. Fast & Furious 6 and G.I. Joe: Retaliation

4. Six 

5. Jumanji: The Next Level