Dyer provides new movies to add to your Christmas watchlist

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Photo by Eli Dyer.

Eli Dyer, Editor-in-Chief

With quarantine keeping us within the confines of our homes this Christmas season, we have little choice but to turn to the most tried and true of Christmas traditions, watching hours and hours of Christmas movies. However, considering the extended time in our homes, we won’t be able to just watch the same movies as every other year. We need a wider variety of movies. Maybe they’re new movies; maybe they’re movies we never thought of as Christmas movies. In any case, we will need all the movies we can find in order to make it through these trying times. So here are some Christmas movies to add to your yearly watchlist that may not have crossed your mind:

Klaus (2019)

Klaus is an instant classic that was released as a Netflix original in November of 2019. It follows an entitled postman who is sent far, far north to a less than friendly territory and learns the meaning of friendship and giving. The unique animation and style provide a new take on a classic Christmas tale, the origin of Santa Claus.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

Another Netflix original, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a magical movie in every sense of the word. Fair warning, it’s a musical. However, the music is excellent, as expected from producer John Legend. It’s set in a magical and colorful world, which is punctuated by the costumes and visual effects. The big budget movie has a star-studded class, which can be seen through the quality performances.

The Happiest Season (2020)

Unlike the previous movies, The Happiest Season is not so much a children’s movie, but more of a Christmas romantic comedy for all ages. Also unlike the previous movies, The Happiest Season is a Hulu original, marking their foray into the original Christmas movie scene It stars Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as a couple who are trying to make it through family get-togethers. Although the show was certainly stolen by Daniel Levy and Aubrey Plaza, it’s still worth a watch, if just for the cast alone.

Die Hard (1988)

The iconic film starring Bruce Willis is technically a Christmas movie, as the events of the movie occur during Christmas time. Although probably not a movie for children, Die Hard is a classic action thriller about a man who gets trapped in a building with a group of terrorists and has to take them down. Although many have already seen this box-office hit, you may have forgotten that it is a Christmas movie, so it is perfectly acceptable to watch during the holiday season. Perhaps it will provide a break between the endless Christmas movies. Die Hard is available for free on Hulu and Amazon Prime with a premium subscription and HBO Max with a regular subscription. In the event that you have none of those, it is definitely worth the marginal fee that comes with renting a movie on any of those platforms.

Gremlins (1984)

Like Die Hard, Gremlins isn’t the most overly festive movie, but it still counts, as the main character receives the gremlin for Christmas. Unlike Die Hard, however, this is a children’s movie suited for the family. Gremlins is probably more festive than Die Hard, but it still breaks up the monotonous Christmas movies that all seem the same. Gremlins is available for free with a premium subscription on Sling TV, fuboTV, and Amazon Prime. But like Die Hard, it’s worth the fee to rent.

So the next time you and your family sit down to watch a Christmas movie, maybe you can suggest one of these options. Because as much as we love Elf and Home Alone, you can only watch the same movie so many times in a year.