Welcome to the Wasteland, and a very personal 12 of the Best. These are the best 12 movies I personally watched this Christmas season. Not all of them are Christmassy, but they are all great in their own unique ways!
Click on the podcast audio link below the images to listen! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Summary: Created using Gemini AI:
Christmas Movie Marathon Top 12
- A review of twelve favorite films watched during the Christmas season is presented.
- The review focuses on a selection of movies viewed during the holiday period.
- This is a regular segment featuring twelve films based on a specific theme; this time, the theme is Christmas movies.
Early Christmas Movie Marathon
- Early Christmas holiday involved a trip to Glasgow.
- Five movies were watched over a week, including two double features.
- The top four films on a list were viewed during this week-long movie marathon.
Rewatching Beloved Films
- The enjoyment derived from rewatching favorite movies is highlighted.
- A particular pleasure is sharing these films with someone experiencing them for the first time.
- This act of sharing beloved movies is described as a significant thrill.
A Christmas Film Retrospective
- A top 12 film list was compiled, with only 3-4 considered true Christmas movies.
- Other films were selected based on mood, with some having loose Christmas connections.
- The best film on the list, ‘Poor Things,’ was watched solo and featured Emma Stone.
A Five-Star Film Review: ‘Poor Things’
- A film review praises ‘Poor Things’ with a high rating of 81 out of 100 based on a personal rating system.
- The review highlights the film’s exceptional atmosphere and acting, particularly mentioning Mark Ruffalo and Emma Stone’s performances.
- The reviewer considers ‘Poor Things’ a five-star film, the only one on their list achieving that rating, and strongly recommends watching it.
A Cinematic Double Feature Review
- A five-star film, watched with a companion, is highly praised for its magical realism and portrayal of a love story.
- The second film in a double feature, also starring Andrew Scott, received rave reviews upon its release.
- The review highlights the film’s exploration of memory, childhood, adulthood, and features exceptional acting and music.
A Magical Film Experience
- A film review highlighting Andrew Scott’s exceptional performance, scoring 76/100 (4 stars).
- Features Paul Mescal and is described as a favorite film, despite having no narrative or plot.
- The reviewer plans to watch the film repeatedly, considering it a work of magic.
A Poignant Father-Daughter Holiday Film
- A film depicting a father-daughter relationship during a holiday.
- The narrative unfolds over an hour and 40 minutes, revealing emotional depth.
- A significant plot event occurs only in the final 10 minutes, leading to a powerful emotional impact.
Film Review: A Second Look at ‘Get Out’
- Initial viewing of Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ left the reviewer somewhat unimpressed.
- A second viewing, with a companion, revealed the film’s strengths, particularly the script and production.
- The reviewer suggests that a film’s impact can depend on the viewer’s mood and the context of viewing.
A Masterful Horror Film
- A review praises Daniel Collura’s performance and the director’s skill in Jordan Peele’s film.
- The film is described as a well-crafted horror, avoiding gore while maintaining suspense.
- The narrative is concise and impactful, keeping the audience guessing until the end.
Nostalgic 70s Screwball Comedy Review
- A 1972 film, “
- What’s Up, Doc?”
- , receives a positive review.
- The movie is praised for its charm, beautiful leads, great chemistry, and humor that remains enjoyable.
- Despite the common flaws of 70s screwball comedies (sexism, racism), this film avoids those issues, offering a naive and lovely viewing experience.
San Francisco Film Review: A Charming Classic
- The film is vibrant and set in San Francisco.
- It’s described as a consistently enjoyable movie, even without constant laughter.
- The reviewer gives it a high rating (74) but ranks another film higher due to its perceived superior quality.
A Nostalgic Christmas Film Review
- A 1983 Christmas film, ‘A Christmas Story’, is reviewed.
- The film depicts a child’s experience of Christmas in 1940s America.
- The review highlights the film’s focus on the atmosphere and feelings associated with Christmas, rather than solely on material gifts.
Nostalgic Christmas Film: A Cult Classic
- The film, initially a cult hit in America, gained momentum over time.
- It’s considered a nostalgic and beautiful Christmas film.
- Despite some acting critiques, its charm makes it a beloved choice for many.
A Classic Film Review: Shop Around the Corner
- A review of the film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and ‘The Shop Around the Corner’.
- Focuses on ‘The Shop Around the Corner’, a beautifully shot 1940s black and white film.
- Highlights Jimmy Stewart’s charming and witty performance as a shop clerk who falls in love through anonymous correspondence.
A Film Review: Love, Fiction, and a Classic
- A movie review focuses on a film where the protagonist is deeply in love with a fictional character.
- The plot involves a connection between the fictional character and a real-life individual, culminating in a satisfying resolution.
- The review highlights strong performances by the lead actors, despite noting some wooden supporting roles, and assigns a positive rating.
A Festive Film Rewatch: Home Alone
- A rewatch of the classic film ‘Home Alone’ after a decade.
- The film’s status as a top box office comedy and a Christmas classic is highlighted.
- The involvement of notable figures like John Hughes and Chris Columbus in the film’s creation is mentioned.
Movie Review: A Christmas Classic and a Pixar Adventure
- A rewatch of a Christmas film after a decade found it enjoyable despite some dated elements.
- A new Pixar film was viewed, deemed a traditional Christmas movie, and considered a box office success.
- The Pixar film, while successful, didn’t reach the highest standards of the Pixar genre.
Pixar Film Review: A Near-Perfect Production
- The film boasts strong characters, ideas, scripting, voice work, and animation.
- Despite its high quality, a certain indefinable magic element is absent.
- The overall assessment is positive but not exceptional, receiving a 71/100 rating.
A Colorful Biopic and its Star
- The film is a biopic based on a real person, taking liberties with the actual life story.
- It features a character who is depicted as a gambler and unreliable.
- The film is a musical from the 1970s, notable for its vibrant visuals and a star’s award-winning performance.
Film Review: Musicals and Classic Cinema
- A review discusses the musical aspects of a film, noting some familiar songs but criticizing the musical numbers as ‘grating’.
- The acting is praised, contrasting with the negative assessment of the musical interludes, highlighting a common issue in musicals.
- The review mentions viewing a William Wyler film and ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ (1946), indicating a broader interest in classic cinema.
A Christmas Film Retrospective: Prince Review
- A positive assessment of a film, ‘The Prince’, praising its visuals and photography.
- Critique of stilted acting, classifying the film as a ‘museum piece’.
- Final rating of 70, a borderline 4-star, despite unlikely re-viewing.
Nostalgic 80s Film Review: Desperately Seeking Susan
- A review of the 1985 film ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’, starring Madonna.
- The film, despite a low cinema score, is praised for its charm and watchability even in 2024.
- The reviewer highlights the soundtrack and Madonna’s vibe as key elements of its appeal.
A Retrospective on Underrated Actors
- Rosanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn are highlighted as underrated actors.
- Aidan Quinn’s near-stardom and his filmography are discussed.
- The speaker concludes a 30-minute review of their ’12 best for Christmas’ list.
Discovering Cinematic Gems
- Many films available on streaming platforms are considered average.
- A list of great films, including classics and recent releases, is provided.
- The author discovered four previously unseen films from the list this year.
Transcript: Created using Gemini AI:
Merry Christmas, everybody and almost a Happy New Year. Welcome to the wasteland today, I’ve decided to do a 12 of the best, which is a mainstay of the wasteland reviews, uh, normally I choose 12 films of a certain genre or of a certain actor a certain director and this time. I’m going to do a top 12 of the films that I’ve watched this Christmas season.
And by the Christmas season, I mean best films that I’ve watched since the decorations went up, which could be mid-november late November so, I’ve gone from uh, the start of my very early Christmas holiday this year when I went to Glasgow to visit my daughter, Josie and we both work in hospitality. So we took a super early Christmas break and watched 5 movies. Over the course of a week, 2 double Bills and one on its own, and I’m going to start with that because For the top 4 films on this list are from that week, um, when we spent catching up and playing a lot of games doing a lot of puzzles and having a lot of fun but also in the evenings having a few drinks and watching some of the best films from the last few years.
Ah, that my daughter might have missed Which is always fun for me, I enjoy watching films that I love again which somebody that hasn’t seen them. That’s one of my big thrillers as a movie fan is showing something great to somebody that hasn’t yet experienced it. So that’s my top 4 coming up and then, as we go down the list.
There’s only 3 or 4 films on the top 12 that you would consider actual Christmas films and the rest of them are films that I chose to watch because of whatever mood I was in and sometimes they feel like they’ve got an associated Christmas about them, sometimes absolutely not and they’re just films, but it seems like a good excuse to put a top 12 together. Do you forgive me if my voice is a little scratchy, I’ve had a bit of an illness. This Christmas as a lot of people will do General colds and things come into the air, but here we go and I’m going to break tradition with the 12, the best by starting at the top and not the bottom, so the very best film that I saw this Christmas periods was showing uh, poor things.
starring Emma Stone, the multi Oscar winning film to. My daughter Uh, for the first time and this was the film that we watched solo. So everything else was related as a double bill.
And this was the one that she hadn’t seen that and I thought she should see and I’m a huge huge fan, I’ve seen it 5 times on the decimal rating. If you’re not familiar, I have my own rating system. Where I rate every category, you can possibly write a film out of 10 acting, directing costume atmosphere, music etcetera etcetera until you get a score of a 100 and poor things scores, 81 for me, which, by my reckoning, makes it a 5 star film.
Anything 8 year above is 5 star and it’s the only 5 star film on this list. Reasons that I love poor things. It’s just a dream of a movie everything about it is designed to AT the atmosphere is sublime.
The acting is out of this world Mark Ruffalo and Emma Stone. I’ve talked about it before, so I don’t need to talk about it that much again if you haven’t seen poor things. Do yourself a favourite and go and watch It?
It’s one of the Bona fide 5 star films of the last few years, and I’m just absolutely in love with it and I’m glad that I got chance to, uh, watch it with somebody that I love, who also loved it and we had a great time watching it number 2 on the list. Is the second film that we watched in a double bill of Paul mescal films? It also stars, Andrew Scott and that film is all of us strangers which came out last year and had rave reviews.
Some people that love cinema and I’ve talked about this one as well. It contains a lot of magical realism and it’s just a beautiful love story, beautiful voyage into a mum’s mind and. What could have been if you’d made different choices?
And
How somebody differentiates between their memories of childhood and their memories of being an adult, it’s an absolutely beautiful film that contains great music and great-great-great great-great acting. Second to none. Paul mescal doing a northern accent can’t praise it enough.
Andrew Scott’s pure screen presence and empathy as an actor absolutely shining through and that would score 76 on the decimal system, which is a high 4 Stars, the third film is also a Paul mescal and the first film we watched as part of the double bill and that’s after Sun. Which It’s become quietly one of my favourite films of the last few years. I’ve only seen it twice.
And this was the second time, but even on 2 watches, I know that I will watch it over and over again, I find that it’s a work of magic that rarely, if ever I can’t think of many and other examples. A film that has no narrative. And no destination, no plot, nothing happens and yet everything happens.
So you understand everything about this father and daughter relationship in an hour and 40 minutes of watching them live their lives on a holiday in the Sun that has survived as a memory for the daughter after her father has gone, but you never really Truly, see what has happened or why you just Intuit it and you understand from the emotion, such an emotional film. You might be born for an hour and 20 minutes. Watching it going well, when is it?
When is something going to happen and it just doesn’t until the last 10 minutes and then it all falls into place and you become an emotional wreck, watching it Cos it, it’s astonishing, and that would receive 75 on the decimal system. Which is also a very strong 4 star film. Um, it was a film worthy of much more attention awards wise than it got.
I know, a Paul mescal was nominated for an Oscar, but, um, it was a strong year and I think he will have his day in the Sun, pod and the pun, if that is really a pun. Phone number 4 on the list is Jordan peel’s directorial debut. Get out which when it first was released.
I saw it and was a little bit underwhelmed because I couldn’t really understand all the praise it was getting on the second time of watching it see, I knew that there was enough momentum behind it to make it a great film. And maybe that I’d not watched it, right? I think that that’s a thing that depending on your mood, the first time you watch something you can kind of get a general impression that something is good, but you might not get the full feeling that it’s great until you watch It again.
And this was one of those for me because I came to. It the second time having someone else to watch It with. With full appreciation of the skill of the scripts, the the way the production was put together.
Daniel collura’s performance and the skill of the director mainly in Jordan. Peel of telling this story in such a way where you are expecting a horrivi, but not something gory, which is how I like my horror films. And there’s several directors at the moment that are really good at doing that and Jordan peel, it’s one of them, and I think this is his best film quite rightly um, critically claimed.
It’s just very powerful, very concise, very well-crafted and very lean. Um, it tells the story to a, uh, uh, a perfect pitch. I’m watching it with somebody else it it also has a guessing game quality where, for the first hour, you are still unsure where it will ultimately go.
And I think that’s a great thing for a mystery, a thriller, a horror movie to have. And so I’m giving that 73 under the cinema, which is a good ER. 4 star score as well number 5, is an nostalgia trip for me and I watched this just a few nights ago when I was feeling at the peak of being unwell, and that’s a film from 1972 called what’s up, duck starring Ryan O Neil and Barber striken?
Now, a lot of screwl comedies were made in the 70s. They’re quite hard to watch because they contain a lot of bad jokes, all of sexism, a lot of racism and this one doesn’t it’s just purely very naive, very lovely. The 2 leads just look so beautiful and they have great chemistry and it’s really funny, it’s still really funny, I remember as a kid watching this film and loving it for reasons that I didn’t know why.
It’s a very colourful, it’s set in San Francisco. It’s a total ride, it’s One of those films that you can’t stop smiling the whole way through even if you’re not laughing out loud, Barber Streisand is so utterly charming.
And
Beautiful in the way that she was when she was younger that she I mean, she was beautiful when she was older in that same way, but when she was younger, she just had a sparkle in her eyes that was irresistible and yeah, I love this film for very sentimental reasons. And I wish more films that were made with that kind of sensibility could live up to it and I rated a strong 74, so it’s actually it’s higher than get out, but I’m not placing it high in the list and get out because I think get out is probably a better film and my reasons for liking what’s up.
Duck are very personal, so I’m placing it fifth. Number 6 was a film that I’d never seen that and I was looking for something Christmasy that I’d never seen, which you know, there’s not very many good ones that I haven’t seen, but this film from. I think it’s 1983 called a Christmas story um.
Stuck out on streaming erm, that’s a recommendation. And you know, I really didn’t know anything about it other than I knew. It was quite well reviewed, quite highly rated on IMDb, so I gave it a go and I absolutely loved it.
ER, it’s about a child growing up in, uh, I think it’s New York or roundabouts in the one940s and everything that one940s Christmas in America meant to a child. And their expectations and relationship with parents and adults versus the joys of Christmas, which wasn’t all about the presence, it wasn’t all about getting things, it was about the vibe and about the decorations and the feel of it mean Christmasy in the snow. So, yeah, it’s a very Christmasy.
Film if you haven’t seen it and I recommend it, I don’t think it got a big UK. Release our boost back in the 80s. I certainly don’t remember it being part of my childhood at all, it wasn’t on my radar at all, so from what I understand it’s a film that was shown in America as like a cult hit.
And then Gallic.
Momentum over the years, just like, oh, this is the film we want to come back to every Christmas, to remind us of what Christmas is like and if you’ve never seen it go and watch it and you’ll see how Christmas seeing it is, it just feels so nostalgic, so beautiful. In that way, and I gave that A72 on the decinema, which is a strong but borderline, 4 star There’s some things about it that aren’t completely convince saying, a lot of the acting is very kind of be movie. Um, but it’s still got a lot of charm and if you’ve never seen it, you’ll love it number 7 is also a Christmas movie ER from a long time.
Ago, and this was AA mission on my list of old movies that I’d never seen I love Jimmy Stewart. And it’s a wonderful life with something that I used to watch religiously every year. I used to go to my favourite cinema and watch It on Christmas Eve.
Midnight show. So it was like my religion to go and see Jimmy Stewart at Christmas. And that was it’s a wonderful life but this year I didn’t watch It someone for life.
I watched the shop around the corner. Which I’d heard a lot about and just never watched and yes, it’s a beautifully shot 1940s, uh, black and white.
Um
Yeah, nostalgia piece Jimmy Stewart is doing his thing, he’s very charming. He’s very witty, he’s playing the kind of little man. He’s AA shop Clark who falls in love with a girl that he’s having a pen, pal anonymous correspondence with and he doesn’t realise that it’s the same woman that has been given a job in the store that he’s working in.
That he doesn’t get on with so he’s completely head-over-heels in love with a fictional person that he’s never met and hates. The person that is really that person in real life and it kind of comes together at the end in a beautiful, um, kind of Frank taper away. It’s not Frank capabila, that’s directed it.
But it feels like it has that same kind of front capro magic about it, and it’s just very satisfying movies that were good from that periods and tended to have great scripts and yes, it’s it’s a very mannered, a lot of the support acting as very wooden, but Jimmy. Stewarts
And um.
It’s Margaret Sullivan in the female lead, really carry it through and I loved watching that and ticking it off my list. And I also gave that 72 on the cinema, which is perfectly respectable number 8, was my one, go to film in the Christmas periods that you know, I looked down the list of films. That I watch every year.
Things like die hard and scrooged and Gremlin’s and I just didn’t feel in the mood for any of those you know, the grinch. Um, really good films that I feel like I’ve watched too much, so I went for one that hadn’t seen for 10 years and that is the classic home alone with Macaulay Culkin and all the 80s actors um. John Candy turning up before he died and yeah, John Hughes made some marvellous marvellous films and he kind of helped write the script for this, but it was directed by Chris Columbus, who went on to direct some of the Harry Potter films and you know?
It’s, it’s still to this. Day, one of the top box office comedies of all time, and it was the 1 film that I kept seeing. Hints to an illusions to that it is a hot at Christmas classic from hollywoods this year.
So it was my fifth time that I’d watched it, but the first time for 10 years and I still think it’s a great fun film to watch it still kind of stands up a few of the jokes yeah, are a bit dated a bit of a style is dated. But it’s still a heck of a lot of fun and it just feels really, really Christmasy so I’m glad that I watch that again this year and I give it A71 on the decinema, so it’s a borderline 4 star, but still deserves that rating number 9. Was a new film for me first watch?
And uh, it feels a bit traditional. Christmas in the last 1520 years to watch a pixar and I didn’t want to go back and watch an old pixar so I watched inside out too. Which is a box offer hit from this year, huge box office.
It one of the most successful films, money wise this year I thought it was fine. I thought there was nothing wrong with it. It doesn’t live up to the very best of The pixar genre picks are over.
I should say. But it’s still really well put together, there’s some great characters, some great ideas, some great scripting, some very good voice work and the animation is great, as you would expect from pixar and it’s just yeah, it’s a bundle of joy, it just doesn’t feel completely great. There’s something missing.
That’s intangible, that you can’t quite put your finger on some of the magic from the best pixar films just isn’t there, but it’s hard to define what is missing. I liked it, but I didn’t like it enough to give it more than 71 on the cinema. System, since again, it’s a borderline 4 star, uh, number 10.
He is an old musical and I think if you’re ever going to watch a musical, the time of year to do, it is at Christmas. You know, you’ve got some some great things like the sound of music and Oliver that I’ve watched a bit too much so I didn’t go back. To them, and I watched something that I’d never seen again, and this was after watching what’s up, doc with Barber stridesons.
And I was curious about her, so I looked at her IMDb CV, and saw that I’d never seen funny girl, so I put on funny girl, which is the story of um, Fanny Bryce, ER, real life, vaudevillion, a sung and dance woman who worked for the freed follies. In the 1920s and 30s and then went on to be a bit of a movie star. Before dying, quite early.
Yeah, that’s it a fascinating. I think you’d call it a biopic, because it’s based on a real person, so why not, it’s a biopic, essentially, but as I understand it took a lot of liberties about her real life and about the character played by Omar Sharif, who she falls in love with and turns out to be a bit of a gambling card and a bit of a heel. Um I like watching a masherrief if he was always good, good quality.
But at Barber strikesen, the quirkiness For the year that it was made in the 70s, and you know she was such a star and she won the Oscar joint with Catherine Hepburn for the line in winter that year when they used to regularly give joint awards for acting to people that they couldn’t really split between comedy and serious roles. So Barbara strize and got the kind of comedy role. Oscar that year and it was much deserved, she’s by far the best thing about the film, it’s a musical, so it’s a very colourful.
The songs are okay, that you know, it’s got the way we were and memories in it and not the way we were. That’s from something else, but memories is from funny girl. Absolutely, it is Um and a few of the tunes you’d recognise, but, it’s not for the musical numbers that you watch it in fact, they’re kind of grating.
it kind of takes away from it being a truly great film. Every time they start singing, it just becomes like no I was enjoying the acting. Actually, why do you have to sing?
Which is often the case for musicals. But watching Barber streison’s um is great and it’s a William wireller film which you know, he’s a director that people talk about a lot from that periods that I don’t know an awful lot about. I also watched the best years of our lives, which is from 1946.
And
Is still rated, one of the highest films of the 40s. What 9 Oscars? I thought it was really, really dated but funny girl, I thought still had some quality that you might want to watch it in 2024, nearly 25, so I gave funny girl 70A very borderline 4 star film and I think it gets that because of the production design and the performance of Barber strikesen.
Everything else is a little dated. It’s a film that’s not for everybody. In the modern era, number 11 is also the William minor film and the best years of our lives so, this uh, is a film that stars a lot of people from that era that have kind of gone from the modern memory.
That it’s it’s about vets returning from World War 2 and the relationships that they have with their families and girlfriends and things once they return home and how difficult it is, but it’s just super super dated. You know, it’s like nearly 80 years since that film came out.
And
The best thing that I can say about it is that it still really looks good. The Prince is good, the visuals, the photography, but you know, the acting is very stilted, very wooden.
And
It’s kind of a museum piece, but I still liked it for all those reasons. And it’s something that I can appreciate rather than love. So, I’m glad I’ve ticked it off the list, I’ll probably never ever watch It again.
But I still rate it in its total impression as a 70 say, borderline 4 star. Not a bad film at all and my final film on the list of my 12 of the best films I’ve watched this Christmas season, I’ve downgraded filmed my watch for the second time, which was deadpool and Wolverine. Uh, I think that’s a borderline 70 on the cinema as well, but I downgraded it for something more nostalgic, which when I watched it.
I just really loved watching it again. It’s only a 68 on the cinema. Because well, it’s desperately seeking Susan starring Madonna and Rosanna, rocket aid and Quinn and a bunch of bee star nobodies that no one ever saw again I absolutely loved this film when I was a teenager.
It’s one of the first films that I recorded on vhs and watched over and over again. I loved the score. I loved the soundtrack.
I loved Madonna, I loved her vibe, I didn’t really understand why I loved it at the time and I’m amazed that it’s still a watchable film in 2024 going into 2025, but it is, if you never saw desperately seeking Susan, do yourself a favour and have an 80s nostalgia trip. It’s from 1985. It’s got so much charm.
Everything bad about it is still good in that kind of catch way you’ll laugh at the reasons that it’s bad and you love the reasons that it’s good Rosanna, arket, I think, was a very underrated actress as was Aidan Quinn. Aidan Quinn had a lot of star quality, and he was in He was SO close to being a big star, but never quite made it and I just love watching him do 80 stuff. He’s kind of in that bracket with Eric stalts and people like that you know that you know they nearly made it big time, but they only made a handful of like.
Watchable films So that’s it. I’m coming up to the 30 minute mark which was my target for finishing talking about it. Yeah, that’s my 12 of the best for Christmas 24.
It’s a weird list and if you have listened this far, thank you very much. I wonder what you listen to while watched, I should say in this Christmas period anything that blew your mind. I’d like to think that you watch 1 or 2 things that you’d never seen before, maybe something older.
And I Hope that you didn’t just watch the main films that are available on Netflix or Amazon. Because most of that stuff is very, very average, is going to leave you lacking, but there have been some great films in the last few years and some of those are on this list and there are some great classic. Films still to be discovered Ah, as I have discovered 4 of the films on this list this year, I had never seen before and I’m glad that I did.
So that’s it, please to leave comments if you have the time and thank you for listening to the wasteland it’s a million ways to waste the day and I hope in 2025. I’ll be able to leave you more reviews more regularly. And in the meantime, keep watching movies keep enjoying the culture that you absorb and all the best and a merry great happy 25 coming up bye for now.
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