From the festive to the not remotely festive (the jury is still out on whether Die Hard is a Christmas film), here are 10 movies not to miss over the season
Monday, 22 December
Dr Zhivago, BBC Two, 2.55pm
Doctor and poet Yuri Zhivago is brought up in the family of Alexander Gromeko, whose daughter Tonya he eventually marries. But his true love is for the passionate and beautiful Lara, the mistress of a political opportunist. With the outbreak of the Great War, and with Moscow transformed by the Revolution, their romance is disrupted by the social upheaval surrounding them. David Lean’s Oscar-winning epic set in revolutionary Russia is based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.
An Cailín Ciúin, TG4, 9.45pm
This quietly devastating adaptation of Claire Keegan’s short story, Foster, was one of the best movies of 2022. Set in early 1980s Ireland, it follows Cáit, played by Caitríona Clinse, a young girl whose family send her to her mother’s cousin to be cared for while her mother has another baby. She is cared for by Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and her initially distant husband Seán (Andrew Bennett). It is a whole new world for the neglected child as she is ushered into an idyllic domestic tableau full of love and proper care. The first Irish language film to be nominated for an Oscar, An Cailín Ciúin is among the greatest movies ever made about an adult world seen through the eyes of a child. Read our full review.
This film became one of the great cult hits of 2012. it follows a record store owner and a journalist from South Africa who go in search of their hero, a man from Detroit, who, after releasing two albums which were monumental flops in America, became bigger than Elvis in South Africa. The artist’s name is Rodriguez and legend has it that his first album Cold Fact only ended up in South Africa because a girl was visiting her boyfriend and brought it with her. One interviewee comments that in everyone’s record collections growing up they had Abbey Road, Dark Side of the Moon and Cold Fact. Sinead Brennan. Read our full review.
Die Hard, TG4, 9.45pm
Yippy aye ay, eh, holly pluckers! Is it a Christmas movie? Who cares! Is it the best action flick ever made? Quite possibly. Bruce Willis is at his charismatic best as New York cop John McClane (he’s Irish, you know?) who is visiting his estranged wife in LA when he gets caught up in a hostage situation and battle single-handedly to save her and many more during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza. It’s an exhilarating shoot ’em up with zinging one-liners and a great supporting vast, including a truly villainous Alan Rickman and Bonnie Bedelia.
Christmas Eve
It’s a Wonderful Life, RTÉ One, 1.10pm, Christmas Eve
It ain’t Christmas if you haven’t watched this for the 74th time. Jimmy Stewart is at his career best as hard-working, smalltown man George Bailey, who falls into deep despair when he faces financial ruin and sees his dreams shattered. He even contemplates suicide until the comic arrival of his bungling guardian angel, Clarence, who shows him what life would have been if George had never been born. It’s one of director Frank Capra’s finest films and while it ventures into some very dark places, this tale of redemption and hope always shines all the brighter at Christmas. Read more about the fascinating background and making of It’s a Wonderful Live