X-mas movie marathon

Bad Santa (2003)

You’ll be safe from the usual holiday-movie sniffles with this one; especially recommended for those who don't take well to festive sentimentality. Conman Willie T Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) takes up a gig as a store Santa with his friend Marcus (Tony Cox) playing elf, and the duo devise a plan to wipe the place clean before Christmas. Their biggest problem? Making sure this potty-mouthed, foul-tempered, alcoholic St Nick keeps his job.

Arthur Christmas (2011)

When Santa’s bumbling son learns that his dad missed out a little girl’s gift in his almost-foolproof method of Christmas Eve deliveries, he decides to take charge of the family business. With his grandfather, a non-conformist elf, a rickety sleigh and untrained reindeer, Arthur sets out on the all-too-familiar journey of an underdog saving Christmas — except this time it’s accompanied by clever animation and witty writing. 

The New Year (2010)

If you like your holiday movies loaded with epiphanies, sample this festival circuit star. A ‘most likely to succeed’ high school student Sunny (Trieste Kelly Dunn) winds up with an insipid small-town reality — working at a bowling alley and caring for an ailing father – which appears even more tragic with the visit of a former rival during the holidays. What follows is bitter, brutal, and occasionally blissful year-end introspection. Dunn’s well-measured, critically-acclaimed performance is another reason to watch. 

Happy Christmas (2014)

Jenny (Anna Kendrick) moves into her brother’s home — shared with his novelist wife and two-year-old son — to survive a messy break-up. After causing sufficient disruption, the party girl decides to salvage her sister-in-law’s mostly dormant creative life, with some help from her best friend Carson (Lena Dunham). No Xmas miracles come visiting this family; Happy Christmas is a true-to-life indie (shot like a home video) about the weariness of adulthood.