Christmas TV & Movie Round-up

We began the Christmas break on the 24th by not leaving the flat and enjoying the time together. This trend continued through the big day itself - we plan to go out today and visit the sales for a bit - and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Our Yuletide viewing began on Christmas Eve by popping in the DVD of Home Alone (1990), a festive classic that I've not seen for years. What struck me on this watching was how little of the film is actually made up of Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) fending off the hapless burglars (Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci). Even though I must have seen the movie lots in my youth there was plenty to enjoy, and it had us laughing out loud at the hilarious set ups and prat-falls. A great way to ease into the festive mood.

The only TV Christmas special we watched that same night was Outnumbered, which saw the unlucky Brockman family trying, ultimately unsuccessfully, to go away on holiday. It was a nice little piece, with superb performances from Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, who would pop up again on Christmas Day. We happened to catch and laugh uproariously at a Best of Les Dawson 25 minute special too, just before bed.

As usual, I was up first on the 25th, excited to open my presents. While Andrew had his breakfast we watched the Disney animated TV special Prep & Landing (2009) and the two shorts on the DVD. The 22 minute piece sees elves Wayne and Lanny teaming up to prepare a house for Santa's visit, almost causing a disaster and then saving the day. It's a good natured film, with the highlights being the modern takes on the old-fashioned Santa scenario. So technology is imployed to scan for 'creatures stirring', to test the temperature of Santa's milk, and to knock out waking animals and children - this ingenuity is what the Tim Allen movie The Santa Clause only began to address. I enjoyed the piece, and the Operation: Secret Santa (2010) short as well, especially as the latter featured Betty White as Mrs Claus.

As with most recent years, the TV didn't stray away from BBC1 all evening. Following a successful and tasty lunch of chicken, potatoes, veg and all the trimmings, we podged out on the sofa with the festive edition of Top of the Pops, sadly still fronted by personality vacuums Reggie Yates and Fern 'Amazing' Cotton. Again, as usual most of the best songs of the year (for me) were either skipped through in the round up sections or completely missed out - where's Melanie C, goddammit!? There was a memorably weird performance from Will Young and his dancers, the women holding their pony tails aloft, and a nice albeit brief set of clips featuring the late Sir Jimmy Savile, and some atrocities from Olly 'punch me' Murs, some new group called Little Mix and the massively over-rated Jessie J. All in all a pretty piss poor effort.

Much better was her majesty The Queen in her usual 3pm slot, talking about the importance of family and doing her mother of the nation bit. Thank goodness Prince Phillip didn't take a turn for the worse.

Full of food and not really having the need or want to move from the sofa, we settled down with the rest of our fizzy rosé to watch Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), a movie we first saw on its release in 3D at IMAX. Even without the bells and whistles and size of a barn door extras, this is still one of the best non-Pixar CGI movies, full of loving sci fi references, subversions of cliches and utter randomness - an example of the latter being the President's decision to play a little of the Axel Foley theme, and later, the alien spaceships' password/dance machine playing Aqua's 'Roses Are Red'. The voice cast are excellent and the action is non stop, as are the laughs. A perfect way to unwind on Christmas afternoon.

Later on that evening we saw the sequel to 2009's animated TV special, The Gruffalo's Child, in which the titular protagonist goes on a hunt into the dark woods to find the mythic, scary creature of the Mouse, only to encounter Snake, Owl and Fox. It was pretty much the same storyline as The Gruffalo, except with the roles of Mouse and Gruffalo switched. I didn't feel that this special was quite as magical as the original, but it was sweet enough.

Another sweet Christmas special came in the form of Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, which wasn't as beautifully realised and pretty as A Christmas Carol, yet still had so much heart and warmth, mainly as a result of Claire Skinner's peformance as a strong minded mother dealing with the loss of her husband in wartime and the disappearance of her children along with the Doctor in a snowy winter wonderland where the trees are alive. She also comes across an odd group of people intent on culling the forest, and the extended cameos from Arabella Weir, Bill Bailey and some other bloke are dotty and wonderful. I'd quite happily see Skinner joining the Doctor on his travels once he leaves Amy (and sadly Rory) behind - he needs a strong willed older woman to counter his youthful (looking) exuberance.

I didn't write a full post on Strictly Come Dancing this year, mainly as I only dipped into it here and there, and only watched a couple, including the final, from beginning to end. I do wish I'd watched more though, as I particularly became entranced by Harry Judd's performance. And it seems the judges and rest of the public were too as he won over the dumb blonde Chelsee whatnot from something or other. Judd impresses with his well-toned body, polite demeanour and stunning dancing ability. I did watch the whole of Strictly Come Dancing Christmas which saw the return of all of the 2011 contestants in a disappointing finale, following one-off performances from Charlie Brooks, Simon Webbe, Debra Stephenson, Barry McGuigan and the deliriously potty Su Pollard. It was a camp spectacle that out-gayed even the series proper.

Final treat of the evening was the first return of Absolutely Fabulous (following an hour's break from the TV as Eastenders came on to depress the shit out of an undiscerning audience). The first two series of Ab Fab will never be beaten, and indeed I'd lost faith with the show so much I didn't even see Series 5, but I was hopeful for a return to form for this revival. I was pleased with the result. It may not be a classic, and the plot involving Saffy's ex-prison companion / Patsy's drug dealer was uninvolving stuff, yet the performances from all the J's (Jennifer, Joanna, June, Jane and Julia) were as if the show had never been away and the jokes on modern celebrity were well aimed. The highlight was of course the unnecessary yet somehow essential dream-cameo from Sofie Gråbøl as The Killing's Sarah Lund. Wearing her trademark jersey and hunting around Edina's bedroom for evidence, she made me ache for more (my thoughts on The Killing II will follow at a later date). The main annoyance with this and the next two Ab Fab specials is that now my 'complete' DVD boxset is no such thing! 

All in all a rather wonderful day's viewing complemented a peaceful, loving Christmas day with the man I love.