Celebrate: “Last Holiday” with Queen Latifah is an underrated treasure. She plays an introverted saleswoman who discovers she has a terminal illness, prompting her to break out of her shell and live life to the fullest (by blowing all of her money on a luxury vacation in the Czech Republic). – Natalie J.
Revel: “Die Hard.” What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with an action-packed heist film starring the supremely-talented Bruce Willis as the police detective John McClane and the mercurial Alan Rickman as the villainous Hans Gruber. Don’t think it’s a holiday film? Well, dear reader, the heist takes place during a Christmas Eve party. If the first film isn’t enough for you, try the sequel “Die Hard 2,” or, better yet, “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” which stars GZERO’s very own Willis Sparks. – Zac
Relish: Before “Die Hard” became the internet’s favorite “actually a Christmas movie,” another movie was quietly wrecking the holidays...in the best way. The 1984 cult classic “Gremlins” mixes adorable creatures, suburban chaos, and just enough menace to make it feel delightfully unhinged. Gen Z and Gen Alpha may recognize Gizmo from gifs and memes, but trust us: watching small monsters turn Christmas upside down is a holiday tradition worth rediscovering. – Nolan
Reminisce: Don’t sleep on the oldies but goldies. The more you can see the faint strings controlling the marionettes or the stunted movements of the claymation the better. If you ask me, the best Christmas movies are the classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (why did the OG Rudholph perpetually sound like he has a cold, is that why his nose is red?), “A Year Without a Santa Claus” or “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” – Riley
Explore: Classics from elsewhere. Hollywood may be the reigning holiday movie superpower, but if you want to dip into some classics from other countries, here are two: First, the 1959 Mexican film Santa Claus, a wild flight of fantasy, in which an outer space Santa battles a satanic demon sent to ruin Christmas. It's a cult classic throughout the region. Second, as some readers may know, in Russia, New Year’s Eve is often a bigger deal than Christmas itself. And it’s a tradition on Jan. 1 to watch the 1976 Soviet comedy The Irony of Fate, about a guy who gets so drunk at his New Year's Eve sauna bachelor party that he winds up in an identical apartment in a different city, where he finds true love. A screwball love story, but also a jab at the drab uniformity of urban life in the USSR. – Alex K.
