Bristol’s Ultimate Christmas Film Guide 2018

Not so long ago, Christmas at the movies was pretty straightforward. We’d get the crappy festive romcom for adults, the crappy Santa flick for kids and, just occasionally, a cash-in horror for teens and sickos. At least one local cinema would also dust down its old print of Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life that had been gathering dust at the back of a cupboard for the previous 12 months. If we were really unlucky, they’d dig out Miracle on 34th Street too.

That was before the advent of digital projection and event cinema. This year, there’s a veritable onslaught of tinselly entertainment pitched at punters whose resistance to schmaltz has been worn down by a merciless barrage of festive consumerism and yo-ho-hoery, commencing shortly before Halloween. Films that one might have hoped would disappear into the vaults never to return (Polar Express; Love, Actually) are now being rebranded as ‘classics’ that come back haunt us as the Ghosts of Movie Christmas Past. Hell, this year we’re not only being treated to a revival of Home Alone, but the Showcase chain is also bringing back the long-forgotten sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Banished this one from your memory? It’s the one with the Donald Trump cameo.

Now to be fair, not all Christmas films are awful. Plenty of the good ones are returning too. The Muppet Christmas Carol is arguably the greatest of all screen Dickens adaptations, and certainly one of the few family films it’s possible to watch with an actual family without using that empty Quality Street tin as a sickbucket. Joe Dante’s comic horror Gremlins caused a storm of controversy on release back in 1984 because kids were naturally drawn to its winning blend of adorable critters and agreeable nastiness. The BBFC’s original 15 rating deliberately excluded nippers, but this was later downgraded when the 12A cert was introduced, permitting parents to make their own judgements. John McTiernan’s Die Hard, with Bruce Willis and a scene-stealing Alan Rickman, is not only one of the all-time-great action flicks, but also qualifies for festive revival because of its snowy Christmas Eve setting. And while no one could accuse Henry Selick and Tim Burton of deliberately crafting a movie that could enjoy two bites of the annual revival cherry, their delightful stop-motion animation The Nightmare Before Christmas now pops up every Halloween and Christmas.

So where can you see this stuff? Joining the likes of The Grinch and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms in multiplexes are Die Hard (from Dec 5), Home Alone (from Dec 5), The Snowman and the Snowdog (from Dec 7) and It’s a Wonderful Life (from Dec 14).

Curzon’s historic Clevedon brings back Aardman’s enjoyable Arthur Christmas and also goes on location to Portishead’s Court House Farm on December 16 for screenings of the original Mary Poppins and The Greatest Showman in a cow shed. No, really.

Festive cheapskates will be overjoyed to find a series of free outdoor screenings (wrap up well!) in Millennium Square: Love, Actually (Dec 6), Gremlins (Dec 13), Polar Express (Dec 16), Elf (Dec 23) and Home Alone (Jan 3). Some of these films also pop up in the Everyman’s season of Saturday late night screenings, if you prefer the warmth and comfort of Bristol’s poshest cinema.

Arnos Vale Cemetery’s popular screenings of The Nightmare Before Christmas continue from Dec 8. Alas these are all now sold out, as is their screening of The NeverEnding Story on Dec 9.

There’s another opportunity to catch The Nightmare Before Christmas during Bristol Film Festival’s annual ‘winter wonkyland’ invasion of the Passenger Shed from Dec 23. The programme also includes Polar Express, Love, Actually, a double bill of The Snowman and The Snowman and the Snowdog, a singalong screening of Disney’s Frozen, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Gremlins, Mary Poppins, two showings of Elf and much more. In addition, the festival takes over the City Museum on Dec 19 for screenings of Paddington and The Holiday.

Event cinema for all ages includes the CBeebies Christmas Show for tots – Thumbelina – which is broadcast to cinemas for the first time on Dec 15. Simon Callow’s much-acclaimed one-man-show of A Christmas Carol, based on Dickens’ own public performances, arrives in cinemas across the city on Dec 11. And for those eager to see the ETA Hoffman story and Tchaikovsky ballet that inspired The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, there are two versions to choose from this year: Peter Wright‘s Royal Ballet production is broadcast on Dec 3, with plenty of encore screenings, and is joined by a relatively rare live broadcast from Moscow of the Bolshoi’s Nutcracker (we usually get a recorded version) on Dec 23.

We’ve categorised all the screenings below. Follow the links for times, trailers and further information. And go here for our comprehensive film listings.