The Christmas TV Strategy Guide 2023 #15

I mean, as a way to start the New Year this is pretty spectacular; opening with a banger of a musical, then three more outright classics of cinema (ignoring Home and Away, obviously, use that that time to get lunch ready or something) then ending with Worlds Strongest Man. It honestly doesn’t get much better than this!

Initially when I was getting the details together for today I saw First Contact and was like “oh, that’s a belter” so that made the list. Then once I have a title I check before and after just to see if there’s a double bill or anything, so then I saw another Star Trek on before it, then another before then before I knew it there was a whole day of Star Trek films! Not a bad selection either, having the trilogy of II, III and IV is a proper treat, then 2 that would probably have made better TV episodes, then the aforementioned First Contact which is a stunner! What a treat!

Another slightly off centre family classic. I’m not sure who looked at the original source material and thought “you know what, the guy who did Mad Max would be best for this and no mistake” but whoever it was they were 100% correct

Well that review properly nailed it; this really is a gloriously dumb comedy. A great central comedy duo with which to hang off all kinds of dumb adventures through time and space. It’s got a good sequel too!

A genuine 5 star double bill here, with two of the definitive westerns. What makes this really great is that the two are made at either end of two eras; Seven is at the tail end of the classic Hollywood period so still has that John Ford vibe to it, then Butch Cassidy is at the start of the New Hollywood era so has much more of a counter culture vibe. A rootin tootin treat!

1305 - ITV4

Alright, there isn’t much of a link between the films in this triple bill; amazing comedy followed by historical epic finished off with a decent John Hughes film. Other people may have more mileage with the John Hughes film but I’ve never been his biggest fan so I’m sticking with decent and there’s nothing you can do about it

Disney Animation has put out quite a few classics over the last few years and this is one of them. A good batch of songs, The Rock making for a good comedy sidekick, and a different setting than the usual generic fairy tale world. All of this makes for a great proper Disney film

When it comes to the Wallace and Gromit shorts this is definitely under the two classics of A Close Shave and The Wrong Trousers. It’s still great, mind, and doesn’t really put a foot wrong. But it doesn’t do that much different either, which is the most negative thing you can say about it really

More war films! Love me a submarine film so all over that first one, then a cracking Stanley Kubrick film.

Great sequels are one thing, but trilogy enders is something else entirely. That’s even harder to do, and would probably say that this is the best one. The casting of Sean Connery, essentially taking the original concept of the first film being “a James Bond film without the hardware” and having James Bond be Indiana Jones’s dad. It probably runs out of steam a bit towards the end but the ride there is one of the best and no mistake

The first series of this was brilliant, an out of no where surreal crime thriller with a great cast having tons of fun. The story told there seemed full wrapped up and done, but hopefully what we’ll have here will maintain the heightened reality of the first and pole it in new directions. But still, even if what we get is a re-tread of the first series that would still be more than welcome

Two more stone cold classics, again from just at the cusp of the New Hollywood era of the 70s. Bonnie is the film that kickstarted that era with its tale of anti heroes and violence. Heat of the Night is something else, a powerful film all about murder and racism just when the civil rights movement was in full force in the 60s. But the power that it has still works today, which is either amazing film making or an incitement about how little we’ve changed.

These two aren’t quite the seismic industry changers that the last two films were, but that’s fine as they’re both great films. Knives Out is a brilliant modern take on an Agatha Christie style murder mystery establishing its own master detective, and then Airplane! is just pure dumb fun with some of the funniest lines ever filmed. Like, literally, some of the funniest things ever