The Christmas TV Strategy Guide 2023 #03

Kicking off the day with a mixed bag of stuff here; a family friendly John Carpenter film, a definitive World War II Prisoner of War film with Alec Guinness acting his socks off, then one of the best of the late 90s Teen Rom Coms that were being churned out around then. Its definitely a roller coaster thats for sure

There’s plenty of different versions of the Christmas Carol story and we’ll get to the best one in due course but just wanted to drop this one here as thats some cast there with Patrick Stewart and Richard E Grant in the mix. Of course, they might only be in it for like 5 minutes so buyer beware. And anyways, its only the starter for the main course which is World’s Strongest Man! Of course, traditionally you’d only watch the final on New Year’s Day but there’s no reason not to get in at the ground floor now watching big burly lads lifting big heavy things for little or no reason all across the festive season

BBC2 continues to resolutely ignore BBC4 firing out 1970s Christmas Specials left right and centre with a low key banger here; Porridge was always a sharp as a tack with it came to sitcom writing, and this episode is a great example of that.

A scattershot approach here from BBC4, going from the start of the 90s to the end of that decade then right back to the start of the 80s. Each one has its merits, from the music nostalgia to the great writing of Victoria Wood then ending with the charisma of Les Dawson. A strange triple bill but not a bad one at that

Well, we watched the first one so we may as well watch the second. Its hasn’t quite got the snap of the first film but, like the poster says, the magic (between Gibson and Glover at least) is back. Then we have the other end of the action movie budget spectrum, a Chuck Norris treat; this is the film that made him, or put him on the way to being, a household name and it still just about stands up. I mean, barely but its still a decent watch

3 stars is a bit harsh on this as this is a proper belter of a sci-fi action film; great twisty time travel plot, great action with great effects, I guess the main check mark for most people is that it has Tom Cruise in it? This was at the tail end of that period after War of The Worlds when everyone went off him and he wasn’t quite the draw that he was. The Mummy was probably the nadir of this period before Mission: Impossible - Fallout blew everyone’s socks off.

Here we go again, separating art from the artist one more time. This really is one of the best Christmas Specials any TV show has ever done, but these days we can’t have anything nice can well? Still, its presented for your consideration again this year

Honestly, you kind of forget just how many times your man Keanu has shaken up the action movie genre; he did it here with Point Break shaking up the buddy action film genre, then again with Speed moving action films away from the muscle bound man punchers ofyore, then with The Matrix firmly smashing Eastern film making techniques into Hollywood and then with John Wick taking the ‘unknown person is actually a bad ass’ genre to unprecedented levels of carnage. Where does Point Break stack up in that? Towards the bottom if we’re honest; not because its bad, far from it, but it doesn’t quite reach that iconic level of those other films.

A yearly release schedule pretty much ground this series into the dust, but you can’t argue with the first film. At this point, nearly a decade after Blair Witch you’d have thought that the found footage genre was played out but this film managed to push it into new areas making for a spooky film. Not as spooky as Ghostwatch but, then again, very few things are