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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Daniel Craig’s quirky sleuth Benoit Blanc is again the connecting thread in this twisty Knives Out case, but writer-director Rian Johnson boldly keeps him – and the murder – off screen for a good half an hour. Instead, at its heart is Jud (a superb Josh O’Connor), a young Catholic priest who butts heads with his new monsignor, Josh Brolin’s fire-and-brimstone Jefferson. Their flock – Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington – provide starry support in an unexpectedly moving exploration of truth and belief. Simon Wardell
Out now, Netflix
F1
Made in conjunction with Formula One’s governing body, Joseph Kosinski’s pit-lane drama smacks of the real thing. Filmed at actual grand prix alongside actual drivers, it’s a high-gloss redemption tale in which Brad Pitt’s rule-bending, has-been racer is asked to save a failing F1 team threatened with a takeover – but only has nine races to do it. Damson Idris (surely based on producer Lewis Hamilton) is the rookie with lessons learn from the older man. It’s great fun watching Pitt do his laconic charmer routine and the action is suitably spectacular. SW
Out now, Apple TV
Elf
Elf is a festive comedy that, in less accomplished hands, could easily have fallen into a vat of schmaltz. Luckily, Jon Favreau’s hardy perennial has an extremely high gag rate, and in star Will Ferrell a performer with exquisite timing. Ferrell plays Buddy, adopted as a baby by Papa Elf and as a grownup sent to New York to finally meet his birth father, Walter (James Caan). Christmas spirit incarnate, Buddy’s perpetual joy at the season, and endearingly unfiltered honesty, should make even the Scroogiest of viewers melt a little. SW
Saturday 13 December, 8.05pm, Sky Showcase
Paris, 13th District
Jacques Audiard’s tangled drama may be shot in black-and-white but there’s nothing monochrome about the young people it focuses on. Call centre worker Émilie (Lucie Zhang) rents a room to teacher Camille (Makita Samba), but their instant attraction soon dissolves into hostility. Meanwhile, Noémie Merlant’s mature student Nora is mistaken by her classmates for online sex worker Amber (Jehnny Beth), but then the two start to video chat … Romantic but realistic, it’s a film about wanting the same thing – but not necessarily at the same time. SW
Saturday 13 December, 12.45am, BBC Two
The Wedding Banquet
This remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 comedy drama covers the same hiding-sexuality-for-a-green-card theme but in these more open times has to double down on its premise. So we get Seattle lesbian couple Angela and Lee (Kelly Marie Tran and Lily Gladstone), who are in the expensive midst of IVF, and their friends, Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan), who hasn’t come out to his rich Korean grandmother. The partner-swapping is nicely farcical if lacking in real jeopardy, but it’s an interesting LGBTQ take on marriage and motherhood. SW
Sunday 14 December, 9.25am, 6.10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
The Holiday
The Winslet clan will be making several appearances on your telly this Christmas (see also Goodbye June and The Phoenician Scheme). Kicking us off is Mum, AKA Kate, as one quarter of a film that strives to prove that love on the rebound can work out. She plays Iris, who briefly quits snowy England for LA, with Cameron Diaz’s Amanda swapping homes with her after a breakup. The love interest comes from Iris’s brother Graham (Jude Law) and, rather less swooningly, Jack Black’s composer Miles. SW
Sunday 14 December, 8.30pm, BBC Two
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Frenetic fun for (nearly) all the family, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Oscar-laden comic sci-fi adventure never lets up during its two-hour-plus runtime. Michelle Yeoh harks back to her Hong Kong action film past as a struggling laundromat owner thrown into an increasingly surreal series of alternative universes in an attempt to defeat a powerful iteration of her unhappy daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). More exposition would be pointless – just go with the hotdog finger-verse, the anime-verse and, most hilariously, the universe where all the characters are rocks – and enjoy the rollercoaster. SW
Monday 15 December, 11.10pm, Film4
Dune: Part Two
Next Christmas should see the cinema release of the third in Denis Villeneuve’s space opera trilogy, derived from Frank Herbert’s novels. If No 2 is anything to go by, it should be worth the wait. Timothée Chalamet returns as Paul Atreides, heir to a colonising dynasty but also the prophesised liberator of the people of desert planet Arrakis, AKA Dune. Amid gobsmacking effects and intricate plotting, it’s a chilling tale of power and faith corrupting the best of intentions. Paul is the messiah, but he’s also a very naughty boy. SW
Wednesday 17 December, 10.25pm, Sky Cinema Greats
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
If this is the last we see of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, then it will prove a fine farewell. The eighth adventure for the undercover agent returns him to the seemingly impossible battle against AI force the Entity, which has gained control of most of the world’s nuclear weapons. But the ins and outs of the plot are beside the point when you get to witness exhilarating action sequences such as Ethan’s dive into a sunken Russian submarine or a vertiginous fight on a biplane. But arguably the best scene is earlier on, when US military and political bigwigs are given an increasingly comical recap of Ethan’s rule-breaking exploits down the years, plus all his colleagues who have died in the process. It’s a superb encapsulation of the absurdity of the whole M:I enterprise – and why we love it so. SW
Friday 19 December, 9.40am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
The Great Flood
An asteroid has hit Antarctica and melted it. For the residents of a Seoul apartment complex, that means a race to the highest floor before tsunamis hit them all. This frantic end-of-the-world thriller may have you working out how long you can hold your breath, as Kim Da-mi’s scientist Gu An-na and her young son Jan-in (Kwon Eun-seong) struggle through the waters. But the presence of her AI tech firm’s security operative Son Hee-jo (Park Hae-soo) hints at a weirder plot twist to come. SW
Friday 19 December, Netflix
Shell
In between seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale, Max Minghella directed his co-star Elisabeth Moss in another dystopian drama – this near-future horror about the pitfalls of chasing the perfect body. Moss plays Samantha, an actor who signs up for an anti-ageing skin treatment (derived, ominously, from lobsters). It’s run by a company owned by 68-year-old – though you wouldn’t know it – Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson). In true The Substance fashion, it all goes badly wrong, as the film gives in to its B-movie sensibilities and becomes increasingly, entertainingly silly. SW
Friday 19 December, Paramount+
Shrek
It should be obligatory to read your kids every fairytale you can get your hands on. Because denying them the full enjoyment of all the fable-based gags in this sublime animated comedy feels like a cruelty worthy of an evil stepmother. There is some originality here, too, not least Shrek himself (voiced by Mike Myers), a grumpy green ogre forced to save the kingdom from the petty Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). And let’s not forget Eddie Murphy’s Donkey, one of the greatest comic creations this century. SW
Saturday 20 December, 3.10pm, ITV1
Bad Santa
He’s an incorrigible alcoholic and womaniser with a foul mouth who hates kids. So not the perfect choice for a department store Santa. But Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) has a cunning plan: every Christmas Eve, he and his “elf” helper Marcus (Tony Cox) rob the mall in which they set up their grotto. Terry Zwigoff’s comedy is true to its unsentimental premise despite the tinselly trappings, and Thornton wholeheartedly embodies a man who – even when his heart is tugged by a lonely, bullied boy – is still a wrong ’un. SW
Saturday 20 December, 11.10pm, Comedy Central
It’s a Wonderful Life
It’s a Wonderful Life is so roundly celebrated as a festive staple that its reputation often camouflages the fact that this is a deeply weird film. The story of a man driven to suicidal thoughts by decades of relentless self-sacrifice, the bulk of it has precisely zero to do with Christmas. The fact that it can meander in such gloomy waters and still result in the most thrillingly life-affirming third act in cinema history is a testament to director Frank Capra and star James Stewart. Stuart Heritage
Sunday 21 December, 12.45pm, ITV1
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s biopic of Robert Oppenheimer is an impossible thing. It’s the story of the leading brain behind the atomic bomb, told in a non-chronological fashion that doesn’t care a jot whether its audience can keep up. Paced like a thriller, it contains plenty of spectacle, a truckload of career-best performances (including Cillian Murphy in the title role) and moments of all-out dread that will stay with you for years. It deserves every scrap of the commercial and critical success it got. It is also, however, the least Christmassy film ever made, so watch out for that.
Sunday 21 December, 9pm, BBC Two
Nativity!
Although its impact has been diluted by several sequels that failed to recapture its joy, the first Nativity! film still feels like a full-hearted magic trick. Ostensibly the story of a miserable teacher (Martin Freeman) who rediscovers his sense of self as his school gets ready for a visit from a Hollywood producer, the joy of Nativity! comes from the child performers, who walk the line between chaotically silly and so aggressively heartfelt that they will reduce you to tears. The closest any film has come to a school nativity, for better or worse.
Monday 22 December, 2.20pm, BBC One
Challengers
Luca Guadagnino makes films like a man running out of time. Last year he directed both Queer and Challengers. And while Queer was arguably the best work of his career, Challengers was by far his most successful. A tale of former tennis doubles teammates who find themselves competing against each other after years of differing fortunes, Challengers is also one of the sexiest films ever made. There’s a simmering tension at all times between Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist and Zendaya, the three leads, that culminates in a breathtaking final sequence. SH
Monday 22 December, 10.40pm, BBC One
Goodbye June
Film pick
Make mine a double Winslet. Not only does Kate Winslet produce, direct (for the first time) and star in this seasonal weepie, but her son Joe Anders wrote the screenplay. Helen Mirren plays the titular June, who is dying in hospital from cancer and probably won’t make it to Christmas Day. Her grownup children – reliable Julia (Kate Winslet), resentful Molly (Andrea Riseborough), nervous Connor (Johnny Flynn) and new-agey Helen (Toni Collette) – rally round, but the agonising wait for the end brings all the family’s imperfections to the surface. Although it’s almost machine-tooled to generate tears (death, cute kids, hugs), the great cast pitch it perfectly between tragedy and joy. SW
Christmas Eve, Netflix
Paddington
Paddington is now such an immovable national treasure that, whenever a beloved celebrity dies, social media fills with images of him literally escorting them to heaven. So it’s worth bearing in mind that Paul King’s film was a complete punt when it was made 11 years ago. At first, people complained about everything – from the slapstick comedy to the character’s weird design. But in the end, we’re all helpless before Paddington and his ability to show us who we want to be. Silly and sincere, hilarious and moving, this film has it all. SH
Christmas Eve, 5.30pm, BBC One
A Minecraft Movie
Think very carefully about the time you put this on for the kids. While A Minecraft Movie is fun and fast and colourful, effortlessly blending the lore of the world-beating video games with Jack Black’s high-voltage buffoonery, you may remember that its “chicken jockey” scene led to outright pandemonium in cinemas around the world. Putting it on first thing on Christmas morning, when they’re high on Haribo, will almost certainly lead to disaster. Much better to wait until after they’re groggy and full from dinner. SH
Christmas Day, 7.10am, 6.15pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
One year old and already a festive mainstay, Vengeance Most Fowl marks the return of Feathers McGraw, the silently evil penguin last seen in 1993’s The Wrong Trousers. The runtime here is beefed up from that, however, thanks to the sheer amount of elements it has to fit in. The Aardman animation crams in mystery, suspense, more shameless puns that you can possibly count (Anton Deck remains a masterpiece) and a surprisingly sharp critique of AI. All that wrapped in a charming faux-nostalgic bow. Irresistible. SH
Christmas Day, 11.40am, BBC One
Matilda the Musical
Although Danny DeVito’s 1996 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved novel has its strengths, Matilda the Musical feels like the film the book always deserved. Based on the stage musical by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin, it tells the story we all know – a lonely, self-reliant girl finds herself developing magical powers – while blasting it into orbit. The mood is heightened. The performances, especially Emma Thompson (literally) swinging for the fences as the abominable Miss Trunchbull, are excellent. SH
Christmas Day, 1pm, BBC One
Jaws
It is right and proper to end the 50th-anniversary year of Jaws with a special screening on terrestrial television. After all, this is probably how most of us encountered the film in the first place. Incredibly, though the shark itself has now fully aged into kitsch, Jaws has lost none of its power. It is still a work of remarkable tension, and John Williams’s score still manages to fill you with instant terror. The mayor’s Johnsonian insistence on carrying on as normal in the face of obvious doom is just as maddening as it ever was, too. A classic for a reason. A making-of documentary follows straight after. SH
Christmas Day, 9.15pm, BBC Two
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is arguably the pinnacle of the entire romcom genre. The storyline you will remember; Hugh Grant (playing a regular old bookshop owner in west London) falls in love with Julia Roberts (to all intents and purposes playing herself). But their differing statuses, and the attention of a clamouring media, work to drive them apart. However, on rewatching you’ll be struck by just how pin-sharp Richard Curtis’s dialogue is, and how it manages to fling the film forward even when the pacing starts to dawdle. Much imitated, never bettered. SH
Christmas Day, 11.15pm, Channel 4
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Rare is the film that can outpace a reputation as a cult classic and simply become a classic, but The Rocky Horror Picture Show is exactly that. A strait-laced couple enter the bizarre world of scientist Dr Frank-N-Furter and his muscular creation Rocky. In the space of a single evening they encounter musical numbers, sci-fi pastiche, horror, comedy and debauched excess. In short, precisely the thing you should watch to blow off steam after a day struggling to make polite conversation with the in-laws. SH
Christmas Day, 12.25am, BBC Four
Cover-Up
Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix/Redux
Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus’s profile of veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh shows the absolute necessity of people like him – professional irritants who expose what the powers that be would prefer to stay hidden. From the My Lai massacre in Vietnam to Watergate to the Abu Ghraib prison abuses in Iraq, Hersh has been the driving force in revealing some of the biggest US scandals in modern history. He does get things wrong, as this documentary makes clear, and he’s a hard man to warm to, but it’s obvious that the struggle for accountability and transparency is far from over. SW
Boxing Day, Netflix
Sinners
Films like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners don’t come along very often, especially now. A period vampire movie about the Mississippi delta in the 1930s that functions both as broad entertainment and an allegory about white appropriation of Black culture, Sinners was at once a critical darling and a runaway financial success. This might be down to how unashamedly sexy it is, or it might be down to its wildly good soundtrack. Either way, it’s a sign that people will still show up for quality projects. SH
Boxing Day, 11.25am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
English (US)