xmas, a list by Jef Westerveld

74

/9643/

74

/2357/

4.2

/1758488/

94

/428/

85

/1999/

95

/63/

4.0

age 16+

Washed-up revolutionary Bob exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years and she goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her, father and daughter both battling the consequences of his past.

70

IMDb 32

7.6

/5670/

76

/169/

73

/38/

3.4

/37913/

77

/180/

97

/1641/

61

/45/

1.5

age 13+

Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it's never too late to find love and follow your dreams.

71

IMDb 42

7.0

/44810/

71

/3138/

71

/415/

3.5

/216445/

87

/214/

85

/472/

66

/37/

2.0

age 15+

A former Army Ranger and struggling father turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname 'Roofman'. After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys “R” Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in.

?

IMDb 70

5.7

/4651/

63

/96/

age 10+

Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London to New York in time to spend Christmas with their families.

63

IMDb 84

6.7

/7457/

68

/304/

67

/83/

3.3

/25413/

67

/87/

71

/110/

54

/27/

2.0

age 15+

Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.

87

IMDb 87

8.2

/989584/

80

/33246/

80

/11163/

4.2

/3771862/

93

/513/

91

/6024/

90

/69/

4.0

age 15+

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

71

IMDb 91

7.5

/576761/

75

/15892/

71

/7213/

3.5

/964042/

64

/229/

72

/927665/

55

/41/

3.5

age 15+

Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

79

IMDb 95

7.7

/937145/

80

/56129/

79

/28998/

3.8

/2572969/

80

/202/

82

/38785/

65

/37/

4.0

age 7+

Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths—and about the villain who's to blame.

72

7.8

/733057/

78

/37769/

74

/12187/

3.9

/2465027/

66

/116/

81

/30226/

63

/9/

2.5

age 10+

Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.

84

7.9

/241115/

78

/9596/

76

/2318/

4.2

/1471273/

97

/366/

92

/536/

82

/61/

3.5

age 15+

A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.

82

8.1

/1210988/

81

/32889/

79

/16647/

4.0

/2057081/

96

/203/

89

/19221/

75

/39/

3.0

age 12+

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.

78

8.2

/913486/

81

/24883/

81

/12666/

4.3

/1941622/

81

/248/

87

/5970/

70

/53/

2.5

age 18+

Keller Dover is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street.

67

6.7

/158155/

71

/13641/

76

/3311/

2.9

/419165/

62

/149/

74

/1212/

57

/29/

3.0

age 14+

Two highly trained operatives grow close from a distance after being sent to guard opposite sides of a mysterious gorge. When an evil below emerges, they must work together to survive what lies within.

79

8.2

/1019820/

82

/32769/

78

/11932/

4.0

/1119151/

94

/89/

94

/27465/

72

/14/

2.0

age 16+

NYPD cop John McClane's plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when, minutes after he arrives at her office's Christmas Party, the entire building is overtaken by a group of terrorists. With little help from the LAPD, wisecracking McClane sets out to single-handedly rescue the hostages and bring the bad guys down.

91

8.7

/1371221/

85

/25752/

84

/13899/

4.5

/1908257/

93

/167/

97

/29224/

92

/21/

4.0

age 18+

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

45

5.3

/13836/

59

/1191/

55

/218/

2.5

/74798/

35

/54/

27

/277/

38

/12/

2.0

age 13+

Claire Clauster is the glue that holds her chaotic, lovable family together at the holidays. But this year, after planning a special outing for them, they make a crucial mistake and leave her home alone. Fed up and feeling under appreciated, she sets off on an impromptu adventure of her own. As her family scrambles to find her, Claire discovers the unexpected magic of a Christmas gone off-script.

54

6.2

/157044/

68

/11808/

70

/2881/

2.3

/365783/

30

/186/

89

/2497/

34

/35/

1.5

age 12+

After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

45

5.6

/13356/

65

/2931/

65

/442/

2.4

/20865/

31

/29/

34

/104/

38

/8/

1.0

age 13+

Now that Dan's assassin days are behind him, all he wants for Christmas is quality time with his kids. But when he learns his daughter has her own plans, he books a family trip to London—putting them all in the crosshairs of an unexpected enemy.

81

7.7

/660935/

76

/21134/

75

/11234/

4.0

/1691873/

90

/264/

77

/27621/

79

/40/

4.0

age 18+

Over the course of a decade, editors of the San Francisco Chronicle entice themselves in the murders of the Zodiac Killer. However, as time runs its course, interest in the case dwindles in the eyes of the professionals. The Killer stops interacting with the public. However, believing he has the answers, an amateur cartoonist from the initial sightings races against time to prevent what he believes is another murder.

80

7.7

/741530/

79

/43489/

78

/21737/

3.9

/2111115/

88

/259/

74

/1869818/

81

/38/

3.5

age 12+

When Harry Potter's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, he becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools—the Triwizard Tournament. But since Harry never submitted his name for the Tournament, who did? Now Harry must confront a deadly dragon, fierce water demons and an enchanted maze only to find himself in the cruel grasp of He Who Must Not Be Named.

83

8.3

/402741/

81

/8002/

80

/4562/

4.3

/517177/

92

/131/

93

/1068/

77

/30/

3.0

A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.

53

5.6

/65750/

62

/5481/

63

/1121/

2.6

/117087/

64

/111/

35

/697/

57

/24/

1.5

age 16+

When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.

76

7.5

/416958/

73

/10192/

74

/6746/

4.0

/1135351/

76

/165/

74

/6980/

69

/34/

3.5

age 18+

After Dr. Bill Harford's wife, Alice, admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he is in over his head.

87

8.2

/1343416/

82

/37708/

81

/19646/

4.2

/4076738/

94

/160/

89

/19800/

90

/30/

4.0

age 10+

An insurance salesman begins to suspect that his whole life is actually some sort of reality TV show.

75

7.7

/653994/

78

/38751/

77

/19990/

3.7

/1763062/

76

/289/

85

/18966/

65

/42/

3.0

age 12+

Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for immortality. But with Harry's beloved Dumbledore dead and Voldemort's unscrupulous Death Eaters on the loose, the world is more dangerous than ever.

59

6.9

/450134/

73

/23044/

68

/10365/

3.6

/1047507/

35

/57/

62

/19689/

46

/22/

2.0

age 10+

Instead of flying to Florida with his folks, Kevin ends up alone in New York, where he gets a hotel room with his dad's credit card—despite problems from a clerk and meddling bellboy. But when Kevin runs into his old nemeses, the Wet Bandits, he's determined to foil their plans to rob a toy store on Christmas Eve.

81

8.2

/996452/

80

/39223/

79

/21435/

3.8

/3157932/

93

/432/

97

/15978/

71

/60/

3.0

age 11+

Peter Parker is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a super-hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

66

7.0

/363592/

73

/10281/

70

/5490/

3.6

/919712/

51

/162/

80

/33194/

52

/31/

age 13+

Two women, one American and one British, swap homes at Christmastime following bad breakups. Each woman finds romance with a local man but realizes that the imminent return home may end the relationship.

91

9.0

/1475099/

87

/21054/

85

/13460/

4.6

/1231676/

96

/129/

97

/18705/

90

/18/

age 16+

In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

85

8.1

/1030467/

82

/41181/

80

/21564/

4.0

/1914340/

96

/333/

89

/19664/

85

/41/

3.5

age 12+

Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort once and for all. Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wizards, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort's formidable skills.

83

7.8

/278881/

78

/10286/

78

/6654/

4.2

/2525674/

95

/441/

92

/3346/

91

/57/

3.0

age 10+

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

71

6.9

/453682/

72

/18008/

71

/11237/

3.6

/898810/

76

/216/

61

/1896342/

75

/39/

3.0

age 9+

Siblings Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter step through a magical wardrobe and find the land of Narnia. There, they discover a charming, once peaceful kingdom that has been plunged into eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Aided by the wise and magnificent lion, Aslan, the children lead Narnia into a spectacular, climactic battle to be free of the Witch's glacial powers forever.

74

7.6

/819557/

75

/24862/

74

/11864/

3.8

/3343798/

68

/249/

85

/19488/

64

/35/

3.0

age 18+

A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.

78

7.5

/755095/

78

/47421/

77

/23131/

3.6

/2113832/

82

/237/

80

/34579/

63

/35/

4.0

age 8+

Cars fly, trees fight back, and a mysterious house-elf comes to warn Harry Potter at the start of his second year at Hogwarts. Adventure and danger await when bloody writing on a wall announces: The Chamber Of Secrets Has Been Opened. To save Hogwarts will require all of Harry, Ron and Hermione's magical abilities and courage.

45

5.5

/4277/

59

/542/

58

/96/

2.5

/18239/

36

/25/

30

/68/

40

/7/

1.5

age 11+

When their beloved dog Merv loses his spark after their split, Anna and Russ are forced into the world's most awkward co-parenting arrangement. Hoping to shake Merv out of his funk, Russ takes him to Florida for a much-needed getaway-only for Anna to show up unexpectedly. As Merv slowly gets his groove back, turns out fixing their dog's broken heart may lead to a few sparks of their own.

69

7.5

/245857/

79

/12588/

72

/2603/

3.5

/376435/

72

/58/

86

/9107/

49

/18/

2.0

age 13+

It's Christmastime, and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration. But things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.

86

8.6

/1146245/

84

/15664/

84

/11120/

4.4

/866205/

93

/135/

96

/14990/

84

/21/

3.0

age 16+

A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domineering nurse who runs the ward.

83

8.0

/746842/

77

/29542/

78

/17731/

4.1

/4132111/

91

/469/

82

/5129/

94

/54/

3.5

age 13+

Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

89

8.6

/549485/

84

/9344/

82

/4729/

4.4

/703880/

94

/97/

95

/14103/

89

/17/

4.0

age 9+

A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

60

6.0

/12001/

65

/873/

61

/188/

2.4

/48173/

72

/18/

65

/93/

50

/4/

age 13+

A driven American exec heads to Paris determined to acquire a champagne brand by Christmas — and accidentally falls for the heir to the bubbly empire.

77

7.6

/649814/

78

/39841/

76

/20389/

3.7

/1784411/

83

/280/

78

/52701/

78

/36/

3.0

age 12+

As Lord Voldemort tightens his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven. Harry suspects perils may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemorts defenses and to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Even as the decisive showdown looms, romance blossoms for Harry, Ron, Hermione and their classmates. Love is in the air, but danger lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

85

7.9

/301592/

77

/6586/

76

/3425/

4.2

/587531/

91

/158/

89

/6370/

86

/28/

4.0

age 18+

Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic porn producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young talent working as a busboy in a nightclub, and welcomes him into the extended family of movie-makers, misfits and hangers-on that are always around. Adams' rise from nobody to a celebrity adult entertainer is meteoric, and soon the whole world seems to know his porn alter ego, "Dirk Diggler". Now, when disco and drugs are in vogue, fashion is in flux and the party never seems to stop, Adams' dreams of turning sex into stardom are about to collide with cold, hard reality.

80

8.2

/757077/

81

/29572/

79

/13199/

4.1

/1737196/

88

/475/

88

/6014/

78

/57/

2.5

age 16+

At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers.

73

7.1

/478539/

75

/16136/

72

/9270/

3.8

/2715054/

84

/220/

66

/1243725/

66

/39/

3.0

age 13+

Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.

69

6.9

/721362/

71

/44871/

67

/21212/

3.1

/1127856/

72

/357/

78

/11587/

59

/49/

3.0

age 12+

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.

70

6.5

/82022/

68

/8261/

68

/1378/

3.1

/389292/

81

/221/

84

/481/

58

/38/

3.0

age 16+

When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped, everyman Nate turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected strength in his fight to get her back.

83

7.8

/466192/

75

/16627/

75

/7285/

3.9

/864023/

95

/468/

86

/325/

94

/55/

3.5

age 17+

Pennsylvania, 1956. Frank Sheeran, a war veteran of Irish origin who works as a truck driver, accidentally meets mobster Russell Bufalino. Once Frank becomes his trusted man, Bufalino sends him to Chicago with the task of helping Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union leader related to organized crime, with whom Frank will maintain a close friendship for nearly twenty years.

70

7.0

/257035/

70

/9413/

69

/2758/

3.4

/2847296/

72

/302/

79

/112/

61

/53/