It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of Year To…Stream Holiday Movies!

It’s hard to believe that Christmas, and the Holiday Season are upon us already. It’s been quite a challenging few weeks for many, and our team at Contemporaries, Inc., wishes you a healthy and happy holiday season, no matter what you’re celebrating. So, we are going to keep this post light because don’t we need that now more than ever? You’ve surely been working hard professionally, and personally, so let’s not add any pressure. Thus, we’ve compiled a list of holiday movies, classic and not so classic or expected. So, kick back on your couch, fix your favorite warm beverage (it’s been chilly!) hoard your munching snacks, and get your Stream on. Here are some suggestions:

• It’s A Wonderful Life: A total classic, and tear jerker, the George Bailey spirit is what we need now more than ever. And black and white is refreshing. We won’t go too far into the plot here (after all, spoilers) but you won’t regret this canonical fim.

• Die Hard: Surprised? Well, here’s our argument for why it’s a Christmas movie: there is Christmas music playing, it takes place at a holiday party, and, come on, there is snow! And aren’t we all wishing for a White Christmas? Plus, Bruce Willis. 

• Home Alone: It’s hard to believe, as an adult, how well a six-year-old left behind survived so well (how resourceful!), which makes the movie even more interesting to watch now. There is Catherine O’Hara, shenanigans, bullying brothers, room service, and mischief. But, it ends well. So, go on, take yourself back to 1995.

• Santa Claus: Tim Allen, gaining Santa weight in red long underwear? Enough said. It’s warm, and (not to age ourselves) brings us back to the Home Improvement era. 

• Netflix Christmas Movies: We aren’t impervious to Netflix’s in-house Christmas movies. They are modern, normally fun and comedia, and a great escape. Our suggestions are: The Princess Switch (and its offshoots), A Very Murray Christmas, A Christmas Prince, and – one released recently and truly enjoyable – A Naija Christmas. Streaming services, like Netflix, are algorithmically inclined so it’s easy to find a holiday movie – there’s even a genre section for it. Many plotlines suspend reality, and invite in fantasy, and who doesn’t need that right now?

• A Christmas Story: A little boy and his beloved BB Gun, and humor. What else do you need?

• Elf: Will Ferrell may not be to everyone’s taste, but Buddy and his hero journey (traveling from the North Pole to NYC to reconnect with his father) is hard to shake, and not fall in love with. Raised by elves? Come on!

• The Happiest Season: A lesbian holiday rom-com in a time where there’s a shortage of them. Plus, there’s Mackenzie Davis and Kristen Stewart. This is not just for all of our LGBTQ employees and friends, but  for our allies, too. Important and sentimental. 

• Bridget Jones’s Diary: An office favorite. Bad Christmas sweaters, pushy parents, resolutions, and broken romance. Need I say more? The most classic Classic. How charming is Renée Zellweger in this?

• A little more experimental, but dare we recommend Christmas episodes of iconic TV shows? There’s The Sopranos, Schitt’s Creek, Seinfeld, Community, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – and, drum roll please – The Office. Now, I’ll suspect that the last one is relatable!

We hope this suffices. Lay down the binge watching guilt. We can’t speak for you, but our emotional bandwidth is shorter this season and it’s perfectly okay to allow yourself to be transported into any of these realities without a second thought. We provided a range of movies (from tone, and theme, to era) so no excuses, even for the most picky. Can’t travel this year? Try a Zoom movie session with family, or friends. Reconnect with a younger sibling IRL and bridge that generational gap. We hope this helps, and, of course, Happy Holidays! And…Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.

This posting is brought to you by Contemporaries Inc., one of the best temp agencies in Boston MA. Also available for payrolling employees in Boston and Greater Boston