The BFI’s meticulously restored White Christmas is a treasure trove of Irving Berlin classics: ‘Sisters’, ‘Blue Skies’, and of course… Two song-and-dance men (Crosby and Kaye, actually only one, Bing can’t dance) team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show-biz. One winter, after joining forces with a sister act (Gorgeous George’s aunt, Rosemary Clooney and stunning Vera Ellen) they hit the road. The real ‘adventure’ starts at a gig in Vermont. The run-down Inn belongs to their old army General. The result is unabashed sentimental slush, an immortal, perennial Christmas favourite unlikely to fade. 1950s: America’s boom decade. Was it a fabulous time there? Bogart, Brando and Doris Day; the cars, the romance, the Technicolor, with Ella and Sinatra in their prime. At the Pictures every home had a piano and a fridge while we were still rationing carrots and living in forty shades of grey (without a trace of smut) enjoying scrubbed necks, goose grease, darned everything, nits and the unforgiving one-pair of shoes worn too long for growing toes. But somehow Christmas always brought the annuals: Beano and Dandy and that single precious Mars bar. No television! There-there now… ‘The Past is another Country’. White Christmas remains a borderless fantasy passport.

It doesn’t matter if there are carollers outside, or if

it’s slap bang in the middle of the hottest summer,

there’s always time for Die Hard. The quintessential

action movie of well, ever, sees Bruce Willis trade in

his sitcom origins for a dirty vest and a Beretta.

New York cop John Mcclane’s (Willis), holiday

season is about to get a whole lot worse. When

Alan Rickman and his band of not-so-merry men

shoot their way into an LA skyscraper and hold the

partying office workers hostage, Mcclane happens

to find himself in the wrong place at the right time.

Leader of this German ‘terrorist’ group, Hans Gruber,

is not just my favourite Rickman role (dodgy accent

aside) but perhaps the greatest villain in Hollywood

history.

Director John McTiernan, fresh off of the surprise

hit Predator, delivers this masterclass in tension

and set-piece action only a year later, making Willis

a household name in the process. A myriad of

copycats, including four sequels(!), over the years

did little to dilute the impact the original had, and

still has to this day, thirty years later. (Jack Whiting)

This Chris Columbus exploritory slapstick classic comes to Christmas again, and what better way to fall into it than witnessing the antics of a 10-year-old defending his home from a couple of hapless burglars?

Playing out like a live action Tom & Jerry skit for kids, Home Alone finds young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) accidentally left behind at home as the family jet off to Paris for Christmas.

Generally perceived by his family as a helpless, hopeless little geek, Kevin is at first delighted to be rid of them, gorging on forbidden junk food and violent videos, but when a couple of bandits (Pesci & Stern) begin circling his house, he realises he's on his own.

Home Alone rapidly transforms in to what could be described as Straw Dogs for kids with nail guns, falling irons and swinging paint tins standing between Kevin and his assailants. Not many films draw such sympathy for the bad guys.

One could argue, writer the late, great John Hughes, doesn't conjure the same magical script qualities found in Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but Home Alone is too busy setting alight to poor Joe Pesci to bother with tales of morality. (Jack Whiting) Come alone.

A smooth, swaggering slice of old-school cool, this breezy Vegas caper is defined as much by the Rat Pack’s effortless charm as by its iconic heist.

The plot is straight-forward; Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) rounds up a crew of old army pals to pull off an audacious five-casino robbery in a single night. What follows isn’t a tightly wound thriller so much as a stylish hangout movie, one that revels in smoky bars and the relaxed confidence of men who look like they were born in tuxedos. The heist is fun, the stakes clear, and the laid-back pacing gives it a distinct, almost cosy throwback appeal.

It’s loose, playful, and packed with easy one-liners. Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. headline with the sort of chemistry that can’t be manufactured. Alongside them are Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and Angie Dickinson. The camaraderie is the film’s pulse, elevating even its lighter, more meandering stretches. And the long-gone spectacle of 1960s Las Vegas shines like a city gleaming with promise.

More charming than suspenseful but endlessly watchable, it’s a glamorous time capsule of star-powered escapism.

Rivalling Love Actually for the ultimate seasonal guilty pleasure; this glutinous, Christmas pudding of a film is coated in a kind of buttery, golden glow of sickly sweet romance.

Cameron Diaz - her beaming, hyperactive face almost entirely devoid of ordinary human emotion - plays Amanda, a movie trailer editor who has come to England on a cute "house swap" holiday with a stressed English journalist called Iris (Kate Winslet). Iris has had her heart broken and strikes various Bridget Jonesy poses of snuffly, tissuey, jumper-wearing despair around the house, before snapping up the house-swap offer and zipping over to live in Amanda's spiffy Los Angeles home for Christmas, leaving behind her roguish brother, Graham. This is the impossibly handsome Jude Law, a book editor with whom Amanda has raunchy sex with her bra on. Back in LA, Kate Winslet finds herself drawn to quirky, vulnerable musician Miles (Jack Black) - chubby, yet clearly hubby material.

Winslet and Black come off better as the more engaging, loveable pairing; I kept hoping we would stay in LA, only to keep away from the, frankly, creepy Graham. You’re better than that Amanda

Welcome to our 17th anniversary Christmas, with the same old irresistible film we’ve been showing since the Rex re-opened in December 2004. It was a flop at the box office when it first appeared in 1946. After the war, the USA celebrated the brave new world with fashion, cars and fridges. We had bomb-sites, functional clothes, cold water, rations, war debts and the grey 1950’s but with essential, fabulous and much missed old City trams in every corner of Britain. Accidentally, it became essential TV viewing in the UK during the mid 70s, hence a new part of Christmas itself. You couldn’t see it at the cinema until independents got it re-released nineteen years ago. Now thanks to the BFI, this beautifully restored digital copy, is here again at the hand-restored Rex (and Odyssey) for Christmas 2019. Our cinemamatic Christmas would not now be the same without Clarence (angel 2nd class) showing George Bailey how terrible life would be in Bedford Falls, had he not been born. The simplest universal message: without that One in your life, your world is diminished. Happy Christmas. Have fun, go easy and raise a glass to a world with a George Bailey-like future for future children.

One Christmas Eve a small baby at an orphanage crawls into Santa’s bag of toys… only to be accidentally carried back to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole. Although he is raised to be an elf, as he grows to be ten times bigger than everyone else it becomes clear that Buddy (Ferrell) will never truly fit into the elf world. One Christmas, Buddy finally decides to find his real family, and sets off for New York City to track down his roots, but soon finds himself as much an outsider there as back at the North Pole. In fact, everyone in New York seems to have forgotten the true spirit of Christmas. So Buddy takes it upon himself to win over his family, realise his destiny, and save Christmas. Another family delight with Will Ferrell gangling in every direction to make the whole film into fabulous chaos. Very silly and very funny, somehow his antics get funnier every year. Don’t dare miss this fabulously silly Christmas treat in this stop-start year on a huge elfin screen - that lives on, while all around it… the grown-up corporate gainsayers, fall apart. Not gloating just green.

Welcome back to Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation teamwork on this whimsical, and fabulous festive tale of the ‘Family Christmas’. It’s the night before Christmas, and the logistical complexity of Father Christmas’ (Jim Broadbent) annual trek is laid bare. How DOES he get all those presents to all those children all over the world? Ah ha… His eldest son, technocrat Steve (Hugh Lawrie), runs the entire operation with military precision and a covert army of elves equipped with much high-tech gadgetry. When one present goes astray, youngest son Arthur (James McAvoy) takes it upon himself to ensure that one little girl is not left out on Christmas morning… Masterfully written by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith, and fantastically rendered, Arthur Christmas has much to delight the tiniest and the eldest. “It's playful, observant, sentimental without being slushy, and boasts the kind of jokes that will still sound funny when your children quote them in April.” (Telegraph) “Aardman films' yuletide offering is both a heartwarmer and a sly dig at the gospel of family togetherness, a witty wonder of invention.” (Independent). Watch the elves spring into Mission Impossible stuntmen as a child begins to wake, and note Steve Christmas’s ‘ridic’ festive goatee.

Magic, courage, and the power of friendship ignite this spellbinding finale that brings Elphaba and Glinda’s journey to a thundering close.

Elphaba, now the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, hides in exile while fighting for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals, while Glinda revels in the perks of fame and glamour as the city’s beloved new symbol of good. Under Madame Morrible’s watchful eye, Glinda tries to mediate between Elphaba and the Wizard, but escalating tensions push them further apart. As the kingdom teeters on the brink, Fiyero, Boq, Nessarose, and even a girl from Kansas are drawn into a tornado of loyalty, love, and long-suppressed truths.

Superior to Act Two on stage, the film builds out the world and delivers an emotional gut punch. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande deliver career-high performances, capturing every nuance of their characters’ emotions, while the new songs “There’s No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble” soar with memorable energy.

Already generating strong awards buzz and poised to follow in its predecessor’s footsteps at the Oscars, it’s a triumphant, heart-stirring conclusion.

Back, for as long as it likes. From nowhere in 2006 A-list big man Liev Schreiber on a-day-off from tough-guy, turned in this extraordinarily beautiful piece of storytelling from script to made-look-easy directing. And what a timeless treasure it is.

Eugene Hutz’s perplexed Alex, our ‘guide’, his straight-faced story telling and of the haunting film-score is from him too, and his real-life band: ‘Gogol Bordello’ (they are at the train-station)

A heartstopping surprise from its first outing at the Rex 15 years ago, Jonathan Safran Foer’s real family tale and best-seller.

Geeky ‘Jonfen’ (Elijah Wood) travels from America in search of Augustine, whom he believes saved his grandfather during the Nazis razing of Trachimbrod a now lost, Ukranian town. It was wiped-out. Armed with a yellowing photograph, he begins his search with the unlikely Alex, his grandfather (Boris Leskin) and his ‘seeing-eye bitch’. Alex’s butchery of the English language and passion for all things American is a tragi-comic joy from the start. You will be glad to be in the presence of every word and gesture. It is as unexpected as it is beautiful. It will touch you now. Then, it will fill your hearts long after and for years to come…

Love actually is all around.

This is one film we cannot resist. Whistle the tune in the street and we’ll show it! It all begins in 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont (the show stealing Jean Hagen) are the darlings of the silent screen. Off screen, Don, aided by Cosmo Brown (the sensational Donald O’Connor) has to dodge Lina's romantic overtures especially when he falls for chorus girl Kathy Selden (the lovely, then 19 year old Debbie Reynolds). With the advent of the ‘Talkies’, Don and Lina's new film will be all singing, dancing and… talking! Unfortunately, Lina's voice would make gums bleed (think: Kate Bush screeching Sinatra). Kathy is hired to secretly dub Lina’s voice off screen while Gene K goes off splashing in the street, to make B-Movie Musical history. When Lina (who steals the show) finds out, run for cover. For Gene’s famous splash dance, the rain was lit from behind so primative acetate film might capture the downpour, and Gene had the flu! One single take, no waste or mishap after just three dry runs. Ouch! Witness too the fabulous Donald O’Connor’s unparalleled screen masterpiece “Make ’em Laugh” (one take?). What greater celebration of family cinema. New Years Eve. A timeless 1952 classic to dance us into 2020… Irresistible.