Did you see what we did there?
You see, normally it's called Friday Film News, but for today we changed the 'Friday' to 'Festive', because it's all about the films to watch over Xmas on the telly, and we managed to keep the alliteration. Anyway...
One note: all these films are on terrestial television. We're not going to do that thing the papers do where we make a big fuss out of one of your favourite films and then tell you it's on the Sky Movies 6 at five in the morning, because that's just mean (can you tell Londonist doesn't have Sky?).
Christmas Eve
If you're not at work today and all your shopping is done then you can sit on the sofa, crack open the nuts and crisps that weren't meant to be opened until tomorrow and watch Karate Kid at 12:10 on Channel 4 this afternoon.
Wax on. Wax off. Wax on. Wax off. Catching flies with chopsticks. The bonsai trees. Ralph Macchio as Matthew-San and Pat Morita at Mr Miyagi. And not forgetting the legendary crane kick.
The Karate Kid site is here. The mistakes you need to look out for are here.
And tonight, if you're not down the pub catching up with people you haven't seen since primary school, then you should probably turn on Channel 5 (no, we're not kidding) at 10:05 for National Lampoon's Christmas vacation.
Ok so it's not National Vacation but this one has some great lines in it ("Surprised? Oh, Eddie... If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now."), plus it has that scene with the squirrel from the christmas tree. And we bet you didn't remember Julia Louise Dreyfuss was in it.
Christmas Day
Harry Potter Schmarry Potter, this Xmas Day you want to be watching The Pink Panther (6:20 Channel 4). We know you've seen it before, but that's what Christmas is all about really: tradition. And it's funny, which is more than you can say for Lesley Garret: Music from the Movies which is on BBC2.
In the evening it's a bit of a toss up between Buena Vista Social Club (Channel 4, 10:40) or the original Manchurian Candidate (Five, 11:05). If you went to see the Manchurian remake earlier this year and you haven't seen the original then Londonist reccomends you try and stay awake. There's no other brainwashed assassin thriller quite like it.
Boxing Day
Apparently Citizen Kane (BBC2, 10:30) is supposed to be an ok film, but if you don't have the heart for Rosebud etc then there's always Mary Poppins on the other side (ITV 10:50), followed by a 'the real Mary Poppins' South Bank Show special.
In the evening it's a no-brainer: Blazing Saddles is on BBC2 at 11:00. We know you can probably quote most of it line-for-line but that's half the fun isn't it? And if you think you're so clever, here is a Blazing Saddles trivia quiz for you. After all what would xmas be without a bit of trivia?
