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15 Must-See Movies On TV This Christmas

Classics, premieres and not a turkey in sight...

BY Mark Powell Dec 8th 2009 12:12PMFILED UNDER: Features

 

Sticking to the five main terrestrial channels in the interests of inclusivity, we've annoyed everyone by scrawling all over the Christmas telly guides, deciding which movies we'll be wheezing off the stuffing to this festive season. Pass the brandy, old chap...

 

Film: Dances With Wolves (1990)

Showing: Sat Dec 19, 4.30pm, BBC2

Why It's A Must-See: If ever a movie was doomed to failure on paper, it was this one. Clocking in at over three finger-wagging hours, it was heavily subtitled, rooted in an unfashionable period of history and helmed by a first-timer whose acting career had already showed signs of yo-yoing alarmingly.

And yet, somehow, Costner smashed it: Wolves’ expansive romance is shamelessly indulgent, yet just earthy enough to be utterly engrossing. The director was subsequently adopted as an honorary member of the Sioux nation, ferchrissakes.

Don’t Get Up For A Mince Pie...when Costner and his new-found buddies ride out on a horseback hunt among several hundred honking, stampeding, dust-kicking buffalo. A proper outdoorsy, traditional Western moment that neatly encapsulates the film’s sweeping themes of freedom, tension and violence.

Next: Blade Runner

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Comments (10)

1: sleepwalker says

Wasnt Sparrow's rum burning tantrum in the first one!

Posted: Dec 8th 2009 // 12:52PMAlert a moderator

2: sleepwalker says

Wasnt Sparrows rum burning tantrum in the first one!

Posted: Dec 8th 2009 // 12:54PMAlert a moderator

3: MarkPowell says

Quite right sleepwalker...good spot, dunno quite how I managed that one! Amended to what it was supposed to have been originally now, ta.

Posted: Dec 8th 2009 // 4:55PMAlert a moderator

4: hughjass1970 says

Dances With Wolves - catch the James Cameron remake in theatres from 17th Dec!

Posted: Dec 8th 2009 // 10:04PMAlert a moderator

5: Ali1748 says

Midnight Run is such a vastly underrated film.

Posted: Dec 9th 2009 // 1:32AMAlert a moderator

6: lpatterson says

This is a brilliant feature! Now I don't have to spend two hours with the frickin Radio Times.

Posted: Dec 9th 2009 // 10:51AMAlert a moderator

7: Hadouken76 says

dick tracys 'The Blank' was basically a rip off of Rorschach

Posted: Dec 9th 2009 // 12:59PMAlert a moderator

8: KerrAvon says

No Scrooged, shocking.

Posted: Dec 9th 2009 // 3:15PMAlert a moderator

9: KerrAvon says

Or Bad Santa Christmas is ruined.

Posted: Dec 9th 2009 // 3:16PMAlert a moderator

10: badblokebob says

And there I was thinking Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was an adaptation of a book by this guy called Roald Dahl.

Posted: Dec 11th 2009 // 3:18PMAlert a moderator

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