Our Top Festive Movies

As the festive season approaches, our TV’s will soon be flooded with numerous snow-filled movies that only feel right to watch at this time of year. To help you navigate the plethora of options on offer, we asked a few of the Finura team which movies they love to watch year after year at Christmas time.

AHMET SHEVKET, CHARTERED PARAPLANNER

It’s a Wonderful Life

We always watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” every December… mainly due to the fact it is my wife’s favourite film, but it is also an amazing story and really shines a light on the spirit of giving and the helping your fellow (hu)man that defines Christmas.

The film is a classic from the Golden Age of cinema (1946), loosely based on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and directed by Frank Capra.  It follows the life of George Bailey (played by James Stewart, of Vertigo fame), a man who dreams of leaving his small town of Bedford Falls to explore the world. However, due to family obligations and his strong sense of responsibility, George ends up staying in Bedford Falls, taking over his father’s business, the Bailey Building & Loan Building Society, which helps the townspeople secure affordable housing. Despite his sacrifices, George faces financial and personal crises, especially when his business is jeopardised by his rival, the greedy banker Mr. Potter. 

On Christmas Eve 1945, overwhelmed by despair and considering suicide, George is visited by his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence shows George a world if he had never been born, revealing the profound and positive impact he has had on the lives of his family, friends, and community. Through this experience, George realises the value of his life and his true wealth in the love and gratitude of those around him. The film ends with the whole town coming together to support George financially, underscoring the themes of community, family, and self-worth.

Truly a great film, and one of the only black and white films we watch with any regularity. I also like Die Hard, but my wife insists it is “not a Christmas film!”

JACKLINE EDWARDS, CLIENT ACCOUNT MANAGER

Die Hard

Some may argue this isn’t an official Christmas movie (Ahmet’s wife being one!!) but I love this film because Christmas is a hectic time and this film is also hectic, but with a really good story line, whereby a police officer’s wife and some friends were taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party.

I love this film because it is tense, very aesthetically pleasing because I don’t think anyone does Christmas decor like Americans and it is full of action as Bruce is a police officer and it was a time when actors really pushed themselves to the limit in terms of fitness and fighting routines as CGI was very limited – there’s no way you can fall asleep even after a huge meal because you are on the edge of your seat.

RIO STEDFORD, HEAD OF FINANCIAL PLANNING

Your Christmas or Mine & Your Christmas or Mine 2

These are British romantic comedies about two very different families with very different backgrounds who end up spending Christmas together by mistake. There is a quote in one of the films that I have written down and look at every day:

“Wherever you get yourself in life, that’s where you belong. And if you are the exception in the room, child, it is because you are exceptional”.

JENNIFER CRANE, CLIENT ACCOUNT MANAGER

Christmas with the Kranks

Based on a book by John Grisham, this is a story about a couple who try to ‘skip’ Christmas. It’s just a great good-hearted film and is always watched on Christmas Eve in our house.

EMMA HUNT, COMPLIANCE & CLIENT SUPPORT MANAGER

This is Christmas

It’s a 2022 British rom-com following a group of people on their daily commute from Langton to London, on the build up to the Christmas period.  Whilst delayed one day, the characters start to plan a Christmas party and the film then follows the forming of friendships between a group of individuals that provide support for one another whilst touching on the fact that, for a lot of people, Christmas is not a happy time of year.  It’s a heart warming film and I especially like that, however you feel about Christmas, the watcher will be able to relate to different characters.  Cast includes Alfred Enoch, who people may recognise from Harry Potter and How to Get Away with Murder, Kay Scodelario from Skins, along with Timothy Spall, Joanna Scanlan and Jack Donoghue.