Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas: Revised & Updated Edition (Revised): Revised & Updated Edition
by Alonso Duralde
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Don't waste a second of your valuable holiday time on another boring Christmas movie. In this merry and informative guide, film critic Alonso Duralde takes us on a tinsel-bedecked tour of the best-and worst-films of the Yuletide season. Whether you're looking for the classics, family favorites, holiday horror, seasonally themed crime epics, or the most wonderfully awful cinematic lumps of coal, Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas serves up delightful recommendations in prose as brisk as a winter sleighride. From White Christmas to Bad Santa, Eyes Wide Shut to Gremlins, you'll find a marvelously eclectic selection of holiday fare and a thorough breakdown of the many screen Scrooges, including Alistair Sim, Jim Carrey, and ...Tori Spelling? And get ready to encounter movies you may never have heard of, from the gritty noir Blast of Silence (filmed in New York City over Christmas 1959 without a single permit), to the loony Santa Claus, a Mexican kiddie movie in which St. Nick teams up with Merlin to fight the devil! Fun facts abound-did you know the actor cast as Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life was also in the running to play mean old Mr. Potter?-making this a stocking stuffed with goodies you'll turn to every Christmas season.
This fully revised and updated edition includes all Christmas movies of note to have been released in the fifteen years since the first edition was published, as well as gems omitted from the first edition.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781493087440
- Binding
- Paperback
- Authors
- Alonso Duralde
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Academic
- Published Date
- September 18, 2025
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 248
- Physical Info
- 8.6 in L x 5.8 in W (0.85 lb)
So excited the author released a new edition. Not only is the book highly entertaining, it’s a phenomenal resource. The author knows so much about Christmas movies! I’ve used it to broaden my Christmas movie repertoire, and it’s been fantastic. Grab a copy for yourself and a friend. You won’t regret it.
This review pertains to the 2025 edition, which is different from the 2010 edition, starting with the cover, which does not have any color movie posters or art and is now mostly red instead of mostly green. There are still 9 themed chapters, the longer entries generally have basic credits, MPAA ratings, usually two paragraphs with plot info, commentary and context, and a Fun Facts section, and alternate sections with mini-write-ups for movies that are either similar or are sequels. The capsule reviews are now in the themed chapters and there is no longer an appendix of movies without either plot info and/or commentary. It is best to go chapter by chapter. The first chapter covers kid flicks and has 11 long reviews and 7 capsule ones. The new entries are for Arthur Christmas (2011), Jingle Jangle : A Christmas Journey (2020), Klaus (2019), Mrs. Santa Claus (1999), Shazam! (2020), just to name a few, and one of the capsule reviews is for Merry Little Batman (2014). The next chapter is on movies for older viewers and has 20 long reviews 21 capsule ones. Some of the new entries are for Carol (2015), The Holly and the Ivy (1953), RMN (2023), Spencer (2021), Tangerine (2015), and White Reindeer (2013). It is frustrating to see only capsule reviews for The Green Knight (2021) and Mon Oncle Antoine (1971). Chapter 3 offers 21 long reviews for comedies and 22 short ones. Some of the new entries are for 1941 (1979), Auntie Mame (1958), A Bad Moms' Christmas (2017), Holidate (2020), Noelle (2019), and The Thin Man (1934). Chapter four focuses on tearjerkers and has 13 long reviews. Chapter five focuses on crime dramas and action flicks and has 14 long entries and 13 capsule ones. Retained from edition one are the long entries for Die Hard (1988), Batman Returns (1992), Go (1999), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), and The Silent Partner (1978). Some new ones are 8 Women (2002), Blast of Silence (1961), Cash on Demand (1961), Invasion USA (1985), Riders of Silence (2020), and Violent Night (2022). There is not even a capsule review for that flick with Mel Gibson as Santa Claus. Chapter six is on horror flicks. The 2010 edition has 9 long entries. This one has 13 long entries and 10 capsule ones. The new entries are for Adult Swim Yule Log (2022), Anna and the Apocalypse (2017), Better Watch Out (2017), Deadly Games (1989), Krampus (2015), Night of the Comet (1984), Rare Exports (2010), Trancers (1984), and Wake in Fright (1971). Chapter 7 covers 23 adaptations of Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol, just one more than the 2010 edition, each entry focuses on how key characters, ghosts included, are portrayed and variations. It is in sections, as some adaptations are quite "free spirited" (pun intended?) as a few have female versions of the Scrooge character. Chapter 8 covers "so bad they're good movies." Retained from the 2010 edition are the long entries for The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (1966), The Magic Christmas Tree (1964), Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (1972), Santa Claus (1959), and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964). New entries are for Believe (2016), Buttons (2018), The Christmas Martian (1971), The Nutcracker : The Untold Story (2010), and Santa with Muscles (1996). The final chapter covers movies that stood the test of time. For those who care, the only pics are 10 monochrome photos. Basically, if you have the 2010 edition, keep it, as this one does not have all of the same entries, movies that had long reviews in edition one are now in capsule form in edition two. Also, for those who care, this edition does have new entries for movies of LBTGQ interest, I did name at least one. My reason or not giving this 5 instead of 4 stars is that I did not feel that this book has the right balance of entries and I wish that the appendix with additional titles is in this edition, but I am aware that it would have been longer. Still, the entries are informative and have the right balance of info and opinion, thus this works as a reference/review book.
An invaluable resource from the Walter Cronkite of Christmas movie books! Filled with great insight about all your favorite holiday movies and a bunch you'll probably need to add to your watch list.
Great book that is full of interesting details about holiday movies!
A great update to an already invaluable Christmas movie guide.
