There are some festive films that stand the test of time. It’s almost impossible not to get teary-eyed when the townsfolk turn up at the Bailey household at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life, or get goosebumps when Judy Garland sings Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas in Meet Me in St Louis.
But for every Home Alone, there’s a Home Alone 3 (and 4!) lurking at the bottom of the seasonal cinematic stocking alongside a lump of coal.
“Many of these Christmas movies highlight the regurgitated media we get every year that streaming services now take advantage of,” says Daniel Hart, editor-in-chief of Ready Steady Cut, which has compiled a list of the 10 worst Christmas films. “Did we need a Home Alone 4? Did we need The Nutcracker in 3D? The answer is no to both questions, but we are living in an era of content, which is a shame.”
Here are 10 Christmas films that should be on the naughty list…
1. Home Alone 4
Macaulay Culkin might have bailed on the franchise after Home Alone 2, but that didn’t stop producers from cranking out another two sequels.
In this made-for-television movie, Kevin McCallister (Mike Weinberg) defends a mansion from two thieves before the royal guests arrive.
Even worse, mum Kate and dad Peter, who were every 1990s child’s idea of perfect parents (give or take that whole leaving their child at home thing) are in the middle of a divorce.
2. Jack Frost (1998)
Starring Michael Keaton and Kelly Preston, this iteration of the classic winter tale has Keaton in the title role as the lead singer of The Jack Frost Band.
When he is killed in a car accident while trying to get home to his family for Christmas, Jack is resurrected as a snowman in his son Charlie’s front garden, thanks to, of all things, his magic harmonica.
3. The Nutcracker in 3D
If your idea of a festive film is one that gives you and the children nightmares, then this is the one for you.
Starring Elle Fanning and Nathan Lane, the movie not only deviates a lot from the classic tale, it also can't quite work out if it's a drama or a comedy — failing miserably at both. And that’s before we even get to the horrifying rat soldiers…
4. Christmas Sail
As far as made-up competitions for movies go, “best decorated deck” ranks quite high and is the pivotal plot of Christmas Sail.
With $25,000 up for grabs (although who in that tiny town is putting up that kind of cash is anyone's guess), it’s enough for Dennis (Terry O’Quinn) to put in a call to his city-slicking daughter Liz (Katee Sackhoff) to come home for Christmas and help him win.
5. A Karate Christmas Miracle
When his father disappears during a mass shooting on Christmas Day (festive), Jesse Genesis (Mario Del Vecchio) becomes convinced that if he achieves a black belt in karate, his dad will return.
While his mother Abby believes her husband is dead, when Jesse reports seeing visions of his father, she hires a psychic-turned-law professor and the film turns into a thriller, then a mystery and then finally, a Christmas miracle.
6. Falling for Christmas
Lindsay Lohan makes her comeback as wealthy hotel heiress Sierra Belmont, who falls off a mountainside and into the arms of struggling ski lodge owner Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet).
Suffering from amnesia and without her phone, Sierra sets about trying to revive Jake’s fortunes while going totally unrecognised in the same town as the people searching for her.
7. The Princess Switch
The classic lookalikes-as-plot-device gets the Christmas treatment as Vanessa Hudgens plays both Chicago baker Stacy De Novo and European princess Lady Margaret Delacourt, Duchess of Montenaro, in this Netflix movie.
Swapping places so the Duchess can take a break from the limelight, Stacy is soon falling for Margaret’s royal fiance and everyone’s weirdly cool about it.
8. The Knight Before Christmas
Vanessa Hudgens pops up again, this time as science teacher Brooke Winters who hits the charismatic Cole (Josh Whitehouse) with her car and ends up with him staying at her house following a bout of amnesia.
Unbeknown to Brooke, Cole is actually Sir Cole Christopher Fredrick Lyons, a 14th-century English knight sent forward in time by a forest-dwelling wench to find true love via a series of modern misunderstandings and Alexa-based gags.
9. The Holidate
Brooklyn Beckham’s wife Nicola Peltz pops up in this joke-lacking romcom which stars Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey as Sloane and Jackson, two singletons who agree to pretend to be each other's dates to keep their families off their backs.
As they work their way through the major holidays — wedding season, summer, Halloween — pretty soon, these platonic plus ones start feeling things they promised they wouldn’t.
10. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Tim Allen returns for the third time as the big man, this time facing down Jack Frost (Martin Short) who casts a spell which causes Santa to lose his title of Father Christmas.
Pretty soon, Frost has turned the North Pole into a theme park and is accepting bribes from parents to put their naughty children on the nice list in what could have been a searing indictment of late-stage capitalism, but is instead, as Rotten Tomatoes calls it: “a bag of bland gags and dumb slapstick.”
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Book%20Details
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
SPECS
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
The specs: 2019 BMW i8 Roadster
Price, base: Dh708,750
Engine: 1.5L three-cylinder petrol, plus 11.6 kWh lithium-ion battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 374hp (total)
Torque: 570Nm (total)
Fuel economy, combined: 2.0L / 100km
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The specs: 2018 Jaguar E-Pace First Edition
Price, base / as tested: Dh186,480 / Dh252,735
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
Power: 246hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 365Nm @ 1,200rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
Why%20all%20the%20lefties%3F
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How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
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Ready Player One
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
Army of the Dead
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera
Three stars
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
