A couple split up and negotiate shared custody of their dog - but when he gets depressed, they reunite for Christmas to cheer him up. It's a rock-solid premise for some light comedy, with likeable stars - Charlie Cox and Zooey Deschanel - and a great canine performance. But does it live up to the basic idea? And is it even Christmassy? Your host, Helen O'Hara, is joined by journalist and author Kat Brown to hash it out.

Merv is out on Prime Video now.

For more from Kat, check out her website katbrown.com here, or follow her on Bluesky here. Her book, No One Talks About This Stuff, is particularly relevant to this film and may be of help if you've been affected by infertility and childlessness.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a shiny five-star review on your podcast provider of choice; it really does help. And Merry Christmas!

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Christmas is a time of miracles, and also robberies, according to Netflix's new rom-com crime caper, wherein two plucky but dodgy young people played by Olivia Holt and Connor Swindells decide to rob a department store on Christmas Eve. In defence of these bad Santas, they have both been provoked by its awful owner (Peter Serafinowicz) - and their plan may be smarter than it looks. Here to assess how well they succeeded are your regular host, Helen O'Hara, and film journalist and podcaster Amon Warmann, with bells on probably.

Jingle Bell Heist is out on Netflix now.

For more from Amon, check out his social media or listen to him weekly on the Fade To Black podcast.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a shiny five star review on your podcast provider of choice; it really does help. And Merry Christmas!

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It's not all glitzy romances and action movies at Christmas; spare a thought for the microbudget indie movies that are also set at this time of year. Take, for example, 2014's Christmas, Again from director Charles Poekel, finally hitting UK cinemas this December with its tale of a Christmas tree salesman (Kentucker Audley) trying to shuffle through the season without too much fuss. It's been described as a mumblecore effort, so can the movement that launched Greta Gerwig also bring us a genuine Christmas classic? To figure that out, your host, Helen O'Hara, is joined this time by film journalist and author Laura Venning for a good old mumble all about it.

Christmas, Again is out in UK cinemas now.

For more from Laura, you can find her substack Mise-en-Ven here, or her site here.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a shiny five stars on your podcast app of choice; it really does help. And merry Christmas!

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What's more important: Christmas or geography? Can sexy Russian spies also be cat ladies? And is Marky Mark secretly French? All these and more questions will be answered on today's episode of Bah Humbug, the Christmas movies podcast, as we look at The Family Plan 2, Apple's Christmas-tinged sequel to the 2023 action comedy with Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan. Your host, Helen O'Hara, is joined today by Chris Hewitt of Empire magazine to look at this action classic (tbd).

The Family Plan 2 is out now on Apple TV.

For more from Chris, pick up a copy of Empire magazine or listen to the Empire podcast here. You can find the spoiler podcasts he mentioned here, and to come along to the live show in London on January 9th, pick up your ticket here.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

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Cynical brand extension or charming Christmas adventure? Why not both! A Very Jonas Christmas Movie features pop siblings the Jonas Brothers on an epic quest to get home from London to spend the holiday with their families. Alas, Santa Claus (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) decides that the trio need a lesson in brotherly love so he sabotages their plans, forcing them to spend time together on the road. With a supporting cast that includes Randall Park, Billie Lourd, KJ Apa and Will Ferrell, it's a star-studded musical that is...weirdly charming. At least, so says your non-fan host, Helen O'Hara; does her guest, journalist Charlotte Harrison, agree? Listen and find out!

A Very Jonas Christmas Movie is out now on Disney+.

For more from Charlotte, look on social media @sometimesmovies.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

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Kate Winslet's directorial debut is not your typical Christmas movie. It's set mostly in a hospital, as a family gather around their dying matriarch (Helen Mirren), and features more IVs than holly-and-ivy. But it has a truly impressive cast and a surprising amount of heart and humour. To talk about it, your host Helen O'Hara is joined by Empire's news editor, Beth Webb. We also have a visit from two of the cast, in the delightful forms of Andrea Riseborough and Timothy Spall, so settle in for a surprising amount of cheer given the subject matter.

Goodbye June is out in cinemas now, and will be available on Netflix from December 24.

For more from Beth, you can find her @BethWebb on Bluesky and @bethkatewebb on Instagram, and of course at Empire Magazine.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

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This year has been relatively light on Christmas horror, but fear not. There's plenty of claret on offer in the remake of 1984's slasher Silent Night Deadly Night from director Mike P. Nelson. It's the story of a likeable drifter, Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell), who is also a prolific serial killer. But, you know, he wears a Santa suit so it's seasonal! Horror expert Becky Darke joins your host, Helen O'Hara, and Mike Nelson drops by to talk us through his attempts to sweeten up the slaying.

Silent Night Deadly Night is out in cinemas now.

For more from Becky Darke, check out her website here or follow her on social @BunnyDarke.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

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It's not often here at Bah Humbug that we can lay claim to a genuinely great, not-graded-on-a-curve film set over the Christmas season, but say hello to Harry Lighton's Pillion, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard. They star as a meek young man called Colin and the impossibly hot biker daddy he falls for, in a coming-of-age story about unconventional romance and figuring out what it is you want in life (surprisingly, the answer may not be "someone who looks like Alexander Skarsgard"). It's won acclaim and awards nominations, but how does it score on the Christmassy scale? Your host, Helen O'Hara, is joined by comedian David Morgan to try to figure it out.

Pillion is out in cinemas nationwide now.

For more from David, you can check out their website here, or on Bluesky here.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

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The last time Michelle Pfeiffer made a Christmas movie, the result was the great Batman Returns. Now she's back in Oh. What. Fun., starring with the likes of Felicity Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dennis Leary, Dominic Sessa and Eva Longoria. She's the stressed-out matriarch of a Texas clan who just goes AWOL one Christmas when she is left feeling unappreciated by her family. A warning for unthinking families everywhere, perhaps, but is it really fun? Well, your host, Helen O'Hara, and special guest Cathy Cullen from the Cinemile podcast are here to break it down - and possibly have a breakdown.

Oh. What. Fun. is out on Prime Video right now.

For more from Cathy, check out the Cinemile here for all sorts of film-y goodness, follow them on socials @TheCinemile or come along to the event we mentioned at the Curzon Hoxton on January 29 by booking tickets here.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

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Today's episode of Bah Humbug, the Christmas movies podcast, focuses on Tinsel Town, the new Sky film wherein a spoiled Hollywood star reluctantly agrees to do theatre in the UK - and unwittingly finds himself signed up to play Buttons in a panto production of Cinderella. Kiefer Sutherland is our hapless hero, with support from Rebel Wilson, Danny Dyer, Derek Jacobi and many more. To talk about it, your regular host, Helen O'Hara, is joined by talent agent Corrie McGuire and the film's director Chris Foggin. Can all of us together explain the appeal and importance of panto to an international audience? Oh no we can't! Oh yes we can! Etc.

Tinsel Town is available to watch on Sky Cinema and Now TV right now.

For more from Corrie and her astonishing roster of clients, you can visit her website here.

Check out Chris Foggin's credits here.

For more from Helen, you can find here on Bluesky @HelenLOHara, or at helenohara.com. Her latest books, A Quentin Tarantino Dictionary and 50 Film Ideas You Really Need To Know, are available now, and Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall And Rise Of Women In Film remains on sale.

This podcast is produced and edited by Helen O'Hara with Stripped Media. For more on this podcast, and others produced by Stripped Media, please visit www.stripped.media or email [email protected].

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices