Best Christmas Movies to watch this Holiday Season

Christmas is a season that is closely associated with merriment, relaxation, feasting and sharing of gifts. Whether it’s celebrated from a religious perspective (as with Christians marking the birth of Jesus) or from a social perspective (observing a global holiday), the Yuletide is that time of the year that comes with as much colour as humanly possible.

Christmas is also a time where people get to catch up with family and friends. Students take breaks from school, working-class people vacate for the year, and everyone just tries to bond with those they care about. Bonding could take the form of family dinners, visits to the beach, hanging out at events, and of course, watching movies at home.

For filmmakers and film distributors, making Christmas movies has become a tradition over the decades. People love to watch light-hearted films that would not only remind them of the essence of the season, but also relieve them of the stress that has accompanied the preceding 50 weeks of the year. Here is a list of Christmas movies to watch this holiday season:

1.      Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas

This movie stars Demetria McKinney, Chaz Lamar Shepherd, and Angela Birchett. It tells the story of Olivia, who joins a brand-new church just one month before Christmas as the new lead pastor. Luckily, a little bit of romance manages to help her settle in as she navigates her new space and helps her choir win the biggest musical competition of their lives.

2.      Home Alone

A comedy film directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O’Hara. Culkin plays Kevin McCallister, a boy who defends his Chicago home from burglars after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris.

3.      Home Alone 2: Lost In New York

The sequel to the original 1990 film returns Kevin McCallister to our screens as he finds himself separated from his family on their holiday vacation, this time in New York City. As if that’s not bad enough, two familiar thug-like faces follow him.

4.      Boxing Day

This South African movie features Zola Nombona, Hamilton Dlamini, Phumlani Magadla, and Sthandiwe Kgoroge. This Christmas comedy will keep you on your toes as it follows two siblings who kidnap a government official to get enough money to bury their grandma.

5.      New Year’s Resolution

This film stars Aimee Teegarden, Michael Rady and Michelle Morgan. It tells the story of Kelly Leone, a producer at Wake Up Milwaukee (a local morning television talk show), who makes a New Year’s resolution to embrace saying ‘yes’ more often. It doesn’t take long for her to cross paths with a self-confirmed yes-man who might be responsible for shaking up her life.

6.      Fatman

Released in 2020, this is an action comedy film starring Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The plot follows an unorthodox Santa Claus who must fight off an assassin sent by a vengeful naughty kid.

7.      The Moodys

The Moodys is an American comedy television series based on the Australian of the same name. It stars Denis Leary and Elizabeth Perkins as a cantankerous married couple who reunite with their three adult children in Chicago for the Christmas season.

8.      Eve’s Christmas

Originally released in 2004, this romantic comedy stars Elisa Donovan and Sebastian Spence. Its plot is centred around a wealthy and successful career woman, who gets a second chance in life when a magical wish transports her back in time eight years to when she walked away from her fiance to lead a business life in New York.

9.      Season’s Feelings

Co-directed by Jozua Malherbe and Zandré Coetzer,  this South African comedy film co-stars Natalie Robbie and Zandile Lujabe. It’s based on a band of outsiders who, on their way to a Christmas party, collide with themselves and each other as they try to figure out quarter-life crisis, romance and family bonds.

10.  A Christmas Chorus

Set in South Africa, this film stars Dean Balie, Bianca Flanders and Namisa Mdalose. Due to the pandemic, a group of out-of-work singers and performers decide to livestream a musical event from the Fugard Theatre to ‘save’ Christmas for South Africans. But their egos and personal agendas jeopardise their efforts. Will they be able to overcome all their obstacles and give the country some hope over a seemingly hopeless time?

You can catch up with these holiday films and more when you subscribe to DStv or GOtv this festive season. The best part is that you don’t necessarily have to be in your apartment for you to watch these movies; you can catch up on all the fun when you download the DStv App on your mobile phone. Setting it up is easy, and with the help of payment solutions like Paga, subscription is a whole lot easier.

To set up your DStv app on your mobile phone, follow these steps:

• Be sure that you have installed Paga, My DStv, and DStv NOW. Also take note of your DStv card number.
• Sign into your Paga wallet to subscribe to a package if you have no active subscription
• Select DStv; select your preferred bouquet, input your smartcard number, phone number, email address and amount stipulated for the selected bouquet.
• Choose your payment method: Quickteller or payment by bank transfer.
• After subscribing, launch My DStv app. To do this, sign in (if you’ve previously registered), or sign up with your 10-digit DStv card number. You should see a credit balance figure. If you don’t see the figure, please refresh the page.
• Once you see the credit figure, scroll down to an option that says “watch DStv Now.” click it and you will be redirected to DSTV Now app
• You will be asked to sign up again. This time, you will be asked to input your phone details, and an OTP will be sent to your phone number.
• After signing up, you will be asked to link your DStv card. Input the ten digits that make up your DStv card number.

Ultimately, you can enjoy your favourite holiday movies from wherever you are. With reliable e-wallets like Paga that enable you to pay bills and top up at any time, you no longer have to worry about keeping up with the juicy content that DStv has to offer.