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Christmas movies have become as disposable as a month-old wreath. Over the last decade, streamers like Netflix have made a tradition of churning out corny, cheaply-made, badly acted holiday romcoms that vanish from memory as soon as the season ends, only to crank out a dozen more the very next year. Sure, a dose of forgettable cheese can make for a fun irony watch, but the cottage industry surrounding them has come to overshadow the truly great Christmas movies that exist – the ones we used to watch every December to signal that the most wonderful time of the year is finally upon us. Sorry if this makes us sound a bit Scrooge-y. To offset that Grinchitude, then, how about we celebrate the yuletide classics that really get us in the wintry mood? Everyone has their own personal favourite, whether it’s a generational touchstone like It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story, something goofy like Elf, or crude and rude like Bad Santa. Whatever lights the yule log in your heart, you’ll find it under the tree in our list of the best Christmas movies ever. RECOMMENDED: 🎅 The best new Christmas movies to stream this year🎶 The 50 best Christmas songs to listen to this month🎄 The best animated Christmas movies for the whole family🧝 The best Christmas movies on Netflix in the UK

Thanksgiving gets no respect. As soon as Halloween ends, the skeleton window decals go back into storage, the decorative gourds get tossed in the trash, and out come the stockings and candy canes, as Mariah Carey begins warming up her vocal chords. How rude! There’s a whole other holiday in between October 31 and December 25, one based entirely on overeating, watching football and yelling at your relatives. What could possibly be more American? And yet, we often skip right over it. So it is with the movies. Horror flicks get an entire month, while cheesy Hallmark-style Christmas movies are their own cottage industry. Meanwhile, you have to strain to think of many good films set on Thanksgiving, let alone find more than a handful that don’t regard the holiday as a painful obligation. But great Turkey Day movies do exist – even if a lot of them indeed focus on the arguing and dysfunction that goes along with gathering with extended family.  What makes a great Thanksgiving movie? As noted, Thanksgiving is predominantly a holiday about family togetherness – and the difficulties of being together as a family. Most great Thanksgiving movies reflect that dynamic, in one way or another. But it’s also important not to wallow in anxiety, no matter how relatable it might be. In fact, many of the best Thanksgiving movies qualify as dark comedies rather than painful trauma-dumps.  What are some great Thanksgiving movies? All that said, the definitive Thanksgiving movie is a screwball...

Are we still in the Golden Age of Television? Probably not. Since the end of Succession, it hasn’t felt like there’s been a major prestige series to grip the culture in a way similar to Breaking Bad, Mad Men et al. But it doesn’t mean there isn’t still great stuff to watch – stuff that, as they go along, could grow into one of those zeitgeist-gripping all-timers. In 2026, that includes the likes of HBO’s Industry, which has grown from cult fave to must-watch over four seasons, and The Pitt, still probably the best show currently on despite its, let’s say, fervent fanbase. And don’t forget Heated Rivalry, Bait and yet another Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of Seven Kingdoms. We’ve put off sleep and watched them all to determine the best TV of the year so far.  Recommended: 📽️ The best movies of 2026 (so far)🔥 The best TV and streaming shows of 2025📺 The 100 greatest TV shows of all time

Most movie years post-pandemic have felt like rollercoasters, but 2026 so far has been particularly up-and-down – and at its highest points, especially exciting. Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day disappointed while Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey took on one of the oldest epics in literature and surpassed even the loftiest expectations. Several titanic franchises flopped hard, while smaller films like Obsession and Backrooms, made by total unknowns,  have come bursting through the box-office glass ceiling. The likes of Project Hail Mary and Toy Story 5 may not qualify as ‘original stories’, but both displayed an intelligence, emotionality and sense of crowd-pleasing fun missing from many of the IP-flogging blockbusters of the recent past. All in all, a pretty good year – and we haven’t even hit awards season yet. For now, though, here’s the best of what we’ve seen to date. 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2026 (so far)😂 The best comedy movies of 2026🔥 The 100 greatest movies ever made

Somehow it’s nearly 2027. Between a World Cup summer and Eurovision in Vienna, 2026 has given us plenty to talk about, so it’s only right we send it off properly. We named Melbourne the best city in the world and crowned Seoul’s Jongno 3-ga the coolest neighbourhood on the planet, but now, with only days left in the year, one final question remains. What’s the best place in the world to celebrate New Year’s Eve? Every corner of the world has its own way of welcoming the new year. In Madrid you’ll be cramming 12 grapes into your mouth as the clock strikes, in Rio you’ll be dressed head to toe in white and jumping seven waves, and in Reykjavik the entire city sets off its own fireworks. So whether you’re after a mega-party, a countdown on the beach or a tradition you’ll be talking about all year, these are the best places in the world to ring in 2027. The best places to celebrate New Year, at a glance 🎆 Best for fireworks: Sydney 💃 Best for waltzing into the new year: Vienna 🍇 Best for a lucky tradition: Madrid 🏮 Best for a sky full of lanterns: Chiang Mai 🏖️ Best for a beach countdown: Goa This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines. 

Is it safe to laugh again? Over the last decade, comedy movie from all but disappeared from cinemas – and those that emerged on streaming weren’t exactly keeping us in hysterics. But so far, 2026 is looking like something of a rebound for both big- and small-screen comedies. Granted, nothing is breaking the box office like back in the aughts, but surprise hits like The Drama and under-the-radar gems like Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie have cracked us up harder than anything we’ve seen in a few years – and there’s more on the way. For now, here are funniest movies we’ve seen in 2026 so far. RECOMMENDED: 📽️ The best movies of 2026 (so far)🔥 The best TV and streaming shows of 2026😂 The 100 greatest comedy movies ever made

It’s that time again. The lights are going up, the first Mariah memes are doing the rounds and someone in the group chat has already floated a Christmas market weekend. Before you know it the big day will be here, so now’s the moment to work out where in the world you want to wake up on the 25th. Christmas looks wildly different depending on where you spend it. In Copenhagen it’s glögg and candlelit windows, in Reykjavik it’s 13 mischievous Yule Lads leaving gifts in children’s shoes, and in Sydney it’s a barbecue on the beach in the sunshine. So whether you’re after a full-blown winter wonderland or a festive break that comes with a tan, we’ve rounded up the very best places to spend Christmas around the world. The best places to go for Christmas, at a glance 🗽 Best for an iconic Christmas: New York City 🦌 Best for meeting the big man himself: Lapland 🏖️ Best for Christmas on the beach: Sydney 🎄 Best for Christmas markets: Nuremberg 🐪 Best for skipping Christmas altogether: Marrakech This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.

Stuck with that tricky ‘What should I watch next on Netflix?’ decision? Already seen everything the algorithm is throwing your way? Tired of low-key disappointment every time you watch something that’s a bit rubbish? Fortunately, help is at hand, as we’ve rounded up ten of the best under-the-radar hidden gems on Netflix that you (probably) haven’t seen. Each of these films is a guaranteed winner, whether you’re looking for acclaimed animated features, indie dramas, laugh-out-loud comedies, sci-fi thrillers or trans coming-of-age movies. RECOMMENDED: 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2026 (so far).🎞️ The 50 best movies on Netflix.

Updated for 2026: Are we moving too fast to anoint The Furious? Anyone who thinks so clearly hasn’t seen this absolute wall-smasher of a martial arts extravaganza – and needs to rectify that as soon as humanly possible. Everyone loves a good action movie, even if some won’t admit it. Film school snobs may pretend to turn up their noses, but no matter how cultured you’d like to think you are, there’s a part of your lizard brain that loves explosions and shootouts and badass one-liners – and it needs to be satisfied.  But action flicks needn’t be dumb, loud or graphic to succeed. Some find beauty in orchestrated violence. Others might crane-kick you right in the heart. Some even have – gasp! – character development. And so, to help put together this definitive list of the greatest action movies ever made, we reached out to some of the people who understand the action genre better than anyone, from Die Hard director John McTiernan to Machete himself, Danny Trejo. Pull the pin, light the fuse and batten down the hatches – these are the most pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thrill rides ever put to film.  Recommended: 🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time💥 The 18 greatest stunts in cinema (as picked by the greatest stunt people)🥋 The 25 best martial arts movies of all-time🌊 The 33 best disaster movies of all-time

If World War II made America the hero of the world, the Vietnam War is where the country’s global reputation began to turn. Entered with questionable intent and ending with little to show for the thousands of lives lost, it left a scar on an entire generation – including many filmmakers. Unsurprisingly, the films about ‘Nam are full of much less flag-waving patriotism than other war movies up to that point. Many of them, in fact, are basically horror movies – and some of them actually are horror movies. Capturing a mood is different from historical accuracy, though. More than five decades after the fall of Saigon, we asked military historian Professor Geoffrey Wawro, author of acclaimed account The Vietnam War, to help rank the best Vietnam War movies, not necessarily by quality – though many of them are exceptional – but by just how reflective they are of the reality of what happened. Here’s how they stacked up. Recommended:  📽️ The 50 best war movies ever made🪖 The 50 best World War II movies🎖️ World War I films ranked by historical accuracy