Welcome to the party, pal! Die Hard has been the subject of a great deal of heated debate in our office this week, as we try and work out if it should be classed as a Christmas film or not. A poll for the British Board of Film Classification has found that a sizeable 44 per cent said the Bruce Willis 1988 action classic should not be classified as a Christmas film, despite it being set at Christmas, and essentially being about a man trying to get home to see his family on Christmas Eve. 44 per cent are wrong, in my firm opinion. Yippee ki-yay.
Top of the Christmas movie pile by some margin is Home Alone, which almost didn't get made in 1990 after Warner Bros cited concerns about the spiralling cost of its production. It's always pleasing when ITV2 edit out the Orange Manbaby's cameo in 1992's sequel Home Alone 2, and I am still not entirely convinced that the pigeon lady and Piers Morgan are not the same person.
Love Actually finished second, and would actually make a decent double bill with Die Hard, as Alan Rickman gets his just deserts following the outrageous Joni Mitchell CD incident. Also ranking highly on the nation's festive film favourites are It's A Wonderful Life and Elf. The creator of It's A Wonderful Life, Frank Capra, said in a 1984 interview: "I didn't even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea". When originally released, it fell $525,000 dollars short of breaking even at the box office, but has become a staple watch in the decades since. If you haven't seen it, it's the one film I think you should definitely watch during the festive break.
Meanwhile, the Official Charts Company elves have compiled some streaming stats, and found that the most streamed 21st century British Christmas song is "One More Sleep" by Leona Lewis. It made number three back in 2013, and is undoubtedly a modern classic, alongside Kelly Clarkson's equally catchy "Underneath The Tree" and anything from Kylie's 2015 Christmas album. Coldplay's "Christmas Lights" came second, followed by Lily Allen's cover of "Somewhere Only We Know" for a John Lewis ad of Christmas past, which finished third. Ed & Elton's "Merry Christmas" (which I have a real dislike of, as it just sounds to me like it's been made in a festive song factory) and Alexandra Burke's "Hallelujah" is plaed in fifth. There doesn't seem to be much new stuff out this year so far, and we appear to be on a continuous rollercoaster where either Wham or Mariah Carey will claim the Christmas number one for the rest of time. Gone are the days of Simon Cowell dominating things.
And also in the news this week, a strange new trend for mushroom coffee. This is definitely not something I like the sound of, but I've bought a can of mushroom latte made with something called lion's mane from M&S, which I'll be trying whilst I read the rest of this week's newspaper. The Guardian reports that "mushroom mania" is sweeping the high street, and mushrooms are turning up in hot drinks, supplements and even beer. Health food brand Holland & Barrett report that searches on their website for "functional mushrooms" are up 50% on a year ago. However, a recent investigation by Which? put them at the top of their list of "health products you don't need". I'm told there's a lot of stuff on TikTok about mushroom coffee, and along with a desire to reduce caffeine intake, young types are apparently following ancient Chinese wisdom when choosing to sip on a funghi latte. All very strange, but I'll let you know my verdict once I've had a sip!
For the record, 'detox teas' have also been largely debunked by Which?. If you drink them because you like the taste, then that's fair enough, but our liver, kidneys and digestive systems are already all set up to detox our bodies. The ASA, which regulates advertising in the UK, says "no product can detox the human body", and a leading nutritionist told Which?: "There's no evidence that detox teas offer any benefits". I will stick to my morning L'or coffee and evening Vocation beer, both of which I have in advent calendars for the weeks leading up to Christmas Day. I'd best get them the right way round when my alarm goes off at 4:30AM.
Alex Cann's weekly blog - 9th January
