We ask head writer Nathan Rabin from The Onion AV Club to tell us which films he’d cozy up to with some holiday cookies and cocoa. But we don’t want the tried and true classics like It’s a Wonderful Life. Alison Cuddy talked with Rabin who defines a “comfort film.” 

Rabin’s is author of The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture.

List of Films Mentioned:
Trading Places (1983) Directed by John Landis. With Denholm Elliott, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Maurice Woods

Coming to America (1988) Directed by John Landis. With Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones

48 Hrs. (1982) Directed by Walter Hill. With Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Annette O’Toole

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) Directed by Martin Brest. With Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton

The Last Days of Disco (1998) Directed by Whit Stillman. With Chloë Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale

Remember the Night (1940) Directed by Mitchell Leisen. With Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) Directed by Preston Sturges. With Harold Lloyd, Jimmy Conlin, Raymond Walburn

The Freshman (1925) Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor. With Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict

Mean Streets (1973) Directed by Martin Scorsese. With Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval

Alien (1979) Directed by Ridley Scott. With Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright

The Godfather (1972) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. With Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Directed by Frank Capra. With James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Directed by Frank Capra. With Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains