Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

Ah yes, the timeless classic that is the 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl's bestseller with Gene Wilder in the titular role. Surely no Christmas holiday is complete without at least one viewing (I myself managed about one and three quarters this year).

The plot? Well, if you don't know it, then where on earth have you been living? Poor boy wins a chance to tour the most incredible chocolate factory on earth, where lots of strange and wonderful things happen, and they all live happily ever after.

This film always has and always will have a special place in my heart, and I will admit to knowing large sections of the dialogue off by heart, as well as all of the wonderful Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley songs. Gene Wilder does a simply spectacular job as Willy Wonka, and even though he only enters the film about 40 minutes in (with a flair and sense of the dramatic that he continues throughout), he completely steals the show.

The film is also filled with what were to become infinitely-parodied and -quoted scenes and characters that it hard to imagine pop culture without them - the singing Oompa Loompas, Gene Wilder's antics as Wonka and Veruka's demanding nature to mention but a few.

Favourite scenes? Too many to count, but they would have to include the "Pure Imagination" scene, along with Veruka Salt's exit with "I Want It Now!".

A+ from me - everyone should see this film at least once before they die, or they won't be around to live to regret it.