Every single year it’s the same discussion around the holidays: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Of course it is. Any film set on or near Christmas, where people are actively talking about or celebrating the holiday, makes it a Christmas movie. Is that the consensus? Can we be done now? The movie is 36 years old and I think it’s time to bring the Christmas movie debate into some new and uncharted waters.
Growing up the way I did, Christmas has always been very white, middle class conventional. A Christmas Story, Home Alone, and Miracle on 34th Street were always the movies we would watch around the fire on Christmas Eve as we would open presents. I’m basic. But the older I get, I’m way less interested in the typical conventional Christmas movies and am on the hunt for great holiday gems that aren’t the typical seasonal fare.
So here are some movies I would include in the Christmas seasonal collection.
Obviously, Gremlins is a darkly fantastic Christmas movie that treats the holiday like a triggering event (which it is for a lot of us). In fact, when Phoebe Cates tells the story of her father breaking his neck while coming down the chimney dressed as Santa Claus, that was the first time I’d ever heard about someone else dressed like Santa. The moral of that story is that I don’t recommend watching Gremlins when you’re 6 years old. Her Santa tale scared me so much as a kid, I’m not sure I’ve watched the movie in a few decades because of it.
Shane Black, one of the most underrated writers/directors working today, always sets his movies around Christmas and they always approach the holiday in ways both unexpected and insane. So many of his films deserve to be in constant holiday rotation … even the ones that haven’t aged very well.
I think this year I might program a mini-film festival called A Black Christmas and show Lethal Weapon, the unsung Robert Downey Jr./Val Kilmer neo noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the insanely bonkers The Long Kiss Goodnight, the deceptively fun Iron Man 3, and The Nice Guys because it’s a genuinely great movie, even though it only has one scene set around the holiday. These five movies are all deeply unconventional in different ways, but each one should appeal to those who like a little red blood splattered across their pillowy white snow.
For those not into the violence and want a sexier holiday, Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut has a Christmas tree in almost every scene AND a masked orgy. It’s one of Kubrick’s most underrated movies and treats marriage differently than any movie I’ve ever seen. Almost as kinky as Eyes Wide Shut is P.T. Anderson’s deeply and darkly sexy The Phantom Thread. Any movie that treats people’s turn-ons with respect and admiration is OK with me.
Carol is one of the finest queer movies of the last few decades and slyly deconstructs the hollow capitalistic aspects of the holiday in ways I’m not sure American audiences truly appreciate enough. I like watching this one when I spend the holiday alone because of how intensely somber the film is; it somehow makes me feel a little less alone.
Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is sweepingly romantic, hilarious, and sad all at the same time … perfect for a screening with the folks, while Klaus is a fantastic and little-seen classic that the youngsters will love, featuring stunning hand-drawn animation that mythologizes the origin of Santa in touching and unpredictable ways.
There are so many more Christmas flicks that deserve to be added to the holiday movie canon: just to name a few more -- Terry Gilliam’s absolutely batshit 12 Monkeys, David Lowery’s visionary The Green Knight, the spooky Krampus, the ’90s classic Go, the modern masterpiece In Bruges, and Sean Baker’s groundbreaking Tangerine.
Don’t get me wrong, I love discussing DieHard’s Christmas bona fides year after year, but I think it’s time to grow and evolve. There are so many more movies worthy of addition to the Unconventional Christmas Canon!
What are some of your favorites?
