Unexpected Gifts: The Top Three Non-Traditional Christmas Movies
A trio of unconventional festive films
Die Hard is a Christmas movie—if you want it to be. Any film that has a scene that takes place during the holidays can be considered a Yuletide classic if you so choose. I’d dare to say that any flick you enjoy watching at Christmastime is a holiday favorite, whether or not it features a trimmed tree. But what makes the top tier list of unconventional Christmas movies?
A lot of listicles dive into exhaustive depths reaching a triple digit number or just do the typical ten for the amount of entries considered. Five is a fine number, but the best time of the year can fly by faster than Santa’s sleigh on December 24th, so I’ve boiled it down to the best three films that don’t usually make the “best of” list.
The triumphant triumvirate are as follows:
Lethal Weapon: 1987’s cinematic thrillride defined the buddy cop action movie, and it just so happened to take place during the most wonderful time of year. Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s odd couple routine would spawn three film sequels and eventually a television series adaptation. The franchise isn’t exactly unheard of, but perhaps the fact that it came out a year before Die Hard is the reason it gets largely ignored during this season. The Bruce Willis epic actioner enjoys an enduring popularity and has become ritualistic viewing for many people. I wouldn’t be so bold to claim that Lethal Weapon is a scrappy little underdog piece of cinema, but it noticeably doesn’t come up in the annual Christmas movie qualifying conversation. Maybe if the second (or third or fourth) movie in the LW series was also a Christmas film, it’d be remembered more so as an end-of-the-year viewing tradition. After all, Riggs, Murtaugh, and Joe Pesci’s Leo Getz are certainly three wise(guy) men.
Die Hard 2: 1990 blessed us with another unfortunate outing for everyone’s favorite New York cop with a bad hangover. For several years after its release, the snowy sequel was not quite celebrated the same way as the original or subsequent offerings in the franchise. I am guilty of contributing to this misguided slander, but who could blame us for giving this film a “hard” time? The first continues to be a rewatchable masterpiece whose only flaw is that it is maybe a smidge too long—but who can honestly complain about having too much Die Hard? The “Die Harder” sequel simply isn’t its predecessor and was never going to be, but I will say that of all the other sequels, part two “feels” the most like a true Die Hard movie. This is possibly due to a few rehashed elements like McClane being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and even having Officer Powell return seemed like a stretch. Instead of a skyscraper, Bruce Willis takes to the sky itself, fighting bad guys in an airport—and it just so happens to happen around Christmas. Give yourself the gift of a revisit this winter break.
For the third and final title of my Christmas List, I could easily keep going the Shane Black road, springing from Lethal Weapon and seamlessly into Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or even Iron Man Three. Tempting as that is, I think instead there is a different motion picture that too often has its merriment passed over.
Gremlins: This 1984 creature feature is, understandably, nestled into the horror genre, but its Christmas backdrop settles it into a separate holiday category in my mind. A young man’s gadget-selling father delivers unto him the most unique present of all - a super weird little mammal that no one has ever seen or heard of! The inventor-dad gifts the aptly named “Gizmo” to Billy but the cute little hairball comes with some very famous rules. Naturally, the Mogwai’s stipulations are all violated resulting in the spawning of the mischievous—and dangerous—and titular—gremlins that wreak havoc on their sleepy town. My cherished memory of this movie is how the hideous little monsters attack Billy’s mom, but she’s having none of it. She holds her own against those green lizard-things.
If you’re looking for an unorthodox holiday film to watch but don’t have the time for a full-on binge, then I definitely recommend any of these three Christmas movies that don’t originate from the North Pole, but instead come straight out of left field.
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