Current Events > Die Hard is not a Christmas movie.

(+) Yeah! (+)

On the one hand, literally all of the arguments in favour of Die Hard being a Christmas movie could also be applied to Jurassic World (set at Christmas, the characters are only in their situation because it's Christmas time, there's a sneaky theme about trying to reunite an estranged family...), and nobody ever argues that Jurassic World is a Christmas movie. Also on that same hand there's the fact that - again like Jurassic World - it was literally a Summer blockbuster, originally releasing in the cinema in July rather than at Christmas.

On the other - far more correct - hand, suck my jingle bells, it's a fucking Christmas movie.

TomClark posted...

and nobody ever argues that Jurassic World is a Christmas movie.

Jurassic World sucks, Die Hard is awesome.

People earnestly fighting for Die Hard to be considered a Christmas movie has the same energy as people who earnestly partake in Pastafarianism.

Anteaterking posted...

People earnestly fighting for Die Hard to be considered a Christmas movie has the same energy as people who earnestly partake in Pastafarianism.

Why is earnestly fighting pro weird but earnestly fighting con normal? If you're putting skin in the game, you're one of the weird ones.

Tyranthraxus posted...

It's a wonderful life literally has no mention of Christmas at all until the last 5 minutes.

But it has the whole, peace on earth, goodwill to people vibe that isnt present in Die Hard. Im about 53 minutes into Die Hard at this very moment. Not once have I felt that Christmas pizzazz. Yet here I am watching Die Hard on December 23rd, so what the hell do I know.

Edit, damn its the 24th. What a conundrum.

wanderingshade posted...

Unlike this kino Classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhjOOEgqzjo

This is the most ridiculous thing that I've ever found deeply relatable.

Is Batman Returns a Christmas movie?
Is Lethal Weapon a Christmas movie?
Is Gremlins a Christmas movie?
Is Iron Man 3 a Christmas movie?

Die Hard is a hot dog and a sandwich.

Who cares if it is or isn't? I feel like it's a meme that got ran into the ground many years ago yet people keep bringing it up.

KCJ5062 posted...

Is Batman Returns a Christmas movie?
Is Lethal Weapon a Christmas movie?
Is Gremlins a Christmas movie?
Is Iron Man 3 a Christmas movie?

By the metric I introduced earlier in the topic, only Gremlins is from that list.

Pretty much every other movie that's considered a Christmas movie, it would be weird to watch them any time other than Christmas. If you put on Elf or A Christmas Story or It's a Wonderful Life in July people will be like, why are we watching this now?

Not so with Die Hard. You can put it on any time of year and no one will bat an eye. Why? Because deep down inside, we all know it's not a Christmas movie. Watching at Christmas doesn't add anything to it like it does with real Christmas movies. It's equally good any time of year.

People just say it's a Christmas movie so they'll have an excuse to watch it every year on Christmas.

That's fine. But you don't need the excuse. If you want to watch it at Christmas than just watch it at Christmas. Just like you can watch any damn movie you like at Christmas. You can even watch it instead of Christmas movies, who gives a fuck? Do whatever you like. Hell, even if you want to make a lame excuse about it being a Christmas movie, that's your prerogative.

But you don't have to. You can just watch it at Christmas, and not give a fuck.

It's an unconventional one. Don't see why people push back on the idea so much. Let people have their fun.

The only time I care to watch it is during Christmas holiday.

Reasons why Die Hard is in fact a non-traditional Christmas Movie:

1 - Takes place on Christmas Eve
2 - Takes place at a Christmas Party
3 - Christmas music is present throughout the entirety of the movie
4 - Gift Giving is done
5 - Snowing Outside
6 - John McClanes wife is named Holly
7 - The director has come out and said that its more or less a Christmas movie

The only person that initially disagreed with it being a Christmas movie was Bruce Willis. And as bad as I feel for him with his recent medical issues, he's an asshole who likes to stir the proverbial shit pot.

die hard is a Christian movie

Theres even a Christmas Miracle for the bad guys when the FBI guys show up.

I opened my Disney+ app to watch something Christmas-y, and they had a convenient "Happy Holidays" row of movies and shows on the main menu.

Die Hard was one of the first titles on the list. Christmas movie.

Auto_Chrisbot posted...

I opened my Disney+ app to watch something Christmas-y, and they had a convenient "Happy Holidays" row of movies and shows on the main menu.

Die Hard was one of the first titles on the list. Christmas movie.

Science wins again!

Turbam posted...

It takes place during Christmas.
It's not about Christmas.

Honestly, I think the general public doesn't know the difference. I'm legit surprised people don't consider Peace Walker a Xmas game just because they mention Santa in an optional conversation.

I just saw it last night in a theater for the first time. Definitely a Christmas movie.

let's ask Kojima:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a68fd156.jpg

ModernPost posted...

Why is earnestly fighting pro weird but earnestly fighting con normal? If you're putting skin in the game, you're one of the weird ones.

I make no claims that it's normal to argue endlessly for the "it's not" side either. My analogy is just that the whole idea of the "Die Hard is a Christmas movie" thing was making fun of/pointing out that Die Hard checks off a lot of boxes *despite* not really being a Christmas movie.

Similarly, the FSM was used as an analogy for why requiring intelligent design to be taught alongside evolution should mean that every fringe belief should also get class time, but then people ran with it as an actual religion because people can't let something just be a funny concept.

KCJ5062 posted...

Is Gremlins a Christmas movie?

Hold up, you think it's not?

Enclave posted...

Hold up, you think it's not?

I didn't say that. I'm just asking if it should be considered one the same way Die Hard is considered one. While it does take place during Christmas and Gizmo is given to Billy as a Christmas present, would the movie really be much different if Gizmo was a birthday present instead? Heck, it didn't even come out during Christmas.

Frick all the non-believers, I know what I'm doing todayhttps://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fdda530f.jpg

ModernPost posted...

Bruce Willis sends a dead body down an elevator as a warning with a message written on him that says "Now I have a machine gun Ho Ho Ho" It's more than just window dressing. It's a Christmas movie.

I was gonna bring that up, or when he uses Christmas lights to tie c4 to the office chair

It's a Christmas classic

KCJ5062 posted...

I didn't say that. I'm just asking if it should be considered one the same way Die Hard is considered one. While it does take place during Christmas and Gizmo is given to Billy as a Christmas present, would the movie really be much different if Gizmo was a birthday present instead? Heck, it didn't even come out during Christmas.

You can make tweaks to any sorts of movies, that feels like an irrelevant point.

Additionally who said a Christmas movie has to release around Christmas? Nightmare Before Christmas is a classic Christmas movie and it released in October.

Enclave posted...

Additionally who said a Christmas movie has to release around Christmas? Nightmare Before Christmas is a classic Christmas movie and it released in October.

I thought it was always considered to be both a Halloween and Christmas movie.

I'm not sure if I'm just brainrotted by current year stuff but I kind of wonder if the movie was making some kind of social commentary about cops since all of them besides John and Al were pretty useless in the film.

KCJ5062 posted...

I thought it was always considered to be both a Halloween and Christmas movie.

Literally doesn't change my point.

Christmas movie released in October. Release date clearly doesn't matter. Hell, Miracle on 34th Street? Released in June.

MabinogiFan posted...

I'm not sure if I'm just brainrotted by current year stuff but I kind of wonder if the movie was making some kind of social commentary about cops since all of them besides John and Al were pretty useless in the film.

Even Al was useless except for 2 seconds at the end in a scene that had no business existing except to give Al an excuse to draw his gun. You could just cut that part out and the movie is unchanged.

And John was there as a private citizen.

Argyle was the second most useful character.

MabinogiFan posted...

I'm not sure if I'm just brainrotted by current year stuff but I kind of wonder if the movie was making some kind of social commentary about cops since all of them besides John and Al were pretty useless in the film.

The police being useless is actually not uncommon in movies. Nor any other sort of media as a matter of fact. For instance, in Home Alone, the police were absolutely no help at all. Though this was adverted in the second movie where the cop Peter and Kate were talking to came up with the idea of notifying the credit card company so they could get a location on Kevin if he were to use it. He also didn't seem amused at Peter and Kate's joke about them losing their luggage.

Sorry if this was already brought up, it just came to mind, but along with all the other Christmas related stuff, there are sleigh bells all throughout the soundtrack. And if you try hard enough you could take things out of a lot of Christmas movies and make them non Christmas-y. Only DH gets picked apart like this.

And lots of horror movies get released in January and February, but watching them at Halloween wouldn't be seen as crazy.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Even Al was useless except for 2 seconds at the end in a scene that had no business existing except to give Al an excuse to draw his gun. You could just cut that part out and the movie is unchanged.

To be fair he was moral support and would tell John about what's going on the outside with the cops.

Southernfatman posted...

And lots of horror movies get released in January and February, but watching them at Halloween wouldn't be seen as crazy.

Miracle on 34th Street releasing in June basically obliterates the idea that release date is at all relevant to if something is or is not a Christmas movie.

KCJ5062 posted...

While it does take place during Christmas and Gizmo is given to Billy as a Christmas present, would the movie really be much different if Gizmo was a birthday present instead?

This works on a lot of movies, though. Would the movie really be much different if Home Alone took place during spring break?

HashtagSEP posted...

This works on a lot of movies, though. Would the movie really be much different if Home Alone took place during spring break?

Yes. Harry & Marv's plans revolve around everyone being away for the holidays. If it was just spring break, the neighborhood would not be empty.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Yes. Harry & Marv's plans revolve around everyone being away for the holidays. If it was just spring break, the neighborhood would not be empty.

In an upscale neighbourhood like that? A heck of a lot of people are going to be going on vacation. Certainly a comparable number of people who would be going away on Christmas if not more since in houses like those? Most likely they'd be the ones hosting the rest of their families rather than going to visit their families.

Spring Break would absolutely work for Home Alone.

Enclave posted...

In an upscale neighbourhood like that? A heck of a lot of people are going to be going on vacation. Certainly a comparable number of people who would be going away on Christmas if not more since in houses like those? Most likely they'd be the ones hosting the rest of their families rather than going to visit their families.

Spring Break would absolutely work for Home Alone.

Spring break is mostly a kid's thing. All the old people are going to stay home.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Spring break is mostly a kid's thing. All the old people are going to stay home.

Which is irrelevant, even in Home Alone it wasn't every house in the neighbourhood that was away. That was the point of Harry impersonating a policeman to find out which houses would be away so they knew which houses they could hit.

So yeah, during Spring Break you'd have a bunch of houses empty and you'd have a bunch not empty, just like with Christmas. It would still work.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Even Al was useless except for 2 seconds at the end in a scene that had no business existing except to give Al an excuse to draw his gun. You could just cut that part out and the movie is unchanged.

Fair. I guess I just really like Reginald Veljohnson.

Rambo is a Christmas movie

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/28954b8a.jpg

Just finished it in the spirit of Christmas. Carl Winslow learns he had it in him to kill again followed by some Christmas bells. Tomorrow I need to watch violent night that combines two great Christmas movies, die hard and home alone, in the most fun way possible.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Yes. Harry & Marv's plans revolve around everyone being away for the holidays. If it was just spring break, the neighborhood would not be empty.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Spring break is mostly a kid's thing. All the old people are going to stay home.

I've unfortunately heard enough Bravo shows in the background to know this isn't completely true for people atleast decently well off.

Even then, not every house was empty at Christmas, either. They scoped ahead of time to find out which ones would be.

If you don't like Spring Break, pick any other travel holiday. July 4th, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, whatever.

The point is it can't be said that Die Hard didn't have to happen on Christmas Eve, because the Wet Bandits didn't have to choose Christmas, either. In both movies, the villain just did because it was most convenient, but it's still an important plot point for each movie. That said, you could change the holiday of either and the main events of the movies can still happen, so that's just not something unique to Die Hard.

Scorsese2002 posted...

Rambo is a Christmas movie

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/28954b8a.jpg

Huh

Anteaterking posted...

the FSM

fainstream media

Yippee ki yay to all, and to all you motherfuckers good night!

Yippie kay yay and merry Christmas to all of you! I recommend watching one of the classics (like Die Hard) with your loved ones.

KCJ5062 posted...

I didn't say that. I'm just asking if it should be considered one the same way Die Hard is considered one. While it does take place during Christmas and Gizmo is given to Billy as a Christmas present, would the movie really be much different if Gizmo was a birthday present instead? Heck, it didn't even come out during Christmas.

Im guessing you havent watched it recently?

Aside from being about a Christmas present, it has a Scrooge stand in character, a character whose entire subplot is about how they hate Christmas because their dad died over the Christmas break because he was attempting to impersonate Santa Claus, a scene set in a place selling Christmas trees, the dog getting bundled up in Christmas lights, the fight with the Christmas tree, the stocking fake out, the soundtrack. Thats just off the top of my head.

Watching it right now and Roy/John just found a thousand year-old twinkie.