Willis knows that some truths bear repeating.
Dammit! and I actually reread the last few posts to make sure it hadnt already been reported. since it aired on the 28th I thought I went back far enough. I shoulda known some doper was on top of it.
Sorry Cell Guy, didn’t man to ignore you!
mc
As has become my personal holiday tradition I am resurrecting this thread (although it somehow did a “natural” resurrection few months ago already).
The ties of family (McClanes estrangement) defeat crass materialism. It’s not just A Christmas story, it’s one of the best. Second place goes to The Ref.
Trapped in Paradise beats The Ref by a mile. It has Mrs. Fish as the Ma Barker of the family!
AGAIN with this? No, NO! A thousand times NO!
Tell it to Harkins theaters. Die Hard is their Tuesday Night Classic movie on Dec 25.
Although it is set at Christmastime, that has no part in the plot. The same movie could have been set at any time of the year without changing anything about the plot. I think the Christmas angle was just an easy way to explain a party in an office building. But certainly not the only way possible.
A movie doesn’t have to be about Christmas to be a Christmas movie, but Christmas should somehow be pivotal in the plot.
Is it their “Tuesday Night Classic” movie or their “Tuesday Night Christmas Classic” movie?
The former. TNC movies run all year, but they do get “themed” at this time of year.
The ones running last month and this month are
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Love Actually
Polar Express
Home Alone
Christmas Vacation
Die Hard
Special Christmas bonus movies on Saturdays this month are:
Miracle on 34th street (1947)
It’s a Wonderful Life
Elf
Preach it!
Let me know if they start playing Lethal Weapon or Rocky IV, since they both have about the same amount of Christmas in them as Die Hard.
Is Christmas a pivotal plot point in It’s a Wonderful Life? No. Most of the movie doesn’t take place around the holiday, and George Bailey’s financial problems could’ve happened at any time of the year–and the generous spirit of the Bedford Falls townfolk is certainly not limited to the season (nor his suicide attempt or Clarence’s intervention). Most of the Christmas references are peripheral to the story and are mostly atmospheric window dressing.
You can say the exact same thing about Home Alone, Gremlins, and The Bishop’s Wife. All use Christmas as a backdrop but the function of Christmas is marginal at best in terms of driving the plot forward somehow. It is mostly ladled on as atmosphere–music, production design, jokey references. By your (completely arbitrary) definition, none of these films have any greater claim to being a Xmas film than DH.
I’m entitled to whatever definition I want. This is a matter of opinion.
What’s your completely arbitrary definition?
It simply would not be Christmas without that wonderful holiday film, Die Hard. And the first sequel. And Lethal Weapon.
Just going to repost this in support of why it is a Christmas movie.
We are talking about Die Hard. What you posted is clearly National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Very few Christmas movies really rely on Christmas; switch some words here and there and you could have the same movie.
Christmas movies about about the Christmas SPIRIT - family, generosity, charity, a sense of wonder, the eternal conflict between work and home, holiday stress, good cheer. Some throw in modern concerns, like consumerism.
Die Hard has all those things. It’s the perfect Christmas movie.
Don’t forget guns and explosions.
Just like Christmas Vacation. Ergo Die Hard = Christmas Vacation = Christmas Movie