“Yippee-ki-yay, motherf*cker.”– John McClane, Die Hard
So, it’s Christmas-time again. You’re getting presents wrapped, trees decorated, and when you can, you are watching a heartwarming Christmas movie. It’s the umpteenth time that you’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life, or Miracle on 34th Street, or The Shop Around the Corner, or, well, you get the idea.
While these are all great movies, haven’t you perhaps gotten just a little tired of seeing some of them year after year after year? If not, congratulations – you truly have the Christmas spirit. There’s a large group of other folks who probably said yes to that, though. (There’s a reason that Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer became the biggest selling Christmas song of all time.)
For the rest of you folks, I am going to write reviews for the films I consider the five best non-traditional Christmas movies. Normally I would have done them from five to one, but since Die Hard is pretty much the consensus pick in this category, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Because of this I will reverse the order and write about them from one to five. After I post a new review I will come back to this parent post and add the link to it.
There were a couple of honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the list. They are The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and Batman Returns (1992).
The Long Kiss Goodnight was pretty much the first non-sci-fi movie to have a female action hero lead. While it’s chic to dump on both Renny Harlin and Geena Davis now, this movie remains a very entertaining one.
As for Batman Returns, it is the best of the four Batman movies from the late 80s and 90s. Danny Devito and Michelle Pfeiffer were perfectly cast as the Penguin and Catwoman, just as Jack Nicholson was perfectly cast as the Joker in the prior movie.
Without further ado, here are the five best non-traditional Christmas movies:
On to the reviews…
This is a cool category. I think Eyes Wide Shut would be tied with Die Hard for my #1 here.
ReplyDelete@Bonjour Tristesse - thanks. I didn't remember Eyes Wide Shut as happening at Christmas time. I'll have to refresh my memory of it.
ReplyDeleteGreat picks! I tend to watch more stronger themed Christmas movies - I'm inspired to think out of the box now! :D
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. I watch traditional Christmas films, too (I reviewed It's a Wonderful Life recently), but sometimes it's good to watch something outside the norm.
Delete