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List some Great Christmas Movies

I think some of you are just obsessed with Die Hard so much that you'll pass it off as a Christmas movie when it isn't...and even Willis doesn't think it is either so I'm not sure what else you need to convince you otherwise.

November-December is the holiday season and generally releases during that time coincide with the same, presuming that's the theme the filmakers decided to go with. To me, a "Christmas movie" is such when the theme is Christmas or Christmas-adjacent and it's released sometime in November or December. There are further examples...

* "Holiday Inn" - Released August 4th, 1942. This movie premiered the song "White Christmas". Interestingly, the success of Holiday Inn led to the film "White Christmas which was released October 14th, 1954...which is close to a Christmas movie. :twofinger

* "It's a Wonderful Life" - Full release January 7th of 1947. While released shortly after Christmas in full, it had a limited release on December 20th of 1946. This is a Christmas movie AFAIC.

* "Trading Places" - Released June 8th, 1983. Again, a plot that revolves around the holiday time of year, but not actually a Christmas movie as the story itself isn't based primarily on a Christmas theme but instead just has its timeline during that season...just like Die Hard, BTW. :twofinger

* "Miracle on 34th Street" - Released May 2nd, 1947. This one was released in the late spring simply due to the fact that the studio understood that more people went to the movies in the warmer months and felt the film would do better releasing in the spring rather than the winter. In fact, they even downplayed the Christmas references both in promotional materials and the actor's live appearances before the film came out basically to sell the film as a romcom instead of a Christmas movie. The gamble was that they could rerelease it in the Christmas season with the full seasonal promotional needs if they decided to. Indeed, the original poster for the film didn't even have Edmund Gwinn dressed as Santa and his relevance to the plot was downplayed by his reduced "background" appearance over stars O'Hara and Payne...

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Die Hard is a fantastic action movie that is also a Christmas movie.
 
It's an okay action movie that has a story that occurs during Christmas time.
 
Kornholio said:
It's an okay action movie that has a story that occurs during Christmas time.
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It’s a boomer thing, but when I was little and there were only three channels, the airing of Miracle on 34th Street was something we looked forward to annually. Even more than It’s A Wonderful Life (it may have also been aired this way, but I don’t remember it), if I was asked about xmas movies as a kid, Miracle would be the one. It was a big deal and there usually was a primary sponsor. And in those days, possible xmas movies would definitely not include shoot-em-ups.

Good list and Merry Christmas.

PS Oddly enough, the Wizard of Oz was also aired annually but around Easter time. Which is kind of weird now that I think about it. It’s so hard to imagine now when they run 24 hours of A Christmas Story by comparison. Heidi, too, was another annually-aired one which goes into the famous SuperBowl Raiders thing.
 
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Hell, no one really gave a shit about "A Christmas Story" until TBS starting airing it for 24-hours every year about 20 years ago or something. Before that, the only time I'd be able to watch that movie is if I whipped out the Beta deck and popped in the tape. :laughing
 
Kornholio said:
Hell, no one really gave a shit about "A Christmas Story" until TBS starting airing it for 24-hours every year about 20 years ago or something. Before that, the only time I'd be able to watch that movie is if I whipped out the Beta deck and popped in the tape. :laughing
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Classic cult movie pattern…Much more recent, I do not remember Office Space being released. I only found out years later because it was a favorite among some.
 
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Kornholio said:
It's an okay action movie that has a story that occurs during Christmas time.
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Okay? Okay!?!

JFC I can’t even with latest nonsense here, you’re hopeless.


Kornholio said:
I whipped out the Beta deck and popped in the tape.
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Ahhhh that explains it. You were one of those freaks with the Betamax while all the rest of us had VHS.

Yes I know Beta was the technically superior format and it’s a shame that even with the might of Sony pushing it on us, it lost the war.
 
TheRobSJ said:
Okay? Okay!?!

JFC I can’t even with latest nonsense here, you’re hopeless.
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Ive-had-better.gif


TheRobSJ said:
Ahhhh that explains it. You were one of those freaks with the Betamax while all the rest of us had VHS.

Yes I know Beta was the technically superior format and it’s a shame that even with the might of Sony pushing it on us, it lost the war.
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Sony refused to license whereas JVC was smart enough to do it. Thus...VHS was king.

However, unlike VHS, Betamax is still in regular use with TV stations around the world. :nerd
 
If you remember, Die Hard 2, Batman Returns, The Long Kiss Goodnight AND the original Lethal Weapon are ALL Xmas movies as well as Eyes Wide Shut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Trading Places.

I'm sorry, I don't make the rules.
 
Kornholio said:
Sony refused to license whereas JVC was smart enough to do it. Thus...VHS was king.

However, unlike VHS, Betamax is still in regular use with TV stations around the world. :nerd
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Gotta give credit to Sony for continuing to push their stuff on us over the years. Beta lost to VHS. SPDIF lost to TOSLINK. Minidisc couldn’t beat the inferior Compact Disc (which they also invented with Philips). But they got a definite win with Blu Ray over HD-DVD. And even more so when their DVD absolutely obsoleted Laserdisc.

:nerd
 
TheRobSJ said:
Gotta give credit to Sony for continuing to push their stuff on us over the years. Beta lost to VHS. SPDIF lost to TOSLINK. Minidisc couldn’t beat the inferior Compact Disc (which they also invented with Philips). But they got a definite win with Blu Ray over HD-DVD. And even more so when their DVD absolutely obsoleted Laserdisc.
:laughing:laughing
:nerd
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Ha, all my video from when my kids were little was in Hi-8 format, another Sony thing. I liked it because it was so much smaller than VHS at the time. It was revolutionary!!!!!!
 
Lucky Jones said:
If you remember, Die Hard 2, Batman Returns, The Long Kiss Goodnight AND the original Lethal Weapon are ALL Xmas movies as well as Eyes Wide Shut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Trading Places.
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I don't remember the Christmas part, but Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a great movie.
 
You can't trust modern media over BARF to moderate any holiday's special flare...ever!
 
They believed so strongly that it was Christmas movie that they released it six months in advance? Whatever. :rolleyes

Having a Christmas setting does not a Christmas movie make. The theme may be "family reconciliation" to some, but to the rest of us it's about ass kicking, cool fight scenes and explosions. Being set during Christmas is just part of the story, but it's not the actual story. Thus, not a Christmas movie. :twofinger
 
Yes it is :twofinger

Merry Christmas Jason.
 
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