Top 10 Favorite Movies Set During Christmas...That Aren't Christmas Movies
It’s Christmas time, which means I’m in the mood to talk about Christmas movies. But today we’re not talking about Christmas movies. I’m talking about movies that are set during Christmas but are ones that I DON’T consider to be Christmas movies. Let’s get started!
NOTE: In order to qualify for this list, the movie either needs to be set 100% during Christmas time or a good chunk of the movie needs to be set. If a movie only has one scene set at Christmas then it’s not included on this list.
10. Die Hard 2: We’ll talk about the original movie because unpopular opinions (but it should be popular), I don’t think any Die Hard movie is a Christmas movie. I think Die Hard 2 is a good movie, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Bruce Willis is still charismatic as John McClane, him in the 80s and 90s was such a big movie star. William Sadler as our villain isn’t as memorable as Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber, but he’s still fun. Sadler is a fun actor to play a villain in a movie like this. There’s also some good twists and turns in here in regards to whose side and I thought they worked and fit in with the story and motivation established in the movie. I feel like some people have crapped on this movie over the years. Some of it is probably because this is the most formulaic of the Die Hard sequels. All of the other films in the franchise do something different with the story. The third one brings in Samuel L. Jackson and puts McClane in New York City. The fourth one is a mix of Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious in the Die Hard franchise. This one follows the template of the original with a similar plot that strains more credibility. But overall, it does the template right which means that it’s a good movie.
9. Iron Man 3: The only MCU movie that’s set during Christmas. I’ve always liked it when genre films take place during Christmas. I feel like it adds a fun flavor to the movie. In the case of this movie, it adds a fun fresh flavor to Iron Man 3. I don’t think this is a top tier MCU or comic book movie but it’s a fun time. What really works about this movie is you get Robert Downey Jr giving one of the best performances as Tony Stark mixed with Shane Black’s snappy and witty dialogue. In terms of humor and jokes, this is one of the most underrated MCU movies. I think this is most prevalent in the middle section when you have Tony teamed up with Ty Sympkins’ character. The dialogue and banter between the two of them is really funny and creates some of the most fun Tony Stark moments in the MCU. I think of all of the Iron Man movies this is the one with the best action. Since this was the end of the trilogy it meant they went all out with the final battle. On a size level, this is the biggest third act in the trilogy. The plane rescue sequence is also pretty fantastic. There’s a lot in this movie to enjoy, I don’t think the movie is top tier MCU but for what it is I think it’s solid.
8. Batman Returns: This is probably the most Christmas centric and focused comic book movie that we’ve gotten. There’s some discussions being had about this movie about how this film is like A Christmas Carol, and The Penguin and Catwoman act as the Christmas ghost for Batman. But because it’s a comic book movie and because the plot of the movie could take place during any time of the year and it wouldn’t be different, I don’t consider it a Christmas movie. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in here. First off, Tim Burton’s exploration of our three main characters, Batman, Catwoman, and The Penguin is rather fascinating. Burton is known for exploring misunderstood weirdos and he applies that to these characters in a way that makes these adaptations stand out from other adaptations we got prior and since this movie came out. Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny DeVito deliver two of the best performances for Batman villains. Both of them are so much fun and are the definitive versions of these characters. Of course, Michael Keaton is iconic in this role and nails both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Like is the case with most of Burton’s movies, Danny Elfman’s score is fantastic. Like Iron Man 3, I don’t think this is a top tier great Batman or comic book movie but it’s a solid one none the less.
7. Little Women (2019): Moving in a very different direction we have Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the classic book by Louise May Alcott. These British period piece romance dramas aren’t really my kind of thing. These aren’t the movies that I naturally gravitate towards. But when they’re done well, I can really enjoy them and get something out of them. When it comes to Little Women, it’s an adaptation that’s done very well. You have a great cast here with a lot of great actors and actresses playing a wide range of characters. Saoirse Ronan is one of the best and most talented actresses of her generation. This was the movie that put Florence Pugh on the map for me and I knew that she was going to be a movie star after watching this movie. It’s been six years since this movie came out and she clearly has been a movie star. You also have Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, and Emma Watson playing characters here, everybody is really good. The movie is this interesting exploration of women having different success in different fields. You see the journey of all of these characters through what they value and what they want to pursue in life.
6. You’ve Got Mail: I actually kind of forgot this movie took place during Christmas until I was looking at movies to include. I think You’ve Got Mail is a super charming rom-com with two great leads in Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. There’s also some fun supporting actors with Greg Kinnear and Steve Zahn that add some nice comedy into the mix. This film isn’t breaking any ground, it follows a pretty familiar rom-com template, you know where the movie is going from the very beginning. But just because it follows a template doesn’t mean that it can’t do the template very well. It’s kind of fun to see Hanks playing a bit of a jerk when he plays such likable characters. Despite Hanks and Ryan not having a ton of screentime together, they have great chemistry even when they’re just sending messages back and forth to each other using AOL. As the movie comes to an end and our two leads together, it’s satisfying both emotionally and to the arcs and the journey of the film. I’m not a big rom-com guy, it’s not one of my favorite genres. But I do think You’ve Got Mail is a very solid addition to the genre.
5. Edward Scissorshands: Another Tim Burton movie from the early 90s. This is the last movie I watched on this list, as I watched it for the first time last year. I didn’t really know what to expect from this movie. I knew that it had Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder but didn’t really know what it was about. The movie itself is an emotional journey about a guy that’s different from being rejected by society. Burton has done these types of movies before and I think that Edward Scissorhands is his best as it feels the most fresh and that it fits this world so well. One of the things that really stood out to me was the production design and the visual storytelling. When we meet Edward at the beginning, he’s wearing dark clothing in this very dark look environment in a creepy castle. He goes down to the town and it’s bright colors. It’s all the complete opposite of the world that Edward knows and the world that we met Edward at the beginning. I just found that to be so fascinating and interesting that it used the production design to communicate so much. This is sort of like Tim Burton’s version of The Grinch. They’ll be very different but some of the themes and ideas remind me of The Grinch. Overall, this is a very solid Tim Burton movie and one of his best.
4. Gremlins: I find this to be one of the weirdest and quirkiest classics from the 1980s. Because the rules of this world and the gremlins themselves are so quirky and don’t make much sense but that’s so much of the charm and the magic of this movie. You remember the rules and you don’t really care that they don’t make sense. It’s a movie that reminds me of the great original classic movies that we got in the ‘80s. This type of movie with this original concept with original creatures and lore are films that we don’t get in the modern times. Watching this movie now there’s something so special about it. The movie came out in the ‘80s so it has this Steven Spielberg, Amblin vibe to it. Once again, it’s a style of movies that we don’t get a lot of these days. Of course, Gizmo is one of the cutest movie creatures of all time. I dressed up as Gizmo for Halloween, nobody my age understood what I was but every adult knew who I was. Gizmo was the Baby Yoda of the 80s, that’s just how iconic and awesome he is. When you put the pieces together you get a very solid movie that’s memorable, iconic, and makes you remember the good old days of movies when we still got big budgeted original movies.
3. Shazam!: My favorite comic book movie takes place during Christmas. This is one that explores a lot of themes and ideas that are in Christmas movies about family. But I also feel like this is the type of movie that could take place during any point in the year and it’ll be the same movie. There’s nothing about the plot that needs it to take place during Christmas in order for it to take place. Regardless, I think Shazam! is an absolute blast of a movie. It’s basically Big as a comic book movie and that’s a lot of fun. It provides for wild crazy hijinks to take place as this kid has superpowers. I don’t agree with a lot of his political opinions and recent comments but Zachary Levi is great in this role. He’s so good at playing many children and this is a role that’s designed for somebody like him. The thing that surprised me the most about the movie was the amount of heart was in this movie. The movie is about family and finding a new found family which are themes very prevalent in Christmas movies. The film is able to balance being a fun comedy and heart. It’s a very solid addition to the comic book movie genre.
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: This is one the several of my co-workers think is a Christmas movie. I don’t think it’s a Christmas movie but a large majority of the film does take place during Christmas so I’m putting it on the list. I find the Wizarding World to be one of the best movie franchises of all time and one of the most fun worlds to explore. So much of that goes back to this film where it lays the groundwork for a world that you want to go back and visit. Chris Columbus is good at tackling stories focused around children. He directed what I think is one of the great Christmas movies of all time, Home Alone as well as its sequel that’s also really good and a lot of fun. Him being the one to bring the Wizard World to life on the big screen for the first time is great. John Williams’ score is so whimsical and magical and whenever it plays it sucks you into the world. Whenever the music plays it sucks you into this world. The image of the characters approaching Hogwarts on the boat and the music plays it’s so immersive. Williams has of course the best resume of any film composer out there. Of his scores, I think this one provides the best world building and the most immersive experience. When the later films in the franchise got very dark, heavy, and lots of people died it’s nice to go back and watch this movie because it’s a more whimsical tale of these kids’ adventures while at school.
1. Die Hard: This is the ultimate debate as to whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. For me, I don’t think Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so it qualifies to be on this list. But it’s also the best on the movie on this list so it’s my #1. This is one of the greatest action movies of all time that’s so simple and straight forward and that’s what makes it work. It’s a movie about a New York City cop as the lone action hero in a building trying to stop terrorists. There’s no extra sub plots or messaging, it’s just a movie trying to deliver a fun and thrilling two hours. John McTiernan had a great three film run in the late 80s, early 90s with this film, Predator, and The Hunt of the Red October. This would be my favorite of those three films, but all of them are great. He’s of course a great action director that can shoot very fun and exciting action that’s dynamic and you can see everything that’s taking place. The film actually acted as a spring board for Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman’s careers. Neither one of them were movie stars prior to this movie coming out. Then this movie came and became big movie stars that have more great roles since this film came out. While I don’t consider this to be a Christmas movie, I do think it’s one of the best action movies of all time and it’s one of the greatest movies of all time. Yippie kay yay everybody!
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