Despite our differences in social upbringing, nationality, language, religion, etc... We all agree in 1 thing, that Die Hard is a Christmas Movie, right?
Yippee Kay Yay... (The only movie that doesn't depresses me in Xmas)
My dad was arguing that it wasn't because being set at Christmas isn't enough, and said a bunch of things typical of a Christmas movie to have; while I countered with a list of things that happen in Die Hard that met his criteria.
"Someone needs to receive a gift."
"McClane was gifted a machine gun."
"There needs to be a miracle."
"It's a miracle John survived."
"It needs to capture the feeling of Christmas."
"Have you never spent time with your relatives at Christmas? It feels just like being held hostage at Nakatomi Plaza."
I’m kinda in the same boat. I think Ira is a really talented creator and producer but he’s got that tried to hard theatre kid vibe at times. Like, love him and don’t doubt his sincerity in the slightest but yeah, bit navel gazey.
I think Die Hard 1 & 2 both qualify for Christmas films but the first one is obviously superior for sure.
I mean if a movie like It's A Wonderful Life can be a Christmas movie, despite most of it not having anything to do with Christmas, then so can Die Hard.
subtract chrismas from the plot: you have no chrismas party filling a finished floor of the office tower with future hostages; you have no cross-county traveling hero to save-the-day. becomes a six page script and an easy in-and-out for snape and co.
I'd say they both have equal standing. Diehard couldn't happen. If it wasn't for the corporate Christmas party and Grimlin's because of the poorly thought out, last minute Christmas gift.
Jumping on here, because this is often overlooked. If you didn't know the title of the film, and someone played the first 20 mins to you you'd expect a hallmark film. Going to see the estranged wife, trying to repair a relationship, the awkwardness at the Christmas party.
The whole thing subverts Christmas movie tropes. It's not just an action movie set at Christmas. It's a Christmas movie which gets hijacked.
Even the final scene plays on the parody with the 'snow' falling, the comedy comeuppance for the nuisance bad guy, and then they kiss and drive off as 'let it snow' plays.
No, we agree that “Die Hard is a Christmas movie” is a fun proposition to entertain, either because it’s edgy and freaks the mundanes with its audacious disregard for cherished norms, or (more recently) because it’s a fun meme, with own line of commercially available ugly Christmas sweaters and knowingly ironic greeting cards. Though the meme eventually will become so overexposed that quoting from Die Hard on Christmas will become as basic and mid as dressing up in a Santa costume and drunkenly making an arse of yourself with several hundred similarly attired dudes.
That’s a glib technicality, but not sufficient to make it a “Christmas movie” in the usual sense. The Christmas party is a plot device, and could have been replaced with a different one without significantly altering the plot of the film.
Everyone keeps saying that, but it could be a random party. It's not particularly important that the party is Christmas, the company could be having an Easter celebration or even just a random party for a specific milestone for the company. As far as I remember, there's nothing particular about being Christmas other than the decorations.
It's a movie about a man attending a Christmas party in order to patch things up with his wife and spend the holidays among his family. But the only way to do that, and to defeat the greedy villain, is to let go of their pride. And also there's guns and stuff.
It's a Christmas movie in the same way Addams family is a wholesome family. They obviously are, and you only disagree if you're unable to look past the surface.
While I agree that people shouting about it being a Christmas movie is annoying, it definitely is a Christmas movie. It has all the trappings of a Christmas movie and Christmas music is in the score.
This is such an exhausting topic. Anyone saying it isn't a Christmas movie either hasn't seen it recently enough to remember it or they're being contraian. It takes place during Christmas, a Christmas party even. It has Christmas music woven into the soundtrack. The b plot is the main character fixing his marriage (a common theme of Christmas movies is fixing families).
To be honest, I sort of would view people arguing that it isn't a Christmas movie like people arguing Red One isn't a Christmas movie because it is primarily an action movie. Red One is more obvious due to the marketing and the fact it's literally about saving Santa after he is kidnapped, but it's still very moreso an action movie than other similar titles (The Santa Clause also has a kidnapped Santa subplot and a team of elite elves rescue him, but it is much more minor).
To me, Die Hard is a Christmas movie because it is set on Christmas Eve. I don't think it technically counts as a Christmas movie, but that just makes me consider it a Christmas movie even harder
I think its important to establish why it's a Christmas movie. I consider it one not just because it's Christmas time in the movie but because it's heavily Christmas themed the entire movie. For this exact same reason I think other movies also fall into this category like gremlins and terrifier 3.
Diehard is 100% a Christmas movie, however, Die Hard 2 which also takes place at Christmas time, is NOT a Christmas movie, as the fact that it's Christmas is coincidental and not at all integral to the plot.
Christmas being part of the plot is irrelevant - The Wizard of Oz is a Christmas movie. I think what makes Diehard a Christmas movie is simply that people like to watch it at Christmas.
Every scene in this movie is a work of art. It's so rare for a movie to check as many boxes as this one does so perfectly. it has humor, a love story, action, Alan Rickman, a heist, and most of all Christmas!
Happy holidays everyone! Hoping you can all get together and have a few laughs with your loved ones.
I don't wanna be the party pooper here, but Die Hard is a specifically American Christmas Movie. I'm not saying that other people can't or shouldn't enjoy it as a Christmas Movie if so inclined.
But as a German what we "traditionally" watch as Christmas Movies/Shows is something completely different (though also varying greatly from region to region and family to family.
I for one still enjoy "Weihnachten bei den Hoppenstedts" a lot my father mostly insists on seeing "Familie Heinz Becker feiert Weihnachten".
A movie a lot of people consider to be a Christmas Movie as far as I can tell is "Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel".
Again I'm not saying that people can't consider "American" Christmas Movies as their own or make them their traditions a friend of mine insists that "In Bruges" is the ultimate Christmas Movie. I just think saying "We all agree" is making it to simple
Edit: Read some more comments and maybe I misunderstood the premise. I'm not saying "Die Hard is not a Christmas Movie" what I'm trying to say is "Christmas Movies are what people make their Christmas Movie regardless of if they are Christmas-y" if I started watching Shrek at every Christmas it would be my Christmas Movie. But I feel what OP wanted to say was "There are Movies that are considered Christmas Movies because of the content and Die Hard should be considered one of them".
I think the joke is that Die Hard obviously isn't a traditional Christmas movie. But the story is literally set at Christmas. Many people like Die Hard more than traditional Christmas movies, so when their family members start voting om which Christmas movie to watch this year, they steadfastly nominate Die Hard with the argument that "it really is a Christmas movie, the internet agrees"
I find the topic exhausting because Did Hard is obviously a Christmas themed action movie (and I believe that qualifies as a Christmas movie), but everyone really making a stand about it is sort of being cringe. I don't really know how to explain it. It's like they're acting like it's so wild and crazy to say, like they've found some weird loop hole. I think it's this weird tone of the discussion that leads to the pushback. Because, while it's definitely a Christmas movie, it's not like super Christmas-y. The Christmas aspects could easily be edited out and the movie would still make sense.
Yeah but IMO those trappings don't make it a Christmas movie. Die Hard is an action movie people like to watch around Christmas, which is all a movie needs to make it a Christmas movie. I mean there's porn that features Santa's naughty elves, but nobody watches it to get into the Christmas spirit.
There is definitely a demand for such movies on Christmas, otherwise a movie like Fatman wouldn't have been produced. It's a Christmas movie with Die Hard elements.
The set up for the plot is that everyone is at a holiday party, in addition the cops were slow to respond because of the holiday (Hans Gruber planned for this). Without xmas, the date of the attack would have been different and a special someone whould not have been in the building either.
If the only thing a Christmas movie takes is being set on or around Christmas, Batman Returns and Eyes Wide Shut are Christmas movies. Oppenheimer has a Christmas scene, is that a Christmas movie too? Clearly there's a line somewhere.
That's not the only reason, it literally is about a family man trying to reconcile with his family for Xmas, there's a Grinch trying to ruin the party, a Xmas miracle, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. It's Christmas Theo.
I used to think it was just a movie that happened during Christmas, but it wasn't a Christmas movie. I changed my mind when it was pointed out that the movie wouldn't have happened if it wasn't Christmas. He was visiting his family for Christmas. It's not a typical Christmas movie, but it is a Christmas movie.