What's the story?
Stand by for a public service announcement.
I'm braced and ready.
DIE HARD IS NOT A CHRISTMAS MOVIE. Message ends.
Are you sure?
100%.
But isn't it set at Christmas?
Indeed. But that doesn't make it a Christmas movie.
What do you mean?
It is merely Christmas adjacent. Sure, it takes place on Christmas Eve and there are festive-themed elements – such as a dead villain in a Santa hat – but this does not a Christmas movie maketh. It is a shoot-em-up flick that could take place on any day of the year.
READ MORE: Screen Shot: Martin Scorsese's epic The Irishman? Best clear an afternoon
You sound a tad Die Hard averse.
I'm not. It's a great film. It's just not a Christmas one. Even Die Hard star Bruce Willis has decreed this to be true.
Pah. What does he know?
Home Alone, Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, It's A Wonderful Life, Bad Santa, Love, Actually: all Christmas movies. A gun-toting, off-duty cop crawling through an air conditioning duct in a grubby vest? Not a Christmas movie.
Put it this way: fellow 1980s celluloid alumni Lethal Weapon has a drug bust in a Christmas tree lot and Rocky IV has a Christmas Day boxing match. Yet, no one is bleating about those being Christmas films, are they?
READ MORE: Screen Shot: Martin Scorsese's epic The Irishman? Best clear an afternoon
What about Gremlins?
Meh.
Gizmo is a Christmas gift for Billy.
Fair enough. Die on that hill.
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