Holiday movies that aren't really...

[Cmndr J Crichton]

Who can think of all the movies that happen to take place on Christmas, or New years, but aren't really a big part of the movie? It could broaden the watching list during the holidays.

I can think of:

Batman Returns - 1992 - Comic Book movie that happens to take place at Christmas
Die Hard - 1988 - Action/Thriller that begins on Christmas Eve
Die Hard 2 - 1990 - Action/Thriller that takes place on Christmas Eve
First Blood - 1982 - Action/Thriller that takes place on or around Christmas Day
Gremlins - 1984 - Horror/Comedy movie that takes place on Christmas eve
Lethal Weapon - 1987 - Action/Adventure that takes place near Christmas Eve
The Ref - 1994 - Heist/Comedy movie that takes place on Christmas Eve
Spider-Man - 2002 - Comic Book Movie that takes place in between Thanksgiving and Christmas
Strange Days - 1995 - Techno Thriller that takes place on New Year's Eve

Any others out there? The criteria has to be a genre that is the focus of the movie, but the holidays happen to be the setting.

Love Actually - 2006 - This could also be a candidate as well. It's alove story that happens to take place during most of the holiday season!

 

[Agent Richard07]

Entrapment, which is one of my favorite movies, takes place over Christmas 1999 and new years 2000. It's not a Christmas movie at all, but the changing of the year was made important to the plot.

There's another one called Under the Mistletoe which stars Michael Shanks and Jaime Ray Newman. It's billed as a Christmas movie, but it's actually a love story with a Christmas tree visible in the background at the end.

 

[simmsbc]

Trading places with Eddie Murphy, Dan Ackroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis has much of the action take place during the holidays but that is not the focus of the movie.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

In Feast/Feast II: Sloppy Seconds you can clearly see Christmas trees/decorations

RoboCop 3 has some Christmas decorations

 

[Dusty Ayres]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-happens around Christmas Eve, with Bond and Tracy making love in a manger; symbolism is similar to the story of Jesus being born in same.

 

[Lonemagpie]

OHMSS and Die Hard *are* proper Xmas movies, not just set then- OHMSS has the whole manger thing, and the Xmas presents are an important factor. Die Hard is all about the ordinary man overcoming obstacles to get his family together at Xmas, demonstrating that loyalty and goodness at heart are better than mere material greed (represented by Hans and the boys)...

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Entrapment, which is one of my favorite movies, takes place over Christmas 1999 and new years 2000. It's not a Christmas movie at all, but the changing of the year was made important to the plot.

Ghostbusters 2 would probably be in this category too.

 

[Neroon]

when it comes right down to it, I'm not so sure that "It's A Wonderful Life" really is a Christmas movie. So much of it occurs beyond the Christmas timeframe. However, Christmas does provide the backdrop for the final scenes, and it does get played at that time of year. I guess you could say it's sort of "backed into" being Christmas film.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Better Off Dead

 

[Finn]

I Am Legend, sort of. It was Christmastime in the flashbacks. And in the "present-day", the decorations haven't been taken down..

 

[Falcor5]

Star Trek: Generations (Captain Picard's Nexus scenes of "the perfect Christmas").

 

[Mistral]

No Way Out with Costner takes place around Christmas if I recall correctly.

 

[DeafPoet]

when it comes right down to it, I'm not so sure that "It's A Wonderful Life" really is a Christmas movie. So much of it occurs beyond the Christmas timeframe. However, Christmas does provide the backdrop for the final scenes, and it does get played at that time of year. I guess you could say it's sort of "backed into" being Christmas film.

I was going to say the same thing. It's obviously a classic and I love it, but I could never understand why it got so wrapped up in the holiday season other than the uplifting story and the incidental time of year it's set in.

 

[Terengo]

Holiday Inn, with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Although some of the action spans two consecutive Christmases, all the major plot developments occur on other holidays, especially New Year. On the other hand, the movie did introduce the song White Christmas, so maybe that's enough to make it a Christmas movie.

 

[blablover5]

Meet Me In St. Louis has the classic "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in it but most of the movie takes place throughout the year as the family attempts to move.

 

[Terengo]

Meet Me In St. Louis has the classic "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in it but most of the movie takes place throughout the year as the family attempts to move.

The holiday I remember most vividly from that movie is Halloween!

 

[Falcor5]

Another one I thought of is the Chevy Chase comedy "Funny Farm" most of the movie does not take place at Christmas but the last 15-20 minutes or so take place at Christmas (and contain some of the funniest parts of the movie too!)

 

[EnsignRicky]

Star Wars. Contrary to popular belief, S. Claus only makes one brief appearance in the entire saga to bring Chewie a brush. Apparently he already had a comb. Though technically he was never in an actual movie; I guess his scenes were cut.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

Another one I though of is 12 Monkeys. Didn't the plague happen on or around Christmas Day? Ooh! Also another one is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Bond and Teresa have a chase scene through some Christmas parade, or event.

 

[Rÿcher]

Gremlins - which after another glance of the first post was already mentioned.