Hey, everybody. So,
there's a conversation that happens every year around this time.
Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
Now, everybody's got a favorite movie that isn't technically a holiday movie but
they think qualifies as a holiday movie.
And they may be right, and they may be wrong.
We're going to look at some of our favorite holiday movies that probably
aren't actually holiday movies today, but also, we're going to talk about
the formula of what it is that actually makes a holiday movie, a holiday movie.
(Music)
All right, so let's get right into this.
Ti, Truly, welcome to our holiday movie special.
>> 'Ti's the season.
>> Yeah. >> So,
holiday movies that aren't actually holiday movies.
I think, probably the best example of this, Die Hard?
It did here so heavily that like a lot of the Christmas tropes,
like you've got a Christmas party, you've got a reference to ho-ho-ho.
I think there's a lot there that, for people to overlook that is strange to me.
>> Yeah, so- >> Yeah,
Hans Gruber is a bit of a krampus I guess.
(Laugh) >> Its Christmas to y'all.
>> It's a time of miracles, so be of good cheer.
>> Some of the other, like Shane Black,
very famously sets all of his movies at Christmas.
>> Yeah, Iron Man 3 is a Christmas movie.
>> To the point that it almost seems lazy.
(Laugh) >> Yeah.
>> It kind of seems pathological, that's what it seems.
>> Yeah. >> It's like dude, what is it with you and
the Christmas?
(Laugh) >> But you go back into
what we were saying about Die Hard.
Like it's about a family coming together, sort of.
So Christmas makes sense for that.
Lethal Weapon, I feel like that story can sort of justify being dear in Christmas.
>> Sure, a little suicide for the holidays.
>> Well, it's one for life.
Suicide during the holidays.
>> True, true. >> It's the most famous Christmas week
of all time.
>> Yeah.
>> So is there something about a holiday movie that's not technically
a holiday movie that at least thematically there needs to be something
that makes it relevant for Christmas or for Thanksgiving or whatever?
>> Yeah, it's weird because Die Hard,I'm like this is very much a Christmas movie.
But Lethal Weapon is just barely there.
because like, in Lethal Weapon they have that slapstick Three Stooges just fight
in the Christmas tree lot.
But they don't make a big deal out of.
For some reason, it doesn't resonate in a Christmas way for me.
>> Tell me, what day is it?
What the.
(Sound) >> Not day of Christmas.
>> I mean, for me, one of the movies that I love to watch every Christmas
is not a Christmas movie, but it has snow in it.
>> Well, let's get into it.
What's your picture?
>> That movie is "Coming to America".
I think it might just have to do with Whatever your sort of personal
traditions are with your family and loved ones.
And it is about love and coming together as a family at the end.
So maybe there is something to that whole theme of togetherness.
>> There is kind of a fairy tale quality to that movie, also.
>> Sure. Yeah, I mean,
basically a regular city girl gets to become a princess.
It's got that aspect going and.
It takes place in Queens, which is where I'm from.
So I like that.
>> (Laugh). God damn, that boy can sing.
>> Truly, what about you?
>> Like, when I think Christmas movies is like, there is
something definitely to be said for snow, kind of like, you were talking about.
And so I always sort of think of Batman Returns,
which also has this fairy tale quality to it in a very real way.
But it’s got that sort of cold and wintery thing.
So like, you’re all bundled up and you're watching Michelle Pfeiffer and
Michael Keaton heat up the screen.
Yeah >> There were penguins and
it is set at Christmas.
>> Are penguins a Christmas thing?
>> Yeah, because it's winter.
(Laugh) >> Like if Coke is going to make polar
bears the Christmas thing then why can't penguins ones just be like
we like the holiday too.
(Laugh) >> Yeah, he's got a good point.
>> Penguins is like wait a minute, why not us?
>> Yeah, I think that's the main message of it, like, don't forget about penguins.
>> My name is not Oswald.
It's penguin.
I am not a human being.
I am an animal.
>> But yeah, the way that Tim Burton does,
because one of the other ones that spring to my mind was Edward Scissor Hands.
Because Tim Burton does have that sort of gothic fairy tale feel in
literally everything he does.
>> Yeah, the Danny Elfen music as well.
There's something sort of very sweeping and fantasy about that, and
just sort of like warming of the icy cage around my heart.
>> Right. >> When I think of that movie,
I think like almost Technicolor.
>> But- >> Yeah, I mean, if you really think about
the palette of that film, it's completely not Christmas-y.
>> It's like key lime pie.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> On screen.
But there's that element of whimsy to it.
And just enough.
And frankly, just enough fake snow on screen to make you be like,
yeah, winter, all right.
>> It's like that blue palette with the white of the snow,
it's like that's a cold movie.
That's cold. (Laugh) It's cold outside.
(Laugh) >> Even though they're all drinking
lemonade in shorts.
(Laugh) >> But
I do like what we're drilling down on here.
There's an element of whimsy in a movie that's not strictly a Christmas movie,
that makes it feel like a Christmas movie.
The pick that I made was another Eddie Murphy movie,
Trading Places, which actually takes place at Christmas.
There's that great image of homeless Dan Aykroyd in the Santa costume.
That's the first thing that pops to my head when I think about this movie.
It's also got that fairy tale quality in that there's these two rich guys and
the Duke brothers who want to settle a bet about nature versus nurture.
And do they put these two guys through this weird experiment.
Orange futures are very important, and apparently economically it's pretty sound.
(Laugh) >> Basically it's another one of these
kind of like rags to riches, wish fulfillment fairy tale kind of
stories that happens to take place over Christmas.
Just because it takes place at Christmas,
is it like, do you think that's a lay up of a Christmas movie?
>> I don't know. I sort of wonder if, like the unifying
theme of that is just the fact that you kind of have this unification at the end.
because it's like, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy come from these different worlds.
But at the end they've been brought together.
And so that's weirdly like a human family being brought together as opposed to like
some of the other ones where it's like an actual family.
It's sort of like a global togetherness.
>> Sure. >> Hm.
>> Sure, which you get in coming to America.
>> Sure.
>> Um-hm. >> And in Batman Returns?
>> Yeah. >> Bats and cats.
>> They'll get around. Catwoman and Batman come together.
>> They, (Laugh).
Nice. >> You want to see a bat.
(Laugh) >> Like a cat.
(Laugh) >> You gotta watch Batman Returns.
>> And then, use your imagination during the credits.
>> And then also fill in the blanks.
>> Yeah. (Laugh) >> You're going to have to write and
produce your own slash fiction.
(Laugh) >> but you can do it.
So, we've got whimsy, we've got it feels cold.
>> Yeah. >> And we've got coming
together at the end.
>> Often a coming together of opposing sides.
That sort of odd couple coming together.
Because, even in coming to America, he's from Zamunda, and she's from Queens.
And I think that is the overarching thing that has to happen at the end of any
movie whether it's deliberately a Christmas movie or not.
>> So maybe that's why Lethal Weapon is just sort of tenuously
a Christmas movie because it's got that odd couple coming together at the end and
like appreciating each other where as they didn't to begin with.
>> And honestly we kind of brought together before that point.
So, they're already working together but
they don't have a real understanding until the end.
I don't know.
>> So, if you guys agree with each other at the end of the episode,
does that mean that this is a Christmas movie?
>> Yes >> All right, cool.
>> It might be.
>> Well, that will do it for us.
Let us know what your favorite holiday movie that's not an actual holiday movie.
And what do you think actually makes a good holiday movie.
What is it, is it just the holidays?
Or is it just the holidays and the togetherness and the quincy?
Let us know all that in the comments down below.
Click like and subscribe and we'll see you next time here in Cinefix.
>> Four Christmas is four times the holidays.
>> Does that make it four times the holiday movie?
>> Yes. >> That Arthur Christmas is?
>> Yes, it's the math Clint.
>> I always forget about the math.