Not Your Typical Christmas Viewing

As most people are scanning the TV guides to find out when their favourite Christmas specials will be on, my attention turns to the less obvious Christmas viewing choices. Here are some movies that take place at or around Christmas that you may not have considered:

Die Hard/Die Hard 2: Believe it or not, many people have already adopted these into their canon of Christmas movies, especially the original Die Hard. Both take place on Christmas Eve and involve John McClane (Bruce Willis) killing lots of bad guys. And who could forget the memorable note that McClane attached to the dead terrorist in the elevator: "Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho."

The Ref : This is an oft forgotten but quite funny movie that again takes place on Christmas Eve. Denis Leary plays an inept burglar who ends up taking a dysfunctional couple hostage when he breaks into their house. The husband is played by a then relatively unknown Kevin Spacey.

Trading Places: This early '80s comedy gem pairs Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd as two men who have their fortunes reversed to settle a bet between two rich tycoon brothers. This movie features an all-star cast and is a comedy classic. A memorable Christmas moment in this one would be a drunk Aykroyd dressed up as Santa at a Christmas party trying to smuggle out food by hiding it in his beard.

Ghostbusters II: More Aykroyd as the Ghostbusters try to stop a spirit from taking over Dana's son on New Years Eve.  The holidays don't really play much of a role in this one until the ending though.  Peter MacNicol gives a memorable performance as Janosz.

12 Monkeys: Back to Bruce Willis for this one, who plays a prisoner sent back through time to try to stop a deadly virus from being released during the Christmas season.

Reindeer Games: More holiday crime involving mistaken identity and a casino heist. Stars Ben Affleck.  Not much else to say about this one, since it wasn't all that great a movie.  It's pretty telling when a movie that takes place at Christmas is released in February.  The highlight would be seeing guys in Santa suits with machine guns.

Gremlins: What do last-minute Christmas shoppers end up buying? Cute little fluff balls that turn ugly and mean when you feed them after midnight. They microwave up real good though.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: It's always good to get a Bond movie in there. Most of the latter half of the movie takes place just before Christmas, as the girls who have been hypnotized and brainwashed by Blofeld get ready to head home for the holidays to unwittingly unleash his fiendish plan.

Other unlikely movies with Christmas cheer include: Lethal Weapon, Batman Returns, The Bourne Identity, and Brazil.