Top 5 – Unconventional Christmas Movies

Merry Christmas kids!  Everyone knows the classic Christmas movies, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), National Lampoons: Christmas Vacation (1989), Elf (2003), etc.  But how about some more bizarre choices?  Movies that aren’t usually considered Christmas movies, but take place during the holiday season?  Here are my favorite unconventional Christmas movies.

5- Batman Returns (Tim Burton, 1992)

Tim Burton did some landmark work with Batman (1989), but he upped the ante with its sequel, Batman Returns.  It is bigger, badder, darker, and just a blast to watch.  Keaton returns as the Caped Crusader, and we get some pitch perfect casting of Michelle Pfieffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as The Penguin.  In typical Burton fashion, the film is very gothic looking, which has never been replicated in a comic-book movie since.  Batman Returns is one of the great comic-book films ever to grace the screen.

4- Trading Places (John Landis, 1983)

When you get two comedy masters in one movie, you are in for a treat.  This is my favorite Eddie Murphy movie from his run in the 80’s and Dan Ackroyd shows actual acting range, playing it super straight and then doing a complete 180 and being delirious.  John Landis made one of the best comedies of the 80’s.  It’s a look at social hierarchy and stereotypes that is tear-inducing hilarious and never gets old.

3- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005)

The movie to really kick off Robert Downey Jr.’s comeback wasn’t Iron Man (2008), it was Shane Black’s crafty, witty, twisted indie.  This comedy-noir brings together a private eye (Val Kilmer), and wannabe actress (newcomer at the time Michelle Monaghan) and a hapless thief (Downey Jr.) as they get entangled in a murder mystery during Christmas in L.A.  Kilmer is outstanding as Gay Perry, and he and Downey Jr. have impeccable chemistry.  The movie is stylish and fun and the true beginning of Downey Jr.’s comeback.

2- The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)

Some people might actually consider this a real Christmas movie.  Those people would be wrong.  The Nightmare Before Christmas does have Christmas in for a lot of the film, but it is essentially about Halloween Town’s terror attack on Christmas Town.  Regardless, this is one of the most unique and inventive musicals ever and the animation and craftsmanship is jaw-dropping.

1- Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)

Anybody who knows me on a personal level knows my love for Die Hard.  It is, in my opinion, the greatest action movie of all-time.  Regardless of how you feel about the later sequels, there is no denying the classic status of Die Hard.  John McClane is one of cinema’s greatest heroes, as he saves Nakatomi Plaza from a group of terrorists on Christmas.  Alan Rickman gives a breakthrough performance as the leader of the terror group Hans Gruber and can be ranked as one of the best villains of all-time.  Die Hard is a classic action movie and a classic Christmas movie.

What are your favorite unconventional Christmas movies?  Comment below, or hit up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook on my page, Kevflix.