On the December 24, 2018 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor in chief Peter Sciretta is joined by managing editorJacob Hall, weekend editorBrad Oman, senior writerBen Pearson, and writersHoai-Tran BuiandChris Evangelistato celebrate the Holiday season with a special Christmas Clipisode. We play back through our favorite Christmas movies of all time, and revisit the War against Die Hard Christmas.You can subscribe to /Film Daily oniTunes,Google Play,Overcast,Spotifyand all the popular podcast apps (here is theRSSURL if you need it).
Opening Banter: It's Christmas Eve and instead of no episode we decided to put together a clip show. We hope you enjoy.December 26, 2017: The /Film crew talks about their favorite Christmas movies of all time:
Peter's picks: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Treevenge, Christmas Vacation, Gremlins, A Christmas Story
Chris' Picks: Eyes Wide Shut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Batman Returns, Muppet Xmas Carol
HT's Picks: Elf, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Harry Potter, Love Actually, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Ben's picks: Mickey's Christmas Carol, Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Jacob's Picks: Rare Exports, It's a Wonderful Life, Muppet Christmas Carol, Jingle All the Way, Krampus
New Segment: What is the Christmas movie you hate?
Peter: Santa Claus: The Movie
Brad: Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol
Chris: SCROOGE, the musical version of a Christmas carol with Albert Finney
Steve B writes in in response to our Christmas movie argument: "Most films are not just one genre. '21 Jump Street' is a comedy, but also an action movie. Shaun Of The Dead is a comedy but also a horror movie. In that vein, I say Die Hard is an Action film, a Heist film, and also a Christmas movie. The whole reason John McClane is in Los Angeles in the first place is to see his family for Christmas. Argyle is playing 'Christmas' music in the limo. They debate cutting power to a portion of the city because it is Christmas. The thieves did not pick that day at random. Christmas is a plot point to the film. It COULD have been written for John to have come to L.A. to see his family for Holly's birthday, or for his kid's school recital, but then it loses something for the plot. Could 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' work as a Christmas movie instead of Thanksgiving? Yes, but it would lose something that Thanksgiving gives to that movie. If the genre (including a holiday) has a plot point to the film, and taking it away lessens the film, then I THINK it's reasonable to count it as part of the film's description. For these reasons, I think that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. If others feel it isn't, I'm cool with that, as long as they are OK with me thinking that it is."
New Segment: Jacob decides what is and isn't a Christmas movie:
/Film Daily listener Cade wrote in asking if Batman Returns is a Christmas movie
The Sound of Music
Lethal Weapon
Casablanca
The Night Before
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
Eyes Wide Shut
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Serendipity
You've Got Mail
Trading Places
Catch Me If You Can
Go
Rocky IV
Life of Brian
Love Actually
All the other stuff you need to know:
You can find more about all the stories we mentioned on today's show at slashfilm.com, and linked inside the show notes.
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Thanks to Sam Hume for our logo.
Christmas illustration in the header is from Paul Shipper
