With the Christmas season in full swing and winter break coming fast watching Christmas movies is ready to become a reality. With that, the debate of non-traditional Christmas movies are still occurring every season.  Here is the Centreville Sentinel’s top 5 nontraditional Christmas movies.

5) Trading Places

The film set in Philadelphia takes a modern look at the Mark Twain classic The Prince and the Pauper. In the film, executive Louis Winthorpe III, played by Dan Aykroyd, and hustler Billy Ray Valentine, played by Eddie Murphy, are the subjects of a bet by insanely rich brothers, Mortimer and Randolph Duke. In the first bet, Winthorpe is framed by the brothers for possession of PCP, with Valentine in Winthorpe’s position. With the framing of family, prostitutes, drug use, and nudity, Trading Places is a great family Christmas movie.

4) Die Hard 2

Die Hard 2 promised more Die Hard with its tagline Die Harder, and it delivered. It brings this about by being set in Washington D.C.’s Dulles Airport and showing a group of former U.S. Army soldiers holding planes en route to Dulles. It offers numerous funny lines to those who live in Northern Virginia. Overall a very funny film, and just as “Christmassy” as it’s former.

3) Batman Returns

Batman Returns isn’t exactly what you’d think as a Christmas movie, but it absolutely is one. It checks all the boxes, it’s during Christmas, it has a creepy, Christmas-hating villain (Danny Devito as the penguin, blech), and Christmas is eventually saved in the end. Tim Burton truly did a great job with this Christmas-film, and Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Keaton played their parts excellently. However, for some reason, this movie isn’t remembered as much as its predecessor, even though Batman Returns is arguably better (arguably). Now, is it just me or does everyone want to see a Batman-Santa?

2) Gremlins.

Gremlins, the cute lovable eat your face off monsters first appeared in their self titled movie in 1984. In the film, Billy Peltzer is given a Mogwai by his father for Christmas. He is told the 3 rules which never be broken for a Mogwai: never get it wet, never put in the sunlight, and never feed it after midnight. Billy names his Mogwai Gizmo and he accidentally gets wet, spawning 5 more of his kind, these eventually trick Billy into feeding them and turn themselves into the terrifying titular creatures. The ongoing terror from the Gremlins leads to a destroyed town and a fluffy Gizmo ending his brethren.

1) Die Hard.

It’s official, Die Hard is the definitive non-traditional Christmas movie. It has everything that a Christmas movie needs, with a nice, violent touch. This excellent Christmas movie just warms your heart, and it has some great Christmas themes. Family, love, German criminals, intense hostage situations, etc. Die Hard, in a nutshell, is pretty simple, NYC cop John McClane is “mistakenly” invited to his almost ex-wife’s Christmas party, where things get problematic. A group of highly trained terrorists takes the party’s residents hostage, all except McClane. So, as the movie’s hero, John goes to save them. Several Christmas hijinks ensue, i.e. “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho.” Even a majority of Americans now agree that Die Hard is a Christmas movie and this article even argues why it’s the best (https://ew.com/article/2015/12/24/die-hard-christmas-movie/).

If you liked this article, here’s a suggestion; check out our other article about the top 5 traditional Christmas movies, I promise it’ll be just as good as this one. Even if you don’t want to check that out, maybe pick up this children’s book about a “Die Hard Christmas.” https://www.amazon.com/Die-Hard-Christmas-Illustrated-Holiday/dp/1608879763