Man, I'm suuuper late to this party....
Anyways, Die Hard is and is not a Christmas movie at the same time. And it depends on your definition what makes a Christmas movie.
I'm gonna take an insane detour here that'll make sense.
Is Star Wars Episode 4 a science fiction movie?
That setting is futuristic, sure, must be sci-fi then. Lasers, Spaceships, Robots, the works. The checklist is done. Sci-Fi.
But what are the themes it touches upon, what is the story?
A young farmer's boy (naturally an adoptred orphan) named Luke is dragged into a rebellion against an evil king (Palpatine) by accident. When the boy get's hold of a pretty princess' (RIP Carrie Fisher) message to an old ally and menthor (Obi) through the fault of her two comic-relief servants (Robot-slaves), he decides to seek the adventure he's yearning for. He finds the old man (by fucking up) and both seek the next harbor to board a ship to join the resistance. The hire smuggler/pirate/bandit/nerfherder Han and his foreign friend Chewie and cross paths with the black knight Lord Vader, the evil kings enforcer. Hijinks ensue, princess rescued, the magic castle/ship/train of the evil king get's destroyed and everyone gets a medal.
What's exactly sci-fi here?
That could play out in medieval times. Or ancient greece. Or the wild west. Or on Christmas.
The setting and the genre are two different things and both determine what you'll label a story with.
Alien is a horror movie, a slasher. Aliens is a war movie. Alien³ is a horror movie of the animal-gone-maneater kind. Alien: Resurrection is a disaster movie (hihi).
They're all sci-fi, like Star Wars. Because of the setting.
Now look at Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 Episode 9 'The Measure Of A Man'.
Lasers, spaceships, robots, the usual. What is it about?
A Robot who's so sophisticated that he has to go to trial to prove he's not property but a real boy. Sure, you'll say, I've seen Pinocchio and I can see african men argue the same stuff in the 18th century. The point of the story is not only that is humanity is questioned, the point is he's an artificial lifeform. The question is not only 'What makes you a person?' but also 'When does artificial intelligence become an artificial person?'
That shit won't work in a setting without spaceships and robots. That's sci-fi because of its story.
So, setting and story are both what makes you label a movie a certain way but they're not the same.
Die Hard. Happens on Christmas. Could be Thanksgiving too. Setting interchangeable.
Story? Doesn't contain any christmas-related themes beyond two estranged family members become closer again. That could happen at a funeral as well.
I'm in my mid-thirties and I love Die Hard. It's one of the best 80's action movies. I can watch it anytime and I've seen it at least 20 times (noit joking here). But mostly in the summer. But I understand the question and its diverse answers perfectly well.
Die Hard is a christmas movie if it feels like one to you. For me, Lord of the Rings (especially Fellowship) feels like a Christmas movie to me. I've seen them all in theatres in December, I watched them on VHS and Blu-Ray only in December so far. They have fuck all to do with the occasion but this year was the first one I didn't watch any of them in December. And I feel I missed something this year. I'm not sure I can watch them at this time of the year.

Presumably you reboot something because you want you capitalise on some combination of the styles, plots, essence and fans of the thing you're rebooting. So if it becomes unrecognisably Star Trek then fans won't be impressed.

But this looks to be going in a different direction than not just Star Trek but the first two films of the reboot as well. To me it could have been any sci-fi action adventure film because nothing stood out that distinguished it as Star Trek (the old or new definition).

Also, who the hell buys Pegg as Scotty really? I love Pegg, but everything about his character is jarring - he's Simon Pegg doing a funny accent and laying the slapstick on far too thick for comic relief only to pop up in an action scene 2 minutes later.

Edit: Maybe because it's a different director? Edit2: Who apparently directed some Fast & Furious films - that makes a lot of sense.

For every white superhero, there is a black superhero; and for every 20 black and white superheroes, there is a single Asian S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and/or a Latino comic relief.

I'm kidding, I don't really give a shit -- but it's true.

One argument I've heard is that crime takes place in the inner cities, so of course there will be a larger portion of black heroes/villains.

Anyway, I've read 100s of Marvel comic books, including the Alias, Daredevil, Marvel Knights, and Defenders series (which ISN'T the Defenders we're going to be presented with on Netflix) so I'm definitely excited about seeing Jessica and Power Man.

But more importantly, the Purple Man (Zebediah Killgrave) is a key villain to know and fear. He pulls a lot of the conspiratorial strings of the Marvel universe on earth to come.

Your video, Stephen Hawking Little Britain Comic Relief Sketch, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

So... if Star Wars is all about action, adventure, chivalry, pirate movies and swashbuckling, WTF is up with the prequels?

Lucas forgot about all that and thought, "You know what this series needs is some galactic C-Span, whiny teenagers, overly contrived plots, and cutesey CGI comic-relief characters. Oh and don't forget a double-dose of nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (because Luke didn't sell it enough in Empire)."

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Ricky-Gervais-Goes-To-Kenya-Comic-Relief-2007

Ricky Gervais Goes To Kenya - Comic Relief 2007 has been added as a related post - related requested by Zawash.

Full story on this? That looked like a real deleted scene, but if it was that would suggest that there was a pretty major script rewrite after filming that bit.

The best explanation I can muster is that it was largely a real deleted scene, but that Jar-Jar actually jumped out in the real version, and this is a fan-made edit that cut out that escape and/or CGI'ed him back into the vehicle as it went over the brink. Or I guess possibly it is all real and they were going to have him meet up with the group again later after miraculous surviving the fall -- gungan reflexes or something (hey, the film has midichlorians, so why the hell not).

If it is a fan-edit, they did one hell of a job, and started from footage I've never seen.

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EDIT:
I googled around and came up empty. This video and blurbs about it are making the internet rounds, but nobody seems to say anything other than that it is a deleted scene and it was probably cut for "creating too many plot holes"...

That seems like a pretty huge understatement to me. Ignoring the fact that Jar-Jar appears (briefly) in Eps 2 and 3, he plays a pretty major role with a lot of screen time in the Gungans vs Droids portion of the final 3-way battle sequence at the end, which happens well after where this scene would appear in the movie (right?).

Plus, Ep. 1 is very clearly a kids movie, and it would be pretty dark to kill off your comic relief / slapstick character halfway through the movie.

Maybe they had some early warning from focus groups that Jar-Jar was going to be ... not exactly well received and decided to film this just as a joke or even to play it for those focus groups and see their reactions?

Very weird. Not that I mind seeing Jar-Jar die, but I'm quite puzzled by this!

I disagree 100%, this was one of the BEST product placements ever in a video game! You're just not getting the subtle humor. To me, it was very obvious. First, take note of the fact that they were inarguably wanting to make this game feel a bit like a television series. This is made most evident by the way they ended and began each episode (not to mention the fact that they called them "episodes" to begin with), but also by the cinematics in battle, the independent camera controls that let you see what was behind Wake as he was running forward, the narration, the fact that all the manuscripts had to appear on screen with the author's voice reading it aloud- erm, I think I made my point there.

So what would a television series do, naturally, at a moment like this? Why, GO TO A COMMERCIAL BREAK, OF COURSE! That's why this TV was in the break room. Commercials? Break room? You get it now?

However, I wouldn't even agree that this did any noteworthy damage to the tension. Because, arguably, the most "scary" part was over. At this point, all you had to do was get by that chandelier ball thingy and you're outside with Barry Wheeler, comic relief! I thought it was brilliant.

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This video has been seconded as a duplicate; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof seconded with isdupe by bareboards2.

Ahh sorry *dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Ricky-Gervais-Goes-To-Kenya-Comic-Relief-2007

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>> ^Deano:

All power to his agent for helping to make him so successful but he really isn't that funny. Tell me there isn't a world of difference when you watch say Bill Burr after this.


Yes there is a big difference between Jimmy and Bill...Jimmy has charisma. You don't find him funny that's fine...he's got a career despite your opinion.

No, its all a set up. Auditions is about the 2-3 who will make it and comic relief.