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What are your favorite Christmastime movies that don't deal with Christmas as a topic?
One of my favorite movies to watch during the holidays is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. It came out on Christmas day and helped me deal with a lot of things that were happening during the winter of 2013. When the winter days get short, I like to revisit the movie because it makes me feel better. What movies do you like watch during the holiday season, that doesn't have Christmas as a theme?
May not be exactly what you're looking for, since it does technically deal with Christmas, but I'll mention it anyways since I loved the movie and think it mostly fits: Klaus.
It's animated movie about the origins of Santa, but it's not very heavy on the Christmas vibe if that's what you're trying to avoid. Just an all-around great family movie about a rebellious teen, some feuding families, and a dude who likes making toys. Makes it feel very real, rather than the whole Ho-Ho-Ho-Reindeers-and-Elves Santa that most Christmas movies focus on. Other than the obvious (title being Klaus and the titular character being an old man with a white beard) you really might not even notice the Christmas theme at all.
Oh also, I'm pretty sure someone else will mention it if I don't, but Die Hard is another good Christmas-adjacent movie.
Gremlins, too.
Kiss kiss bang bang
Lethal Weapon
Batman Returns
Iron Man 3
But not Gremlins 2
I have two, for art-movie lovers:
Night on Earth (1991), a Jim Jarmusch film with music by Tom Waits. Five cab drives in different world cities on one winter night. It's funny at times but not an in-your face comedy. I think it fits because of its themes of human connection, understanding, and responsibility for each other. Also the last vignette is in Helsinki and there is a lot of snow. A link to the IMDB page
My Twentieth Century ( Az én XX. századom), a film in hungarian by Ildikó Enyedi, from 1989. I chose it because of its attention to wonder, serendipity, and magic. Also it ends up on New Years Eve. I saw this movie back when it came out, and have never been able to shake the beauty of this films use of light and shadow. A link to the IMDB page
Lord of the Rings. The timeless, shapeless, black hole of a week between Christmas and New Years is the only time of year I can watch the trilogy back-to-back, so I watch all three movies and get things done around the house. It's a Christmas movie now.
It's a Christmas movie because there are elves in it.
The extended version? That will really eat up your time!
The first time I saw the extended version was an absolute marathon where me and some friends set aside an entire weekend for them — started on Saturday and stopped only for bathroom breaks and sleep, picked up again Sunday morning and was done by the end of the day. There’s so much to watch it’s daunting! But I loved it!
Star Trek. There was a period in time where the Space channel would just air the Star Trek movies in sequence as their holiday programming on/around Christmas day, and the tradition kind of stuck with me. Not that I can spare the time to watch more than one or two, but extending the rotation over the course of a few years does keep them from getting too stale.
James Bond for the same reason, there was a channel that would just marathon them all at Xmas time. And MST3K at Thanksgiving
We always watch the Harry Potter movies during December. They always have a little reminder of Christmas in them, especially the first four movies. And of course because of nostalgia.
It's not a movie only a TV special but I always like to watch Puff The Magic Dragon. For me, it is high on the nostalgic feelies meter.
Growing up in the 80s in the UK, Christmas was pretty much the only time the terrestrial TV networks had decent films on. As a kid I absolutely loved The Pink Panther movies, and will always associate these with Christmas. I realised as an adult that The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the only one that's actually decent, so that's the only one I'll recommend.
An easy recommendation are the live action Paddington moves. Incredibly comforting with a stellar cast and veriety. The prison situation in the second movie never fails to put a smile on my face.
Also I don't know why but the holidays put me in the mood for movies with tiny heros. Stuff like Arrietty, Stuart Little, The Borrowers, Honey I Shrunk the Kids. It's just some weird association in my head.
And my mom and grandma had a tradition of constantly running their favorite TV shows through Boxing Day. The stand out for me were Columbo and Allo Allo so I'm always sure put them on every year.
I'm a huge James Bond fan, read the books (even the rubbish Gardner continuation novels) and watch the movies fairly regularly but as someone who lives in the UK I have an association between Christmas and Bond as ITV, one of the "standard" TV channels here in the UK, always tended to put the Bond movies on over winter in the run up to Christmas and over the festive period.
That and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, it was a staple Boxing Day movie growing up here for me so that association lingers.
I just convinced my family last weekend that Trading Spaces (Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis) was a Christmas movie. There are Trees, presents, Salvation Army Ringers, etc. Everything about it is a Christmas movie.
Trading Places is considered the quintessential Christmas movie in Italy since decades.
One of our favorites is The Holiday. It's heart warming and funny. Good rom com. It does happen to take place around Christmas and New Year's, but that's not the point of it.
Tokyo Godfathers is a good one. It's absolutely a Christmas movie, but being a Japanese animated movie, the cultural expression of Christmas themes still feels different compared to western Christmas movies.
Office Christmas Party and the Harry Potters, the former has been added to my top 5 favorite Christmas movies, after my wife and I found it randomly, and the latter for what @anbe said, the nostalgia and the Christmas scenes.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Some of it happens during Christmas, but it's, uh, not exactly a Christmas movie, nor is it comfortable or cozy. David Bowie is a captured pilot in a WWII Japanese POW camp. The camp commander is a Japanese rock star, and he's very interested in Bowie. A comedian game show host keeps beating everybody up, but also shows everybody the meaning of Christmas. You may or may not end up staring at a wall for a few hours after watching this movie, so take that into account if you prefer to keep your mood light.
Trading Places. Absolutely Christmas classic.
Going to try rewatching I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020) to see if it falls into this category
Update: No, not really. It's definitely a winter movie with themes of loneliness and family, but nothing really connects it to Christmas.
The Iron Giant is a favorite "kids' movie for grownups" that I enjoy around Christmas every few years.