Christmas movies for people who don't like Christmas movies

Breaking down the week's new film releases Richard Crouse breaks down the week's releases, including 'Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,' 'Harbin,' and the 'Se7en' re-release.

“It’s a Wonderful Life” never fails to give me goosebumps. I see guardian angel second class Clarence Odbody tell George Bailey, “Remember, George no man is a failure who has friends,” and I am a puddle.

I’ve seen it countless times and will watch it at least twice this season, but my love for this heartwarming holiday perennial is not shared by my wife who finds it, and most other Christmas movies, melodramatic and manipulative.

To keep our holiday movie nights merry and bright, I found some other films that put the tinsel in Tinsel Town but are really Christmas movies for people who don’t love Christmas movies.

These films may not have traditional Christmas themes, but the holidays bring up a whole gamut of emotions, not just love and goodwill. That’s why movies with Yuletide scenes are so effective in portraying everything from drama to comedy to horror.

“Far From Heaven,” the Todd Haynes historical romance about family secrets, uses a drunken Christmas party to unveil some hard truths and, of course, without the Christmas scene in “Citizen Kane” there’d be no Rosebud mystery.

The Brat Packer flick “Less Than Zero” features a very Beverly Hills 90210 Christmas, complete with suntanned Santas, cocaine abuse and Robert Downey Jr, who told the Guardian back in 2003 that his portrayal of addict Julian Wells was his own personal "ghost of Christmas Future."

The improvised dramedy “Happy Christmas” sees Anna Kendrick as a wild young woman who crashes her brother Jeff’s traditional family Christmas celebration. “She’s not a responsible person,” says Jeff. Just like the holidays in real life, this movie offers up a heaping, helping of honest family frustration with lots of laughs and a minimum of schmaltz.

Lots of action / crime movies use Christmas as a setting, so much so that “Die Hard” and its sequel, both set on Christmas Eve, are regularly played as part of TV holiday marathons.

Others you may have forgotten are “Lethal Weapon” ("Jingle Bell Rock” plays during the opening credits); “Goodfellas” (The Ronettes sing “Frosty the Snowman” during a Christmas party, and later Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) gives his wife a wad of bills as a Christmas present); and “L.A. Confidential” opens on “Bloody” Christmas in 1951, when dozens of policemen beat seven incarcerated men.

Even James Bond gets into the Yuletide spirit with “On Her Majesty's Secret Service.” Set during the Christmas season, it features decorations, presents, nativity scenes and even an original Christmas song called “Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?” written by John Barry and Hal David.

As Danish singer Nina van Pallandt, accompanied by a children’s choir, warble on the soundtrack, Bond, played by George Lazenby, attempts to elude SPECTRE agents amidst a crowded Swiss holiday market. Best of all, Bond villain Blofeld (Telly Savalas) can be seen decorating a Christmas tree and wishing 007 a “Merry Christmas.”

“The Ref” is a supposed to be a crime comedy about a cat burglar (Dennis Leary) who soon regrets breaking into the home of squabbling couple Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis on Christmas Eve. But woven in between the jokes and drunk Santa gags are keen observations about the tensions that can arise over the holidays.

On the funny but edgy side is Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life.” The Broadway style number “Christmas in Heaven,” complete with scantily clad Santa back-up dancers, notes, “Hip, hip, hip, hip, hip, hooray! Every single day is Christmas day.”

In “Trading Places,” the Christmas set comedy co-starring Eddie Murphy, we first see Dan Ackroyd, drunk, dressed as Santa on a bus, eating the crusted food stuck in his beard. Even more alarming is Ferdinand the Duck’s exclamation, “Christmas is carnage” in the talking pig movie, “Babe.”

Over on the naughty list there are dozens of holiday horror films with names like “It’s a Wonderful Knife,” that offer up a grab bag of Christmas anxiety, subverted expectations and twisted takes on Yule classics.

“Gremlins” mixes horror, humour and ho ho hos. Set at Christmas, the story of little creatures who turn nasty when wet features a gory story about a missing father, a chimney, an overstuffed Santa suit and the punchline, “And that’s how I found out there was no Santa Claus.”

Another tinsel terror that may keep you up all night, but not with visions of sugar plums dancing in your head, is “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”

Originally called “Slayride,” this movie about a teen who goes on a murderous rampage dressed as Santa after his parents are killed, changed its name for its 1984 release. In its first weekend it out-grossed “Nightmare on Elm Street,” but when parents angry at Santa’s portrayal as an axe murderer picketed theatres, the box office dried up.

Not all the movies on this this list will be for everyone, and they are certainly not for the whole family, but they all offer a dollop of Christmas spirit. As Judy the Elf says in “The Santa Clause”: “Seeing isn't believing. Believing is seeing.” So have a look and enjoy.