If you’re going to have one of your characters execute another, why not have him do it in a Santa hat? Irony! Beyond that, Christmas always makes for aesthetically pleasing (to me) and evocative set design, which can’t make a film better, but often makes them more enjoyable.

But mostly it’s the guys with guns in Santa hats. That shit’s gold.

Here are a handful of films that play against Christmas, rather than with it, to varying degrees of success.

Die Hard

What’s great about Die Hard is that it’s such an “un-Christmas” movie that just happens to be set during Christmastime. It’s remarkable that there’s only one really bad Christmas joke in the film (see the pic), but even the joke relies more on Alan Rickman‘s reading than the line itself.

The film actually opens with a strong Christmas theme (the limo ride for John), but that gives way to some of the best action cinema ever made, thankfully.

Batman Returns

Sure, the lush setting of a Gotham Christmas lured Tim Burton to set the Batman follow-up during the holidays, but the actual fact that it’s Christmas seems to be the elephant in the room. There are lots of Christmas settings, but the characters in Gotham seem almost forbidden to talk about it, which actually helps to draw Gotham as a very distinct world.

I was hoping this film would get people to start associating penguins with Christmas, but it hasn’t happened. Yet?

Now on eBay, it’s one of the authentic Batmobiles from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. You’ll fight evil, missile-loaded penguins in style with this sleek little number. And yes, it’s a fully functioning vehicle you can drive around Gotham. Here’s the auctioneer with all the Bat-deets:

This car runs and drives great and has upgraded Fuel Injection, and 8 gallon Harwood Fuel Cell, Monroe Air Shocks, Mickey Thompson Indy Profile L-60X15 Front and Sportsman 33X19.50 15LT Rear Tires with the famous BATMAN Hubs.

Both the front AND rear of the car have full hydrolics, making it very easy to load and unload from it’s NEW 2010 Custom trailer (included with your Batmobile).

Auction ends tomorrow at 6 pm PST, with the current high bid at $310,800. If the reserve of $500K is not met, the Batmobile will be auctioned off on live TV.

Listen, you work hard, so why not treat yourself to one lousy Batmobile? You don’t want to see it end up in The Riddler’s hands, do you? (Cinema Blend)

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