3 Not-So-Christmas Movies To Keep the Season Bright This Holiday

This is a special guest story from Beasley Fayetteville Market Manager Ronnie Glover!

You can have your George Bailey, Clark Griswold, and Ralphie, but for me, when I think of Christmas movies, I'm more likely to turn my sights to some not-so-Christmas movies. When I look to get in the holiday spirit, give me Billy Ray Valentine, Winthorpe, John McClane, Martin Riggs, and Roger Murtaugh.

I can get as sentimental as anyone, but John Landis created movie gold when he cast SNL Alums Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places. Who doesn’t remember Winthorp dressed slovenly as Santa crashing the Christmas party at Duke and Duke?  Throughout the movie, Eddie Murphy’s Billy Ray Valentine learns about the stock market as he tells the Dukes, "It sounds like you boys are a couple of bookies!" The two old curmudgeons get what they deserve in the end: Billy Ray gets paid and a better life, Winthrop receives his money and respect back, plus the girl all by the new year.

Yippee-Ki-Yay, John McClain, because what screams Christmas more than German terrorists invading an office tower?  Oh, come on there was a Christmas Party going on what do you expect?  John brought his NY charm err, character to LA and dropped the beat-down mic on Hans Gruber’s plot to steal $640 million dollars. Let the debate rage on, Die Hard is a Christmas movie!

Lastly, my boys Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh race through a Christmas tree farm during a shootout, and Gary Busey’s character and Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs have a brawl outside of a home that would make Clark Griswold jealous.  Sure, the movie is about drug smuggling, special tactical units, and the like but what counts is the suicidal widower Riggs and family man Murtaugh become brothers from other mothers and the Lethal Weapon franchise is born.

So, curl up by the fire, have some eggnog, roast chestnuts by an open fire, and enjoy blood, sweat, tears, thievery, and deception, while watching these action-packed, ahem not-so-Christmas movies!

Right before the end of the year, Netflix shared new information about their viewers. Since launching their weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists two years ago, the streaming giant has been providing more information about what people are watching. On Tuesday (December 12), Netflix published their What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report, which is a comprehensive report of what people watched on Netflix over a six-month period (January to June 2023). They took into account the hours viewed for every single title they have as their original content as well as licensed content that was watched for over 50,000 hours, the premiere date for the content, runtimes, and whether a title was available worldwide.

In total, this new report covers more than 18,000 titles — representing 99% of all viewing on Netflix — and nearly 100 billion hours viewed. Over 60% of Netflix titles released in the first six months of the year simultaneously appeared on their weekly Top 10 lists. So, while this report is broader in scope, the trends reflected similarly mimic those in the Top 10 lists. For example, television series Ginny & Georgia, Alice in Borderland, The Marked Heart, Outer Banks, You, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, XO Kitty, and films Murder Mystery 2 and Extraction 2. Meanwhile, new series like The Night Agent, The Diplomat, Beef, and FUBAR generated huge audiences. Non-English stories garnered 30% of all viewing, and older, licensed titles were in demand from Netflix. 55% of viewing came from Netflix films and series, while 45% came from licensed titles, like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Suits.

Netflix said in their report that this would be bi-annual data that would show the engagement of their viewers. They claim that the information provided will "give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences and what resonates with them." Take a look below at Netflix's 7 Most-Viewed Items for the first half of the year:

Based on the novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the series follows Teresa Mendoza, a naive woman and girlfriend of a Mexican involved in drug trafficking, who becomes the leader of a drug cartel. The third season of the series was released on December 30, 2022, not globally, and watched for 429,600,000 hours.

What we thought was going to be the final season was released in two parts: the first on February 9, 2023 and the second part on March 9, 2023. The season picked up from Joe (Penn Badgley) searching for Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) in London, but turns into Joe trying to turn a new leaf and stop killing -- that is, until the "Eat-the-rich" killer strikes. The fourth season was watched 440,600,000 hours.

This prequel series from the pandemic-popular Bridgerton was released on May 4, 2023. The story is loosely based on the rise of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to prominence and power in the late 18th century. The six-episode series was watched 503,000,000 hours.

Jenna Ortega cemented her role as the titular character Wednesday in this comedy/horror series. Wednesday was released on November 23,2022. Fans watched 507,700,000 hours of the first season.

This Korean psychological revenge series was released on December 30, 2022. The story follows a young woman, bullied to the point of deciding to drop out of school, who plans the best way to get revenge. She becomes a primary school teacher, taking in the son of the man who tormented her the most. The first season was watched 622,800,000 hours.

Our favorite dysfunctional family returned on January 5, 2023. The second season had that pesky private investigator connect more dots, but the mother-daughter duo had each other's backs, even if the other didn't know it. Season two was watched 665,100,000 hours.

Taking the top spot is the series based on the book of the same name by Matthew Quirk. While monitoring an emergency line, an FBI agent answers a call that plunges him into a deadly conspiracy involving a mole at the White House. The first season was released on March 23, 2023, and fans watched an astounding 812,100,000 hours!