Gracie Hunt Gets In A Workout Ahead Of The New Year, Gia Duddy And Friends Recap 2025 & More Hot Die Hard Talk
More hot "Die Hard" talk closes out the year.
Happy New Year's Eve
Welcome to the final Screencaps of 2025. Joe will be delivering the first of 2026 tomorrow before I wrap up this latest call to the bullpen on Friday morning.
Expect a lot of looking back at the last year with lists and recaps clogging up your social media algorithms today. Then the look at me and my resolutions for next year that follow.
Recaps, assuming there's some bikini content, aren't all bad. Neither are New Year's resolutions. If you're someone who likes using time that you'll never get back for that.
I've come to demand more out of my deodorant every year. Thank you, Adam Carolla for that, but I don’t waste any time coming up with things I'm never going to do.
I try to keep it simple. There are a bunch of bowl games today capped off with a College Football Playoff game tonight. That's all I need.
Tomorrow there are more College Football Playoff games and a ton of football this weekend. That's what I'm looking forward to in the New Year.
When those are behind us, I'll move onto the next thing. Speaking of moving on, the Die Hard Christmas movie debate isn’t quite ready to do that just yet.
I was hoping I put the very production discussion and much better use of time than coming up with a list of resolutions behind us yesterday. The inbox told me otherwise.
Die Hard
- Mark writes:
SeanJo,
Always enjoy your work.
So, if Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie, why do we have this:
The Hans Gruber falling off Nakotomi Plaza ADVENT calendar!!
If you do a search for this item, it is really surprising how many are available out there.
As I always told my kids when they were little, "It’s not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off the Nakotomi Tower">
Keep up the great work
Die Hard
- Joe in Orlando writes:
What makes a Christmas movie? Not when it was filmed or released. It's the plot.
John McLane is not on a plane to L.A. If it wasn't Christmas.
There is no Christmas party at the towers where all of the employees are gathered at one time...unless it's Christmas.
The perfect time to plan the heist is at Christmas with all the company execs at the tower, law enforcement enjoying the holidays. No suspicions because they stay open late for the party...because Christmas.
The entire movie does not occur but for Christmas. Remove Christmas entirely from the movie and you have a standard run of the mill bank heist.
Ipso facto - Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
Thank you for all the content!
Die Hard as a Christmas movie
- Ben in Hoover, AL writes:
SeanJo,
Long time Screen Caps reader. Semi-frequent emailer. Love the work and the community.
I have to push back on the logic you gave this morning arguing against Die Hard as a Christmas movie. Your rebuttal about a single scene on Fourth of July not making a movie and Independence Day film is such an oversimplification it hurts. People don't watch Harry Potter, see the Halloween scene and argue it's a Halloween movie. It's followed up with a Christmas scene, yet no one argues that makes it a Christmas movie.
There is way more evidence for Die Hard as a Christmas movie than just a single scene. People aren't grasping at straws here. The movie is literally set at a company Christmas Party. Like the entire plot of the movie hinges on the fact that everyone that's needed to pull off the heist is present because of the Christmas Party. The entirety of the film happens on Christmas Eve. John McClane is visiting from New York to see his family for...Christmas! There is a Christmas music soundtrack. There are holiday themed lines. Do you just say, "Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho!" if it wasn't a Christmas movie? Certainly no one argues it's a Valentine's movie when you hear that line.
Let me ask about two other movies typically watched during Christmas time: Home Alone and It's A Wonderful Life. What makes them holiday movies? One is a burglar movie about a kid stranded alone at his house. Another is a guy examining what would happen if he wasn't born. Both are plotlines that can exist on their own, but we typically watch them during Christmas because....? They have a holiday setting? Holiday themed lines? Holiday soundtracks? So does the logic apply that because the central plot of these movies aren't solely about Christmas, then they aren't Christmas movies either? I don't think so. I think they're all fantastic Christmas movies. You watch It's A Wonderful Life early when just the adults are up. You watch Home Alone with the kids after breakfast. Later that night you pour a cup of cheer with some bourbon and eggnog to watch John McClane take out some terrorists. This is an awesome day. Why must we rain on the parade instead of just leaning into the holiday spirit?
Hey - this is America. Think whatever you want. However, you gotta give us more logic than it's just not because....reasons?
As always, love the work and enjoy the discussion.
Cheers,
Ben in Hoover, AL
Christmas-Adjacent Movies
- Dusty writes:
Hey Sean-
Wanted to jump into the Die Hard convo with our family's take. We actually have a series of movies we watch after Thanksgiving that we call Christmas-adjacent: Gremlins, Batman Returns (the best Batman movie), and Die Hard. These movies have Christmas as a backdrop, but are NOT Christmas movies.
Happy New Year!
SeanJo
Truly, I didn’t expect the "Die Hard is not a Christmas movie" discussion to take off the way it did. I tossed it in almost as an afterthought.
Did I over simplify it? Sure. But so is pretending that when a movie is released doesn’t matter. Also, we don’t hear the same arguments regarding the other Christmas-adjacent movies mentioned by Dusty. Which Christmas is in the backdrop of, but not the focus.
I tend to agree with them all, Die Hard included, being Christmas-adjacent, but not Christmas movies. The action film was meant to be a summer blockbuster. But I have to admit I haven’t watched Die Hard since I was a kid.
It has to have been at least 30 years ago. I'll concede that I could be forgetting how much Christmas played a part in it. I don’t think so, but it's possible. So I will sit down and watch it again.
If I'm somehow not remembering how big of a role Christmas played in it, I'll admit it. If not, I'll double down on my initial take. No matter how that shakes out, I do respect the "Hans Gruber falling off Nakotomi Plaza ADVENT calendar."
One more thing before we get to the rest of the emails and on with our New Year's Eve. What about Die Hard 2, which I don’t remember ever watching, but also takes place on Christmas Eve? Where's the discussion for that to be considered a Christmas movie? It's almost never mentioned, even when arguing for Die Hard.
Trading Places?
- Scott in Ridgeland SC writes:
SeanJo - totally agree about Die Hard. Or being a Christmas movie. The question I have is, what about Trading Places? I mean the whole scene where Dan Akroyd is a drunken down and out Santa? What say you? Yes it was released in June but that can’t be the driving criteria can it?
Keep up the great work and HNY!
SeanJo
Hey Scott, there's a movie I haven’t heard mentioned in a very long time. I remember absolutely nothing about it. I'm going to assume that some will argue that it is a Christmas movie too. I'm not one of them.
I have already committed to watching Die Hard again. I won't be doing the same for Trading Places.
Outback
- Bill A in Texas writes:
Re: The guy at Outback with the damaged body part(s)
Do you think TMZ will be ‘exposing’ info from discovery? Pls, no pictures.
But the overriding question is ‘Just how does one fall off of a toilet?’
SeanJo
From my understanding, the toilet shattered and collapsed while he was using it. So he didn’t necessarily fall off of it. But I'm not sure how that happens either.
I'm with you on exposing the info from discovery. I'll take pictures of the damaged toilet, but I don’t need the "severe bodily injury" pictures.
Reply to Jim T
- Greg in Nebraska, but temporarily in Wisconsin writes:
Hi Sean,
I enjoy your writing. You have a youthful perspective that I really appreciate. I want to respond to Jim T from San Diego. I don’t give a crap if Die Hard is or isn’t a Christmas movie. It’s a great movie because the good guy wins. I think it is scary when people start saying they change what they think because culture has shifted and now so many people say something. Changing your mind is fine, but you stated no intellectual reason why. Just other people said so. There are a lot of dudes out there playing in women’s sports because there were others who said it was ok. Thanks to all those who have stood up to that. There are all kinds of stupid shit ideas people are spewing out there and others are going along with it. No thought, just changing because others said so. Be careful for what reasons we are willing to change our beliefs.
Cold Floridians
- Gen X Warren M writes:
For Montana Tim who makes fun of us cold Floridians
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That's all I have for this New Year's Eve edition of Screencaps. Happy New Year! I don’t know if I'll watch Die Hard before Friday, but I definitely will before Sunday arrives.
Enjoy the bowl games and the College Football Playoff games over the next couple of days. I'll be back Friday to close out the call to the bullpen.
Keep sending your emails my way. The inbox is open for anything and everything at sean.joseph@outkick.com. Go follow me on Twitter and over on Instagram.