John McClane's favorite place on Earth -- especially during the holidays. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

When I started badgering my friends and colleagues for ideas for this list, I got a slew of suggestions ranging from “The Nightmare before Christmas” to “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” (Both are great reasons to revisit this piece next year.) I was shocked, however, to see the one film that made everyone’s list: the 1988 uberhit “Die Hard.”

Granted, for those of us on staff, this may be the seminal action film of our youth. But is “Die Hard” a great Christmas movie or a terrific flick that just happens to be set on Christmas Eve? Does it even matter?

Even if you’ve never seen the film, you know the basic premise — New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) reluctantly attends his wife’s company Christmas party in Los Angeles just as the building’s overrun by terrorists — but what makes the movie so much fun is the way it gleefully skewers the spirit of Christmas.

From the opening scene, it’s clear that McClane’s had it up to here with the holidays. He’s a friendly sort – - he managed to listen to that yuppie’s advice about walking barefoot in hotels without hurling — but the way he yanked that ginormous teddy bear out of the overhead compartment made me wince for an inanimate object. The scenes showing McClane taking in the hell that is LAX during the holiday homestretch are priceless, not to mention his awesomely profane reaction to that Lycra-clad lass jumping her boyfriend in the baggage claim. Run-DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” blasting from the limo adds the perfect exclamation point to the opening scenes.

Once McClane arrives at the Nakatomi building for the party, however, we realize that the film has a bigger and better target for ridicule in mind: late 1980s excess.  Especially in this economy, the string quartet in the lobby seems jarring. This feeling is tempered somewhat by fact that the party’s in the office lobby, but whatever works. The terrorists also waste no time blowing the Japanese CEO’s head off for refusing to cooperate. The film’s best minor character, however, is an insecure L.A. cokehead stereotype who, as McClane’s wife notes, gets a little depressed during the holidays. Too bad his bravado and big mouth get him killed as well. (Or was it calling an international terrorist “babe?”)

The film still has some great Christmas callbacks, though. “Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho” is one of the movie’s best moments, and Alan Rickman’s staccato reading of the note is even better.  Later on in the film, McClane uses holiday wrapping paper to get himself out of a sticky situation and everyone hugs it out at the end to the holiday classic “Let it Snow” — except for that guy Mrs. McClane just punched in the face, of course.

I was shocked to find that so many people love “Die Hard” as a holiday film, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that its sequel continues the twisted holiday tradition so effectively.  McClane gets a ticket from a D.C. cop with a curious Bensonhurst accent before the credits even stop rolling, and the movie takes a sardonic joy in detailing the Dulles airport Christmas Eve gridlock. There are long lines everywhere and tempers are frayed; watch the way McClane pushes that poor lady out the way to get to a pay phone. Of course, all of this takes place before a group of rogue military types gun down some poor guy inside a church (on Christmas Eve!) and that airport suddenly becomes a bit more … confined. As McClane rants as he descends into yet another ventilation system, “Just once, I’d like a regular, normal Christmas. Eggnog, a Christmas tree, a little turkey. But nooooooo…”  Dude, stop complaining. The holidays are hard on all of us. All you can do is spike that eggnog and cope.