Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Twentysomething men with problems talking over women have been arguing as much for thirty years. So common is this wry response to inquiries about the greatest-ever holiday films that it has aroused tides of mock-serious debate, a strained controversy pursued in broadsheet editorial pages and on social media annually that last year prompted a number of people involved in the movie to weigh in — screenwriter Steven de Souza advocating for holiday-movie status, star…

Something I’ve learned writing about the cinema professionally for a number of years is that there are bad movies and bad times at the movies, and the latter are considerably worse. Bad movies can be laugh riots, howlers, like shoddy horror pictures or inane science-fiction, to be indulged in or cackled through or suffered with glee. Bad movies are often likeable, or somehow charming, or else might endear themselves to you with personality or ambition, like, say, Southland Tales or…