The holidays are upon us, so you'd expect the headliners on the major streaming services to be yuletide classics that the whole family can enjoy. This is hilarious no the case, however, and it is either a sign of broadening tastes or of gross sensibility.

I won't argue with viewers getting into the Christmas spirit watching such violent pleasures as Die Hard, "Silent Night Deadly Night" or any of Shane Black's classics set around the holiday. I might just get down and run a marathon of Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang by myself on Christmas Eve. Christmas is when you crack out It's a Wonderful Life (itself an incredibly dark film) or any of the adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

But if the FlixPatrol report The most popular movies currently showing on Max are to be believed, most people have prioritized some macabre and/or gory contemporary movies this December. As was the case last week, the box office flop "Joker: Folie à Deux" is at the top of Max's most viewed list at the moment, with "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" in second place. Surely something like "Elf" or "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is behind them, right? No. Number three on the list is a rambling, flashy B-movie with an impressive body count.

This Christmas, pour your eggnog with four fingers of bourbon and treat yourself to Christian Gaudegast's heist thriller Den of Thieves. Starring Gerard Butler as Big Nick O'Brien, a hard-drinking cop who craves blood-spattered donuts, this film went from a modest box office hit (grossing $80 million worldwide on a $30 million budget) to a full-fledged classic from dad movie. It's a drunken riff on "Heat" with an assortment of chest-inflating tough guy performances from Pablo Schreiber, O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. Be Fooled Gaudegast's narrative is surprisingly clever, reaching a climax you might not see coming.

"Day of Thieves" rides-or-die with a hard-bitten philosophy that is the antithesis of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men." So why is this 2018 action movie Max so popular all of a sudden? Why, that's because the sequel "Devil's Maid: Panther", is all set to hit theaters on January 10, 2025. And really, who would you rather spend time with this Christmas: your family or Gerard Butler? So if the world is really going to hell, freshen up that chump and let's go out there with Big Nick.