The older I get the more and more I’ve grown to really appreciate Alexander Payne’s “Sideways.” His drama comedy about unfulfilled ambition, and arrested development is still a wonderful experience. “The Holdovers” is a character piece very much in the same vein, but while it might be a character piece it might also end up being one of the most unique Christmas movies ever made. Payne is wonderful at observing and dissecting such complex and unique characters, and with “The Holdovers,” he explores the lives, regrets, and frustrations of three immensely different people.
BAD MOVIE MONDAY: SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT!
Today on BAD MOVIE MONDAY, Santa Jeremy is going to review one of the most dreaded of all Christmas films. SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! So put on the socks your grandma gave you and hold on tight! This may be a rough ride. Ho-Ho-Ho!!!
Continue reading
Ranking the Complete DCEU from Best to Worst
I really hope someone writes a book someday on the historic wet, steaming catastrophe that was Warner Bros. DCEU. I’ve never seen a studio so hell bent on sabotaging themselves before. They had a golden opportunity, holding possession of some of the biggest icons and money making characters in pop culture history. It should have and could have been an easy slam dunk during a climate where comic book movies were all the rage. Instead rather than let directors make movies they just destroyed any momentum the DCEU had at every turn.
With “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” arriving in theaters and signaling the very last movie in the Zack Snyder engineered DCEU, I ranked all of the movies in this universe from best to worst. Here’s hoping James Gunn brings these properties and beloved characters back to their former glory very soon.
65 (2023)
It’s such a shame that audiences just didn’t take to “65” because I had a blast from the minute one. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ science fiction survival film is a mix of “Enemy Mine” and “Aliens” to where two people with vastly different circumstances have to rely on one another. Adam Driver is the driving force that really propels “65” in to admirable excitement and some genuinely interesting action set pieces. While I wouldn’t have minded more dinosaurs, “65” gets its point across by embracing its inherently pulpy science fiction roots through and through.
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
I can’t fault Zack Snyder for essentially giving us a sprawling remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” when he seeks to build a new “Star Wars” for the modern generation. “Star Wars” was, as many know, a quasi-remake of “Hidden Fortress.” Another by Kurosawa. It all comes full circle, as Snyder seeks to build a massive mythology in the vein of “Star Wars.” He really wants “Rebel Moon” to be “Star Wars”; at the end of “A Child of Fire”—well—he creates a movie that has been done before but to a much better effect (ahem–“Firefly”).
The Bootleg Files: Disney Time (The 1969 Christmas Special)
BOOTLEG FILES 850: “Disney Time (1969 Christmas Show) (1969 British television special hosted by Julie Andrews).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The Mouse House isn’t letting it out.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.
American television viewers and Walt Disney’s studio output have been in a very close relationship since the 1950s, but across the Atlantic things were a bit different. The Disney studio never established the same level of ubiquitous synergy with British television programmers that they achieved in their own country, and Disney’s televised presence across the U.K. was more limited.
Continue reading
Maestro (2023)
Bradley Cooper’s film about the life of Leonard Bernstein is why I’m firm in my opinion that pretty much most music biopics are just terrible. Bernstein is an interesting figure that we learn almost nothing about by the time the movie ends. We explore his torrid private life, sure, but Cooper opts to kind of step back from the artist that was Bernstein in favor of the person. That’s understandable considering “Maestro” is a pitch for an Oscar from the starting gate.