The Year's End and Holiday Movies
Greetings from Philadelphia,
I ventured to the cold of the north to celebrate my sister’s 40th wedding anniversary. So, I will have a Philly cheesesteak and soft pretzel and enjoy great times with my family.
This is the time of year when film critics are preparing their top ten lists. I will have mine out in a few weeks, but thinking about this made me wonder what these lists are about. What does it mean to be a top-ten film? Is it the acting? The story? The innovative storytelling?
So much goes into what we think of the films we see. What mood were you in when you saw it? How did when you saw it affect how you feel about it? Andrew Sarris once said in class that you should not see a film before noon because you have not yet come to terms with your dreams. Over the years, I have seen films a second or third time and have changed my original perception of the film.
Published lists are also a way for critics to showcase their taste by selecting items that no one else will include. I remember Jim Hoberman once putting a World Series Game Six as one of his selections.
So, as I begin the process, I invite you to join us. Think about what would be in your top ten list and post it on Facebook and tag me. It will be fun. You can either sit down and do it in one afternoon, or perhaps a better idea is to have a page in your notes app, and when you think of a film you have seen and liked, jot it down. After a couple of days, take a look at your list and see what this reveals about your taste in films and what you value. Perhaps with this new knowledge about what you value in cinema, you can make better choices in what films to see.
If you enjoy this process, you can create another page of notes to include films you want to consider for next year.
Another good habit you might want to start is to get an account on Letterboxd and mark down the films you have seen, so at the end of the year, you can remember what you have seen, and years later, you can remember what you have seen. Letterbox also has some good writing about films, and if you aspire to be a critic, this would be a great place to start writing about films. If you are interested in reading about films doing well on the festival circuit, you can read the Popcorn List.
“Wicked” and “Gladiator II” seem to be dominating the theatrical space this week. The Violet Crown theater is showing “The Wizard of Oz” (December 8, 2pm), which might be good to see before or after “Wicked.” Most of us have seen “The Wizard of Oz“ on TV, and it might be nice to see it on a bigger screen.
I strongly recommend “Emilia Perez”, a new film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It is currently playing theatrically and on Netflix. This film is unlike any other you have seen. It is a French musical crime comedy based on the libretto of the opera by the film’s director Jacques Audiard.
-Bart
Howdy,
It's my favorite time of year, yes, awards season but also time for the antithesis of Oscar bait— budget holiday movies. I talked last year about why the Lifetime movies typically are better fare than the Hallmark mainstays. That TV-PG rating certainly ups the amount of kissing the couple can do from 1 peck during the credits to at least 2 smooches. Well, Netflix, the newest player to the game, has taken that TV-PG rating and pushed the boundaries of just how much innuendo these typically chaste films can have. Their two most promoted holiday movies this year feature plenty of gratuitously shirtless men.
First is "Hot Frosty," which has one of the best holiday movie premises: what if a snowman came to life as a hot man that the lead falls in love with? Alongside some sitcom-famous supporting actors, Lacey Chabert stars in this one, her first time away from the Hallmark Channel after they are getting sued after calling her "too old" to star in their rom-coms. Also out on the streamer is "The Merry Gentlemen," starring former CW-heartthrob Chad Michael Murray as a handyman who gets more than he bargained for when he's asked to perform in an all-male dance revue to save a struggling small-town music venue. Will he also fall in love with the New York-dwelling starlet who has returned home for the holidays?
Not to be outdone by the tech giant, Hallmark has launched its own streaming service this year, where a subscription gets you access to all of the Hallmark originals and unlimited access to their e-card collection. Try to beat that, Netflix. They can't compete on budget, though, and so they are taking some innovative formats like with the competition reality show "Finding Mr. Christmas," where actors compete to be the star of a Hallmark film, and the four-part film series "Unwrapping Christmas," which tells the stories of a group of four friends finding love, where each woman gets her own feature.
This year, Travis Kelce's mom, Donna, will be in two different films on Hallmark, including one licensed by the Kansas City Chiefs called "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story." Another unlicensed film on Lifetime will fictionalize the romance of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce called "Christmas in the Spotlight." Also of note is the Ben Stiller film “Nutcrackers," streaming on Hulu, which was at some film festivals this year, and the animated short directed by David Lowery, "An Almost Christmas Story," on Disney+, which might be in Oscar contention.
The theater industry is booming from the holidays, with "Moana 2," "Wicked," "Gladiator 2," and the rest making over $400 million for the biggest Thanksgiving week of all time. The AMC was so overloaded with ticket buyers that they had to implement a waitlist this past week. There are a lot of indie movies opening in limited release this week. I am most looking forward to "The End," which is an apocalyptic musical starring Tilda Swinton and George McKay. If it's anything like the musical telenovela "Emilia Perez," I'm going to be a huge fan. And if you want to see a documentary about the life of Alfred Hitchcock, we are showing the new-ish film "My Name is Alfred Hitchcock" at the Modern in Fort Worth this weekend.
-Elijah