We saw a Christmas-themed movie this morning that made all Hallmark Christmas movies contenders for the Oscars in comparison: Santa’s Summer House. Robert Mitchum’s son plays a Hawaiian-shirted and non-bearded Santa, Cynthia Rothrock (?!?!) plays his wife “Nana”, it takes place in Pismo Beach, it has no elves, no reindeer, no Santa suit, in fact there is no magic whatsofuckingever…and they play it straight! If it weren’t for that fact that it was a Rifftrax version of the movie, the rest of the day would have been spent drinking myself to oblivion…and beyond.
I had the pleasure of voting against Christopher Mitchum for Congress about ten years ago.
Some movies from the last two weeks.
Violent Ends A nasty little noir (I like nasty little noirs) along the lines of She Rides Shotgun, though not really as hard hitting emotionally. Still, it is an acceptable revenge flick, with a lot of violence. Recommended for connoisseurs of the genre.
Anniversary Tracking a successful Washington couple (she’s a professor, he’s a restaurant owner) and their children through the rise of a right wing movement in the US. The scariest movie I’ve seen this year. One of those “that was a great movie, let’s never watch it again”.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Another very good film I’ll never watch again. It follows a mother of a daughter with a debilitating medical issue and how she deals with her increasingly pressurized life. An absolute great performance as a frankly unsympathetic character by Rose Byrne draws the audience into the increasingly claustrophobic and chaotic situations she deals with. Look for her performance to be in the conversation during awards season next year. For those that care, it does end on a somewhere ambiguous note. Highly recommended if you think you can take it.
Predator: Badlands I didn’t like it as much as @Mahaloth, but it was definitely a very good action flick with some sympathetic, well drawn characters that might have fallen into cliche under less capable hands. Recommended for fans of action SciFi.
Die My Love Jennifer Lawrence is an absolutely fearless actor. She’s not afraid to play outrageous and unsympathetic in service of a role. This is another “mother under stress” movie. Not as good as If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, but the performances stand out, especially Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, and Sissy Spacek. Avoid if you can’t take animals in serious peril. Recommended for those who, like me, think Mother! was a good movie.
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain An absolutely charming animated feature that covers the adventures of a Belgian toddler in Japan from 2 1/2 to 3 years old. It draws you in and rewards the patient viewer. Very much recommended.
As a Conan O’Brien superfan, I’m curious what you thought of his performance. I’m anxious to see the film mostly to see if he can pull it off.
He is…adequate. His acting (against his public persona) is fine in a supporting role, but it his hard to erase his public persona from your mind while watching him. I kept expecting some wry humor, but that is not the character’s role in the movie. His performance gets “better” as the film goes on, probably because his public persona receded in my mind as the film went on.
Speaking of movies that are the same story retold from a bunch of different perspectives - I watched Freaky Tales on HBO Max a few months ago. It’s an anthology film starring Pedro Pascal and Ben Mendelsohn filmed in a 1980s style and taking place over real historical events in 1987 Oakland CA. Except for perhaps the last story that ties them all together with basketball legend Golden State Warrior Sleepy Floyd going on a supernatural martial arts revenge rampage.
Watched Spy Game for the first time since it was new. I love how Redford runs an op to rescue Pitt from inside Langley right under everyone’s noses. I remembered I liked it, and I still do.
What I didn’t remember is this was an early example of director Tony Scott refusing to keep his camera still, and instead spinning it constant around the actors. It’s no where near as bad as Unstoppable, but it could have been. Fortunately, he used it only a little.