I was bored and tried to watch Fly Me To The Moon, starring Scarlett Johansson, Woody Harrelson and Channing Tatum. Apparently Colin Jost puts in an appearance as well. It tries to be meet-cute and amusing, but fails. Of course, I didn’t make it past the first 20 minutes or so, so there’s that.
I saw Fly Me To The Moon on a redeye flight a few weeks ago. Nothing great but it kept me awake when I should have been sleeping. One question, though; in some scenes, like the one in mission command, Channing Tatum’s character was wearing something like a red polo shirt when everyone else was in long-sleeve white shirts with neckties. Why was that?
Miracle on 34th Street 1947 Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood
It’s in my list of Top 3 Christmas movies. Miracle on 34th Street’s cast makes this film work. It could be too silly with different actors. Edmund Gwenn is excellent as Kris Kringle.
It’s interesting how much the beard softens his appearance. It’s also his acting and he’s playing Santa.
Its on Paramount+
1940
Link Edmund Gwenn
Link kris kringle 1947 Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
I saw that earlier today and enjoyed it. Timothée Chalamet did a nice job portraying Bob Dylan including his unlikeable aspects.
I bet I’m falling for a whoosh, but is it a reference to the soon to die, red shirt wearing crew members on Star Trek?
Well, he didn’t die in the movie, so that may not be it.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Saw it on Christmas with my family, if you saw 2 you basically know what you’re in for. Lots of video game references, some fun action and very funny jokes, but not the most consistent movie (characters appear and disappear constantly for long stretches almost like they forgot who was who when writing the script) and maybe that’s because there’s too many characters in the movie? (There’s literally FOUR different antagonists in this movie all with their own schemes going)
But it’s a Sonic the Hedgehog movie so it’s surprising it’s as good as it is. I feel the Mario movie was a better video game adaptation, but this is a close second.
I watched Quiz Lady recently and quite enjoyed it. Awkwafina and Sandra Oh were both very good, and I liked that Will Ferrell played a sweet, kind character.
It wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be, which is not a criticism. The charades bit at the end was really contrived, but the movie had me by then.
No joke, one of my favorite comedies of the past 10 years.
“I have to get the answers right so the clouds won’t cry and die!”
I thought this was one of the best movies I saw last year. Haunting.
The Bishop’s Wife (1947) On everyone’s list of favorite Christmas movies but I’d somehow never seen it.
David Niven is an Episcopalian bishop trying to get a cathedral built. An angel (Cary Grant) arrives to ostensibly help him. But (and my issue with the plot) he’s barely interested in that task and more interested in a flirtatious relationship with the title character (Loretta Young). 90% of the film is his contriving to spend time alone with the B.W. while Niven looks cranky and annoyed. It wraps up neatly – too neatly – when the angel sabotages the cathedral funding by enlightening the mega-donor that she should be giving her money to charity, instead. It may be what Jesus would’ve wanted but it seems a bit too tidy in terms of film plotting.
Agreed. A great film, and “haunting” is just the right word to describe it.
Due to these two recommendations, I added this to our watch list. Definitely worth it. We are watching Gray’s Anatomy for the first time and are on season 3. I had difficulty even recognizing Sandra Oh in this movie - she earned that Emmy.
Thank you both.
It’s a favorite of mine too. The scene with David Niven glued to a chair has me laughing everytime. Niven isn’t know for physical comedy, but he’s great in this scene.
Another great Christmas classic from the same year is Christmas in Connecticut.
The first 15 minutes are slow. They’re establishing that the Navy character is rescued after being lost a sea.
It gets much better after Stanwcyk finds herself in a big country house pretending to be a great cook and host. She’s been pressured to treat the war hero to a traditional Christmas.
Watching Stanwyck avoid getting married to a stuffed shirt and keeping up the charade with the handsome hero is hilarious.
People remember Stanwyck as the dignified matriarch in the Big Valley tv western. She’s also great at comedy.
My wife and I typically don’t like Sandra Oh, but she is amazing in Quiz Lady. They made the right choice to make her the wild one and Awkwafina the smarty pants.
The Six Triple Eight on NFLX. A more-or-less true story about a Black women’s brigade in WWII. Badly overacted by some of the actors, including a completely unbelievable Dean Norris as a nasty white Army general. Grossly overweight and wearing a laughable uniform. And Sam Waterston miscast as FDR, although he only had one scene. This was the only Black WAC group sent to Europe in WWII, and they went pretty much unrecognized until Michelle Obama brought them to public attention.
My wife recommended this to me, more for learning about the actual group than for the acting.
I agree. There is a lot of padding to make this into a full length film, but while I was familiar with the Black squadrons and troops, I was unaware of Black women’s units.
Thanks to you and @Mahaloth for the suggestion. I watched it last night and thought it was a sweet and funny movie. Apparently it was made for TV, and won a Prime Time Emmy for best TV movie.
Just got back from Nosferatu. If I hadn’t known that it was by the same director as The VVitch, the first few scenes would have told me. It’s the same kind of grim, heavy horror. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it was visually very engaging. Not my favorite Christmas movie.