More Christmas Movies You Might Have Missed

Posted on December 14, 2022 at 8:11 am

By all means, watch the classics! One of the sweetest family traditions is sharing favorites like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “White Christmas,” “A Christmas Story,” “Elf,” “Home Alone,” and my favorite, “A Christmas Carol” (I watch the MCM, Alistair Sim, and Mr. Magoo versions every year, usually the Muppets version, too.) And then there are the TV classics like “A Charlie Brown’s Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “The Year Without a Santa Claus.”

I’ve already posted lists of lesser-known but wonderful Christmas movies. And yes, “Die Hard” is definitely a Christmas movie. Case closed.

But there should always be room for something new, and I love these:

Jingle Jangle (Netflix)

“Colorful” is not a colorful enough word to describe a fantasy movie musical so maximalist that even the title is overstuffed. The many pleasures of this overflowing Christmas stocking of a film are sure to make it a family favorite, and most likely a family tradition. Originally conceived as a musical play, it retains the liveliness of an in-person production. The exceptionally talented and appealing and nearly all-Black cast, including Phylicia Rashad, Forest Whitaker, and Keegan-Michael Key give the film a fresh perspective. The snowball scene is one of my favorites.

Klaus

This is a Santa Claus origin story, based on the books by Grant Morrison. A spoiled, selfish young man is sent to a remote village to act as postman, not to return until he has delivered 6000 letters. Striking animation, top voice talent, and a charming interpretation of the way many of our favorite traditions began make this a gem.

“Dear Santa” (streaming now on Peacock and other services)

I love this documentary about the wonderful volunteers and USPS “elves” who answer kids’ letters to Santa. Schoolchildren and adults, including former beneficiaries of the program work around the clock. You won’t find a better example of giving being better than receiving than this charming and heartwarming film.

Holiday Rush (Netflix)

Romany Malco plays Rush, a popular DJ and a single dad of four. When he loses his job just before Christmas, his family has to leave their comfortable home and move back in to his old neighborhood with his aunt, played by the magnificent Darlene Love. This is a warm-hearted story about love and families and what really matters.

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Fans of this site know that “A Christmas Carol” is my favorite holiday story. This is the story of how that book came to be written, with Dan Stevens just perfect as the brilliant but harried Charles Dickens. The book, one of the most popular of all time, really did change the way people saw Christmas, with more focus on helping others, and this story of love, reconciliation, and the power of storytelling is a treasure.

And, okay, yes, they aren’t classics and they don’t make much sense or vary much from the formula, but I like Hallmark Christmas movies, and the ones on other services, too. Some of my favorites are:

“Write Before Christmas”

A recently dumped young woman sends five Hallmark greeting cards to people who have been important to her and they change the lives of the recipients and hers, too).

“The Christmas House”

The Hallmark Channel’s first movie with a gay couple — the brother of the main character and his husband — is more layered and sympathetic than the more high-profile “Happiest Season.” In this story of parents famous for their Christmas decorations insisting both of their sons come home to help.

“The Mistletoe Promise” A woman who owns a travel company with her ex-husband meets a man who is as reluctant to celebrate Christmas as she is. They join forces to support each other through the gauntlet of office-based holiday events.

“The Princess Switch”

A Chicago baker and a European princess who happen to look identical, both charmingly played by Vanessa Hudgens, pull a switch and each finds love. The sequel adds a third look-alike!

“The Mistletoe Promise”

A travel agent and a lawyer have different reasons for dreading Christmas, so make a pact to be each other’s plus one through the holidays.

Oh, and coal in the stocking of everyone connected with “Holidate!”

Washington Area Film Critics Association Awards 2022: Everything Everywhere All At Once and More!

Posted on December 12, 2022 at 8:11 am

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” cinched four major wins when The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their top honorees for 2022 this morning. A life-affirming, genre-traversing journey through the multiverse as experienced by a struggling working-class wife, mother, and laundromat owner, writer-directors Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert’s uniquely unclassifiable feature proved victorious in the Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor categories, the latter for former child star Ke Huy Quan’s breakthrough return to acting after a 20-year hiatus.

In the other major acting races, Colin Farrell won Best Actor for his riveting performance in Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” as a 1920s everyman living off the coast of Ireland who is stricken with confusion and grief when his best friend abruptly ends their relationship, and Kerry Condon won Best Supporting Actress for the same film, as Farrell’s outspoken, increasingly concerned sister. Cate Blanchett triumphed in the Best Actress category for her haunted tour de force turn in Todd Field’s “TÁR,” as a world-class musician and conductor experiencing a reckoning for her questionable past actions.

Best Youth Performance went to Gabriel LaBelle as an aspiring teenage filmmaker not unlike Steven Spielberg in “The Fabelmans,” and Best Voice Performance was awarded to Jenny Slate for her irresistibly funny and poignant turn in the title role of Dean Fleischer-Camp’s “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.” Zoe Saldaña won Best Motion Capture Performance for her excellent work in James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Best Acting Ensemble went to the marvelous cast of Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion,” the second chapter in the “Knives Out” murder-mystery franchise, starring Daniel Craig as returning detective Benoit Blanc, and Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline as his gaggle of suspects. Johnson also won Best Adapted Screenplay for the spiky, surprising, meticulously plotted “Glass Onion.”

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” a beautifully rendered stop-motion animated adaptation from del Toro and co-director Mark Gustafson, won Best Animated Feature. Best International/Foreign Language Film was awarded to Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave,” an intoxicating romantic mystery from South Korea, and Best Documentary kudos went to “Good Night Oppy,” Ryan White’s inspiring story of Opportunity, the NASA exploration rover whose planned 90-day mission to Mars in 2003 turned into a nearly 15-year odyssey.

In technical categories, Joseph Kosinski’s blockbuster hit “Top Gun: Maverick,” the acclaimed long-awaited sequel to 1986’s “Top Gun,” took home the prizes for Claudio Miranda’s dazzling cinematography and Eddie Hamilton’s seamless editing. Best Production Design went to Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” while Best Score was awarded to composer Michael Giacchino for Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.”

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association comprises over 60 DC-VA-MD-based film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet. Voting was conducted from December 9-11, 2022.

THE 2022 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
Everything Everywhere All At Once

Best Director:
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Actor:
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (TÁR)

Best Supporting Actor:
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Actress:
Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Glass Onion

Best Youth Performance:
Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans)

Best Voice Performance:
Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On)

Best Motion Capture Performance:
Zoe Saldaña (Avatar: The Way of Water)

Best Original Screenplay:
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Rian Johnson (Glass Onion)

Best Animated Feature:
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Best Documentary:
Good Night Oppy

Best International/Foreign Language Film:
Decision to Leave

Best Production Design:
Hannah Beachler, Production Designer; Lisa Sessions Morgan, Set Decorator (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

Best Cinematography:
Claudio Miranda, ASC (Top Gun: Maverick)

Best Editing:
Eddie Hamilton, ACE (Top Gun: Maverick)

Best Original Score:
Michael Giacchino (The Batman)

The 2022 WAFCA AWARD NOMINEES WERE:

Best Film:
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
TÁR
Top Gun: Maverick

Best Director:
Todd Field (TÁR)
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Sarah Polley (Women Talking)
Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)

Best Actor:
Austin Butler (Elvis)
Tom Cruise (Top Gun: Maverick)
Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Brendan Fraser (The Whale)
Paul Mescal (Aftersun)

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (TÁR)
Viola Davis (The Woman King)
Danielle Deadwyler (Till)
Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans)
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Best Supporting Actor:
Paul Dano (The Fabelmans)
Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Ben Whishaw (Women Talking)

Best Supporting Actress:
Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion)

Best Acting Ensemble:
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion
Women Talking

Best Youth Performance:
Frankie Corio (Aftersun)
Jalyn Hall (Till)
Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans)
Banks Repeta (Armageddon Time)
Sadie Sink (The Whale)

Best Voice Performance:
Rosalie Chiang (Turning Red)
Gregory Mann (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Ewan McGregor (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Sandra Oh (Turning Red)
Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On)

Best Motion Capture Performance:
Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Sigourney Weaver (Avatar: The Way of Water)
Zoe Saldaña (Avatar: The Way of Water)

Best Original Screenplay:
Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin)
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner (The Fabelmans)
Jordan Peele (Nope)
Todd Field (TÁR)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Rian Johnson (Glass Onion)
Patrick McHale, Guillermo del Toro (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Rebecca Lenkiewicz (She Said)
Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale)
Sarah Polley (Women Talking)

Best Animated Feature:
Apollo 10½
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Turning Red
Wendell & Wild

Best Documentary:
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Descendant
Fire of Love
Good Night Oppy

Best International/
Foreign Language Film:
All Quiet on the Western Front
Close
Decision to Leave
EO
RRR

Best Production Design:
Hannah Beachler, Production Designer; Lisa Sessions Morgan, Set Decorator (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Production Designers; Bev Dunn, Set Decorator (Elvis)
Jason Kisvarday, Production Designer; Kelsi Ephraim, Set Decorator (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Rick Carter, Production Designer; Karen O’Hara, Set Decorator (The Fabelmans)
Rick Heinrichs, Production Designer; Elli Griff, Set Decorator (Glass Onion)

Best Cinematography:
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (Empire of Light)
Larkin Seiple (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Janusz Kaminski (The Fabelmans)
Hoyte van Hoytema ASC, FSF, NSC (Nope)
Claudio Miranda, ASC (Top Gun: Maverick)

Best Editing:
Matt Villa, ASE ACE; Jonathan Redmond (Elvis)
Paul Rogers (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Michael Kahn, ACE; Sarah Broshar (The Fabelmans)
Monika Willi (TÁR)
Eddie Hamilton, ACE (Top Gun: Maverick)

Best Original Score:
Michael Giacchino (The Batman)
John Williams (The Fabelmans)
Alexandre Desplat (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio)
Hildur Guðnadóttir (TÁR)
Hildur Guðnadóttir (Women Talking)

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Spoiler Alert

Posted on December 8, 2022 at 5:06 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for drug use, thematic elements, and sexual content
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol and marijuana
Violence/ Scariness:	Illness and sad death
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	December 9, 2022

TV Guide journalist Michael Ausiello fell in love with photographer Kit Cowan and wrote a book about their life together and Kit’s death from cancer called Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies. Like Love Story, we know from the beginning that we will be crying at the end. But we expect that it will be a tender, inspiring story, and it is.

Jim Parsons plays Ausiello, a man whose deep attachment to television — and to one show in particular I will not spoil — stems from and perpetuates a tendency to be introverted and self-conscious in his interactions with others, especially possible romantic partners. He calls himself an “FFK,” “former fat kid,” so he is insecure about his body.

Kit (Ben Aldridge) is handsome, confident, and outgoing. He has never considered making a commitment to any kind of romantic or intimate relationship. Both of them are surprised and scared to find themselves caring about each other. Michael is the one who confesses he has always dreamed of someone to lie under the Christmas tree with him, year after year.

They move in together. They lie under the Christmas tree. But they have some problems. Michael worries that Kit is cheating on him with a handsome co-worker. Kit gets impatient. Each of them is irritated with the very changes they introduced each other to. Michael, a non-drinker when they met, is now getting quietly snockered in the evenings. Kit, who didn’t watch much television when they met, is watching too much, even for Kit. Both, of course, are about distancing themselves from having real conversations.

Kit moves out, but they remain close. And then, after one more Christmas celebration, Kit tells Michael he is experiencing pain. Michael goes with him to the doctor and they have the conversation everyone dreads, the one that begins with, “I’m afraid the news is not what we had hoped.”

The movie balances our expectations for a movie love story with specifics about the perspective of these gay men and their friends in the capable hands of director Michael Showalter, who gave us a similar, fact-based story in “The Big Sick.” The title itself makes it clear that this one will not have a happily ever after ending. But it has some wise insights about the connections based on going through the direst circumstances together. Intimacy is terrifying, but in the reflected light of the even bigger terror of loss, we can achieve some clarity about risking all of the pain to face it together, to help each other through the worst.

Parsons leaves behind his iconic role in “the Big Bang Theory” to give us the tender-hearted Ausiello, who has to learn to make real-life connections beyond his attachment to his television “friends.” And Aldridge is endearing as Kit allows himself to be vulnerable. Over the closing credits we see a brief video of the real Kit, a scene re-created for the film. With the book and the movie, Michael has made a lovely tribute to Kit, to love, to being human, and to sharing our stories.

Parents should know that this movie has strong language, sexual references and situations, drinking, marijuana, and terminal cancer.

Family discussion: What pushed Kit and Michael apart and what brought them back together? What do we learn from the reaction of Kit’s parents?

If you like this, try: the book, Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, and Ausiello’s Instagram account for Kit’s photographs

Family Movies for Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2022 at 7:55 am

There are some great Thanksgiving movies for adults. And here are some for the whole family to share.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving This is the one with the famous episode about Charlie Brown trying to kick the football Lucy keeps snatching away from him. And Peppermint Patty invites herself to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving and he is too kind-hearted to tell her that he won’t be there because his family is going to his grandmother’s. When the Peanuts gang comes over for a feast prepared by Charlie Brown himself, Patty gets angry at being served toast and jelly beans. But when she realizes how hard her friend tried to be hospitable, she learns what gratitude really means.

Dora’s Thanksgiving Parade Dora the Explorer has to save the day when the parade float gets lost.

Squanto and the First Thanksgiving , Native American actor Graham Greene and musician Paul McCandless tell the story of Squanto’s extraordinary generosity and leadership in reaching out to the Pilgrims after he had been sold into slavery by earlier European arrivals in the New World.

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving Jacqueline Bisset stars in this warm-hearted tale, based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott (Little Women).

My favorite Thanksgiving movies are “What’s Cooking?” with four families preparing for the holiday and “Pieces of April,” about a family, including a terminally ill mother, driving to an estranged daughter for Thanksgiving. Both are funny, touching, and wise. Wishing all of you a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude for being together, even the crazy parts.

Two FREE Books for Veteran’s Day

Posted on November 10, 2022 at 12:01 am

In honor of Veteran’s Day, Miniver Press is making two books telling veterans’ own stories, available FREE from November 10-14, 2022.

John Holway’s extraordinary book, Bloody Ground: Black Rifles in Korea (also available in paperback for $18).

In Bloody Ground, Black soldiers tell their own stories about fighting in the Korean War. Korea is “the forgotten war.” But to those who fought in it, it was the “unforgettable war.” If the names of all those killed were put on a wall, it would be larger than the Vietnam Wall. And Korea lasted only three years, Vietnam about ten. The agony of the winter of 1950-51 is an epic to compare with Valley Forge and the Bulge. Korea was also our last segregated war. This is the story of the black 24th Infantry Regiment, told in the words of the men themselves. Like all black troops since the Civil War, they were reviled by whites and their own commander for “bugging out” – running before the enemy. The charge can still be read in the Army’s own official histories. Yet the 24th left more blood on the field than their white comrades – if they did bug out, they must have been running the wrong way. It’s a good thing we weren’t with Custer,” one black GI muttered – “they’d have blamed the whole thing on us.” The 24th won the first battle of the war, won its division’s first Medal of Honor, and guarded the shortest and most vulnerable road to Pusan. If the port had fallen, the war would have been lost, leaving a red dagger pointed at Japan. It did not fall. That winter, after the Chinese attacked, the entire American army bugged out in perhaps the worst military disaster in American history. “That,” said another black veteran, “was when I learned that whites could run as fast as blacks.” This is the story of those unsung heroes, who helped turn the Communist tide for the first time. The men bring that forgotten war and their own unsung bravery to life in their own sometimes funny, often heart-breaking, and always exciting words.

Stanley Frankel’s book about his experiences is called Frankel-y Speaking About WWII in the South Pacific. Stanley Frankel didn’t want to be a soldier. But the draft board had different plans. The leader of college protests against the US entering WWII found himself in the 37th Infantry Division, shipped to the Pacific Theater. While in the army, he wrote journal entries, letters to his dear Irene, and articles that slipped past the censor to be published in newspapers and magazines in the US while the war was raging. Frankel served from 1941 to 1946, and was then ordered to stay on after the war as part of a team tasked with writing the historical account of his division. After that he became a successful advertising executive, award-winning professor, political speechwriter for national candidates, and beloved husband, father, and grandfather.In this memoir, Frankel tells his story interspersed with in-the-moment journals, letters, and articles he wrote while stationed in the Pacific. Take a journey through time with this raw first-hand account, and experience what it was like to be in the jungles and battles of an intense and brutal part of World War II. In his later writings, see the post–World War II world through the eyes of a veteran selected as the official historian of his division. Unforgettable stories leap off the page, from the chilling to the hilarious. Feel the terror as an explosive flies through a window into a huddle of soldiers. Laugh at the account of soldiers delighting in the discovery of an abandoned factory flooded with ice-cold beer. Frankel describes serving alongside Private Rodger Young who gave up his life in New Georgia to save 20 men of his patrol and inspired a song. He brings us into the Rescue of Bilibid Prison, and the battles of Bougainville and Guadalcanal. This is a wise, honest, and beautifully written book for anyone who has wondered about the realities of combat, the journey of shouldering a duty you did not choose, or the experience of being among the “greatest generation” who came of age in the Depression and fought in World War II. This edition features a new introduction from Frankel’s grandson Adam, who followed in Stan’s footsteps to become a political speechwriter, including writing speeches for President Obama in the White House, and who is now an author himself, with his family memoir, The Survivors.

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