12 Days of Christmas Movies #3: Christmas Holiday (1944)

Happy Holidays everyone! To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, I've decided to complete a daily review series of 12 Christmas movies leading up to the big 12/25. To qualify, the movies have to be tied to Christmas in some way and also something I've never seen before. I'll be going in chronological order. So, without further ado, if you got chestnuts, roast 'em - and enjoy my 12 Days of Christmas Movies!

Christmas Holiday
Dir. Robert Siodmak

With a title like Christmas Holiday and starring Gene Kelly, you'd think this movie would be a colorful, musical romp for the whole family to enjoy. There you'd be wrong. Christmas Holiday is actually a black-and-white gritty noir, complete with jilted lovers, sleazeball reporters, and murderous momma's boys. Directed by Robert Siodmak (The Killers) and adapted for the screen by Herman J. Mankiewics (Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz), this movie is a far cry from It's a Wonderful Life... more like It's a Miserable Life.

12 Days of Christmas Movies #2: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Happy Holidays everyone! To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, I've decided to complete a daily review series of 12 Christmas movies leading up to the big 12/25. To qualify, the movies have to be tied to Christmas in some way and also something I've never seen before. I'll be going in chronological order. So, without further ado, if you got chestnuts, roast 'em - and enjoy my 12 Days of Christmas Movies!

The Shop Around the Corner
Dir. Ernst Lubitsch

Fans of early Hollywood will likely recognize the name Ernst Lubitsch, one of the premiere directors of "sophisticated" comedies in the 1920s-40s (pinkies up!).  His films featured what critics touted as the "Lubitsch touch" - a light and intimate style that often included fully fleshed-out characters (not just those in leading roles), snappy dialogue, and more than a pinch of sentimentality. The Shop Around the Corner is a great example of this style. Although it's not an out-and-out Christmas movie per se, it's often listed on "top" holiday film lists, as it's a romantic comedy that takes place during the pre-Christmas shopping rush.

12 Days of Christmas Movies #1: Babes in Toyland (1934)

Happy Holidays everyone! To celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, I've decided to complete a daily review series of 12 Christmas movies leading up to the big 12/25. To qualify, the movies have to be tied to Christmas in some way and also something I've never seen before. I'll be going in chronological order. So, without further ado, if you got chestnuts, roast 'em - and enjoy my 12 Days of Christmas Movies!

Babes in Toyland
Dir. Gus Meins & Charley Rogers

I'm probably paging Captain Obvious here, but movies as we know it were completely different 83 years ago. When comedy producer Hal Roach made Babes in Toyland, sound in film had only existed for 7 years. Because most silent actors weren't trained for the transition, Hollywood often mined Broadway and the vaudeville stage for on-screen talent, including Laurel and Hardy. While successful on stage and in silent shorts, the comedy team really came into their own in the sound period. One skinny, one fat. One English, one American. One clumsy and childlike, the other bullish and short-tempered. They're the classic "odd couple" and one of the best comic pairings of all time.

The Shape of Water, Wonder Wheel, Last Flag Flying, The Breadwinner Reviews

The Shape of Water
Dir. Guillermo del Toro
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Whether a fairy tale like Beauty and the Beast or a creature feature like King Kong, there has been an ongoing thread of romantic longing between "outsider" humans and non-humans in fantasy movies for decades. But where those films only dipped their toe in the water regarding lady-on-monster love affairs, with The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro dives in headfirst. Telling a love story between a mute woman and an amphibious man, this movie could only work with Guillermo's wonderfully mystical, grotesque, and melodramatic sense of filmmaking. Its main concept may lose a few people, but if, like me, you connect with del Toro's sensibilities, you'll find that this may very well be the most enchanting fish romance ever caught on film.

Coco, Roman J. Israel, Esq., Loving Vincent, Novitiate Reviews

Coco
Dir. Lee Unkrich
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"They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." These words helped elect our current wall-obsessed president into office - words that paint a portrait of Mexican immigrants as, to put it in Obi Wan terms, a hive of scum and villainy. Pixar's latest, Coco, is pretty much the cinematic antidote to those hate-filled diatribes spouted by ignorant people. Celebrating Mexican culture, its music, traditions, mythology, and family dynamics, Coco is a beautiful a love letter to our neighbors south of the border.

Justice League, Wonderstruck, Lady Bird, Jane Reviews

Justice League
Dir. Zack Snyder
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During the opening credits of Justice League, there's a moment where we see a homeless man with a cardboard sign reading: "I tried." That pretty much sums up Warner Brothers' whole attempt at creating their DC universe. Struggling to keep up the pace with Marvel Studios, DC dived in head-first, making their "team-up" movies like Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, and now Justice League without first testing the waters to see if audiences liked the individual characters first. Plus their whole game plan started on the back of Man of Steel, which was highly divisive (unlike the universally-loved Iron Man with Marvel). The whole thing is on shaky ground, and now that Justice League failed to even crack that $100 million mark opening weekend, the future for this franchise looks questionable. As it should - because Justice League is one of the worst movies I've seen this year.

Thor: Ragnarok, Jigsaw, Suburbicon, The Killing of a Sacred Deer Reviews

Thor: Ragnarok

Dir. Taika Waititi

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Thor was never the most interesting Avengers character. Over two solo movies and two Avengers flicks, Chris Hemsworth had depicted the God of Thunder as more or less a pompous all-powerful god who can't be killed - which doesn't exactly lend itself to audience relatability. However, this third film, helmed by New Zealand comedy director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople - my #8 of 2016), spins the character into completely new territory. Perhaps his time with Tony Stark has rubbed off on him, because now Thor is a snarky wiseass who literally laughs in the face of danger. Straying away from the decidedly staid "Shakespearian" tone of Thor and The Dark World, Ragnarok is a colorful, vibrant, funny comedy in the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy that finally embraces the inherent campiness of this world of Norse gods-in-space.