Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has given 2022’s “A Christmas Story Christmas” a home video release. This warmhearted legacy sequel to the 1983 perennial holiday classic “A Christmas Story” first released exclusively on the streaming platform HBO Max. Now it’s available to own on DVD (hopefully a Blu-ray version will follow). The film sees many of the original cast returning in what turned out to be a worthwhile follow-up to the beloved original film. Read my review of the movie HERE.
About the Film:
Year: 2022
Runtime: 98 Minutes
Director: Clay Kaytis
Screenwriter: Nick Schenk and Clay Kaytis
Story By: Nick Schenk and Peter Billingsley
Cast: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Zack Ward, Julie Hagerty, Ian Petrella, River Drosche, Julianna Layne, David Gillespie
Ralphie is all grown up in this sequel to the annual holiday favorite in which he must deal with Christmas and all that comes with it, this time as a dad. Peter Billingsley returns to the role that has made kids of all ages anticipate Christmas morning like no other.
In “The Holdovers” Paul Giamatti once again reminds us of how great he can be when given a good character and good material. He gives an awards-worthy performance in director Alexander Payne’s latest. This is Payne’s first feature film since 2017’s so-so “Downsizing”. Call it a return to form or whatever you want. I’ll just enthusiastically say that even with its few minor issues, “The Holdovers” is one of Payne’s best films to date.
The story, written by David Hemingson, is set in 1970 around the Christmas holiday. At the New England boarding school of Barton Academy Paul Hunham (Giamatti) is a classical antiquities teacher who is widely hated by his students and is an outcast among the faculty. He’s a sad and lonely sort although he keeps his misery hidden, at times even from himself.
Image Courtesy of Focus Features
With its two-week Christmas break looming, students and teachers begin packing to head home for the holidays. But every year there remains a small group of kids with nowhere to go. They’re called holdovers and this year Paul gets the duty of staying on campus and looking after them. It’s not that he minds. After all he has no place to go himself. Among this year’s batch of five boys is Angus Tulley (Dominic Sessa), a smart but frustrated student who is left at school after his selfish mother and her new husband decide to take their belated honeymoon over the holidays.
A rather convenient something happens that gives the four other boys a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card. That leaves Angus and Paul, two seemingly polar opposites whose disdain for each other quickly festers. But “The Holdovers” is a movie about looking beyond what you think you know about someone. It’s about the empathy that comes from seeing and understanding the real person underneath their hardened exterior. So Angus and Paul slowly begin letting down their guards, and as a result they begin learning more about each other and themselves.
A key reason their stubborn hearts begin to soften is a school cafeteria worker named Mary. She’s played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph whose Oscar-caliber performance is full of heart and pathos. Mary is no stranger to tragedy which is one reason she too stayed at school through the holiday break. She’s a wise but straight-shooting woman who offers eye-opening perspectives that (at different times) both Paul and Angus desperately need to hear.
Image Courtesy of Focus Features
Payne clearly loves this unusual trio and he puts plenty of attention towards growing each character. He takes his time unpacking their individual stories which Hemingson lays out in deep personal detail. Both writer and director do a great job defining these distinctly different yet beautifully complimentary personalities. There’s also plenty of lighthearted moments such as Mary introducing Paul to The Newlywed Game or Paul’s choice of Christmas gifts for his newfound ‘family’ of sorts.
“The Holdovers” is bound together by Payne’s keen direction, Hemingson’s compassionate script, and some stellar performances particularly from Giamatti and Randolph who should be on every voter’s shortlist (the way Giamatti spouts things like “you hormonal vulgarian” without cracking a smile is awards-worthy in itself). It’s a little longer than it needs to be due to a slow starting first half. But once it hits its emotional stride, the film really connects. And anyone with a beating heart is sure to be moved by this unexpected delight. “The Holdovers” is out now in select theaters.
Eli Roth gleefully mixes excessive gore with some good laughs in “Thanksgiving”, his new film based on the American holiday that (these days) is more about turkeys, football, and Christmas shopping than any notion of actual thankfulness. Roth’s unapologetically silly slasher-comedy spends as much time taking shots at what the holiday has become as it does gruesomely offing its hapless gaggle of victims, often in various Thanksgiving themed ways.
Written by Jeff Rendell, the story is fittingly set in Plymouth, Massachusetts where in the opening 15 minutes we witness a tragic yet undeniably hilarious Black Friday incident. A feral crowd of shoppers storm a local RightMart store as they open for their Black Friday sale. With too little security, the store quickly loses control. Chaos and violence erupts and three people are killed. Overall it’s a situation that’s clearly intended to be preposterous. But at the same time, Roth shoots it dead-seriously which only makes it funnier.
Image Courtesy of TriStar Pictures
One year later, Plymouth has mostly put the Black Friday tragedy behind them. But with Thanksgiving fast approaching, the community learns that someone is not quite ready to forget. A sadistic serial killer known as (wait for it…..) “John Carver” soon begins living up to his name – slicing, stuffing, and basting the terrified local townsfolk in preparation for his own macabre Thanksgiving Day feast.
The film stars the recently crowned Sexiest Man Alive (according to People magazine), Patrick Dempsey. He plays Sheriff Eric Newlon who was at RightMart on that fateful Black Friday. Now he’s tasked with finding who’s killing his citizens in an assortment of gruesome ways. Of course the movie introduces us to a host of locals, providing many of them with ample motives to be put on our suspect list. Among them is the owner of RightMart, Thomas Wright (Rick Hoffman), his avaricious wife Kathleen (Karen Cliche), a grieving father (Ty Olsson), just to name a few.
And as is the norm for slashers, we get a group of shallow teens who make you fear for the future of our world the longer you’re around them. Of course several of them end up as fodder for the killer. But as usual there is the lone tolerable one who has some sense and earns a little sympathy. Here it’s Jessica (Nell Verlaque) who almost immediately gives off ‘Final Girl’ vibes. Then again, Roth throws enough at us to where we’re never quite certain who to suspect and who to trust.
As you might expect, the kills are aplenty. Not only are they garishly gory, but in many cases they’re quite original. Roth spares no creative expense (or bodily organ) in slaughtering his mostly disposable victims. Unfortunately that same attention isn’t given to the script which only exists to usher us from one bloody murder to the next. To his credit, Roth moves us along pretty quick and doesn’t allow us much time to think about things. But it eventually catches up to him, especially in the big reveal that doesn’t make a lot sense and has some pretty hard-to-miss logistical problems.
Image Courtesy of TriStar Pictures
That’s not the only place where the writing lets the movie down. Rendell’s dialogue can be as grating as it is exhausting. Characters sling f-bombs like they’re on a counter yet rarely (if ever) get lines that might offer actual depth. And while the movie teases a satirical bite early on, it ends up having no teeth whatsoever and any satire all but vanishes in the second half which goes into straight B-movie genre mode.
Those may sound like petty gripes, especially for a movie with a clear ‘back to slasher basics’ approach. But they’re what make “Thanksgiving” an amusing time-passer rather than a new slasher-comedy classic. The pieces are all there – a great setting, delightfully grisly kills, and a good self-awareness (the hysterical tagline “There will be no leftovers” still cracks me up”). But Roth is so focused on some parts that he shortchanges others. Then again, are we supposed to care about such things in a movie like this or just get onboard for the ride? You decide. “Thanksgiving” is in theaters now.
I’m not sure how, but the “Pet Sematary” franchise keeps rising from the dead (cheap and obvious pun intended). The latest installment is “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines”, a Paramount+ original movie directed and co-written by Lindsey Anderson Beer. Ever so loosely based on Stephen King’s 1983 novel, “Bloodlines” serves as a prequel to the underwhelming 2019 series reboot. But much like its predecessor, this mostly lifeless effort fails to justify its existence.
For those unfamiliar with the premise, deep in the forest near the small town of Ludlow, Maine there exists ancient tribal burial grounds with a very malevolent power. It can bring the dead and buried back to life although not in the same state as they were before death. With “Bloodlines” Beer and her co-writer Jeff Buhler step back in time to tell a story set in 1969 where members from the founding families of Ludlow have managed to keep the existence of the sinister burial grounds secret.
Image Courtesy of Paramount+
Fresh out of high school, Jud Crandall (Jackson White) and his girlfriend Norma (Natalie Alyn Lind) are ready to leave behind their hometown of Ludlow and head to Michigan where they plan to join the Peace Corps. Now astute Pet Sematary fans (assuming passionate Pet Sematary fans exist) will remember Fred Gwynne playing an older Jud in the original 1989 movie while John Lithgow played him in the remake three decades later. It’s a cool idea for a story but it never really goes beyond that.
Meanwhile a Ludlow local Bill Baterman (David Duchovny) gets the tragic news that his son Timmy (Jack Mulhern) has been killed fighting in Vietnam. In one of the movie’s many wild moves, Timmy’s body is transported back to Ludlow where his heartbroken father secretly buries him in the demonic patch of earth, somehow without the townsfolk knowing. Needless to say Timmy is resurrected but with a uncontrollable appetite for human blood. And just like that the curse of the not-so-sleepy New England town is once again unleashed.
Jud notices something different about his old friend Timmy since he “returned” from the war (that’s the story his father is telling). But as the truth is revealed through one violent and extremely gory attack after another, Jud and his classmate Manny (Forrest Goodluck) are forced to face off against a reanimated and seemingly possessed Timmy. Along the way they learn of the founding families and the curse they’ve tried to keep hidden for generations.
Image Courtesy of Paramount+
In addition to Duchovny, the film also stars Henry Thomas (“E.T.”) as Jud’s cryptic father Dan. And it features and subsequently wastes the great Pam Grier. All three would have made for more compelling protagonists than their younger counterparts yet all get back-burnered, especially Grier who barely gets any screen time. I don’t know, maybe it’s for the better. Even the more prominent characters ring hollow and fail to register dramatically or emotionally.
At this juncture in Pet Sematary history the similarities with King’s original work seem only surface level. Beer does muster a few unexpectedly gory moments which horror fans should enjoy. And the film deserves credit for at least attempting to do something new with the franchise’s mythology. But it’s hard to get onboard when everything else in “Bloodlines” feels so shallow and pointless. And despite its efforts, nothing in this latest entry adds the kind of new energy this franchise desperately needs. “Pet Sematary: Bloodlines” is now streaming on Paramount+.
Figuring out the categories of Marvel movies has become an arduous undertaking. Of course we all know about the burdensome Marvel Cinematic Universe and all of its feature films and streaming television shows. But there is also Sony’s Spider-Man Universe which has given us two “Venom” movies, “Morbius”, and next year’s “Kraven the Hunter” (connections exist to the MCU and the “Spider-Verse” movies but enough of that). Now the SSU is preparing us for “Madame Web” by releasing the first trailer of the Dakota Johnson led superhero flick.
Since being announced “Madame Web” has been a hard movie to figure out and the strangely interesting but silly trailer only adds to the confusion (or suspense, depending on how optimistic you are). S.J. Clarkson directs this odd looking story of Cassandra Webb (Johnson), a paramedic who suddenly gains the ability to see the immediate future. She plays mother hen to three other empowered young women (played by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Conner, and Isabela Merced). Meanwhile Tahar Rahim plays the film’s villain and may be the most interesting thing out of the trailer. I don’t know about this one….
“Madame Web” hits theaters in early 2024. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Next week Warner Brothers Home Video is releasing the classic 1993 action thriller “The Fugitive” in 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range for the very first time. Directed by Andrew Davis and anchored by two thrilling performances from Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, “The Fugitive” received widespread acclaim which culminated in 7 Academy Award nominations including a Best Supporting Actor win for Jones. This terrific new restoration is a great way to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary.
This 4K Ultra HD edition of “The Fugitive” comes with a digital copy of the film and releases on November 21st. See below for a full synopsis and release information.
About the Film:
Year: 1993
Runtime: 130 Minutes
Director: Andrew Davis
Screenwriter: Jeb Stuart and David Twohy
Story By: David Twohy
Cast: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, Jeroen Krabbé, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, Julianne Moore, Jane Lynch, L. Scott Caldwell, Ron Dean
Rating: PG-13 for a Murder and Other Action Sequences in an Adventure Setting
“The Fugitive” stars Academy Award nominee Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard. The film also stars Sela Ward, Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, and Jeroen Krabbé. The film is based the television series “The Fugitive” which was created by Roy Huggins and ran from 1963 to 1967. The film was produced by Arnold Koppelson.
Special Features:
“The Fugitive“Ultra HD Blu-ray disc contains the following previously released special features:
Keith & the Movies 