As I was visiting the site of one of my favorite long-time movie bloggers Nostra (My Filmviews) I noticed he had revived a cool feature of his – the movie relay race. And then another respected long-time movie blogging buddy Mark (Marked Movies) had joined it and tagged me as next in line. There is no way I could pass that up especially considering the topic – Christmas movies. You can see Nostra’s original lineup HERE and below you can see the current lineup following Mark’s addition and subtraction.

Not sure how it all works? Here’s a rundown from Nostra himself:

The rules are, just like the past relay races, very simple: The list has 10 Christmas movies (in random order) and when the baton is handed over to a new blogger, he or she has to remove one title of the list (with an explanation why) and add one new title. Once that is done a new blogger is contacted who will take the baton and run with it, doing the same (you can reinstate a title which has been previously removed). As Christmas is in three weeks I want to ask you to publish your entry as quickly as possible to make sure the list changes as much as possible before the 25th of December. Add the logo of this relay race to your post and also add links to those who came before you making it easy for everyone to find all the entries.

So here is the list of the 10 Best Christmas Movies as it stands now:

HOME ALONE

There are a number of Christmas films that I actually watch annually and Home Alone has been one of my favorites for years. This film, written by John Hughes, has all the elements to amuse and get you in the mood Christmas. And Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are of course hilarious when the “Wet bandits” Harry and Marv.

ELF

The film is almost fifteen years old, but the timeless story of a grown man who grew up among the elves and heads to New York, looking for his father, still is very funny and entertaining. Will Ferrell is the perfect “man child” and the short animated parts are a pleasure to watch. A real Christmas classic.

A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL

Although Charles Dickens story has been translated to film many times, this version is still my personal favorite. A film with a lot of atmosphere and the warmth of the Muppets.

DIE HARD

Every year people argue whether or not Die Hard can be labeled a Christmas film. Yet it is very simple: Although there is a lot of action, the story takes place around Christmas. And Bruce Willis might play his best role ever.

BAD SANTA

Almost everything that Christmas should not be and therefore wrong at the same time, but fun.

GREMLINS

Although you might not associate this horror comedy with Christmas immediately, this film is set during this period and the gremlins even sing Christmas songs. A title that can not be missed.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

It’s a Wonderful Life is a movie which is watched by lots of people every year. Rightly so, because it is a beautiful film that fits the Christmas period.

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET

Another title that I have to think about immediately during this period. Although the opinions are divided which two of the two versions is the best.

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

The clumsy son of Santa, Arthur, has to make sure that a forgotten package is delivered on time, doing this together with his grandfather. A very nice film from Aardman studios (also responsible for the Wallace & Gromit films).

EYES WIDE SHUT (Mark’s addition)

I’m using the same argument here that many Die Hard fans cling to. The story is set during the festive season and, in actual fact, most if not all scenes are introduced by depicting a Christmas tree. It’s fair to say, that it’s dark psychological mystery isn’t exactly in tune with the Christmas cheer but if Die Hard can be tenuously linked to this joyful season then so can Kubrick’s masterpiece.

Deciding what to remove was a painful task. I first considered tossing out “Miracle on 34th Street” and replacing it with the 1947 original which I feel is the true treasure of the three versions. But ultimately it came down to a film I genuinely can’t stand. Therefore bye-bye “BAD SANTA“!

What am I replacing it with?

A CHRISTMAS STORY

Few films have defined my Christmas movie watching like Bob Clark’s delightful “A Christmas Story”. Sure, I gets overplayed during the season, but it is such a fabulous concoction filled with humor and heart. So many memorable scenes, so many memorable lines, so many memorable characters. This one simply has to be here.

So now I pass the yuletide baton to my friend Ruth over at Flixchatter!

Over the last few years there have been several prominent movies dealing with the issue of slavery or the racial aftermath that reverberated for decades. Movies like “12 Years a Slave”, “Selma”, and “The Birth of a Nation” each had their strong points, but also fell victim to certain creative and narrative choices of their directors.

Enter “Mudbound” from director and co-writer Dee Rees. “Mudbound”, based on Hillary Jordan’s 2008 debut novel, is a period drama set in the Mississippi Delta during the 1940s. The story deals with a variety of potent issues – racism, poverty, and PTSD just to name a few. Rees’ adaptation gives them all form through an intensely honest and clear-eyed perspective.

Rees anchors her film in the right place – with her characters. “Mudbound” is essentially the story of two families. Henry McAllan (Jason Clarke) marries Laura (Carey Mulligan) in 1939 and soon moves her, their two daughters, and his racist father (Jonathan Banks) to a Mississippi farm he abruptly purchased. Hap Jackson (Rob Morgan giving some of the year’s finest supporting work) is a tenant farmer whose family has worked Henry’s newly acquired land since his grandfather was a slave. Hap dreams of owning his own farm but always puts the aspirations of his kids ahead of his own.

Both families are compelling but in dramatically different ways. Each face the brunt of harsh deep south poverty and both face it the best way they know how. But their struggles and circumstances couldn’t be more different both inside and outside of their homes. And despite their mutual see-through pleasantries and respect, the sting of a morally corrupt social order is felt in nearly every conversation the two families share.

But there is one earnest thread that connects them. It comes in the form of Henry’s younger brother Jamie (Garrett Hedlund) and Hap’s oldest son Ronsel (Jason Mitchell). Both young men return to Mississippi after fighting in Europe during the final days of World War II. They both are scarred from the war and find solace in their new friendship which bucks the gross social norms of their small town. While their relationship offers a little light in a period of darkness, it potentially sets in motion trouble that will ripple through both families.

Another key element is the setting which Rees portrays with gritty realism. There is no luscious coat of studio paint. The land isn’t glamorized through cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s camera. Instead the beauty is in the authenticity and how the characters perceive it. It’s a fittingly unpolished presentation of a land aching almost as much as the people tending it.

Not all the visuals are as impressive. The action scenes featuring Jamie as a pilot aren’t very convincing and clearly didn’t get much attention. But this is such a minor complaint considering Rees and company nail the important stuff – the characters. “Mudbound” digs deep into their individual psyches often giving them their own moments of narration to express their feelings and perspectives. It’s a risky narrative technique but Rees weaves it seamlessly throughout the story.

And then you have the acting featuring an entire cast in top form. I mentioned Ron Morgan but there is also Mary J. Blige who gives an eye-opening performance as Hap’s wife Florence. Mulligan, Clarke, and Hedlund each fall right into their characters and the period, and there is a particularly vile (and that’s a compliment) performance from Banks.

“Mudbound” debuted on Netflix with practically no theater release to speak of (minus a handful of screens). Some speculate this could hurt the film come Oscar time. I hope that’s not the case. This film deserves to be in the conversation. It’s a difficult movie but an honest one that isn’t afraid to examine the stains of our past earnestly and without manipulation. It’s handling of poverty, hardship, self-destruction and family dysfunction also wields a piercing edge. It all works together in a deeply penetrating harmony and with striking authenticity that pulls you into this troubled period and never lets you go.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

Yesterday was a tough day for lovers of cinema. First there was the passing of the wonderful Jeanne Moreau. Later we heard the news that the great playwright and actor Sam Shepard had died. Shepard penned over forty plays and appeared in over fifty films. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has been nominated for an Academy Award. There was a gritty authenticity to most of Shepard’s roles and he made acting appear effortless. He was still working until recently when his health prohibited it. He passed away July 31 due to complications from Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 73.

“Days of Heaven”

The Right Stuff”

“Safe House”

“Thunderheart”

“Mud”

“The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford”

“Country”

“Blackthorn”

“Black Hawk Down”

“Midnight Special”

I well remember the 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the resulting 210 million gallons of oil that blanketed the Gulf of Mexico. My family and I had a Caribbean cruise set for a couple of months after the explosion. We stayed glued to the news coverage as efforts were made to keep the oil slick’s damage to a minimum. We wondered if our cruise would be canceled, but far more important than our measly vacation plans were the eleven lives lost and the ecological damage caused by what was the worst oil disaster in the nation’s history.

The film “Deepwater Horizon” is based on these terrible events of April 20, 2010. Mark Wahlberg plays Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams who leaves his family for a three week rotation onboard Deepwater Horizon which sits 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. He arrives with navigation officer Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) and crew chief Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) to discover certain safety tests were skipped by the previous shift.

With the rig’s stability in question Jimmy confronts the BP representatives who are onboard to find out why the operation is over 40 days behind schedule. A delightfully sleazy John Malkovich plays Donald Vidrine, a BP manager willing to skirt around safety protocols for the sake of the company’s bottom line. There is some great headbutting between the profit-driven Malkovich and the salty realist Russell.

Writers Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand break their story into two halves. The first is focused on developing the tension between the Horizon’s crew and the corporate reps. One of the best early scenes has Wahlberg challenging and exposing Malkovich by saying “hope is not a tactic”. Through these clashes we are fed more and more insight into the calamity we know is on the way.

The second half becomes a story of survival as the film shifts to the explosion and the people trapped on the rig. It’s a much different turn but it’s just as gripping. The film wisely keeps its characters grounded and at no point do they come across as superheroes. It’s also helped by tremendous special effects (which earned an Oscar nomination) and top-notch editing that covers all of the story’s angles at a fast and fluid pace.

“Deepwater Horizon” is the second of three straight collaborations between director Peter Berg and the every-man Mark Wahlberg. Their story of unflinching heroism in the face of undaunted corporate greed is both revealing and inspiring. I’m an admitted disaster movie junkie, and many of them depend on some level of sensationalism. “Deepwater Horizon” keeps its focus on the 126 crew members aboard the rig on that horrible day. Some barely survived while others lost their lives. The movie is always conscious of that truth and as a result we are too.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

Classic Trailer Flashback – “Top Gun” (1986)

“I feel the need, the need for speed”. It’s a ridiculous, cheesy, and absolutely fantastic line that captures what makes “Top Gun” such a great movie especially for teens of the 1980s. It actually wasn’t the trailer that first got me excited for “Top Gun”. It was the music video for “Danger Zone” by movie soundtrack superstar Kenny Loggins. But when I saw the trailer with my family my dad was sold. The movie actually had something for everyone and the trailer shows that. It is 100% a product of the 80s which may hurt it with younger audiences, but I loved “Top Gun” as a kid and…well….I still do.

So, do you remember the trailer for “Top Gun”? What do you think?

It’s hard to believe another year and another Oscars ceremony has come and gone. As expected a lot of things went the obvious route and there were very few surprises. The were some great speeches, some weird moments, and relentless political babbling from Jimmy Kimmel . But the 2017 Academy Awards will forever be remembered for its ridiculous goofup to end the night. As a whole it was a fun celebration of the past movie season. As I do every year, here are a few random thoughts.

• Jimmy Kimmel had some decent moments. There were some good gags particularly his constant bit with Matt Damon and some of his political stuff hit the mark. Eventually politics got old yet Kimmel milked it dry. He ended up helping the show run about 40 minutes over. Overall not bad hosting but nothing special.
• Let’s get right to it. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s Best Picture announcement is now etched in Oscar history. The win went to “La La Land”, they had time to walk up to the stage, they hugged and celebrated, gave acceptance speeches, and then someone magically got word that “Moonlight” was the actual winner? I’m not a conspiracy theorist but something seems a little fishy.
• Beatty has gotten a lot of heat, but it’s pretty clear he and Dunaway aren’t to blame. The production team and PricewaterhouseCoopers are more responsible for the flub. Who knows the full truth, but it sure is a lot to swallow. Pretty embarrassing. It was a kind move by Kimmel to try and deflect the blame towards himself.

• As for “Moonlight”, it remains my least favorite of the Best Picture nominees. I just don’t share the adoration. It’s a very okay movie that loses a ton of steam once Mahershala Ali leaves the screen. Aside from Ali and some striking camerawork, “Moonlight” takes a long time to say much of anything, but it does check several important boxes that will help Academy voters to feel better after last year’s drumming.
• Hats off to Jordan Horowitz, producer for “La La Land”. In what had to be a major disappointment he was incredibly gracious is handing the trophies over to “Moonlight”. Wonderful appreciation shown back by Barry Jenkins. Both men showed a lot of class.
• “La La Land” didn’t go home empty-handed. The film won six Oscars despite missing a well-deserved Best Picture win. There were hints it could lose the biggest award. For some reason many naturally rebel against movies that earn a lot of awards attention. Plus with so many people currently hellbent on division why would the Best Picture Oscar go to a nostalgic movie aimed at making us feel good and offering a cinematic and musical escape? Unfortunately the writing was on the wall.
• Remember when “Hacksaw Ridge” won for Best Editing? Historically there’s a strong link between winners of Best Editing and Best Picture. I thought for a second that we might be blindsided at the end of the show. Actually we were but for much different reasons.
• Predictably Casey Affleck won the Best Actor Oscar for “Manchester by the Sea”. Great performance but Denzel Washington was my hands-down favorite. I knew he was a long shot to win, but he gave a performance not to be forgotten. And what an amazing presence at the Oscars!

• Speaking of Affleck, notice how he got a standing ovation yet many still treat Mel Gibson as a pariah? Another case of selective forgiveness?
• And speaking of Mel, it looked like he was having a good time and took Kimmel’s ribbing like a champ. It was also nice to see his genuine joy for the others who won for “Hacksaw Ridge”.
• My goodness, Viola Davis. Not only did she give one of the best performances in “Fences”, but she gave the best speech of the night. She was gracious and genuinely moved. Supporting Actress was a strong category but Davis was definitely the best. It was so good to hear her name called.
• While we are on great speeches, the humility shown by Mahershala Ali was incredible. His Supporting Actor win clearly touched him which is always great to see. He gave three really good performances in 2016 and it’s good to see his work rewarded.
• The parachuting candy thing – did they really need to do it THREE times?
• On the other hand the tour bus bit was pretty funny. Imagine that surprise! And thanks to it #garyfromchicago became a thing!
• One of the real treats of the night was seeing winners spread out among most of the Best Picture nominees. “La La Land”, “Moonlight”, “Hacksaw Ridge”, “Manchester by the Sea”, “Fences” and “Arrival” each took home statues.
• Sunny Pawar was absolutely delightful. Kimmel looked a little goofy during their moment but how adorable was Pawar?

• The In Memoriam was particularly brutal this year. Many scoff at the Academy’s “death montage”. I actually appreciate the honoring of their memory. Fisher, Hurt, Kennedy, Riva, Reynolds, Wilder, Paxton, Yelchin, Kiarostami and so many more. Tough losses.
• And Sara Bareilles’ singing of “Both Sides Now” during the In Memoriam – emotional and beautiful.
• The Best Picture goof up wasn’t the Academy’s only mistake. During the In Memoriam costume designer and four-time Oscar nominee Janet Patterson was shown. She passed away last October. Here’s the problem, along with her name was a picture of Jan Chapman, a producer who is quite alive. Come on Academy, really?
• Here’s a fun Oscar fact that may have went unnoticed. Kevin O’Connell won the Sound Mixing Oscar for “Hacksaw Ridge”. It was his 21st nomination without a single win…until last night!
• Despite taking up a Best Actress spot from several more deserving women, they still found a way to give Meryl Streep a standing ovation. Yes, we get it, she’s great, move on.
• I’m usually not that into the musical performances on Oscar night but a couple really stood out. I mentioned Bareilles, but how about young Auli’i Cravalho ? She hit the audience with a soaring rendition of “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”. It was fabulous despite her being hit with a flag. And then she ended it with a sweet genuine exhale. Her expression was priceless.

• “Suicide Squad” is now an Oscar winner! Can DC now claim victory over Marvel in the superhero movie genre? Not even close.
• Back to the Kimmel vs Damon bit, when Damon came out with Ben Affleck to present he was announced as “guest”. Any time Damon would try and speak Kimmel had the orchestra play him off. Everything about it worked. Hilarious.
• Asghar Farhadi wins his second Foreign Language Oscar for “The Salesman”, a film that still hasn’t opened around me. He remains one of my favorite working directors and I love seeing him honored.

Those are just a few random thoughts on what was a really weird night. As usual the Academy had several hits and misses, but still the art took center stage. How about we do it again next year?