A Long December

Happy New Year! We all know December is normally the month when Hollywood pulls out all the stops and releases their best stuff because awards season is coming up soon. The thing about 2024, though, is that I couldn’t really get super excited about anything over the long term, even if I liked a movie. A lot of stuff was pretty forgettable.

And to be honest, I’m not terribly optimistic about January, because it’s not only traditionally a cinematic wasteland, but there’s just not much on offer, and some the choices we do have are pretty ludicrous. Like Better Man. I don’t know about anyone else, but the idea of a leading man with a monkey head just doesn’t excite me. It’s like a Jordan Peele movie on crack. Or a sorta-remake of Howard the Duck.

I will say, though, that I will absolutely be buying a ticket for Flight Risk. It doesn’t look like a great movie, either, but Mark Wahlberg in a really obvious bald cap will make it all worth it.

But we’ll get into all that next month. On to December’s Top Five (click on the links for the reviews, of course)…

The Six Triple Eight

Tyler Perry made a World War Two movie about the only company of black women to go overseas and and who were given the task of sorting and processing mounds and mounds of undelivered mail. It’s a story that’s not told all that often, and it’s cool that Perry tried, but the movie is riddled with inaccuracies, the race card is sometimes played inappropriately and Kerry Washington yelling at her group of WACs is already a meme. Still, there are some great performances here and it was a good effort.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Lord of the Rings meets anime. Rohirrim is tells the backstory of the Rohirrim and how Helm’s Deep got its name. It’s a good story, it’s got some great visuals, and it features a few Peter Jackson LOTR alumni. It’s also a little goofy–some of the animation is overdone (too much movement) and it’s more of the anime universe than Tolkien. It creams the Rankin-Bass movies, though, so that’s a plus.

Nosferatu

This movie looks amazing. It looks like everything’s decaying or dead and Orlok is kept in shadow, which is almost more terrifying than actually seeing him. Lily-Rose Depp plays a great part as Ellen, and the whole thing makes for a pretty satisfying scare-fest. Problem is, director and screenwriter Robert Eggers tried to squish in elements of Dracula as well, which made for some really weird story choices.

“Let’s go burn Orlok’s coffin, guys! Never mind that we’ve already given away the ending and have absolutely no reason for our derring-do. Onward!”

A Complete Unknown

I went in wondering how Timothee Chalamet would do as Bob Dylan, because, after all, Dylan was never as pretty as Chalamet, but play Dylan Chalamet does, and pretty well, too. He got Dylan’s twang down pat and a lot of Dylan’s trademark delivery, albeit he’s a bit stiff. Then again, Dylan’s not known for his candidness. Ed Norton is fantastic as the longsuffering Pete Seeger, who watches the kid he mentored grow beyond him and like it.

for KING + COUNTRY’s “A Little Drummer Boy Christmas” Live

I have been waiting for years to see these guys, but they don’t come to California very often, so this film is the next best thing for now. It’s almost better than actually being at the actual concert because we see more than a typical audience ever will and everything looks larger than life. There are lots of lights, lots of drums, and the music rocks, of course. If anyone hasn’t heard For KING + COUNTRY, I highly recommend them.

Another post is coming out on the tenth. Yeah, it’s a little ways off, but I still have some days left in my vacation and want to take advantage of them. Anyway, thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you soon…

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