Filling the year of 1948 in the DailyView is an influential film directed by Jules Dassin that tells the story of the investigation by the police of the murder of a young model. It is most widely known because it films its scenes on the streets and building of New York City instead of on a sound stage.
The police procedural, led by Detective Lt. Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald), slowly follows the clues, many of which are small and seemingly unimportant, to solve the crime.
While it was interesting with the way they shot this movie, it led to some distinct problems. Namely, the requirement that there had to be a ton of voice over because the original shots outside the sound stage was hard to hear, I assume. Many times voices did not match lips because the sound was too low. There were other times where the sound included too much of an echo. All of this was distracting.
There was also a voice over doing narration at sporadic moments though the film. That voice made it sound like a documentary at times.
I’m going to say that some of the acting was wooden and uninteresting. Barry Fitzgerald though was a fascinating lead actor, looking unlike your typical leading man. He also had a distinct voice that helped break up the monotony of the scenes.
When the acting wasn’t wooden, it was way over the top. There did not seem to be much in the middle.
The Naked City did win two Academy Awards, but they were for technical aspects cinematography and film editing.
I was not into this movie much and I did not enjoy the story or characters much.
I wasn’t expecting that. I had no idea about Mass when I saw it on Vudu for rental. I recognized the title during my research for potential Oscar winners. In fact, I remembered it from seeing Ann Dowd in consideration for Best Actress. I remembered Dowd’s name from the Live Different Stroke/Facts of Life special where she was Mrs. Garrett.
This wasn’t anything like that.
This was a story of two families who had been impacted a few years before from a school shooting. Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail (Martha Plimpton) were the parents of one of the victims while Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richard (Reed Birney) were the parents of the shooter. They were brought together as a way to try and find a way that they could move on.
This was as uncomfortable as you could imagine it would be. The pain, the grief, the anger and resentment all still raw like an exposed nerve.
Both couples started on eggshells, as you would expect. Before the meeting had been arranged, the psychologists had prepped them to not be judgmental or to interrogate each other. The couples tried desperately to cling to those rules of meeting, but they were not having much success because they needed more.
As it moved along, things started to become more confrontational, more tense, and these actors’ performances really started to rip your heart out.
Speaking of the performances, these four actors are just amazing. With a completely dialogue/conversation driven film, it depends 100% on the actors to carry the load and to keep the engagement of the audience and these four actors do so brilliantly.
As a teacher, this topic is one that hits home very hard and this was a difficult film to watch. It was painful, but so worth it. The idea of the shooter and a victim’s parents meeting is filled with dramatic tension and scenes.
Mass was compelling and tough. Seek it out if you want to search through your emotions.
1951 was a year that was missing a film in the DailyView. I found a classic to fill that missing slot giving me at least one movie every year from 1949-2020 in the binge so far. The classic that I found to fill the 1951 year was A Streetcar Named Desire.
The Academy Award winning picture was adapted from Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize winning play from 1947. The film version had a definite feel of a stage play being put on screen, which helped create the mood that makes the film so special.
The film starred Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski, Kim Hunter as his wife Stella and Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois, Stella’s Southern belle sister. Blanche arrived at her sister’s home in New Orleans, a rundown apartment where she lived with Stanley. Stanley did not take Blanche well, wondering how she lost her family estate, Belle Reve.
Stanley was crude and brutish, clashing often with the more gentile, ladylike Blanche. Stella was caught between them several times which made things more dangerous, since she was pregnant.
One of Stanley’s poker playing friend, Mitch (Karl Malden) took a shine to Blanche and saw a fellow lonely soul in the Southern belle. However, when Stanley discovered the truth behind Blanche’s past, everything was blown out of the water.
This was an uncomfortable movie to watch since the physicality of Stanley (and even Mitch to a lesser extent) felt justified through much of the movie. The viciousness that he went after Blanche, (and Stella at times too) was treated as typical fashion whereas I absolutely found Stanley to be nothing more than an abuser with dreams of controlling and power. There were scenes where Stanley would fly off the handle over the littlest things and scream at the women in a manner to intimidate them. It was terrible.
It is a great performance by Marlon Brando, one that put him on the map, but the performance was terrifyingly realistic. Watching Stella cringe away from Stanley with every outburst makes me think that he was physical with her on a more regular basis than what we saw.
Karl Malden, Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter all won Academy Awards for their roles in A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando was nominated but he did not receive the Oscar. Brando was virtually an unknown in this performance, but he went on a run of four consecutive Academy Award nominations with this one.
The black and white helped keep the tone of darkness and anxiety that was ambient throughout. You’re never quite sure what outcome was going to happen, but you could sense that it was not going to end happily.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic film with some powerful performances that does not allow the viewer to get comfortable at all. It deals with anger, physical abuse and mental illness all within the story and keeps you feeling confined.
Yes, nobody sets out to make a bad movie. Yet, it happens quite a bit. You cannot just brush it under the rug. Bad is part of life. And as anything else, movies are subjective and maybe what I think is bad is your favorite thing. More power to you.
Worst Movie: That will come to the Worst movie list in a day or two.
Worst Actor: Mark Wahlberg, Infinite. Wahlberg can be so goo. And then there is this.
Worst Actress: Milla Jovovich, Monster Hunter. She has never been good since Leeloo.
Worst CGI: Monster Hunter. CGI that is bad hurts this movie especially
Worst Sequel: Addams Family 2. Did not get any better.
Worst Superhero Movie: Thunder Force. Great year of superhero movies, and then there was this.
Worst Director: Tim Story, Tom & Jerry. Tim, Tim. Why?
My Favorite “Rotten” Movie: Eternals. I loved this. It was much better than I expected and I am surprised that the critics were not fans where the audience was.
Worst Movie I Did Not See: Dear Evan Hansen. This was a great year for musicals. And then there was Dear Evan Hansen.
Cashing a Paycheck: Bruce Willis (for his multiple direct-to-streaming films). Bruce seemed to have an unending list of movies in 2021 and none of them are heard of. This is the definition of cashing a paycheck.
Book was Better: Without Remorse. I have not read the book, but it would have to be better.
Worst Reboot/Remake: Tom & Jerry. Yup
Most Successful Bad Movie: F9. They went to space. In a car. ‘Nuff said.
Worst Movie Based on TV Show: Tom & Jerry. Tom & Jerry is all over this list. Foreshadowing, perhaps?
Worst Performance from Oscar Winner: Octavia Spencer. She was really slumming in this Netflix flop.
Worst Fighting: Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. I could not see anything. The fight scenes are nearly unwatchable and when that happens, there is not much hope for Snake Eyes.
Previous Winners: James McAvoy (Split), Denzel Washington (Fences), Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Michael Keaton (Birdman), Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Ryan Gosling (Drive), Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
#15. Jonathan Majors (The Harder They Fall)
#14. Joaquin Phoenix (C’mon C’mon)
#13. Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley)
#12. Mahershala Ali (Swan Song)
#11. Tom Hanks (Finch)
#10. Jake Gyllenhaal (The Guilty)
#9. Daniel Craig (NO Tome to Die)
#8. Anthony Ramos (In the Heights)
#7. Jude Hill (Belfast)
#6. Nicolas Cage (Pig)
#5. Ryan Reynolds (New Guy)
#4. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
#3. Will Smith (King Richard)
Will Smith gives one of his best performances as the father of Serena and Venus Williams. This biopic takes a look at the way Richard kept his plan to bring his daughters to the top of the world of tennis. Richard Williams is a controversial figure and Will Smith brings him to life.
#2. Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
Tom Holland gave his best performance of his young career as we see his development of Peter Parker. His sixth appearance as Peter gives us the most emotion, the most powerful, the hero that Spider-Man is. With great power there must come great responsibility. The MCU Peter Parker finally learned that lesson and Tom Holland was right there.
#1. Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick…Boom)
Our EYG Star of the Year, Andrew Garfield wins the prestigious Strangelove Award. His work in Tick, Tick…Boom, the story of the creator of Rent, Jonathan Larson, is just amazing (no pun intended). Who knew he could sing the way he did? Apparently not even Garfield. Andrew Garfield has always been known as a top actor, but this film put him on a new level.
Previous Winners: Frances McDormand (3 Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri), Viola Davis (Fences), Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road), Rosemund Pike (Gone Girl), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn), Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Renee Zellweger (Judy), Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
#15. Rooney Mara (Nightmare Alley)
#14. Tessa Thompson (Passing)
#13. Emma Stone (Cruella)
#12. Naomie Harris (Swan Song)
#11. Rosamund Pike (I Care A Lot)
#10. Megan Fox (‘Til Death)
#9. Jennifer Hudson (Respect)
#8. Margot Robbie (The Suicide Squad)
#7. Emilia Jones (CODA)
#6. Angelina Jolie (Eternals)
#5. Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
#4. Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
#3. Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow)
The long overdue Black Widow MCU solo movie finally hit the big screen this year and Scarlett Johansson delivered. She had great chemistry with Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weitz. She looked like she should be leading a MCU movie. It is a shame that Natasha died in Endgame because her solo movie status just started.
#2. Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
Kristen Stewart has come a long way since Twilight. Her brilliant take as Princess Diana in Spencer this year was haunting. She showed the problems that Diana had to face within the Royal Family and how her marriage with Charles caused her such emotional problems. Kristen Stewart gave her career defining performance in Stewart.
#1. Rachel Zegler (West Side Story)
Rachel Zegler is a star. This was her big screen debut and she became the first debut performance to win The Liz Award. She was a light through Spielberg’s West Side Story. You could not take your eyes off of her in every scene she was in. Her voice is beautiful and she has that “IT” factor. She has a long career ahead of her.
Previous Winners:Patrick Stewart (Logan), Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), Sylvester Stallone (Creed), Edward Norton (Birdman), Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Richard Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Robert Downey Jr (Avengers: Endgame), Sasha Baron Cohen (Trial of the Chicago 7)
#15. Jimmy Smits (In the Heights)
#14. Ben Affleck (The Last Duel)
#13. Jon Bernthal (King Richard)
#12. John Cena (The Suicide Squad)
#11. David Alvarez (West Side Story)
#10. David Harbour (Black Widow)
#9. Robin de Jesus (Tick, Tick…Boom)
#8. Delroy Lindo (The Harder They Fall)
#7. Andrew Garfield (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
#6. Troy Kotsar (CODA)
#5. Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
#4. J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
#3. Eugenio Derbez (CODA)
Eugenio Derbez gave us a wonderful performance as the music teacher from CODA who inspired Emilia Jones to continue to push through the challenges. He did it with humor, dedication and a brilliant performance.
#2. Tony Leung (Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
Legendary Tony Leung brought more humanity to Wenwu than you ever expected and he made you think that Wenwu had relatable reasons for what he was doing. He is one of the best of the Marvel villains this year.
#1. Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home).
Then there is the top Marvel villain this year. Norman Osborn ditched the Power Ranger mask and became much more terrifying as the Green Goblin. Willem Dafoe was absolutely on fire during this film and he deserves this place.
Previous Winners:Dafne Keene (Logan), Tilda Swinton (Dr. Strange), Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Emma Stone (Birdman), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Sally Field (Lincoln), Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses), Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place), Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit), Margo Martindale (Blow the Man Down)
#15. Marisa Tomei (Spider-Man: No Way Home).
#14. Marlee Matlin (CODA)
#13. Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
#12. Regina King (The Harder They Fall)
#11. Maggie Smith (A Boy Called Christmas)
#10. Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place II)
#9. Awkwafina (Swan Song)
#8. Nina Arianda (Being the Ricardos)
#7. Judi Dench (Belfast)
#6. Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
#5. Caitriana Balfe (Belfast)
#4. Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
#3. Olga Merediz (In The Heights)
Olga returned to her role from the stage and she was one of the major points of In The Heights. I loved her song and she was an emotional key.
#2. Florence Pugh (Black Widow).
Florence Pugh feels like such a natural. She was one of the best parts of the Black Widow movie. She is going to be a mainstay in the MCU for years to come.
#1. Rita Moreno (West Side Story).
This year’s winner is an iconic legend who won an Oscar for the original West Side Story. Rita Moreno brings so much energy and a powerhouse performance for the new film in a new role. She is an amazing woman.
We find ourselves in the year 1952 and there is a noir thriller, filmed in black and white, that stars the iconic Joan Crawford and the one and only Jack Palance. It was called Sudden Fear and it was a film with several twists and turns.
Crawford played playwright Myra Hudson, who was casting her new play on Broadway. She had to reject actor Lester Blaine, played by Palance, as the lead. After this awkward encounter, she met him aboard the train that she was taking back to her home in San Francisco. They become close on the train and end up getting married.
However, Myra discovered that he was only in the marriage to get her money and that he and his co-conspirator/mistress Irene (Gloria Grahame) were planning on killing her and making it look like an accident. Shocked by the betrayal, Myra started her own plan to take care of the situation.
Joan Crawford is great here. She is not anybody’s fool. There are some things that she did that made me yell at the screen, which you find in most films like this. She kept most of it reasonable, but there were a few things that happened that made me immediately question why it happened, besides that the plot needed it to happen.
Jack Palance is always great, especially playing a villain. You never quite trust him from his arrival on the train until his plan is revealed to Myra and the audience.
The ambiance of the flick is very effective and the final act is filled with tension and an uncertainty of what was going to happen. The last 20 minutes or so of Sudden Fear kept my attention 100% and had me on the edge of my seat. It was a very effective thriller and, despite some questionable decisions made by characters, Sudden Fear builds to an excellent conclusion.
2021 was supposed to be better than 2020, and, to an extent, it was. Theaters were opening back up, COVID-19 was not as deadly (though it has some variants), and the world was getting back to “normal.”
Some of the biggest stories of 2021 affected all of us, geek or not. The Jan. 6th events are a good example. That was a huge story from 2021, and could work with the Geek brand (I actually heard about it for the first time at my comic shop), but I am leaving it out. Sticking with the pop culture references that stand out.
In no particular order, here are the Top Geek Stories of 2021 from EYG
Disney + Marvel Series create cooler talk. When Disney + first released WandaVision in January, there were plenty of people calling for them to drop the entire series, ala Netflix. However, Disney + used the weekly method and it brought all kinds of buzz to the series. First WandaVision, then Loki, What If…? and finally Hawkeye. It was appointment viewing with people staying up into the night to watch the premiere. With more series in 2022, Disney + should continue its excellence.
Spider-Man: NoWay Home Trailer…where is it? The internet lost their minds this year as they waited for the first Spider-Man: No way Home trailer to drop. With the rumored cameos expected in the movie, fandom lost their minds wondering what the studio was going to show us. There were YouTube videos everywhere detailing every little detail. Clickbait articles popped up everywhere.
Shang Chi Labor Day Weekend Dominance. Shang Chi destroyed the record for any movie released over the typically slow Labor Day weekend. It made over 70 million (and 90 million over the five day period). It was another massive success for Marvel Studios.
William Shatner in Space. Yes, Captain Kirk himself found his way into outer space aboard the Bezo’s aerospace company Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-18. The 91 year old actor made it up and back safely.
Squid Game. The show that influenced pop culture the most this year would be on Netflix and it came from South Korea. Squid Game was what everyone was talking about during a stretch of the year. The show was amazing, emotional and played with those emotions expertly.
ScarJo takes on Disney. Scarlett Johansson was unhappy when Disney released Black Widow on Disney + premium as well as in the theaters. She believed that that strategy cost the film millions of dollars and she filed a lawsuit. This created some real tension within the studio, though Marvel Studio head quietly supported Scarlett. They settled the lawsuit a few weeks later and ScarJo announced she was producing a secret project with Marvel. Maybe a story for the future.
Gina Carano Out of the Mandalorian. People still do not realize that they need to be careful with what they post on social media. Gina Carano, who played Rebel Alliance soldier Cara Dune, was released from her contract because of tweets she made comparing being a Republican these days to being a Jewish person in the Holocaust. Some were mad about her being “cancelled” but others thought it was the right thing to do. Watch what you put out on social media.
WWE Releases 80+ wrestlers. Citing money issues, the WWE spent much of 2021 releasing wrestlers from their company. And not just any wrestlers, but huge named stars such as Braun Strowman, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Jeff Hardy, The Iconics, Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, Bronson Reed, John Morrison, Nia Jax, Eva Marie, Ember Moon, Fandango, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Ruby Riott, Andrade, and Mickie James. Some of these performers were in mid storyline. It was a tough year to be a WWE Superstar.
Dave Chappelle and Netflix. The comedian Dave Chappelle had a big Netflix special, but it received a ton of backlash because of the topics that he covered, in particular, his remarks about transgender people. However, the cancellation did not seem to last too long as Chappelle is still scheduled to lead a Netflix comedy festival in 2022.
Spider-Man: No Way Home crosses $1B. After an opening weekend that was the second largest domestically ever at $260 million, Spider-Man: No Way Home became the first film to cross the 1 billion dollar club since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. The film holds a 94% critics response on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a 99% audience rating. The Marvel-Sony hybrid became the most successful film of the year in a week period and created amazing and spectacular word of mouth from audiences who loved the story.
Former Vaudevillian and silent picture star Lon Chaney was known as the Man of 1000 Faces for his ability to create characters with wild made up faces and masks. He became a legend for being a “mystery man” and a horror icon.
In this biopic, Lon Chaney (James Cagney) and his life is examined from his early days as a child in a home where his father and mother were both deaf to his career in motion pictures.
The first part of the film dealt with his first marriage to Cleva (Dorothy Malone), a singer who became pregnant with Lon’s son. However, when Lon took her to meet his family, Cleva responded with anger and repulsion over Lon’s parents’ disability and she claimed that she did not want to have a baby that had this passed along to her.
I found Cleva totally horrible. I hated this character so much because of her ugliness of spirit and her ignorant mind. She was selfish and mean-spirited, even after the baby was born with his hearing. The film tried to rehabilitate the character at the end of the movie, but her cruelness in the first half did not make me think any better of her.
There were some horrible things that happened to Lon during this time frame of the film, including having the custody of his son taken by the state until he could provide a suitable home, which was another thing that I found terrible. This was the emphasis for Lon to leave Vaudeville and head to California to get work in pictures.
James Cagney is great as Lon Chaney. I believed him as the actor from the minute I saw him and he does a bunch of physical acting, including dancing, that makes him stand out and shows what a talented person Lon Chaney was.
Cleva was the character I hated most in movies this year. I had a much softer place in my heart for Norman Osborn {Spider-Man spoilers} after he killed Aunt May {End of Spoilers} than I did for this woman. There had to be some form of mental illness involved in this woman’s life that could have helped suss her out more and help the audience understand why she took the extreme steps she took instead of what we got to see.
I found this picture to be an excellent movie and I learned a lot about the life of Lon Chaney. The film may have been 10-15 minutes too long, but that is a minor gripe.
Another film that I am catching up on for the 2021 year is on Netflix and it featured Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga in a period piece.
Thompson and Negga play old high school friends who have come back together. Both women are light skinned African American, but Thompson is married to a black doctor and Negga is pretending to be a white woman and she is married to a wealthy racist white man.
Once they meet back up, they become involved in each other’s life. Ruth Negga inserts herself into Thompson’s world in part because she missed the black culture that she had given up to pass as a white woman.
During this time, the strikingly beautiful Negga began to become close with Thompson’s husband (André Holland) and Thompson started to feel jealous as he began displaying tendencies that made Thompson suspicious and uneasy.
The performances in Passing are strong and the story flows pretty well. It is an intriguing concept that I did not know ever occurred. The film creates beautiful imagery as it is filmed in black and white, making Negga look even more like she was white. That helped create an illusion about the skin color of Ruth Negga, and her blonde hair made it all the mosre.
The ideas of the differences in race is very apparent in the movie, as the behavior of the different characters displays their feelings. Holland wants to inform his children about the dangers of living in Harlem, but Thompson wants them to stay children longer. These conversations are happening yet today in black homes and it is hard to grasp if you are white skinned.
This is a well done film that moves rapidly and has a sudden shock in the third act that will blow your mind.
We are up to the Best Director Award given out at EYG. We do not always match what the Oscars do since we focus in on some genre specific film more than the Academy does. Still… here are previous winners:
“All Right, Mr. Deville, I am Ready for my Close Up” Award for Best Director
Previous Winners: A.G. Inarritu (Birdman), Tim McCarthy (Spotlight), Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame), Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods)
#12. Guillermo Del Toro, Nightmare Alley. Even though I was split with this movie, the atmosphere and direction cannot be blamed. De Toro did an admirable job.
#11. Wes Anderson, French Dispatch. The four stories told each required a deft hand and Wes Anderson brought his specific quirks to the film. It was a wonderful film.
#10. Sian Heder, CODA. The film on Apple TV + featured a family of deaf people with one daughter who can hear and wants to sing. The shots of the ASL and its use was important to the story.
#9. James Gunn, The Suicide Squad. James Gunn managed his large cast extremely well, although when you just kill a bunch of them off, maybe it is not handling it that much. This is way better than the first Suicide Squad film and much of the credit goes to Gunn.
#8. Kenneth Branagh, Belfast. I did not expect to love this movie as much as I do. Kenneth Branagh has a great touch at the young humor and the powerful images.
#7. Jon M. Chu, In the Heights. With such a massive cast and so many dance routines and songs, a musical of this scope requires a sound director and John Chu made In the Heights a classic.
#6. Chloé Zhao, Eternals. Last year’s Oscar winner, Chloé did a tremendous job with a huge cast of Marvel heroes that nobody really knew. The look of Eternals was not the issue people had with this film.
#5. Denis Villeneuve, Dune. Dune was a passion project for Villeneuve and it showed. One of the largest scale films of the year, it will be interesting to see what Denis does with the scheduled sequel.
#4. Steven Spielberg, West Side Story. Taking a beloved classic film and rebooting it for a new age is tough, but Spielberg is one of the greatest of all time. I actually liked this way more than I did the original.
#3. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tick, Tick…Boom. As a directorial debut, Lin-Manuel did a fantastic job with the dance numbers and songs of the musical. He placed Andrew Garfield in a position where he had to sing and only found out later that he could. Gutsy.
#2. Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog. A Netflix film with a great cast and a powerhouse story, all mixed into a Western. She has a complex tale with some wonderful characters and a top notch performance from Benedict Cumberbatch.
#1. Jon Watts, Spider-Man: No Way Home. He had to manage so much. Characters from other films. A bunch of story. Aunt May’s death. And he brought out the best performance we have ever seen from Tom Holland, and he brought out the best Spidey performance from Andrew Garfield and he brought out Willem Dafoe’s raw and powerful performance. I can’t wait to see Jon Watts with FF.
I had it in my head that this movie, A Boy Called Christmas, was an animated film instead of the live action film that it is. But I figured that I could do one more Christmas movie even though Christmas had passed.
I never anticipated this film hitting me as hard as it did.
A Boy Called Christmas is a story of hope, a story of love and a story of perseverance. It is filled with magic and mythology, packed to its brim.
Aunt Ruth (Maggie Smith) has to babysit for three precocious children whose mother was gone. Seeing that the children needed some magic, she told them a story about Nikolas (Henry Lawfull), a young lad whose mother had died and whose father (Michiel Huisman) was struggling. The village’s King (Jim Broadbent) offered a reward for anyone who could find some magic to renew hope in their land. Nikolas’s father departed with a group of other men in search of the mythical town of Elfhelm.
After awhile, as Nikolas was having troubles with his wicked Aunt Carlotta (Kristen Wiig), he took off with his mouse friend Miika (Stephen Merchant), who Nikolas had taught to speak, to try and find his father.
Nikolas met a reindeer who had been injured by an arrow, helped him out and named him Blitzen. Nikolas found the village but discovered that the elves are mad because a group of humans had kidnapped a child elf.
Nikolas took off to try and find his father and save the child.
Honestly, I am not a huge fan of Christmas. I haven’t been for years, but this film is so filled with magic and emotion that you cannot help but love it. It does take a little while to get going and I was disappointed with Kristen Wiig’s character, but once this gets underway, A Boy Called Christmas pushes all the buttons. It is a beautiful origin story for Father Christmas and it has some totally powerful and legitimately painful moments. This is not just a movie for kids. This deals with serious topics, including grief.
The wonderful Dame Maggie Smith has the best quote of the film when she said, ” Grief is the price we pay for love, and worth it a million times over” which, of course, immediately made me think of Vision’s classic quote from earlier this year, “What is grief, if not love, persevering?” These are wonderful quotes to help approach the concept of loss for kids. Something this movie does extremely well.
You can add this to Klaus as classic Christmas movies to watch on Netflix. A Boy Called Christmas is everything that is great about Christmastime.
Animation was pretty good in 2021. There were several decent films and the worst of the animation was really combination live action/animation.
And with that, we’ll start with the worst of the animated movies.
Worst Animation: America: The Motion Picture.
I heard such good things about this and I thought it was such a horrid, disgusting film, with mean-spirited humor and filled with hatred. More vicious than satire, I will never feel the need to revisit this piece of “history”
Dis-Honorable Mentions: The two live-action/animation mash-ups were Tom and Jerry and Peter Rabbit2. Both are huge flops and so unfunny. The other animated film that I did not enjoy at all this year was The Addams Family 2. I disliked the first one and the sequel did not improve much. I was disappointed in Encanto, but that is one that I am hoping to revisit on Disney + before school restarts. I have a feeling this will be one that I like more on a second viewing.
Previous winners:
EYG Frame Award- Best Animation
Previous Winners:Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Coco, Moana, Inside Out, Big Hero 6, Flashpoint Paradox, Paranorman, Winnie the Pooh, Klaus, Wolfwalkers
Best Animated Movie: Mitchells vs. the Machines
The biggest surprise in animation this year is Mitchells vs. the Machines from Netflix. Produced by Lord and Miller, this was funny, brilliant animation, full of color and bright imagery and a banging story of family and love and fun.
Honorable Mentions: Luca started the year off with a solid Pixar film, but I just thought it was not quite up to par. Batman Long Halloween came in two parts to the specialty market. Raya & the Last Dragon is another wonderful Disney release. Wish Dragon was another Netflix animation that was fantastic. I just saw Ron’s Gone Wrong on Disney +. It was a very enjoyable story with fun characters. I really enjoyed the music of Sing 2 this past weekend.
Best Animation in Television
We’ve added the TV category once again. Here are the top 4.
#4. Hit Monkey. I am still working on this. It is fun, bloody Marvel fun.
#3. Masters of the Universe: Revelations. I don’t care what the internet said, Kevin Smith’s adaptation was a lot of fun and exciting adventure.
#2. Invincible. Amazon Prime’s comic adaptation was shockingly good and bloody as could be.
#1. What If…?
Marvel Studios’ first animated series looks to be important in the MCU after all. We get great voice work from a bunch of returning MCU actors and The Watcher! Vision as Ultron? T’Challa Star Lord? Captain Carter? Evil Doctor Strange (who looks as if he is going to be in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness in May). What If…? has been renewed for season two and the possibilities are endless.
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/entertainment/movies/2021/12/10/rita-moreno-west-side-storys-original-anita-loves-her-new-role-in-the-spielberg-remake/moreno_in_west_side_story.jpg)
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 