Tag Archives: Holiday Movies

Hot Frosty review — Seasonal fantasy wins by a carrot nose

December 7, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti | Written by Russell Hainline | 92 min | ▲▲▲△ △ | Netflix It's a bit of a mystery how it happened, but this Christmas romcom has become something of a hit. Everyone's talking about Hot Frosty, even me. Every year these Christmas movies are pumped out, quickie productions shot in… Read More

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever review — Faith-based charmer brings seasonal cheer

December 2, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Dallas Jenkins | Written by Platte F. Clark, Darin McDaniel, and Ryan Swanson, based on a novel by Barbara Robinson | 99 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Crave As someone who tends to avoid seasonal fare before December, I'm now leaning in to new Christmas movies. I'd seen no marketing around this one, but noticed… Read More

Merry Little Batman review — “…And to all a Dark Knight!”

December 22, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Mike Roth | Written by Morgan Evans and Jase Ricci | 92 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Amazon Prime The trailer tells you something about this charming seasonal diversion — it highlights a Home Alone scenario with eight-year-old Damian Wayne (Batman's son) facing off against a couple of burglars at Wayne Manor. But that's… Read More

The Holdovers review — A new Christmas classic

November 8, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Alexander Payne | Written by David Hemingson | 133 min | ▲▲▲▲▲ | Netflix Alexander Payne is the director of wry, gentle, and humanist American features like Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, Nebraska, and Downsizing. His new film, The Holdovers, might be the best one yet. He and his collaborators have made… Read More

The Noel Diary review — Grotesque seasonal schmaltz

December 12, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Charles Shyer | Written by Shyer, David Golden, and Rebecca Connor, based on a novel by Richard Paul Evans | 99 min | ▲▲△△△ | Netflix Sometimes movies annoy simply because the filmmakers who made them think their audience are idiots. This one of the problems with The Noel Diary, though not its… Read More

A Christmas Story Christmas review — Not the same magic, but not bad

December 10, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Clay Kaytis | Written by Kaytis, Nick Schenk, and Peter Billingsley, based on the book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd | 98 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Crave If I've said it once I've said it a dozen times, filmmakers attempting to sequelize a classic so many years… Read More

Violent Night review — “Like Die Hard, except a Christmas movie”

December 7, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Tommy Wirkola | Written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller | 112 min | ▲▲△△△ | Netflix Violent Night is one of the most shoddily made movies I've seen in a long time, a picture so half-baked it's amazing the filmmakers had the nerve to do it. They should count their lucky stars… Read More

Your Christmas Or Mine? review — Sweet Brit Christmas tale surprisingly original

December 6, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Jim O'Hanlon | Written by Tom Parry | 95 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Amazon Prime To the best of my knowledge this particular scenario has never been done before — young lovers get stuck at each others' families with very different holiday traditions — and for that reason alone I'd recommend Your Christmas… Read More

Spirited review — Lots of singing in this Christmas Carol

December 5, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Sean Anders | Written by Anders and John Morris | 127 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Apple TV+ We open on a deeply troubled woman — named Karen, of course, played by Rose Byrne — getting sucked into a grave, but this picture's not nearly as grim as all that. This creepy opening scene… Read More

Christmas on the Square review — For Dolly completists only

December 11, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Debbie Allen | Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton, written by Maria S. Schlatter, based on her stage play | 98 min | Netflix It's entirely possible this doesn't qualify as cinema at all, given that it's produced by Warner Brothers Television, but either way Christmas on the Square is just awful. I… Read More