Christmas Movies of the Moment
Sunday, December 15, 2019 at 10:00AM
by Tony Ruggio
Christmas movies, full of cheer, pretty lights, and sometimes reindeer. I grew up on ‘em, on Home Alone and Christmas Vacation. I continued loving ‘em as a big kid even, with Elf and The Santa Clause holding a special place in my cold heart. They used to be one of those seasonal things Hollywood did best, but as comedy has sunk, so have movies set during the holidays.
They were on the fast track to extinction, in fact, until streaming came along. Sure, there were Hallmark hate-watches and other network specials gasping for attention. Hallmark still has a certain devoted fan base despite the decline of cable television, but theatrical movie-going has been devoid of the holiday spirit for some time now. Thanks to Netflix, I’ve been able to indulge and Christmas party like it’s 1999, so here are three new Christmas films you may have heard of (there are two more I won’t even mention) that you may or may not want to spend time with this season...
LET IT SNOW (Netflix)
A delightfully cheesy Christmas rom-com that follows a collection of colorful high school kids on a particularly dreary day in their snow globe-y small town. Much better than a hate-watch or drunk-watch like A Christmas Prince. Some subplots work better than others, though. One of the three central romances involving a celebrity singer doesn't always land, but boy do the other two, including a queer relationship brimming with humor and heart. A great young cast, Joan Cusack, and an occasionally nimble script enliven what could have been a bad Freeform movie. Among the cast, Isabella Moner (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), Jacob Batalon (Spider-man Homecoming), Kiernan Shipka (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Liv Hewson (Bombshell) are highlights. B
KLAUS (Netflix)
For a kid’s flick, this starts out rather tone-deaf and visually bleak, like some morbid, dark animated comedy made by oddball Europeans. As a "realistic" interpretation of the legend of Santa Claus, it's a bit inconsistent. There are unnecessary anachronisms. musically and otherwise, and the setting of Smeerensburg, an ugly, ramshackle village of miscreants in the distant north, doesn't completely work.
However, once Klaus himself shows up, Klaus slowly morphs into nearly exactly what you want out of an animated film about the origins of Santa, a splendid adventure tale divorcing Santa from modern-day capitalism and rewriting him as someone presenting good will towards men. B-
BLACK CHRISTMAS (in theaters)
There's a good horror movie to be made about college rape culture. This ain't it. Imagine a slasher film set during Christmas involving black magic, sororities, fraternities, and rightful Me Too revenge...sounds cool, right? Now imagine nearly the dumbest possible version of that concept. Imogen Poots is a decent enough actress, but she's surrounded by a movie that talks down to its audience and sometimes does a disservice to women. The film is so heavy-handed it's difficult not to cringe and roll your eyes when Poots' heroine proclaims to her Alpha Kappa Omega villains "we will not be broken." D+
Reader Comments (6)
"Black Christmas" (1974) is still one of the scariest slasher films ever made- just listen to that creepy guy on the phone- they keep remaking it and every time make it worse
Best Christmas movie is Catherine Deneuve's A Christmas Tale.
There's only one definitive Xmas film. Die Hard.
What Nemra said.
I actually like Black Christmas. Everyone was clapping when the girls came to take revenge at the frat house and that was a RARE occurence in my conservative city.
Thevoid99 is one of those people. Yikes.