Soundtracking: "Love Actually"

Chris's weekly look at music in movies gets festive for Love Actually!

Love Actually is so loaded with musical sequences you could almost call it a quasi-musical. That said, it is light on holiday music even though it is set at Christmas time. However, you can easily forgive Love Actually if you want it to be loaded on melodic holiday cheer because it uses the Christmas song of the past few decades: Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You”.

Like Spider-Man and multiple lobsters’ participation in this Christmas pageant, Love Actually throws everything it can into its insane mix but is nevertheless a delight because of the reliable charms of genre hallmarks. “All I Want for Christmas is You” is about as indispensable as they come and a guaranteed bop. How many times have you already heard it this holiday season and how many more times will you hear it again before it’s over? Despite its ubiquity, the answer to both questions is “probably not enough”.

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"A Christmas Prince" We Never Knew We Needed

By Spencer Coile

It’s time to get into the Christmas spirit, readers! With a recent push from Netflix for prestige filmmaking – in 2017 we received Mudbound, and First They Killed My Father, among many less heralded offerings – everyone’s favorite streaming site is now getting festive with their new original film, A Christmas Prince. At first glance, it may seem like a sweet and predictable little RomCom, but within a week, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone on the interwebs not talking about it. 

Why has this sugary, Hallmark-esque film received this hailstorm of attention? Perhaps it is because, in a bit of marketing genius to generate buzz about the film, Netflix tweeted this: 

To the 53 people who've watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?

— Netflix US (@netflix) December 11, 2017

Could this constant viewing possibly mean that A Christmas Prince is actually... good? No, A Christmas Prince is not "good." However, it truly is an experience I recommend...

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