How had I never seen... "White Christmas"?

by Cláudio Alves

As someone who loves Christmas and the musical genre, I'm ashamed to say I'd never seen 1954's White Christmas until this year. Irving Berlin's classic is beloved by many, and it has become one of those immortal holiday movies that seem to have everlasting popularity. Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, the picture's a jolly affair full of merry dance breaks and one of those ridiculous "let's put on a show" stories that were so common in musicals of this particular era. 

It's with great sadness that I admit I wasn't won over by White Christmas, not completely. That being said, there's plenty to love about this Yuletide affair. Because now's a time for merriment and celebration, let's sprint through the negatives to get to the positives…

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"Grease" is the word for the National Film Registry. Let's look at their 1978 collection...

by Nathaniel R

Grease is the 9th film from 1978 to be selected by the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has announced their annual 25 new additions to the National Film Registry. Works are selected for their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance. The list is now 800 titles long. Each year we think. 'Oh, we should do a series on the inductees' but then another year rolls around and the list grows ever more duanting. Here we are again. See anything you love on this list?

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The 2020 Christmas Movie Catalogue

by Tony Ruggio

It wasn’t so long ago that Christmas movies were dead and buried, outside of Hallmark’s copious output anyway. They were no longer of much interest to major Hollywood studios and inherently verboten for indie distributors. Thanks to Netflix, Hulu, and the streaming wars, the genre is back and more prolific than ever. And in a year like 2020, we might need them more than ever...

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Review: Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square

by Christopher James

When someone tells you who they are, believe them. If the title Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square didn’t already clue you in as to whether you are within the target audience for the film, the opening minutes do. After credits play over the kitschiest of Christmas landscapes, Dolly Parton appears as the world’s comfiest homeless person in full hair and makeup. Her beautiful voice launches into an original song/life lesson that prompts the entire town to break out into a highly choreographed dance routine. This all takes place, you guessed it, in the titular Square. Over the next 98 minutes, Dolly Parton’s Christmas of the Square continues to deliver exactly what it promised you upfront. With __ original songs throughout, Christine Baranski doing a drag version of her gay Twitter persona and Dolly Parton as the chicest homeless person around, Christmas on the Square is Parton’s Citizen Kane...

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Links

• THR Malcolm & Marie, that COVID-filmed two-hander with John David Washington and Zendaya, is now joining Netflix's stable of current Oscar contenders with a February release; as if they didn't have enough already!
• Deadline Spike Lee keeps us guessing. He's doing a Viagra musical next. WTF?
• The Verge Wonder Woman 1984 is now going direct to streaming on Christmas day (the same day it opens in theaters). It'll be on HBOMax at no additional cost for one month after which it will only be in theaters. We haven't believed the worst premonitions about the future of movie theaters up till now. But if the big studios are now willing to give up their surest billion dollar theatrical titles to streaming (where those same titles can't earn them any additional revenue other then arguably more subscribers -- but how many are required to make those regular $200 million budgets for superflicks affordable? --  then all bets are off.  *cries hysterically*