I think it was the casting more than anything that got me excited for Netflix's biggest new Holiday offering, The Christmas Chronicles. I mean, Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. How could that possibly be anything short of completely awesome? I'm happy to report, it actually really is.
Kate (played by Darby Camp) and her older brother Teddy (played by Judah Lewis) are facing their first Christmas without their father (played by Oliver Hudson), a firefighter who passed away on the job. Kate is trying to cope the best she can while Teddy is struggling more and started hanging out with some trouble making friends whose idea of a good time includes Grand Theft Auto (and I'm not talking about the video game). When their Mom, Claire (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is called in to work at the Hospital on Christmas Eve, the two siblings are left on their own. When Kate spots a glimpse of what she thinks is Santa (played by Kurt Russell) in an old home video, Teddy humors her and they set up a clever trap to catch a glimpse of the big guy when he arrives that night. To their surprise, their set-up works and as they venture outside to catch sight of the big guy they stumble across Santa's sleigh, complete with a team of reindeer, hovering in the alley. Wanting to get a closer look, Kate climbs a telephone pole and jumps into the sleigh, with Teddy following. Before they can get out, Santa returns and unaware of his extra passengers, takes off. When Kate taps him on the shoulder, Santa is understandably shocked to find the two kids in his sleigh and winds up losing control of the sleigh, crashing in downtown Chicago, losing both the reindeer and his sack of presents in the process. Stranded, the three have no choice but to team up to find Santa's reindeer, lost sack of presents and help him complete his run and in the process save Christmas.
The film was directed by Clay Kaytis from a script by Matt Lieberman. Liberman has, within this fairly straightforward Christmas fantasy, crafted some fun reinventions of the Santa Claus character and his surrounding operations. This version of the character is much more of a straight-shooter and no-nonsense. He doesn't go for the jolly, "Ho-ho-ho" stuff and bristles at his depiction on billboards and soda cans. They also come up with a neat twist with how the presents are delivered. In the bottom of his sack is a portal that leads to a conveyor belt at the North Pole (think airport baggage claim on steroids). The depiction of the Elves in this one is also a welcome change. Rather than using kids or little people, they went with a fully CGI creation, while not the most convincing CGI, makes for a decidedly cute group of helpers, reminding me a little of the Minions from the Despicable Me films. Of course, a lot of the magic of Santa, how exactly he's able to deliver presents to all the kids around the world, isn't explained in any real depth but we get enough of a sense of it through Santa's navigation system allowing him to instantly travel from city to city and that's enough to satisfy most viewers rather than get bogged down in details that don't really matter. The filmmakers wisely keep the film focused on the more comedic and fantasy elements striking a tone more reminiscent of 80's family comedies such as The Goonies or Adventures in Babysitting, including an impromptu musical number with Santa singing Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus is Back in Town" (because of course it had to be Elvis). However, the few emotional moments in the film did land nicely, being sentimental without being overly saccharine.
Once he shows up, Kurt Russell owns this film with his rendition of Santa Claus. It's such a fun and refreshing take on the classic character. In a way, Russell makes him feel a bit more real and three dimensional. His Santa gets frustrated and can be a bit grumpy at times, but at the same time he knows everyone (because of course he does) and does seem to genuinely enjoy what he does. It's that he also understands how important what he does is to the world (apparently, the last time he didn't complete his run he accidentally caused the Dark Ages, so there are some stakes). Darby Camp does well in the usual precocious kid sister role and captures her character's innate resourcefulness quite well, which comes in handy more that once, even as she goes through the film with the family camcorder more or less glued to her hand, capturing every moment of their adventure with Santa. Judah Lewis has the trickier role with much of the more emotional moments falling to his character but he's up to the task with making them work while managing to make his character remain likable. Lamorne Morris and Martin Roach have amusing supporting turns as two Chicago police officers who have a run-in with Santa and have a hard time believing he's the real deal.
In the end, The Christmas Chronicles is probably not the most earth shatteringly original film, but it is cute and a lot of fun. A lot of that has to do with Kurt Russell's infectious performance as Saint Nick. His performance dominates the film as soon as he shows up and along with the two kids, they make the film work as well as it does. Yes, the plot is a little predictable, but it still has enough fun surprises to keep things interesting (including some A+ casting for Mrs. Claus, a surprise I wouldn't dare spoil). It's certainly fresher and more fun than the latest recycled Holiday Rom Com the Hallmark Channel is churning out. Yet, it is probably not going to rank among the all time Holiday Classics like It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, or A Christmas Story, but The Santa Clause might have cause to be nervous.
There have been countless iterations of the legend of Robin Hood over the years, from the swashbuckling Errol Flynn classic, to the equally classic Disney animated film to the Kevin Costner film (which Alan Rickman effortlessly stole for himself), the Mel Brooks parody (which has not aged as well as it should have), to the Russell Crowe version and the semi-recent BBC series that ran for three seasons. Do we really need another version of this well worn tale? That's going to be up to each audience member to decide for themselves, I suppose.
Robin of Locksley (played by Taron Egerton) lives a life a privilege as Lord of Locksley Manor spending his time watching over his lands and romancing Marion (played by Eve Hewson). Everything changes when he's drafted to join the Crusades and sent to the Middle East to fight in the war. There he meets John (played by Jamie Foxx), a prisoner of war whose son, despite Robin's best efforts, is killed for refusing to give information to help the British soldiers. Robin is sent home from the war, John stowing away on board. Robin returns to find his home in ruins, seized by the Sheriff of Nottingham (played by Ben Mendelsohn) and Marian, thinking Robin having died in the Crusades, having moved on to Will Scarlett (played by Jamie Dornan). He is also horrified to learn that the people are being taxed so much they are having to give up pretty much everything they have to fun the Sheriff's war efforts. His path soon crosses with John, who proposes to train Robin to steal the money back from the Sheriff to help his people and allow John to get vengeance on the man at the command of the army that killed his son (the Sheriff). John knows the best way to hurt the Sheriff, as well as the Sheriff's power, is by redistributing the wealth he has hoarded from his people. Another part of their plan is for Robin to resume his place among the Lords and get close to the Sheriff and earn his trust to learn his plans as well as where he keeps the loot. All the while, that familiar spark with Marian begins to rekindle, no matter how much John wants Robin to resist it and focus on their tasks at hand.
The film is directed with curious style by Otto Bathurst from a script by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly. It's a film that is a bold mix of the traditional medieval setting of the original legend and a contemporary sensibility. It's not the first Robin Hood outing to do this, the semi-recent BBC series took a similar approach, but this one has a much more unique style to it, taking place in it's own isolated universe with a time period that is never firmly established (the film's narrator plainly states he doesn't recall). This curious flourish allows the film the freedom to mix and match elements with slight more contemporary costuming with the traditional setting. The production design of the film likewise has it's own unique flourishes that certainly make this one of the more unique looking Robin Hood films. As with any film like this, the action is an important part and the filmmakers did come up with some suitably thrilling sequences, including a pretty impressive chase sequence between two horse drawn wagons, as well as a sequence of Robin having to escape an onslaught of guards from a botched robbery on the Sheriff's vaults. They also brought in famed archer Lars Andersen to teach the cast his impressive archery skills and the results speak for themselves as they added some impressive extra level to the usual swashbuckling.
Taron Egerton leads the cast in the titular role, approaching the role with a certain humorous charm he has honed through his career. He makes Robin an appealing hero for the contemporary age and rather worked well in the role. He manages to handle the dual nature of his character quite well, posing as a haughty and well off Lord to the Sheriff while in secret with John plotting to steal the Sheriff's riches. Jamie Foxx adds a certain manic charm to his John, who becomes mentor to Robin, training him to help him get the vengeance he wants from the leader of the army that killed his son, unable to pull it off himself due to losing his hand at the beginning of the film. Ben Mendelsohn gives his own interpretation of the Sheriff of Nottingham, striking similar notes to his villainous turn in Ready Player One earlier this year. His Sheriff isn't as memorably evil as Alan Rickman's, who still holds the crown as far as I'm concerned, but he's still a suitably dastardly villain. Eve Hewson does what she can with the role of Marian, a much more modern, independent and feistier Marion than seen in the older films. She's still functioning primarily as Robin's love interest, in this case as part of a love triangle between her, Robin and Will Scarlett. On that note, Jamie Dornan has a good turn as Will, his character an outspoken man of the people, trying to accomplish things within the system, whereas Robin operates squarely outside of it, setting up an interesting dichotomy between the two that I thought added a nice twist to the usual tale. Tim Minchin has an amusing turn as Friar Tuck who puts on an act of being a bit clumsy and incompetant, but only masks his own attempts to undermine the Sheriff. This in turn adds a good deal of humor to his scenes, which I enjoyed.
Some critics of this film having been comparing it to last Summer's equally curiously anachronistic King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, another film that I enjoyed for what it was. This film isn't high art, but as a fun re-invention of a very oft-told tale. At the same time, I can see that people's mileage will definitely vary with this one. It may not ever quite catch fire the way some may have expected it to, but at the same time it's breezy, popcorn fun that I can't bring myself to dislike at all either.
Arriving two years after the surprisingly delightful Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, we get the follow-up, The Crimes of Grindelwald, which is the second film in a planned five film series. In true J.K Rowling fashion, the second film takes a darker turn as the big bad begins his rise to power.
Set a few months after the previous film, Gellert Grindelwald (played by Johnny Depp) has escaped in a daring prison escape and is living on the run in Europe, plotting to start a revolution to take the magical folk out of the shadows and become the ruling class he feels they were destined to be. Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne), is trying to get permission to travel outside of the U.K again (he's currently banned because of the events of the previous film), a request the Ministry of Magic is only inclined to grant if Newt agrees to help them track down Credence Barebone (played by Ezra Miller) and destroy him, as they fear Grindelwald is looking to recruit the dangerous and unstable boy to his cause. Newt understandably says no. He receives a similar offer from his former teacher, Albus Dumbledore (played by Jude Law), but also turns him down. However, when friends Queenie (played by Alison Sudol) and Jacob (played by Dan Fogler), turn up on his doorstep, Newt finds a reason to get involved. When a fight between Queenie and Jacob over wanting to get married (it's illegal for magic folk and non-magic folk to get married in America, so she wants to do it in the U.K, but Jacob has concerns over what could happen to them if they do), Queenie leaves in a huff to join her sister Tina in Paris. Discovering Tina (played by Katherine Waterston) is in Paris hunting Grindelwald, Newt and Jacob follow in hot pursuit, and in the process find themselves right in the middle of Grindelwald's plot to rise to power in ways they never expected.
David Yates returns once again to the Wizarding World of J.K Rowling, who wrote the screenplay for the film, for his sixth outing with the franchise and certainly has set the style and tone for the series since he started with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The film does strike a darker tone this time out, which fits with the stories themes. The film does have to juggle a staggering number of plot threads, of which I barely touched on them all above. The film has a lot going on in it and Yates manages to keep the film coherent for the most part (although I did re-watch the first Fantastic Beasts film the night before, so that probably helped). The one flaw with the film is that as much as they are telling the story for this film, it also sets up plot threads that the viewer knows aren't going to pay off until the next film, or the next film after that or the one after that which can make for a bit of a frustrating viewing experience. Still, the film does have enough on tap to make it an entertaining endeavor, especially for fans of the series as the film is littered with Easter Eggs that fans will no doubt pick up on and know all too well how they will pay off down the road in the Harry Potter series. Rowling manages to work in some genuinely shocking plot twists with this outing as well that left me stunned as the credits started to roll, even with the expected annoyance at being left on a cliffhanger. Yates and his crew do a great job creating the world the film exists in as it explores the Wizarding World side of Paris this time out. It's also nice to see a return to Hogwarts for the first time since Deathly Hallows, Part 2, and keep your eyes and ears peeled because Dumbledore isn't the only familiar face whose younger self makes an appearance there either. Still, these are touches that will delight the hardcore fans, but sail over the heads of the more casual viewers.
For all of it's narrative problems, the film at least has a number of wonderful performances within it. Eddie Redmayne gives another endearing performance as the kind-hearted Newt Scamander, a character who has always been most happy with his fantastic creatures more so that other people. Redmayne does a good job portraying Scamander's big heart as well as his more social struggles. Jude Law makes for a great younger Dumbledore, making the role his own while at the same time hinting towards the man that would eventually be played later on in the Harry Potter series, leaning more towards Michael Gambon's iteration of the character rather than Richard Harris. Katherine Waterston does well as Tina, who since the previous film has been reinstated as an Auror and is on the trail of the recently escaped Gellart Grindelwald. Waterston has some good moments with Redmayne as the two try to sort of their relationship, hindered by some misinformation she read about him being engaged (he really isn't). Dan Fogler returns as Jacob Kowalski and has a bit more of a stake in the action this time since his relationship with Tina's sister Queenie has developed and the two want to get married, despite Wizarding World laws in America preventing that and putting a strain on their relationship. Alison Sudol as Queenie likewise has a bit more to chew on in this outing as Queenie, looking for a solution to her woes in all the wrong places and Sudol continues to make her character lovable and sympathetic even as her character makes some staggeringly bad decisions. Johnny Depp does the best with a rather underwritten role. For playing the titular character, we still don't get a real sense of his character. Still, Depp does give the character a certain sense of menace, even if his character largely still remains an enigma. Still, with another three movies left in this series, I can only presume they will be delving into his character more in a subsequent entry, along with Grindelwald's complicated history with Dumbledore (some of which is referenced in this film). However, the well known romantic entanglements between the two characters have yet to be portrayed on screen aside from a telling moment of Dumbledore in front of the Mirror of Erised (a mirror that reflects what the viewer most deeply desires).
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is more of a mixed bag of a film than the film before it. It suffers from what a lot of middle chapter films in multi-film sagas suffer from, more pre-occupied with setting up things that aren't going to pay off until the next film rather than telling a satisfying story of it's own. The film is well made with stunning visuals and solid performances, but it also has some narrative problems that made the film a little frustrating to me. There is so much going on in this movie that ultimately amounts to not much. Maybe it will make sense once we have Part 3, 4 and 5 but right now it kinda feels like much ado about not much, which is kind of annoying. I still enjoyed the film for what it was and as a fan probably enjoyed it more than many, but it is a definite case of your mileage may vary depending on how much of a Harry Potter fan you are.
Joel Edgerton is an actor and filmmaker who I have become a big fan of over the years, so when I heard he was going adapt Garrard Conley's memoir Boy Erased, I was immediately intrigued, based on the talent displayed in his directorial debut, The Gift. When I finally saw it, I was blown away by what I had just seen.
Jared Eamons (played by Luke Hedges) is a bright young man trying to figure out his place in the world. He has a girlfriend and works with his Dad at the local Ford Dealership his Dad owns. He thinks he may be gay, but struggles with admitting it to himself, let alone to others. When he's outed by a classmate, Henry (played by Joe Alwyn), at college, he begrudgingly admits to his parents, Baptist Pastor father Marshall (played by Russell Crowe) and dutiful mother Nancy (played by Nicole Kidman) that he is gay. Dad consults two of the senior pastors at their family's church and a decision is made to send Jared to a place to help him. The place is a Gay Conversion "therapy" institution called Love in Action, run by a man named Victor Sykes (played by Joel Edgerton). The set up is that Jared will spend every day there before retiring to a local hotel with his Mom each night for two weeks. Each day, Jared and the other young adults there are subjected to so-called "therapies" such as figuring out how their family sins led to their homosexuality, with a chart not unlike a family tree they are supposed to fill out with all the sin various family members have been guilty of as this somehow led them to develop their homosexuality. Other activities include such physical activities designed to help the boys butch up like learning to stand with a more masculine pose or how to hit a baseball. Things take a darker turn when one kid isn't progressing far enough, so the leaders stage a mock funeral to try and literally scare him straight, including the kid's family members hitting him with a bible to try and exorcise the gay demons from him. Because to people that run these clinics, that's all they see. To them, homosexuality means you will get AIDs, you will die, it's all a huge sinful, abusive, toxic death sentence. Jared begins to see the "therapy" for what it is and finds himself at a crossroads, trying to decide what to do next as he knows that walking away would likely mean walking away from his family, especially his father.
Edgerton, who wrote the screenplay in addition to directing, handles the material with care. It would be so easy for the film to slip into melodrama or even satire, given how ludicrous much of gay conversion "therapy" is, but is always sure to play the reality of the situation. Rather than go for fire and brimstone, frothing at the mouth, tyrannical overacting, each character in the film, even Jared's father or Victor Sykes, thinks they are helping Jarrod even when what they are actually doing is horrific psychological and spiritual abuse. It's the perfect touch for this film and grounds the film, making everything feel that much more real and immediate. Throughout the film, Edgerton keeps things subtle and real, whether from the Love in Action center, Jared's college campus or his life at home feel intimately relatable. This only strengthened the empathy I felt towards Jared's character and the turmoil he went through throughout the film. Given the subject matter, there are a few scenes that are very difficult to watch. One is described above and one I will detail below under a spoiler warning, because I feel it is worth mentioning (would also be considered a trigger warning), even though I generally keep a policy of being spoiler free in my reviews. That said, Edgerton handles these scenes well and they do not feel overdone or exploitative, but are no less harrowing to watch.
The acting in the film is fantastic. Lucas Hedges carries the bulk of the film as Jared and does such a great job relating his character's anguish, uncertainty and worry. It's a really effective performance that I personally found quite moving. Joel Edgerton turns in a solid performance as Victor Sykes with a quietly convincing performance. It would have been so easy to make Sykes into a clear villain but instead Edgerton is able to convey Sykes clear, if horribly misguided, concern for Jared and his other students with a genuine desire to help them. Edgerton's Sykes is taking a certain tough love approach to them to try and set them on the path back to heterosexuality. Russell Crowe does well as Jared's dad, who like Victor Sykes, feels that sending his son to Ex-Gay "Therapy" is the right thing to do. Crowe does a good job conveying his concern and worry over his son, even if it too is misguided. Nicole Kidman also does well as Jared's Mom, Nancy. Her character starts out as the dutiful Preacher's wife, but develops as it goes on as she sees first hand what the so-called "therapy" her son is a part of. It's a wonderful performance and she brought some real emotion to the role. Troye Sivan has a solid supporting role as one of the other patients. He mostly known for his music, and does contribute a couple songs to the soundtrack as well, but I was impressed with his turn in the film in an acting capacity as well.
Films centered on Ex-Gay "Therapy" are nothing new, but previous films, such as But I'm a Cheerleader took a sharply satirical approach to show how ridiculous it really is. Where Boy Erased sets itself apart is that it takes a fact based, realistic look at the practice and how truly damaging it can be. With strong acting and sure handed direction from Joel Edgerton, this was a deeply effective film that will stick with me for a long time.
SPOILER WARNING!!!
So, here goes, I am divulging this plot point because I feel it is potentially worth knowing in advance. It was accidentally spoiled for me and in retrospect I'm glad I knew ahead of time. The nature of Jared's being outed is even more messed up than what I glossed over above. Henry starts out as Jared's friend at college. They go running together every day and Henry even takes him to his church, where he introduces him to another parishioner. It becomes clear that Jared is crushing on Henry a bit and Henry notices too. One night, the two are in Jared's dorm room alone, playing video games. Henry eventually comes on to Jared, who is uneasy about it but Henry doesn't stop when Jared asks him to and winds up raping him in his own dorm room in a very difficult to watch scene (and, according to director Joel Edgerton, equally hard to film). Henry eventually stops and backs off, sitting down on the floor crying and confessing he had done it before, to the guy they met at Henry's church. This experience leaves Jared shattered and he starts keeping his distance from Henry (understandably so), so Henry outs him to get him to leave school since he's worried Jared is going to report him. It's easily one of the most disturbing sequences in the film and wanted to include it in the review, but give my readers the choice if they wanted to know or not prior to viewing the film, hence why I included it at the end.
