Last week, both Missy and Aaron were sent home. Who will be sent packing this week? And will it feel as cathartic as last week? Only one way to find out! On to the recap!
Read more12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 4: Noelle
For our next Christmas movie of the series, we’re heading over to Disney+ land!
Yes, Disney+, home of Baby Yoda and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. But also! Original Christmas content like Noelle, a film directed by Marc Lawrence, starring Anna Kendrick, Shirley MacLaine, Bill Hader, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Billy Eichner. If not ground-breaking, it at least seems like with this cast, the movie should be a lot of fun, right? Uh… well.
The premise of this movie is pretty simple. Santa is dead, and his son Nick (Hader) will have to pick up the reins (pun intended). The only problem? Nick doesn’t really feel like he has a knack for the whole Santa Claus thing. His sister Noelle (Kendrick), on the other hand, loves Christmas more than anything in this world and is in Nick’s corner trying to encourage him to be the best Santa he can be.
When that fails, she suggests he takes a little vacation so that he can come back and be in the Christmas spirit in time to do his Santa-ly duties. But Nick ends up loving being a yoga instructor in Phoenix, Arizona so much that he wants to stay. Whatever will Noelle do? I feel like you know. But I won’t spoil it for you all the same.
Read moreHis Dark Materials S1E4: Who is Lyra Belacqua?
Ooo boy… it’s panserbjørne time!
But before we get there… I have one quick thing to say. I just read that His Dark Materials is meant to cover the three books of the series in two 8 episode seasons. Say what? I feel… unsure about this decision. Here I was thinking we’d get about one season per book. But no, we’re just going to get this thing done, huh? I guess that explains the pacing (and the additional storylines that take us into book 2 territory) thus far. But still, I was really liking the parts of the story that the television show was adding. Hearing that they are cramming three books into two seasons means less room to do some of that additional world-building.
Oh well. It is what it is. I guess let’s talk about what happened this week. And let’s meet some armored bears, yeah?
Read moreMake-Your-Own Hallmark Christmas Movie!
Maybe your Hallmark movie is about rich people.
Each year, around October or November (or sometimes even July), Hallmark begins its onslaught of made for TV Christmas movies. These films all feature similar plots, similar characters, and similar beautiful romances. The demand for Hallmark Christmas movies has become extreme because of their comforting charm. Their easy to understand plots allow for maximum coziness.
Imagine the scene: it’s a weekend and you’ve just snuggled into your blankets on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa. What to watch? A Hallmark Christmas movie will do just the thing! But there are so many—why not make your own?
Read moreThe Top 5 Friends Thanksgiving Episodes
As a longtime Friends fan, I find the show to be “comfort food.” Appropriately, Friends is known for its Thanksgiving episodes. (See what I did there? I’m already hungry.) Each year – with the exception of Season 2, which barely mentioned Thanksgiving in “The One With the List” – the Thanksgiving episode was a focal point of the season, and later seasons featured some pretty major special guests, including Brad Pitt and Christina Applegate. To get everyone in the grateful spirit, I’m ranking the top five Thanksgiving episodes of Friends.
Read more12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 3: Frozen II
I know what you’re thinking. Is Disney’s Frozen II a Christmas movie?
Yes and no. Yes, many people considered the first Frozen film a Christmas movie, probably because people who celebrate Christmas have sort of commandeered snow as a Christmas accessory (SEE: basically every Christmas anything). And Frozen is nothing if not a snow movie. There is a bit less snow in this movie, but there is still plenty of snowman. And family. And music. And heart. And all the other Christmas planeteers are present. So let’s just call it a Christmas movie and let me write about it, okay? Okay.
Read moreSurvivor S39: e10 Recap
Well, here we are, a week out from one of the most controversial episodes in Survivor’s long history, and what can we even say? Last week was rough. Kellee and Jamal were voted out in a special two-hour episode that managed to make basically everyone on the cast look bad, as Kellee continued to express how inappropriate Dan’s behavior was while basically no one else, including production, seemed to care. And now we are left to watch (or not; if you chose to bow out after last week, I would not blame you) and pick up the pieces. Let’s go.
Read more12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 2: Let It Snow
My professional opinion? Netflix’s teen Christmas movie Let It Snow fails in every Christmas movie category.
Probably. I haven’t broken it down yet, but that’s what this blog post is for. As with our previous 12 Days of Christmas Movies blog post, I will be breaking down this movie’s success as a Christmas movie based on 5 categories: Romance, Morality, Music, Christmas Spirit, and Heart. It’s the five Planeteers of Christmas movies. With their powers combined, they might make a decent Christmas movie. Did it work out here? Nah. Obviously not.
Read moreHis Dark Materials S1E3: Make Your Mind Go Blank
New episode of His Dark Materials with a new director!
The first two episodes of this season were directed by Tom Hooper. This third episode was directed by music video and documentary director Dawn Shadforth. How much of a difference does a director make here? It’s hard to say because so far, each episode has taken place in a very different world. The first, the world of Jordan college took over most of the episode. The second, Mrs. Coulter’s posh London. This third episode is the episode of the Gyptians. And much like the Gyptians themselves, this is an episode of movement and transitioning.
As always, spoilers for episode 3 to follow.
Read moreWho's Watching the Watchmen? Me.
People have been talking about a potential Watchmen television adaptation since 2015, but here, in the Year of Our Lord 2019, it’s finally happened. Though we’ve known about the HBO series since last year, nothing could prepare us for what the series has revealed so far, or how good it is.
(Some spoilers for the Watchmen comic series to follow. I’m keeping the show spoiler free!)
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