Our Little Secret (2024)

Avery (Lindsay Lohan) dumps her long-term boyfriend after he proposes in an ill-conceived, public, and drunken attempt to get her to stay with him instead of moving to London for her career. Years later, they discover that they're dating a brother and sister and are both spending Christmas at the siblings' parents' home. They agree to keep their history on the down-low during the holidays while he helps her get into the matriarch's (Kristin Chenoweth) good graces and she helps him with a proposal for his work.

There's a very fun scene in which Avery -- after accidentally downing a bag of THC-infused edibles -- has to give a reading during Christmas mass. Other than that, there are no surprises and almost every story beat can be predicted. But that's honestly fine: it's a bit of holiday fluff that's great to have on while wrapping presents or decorating the tree.

C+

Hot Frosty (2024)

Snow sculpture comes to life after a widow drapes a scarf around its neck. It's so dumb. And I'm not just talking about the movie itself, in which the town doctor invokes "magic" as an explanation more than once. I'm talking about Jack (aka Hot Frosty) who is played less as "born yesterday" and more "held back four or five grades."

Lacks charm and, ironically, magic.

D-

Wicked (2024)

We went to see this on Thanksgiving because both of my daughters-in-law were pumped for it. I was low-key dreading it for both the runtime (I prefer to be at home when I tackle films over 2 hours) and the casting of Ariana Grande (whom I consider to be a below-average actress with an exceptional voice). I'm so happy to report that I had a fantastic time which I don't believe can be chalked up entirely to the effect of that post-dinner edible. 

I will say that it seemed to me that Grande may have been doing a straight-up impersonation of Kristin Chenoweth; though I have not seen the stage play, I've heard the soundtrack and she sounded pretty similar. Note that this is simply a thought I had and not in any way a complaint!

B+

The American President (1995)

A new-to-D.C. environmental lobbyist makes an immediate impression on the widower President. Soon they're trying to figure out how to navigate the relationship without causing damage to his political reputation.

I saw this back in the '90s and really enjoyed the charming performances. It felt like an honest look at how tricky living under the spotlight can be, especially when your concerns are not just for yourself and family, but for an entire country. But now that our reality is that of a thrice-married leader who paid a porn star to keep quiet, was convicted of sexual assault, has been accused of fomenting an insurrection, and has so many other accusations against him it's nearly unbelievable, a widower dating a single woman is downright wholesome.

Enjoyable, but so dated it might as well star Astaire and Rogers.

B

Come From Away (2021)

A filmed Broadway performance of the musical that tells the unique story of those airline passengers diverted to Newfoundland on 9/11 and the residents who welcomed and cared for them until they could get back in the air to go home.

I didn't have high hopes for this -- I'd seen a number performed on one of the late night shows and it seemed too specific to resonate -- but I was proven wrong. With a bare-bones set (think Our Town) and performers handling several roles each, this felt crammed with life. To be fair, some of the songs are very specific, but they flesh out the characters wonderfully and remind us that no adult American was spared fallout from 9/11.

B+

7 Women and a Murder (2022)

It's Christmas and an adult daughter arrives to spend it with her parents. Also there are her aunt, sister, grandmother, a housekeeper and -- eventually -- a mistress. When they discover the patriarch of the family with a knife in his back, the women try to figure out who's to blame. As the tension ratchets up, so do the obstacles (cut phone lines, power outage, a padlocked exit).

This suffers from a case of mildness. None of the women ever seemed to be truly scared or even really concerned. The funny bits only got a slight smile from me while the crime seemed to be just a subplot. It could've been a fun Marple-type of whodunit, but with a cast of characters who didn't seem to mind that their husband/lover/father/in-law had been struck down, I couldn't muster much interest either. Inoffensive and forgettable.

C-

Twisters (2024)

Storm-chaser Kate has moved to New York to work a desk job after losing 3 of her 5-person team to a tornado. But when the only other surviving team member shows up after 5 years to ask for her help, she agrees to travel back to Oklahoma to lend her expertise. Once they're there, she meets "tornado wrangler" Tyler who is unorthodox but knows his stuff.

The effects do every single bit of the heavy lifting here as the story is basically an outline and the characters are ciphers. The most lived-in character was Kate's mom (Maura Tierney) who was on-screen for less than 5 minutes.

C-

From Time to Time (2009)

At the end of World War II, Tolly is sent to his paternal grandmother's estate so that his mother can focus on finding his father who is missing in action. It's just Tolly and three older folks (his grandmother, the cook and the gardener), but his world soon expands as he's visited by residents of the estate from times long past. As he digs into the history of the house, he finds out that he's not the only one who's seen them, but he seems to be the only one with whom they can actually interact.

It's definitely not a quality story or production, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It put me in mind of the types of "spooky" movies we used to watch at church lock-ins: family friendly with just a touch of the supernatural.

C+

Woman of the Hour (2024)

Rodney Alcala was a prolific serial killer who, for some reason, applied to be on The Dating Game and then, improbably, was selected to appear. That's a weird anecdote for sure, but not the most interesting part of the Alcala story. I didn't care about Sheryl (the bachelorette for his episode of TDG) or her struggle to become an actress in misogynistic Los Angeles. I'm also not sure why Sheryl's stint as the bachelorette was enhanced to make it seems as though she was a feisty smart-aleck. 

Though this film does do a decent job of putting us in the shoes of some of his victims -- seeing through their eyes what appeared to be a harmless photographer -- it doesn't do enough of that. Why focus the bulk of the story on a fictionalized woman? I'm guessing most viewers are like me and were much more fascinated by the internet search results for the "real story" after the movie was over.

C+

Tetris (2023)

Henk Rogers, an American in Tokyo, owns a small game developing company with his wife. After coming across a demo of Tetris at a convention, he decides to pursue the licensing rights, which is difficult for a couple of reasons. First: the game's creator is Russian and communism demands that all profits belong to the state. Second: some rights have already been secured by another company which isn't keen on sharing handheld (of particular value ahead of the Gameboy's release). Henk, however, is not easily dissuaded.

Quite a fun caper with a charming performance by Taron Egerton as Henk. I'm not sure how much of this is actually true, but it's a really good time!

B

Tangerine (2015)

Sin-Dee is released from jail on Christmas eve and quickly finds out that her boyfriend/pimp Chester has not been faithful to her while away, so she goes looking for the hooker he's been screwing. Meanwhile, Alexandra is trying to drum up an audience for her singing gig at a local bar while a taxi driver/family man/trans hooker enthusiast searches for a hookup.

It's a small, likable film with decent performances from everyone except the lead, who was gratingly one-note.

C

C'mon C'mon (2021)

Though they haven't been close in years, a woman allows her brother Johnny to take her son Jesse (age 10?) home to New York with him while she deals with a personal crisis. And... not much happens. It truly feels like we're watching footage of an actual uncle and nephew getting to know each other. The kid does annoying kid things like throwing a fit about which toothbrush to buy and dangerous kid things like wandering off on a crowded city street. He also gets homesick and winds up dealing with complex emotions about his parents.

It's flawlessly acted and philosophically deep. I loved the scenes with the mom (Gaby Hoffman) and also when we saw journalist Johnny recording interviews with kids around the country. Mostly, however, I was simply annoyed at how bratty Jesse was and it made me so thankful that my kids are grown. I realize that I may be required to spend time with children again should my sons ever have kids -- but this made me think "maybe it's OK if they don't."

C+

Eye for an Eye (2019)

Notorious drug lord Antonio has been granted compassionate release from prison due to his health. Rather than heading home to his sons, he opts for a nursing home where he'll be under the care of the compassionate nurse Mario. But Mario has a personal beef with his new patient: his brother died of an overdose while dealing for him.

This was truly tense at times. While I sympathized with Mario, it was impossible to truly be on his side. He compromised his workplace and his family over blame that was at least as much his brother's as it was Antonio's. It's possible that I'm just too practical to really get swept up in this type of story -- but I'd still call this effective.

B-

Polite Society (2023)

High schooler Ria is determined to become a stuntwoman. The only thing that gets her sister Lena, a recent art school dropout, out of her depressed funk is lending a hand with Ria's training and web channel. When rich bachelor Salim Shah selects Lena to date from dozens of possibilities, Ria is determined to break it up -- first because she feels Lena isn't being true to herself, but then because she makes some concerning discoveries at the Shah estate.

I'll be quite surprised if I find out that the writer was not inspired by Scott Pilgrim, because this has a the same "teetering into ridiculous but also sinister" vibe going. Ria and her two best friends are easy to root for and some shots are arresting, but it's about 15 minutes longer than it should be. The final act feels like it goes on forever.

C+

Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

Jamie's girlfriend has kicked her out for cheating, so she decides to join Marian on a roadtrip to Tallahassee. To get there cheap, they're doing a "drive away" (driving a car that someone needs delivered to Tallahassee). The car they're given, however, was supposed to go to a specific driver due to its very valuable cargo.

It's like a cross between the heightened silliness of Raising Arizona, the time-crunch chase of Midnight Run, and the surprising violence of Burn After Reading but it's nowhere near as successful as any of those. But it's good-natured enough and it doesn't stick around that long, so I'm not mad about it.

B-