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25 Movies To Watch This Holiday Season
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BY ROBERT NAPOLITANO THE SUMMER HEAT IS GONE, HALLOWEEN HAS PASSED,
and once again the holiday season is upon us. This year, sadly, it might be hard to get into the holiday spirit, but few things help the way a good family classic can. A lot of us ran out of TV and movies to watch after these last 6 or 7 months, but I doubt any of us were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas back in August. The coolest (and probably uncoolest) part about most Christmas movies is that they’re only really enjoyable this time of year. Along with these 25 I added a few honorable mentions that weren’t theatrical releases. Even though these TV specials could supplant any of the other films on this list to get you into the spirit of the holiday.
HONORABLE MENTIONs
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
If you ever attended elementary school ever, there’s no way you haven’t seen A Charlie Brown Christmas at least once. These days, teachers likely don’t play the VHS tape on the last day before Christmas break like they used to, but this holiday classic has graced airwaves each year since the ‘60s. If you have a youngster at home, it’s your job to keep the tradition alive.
Frosty the Snowman (1969)
When I watch these Rankin/Bass specials I find it interesting that, despite coming out over 50 years ago, they’re still just as good now as I’m sure they were back then. This is a story about a group of kids who build a snowman named Frosty. When they place a magical top hat on his head, he comes to life. The special is the epitome of what Christmas magic is all about.
Frosty the Snowman/NBCUniversal/Rankin-Bass/The Year Without Santa Claus/ABC/Rankin-Bass/Miracle on 34th Street/Michael DeCristofaro/20th Century Studios/Krampus/Legendary Pictures/Universal/Dutch/20th Century Studios/Jingle All the Way/20th Century Studios KRAMPUS (2015)
I figured I’d start my list off with a horror film since there are so few good ones for this time of year. I don’t consider Krampus to be a classic by any stretch, but if Christmas horror is your thing, then this is a good one to check out. Based on European folklore, Krampus is a horned beast that punishes naughty children on Christmas. Let a naughty kid watch this movie and I bet they’ll be a little bit nicer next year.
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DUTCH (1991)
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
The title sounds like a kid’s worst nightmare. Rankin/Bass’ 1974 TV special introduced us to the Snow Miser and the Heat Miser, and made some of us wonder if it’s really possible for Santa to be sick on Christmas. This movie’s themes of giving and generosity will always remain relevant.
With so many changes as far as how we view content nowadays, I hope millennials do their best to keep these specials a tradition for the next generation to grow up on. This is probably one of the more unexpected entries on the list. Starring the man I’ll forever know as Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill), Dutch follows a working class man who offers to drive down to Atlanta to pick up his girlfriend’s bratty 13-year-old son (Ethan Embry) from school in order to bring him home for the holidays. As the man and the boy’s relationship goes from bickering and pranks to genuine bonding, the chemistry between the characters develops and feels real. The movie thrives off of O’Neill’s blue-collar Al Bundy-like demeanor and the relatable dynamic between its two leads.
THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004)
The duo who gave us Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis) bring us one of the best animated Christmas movies of all time. Hanks stars as not only the young boy protagonist, but also the boy’s father, the narrator, the train conductor, a hobo, a Scrooge puppet, and even Santa Claus, himself. That’s quite a lot of roles, but Hanks proves to be the perfect man for the job. The film is a coming-of-age story about self discovery, but best of all, it’s a movie that can be enjoyed by kids AND their parents.
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JINGLE ALL THE WAY (1996)
As many of you may remember, back in the ‘90s, well before everybody over the age of 8 had the internet at their fingertips at all times, people actually had to physically go to the store to buy gifts. Looking back, we may long for the more personal experience, but at the time it was nothing but stressful, especially when the items were hot. Few people are more aggressive and physical than last-minute Christmas shoppers. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a dad who learns this lesson the hard way while trying to win back his son’s affection by trying to get him the ever-popular Turbo Man action figure he wants for Christmas. This movie exemplifies a very ‘90s conflict and is guaranteed to remind you why you love Amazon so much.
TRADING PLACES (1983)
MMIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) It seems like the younger the person is, the less likely they are to go back and watch old movies. I get it, sometimes even the most iconic classics can feel dated, but they’re still classics for a reason. Today, Christmas movies are a dime a dozen, but back in the day, that wasn’t really the case. Miracle on 34th Street holds up just as good as any movie you can find from the ‘40s. It follows Kris Kringle, an old man who claims to be Santa Claus. Once beloved by many, people begin questioning his mental health. The name “Kris Kringle” stuck so well that it has since become interchangeable with Santa Claus. This movie has become so popular that TNT and TBS have been airing a 24-hour marathon of it every Christmas since 1997. Each year it’s the easiest movie to find. Everyone remembers a toy on their wishlist as a kid that they begged their parents for incessantly. For little Ralphie, that toy is a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle BB gun. He’d give anything for it, and the more he hears, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid,” the more he wants it. A sleeper hit upon its original release, A Christmas Story has accumulated a rabid cult following over the years due to its nostalgic themes and often dark humor.
20 A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)
Lifestyles don’t get more opposite than those portrayed by Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in this holiday classic. Critics have called this the movie that brought back the screwball comedies of the ‘30s and ‘40s. Already known for his SNL tenure and hilarious comedy specials, this film helped turn Murphy into one of the biggest and most bankable box office stars of the ‘80s. The ultimate story about nature versus nurture, Aykroyd’s character, because of a bet between the brothers who own the brokerage firm he works for, trades places with Murphy’s—a broke street hustler willing to do whatever it takes to make a quick buck. If you love Christmas, then four of them sounds great...in theory. That is, until you have four separate families—all crazy in their own way—to make happy. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon’s characters are the perfect married couple, but this Christmas they have to do the impossible. Even the craziest of families can muster up a way to enjoy each other’s company this time of year. Everybody believes their family is nuts, which makes this so relatable. Having a big family is a blessing no matter how crazy they might be, especially around the holidays, and this movie is a good reminder of that.
18 FOUR CHRISTMASES (2008)
Just Friends/New Line Cinema/The Nightmare Before Christmas/Disney/Tim Burton WHY HIM? (2016)
Have you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend you waited until the holidays to introduce to your family? If not, it’s very possible you might someday. And if they’re anything like James Franco’s character in Why Him?, I’d recommend not waiting so long. Franco plays a rich, lovable, but over-thetop oddball. He’s very easy to like, unless, of course, he’s dating your daughter. Bryan Cranston plays the perfect straight-man/protective father. Franco’s desire to be liked by his girlfriend’s dad and Cranston’s refusal to give his approval is what really brings out the funny. You’d be hard-pressed to find an actor as born for a part as Billy Bob Thornton is as Willie T. Soke, a mall Santa by day, a thief by night, and a 24/7 sex-addicted alcoholic. As you can imagine, Bad Santa is very raunchy for a Christmas movie, but with Thornton as the lead we wouldn’t want it any other way. The funniest parts come when Willie meets a dimwitted little chubby boy named Thurman Merman. Thurman’s the nice, innocent type of kid who can’t help but attract bullies. When Willie finds out Thurman’s parental situation is a bit shaky, he develops a soft spot for the kid that you can clearly tell is out of character for him. As far as black comedies go, this is a very hard one to top.
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Miracle on 34th Street/20th Century Studios/A Christmas Story/MGM/Bad Santa/Sony/Dimension Films/Trading Places/Paramount/Four Christmases/Warner Bros./Why Him?/20th Century Studios
JUST FRIENDS (2005)
This is one of those movies that can really be watched any time of year if you’re into rom-coms. However, the snow, the caroling, and the decorations make it that much better to watch come December. Long before Ryan Reynolds ever graced us with his iconic role as Deadpool, he still had that same dry humor and undeniable charm. In Just Friends, he plays a guy who used to be the fat kid in high school. He got friend-zoned by the girl of his dreams (Amy Smart), and now, ten years later, he reluctantly returns to his home town as a certified dime piece: a thin and handsome LA hotshot on the outside, yet the same lovestruck fat kid on the inside. As far as Christmas rom-coms go, this one ranks towards the top.
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THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
Few people do Christmas quite like Tim Burton, and this movie is a prime example of that. Its unique goth style has helped keep it relevant throughout the years. Few movie characters have been tattooed on people’s bodies as often as the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, and his love interest, Sally. Although the film’s style is very much Halloween (the town they live in is even called Halloween Town), but with the Christmas subject matter, this is a great one to watch either time of year.
BNATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989) This is the third in the original trilogy of National Lampoon’s Vacation series starring Chevy Chase. Another family holiday classic, this comedy has more of a slapstick style of humor than the rest on this list. Chase is one of the best comedic actors of all time, never more evident than in his portrayal of the cynical every-dad Clark Griswold. This one focuses a lot less on the vacation aspect than the previous installments, but still the perfect way to end the trilogy. You don’t have to watch the first two films to laugh at and enjoy this one.
ADAM SANDLER’S EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS (2002)
Almost every entry on this list is Christmas related. This one, however, is Adam Sandler’s gifts\ to the Jews. The film, the title of which comes from perhaps Sandler’s most famous SNL bit, “The Chanukah Song,” is an animated comedy/musical about an alcoholic troublemaker in desperate need of some holiday spirit. Not only does the comedian voice several characters, including the lead, he also co-writes and produces the film, which includes a hilarious soundtrack to go with it.
The story has been retold at least dozens of times, but Bill Murray’s version of Ebenezer Scrooge is without a doubt the best of the bunch. In a spin on the Charles Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, Murray’s Frank Cross is a cold, arrogant, and extremely successful TV executive who plans to stage a live production of A Christmas Carol all the while living out a variation of the story in his own real life. This modern take on the 1843 novella would end up being a big box office success, in large part thanks to its lead actor. Don’t get me wrong, the writing and directing are very good, but what Murray is able to bring to his character is the difference between a good movie and a holiday classic.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation/Warner Bros./Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights/Happy Madison/Sony/Columbia/Scrooged/Paramount/Batman Returns
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SCROOGED (1988) BATMAN RETURNS (1992)
Since we at SPO!LER love our superheroes, it’s only right this movie makes the list. Another one of Burton’s fringe Christmas films, Batman Returns is given a unique environment for a superhero movie as the director uses the holiday as a backdrop for the story. If you like superhero movies anyway, this one does a great job of incorporating the holiday spirit, even if it does so with a dark outlook. It also has a star-studded cast surrounding Michael Keaton in the title role, with actors like Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Devito, and Christopher Walken all holding down strong supporting roles.
THE NIGHT BEFORE (2015)
While most great holiday movies focus on family, The Night Before focuses on friends, and how over time you’re bound to grow apart. That doesn’t mean you have to lose touch or can’t hang out. Of course you can. But a spouse, some kids, and a career make it much harder to do so. That’s just life, and that’s what’s so relatable about this movie. What’s funny about it, aside from its kickass trio of leads (Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anthony Mackie), is that these three grown men spend the night acting like high schoolers just trying to party, smoke weed, and do drugs. It’s everything you’d want and expect out of a Seth Rogen comedy, only this time it all goes down on Christmas Eve.
GO (1999)
Loaded with familiar faces, this is one of those movies that you can instantly tell is from the ‘90s. Its use of crime and dark humor, and the way it’s told from multiple points of view is very Tarantino-esque.
It’s much more fun if you don’t know the plot ahead of time, but just imagine the troubled, post-high school youth of the late-’90s, a Christmas Eve rave, and an excessive amount of drug use. Topped off with an ecstasy dealer in a Santa hat, played by Timothy Olyphant, this is a fun movie to watch any time of year, but if you haven’t seen it before, there’s no better time than now. SThis is Tim Burton’s 3rd film on this list, and without a doubt the weirdest of the bunch, which really says something. Some people might consider “weird” an insult, but I’m using it here as a total complement. I love weird, I love Johnny Depp, and I love Edward Scissorhands, which blends fantasy, suburban America, and a dash of Frankenstein. You have to watch the film to get a real feel for its Christmas themes, but the fact that it’s one of Depp’s most iconic roles is reason enough to go watch it.
DC/Warner Bros./The Night Before/Columbia/Sony/Go/Columbia/Edward Scissorhands/20th Cenury Studios/Tim Burton/Gremlins/Warner Bros.
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EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990) GREMLINS (1984)
More black comedy than horror, I’d still rank Gremlins as the creepiest movie on the list (all due respect to Tim Burton). A young man is given a mysterious little creature known as a mogwai as a Christmas present from his dad. There are three rules to caring for a mogwai: no sunlight, no water, and no feeding it after midnight. By the time these rules are all broken, there’s a pack of “gremlins” running around town destroying the neighborhood on Christmas Even like a bunch of savages. Holiday Special Edition 2021| I 91
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die hard (1988)
For years people have debated whether or not Die Hard is considered a Christmas movie. While I can see both sides of the argument, the events in the film all go down on Christmas Eve, in the middle of a Christmas party no less, so I’d say it fits the criteria. 32 years and about 37 sequels later (no, really!), John McClane is still one of the most well-known action heroes of all time. It takes a special kind of badass to walk on broken glass barefoot while carrying an automatic weapon and hunting down terrorists. Lucky for the franchise, Bruce Willis is the perfect man for the job.
THE SANTA CLAUSE (1994) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
If you haven’t seen The Santa Clause in a while, it’s easy to forget that *SPOILER ALERT* Tim Allen kills Santa. It was an accident and it wasn’t bloody or graphic, buuut ...Santa still got killed ...in a Disney movie. It’s pretty hilarious, really.
There’s also a lot of body shaming for today’s standards as Allen’s character eventually and inadvertently turns into Santa Claus himself. I think it’s all in good fun, but apparently there are some people on the internet who disagree. Regardless, I definitely recommend putting this one on your “must watch” list.
Die Hard/20th Century Studios/Disney/The Santa Clause/Disney/Buena Vista/How the Grinch Stole Christmas/ Universal/Dr. Seuss/Elf/New Line Cinema/Home Alone/Hughes Entertainment/20th Century Studios
Originally a book, then a cartoon TV special from 1966, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was finally made into a live-action film in 2000 when Jim Carrey and director Ron Howard teamed up to give us this instant classic, which is still new enough that its popularity hasn’t waned. Even with a box office duo like this, it seems like a big gamble, but, as we’ve seen, an even bigger payoff. Carrey’s balance of comedic genius and unhinged goofiness is why it’s hard to imagine anybody else in the role.
elf (2003)
Will Ferrell has delivered some classic characters over the last 20 years, but few, if any, have hit quite like Buddy the Elf in this hilarious Christmas movie for all ages. Buddy’s a grown man who thinks he’s an elf, so obviously it’s pretty damn goofy. And if you like goofy, this will be sure to make your sides hurt. The part when Buddy accuses a man of being one of Santa’s little helpers is one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen in my life. Even if the silly humor isn’t your thing, this one’s so good that you should just give it a watch, for Christmas’ sake!
SI can’t say everybody would have these films at #1, but if you were born in the ‘80s or ‘90s, there’s no way at least one of the Home Alone movies doesn’t crack your top 3. The two films are so good I grouped them together, since you really can’t have one without the other. Written by the late John Hughes—a man who has written more classic movies than you can count on two hands—Home Alone stars Macaulay Culkin in easily the most iconic role of his career, a crafty little kid named Kevin McCallister who is accidentally left at home as his family goes away on vacation. Then there’s Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern who are absolutely hysterical as the two clumsy burglars that try to invade Kevin’s house when they think no one is there. There are so many iconic scenes between these two movies that you literally lose count.
HOME ALONE 1 & 2 (1990, 1992)
the harder they fall
DIRECTED BY: Jeymes Samuel / CAST: Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Idris Elba
Don’t let the Jay-Z-ladened soundtrack fool you. Jeymes Samuel’s feature-length debut The Harder They Fall might invent a brand new story, but as the opening text reads, “These. People. Existed.,” referring to the ensemble of real-life historical Black figures represented in the film. Experts now estimate that between 20 to 25% of cowboys in the American West during the 19th century were Black, and so Samuel’s story about two feuding Black outlaw gangs and the lawmen who aid them is no modernized subversion. Of course, the movie has its expected modern touches thrown in, but usually they serve the plot or its aesthetic.
We open as a 10-year-old boy, Nat Love, watches his parents brutally murdered by local outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba). Some years later, this boy has become an outlaw of his own, played by Jonathan Majors, set out to exact his revenge on the man who scarred him for life. Instead of robbing banks and trains, Love and his gang simply steal from the other criminals. But in the eyes of the law, which in this film is played by the affable Delroy Lindo, it’s all the same.
Nevertheless, Lindo’s Marshal Bass Reeves takes somewhat of a liking to Love and, after hearing of Buck’s release from prison, wants to see the ruthless killer behind bars once again—or better yet, dead. Reeves and Love join forces, along with Love’s gang, which consists of his sharpshooter Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi), quickdraw Jim Beckwourth (RJ Cyler), Love’s formerly-estranged former lover Mary Fields (Zazie Beetz), who now owns and operates a chain of successful saloons, and her confidant Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler), against Buck and his, featuring the likes of his own quickdraw Cherokee Bill (Lakeith Stanfield) and roughneck lover Trudy Smith (Regina King)—all real personages from the American West, but other than Buck, Smith, and Cherokee Bill, none of them were actual outlaws.
Rather than take on a revisionist story or attempt to evolve the genre, Samuel sticks with a more traditional premise that he infuses with killer tension and a crisp lens. The characters live in Black towns— distinguished from White towns by their colorful, freshly-painted buildings—and so the story almost entirely concerns their matters with other Black people. White folks also exist in this world, but almost exclusively as hoity-toity
racist snobs, lampooned as such for comedy.
The Harder They Fall is perhaps, at times, too focused on its story, but Samuel’s dynamic worldbuilding is some of the best you’ll find in modern depictions of the Old West, anachronistic reggae fusion and all. Tonally more along the lines of a Quentin Tarantino neo-Western with snappy dialogue and tongue-incheek banter built into a screenplay by Samuel and Boaz Yakin, this movie still always feels fresh. The director opts out of the teal and orange coloring of concurrent period pieces, proving that perhaps that trendy tint is not only unnecessary, but a hindrance for us to get a tangible feel for the era. With the help of cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr. (The Master, Jojo Rabbit), Samuel complements his anamorphic widescreen ratio (2.39:1) and makes the most of his depth-of-field and rack focuses to obtain a vividly immersive response from the audience that, paired with the evocative set design, toys with expressionistic aesthetics.
As the high-stakes chess match between Love and Buck comes to fruition, we experience a rewarding climax featuring some of the best gunplay since Django Unchained, with a mix of smooth choreographed sequences and messy, naturalistic free-for-alls, even if it all goes on for a tad bit too long.
Majors has a daunting screen presence and is undeniably convincing as our admirable hero. His counterpoint in the picture is Elba, who brings an unwarranted humanity to Rufus Buck—cold, yet pensive. The actors share only two scenes together, but both instances are immensely gripping and weighty, reminiscent of the pair of providential meetings between Jack Nicholson and John Huston in 1974’s Chinatown.
Love is a kind and generous outlaw, only living this life of crime because of a personal vendetta; a mere reverberation of someone else’s evildoings. Whereas Buck, presumably motivated by more toxic and insidious trauma early in his life, is a cruel and unscrupulous killer.
Samuel crafts his themes ingeniously. Prior to coming full circle with these fateful ideas directly, he’s able to hint at the influence of a father on a young boy and how that affects who he will become. The result is a climax not just of plot, but of motifs.
Hall is another standout as the impervious Trudy, employing a uniquely complex accent that the actress is able to lock in for the duration. Her own dueling matchups with Beetz are both enlightening and wickedly fun to watch.
Toeing that line between fun, angry, and thought-provoking, the film doesn’t just hit all three marks, but allows them to complement one another. One of the prettiest looking Westerns in several years, The Harder They Fall might be one of the best recent examples of how the genre can still survive without its format needing to be challenged.
a
army of thieves
DIRECTED BY: Matthias Schweighöfer / CAST: Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee
With Matthias Schweighöfer, who plays Ludwig Dieter, the eccentric safecracker from this year’s Army of the Dead, filmmaker Zack Snyder knew he had something special on his hands. As a relatively unknown actor in America, Schweighöfer is one of the few standouts in the ensemble cast and could very easily carry his own film with his charm alone. As fate would have it, the comedic relief side-character turns out to be a formidable leading man in the standalone prequel, Army of Thieves. He’s the reason why even when the jokes don’t always land, we still have a smile on our faces.
It turns out “Ludwig Dieter” is just an alias. Prior to changing his O. Fee), a getaway driver (Guz Khan), and a macho action hero (Stuart Martin)—in a stylish introduction sequence that ensures we know everyone involved is ultracool. Everyone except Sebastian, whose fish-out-of-water role supplies both the humor and the conflict.
Schweighöfer not only stars in Army of Thieves but leads the way behind the camera as well. Safecracking is key to any good heist, but also not terribly exciting. Fortunately, the director ensures that we see all the beautiful and elaborate intricacies of the three safes’ interiors as Sebastian attempts to unlock them—from easiest to hardest. And while the first heist focuses on just Sebastian and the safe, the last two are given some energy by crosscutting them with simultaneous events happening elsewhere.
The increase in difficulty of the three safes is also paralleled with Sebastian’s unlocking of his own assertiveness. Schweighöfer is not
name when moving to the United States some years earlier, Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert practices safecracking as a hobby in his home country of Germany. That is, until one of his instructional YouTube videos is discovered by master thief Gwendoline Starr (Nathalie Emmanuel), who invites him to the safecracking-equivalent of a cage match, in which he beats out the reigning champ.
Gwendolyn discovers that Sebastian is one of the leading experts in the esoteric story of legendary locksmith Hans Wagner and his “Ring Cycle” of four purportedly uncrackable safes, all inspired by composer Richard Wagner’s four-opera Der Ring des Nibelungen. Three of the safes have been hidden at three separate European banks, but the fourth safe— the one in which Wagner entombed himself to die—is missing.
Sebastian meets the rest of Gwendolyn’s team—a hacker (Ruby
only a naturally charismatic lead, but he gets some added sympathy through his skilled acting chops. Believable as the pathetic loner, he also has hints of self-confidence early on that make his evolution feel fluid. Conversely, Gwendolyn sees her own impenetrable wall open up as she allows herself to become more vulnerable as she falls for Sebastian. Emmanuel and Schweighofer’s chemistry is surprisingly palpable.
The dark and rainy European setting, elevated with beautiful establishing shots by cinematographer Bernhard Jasper, gives us the sense of an earlier time period. And if it weren’t for the computer hacking, YouTube channel, and a throwaway reference to Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (and a loose connection to the apocalyptic Army of the Dead), it could very well have been. Schweighöfer keeps the modern technology to a minimum while bringing out the timeless essence of his story.
If Army of the Dead crumbles under its own ambition, Army of Thieves lands a direct hit. Schweighöfer, utilizing a script from the returning Shay Hatten, remains focused on his premise, refraining from heavy subplots—for better or worse— but does a great job proving to us he doesn’t need one, with kinetic storytelling and a dynamic A-plot filled with deep symbolism surrounding the safes, the mythology they keep, and how they mirror/ portend the events in this film.
There is a tangential strand about the detective who’s chasing after the criminals, but we never get more than we absolutely need, and it always adds an additional layer to the heists themselves by providing the viewer with a quasi-surrogate. Not only does Jonathan Cohen as Delacroix deliver some of the funniest lines of dialogue as the bumbling (and misleadingly incompetent) Interpol agent, but he balances the film’s tension in a way that none of the direct foils are capable of.
While Sebastian and Gwendoline are both very intriguing characters, their three cohorts are essentially flat—mere chess pieces put in place to either stir up the pot or move forward the plot. Likewise, the poorly written jokes make for unrealistic dialogue, suffering from Abundant Straight Man Complex, as though the writers thought that deadpan reactions to Sebastian’s quirks were the only ways to get laughs. The film throws in some heist genre parody as well, which also probably plays much better on paper.
Luckily, charm and humor are two different things. Army of Thieves is funniest (and funnest) when it’s not trying to be, through the overzealous enthusiasm of its lead and his saltof-the-earth interpretation of this sleek, Ocean’s Eleven-type world into which he’s been immersed. With the inclusion of a few heartbreaking and emotional moments, Schweighöfer keeps his movie relatable while making it feel appropriately epic in scope (even more so than its doomand-gloom predecessor), keeping a lean narrative that doesn’t overreach its grasp or make us want to look at our watches, despite the 129-minute runtime. a-
the elephant man (1980)
A biopic so audacious you forget that it’s based on the life of a real person, The Elephant Man, David Lynch’s sophomore effort, features simple overhead shots of cobblestone streets in 19th-century London that establish atmosphere in a way that most movies’ elaborate set pieces can’t. Following a young man named John Merrick (John Hurt) who was born with a severe deformity that’s earned him the pejorative nickname “the elephant man,” the Best Picture nominee draws the thin, yet distinct line between gawking with earnest curiosity and doing so to ridicule. The former, regardless of initial intent, can eventually yield kindness just from cracking open that door, allowing change to take place because of it.
Laughed at by some as a sideshow attraction and feared by others as a monster, John is eventually taken in by Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), who at first wants to examine him for scientific purposes, but soon becomes very close friends with the patient, helping him find confidence to be himself and actually live life. This has a contagious effect on everyone else, eventually leading to many people of high society wanting to get to know John and accepting him despite his appearance. The movie also touches on the power celebrity has on influencing society, the arbitrary means by which we define that celebrity, and how the oddity of John Merrick is not dissimilar to that of an aristocratic elite.
John is housed in the attic space of the London Hospital, which overlooks the top of the
AT THE MOVIES cathedral, of which the belltower is all he is able to see. It all sparks comparisons to Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. This, of course, is an alternate take to the 1831 novel, as John’s caretaker is much gentler and kinder than the pernicious Claude Frollo is to the deformed Quasimodo, although both men exploit their subjects in their own ways. However, Dr. Treves is still ultimately driven to do good, even if that good is dormant and subconscious at first—and under the pretense of selfish gain.
Hopkins is spectacular, effortlessly switching between both relaxed colloquialisms and a proper professional lilt depending on his environment. His co-star is equally as brilliant. Underneath all that makeup, you can still feel Hurt’s energy and, even more importantly, his soul. He’s able to evolve a character who requires choices that are big, yet selective. Every decision he and Hopkins make is spot-on.
“My life is full because I know that I’m loved.” For the climax, Treves fulfills a goal of John’s by taking him to see a stage play of Puss in Boots. It’s here where John is finally able to be the spectator himself; no longer the spectacle as he watches an anthropomorphized animal on stage who’s dressed like a man—the opposite of him, a man who had been degraded to the lowly status of an animal. After the finale, John’s famous actress friend comes out and dedicates the performance to him, earning John a standing ovation from the crowd. Finally, he is cheered for his resilient spirit rather than laughed at for his involuntary deformity. It’s these touches from Lynch that make this film arguably his best ever; the director’s purest piece of cinema.
Endlessly touching and thoughtprovoking, The Elephant Man is just as much an advocate for empathy and charity, especially when it’s difficult, as it is a victory of the human spirit by a horrifically deformed man who just desperately wants to be like everyone else—a dream which is found, in its own way, from the compassion of others. And lo, Treves doesn’t just change John’s life, but John changes his—a strong case for the incalculable value of life no matter what the circumstance.
the electrical life of louis wain
DIRECTED BY: Will Sharpe / CAST: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough
It’s as though Benedict Cumberbatch was made to star in period biopics, to the point where he almost seems out of place in movies set in modern day. The London-born actor has had his fair share of projects that require him to dress and act like he’s from earlier eras, but it always seems so effortless because he looks like he’s from another time to begin with.
Cumberbatch’s latest pair of films have given into those leanings. With the 1920s-era Western The Power of the Dog, he’s already earned some Oscar buzz for how he’s stretched our expectations of his range as an actor, but in the whimsical Victorian piece, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, the role almost feels too easy for him.
Set in late-19th-century England, Cumberbatch plays underachieving Renaissance man Louis Wain, who is the sole breadwinner for his mother and five sisters following his father’s death. His main gig is as an artist for a local magazine, where he’s commissioned to draw pictures of animals and scenery from various events. He doesn’t take his craft too seriously though, and has much more of an interest in science and music, among other things. However, it’s sketching that he’s best at and so it’s sketching that pays the bills.
He marries his family’s governess, Emily (Clarie Foy), much to the chagrin of his sisters because of how her lower class goes against the standards at that time. Nevertheless,
the two move to a countryside home away from the judgement and pressures of city life. It’s there that they discover a small kitten in their backyard, who they take in as a pet and name Peter. Louis begins drawing pictures of Peter as a way to help his wife cope with her recent diagnosis of breast cancer.
With this news, paired with the fact that his magazine job is now in jeopardy due to the growing accessibility of photography, which is quickly replacing illustrations, Louis suddenly finds his blissful world crashing down around him. Emily suggests he submit his cat pictures to his boss (Toby Jones), which are surprisingly accepted as a novelty to fill up the empty Christmas pages. The images, featuring an anthropomorphized Peter doing human things such as playing golf or sitting at a dinner table, are a huge hit, so much so that Louis is
The most engaging part of the film is the first half, which turns this historical biopic into a romantic comedy of the most unexpected degree, with inspired and authentic moments of humor tethered to an honest emotional core, despite the sociopathic tendencies of our lead. One of my favorite directorial moments of the year comes when Emily (not an artist) attempts to paint a picture of herself. When Louis sneaks a peak, we see his subjective vantage point as though we (i.e., the camera) are his character. Upon catching a glimpse of her sad artistic progress, we can’t help but laugh ourselves, even though we don’t see Louis do so. And it’s not until Emily admonishes him for his flippant reaction that we realize we’ve been tricked by our filmmaker, who has cleverly fused our own perception with that of the protagonist.
Unfortunately, the narrative takes a bit of a dip following a tragedy in the second act, not because the story becomes less interesting after that, but because too much time (half the movie) is spent on the back nine of Wain’s life. Director and co-writer Will Sharpe (along with Simon Stephenson) abandons the comedic elements for a much more somber tone, which may match that of its protagonist but also partially betrays any of the viewers who had attached themselves because of it. Sharpe does his best to make
eventually able to change society’s perspective on the “ridiculous” animals that had previously been deemed by most as unworthy of domestication.
In our modern world, it’s impossible to think any differently, but prior to Wain’s artistry, having cats as pets was considered preposterous.
However, Louis found the connection between cats and humans, exposing their vulnerabilities as well as their hesitations. As Emily puts it, “They’re silly and cuddly and lonely; frightened and brave, like us.” There were definitely feline advocates in 19thcentury London, but like a lot of great art, Wain’s portraits gave awareness and wider exposure to parts of culture that were niche and hidden.
these later scenes interesting with abstract flourishes that he only ever toys with early on. But the picture eventually becomes less focused on story development than it does on characters’ reactions to plot details, paired here with the cerebral intake of themes, for better or worse.
Wain was alleged to have schizophrenia later in life, something that has become disputed by historians. And while the film never takes definitive sides in this debate, despite evolving into kaleidoscopic imagery for much of the last third, Sharpe concerns himself less with giving his own opinion and more with the ways in which the artist was able to make human connections throughout his life.
The title refers to Wain’s description of the energy he continues to feel in everything he experiences in life; it’s around him when he spends time with his wife and their cat, or when he sees people interact with one another in the street. Little does he know, this “electricity” is commonly known as “love” to others.
Sharpe and his cinematographer Erik Wilson do a brilliant job crafting this gradual ethereality, exemplified in a scene of clever camera work that imitates the rocking of a ship—a symbol of a near-drowning experience Louis faced as a child—or later when he places his character in these impressionist landscape portraits, in which the audience is not entirely sure what is real and what isn’t.
Where most movies such as this meditate on the personal connection art has with the observer, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain captures the effect it has on the creator as well. The film beautifully exhibits a man who may not have wanted to be an artist to begin with, but because his talent kept him financially afloat, he settled into the role and incidentally became inspired, ultimately unlocking his true creativity through emotional trauma and indescribable pain. In a strange way, Louis battled his loneliness with his illustrations because of the impact they had on others. At times all it takes is somebody who can see the world differently. Louis Wain didn’t just find the beauty in what was there, but in what wasn’t. And his biggest revelation may have been that he was always an artist, even if he had previously written it off as merely a fortunate skill. a-
red notice
DIRECTED BY: Rawson Marshall Thurber / CAST: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot
Amidst the mid-fall deluge of summer blockbusters making their way to streaming platforms, Netflix has released their very own big budget action flick, Red Notice, starring a triumvirate of stars that seem to just randomly show up in movies like this, good or bad, every year or so (although, for one of them, those movies typically come in the form of DC comic book adaptations). As generic and bland as the trailer (and the poster) would have you assume it is, there’s a lot of personality in Red Notice, a film that also happens to bring the most out of its three leads, whose own individual genericism may get transcended here as well.
We open with a sequence featuring Dwayne Johnson, as FBI agent John Hartley, chasing down notorious art thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) in Rome after he steals one of the three legendary golden eggs that Marc Antony gave his lover, Cleopatra, two thousand years ago. Booth eventually gets caught in another country where he’s shipped off to a maximumsecurity prison and the egg back to the museum—that is, before it’s intercepted by Booth’s rival thief, known only as “The Bishop” (Gal Gadot), who switches the egg with a fake and intentionally frames the law-abiding Hartley in the process.
Interpol agent Inspector Das (Ritu Arya), who apparently can’t figure out that the Bishop’s motives to frame Hartley are incredibly strong, doesn’t believe Hartley’s story and sends him to the same prison as Booth. Together, the two former adversaries team up to escape their fortress so they can get to the other two eggs before the Bishop. Booth wants the bragging rights and the money, of course, but Hartley just wants to clear his name and take down the Bishop in the process.
There’s a lot riding on coincidence in Red Notice, written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, in order for it to work, becoming even trickier with the unveiling of a WTF twist in the final act. The revelation, while clean and (mostly) plausible, opens up a few plot holes in the process. But more importantly, it undoes a lot of the emotional stakes cultivated over the course of the movie, ultimately sacrificing heart for its pitch-room hook.
Pulling inspiration from various movies, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Fugitive, Rush Hour, Wild
Things, and the entire Fast & Furious franchise—with unfortunate green screen effects similar to the Will Ferrell disaster Land of the Lost—Red Notice may get under the skin of certain viewers, especially those looking for a slightly fresher premise than, “Three household names play cat-and-mouse while hunting for ancient treasures.” But there’s a definite appeal to the popcorn action which features a great deal of spunk and humor. And despite any umbrella pretenses, the ride to the finish line is still a lot of fun.
Red Notice would be an otherwise scenic tour of exotic destinations if these locales weren’t obscured so much by the mere question of a green (or blue) screen. Even something as simple as the interior of a boxcar train or a sandy beach gets interchanged with shots of actors in front of what’s essentially a three-dimensional photograph. I’ve been seeing this in a lot of movies made during the pandemic, and I would like it to stop.
Both Reynolds and Johnson have always been very good at having authentic rapport no matter who their co-stars have been over the years. And despite already showing brief glimpses with one another in Hobbs & Shaw, the pair makes a good comedic duo here. Reynolds is such a believable scoundrel and is given quite the arc over the course of the movie. And although Johnson’s eyebrows are far more animated than any straight man in history (or leading man, for that matter), he bounces off of Reynolds’ flippant quips and occasional adlibs without needing to outshine him in that regard.
Gadot is not featured as much as the marketing would have you think, but she creates a necessary counterweight and tension—as irritating as her character is at times—for the other two in order to drive their urgency throughout the occasionally imaginative (aka convenient) plot.
The director’s knack for generational comedies, such as Dodgeball and We’re the Millers, shines through amidst the same kind of sanitized gloss that has pervaded past movies from all three of these actors. But this time, there’s more to it. There’s an identity established with the cleverly staged fight choreography, the string of heists of different varieties, and the controlled humor that’s seamlessly integrated into everything else, never once disrupting the tonal balance. Thurber is a filmmaker who knows how to bottle up a tone and sprinkle it amongst his smooth narrative flow, no matter what the studio wants to do on the marketing side.
There are several Fast & Furious wannabes that will only ever hope to be turned into a successful franchise, but this is one of the few I think could actually pull it off, simply because it has the colossal personality and hubris to do so— and that’s something you can only really get with actors who have it built into their DNA. Despite all the unrealistically well-timed entrances and sleek costuming, both of which are only emblematic of the film’s refusal to betray the coolness of any of its stars, Red Notice ultimately prospers because of the same charms that made them cool to begin with.
b
love hard
DIRECTED BY: Hernan Jimenez / CAST: Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang, Darren Barnet
Thanks to the Hallmark Christmas fodder that’s become some sort of self-embracing staple of the holiday season each year, yuletide romantic comedies of any kind have been stigmatized even more than they already were before. With dozens released annually, these made-for-TV movies have become a cautionary tale for what happens when quality control takes a backseat to sheer volume. Yet it’s clear why these films still come out at such a high clip: People watch them. For some, they’re guilty pleasures to be viewed ironically, perhaps with a couple drinks and plenty of company. For others, they’re quixotic escapes to places seemingly far better than here. But no matter who you are, there’s no denying that these cloying and overly expository tales are nothing close to reality.
While not produced by Hallmark in any facet, Hernán Jiménez’s own take on the Christmas romcom still checks all the same boxes at first glance. Love Hard follows a dating columnist, Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev), who continues to get disappointed by the men she meets, whose unvarnished, reallife personas don’t match up with their much more impressive profiles on various dating apps. The story gets quickly propelled once its protagonist finally finds the perfect guy after broadening her location range to include matches outside of her own zip code in Los Angeles.
That’s when she meets Josh, an attractive, deep, down-to-earth dreamboat who lives in New York. Though she hasn’t met him in person, he sends her personalized photographs to prove that it’s really him on the other end. These first 15 minutes are borderline unwatchable as Natalie and Josh have these long talks on the phone where they playfully argue about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie and joke with one another in a way that would only be humorous if you’re
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the evil dead (1981)
It’s been 40 years since Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead first premiered in a single Detroit theater in 1981 and continued to make the rounds of its grassroots release. But it has since become a paradigm for cult cinema and continues to influence the horror genre to this day. Never exactly reinventing the wheel, Raimi’s innate filmmaking vision and subversion of tones made the film one of a kind back then, still managing to surprise new audiences today.
Contrasting absolutely brilliant artsy shots with low-brow schlock and grainy pickup footage, Raimi revolutionizes the way filmmakers explore their sets and hold their scares. Still unlike most horror movies you’ll ever see, The Evil Dead is proof that during that era, comedy was inescapable in the genre—inherently embedded into even the most overtly serious premises. Never quite sure of the writer-director’s intent, we can’t help but chortle at least a few times during this raucous, yet dark spiral into chaos. With his use of certain comedic conventions that come off as more instinctual than they do self-aware, Raimi seems to embrace his own love of comedy just as much as he does his admiration for horror, inadvertently using zooms and angles that have traditionally been used throughout cinema to elicit laughs from an audience—not scares. Even his callbacks are playful.
Starring in the film about five
college kids who plan a weekend getaway at an old cabin, Bruce Campbell plays Ash Williams, the incidental Final Boy who almost seems to get arbitrarily chosen to be the one who wards off evil spirits and is built into a hero throughout the second act. Campbell was never great at delivering lines, which served him well for some of his later roles, laced more with self-parody, but his natural gift as a facial actor helps drive the last half of this film, which is just as much about one man’s paranoia as it is a tortuous display of him getting splooshed in the face with gratuitous pools of blood. However, Ash isn’t the only one suffering from relentless abuse. The audience is very much going through it with him.
If it weren’t for Raimi’s unforgiving editing, The Evil Dead would have been little more than an exhibition of a protagonist getting abused. Extending the grueling tussles between characters and the ugly creatures who are trying to take their souls, the director not only makes both the audio and visuals as unpleasant as possible, but also drags out these gross-out scenes for far too long (eventually a trope in horror-comedy) as though he’s simply curious what happens to an audience once they get past the point of uncomfortable and unsettled.
Perhaps less realized than its 1987 sequel, The Evil Dead is nearly as influential. Surprising us with how good it looks, constantly making us forget that this isn’t something put together or funded by a studio, the film manages to both embrace and transcend its low budget conceit simply by having pure genius behind the camera. already happy about the fact that you’re talking to someone attractive. I’m not saying these conversations aren’t realistic. I’m just saying they’re simply not something I’d want to be a fly on the wall for, even if they were happening in real life.
However, it’s as though Love Hard is intentionally deceiving us with this first act; tricking the audience into thinking that it is, in fact, just another Christmas love story akin to its Hallmark compatriots. Personally, I was getting ready to switch to something else entirely. But once Natalie lands in Lake Placid, New York to surprise Josh in person, it’s as though she’s been reassigned to a different, much more competent movie altogether. The cringe-worthy banter early on doesn’t match the good instincts on display throughout the rest of the film, nor does the phony veneered gloss match the aesthetic warmth employed once our protagonist leaves California. And so, the dreadful first 15 minutes are likely by design.
To achieve this quasi-sendup of made-for-TV C-movies, Love Hard convinces us that it’s still “another one of them.” Showcasing a down-on-herluck and, for all intents and purposes, generic heroine, and reducing its sexual mindset for a broader, more PG audience, this love story seems like it fits the mold on the surface. Yet, once you settle in, you’ll realize not only did the boilerplate first act justify itself, but that this is a film willing to take a few risks.
After only a couple of weeks, Natalie and Josh seem to be falling hard for one another. But when Natalie shows up at his house unexpectedly, her hunky, modellooking boyfriend turns out to be a less-attractive, nerdy, 30-year-old (aspiring) candle maker who still lives with his parents.
Apparently, because his actual dating profile wasn’t getting any hits, Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) used the photos of his childhood friend, Tag (Darren Barnet), instead of his own. After changing his picture, he reports 85 messages within the first hour. But what’s more absurd is that the face of the guy Natalie was crushing on (Tag) still lives in Lake Placid. And so, Natalie makes a deal with Josh that if he can help Tag fall in love with her, then she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend for Christmas so that his family won’t see him as a loser.
Once it gets rolling, Love Hard is far more than a guilty pleasure, providing an interesting premise and a few surprises along the way.
It has all the aesthetic trimmings of a comfort Christmas movie set in a small, snowy village, but with the addition of actual subtext and a refreshing restraint from spelling out every emotion felt by these characters. Jiménez, along with screenwriters Danny Mackey and Rebecca Ewing, rightfully judges Josh for his catfishing, but also sympathizes with him and shows the inherent flaws in society (let alone in a town where everyone knows everyone) that have helped make him this way. The film confronts the importance of looks weighed against personality, and how they each play into the aspirations of love vs. the idea of love.
These themes wouldn’t come across the same way had it not been for an emotionally honest and authentic performance by Yang. The actor fully buys into what’s happening with Josh as if he himself believes that his character’s fate is, in fact, always still up in the air. It helps that, despite setting itself up to be a cliché romcom filled with these characters who fit into archetypal slots, nearly each one is layered and lived-in, reaching far past any implied limitations put upon them.
While Josh is actually the more complex study, Natalie is an adequate leading lady in her own right. She might be the flattest character of them all, but that’s necessary to allow the others around her to evolve and grow. Dobrev lacks comedic conviction, but she’s good for this role, which asks more of her in an emotional capacity than a humorous one. We believe her self-reflection and compassion despite her making her own share of mistakes as well.
Love Hard:Netflix/The Evil Dead:New Line Cinema/Sam Raimi
Although she lambasts Josh for hiding behind a face, she hides behind a personality in order to get Tag to fall for her. While the overall dialogue could have used some touch-ups, we should credit Jiménez and the writers for making Natalie and Tag’s chemistry feel unsettling without resorting to cheap
awkwardness or turning Tag into an unlikable guy. A lesser film wouldn’t have figured out any alternative ways to get the job done.
If you can endure the awful first act, you’ll get rewarded with a Christmas story that features a clever, engaging plot and some
(but not too many) incredibly sweet moments that render moot the squirm-inducing clichés early on. Reminiscent of Matt Spicer’s 2017 masterpiece, Ingrid Goes West, about the two-way street of deception, Love Hard establishes more of a personal connection between the audience and its characters. It takes chances that might rub people the wrong way. After all, the premise is about a girl who befriends her online con artist and then spends Christmas sleeping in the same room as him. Somehow Jiménez makes it work. And this is also the kind of ballsy move that separates this film from the pack of holiday movies that favor sappiness for brains. Whether or not it matters to you that Josh had been a “nonmalicious” catfish, the movie isn’t wrong in informing us that he’s still just as worthy of love as our protagonist.
b
a man named scott
DIRECTED BY: Robert Alexander / CAST: Kid Cudi, Shia LaBeouf, Kanye West
It’s always a little odd when a documentary is made with little hindsight behind it. A lot has happened in the world—music or otherwise—since Kid Cudi’s 2007 underground hit “Day ’n’ Nite” made waves on Myspace and various hiphop blogs, but there’s no denying the innovative rapper/singer still has a lot of life ahead of him. It may be a mutual signifier of the lack of longevity in the rap world, but director Robert Alexander’s A Man Named Scott—a take on Cudi’s 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi (his real name is Scott Mescudi)— offers a look at all the rapper has accomplished in little more than a decade, closing a chapter in his life and almost refusing to look ahead to what’s next.
Released barely 5 years following his publicized stint in rehab for suicidal urges, the film shines light on how Cudi changed both the industry and the craft of hip-hop with his singsong cadences and introspective lyrics. The rapper once said, half-jokingly, in an interview with Arsenio Hall that if he had followed the normal braggadocio approach that had riddled the genre since before the Notorious B.I.G. rapped about sipping champagne when he’s thirsty, then “there would be no Drake.”
Picking up where Tupac Shakur left off in the ‘90s, Cudi showed the world with his 2009 debut album Man on the Moon that he was more than just another rapper. He was a prophet of sorts and offered catharsis for others with similar issues with confidence and selfworth. Blending his rap influences with the more vulnerable mindset of rock bands like Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins, the artist bent the rules of his realm by allowing outside influences to not only infiltrate the sound of his music, but the content.
In the documentary, Cudi is well aware of the ripple effect his open book approach has had on mainstream hip-hop, even if he could hardly be considered mainstream himself. Born from the nascent days of internet fame, Cudi parlayed that buzz into a record deal under Kanye West’s GOOD Music, but constantly refused to kowtow to the heads at the parent label who wanted his songs to have more commercial viability. Nevertheless, his influence on the genre can still be heard today, whether you like it or not, with the
likes of Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert, and, yes, Drake. “We single handedly infected the industry with that s--- in 2009, [which] sent a ripple effect through the whole entire industry... so, you’re welcome,” Cudi cheekily admits with a smirk to the camera, broken by a burst into laughter.
Admittedly, rap music has been in a precarious place the past ten years or so, and the film offers clarification
for anyone frustrated by the lack of MCs as we used to know them. But besides the audial divisiveness of modern-day mumblerap, Cudi’s impact was twofold. Referring to what he contributed on a substancelevel, he explicates, “I feel like the rap game needed more of that. Now it’s like you can’t even get a [record] deal unless you sing and talk about your emotions.”
Between presenting past footage as source material played on a cathode ray TV or as a clip on a computer screen, Alexander keeps the newly produced interviews in a controlled environment. Whether they’re held in various living rooms or ambiguously industrial spaces, the director locks in his look with lighting and palette in the way the best expository documentaries do.
Favoring a more organic unveiling of information, Alexander focuses less on Cudi’s big life events and more on stream-of-conscious sermons. He recruits an ensemble of big names who could be considered bellwethers in their own right, including Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Shia LaBeouf, Jaden Smith, ASAP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, and Timothée Chalamet, among others, who all, more often than not, speak in declamatory ramblings that contribute to the scrapbook aesthetic the director is going for with his horizontal split screens and non-linear narrative. It’s only LaBeouf’s personal account with Cudi that offers any sort of grounded dimension to the pontifications.
The others independently struggle to find words to paint a clearer picture of intangible sentiments regarding individuality and freedom of expression as they contribute to this near-hagiography of Kid Cudi—a uniformity that would have otherwise gone against the very individuality that’s being preached ad nauseam if it didn’t simultaneously make a good case for the mutual connection gained through art. Fortunately, the pairing of these more high-profile celebrities with the people behind the scenes—producers and engineers who helped formulate the musician’s sound—allows the film to ultimately
b-
consolidate into something deeper.
Covering the importance of reciprocal collaboration and expanding your horizons, and how those two things aren’t mutually exclusive, A Man Named Scott has a tendency of overreaching its grasp with its prismatic themes. Occasionally, the film even appears to stray from Cudi himself to become a portrait of art and the value of pushing boundaries, using its subject as a simple paradigm of expression. In his case, success may have very well been the enemy of authenticity, but he was fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who ultimately allowed him to be himself when it mattered. Most people aren’t so lucky to have that level of support, but many were able to do so vicariously through him.
A Man Named Scott is very much for the rapper’s many rabid fans who simply want to listen to contemporaries wax poetic about the very artist who “saved their lives”—a phrase repeated dozens of times, despite the importance behind those words. But the film also shows outsiders why Kid Cudi was so important to the genre, and why he should be respected and appreciated (and thanked).
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finch no time to die
a-
the last duel
b+
old henry
