A lot of material to get through, so strap yourselves in.<\/p>\n
Classics: New: A-<\/p>\n Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey<\/a><\/em> B+<\/p>\n The Holiday Movies That Made Us: Elf<\/a><\/em> C-<\/p>\n Dua Lipa: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert<\/a> A<\/p>\n Inception<\/a><\/em> A+<\/p>\n Bruce Springsteen\u2019s Letter To You<\/a><\/em> A- for the music\/B- for the spoken parts<\/p>\n How Tag Became a Professional Sport<\/a><\/em> A<\/p>\n The Vast of Night<\/a><\/em> B+<\/p>\n Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy<\/a><\/em> B+<\/p>\n Following Seas<\/a><\/em> B+<\/p>\n The Barkley Marathons<\/a><\/em> A-<\/p>\n WW84<\/a><\/em> C-<\/p>\n Bee Gee\u2019s: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart<\/a><\/em> A+ for the music, B for the content<\/p>\n Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo<\/a><\/em> A<\/p>\n Spies in Disguise<\/a><\/em> A<\/p>\n Scoob!<\/a><\/em>, B Casino Royale<\/a><\/em> , A
\nElf<\/a><\/em>, A+
\nNational Lampoon\u2019s Christmas Vacation<\/a><\/em>, A
\nA Christmas Story<\/a><\/em>, A
\nDie Hard<\/a><\/em>, A+
\nA Charlie Brown Christmas<\/a><\/em>, B
\nSouth Park: Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo<\/a><\/em>, A
\nThe Office<\/em>, see here<\/a><\/p>\n
\nHoliday Baking Championship<\/a><\/em>
\nLorenzo and Juliana were the most impressive competitors all season. Lorenzo is crazy talented for his age, and always taking his baking interesting angles. Juliana matched him, possesing amazing skills and creativity for a home baker. She was a worthy champion.<\/p>\n
\nTons of references\/influences, but somehow it all works. Not strictly a Christmas movie, but rather one that takes place at Christmas. But as a movie the entire family can watch together, it ends up being an ideal show for the season.<\/p>\n
\nThere is some good trivia in here about the holiday classic. But the way the information is presented made the show hard to watch. The producers tried to be way too clever in how they cut up the interviews and voiceovers.<\/p>\n
\nShorts, Shows, and Movies<\/h3>\n
\nOver the past couple years I\u2019ve given over the car radio to the girls, with some caveats. I\u2019ve put in a few \u201chits\u201d stations as favorites and we listen to those on rides to and from school. So I\u2019ve heard 8 million Post Malone, Lizzo, and Ariana plays over that span. A lot of the artists kind of run together. I knew Dua Lipa\u2019s name, but not sure I can always connect her name with her songs. I saw her on a lot of Best Of lists for both songs and albums for 2020, so when her Tiny Desk (Home) Concert popped up, I decided to give it a try. What a delightful performance! What a dynamic presence she has. Yes, she\u2019s tall and gorgeous with a fine voice. But what struck me most was how she carries herself with a glorious, bubbly confidence that more women in this world need.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m ashamed to admit I had not watched this until last month. It was a first class mind fuck and I loved it.<\/p>\n
\nA documentary companion to Bruce Springsteen\u2019s Letter to You<\/em> album, it showed the Boss and the E. Street Band in the studio last year banging the songs out. He still plays with a remarkable energy, but the man is 71, and it shows. The songs are still pretty great, but the sections when Bruce speaks suffer. He\u2019s always been long-winded. Thank goodness Bob Dylan told him back in the early \u201870s that he used too many words in his songs.<\/p>\n
\nThis is the good shit right here.<\/p>\n
\nA quirky, low-budget thriller set in late 1950s New Mexico and presented as if from a Twilight Zone<\/em> knock-off of the same era. Some parts of it, especially the end, are fabulous. And the camera work is excellent, with several exceptionally long takes. But other parts of it are very slow and keep this from being a great movie.<\/p>\n
\nBased on one of the greatest spy novels ever written, this was extremely difficult to follow for the first hour as it constantly jumps around. Sometimes a scene would include just a single spoken sentence before it leapt to a completely different shot. But it all comes together nicely as Gary Oldman finds a mole in the 1970s British intelligence service. Ironically I watched this just hours before John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s death was announced.<\/p>\n
\nA really interesting documentary about the Griffins, a family who spent most of the 1960s and early 1970s at sea. It is told from the perspective of the mother, Nancy, in interviews done in the final year of her life and almost entirely through the film they shot on their trips. I used to be fascinated by people who sailed around the world. It\u2019s pretty sobering to see how difficult life on a sailboat actually was.<\/p>\n
\nThe Barkley Marathons is an annual race in the woods and hills of eastern Tennessee. When this movie was shot, only ten people had ever completed its full 130 mile course within the 60 hour window. The filmmakers caught a break and saw three people finish this insane race, the winner breaking the previous record by over an hour. Even back when I ran a lot and had way more energy, I don\u2019t think I could have even completed even a single loop of this race.<\/p>\n
\nSo you have Gal Gadot, the woman for whom the term \u201cGalacticly Hot\u201d may have been invented. You have Kristen Wiig, one of the funniest people on the planet. And somehow you still make a movie that is plodding, bloated, and has you hoping for the finish not to see how it ends but so you can stop watching. Pedro Pascal was very good, but it\u2019s like he was acting in a completely different movie than everyone else. He was cartoonish and over-the-top where everything else was reserved and somber. A disappointment.<\/p>\n
\nI heard raves about this and since we have HBOMax for a month – we got it so L could watch WW84<\/em> – I figured I would check it out. I knew much of the Bee Gee\u2019s story already from a podcast I listened to a year or so back. But it was interesting to see interviews with the brothers rather than a narrator telling their story. I don\u2019t know that it breaks much new ground, and I\u2019m betting they had more struggles than just not getting along for a year or so in the early \u201870s. But the music, man\u2026 You can argue they are one of the most unfairly judged bands ever, given how they took the brunt of the backlash against disco. What they did from 1975\u20131979 was as good as any band outside the Beatles has ever done.<\/p>\n
\nI watched this about a year ago with L, when we were watching a bunch of space shows together. I was pushed to watch it again by the podcast listed below.<\/p>\n
\nThird time L and I have watched this in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
\nDoolittle<\/a><\/em>, B
\nOur New Year\u2019s Eve movies. Not great but not terrible either, and L enjoyed both, which was the point.<\/p>\n
\nBond<\/h3>\n
\nQuantum of Solace<\/a><\/em>, B
\nSkyfall<\/a><\/em>, A
\nSpectre<\/a><\/em>, C
\nGoldfinger<\/a><\/em>, C+
\nI went on a mini-Bond run right after Christmas, re-watching the Daniel Craig movies and capping it with a trip back to one of Sean Connery\u2019s best. That was a mistake; if you want to watch old Bonds you need to watch them on their own, not after watching a bunch of new ones. They look awfully dated and cheesy in comparison. I debated whether to watch From Russia With Love<\/em>, my favorite Connery edition, but decided not to ruin it. And somehow I don\u2019t think I had ever watched Spectre<\/em>. It was kind of a mess. Here\u2019s to No Time To Die<\/em> being more like Casino Royale<\/em> and Skyfall<\/em>, my two favorite Bond films, and ending the Craig era properly.<\/p>\n
\nAudio<\/h3>\n