With the Thanksgiving Weekend festivities, I chose to just relax and enjoy the holiday but that means I didn’t get around to any of the releases from last week. Now there’s a whole new crop of releases to kick off the final month of 2022 and I’ve still got plenty of films to review, so let’s do this!
December 1 (Thursday)
Troll (Netflix)
Director: Roar Uthaug | Writers: Espen Aukan, Uthaug
Stars: Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim Falck, Mads Sjøgård Petterson
A Norwegian Kaiju film that I can watch at home? I am so totally in! I wasn’t a fan of Roar Uthaug’s Tomb Raider because it felt contrived and kind of forced, lacking the sort of self-awareness of the Angelina Jolie offerings. But when you get offered that chance you take it. Anyhow, that isn’t going to be a problem with this movie where a giant and ancient creature wakes from dormancy to exact revenge (presumably) on humanity. I have a full calendar this weekend, but I will certainly find a time for it
A Wounded Fawn (Shudder)
Director: Travis Stevens | Writers: Stevens, Nathan Faudree
Stars: Sarah Lind, Josh Ruben, and Malin Barr
Somebody that I am connected to on social media has been promoting the release of this film on Shudder, but until today I didn’t really know anything about it other than the title. The trailer lets you know it’s a creepy strangler type movie but it looks like a 70s-style horror film, and that intrigues me. Shudder originals aren’t always good, but appreciate the platform and usually check them out regardless. That will likely be the case here.
December 2 (Friday)
*Violent Night (Theaters) – Editor’s Pick*
Director: Tommy Wirkola | Writers: Pat Casey, Josh Miller
Stars: David Harbour, Beverly D’Angelo, John Leguizamo
Santa Claus is coming to town and he’s ready to kick some ass. I am not confusing what the film is and neither is director Tommy Wirkola who did the Dead Snow movies and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. This is a pretty straightforward rated-R action comedy for adults that want to enjoy the holiday spirit in their own way. This kind of follows in the footsteps of 2020’s Fatman but with more of a classic representation of Santa. If I see anything this weekend, it’ll be this! Sometimes it’s perfectly fine to just enjoy something simple, silly, straightforward, and fun and that’s why I gave this my Editor’s Pick this week.
Spoiler Alert (Theaters)
Director: Michael Showalter
Writers: David Marshall Grant & Dan Savage, Michael Ausiello (book)
Stars: Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, and Sally Field
No holiday season is complete with a romantic comedy-drama that is meant to tug at the heartstrings while also being life-affirming. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) has made a ton of stuff that I enjoy so I am curious to see what he does with this. This is the first time I have seen Jim Parsons step into the lead outside of The Big Bang Theory so it will be interesting to see how he handles that. The early word hasn’t been the best, but I set the bar low for these types of films that target the holidays anyway.
Emancipation (Theaters & Apple TV+ Dec. 9th)
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Writer: Bill Collage
Stars: Will Smith, Ben Foster, and Charmaine Bingwa
This is the movie that kind of went into limbo after Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars. Smith turned down the lead in Django Unchained, if I remember correctly, and now he stars in this which seems like a cross between that and 12 Years a Slave. The whispers were that this was supposed to be very good and Antoine Fuqua usually does good work, but the Metacritic score is bad and the IMDB scores are even worse. All of that may be directly related to how Smith is viewed now. That actually makes me a bit more curious and I am always down to watch Ben Foster play the villain. My morbid curiosity will eventually get the best of me, but I think I can wait the week for it to come to AppleTV+ streaming.
2nd Chance (Theaters)
Written & Directed by: Ramin Bahrani | Stars: Richard Davis
Do you remember the guy who became a celebrity for shooting himself repeatedly to prove the effectiveness of his bulletproof vest designs? Yeah…me neither. However, this film takes a look at the life and persona of Richard Davis. Apparently, there’s a whole lot more to the story. I might wait for this to come to VOD but it looks a lot more interesting than I would have initially guessed.
The Eternal Daughter (Theaters + VOD)
Written & Directed by: Joanna Hogg
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Carly-Sophia Davies, Zinnia Davis-Cooke
Tilda Swinton pulls double duty playing dual roles as an artist and her elderly mother must face the secrets of their past when they return to what was once their family home. Swinton is one of those actors who I always have to pay attention to because of the eclectic nature of the roles she chooses and the undeniable skill of her craft. That sort of backfired with Memoria but I don’t regret seeing it. I can’t say the same for my sister and girlfriend who I dragged along with me. That said, I will see this one way or another.
Four Samosas (Theaters + VOD)
Written & Directed by: Ravi Kapoor
Stars: Venk Potula, Sonal Shah, and Sharmita Bhattacharya
I know almost nothing about this but I was getting some early Wes Anderson vibes from the trailer and that’s enough to get my interested. Maybe it’s just the matching tracksuits that seem like a direct nod to Anderson that has me feeling that way, but the trailer was funny. Fortunately this one is coming to VOD because I get the feeling it is going to be tough to find in theaters.
Framing Agnes (Theaters)
Director: Chase Joynt | Writers: Joynt, Morgan M. Page
Stars (archive footage): Carmen Carrera, Katie Couric, Laverne Cox
This documentary “turns the talk show format inside out in response to media’s ongoing fascination with trans people. The film breathes life into six previously unknown stories from the archives of the UCLA Gender Clinic in the 1950s.” I am not a fan of the reenactment style of storytelling and it looks like this doc takes some liberties with the presentation of what are real interview with real people who were talked to as part of that UCLA project. It tough to tell if that approach will make the film more of less impactful.
Hunt (Theaters)
Director: Lee Jung-jae | Writer: Jo Seung-Hee
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Jung Woo-sung, Heo Sung-tae
Fresh off the immediate and overwhelming success of Squid Game, Lee Jun-jae steps into the director’s chair and stars in this action spy thriller set in South Korea during the 80s. Apparently, there was some additional context added to the screening at Cannes to help audiences with Korean history and politics of the era, so I will be very curious to see how the story holds up if I am not privy to that information. This is certainly my kind of film for the most part so I imagine I will find my way to it at some point.
Nr. 10 (Theaters)
Written & Directed by: Alex van Warmerdam
Stars: Tom Dewispeleare, Frieda Barnhard, and Hans Kesting
Maybe it’s because of my recent re-watch of Brigsby Bear and its thematic elements, but this story has a little more resonance. A young boy is found in the woods and raised by a foster family where he goes on to live a normal life for 40 years, then a man on a bridge whispers one word that sends him searching for answers he didnt’ know he needed. I’m really intrigued by this concept and I want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Hopefully I can it somewhere because the trailer looks good.
Sr. (Netflix)
Director: Chris Smith
Stars: Paul Thomas Anderson, Alan Arkin, Mezi Atwood, Robert Downey, and Robert Downey Jr.
This documentary has been on the radar for a while and it’s just now getting it’s debut, on Netflix. I was under the impression this was a documentary that RDJ was making about his father and that seems true to some extent but Chris Smith is listed as the director and neither Jr. or Sr. are listed at the top of the cast. Nonetheless, as someone who lost their father at a young age, there’s something particularly intriguing about RDJ wanting to get to know his father in a more substantial way. There is some universal value there. I will make time for this.
WHAT ELSE IS NEW…
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Netflix)
Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Writers: David Magee (screenplay), D.H. Lawrence (based on the book)
Stars: Emma Corrin, Jack O’Connell, Matthew Duckett
The latest in a long line of adaptations of D.H. Lawrence’s book about the unhappy wife of an aristocrat who starts an affair with one of the workers on the property. This story and many others like it have been done to death and then some, but here we are. I know Netflix needs to churn out content but, I have absolutely no interest in this.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Disney+)
Director: Luke Cormican | Writers: Kathleen Shugrue, Jeff Kinney (book)
Stars (voices): Brady Noon, Ethan William Childress, Hunter Dillon
This is another animated adaptation of a live action film from this franchise. It seems like these get pumped out pretty frequently. Probably good for kids, but I have nothing to say about it.
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (Netflix)
Director: Stephen Donnelly
Writers: Donnelly, Charles Dickens (novella), Leslie Bricusse
Stars (voices): Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, and James Cosmo
I could have sworn I previewed this one a couple of weeks ago, but that could just mean that this one is landing on Netflix after its theatrical run. I think the at home experience is probably best-suited for this one anyway as it is another version of a story that’s re-made over and over again. I love the voice cast, but the odds are I probably still pass.
Top Gun: Maverick (Re-Release)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers: Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay), Peter Craig and Justin Marks (story), Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr. (based on characters)
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller
One of the best films of 2022 gets a year-end re-release to bring you home for the holidays and remind awards season voters why.
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