Not sure what to do in the downtime between now and the end of the holiday season? Join us for some recklessly unhealthy binge-watching, and rope your family in to feel okay about your movie addiction!
[warning: not all of these are Christmas movies, because Christmas is over, so deal with it]
“12 Days of Christmas Binging” Advent Calendar
| DAY #1: A Christmas Story (1983) “Is A Christmas Story the most iconic holiday film of the past 50 years? I think so. Despite being filled to the brim with nostalgia, this 1983 film remains an enduring classic thanks to its appealing adult and kid humor combined with excellent comedy-drama family relevance.” |
| DAY #2: Dunkirk (2017) “If you’re tired of the winter, the chaos of the WWII Dunkirk evacuation will not exactly cheer you up. Still, Christopher Nolan’s style maps expertly onto the War genre, with his detailed and subtly stunning approach working better than ever spread across three semi-interconnected stories. In my view, it’s the most impressive war film of the last decade: Dunkirk’s technical display works on every level without sacrificing the absorbing script and characters.” |
| DAY #3: Lethal Weapon (1987) & Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) “If you haven’t had enough Christmas (and Die Hard is your favorite Christmas movie), Lethal Weapon is unexpectedly essential viewing. Though even more tenuously connected Christmas, this action flick appeals to the same ‘tough guy cops’ format as many others, but with off-the-charts bro-chemistry between Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Sure, it doesn’t stand up to 1988’s Die Hard with any degree of critical scrutiny, but Riggs acting crazy for nearly two hours (combined with an excellent straight-man routine from Murtaugh) definitely makes up for Lethal Weapon’s many awkward moments. Even more unexpectedly, Lethal Weapon 2 is equally essential viewing once you’ve finished the first installment. As a lighter, funnier, and crazier movie overall, #2 does not disappoint. Joe Pesci became the necessary inclusion to strike comedic gold, and director Richard Donner makes sure every moment feels as ridiculous as possible, in the best way. For two invigorating entries in an otherwise stale genre, the first two Lethal Weapons can’t be beaten.” |
| DAY #4: Before Sunset (1995), Before Sunrise (2004), Before Midnight (2013) “As unusually great romantic comedies, the Before trilogy films, featuring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, have spanned and survived generations as universal classics. Not only is Before Sunrise perhaps the most underrated romance film of the 90s, with its bare-bones plot consisting of the random conversations of two strangers, but creator Richard Linklater actually tops himself on Before Sunset. This second film is the absolute highlight of the bunch. Linklater recaptures the magic of his previous entry while improving on every aspect. I’m excited to finish off the third decade tonight, highly recommended to watch if you are unfamiliar! Binge them all in one day, or space them over 9-year intervals to get the full effect.” |
| DAY #5: Looper (2012) “Seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Bruce Willis acting and makeup is enough to draw you in – the enthralling time-travel action story will keep you firmly planted in your seat. In a genre nowadays fraught with uninspired cash-ins and sequels upon sequels, Looper is excellently crafted with the care of a devoted cinephile. Rian Johnson, who had previously written and directed teenage neo-noir film Brick and caper comedy The Brothers Bloom, creates each of his films as an homage to his influences, adding an engaging, nearly self-aware touch in its presentation. Though Looper is far from perfect (with more than a few inexplicable time-travel paradoxes), Johnson’s fusion of action and sci-fi subverts its flaws with nuance in its bleak futuristic vision and compelling plot intricacies. It’s precisely the film that a movie-lover would make, every piece falling into place without forcing it together.” |
| DAY #6: Malcolm X (1992) “When the end credits begin to roll, viewers will be shocked at the conciseness of this almost 3-1/2 hour movie. So much is left out in the open when Malcolm X (played spot-on by Denzel Washington) is assassinated, you feel ready for more details to be filled in. Spike Lee aims to keep us laser-focused on the character of Malcolm, balancing a film that feels full but not overstuffed, brief but not insignificant, and informative but not dry.” |
| DAY #7: Bonnie and Clyde (1967) “The original love/hate antihero couple for the moviegoers disillusioned with Hollywood, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow still evoke a mix of intrigue and pity. Thanks to their slowly unraveling relationship with the world and each other, this old film plays with thrilling tension and even somewhat realistic action (not to mention a shocking amount of onscreen deaths). Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty excel in their individuality and their interactions, and knowing the characters’ destined fate does not make their end any less affecting. Whether you view them as sympathetic counterculture victims of society or not, Clyde’s compensation for perceived deficiencies and Bonnie’s jarring waver between resolved confidence and frustrated outburst hold their impact to this day.” |
| DAY #8: Ponyo (2008) “If even Soul did not meet the standard for kid-friendly excellence, perhaps Ponyo will scratch the itch for you and your child(s). The story concerning a small fish who longs to be human sounds about as Disney-ish as you can get, but Ponyo excels with the charm displayed in every film created by Hayao Miyazaki. As one of his G-rated outings, this is certainly directed towards the little kids, even more so than the PG-rated Pixar entries like Inside Out, Coco, Incredibles 2, and Onward. Despite this extra-simple focus, Miyazaki once again creates the magic that appeals to children and adults alike for a universal movie experience.” |
| DAY #9: Leaving Las Vegas (1995) “Start your new year off with a real bummer of a movie! Leaving Las Vegas tells the story of addiction and trying to find humanity in characters we’d expect to have none. It can only go up from here!” |
| DAY #10: Carol (2015) “Is this a glamorous period melodrama or a feminist film about finding oneself? Though it shares many qualities of both, I maintain that Carol focuses on the latter. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara play their characters with effortless grace, quite successful in their portrayals of fleshed-out human beings. In what could have been far less subtle in anyone else’s hands, Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven) triumphs with the veteran knowledge that less is more and that a slow-paced yet impactful characterization trumps an exciting but pointless plot any day.” |
| DAY #11: Under the Silver Lake (2019) “In perhaps the strangest movie I have ever seen, David Robert Mitchell filters modern conspiracy paranoia into a noir-ish thriller, striking a balance between engaging mystery and confusing mess. Andrew Garfield plays his oddest character to date, a man who goes about life casually while absurdly invested in his neighbor’s disappearance, whom he barely knew. You may be scratching your head a bit before the end, but you might get a chuckle out of the ridiculousness of Hollywood life while pondering which of the many bizarre details are red herrings and which will lead to understanding. It’s the kind of movie you can analyze and think over for hours after viewing; those who write off Under the Silver Lake entirely miss out on Mitchell’s successes amidst the piles of insane plot elements.” |
| DAY #12: District 9 (2009) “As one of the greatest science fiction films of the 2000s, District 9 fits perfectly as a modern testament to the genre’s eternal relevance. An exploration of xenophobia disguised as an alien action film, the setting of Johannesburg, South Africa instantly conjures thoughts of the apartheid era, showing the creatures subjected to citywide segregation and hatred. Despite its over-ten-years-old special effects, the film has aged well thanks to co-production by Peter Jackson and director/co-writer Neill Blomkamp’s work imbued with humanity and nuance. Though his following movies were not nearly as successful artistically and critically, Blomkamp’s efforts on District 9 are indisputably impactful.” |
That’s it! Happy watching!
About Movies with Cory and Isaac 