Netflix And Chill: The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020)

Most of the main players return for this sequel to the Santa flick that gave Netflix a big hit two years ago. Having said that, I cannot think of many of their original Christmas content that hasn't gone down well. They have certainly done their homework, and worked with people who know what viewers will expect.

Young Kate (Darby Camp) is unhappy. She is having to spend Christmas in a warmer climate, with her brother (Teddy, played by Judah Lewis), her mother (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), her mother's boyfriend, Bob (Tyrese Gibson), and Bob's young son, Jack (Jahzir Bruno). So she takes the opportunity to sneak away when she can, but young Jack accompanies her. The two children end up on a cart driven by Belsnickel (Julian Dennison), who then throws them all through a wormhole, which is all part of his plan to get to Santa's Village and ruin Christmas. Why does he want to do that? That all comes out as the slim plot unfolds, with Kate and Jack doing whatever they can to help Santa (Kurt Russell) and Mrs. Claus (Goldie Hawn).

Directed by Chris Columbus (you can say many things about him, but an unsafe pair of hands he is not), The Christmas Chronicles 2 gives you everything you might want from a sequel to the first movie, without taking any risks. Columbus also co-wrote the movie with Matt Liberman, the main writer from the first movie, and it's a very enjoyable and amusing family film. Like so many other films that Columbus has helmed. But other films from Columbus are missing one vital ingredient that this has; Kurt Russell.

Yes, that's right, much like the first time around, this Christmas movie is absolutely lifted up by a turn from Russell that shows him to be the Santa we never knew we wanted. Having been an acting legend for decades, especially to fans of John Carpenter movies, Russell has the look and age to play Santa, but the baggage and cool factor to add a different kind of magic sparkle. He always has a twinkle in his eye, and genuinely seems to relish the adventures that divert him from his usual Christmas schedule.

Having Goldie Hawn play Mrs. Claus (following on from her cameo in The Christmas Chronicles) is another major plus. This isn't just a Christmas movie, this is a family affair. These stars are having a whale of a time, and viewers are simply lucky enough to watch their chemistry infuse the whole film with a warm glow. Very few people could compete with these adults, but fair play to the younger cast members for trying their best, and being helped along by the script. Camp is, in many ways, the least of the leads, but she's the unwavering heart of the film, dealing with her own complex issue as she loses herself in another Christmas adventure. Then you have Bruno, stealing a lot of his scenes with a wonderful comic turn. Dennison makes a great villain, blinded by his rage for much of the runtime, although perhaps not beyond some kind of redemption. The other characters have much less screentime, but everyone does good work.

The many CGI elves are designed for fun, rather than realism, the reindeer all look fine, the many small wonders in Santa's village are a treat, and there's nothing here to stop this becoming a new Christmas favourite for a while. Yet it is lacking something. If it wasn't for the casting, this wouldn't play half as well as it does. It's also just not quite as good as the first film, because it lacks the impact of first seeing Russell play his Santa so perfectly, and it repeats a number of tricks. If the first film was a shiny new toy, this is the party gift that seems fun at first, but is then placed in a drawer and forgotten about until someone asks you to bring it round for their Christmas party.

An easy option if you're wanting some fun for all the family, but I don't think it will become an annual tradition. 

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Death Becomes Her (1992)

Although you may worry whenever you hear the words "a film directed by Robert Zemeckis that also serves as an FX showcase", there's really no need. In fact, it's worth remembering that Zemeckis spent many years perfectly marrying entertaining concepts to the latest technology that would help him best present things. Then he got a bit carried away with himself.

Death Becomes Her is the tale of a man (Dr. Ernest Menville, played by Bruce Willis) who leaves his girlfriend (Helen Sharp, played by Goldie Hawn) to embark on a life with a famous and beautiful actress (Madeline Ashton, played by Meryl Streep). This changes all three individuals for the worse. Ernest becomes bitter, and drinks excessively while he works on dead bodies. Madeline is afraid of ageing, and seeks solace in the company of at least one younger man. And Helen is just miserable at what she lost, and wants some revenge. When the day comes for that revenge to take place, everything is complicated by the fact that Madeline has managed to get her hands on a potion that will give her immortality. But being immortal means you really need to look after the one body you have.

Written by Martin Donovan and David Koepp, this is a wonderful black comedy that blends The Picture Of Dorian Grey with no small amount of Sunset Blvd. Although these three characters could have been from any walk of life, the fact that one is a doctor and one an actress allows for some more pointed digs at the notions of vanity, the pressures on so many in the entertainment industry to have cosmetic surgery, and the attitudes and failings of people who cannot find themselves content with all of their blessings in life.

Zemeckis does a great job here. Using the first half of the film to weave lots of fun jokes in between the character development (there's not much, but it's there) before treating the halfway point as a turnstile into the FX-laden second half, which leads to plenty of superb visual gags working alongside the dialogue. The special effects, a mix of practical gags and computer work, hold up brilliantly. Almost thirty years later, this is better than even some major films released in the last decade.

Although she didn't enjoy the experience of working with all of the special effects, Streep is on top form in her role. All three leads are great, with Willis being atypically schlubby and Hawn a bit more calculating and sharp than usual, but Streep stays just a little ahead of everyone, thanks to it being quite a different role for her and the fact that she's the focus of many of the memorable effects. Ian Ogilvy also raises a smile in his brief appearance, and Isabella Rossellini is the mysterious and alluring woman who offers up the chance of immortality before belatedly adding words of caution.

Not entirely dissimilar to many short tales that have warned us against the perils of trying to gain immortality (from the many miserable vampires who have found the experience lacking to the kind of stories you get from Ray Bradbury and Tales From The Crypt, to name just a couple), Death Becomes Her is slick, macabre fun that also proves to be eminently rewatchable.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

The First Wives Club (1996)

Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler star in this very enjoyable comedy about three women who decide to exact revenge upon their greedy, selfish husbands by hitting them where it hurts - right in the wallet.

After the suicide of their old schoolfriend (Stockard Channing), three women reunite after too many years of no contact. Annie (Keaton) is in denial while her husband works through commitment issues, Elise (Hawn) is about to see half of her stuff handed over to her husband in an unfair divorce settlement, and Brenda (Midler) is trying to keep a brave face on things as she watches her husband (Dan Hedaya) spoiling his new, younger, girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker). While considering how much they have given up for their men, and how badly they have been treated, they decide to work together to create a satisfying plan to help them feel better, and also help all women who have been put in similar situations.

Based on a novel by Olivia Goldsmith, the male screenwriter (Robert Harling) and male director (Hugh Wilson) don't ever work against the material as it best complements the female leads. It may be men behind the camera but in front of the camera this is, as you'd expect, all for the women. And they're all great in their roles. Keaton does her strait-laced, uptight thing, Hawn has almost as much fun playing on the vanity of her character as she did in Death Becomes Her, and Midler just reminds everyone of how brilliant and hilarious she can be. Parker is a lot of fun playing young and shallow, Elizabeth Berkley and Marcia Gay Harden both have fun in small rolers, and Maggie Smith is on top side-eye form. A few of the main male characters are quite immediately forgettable, which is fine, but there are a number of good scenes involving Dan Hedaya, and the talented Bronson Pinchot gets to have a lot of fun as an interior designer helping the women to execute their plan.

There's nothing unpredictable here, considering the title of the film and the target audience demographic. You have one or two montage moments, you have friends singing one of their favourite songs, you have a mix of determined scheming and wistful recollections of dissipated romance. The leads lift each other up, they have insults ready to put down their enemies, and you get a typically lively, and often harmlessly bland, soundtrack.

I'm not sure how the majority of female viewers find this (judging by the reaction of my wife, I have to assume that most enjoy it) but it's hard to see how this would upset anyone too much. It's a one-two punch, basing everything on lead characters who are both female and a bit beyond their mid-20s, and that adds an interesting, positive, aspect to material that could have easily been a lot lazier, or twisted into something much more bitter.

7/10

You can buy the film here.
Americans can buy it here.

HouseSitter (1992)

The movie that reunited director Frank Oz with star Steve Martin may not be as great as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but that's a tough act to follow. This isn't as sharp, it's not as smart and it's just not as funny. However, I've always found HouseSitter to be an easy movie to rewatch and enjoy. It's not without charm and there are a lot of decent one-liners sprinkled throughout the script. The biggest problem is the fact that more time is given over to other people when Martin is the best asset that the film has, a problem that would crop up more and more in the years after this film.

Martin plays Newton Davis, a man who we first see presenting a house that he's just built to his girlfriend (Becky, played by Dana Delany) and then proposing to her. It doesn't go as he'd hoped. Jump forward by some time and viewers get to see Newton plodding away at his day job, as an architect, before getting a bit too drunk one evening and having a one night stand with Gwen (Goldie Hawn). It turns out that Gwen has some issues with telling the truth. When she wakes up, alone, the next morning she remembers all that Newton said about the house he built that is now standing empty in the middle of a small, welcoming community. So she goes there, moves in and soon blurts out to the locals that she is Newton's wife. By the time Newton finds out about this whopper of a lie his parents (Donald Moffat and Julie Harris) have already warmed to Gwen, Becky is obviously regretting letting him go and the whole mess looks as if it could work out for the best, as long as the web of fiction holds together long enough.

The script and direction may both be relatively safe, but that doesn't mean that it's stale. I'm sure that some people will turn on this movie and be scrambling for the remote control within ten minutes, but I am won over as soon as the opening credits roll and I know that I'm about to spend just over 90 minutes in pleasant company.

Hawn isn't the best partner that Martin has starred alongside, but she does okay and her character is a fun one (though the movie often shies away from the obvious major, psychological problems that she has). Martin is in uptight, slightly frantic mode and reacts well to every new development that puts him on the back foot. Yet, as well as the obvious humour stemming from their situation, there is also a nice development of the relationship between the two leads, often showing their fake marriage as being not entirely dissimilar to any real one.
Delany is pretty good as the old flame who, of course, complicates the whole situation, and Moffat and Harris are both delightful as loving parents who take the news of the marriage surprisingly well, eventually.
Richard B. Shull and Laurel Cronin add to the fun during an almost farcical finale, Peter MacNicol steals every scene that he's in, playing Newton's friend and a man desperate to make his way up the corporate ladder, and Roy Cooper is also very good as the big boss man who may not realise what a talented architect Newton really is.

And there's also a lovely rendition of Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Martin-Collection-DVD/dp/B000QJMSFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374099555&sr=8-1&keywords=steve+martin

Overboard (1987)

The premise for Overboard may be more than a little bit dubious, but it gets beyond that and easily proves itself to be a fantastic rom-com with two stars who spar brilliantly with each other and a great supporting cast that includes a number of mischievous, but likeable, child actors.

The plot sees a carpenter (Dean Proffitt, played by Kurt Russell) given the job of renovating the closet of a spoiled, rich woman (Joanna Stayton, played by Goldie Hawn). The closet is part of a very nice ship and so, when the two fall out over the final result, Joanna refuses to pay Dean and instead pushes him overboard, with his tools following. Dean is more than a little miffed, but his chance for a little payback comes when Joanna herself falls overboard and loses her memory. Joanna's husband (Edward Herrmann) realises that he can enjoy the bachelor lifestyle and so doesn't provide her real identity to anyone in authority so Dean, after seeing her on the news, goes along to the hospital and convinces everyone that he and Joanna are a married couple. Joanna, of course, doesn't find anything familiar as she goes "home" with Dean and her mind remains blank even as she gets used to her many chores and tries to cope with their four rambunctious boys. Of course, it's only a matter of time until she has to be told the truth, but Dean wants to be compensated for the money that he wasn't paid.

Directed by Garry Marshall, Overboard has a bright and breezy, pleasantly light, tone throughout. Everything is so easy to enjoy and go along with that, for the most part, it's easy to forget how nasty that premise really is. Think about it, convincing someone else that they've been married for years, had four kids and spend every day working hard to keep the house in order is pretty bad, even if it's a smiling Kurt Russell doing it. The script by Leslie Dixon helps keep everything just on the right side of light amusement and it's improved by the performances from Russell and Hawn. Edward Herrmann is good fun in his small role, Roddy McDowall (who also signed on as a producer) has some fun and Mike Hagerty is very entertaining as Dean's friend who goes along with the fiction. I'm not going to name all of the child actors because I find it hard to separate their individual personalities from the collective squabble, but they all did very good work.

If you like romantic comedies and you like Russell and Hawn, then you'll like this film. It holds up really well, in my opinion, and the script is full of some great one-liners as Russell's character keeps adding ridiculous detail on top of ridiculous detail to create a life that never was. There's nothing here to shock you, nothing here that pushes the very boundaries of cinema, it's just a fantastic bit of fun for fans of romantic comedies.

8/10

Overboard IS available on DVD as a standalone title but I thought I would share the love for some other '80s flicks here and recommend this pack - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Sally-Mannequin-Overboard-Anything/dp/B004C9MCCO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1359004106&sr=8-6

Swing Shift (1984)

It's a sadly familiar tale, while a man is away fighting for his country, his good lady gets bored and lonely at home and ends up falling for the charms of someone lucky enough to not be in battle. The man in this case is Ed Harris, the woman is Goldie Hawn and the charming and lucky other fella is Kurt Russell.

Swing Shift has an easygoing charm to it even while it doesn't do that much at all. The drama isn't all that dramatic, the light moments of comedy are few and far between and any air of romance that might seep from each frame is polluted by the fact that this is a story about a married woman.

Hawn plays Kay Walsh, a woman who ends up discovering a whole new world around her when her husband (Harris) heads off to war and she lands a job at an airport plant. She becomes friends with the neighbour (Hazel, played by Christine Lahti) that her husband had always looked down his nose at and, more importantly, she starts to hit it off with Mike 'Lucky' Lockhart (Russell).

Written by Nancy Dowd, with some uncredited work from a couple of other folk, and directed by Jonathan Demme, Swing Shift is just a simple tale that is told well. It's completely unspectacular but remains worth a watch for a couple of reasons.

Reason one - this is the movie which led to Russell and Hawn starting a relationship and it adds a layer to the movie to see them in the very first stage of their romance. They work well onscreen together though it's not fair to assume that the chemistry is due to their relationship - e.g. Russell also had great chemistry with Stallone in Tango & Cash and they certainly weren't dating.

Reason two - the cast. No, I'm not just talking about the leads here. Hawn, Russell, Harris and Lahti are all very good but this is a film filled with great people in numerous small roles. Fred Ward reminds everyone of just how great he can be, Holly Hunter doesn't do too much but doesn't do it badly either, Reid Cruickshanks is one of those men that you think you don't know but you recognise as soon as he appears, Stephen Tobolowsky gets to be in the movie for about a minute and there's even a small role for Roger Corman. Belinda Carlisle even pops up as, of course, a singer. Blink and you might miss her but she IS there.

Reason three - wait, I said a couple of reasons. The two reasons above. Those are all that I can think of just now.

The movie looks okay, it's paced just right and the characters are, by and large, good fun to hang out with but the script doesn't exactly sizzle and there's nothing that feels really . . . . . . special. The direction from Demme is okay, I suppose, but he's done a much better job with most of his other movies, which can also be said for everyone else involved. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Swing-Shift-Goldie-Hawn/dp/B0000TG95Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357052231&sr=8-1&keywords=swing+shift

The One And Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968)

How very strange. How very, very strange indeed. The One And Only, Genuine, Original Family Band is an oft-overlooked Disney movie that stands up today as nothing more than a real curiosity piece, mixing political debate with a number of lacklustre songs and the opportunity to see the big screen debut of Goldie Hawn (billed here as Goldie Jeanne Hawn) sharing space on the same cast list as future partner Kurt Russell. Their relationship may not have developed until about 15 years later but it's still fun to spot both of them in their youth, oblivious to what the future would hold.

The plot of the film is based on a book by Laura Bower Van Nuys and concerns the Bower Family Band (kind of like The Osmonds . . . . . . . . if The Osmonds had spent the peak years of their career singing and dancing in large barns). The Bower Family Band are all set to head off to sing a rally song for Democratic Grover Cleveland at a convention when the pretty Alice Bower (Lesley Ann Warren) receives a visit from a male suitor (Joe Carder, played by John Davidson) who somehow convinces the family to move to Dakota. Dakota just happens to be full of Republicans and this irritates Grandpa Bower (Walter Brennan) so much that he decides to upset as many people in the state that he can by being as vocal as possible about how happy he is to be a Democrat.

I honestly don't know what to say about this movie, it was such a strange mix. Yes, the ultimate message is (as you would expect from Disney) all about getting along with each other and how people can be judged separately from their political leanings but this is still a bizarre premise in which to throw some song and dance numbers.

Lowell S. Hawley was responsible for the script and Michael O'Herlihy was the director so they can share the blame for the fact that this is a dull movie. Yet I'm not sure it's fully their fault, surely there would only be so much you could do if given such a premise to work with (as in "hey, we have an idea mixing politics and a family band so go and make it into a kid's movie that runs for just under two hours for us").

The cast are a mixed bag. Walter Brennan is very good as the opinionated Grandpa, Lesley Ann Warren is lovely as Alice and John Davidson does what he can with his character. Young Kurt Russell is amusingly teeny tiny and Goldie Hawn is all smiles and big, big eyes in her small role but at least they both make an impression, unlike almost every other cast member onscreen. Steve Harmon, playing Ernie Stubbins, makes quite an impression in the big final dance number but only because he seems to be given a surprisingly feminine set of dance moves while he keeps a rictus grin in place.

I guess I can see this appealing to kids who might put up with the boring stuff in between the livelier moments of song and dance but, to be honest, I wouldn't bet on it. It's maybe not the strangest film that Disney ever released but it's certainly one of them.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Only-Genuine-Original-Family-Band/dp/B0001I55QU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337879474&sr=8-1