Category: Legacy

What if a Christmas short for children about Santa’s elves was also a spy thriller? And also landed the emotional beats? It’d be a good watch!

Not as good as the original, with lots of filler, but still a lightweight watch. Plus I’m a sucker for good sibling stories.

Perfectly charming animated short of Pluto chasing around Chip and Dale as Mickey decorates. A few striking moments and sense of inventive fun keep it delightful the whole way through.

A fascinating account of how one laid-back artist’s character became an internet icon for the alt-right, and what he’s done to push back. All of it is engaging, but the dives into the weirdest corners of “Pepe culture” were my favorite.

Blunt force use of close-ups and emotional manipulation result in an exhausting watch that can feel self-parody at times in the second half, but the highs (e.g. Ally’s first performance of “Shallow”) really really soar. Gaga and Cooper have great, charming chemistry, and Cooper acquits himself terrifically as a debut director, especially the intoxicating opening stretch.

A tightly plotted on-the-run road comedy that’s riotously fun and satisfying. De Niro plays the perfect rough-edged but lovable tough guy, and Grodin makes a brilliant foil. Brilliantly watchable and near-flawless.

The Minions are excessively zany and the tone is quite wobbly, but disaster averted because Gru and his relationship with the girls are so charming.

Icy, sexy romantic drama as two men and two women constantly cheat and realign and scar each other. Not an uplifting watch, but it’s gloriously savage and bitter, with all the action in the dialogue (and the actual action offscreen).