It’s an obvious point, but worth repeating: With so many bad franchise sequels in film history, Empire Strikes Back is kind of a miracle.
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The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Category: Review
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Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow (2015)
I rounded out Thanksgiving weekend with an oddball I recently read about that I’d never previously heard of, let alone seen — a made-for-TV, Thanksgiving-themed, Henson Company-produced fantasy family special.
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Language Lessons (2021)
There are two kinds of people: Those who love Natalie Morales and those who are not yet familiar with Natalie Morales. I’m in the former group, so it was an easy sell for me to track down Language Lessons.
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Once Upon a Snowman (2020)
Filling the tiniest of cracks of Frozen lore: What happened in the time between “Let It Go” and Anna/Kristoff bumping into Olaf in Frozen? What caused him to latch onto the notion of summer and warm hugs? Did he try to get a nose before Anna/Kristoff gave him a carrot?
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Olaf Presents (2021)
My kids smiled, but at what cost?
This is among the lowest forms of cross-promotional entertainment, an annoying side character from one Disney movie giving annoying recaps of beloved Disney movies that inch just enough towards parody/deconstruction to act like it’s clever without actually being clever. (It’s a miniseries based on that one unnecessary but mildly amusing segment of Frozen 2 where Olaf reenacts Frozen 1.)
No interesting animation, no stabs at extended storytelling or creativity, just quickly presented and abandoned story points and musical lyrics from five movies you’ve seen.
Do you like Josh Gad singing intentionally badly? I sure hope so because you’ll be getting a heavy dosage of it here.
The only, tiniest saving graces in its favor are that I love seeing my daughters’ smiles, and the Marshmallow monster is charming.
Let the season of Christmas specials begin!
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Frozen II (2019)
I love everything about Frozen II… except the script. You know, the thing that drives the story and most of the character development?
Jamaica Inn is a fairly early Hitchcock about an English ship-looting criminal conspiracy.
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Palo Alto, CA (2007)
While trying to find Thanksgiving-themed movies to watch this week, I stumbled upon this little-seen indie dramedy from 2007 that seemed to hit a lot of specific traits that I tend to love in movies:
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Pieces of April (2003)
Beyond the “giving of thanks” and the historically dubious pilgrims-and-Indians origin story, the central American theme of Thanksgiving is breaking bread with family you might only see once a year in elaborately-prepared, tradition-fueled meals.