Your Holiday Monthly Movie Guide for December 2015

It wouldn't be Christmas without a nod to the old Radio City Music Hall that had an annual Christmas movie and stage show that lasted over three hours.   Sometimes, you waited on line to get in even longer.   I know we did a couple of times.   Back in the day when my parents would wait on line for anything.

"That Darn Cat" was the RCMH yuletide gift fifty years ago.   Okay, it wasn't Oscar fare, but it sure was fun.   Of course, these days, the holiday season is used by Hollywood to drop on us all the award-worthy films.  So, at least, there is something to see.

But, I'd still love some mindless entertainment like one of these Disney comedies.   You know the drill, gang.   I'll sift through the LA Times movie pages and give you my knee-jerk reaction to what we've got to work with on the big screen this Christmas season.  

Star Wars - The Force Awakens:  This is supposedly some big deal.   Anybody know about it?  Or do I have to Google it?

Carol:  Cate Blanchett getting lots of award buzz for this and she's becoming the new Meryl Streep, who gets Oscar-nominated every year for simply wringing out her panty hose.

Brooklyn:   Blog review coming.   Here's one tidbit.  You see very little of the real Brooklyn in this.

Youth:   Michael Caine makes a movie a week.   He must not like the insides of his home.

Lady in the Van:   With Downton Abbey, Maggie Smith has to do something with that feisty old lady routine she has mastered.

The Good Dinosaur:  Pixar's latest and I think I'll wait till they put out another Toy Story chapter.

Sisters:   Is anybody else out there as tired of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as I am?

Creed:   They're talking Sylvester Stallone for a Best Supporting Oscar nomination.   We might be that closer to the apocalypse.

Bridge of Spies:  Lots of good reviews and Oscar buzz, but trying to find a theater playing it is like a Where's Waldo puzzle.

Hitchcock/Truffaut:   Blog review coming.   It's Hitchcock.   That's never a bad thing.

The Martian;  Still hanging around for award season.   The idiots at the Golden Globes have it in the Comedy/Musical category????!!!!!

The Big Short:   Lots of buzz about this replay of the 2008 housing/banking crisis.  People who lived through that probably have to pay the bargain matinee prices to see it.

Krampus:  Was the prequel called Great Krampus?

In the Heart of the Sea:   Ron Howard's take on Moby Dick.   As much as I pretty much see everything Ron does, I hear this one is a real misfire.

The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 2:   A good time to see this since all the geeks have wandered over to that space thing playing next door.

The Night Before:   Anything with Seth Rogen in it is automatically contaminated.

Macbeth:  Strictly for those looking for extra credit.

Mustang:   Trust me.   This ain't about the car.

The Peanuts Movie:   If you're not sick to death of listening to that blasted Christmas special soundtrack on the radio.

Trumbo:  A little elephant with big ears.   Wait...I read that wrong.

Spectre:   James Bond is always worth a look.

Spotlight:   Reviewed here recently.   This just might run the table on Oscar night in February.

Victor Frankenstein:  Unless Marty Feldman or Mel Brooks are involved, I will pass.

Truth:   The story about Dan Rather's firing is a box office and critical bust.

Love the Coopers:   A dreary story about a dysfunctional family at Christmas. Stay home and watch your own relatives.

The 33:   They got those miners out but the story's not getting people into the theaters.

By the Sea:   Brangelina at work.  Keep on walking, Len.

Steve Jobs:   Another highly-touted movie that has disappeared faster than Whitey Bulger.

Christmas, Again:   Well, it is December, stupid.

Extraction:  A government plagued by terrorists.   Preceded by a Donald Trump cartoon.

Son of Saul:  Isn't there a TV show with the same name?   What's the fascination with this Saul?

Dinner last night:   Provolone and proscuitto sandwich with sun dried tomatoes.