Your Weekend Movie Guide for December 2018

My broken record continues.  How many times have I started one of these movie guides with an advertisement from the halcyon days of Radio City Music Hall, renowned for its Christmas movie and stage show?  Well, the one above is noteworthy because "The Sunshine Boys" was the last Yuletide program that I saw at that movie palace on the corner of 50th Street and Sixth Avenue in New York.  The theater stopped showing movies a few years later.   Of course, they are still employing the Rockettes every December but it's not the same.

The holiday season is one where you want to celebrate by catching a movie or two.   Indeed, it's when Hollywood tends to release its Oscar hopefuls.   Or maybe not.  You know the drill, gang.  I'll sift through the entertainment pages of the LA Times and give you my gut reaction to what is populating our screens this Christmas.

In the immortal words of Walter Matthau in "The Sunshine Boys,"  enter!!!!

A Star Is Born:  The Oscar buzz for this piece of garbage blows my mind.

Boy Erased:  Reviewed here recently.  This story is quite harrowing.

Bohemian Rhapsody:  There are five people in the universe who skipped this and I'm one of them.

Green Book:  Reviewed here the other day.  My Best Picture of the Year.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?:  Blog review coming.   I am still shocked that I enjoyed a Melissa McCarthy performance.

Roma:   Being talked up for major Oscars.   Meanwhile, it starts on Netflix today so watch it there instead of for 15 bucks.

The Favourite:   I normally would avoid these costume dramas but Emma Stone is in it and well, you know...

Ben Is Back:   Yet another Lucas Hedges conflicted teen movie.   This time Emma Roberts is the mom and that thought should age all of us.

Mary Queen of Scots:  The name alone sounds like a book report.

At Eternity's Gate:All about Vincent Van Gogh.   Yeah, I know.   I'm not seeing it either.

Mowgli - Legend of the Jungle:   Here's another one in theaters and on Netflix at the same time.

Ralph Breaks the Internet:   And, boy, is Al Gore pissed.

The Wife:  Lingering around because star Glenn Close has Oscar buzz.

Creed II:   The sequel to a horrible movie that totally ripped off the old Rocky franchise.

A Private War:  A middle-aged couple wants to have a kid.  Yawn!

Fantastic Beasts - The Crimes of Grindelwald:   The title alone bores me.  Sorry, Harry Potter fans.

Robin Hood;  Died at the box office and Errol Flynn is vindicated.

Vox Lux:  Natalie Portman in a tale about the ups and downs of a young pop star.   Mostly downs, I guess.

Bird Box:  Sandra Bullock fights a global terror.   Maybe it's a shortage of Botox.

Backtrace: A heist movie with Matthew Modine and Sylvester Stallone.  Who went looking for those two??

Capernaum:  A Beirut street kid sues his parents for neglect.   Paging Judge Judy.

The House That Jack Built:  Matt Dillon as an architect turned serial killer. One more time...who went looking for him??

If Beale Street Could Talk:  From the James Baldwin novel, so you know it has a diversity message.  Major Oscar buzz from the super self-conscious boobs of Hollywood.

Mortal Engines:  Life in London years about civilization has ended.   I guess they blame Trump.

The Mule:  Clint Eastwood as a senior citizen drug runner.   He just keeps on directing and he somehow always tells an interesting story.

Spider-Man - Into The Spider-Verse:  Now the story is animated.  Enough already.

The Second Time Around:  Stuart Margolin and Linda Thorson as two oldsters who bond over music.   Frankly, I thought they were both dead.

The Grinch:  Never liked this story, no matter how many times it has been done.

Dinner last night:  Caesar salad.