Aquaman THE bomb or just ‘a’ bomb for you? Biggest movies opening over the holidays…

Have you been to see Aquaman?  On December 22nd I accompanied a friend who was picking up her son and his early-teens friends from the theatre.  They’d just been to see it and the consensus as they piled into the car was “UGH! So BAD” … They were disappointed in the script, you see.  They appreciated the CGI and the cinematic/special effects aspects but they found the dialogue embarrassingly basic, contrived and…well… they thought it was “dumb”.  When they heard that I had yet to see the movie but that I planned to, they said, “save yourself…don’t bother” I said I absolutely would be going and that I would most definitely enjoy it for two very specific reasons:  1.  The movie is 2+hours long 2.  Jason Momoa is on screen for the majority of that time.  (I saw it…the kids weren’t entirely wrong but, then again, neither was I #wortheverypenny  😉 )

So…What ELSE is out this holiday season?  I’ve yet to see Emily Blunt‘s Mary Poppins but have heard nothing but raves from those who’ve taken in one of the early screenings.  Word has it that Emily, purposely, avoided viewing Julie Andrews’ version of Mary and, instead, focused her research on the books.  She embraced the original Mary Poppins’ wonderfully vain and sassy streak and played on that while making this film that she calls a “joy-bomb on the soul“…

Aquaman and Mary Poppins were certainly the favourites to lead the pre-Christmas release weekend but Paramount’s Bumblebee has a lot of movie-goers enamoured as well…

This one is absolutely top of my “see next” list!  Continuing to serve the people from her hospital bed, while also fighting lung cancer, US Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a force of nature and an inspiration to millions.  This movie features Felicity Jones in the role of “the Notorious RBG”  “On the Basis of Sex“  (PG-13) . . .It opened Christmas Day and is the true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fight against gender discrimination in a landmark case where she argued that a man who quit his job to take care of his sick mother is entitled to the same rights the IRS would have given a woman…

If you thought Nicole Kidman’s turn in Aquaman was beneath her acting chops.  Maybe this will be more up your alley.  Opening Christmas Day . . . “Destroyer“  (R) . . . Nicole Kidman is a cop who’s haunted by the death of her partner in an old undercover assignment, but forces herself to reconnect with their old gang members after she recognizes a fresh murder victim. Tatiana Maslany from “Orphan Black” and Bradley Whitford are also in it.

In this one, possibly the best Bruce Wayne to grace the Batman franchise, Christian Bale stretches his wings around a far more challenging role.    “Vice“  (R) . . .Opened Christmas Day and features Christian Bale playing Dick Cheney in a movie about how he became one of the most influential vice presidents of all time.  The rest of the cast includes Sam Rockwell as George W. Bush, Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney, and Steve Carrell as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A couple of  John C. Riley films are out this holiday season: “Holmes & Watson” and “Stan & Ollie“.  We can only hope that the latter will offer some damage control for the former.

Even the trailer (which, even in the worst of films, highlights the picture’s most redeeming clips) for Holmes & Watson can’t seem to find anything to suggest the movie is worth the price of admission. I could tell you about the many preview moments, ahead of other movies, where a chorus of “Nope!”‘s “Not a chance!”‘s and “I don’t think so”‘s could be heard in the cinema following this trailer but… why not just take a look for yourself… (warning, some blue language herein…)

If that doesn’t convince you… perhaps this review, by The AV Club‘s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, might.  His final paragraph reads, “One might call it a failure on almost every level—that is, if the movie ever gave the impression that it was trying to succeed. Instead, it’s pervaded by an air of extreme laziness. It’s cheap and tacky—a bizarrely dated parody of Ritchie’s Holmes (complete with a soundalike score) poisoned with rib-elbowing topical references and puerile gags. It’s the Sherlock Holmes movie with the red “Make England Great Again” hat and the lactating Watson. It succeeds in only one respect. As a Christmas Day release that wasn’t screened in advance for critics, it managed to avoid our list of the worst films of 2018. It belongs at the top.”

I really like John C. Riley but maybe it’s time he took a break from his movie “step-brother” Will Ferrell for a bit.

He does that in this film, Opening December 28th . . . “Stan & Ollie“  (PG) . . . John C. Reilly is comedy legend Oliver Hardy and Steve Coogan is his partner Stan Laurel.  It’s about their final tour together and the struggle to get enough money for another Laurel and Hardy movie before Hardy’s health takes a turn for the worse. Just first few seconds of the trailer is enough to tell us that this movie is head and shoulders above Holmes & Watson and far more respectful of Mr. Reilly’s talent as an actor…

One more before I go…

If you love thrillers (a-la “Saw”) this one will likely check a lot of boxes for you… Opening January 4th, “Escape Room“  (PG-13), is about six strangers who are invited to compete in an immersive escape room for a chance at a million bucks.  They are already in the game before they realize they will have to escape or DIE, because the deadly traps are real.

Cast includes Deborah Ann Woll from “Daredevil“, Taylor Russell from “Lost in Space“, Jay Ellis from “Insecure“, Tyler Labine from “New Amsterdam“, and Nik Dodani from “Atypical“ and “Murphy Brown“.