The Bobby Bones Show - BONUS: A Message from Bobby on Movie Mike's Movie Podcast: Most Re-watchable Christmas Movies!

Episode Date: December 10, 2020

Movie Mike's Movie Podcast: Subscribe Wherever you listen to podcasts! Just search 'Movie Mike'To get you in the holiday spirit, Mike and Kelsey are breaking down some of their favorite Christmas movies. Kelsey loves Christmas and gives her Top 5 movies she watches every single year. Mike isn’t the biggest fan of Christmas movies…but gives his list for movies that have Christmas in them…but aren’t exactly Christmas movies. Plus a movie review of Hulu’s “Happiest Season” starring Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, and Dan Levy. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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If you're listening, congratulations. You know how to stream a podcast. Listen, I'm not even Hayden because I didn't for a while. I've been a big podcast guy for years now, but everybody has to start out new. Maybe you're new to the podcast. It's cool. And let me recommend another podcast that I like called

Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, hosted by Mike D from the show. Oh, by the way, I'm still in a kitchen in California recording this. We did it best of on the radio show today. So there is no new episode to load. So I thought, well, if someone's bored and the only entertainment they have, they were only able to subscribe to one feed

or they would get grounded, I wanted to make sure they would still have something to listen to. And so I'm going to put this episode of Mike D's. You may know Mike D from the show. He always has an interesting movie topic every week. Plus he gives spoiler-free movie reviews. That is important.

And he brings you all the latest movie news for things to watch for. If you love Christmas movies, I think you'll like this episode where he talks about the most re-watchable Christmas movies. Check it out and subscribe. It's a big thing. Go subscribe.

You use another podcast in your life. A good one. Search for Movie Mike. on iHeart radio or wherever you listen to your podcast wherever you're listening to this go search movie mic all right there you go christmas christmas you don't like me singing i just wasn't expecting that oh it's a christmas episode i just i wasn't expecting to start it so strong welcome everybody to the christmas episode i even busted out the lights on the table we are recording on i know you can't see them if you're listening to this but i wanted the aesthetic to be christmas it's very christmas we did take off the pumpkin that we know i don't want to

get rid of them yet but anyway everybody welcome to the podcast i brought my co-host and fiance on because she loves Christmas movies. So she's going to give her top five Christmas movies. I'm going to give my top five movies for people who don't like Christmas to watch around the holidays. Wait, who don't like Christmas or don't like Christmas movies? Don't like Christmas movies. Okay, you said who don't like Christmas movies.

Maybe you don't like Christmas either. I'll get into my feelings on Christmas movies here later in the episode. And then we're also going to review Happiest Season, which came out on Hulu that we were both excited for. We'll tell you our thoughts on that movie. Thanks, everybody, for listening to the podcast. without any further ado, let's get started. In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast,

one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMDB with glasses. From the Nashville Podcast Network, this is Movie Mike's Movie Podcasts. All right, so we're going to start it off. I want you to give your top five Christmas movie. Now, these are ones you watch every single year, right? Yes. And you love Christmas movies.

I love Christmas movies. About when do you think it's acceptable to start watching a Christmas movie? Because we're just about to get into December. When do you think you would normally bust them out? I mean, I put up our Christmas trees on November 1st, so I think I was in the Christmas spirit by then. So November 1st. I don't think there's also any rules anymore in 2020. Like, do whatever makes you happy.

That's true. Christmas movies make me happy. I guess Lifetime started playing them around. October. Which disclaimer, there will be no lifetime or Hallmark movies on my list. Love those. They don't make the list. I don't think they make mine either. I think we each either pick theatrical releases or streaming movies is what we did. All right, let's get into your list. Hit me with number five. All right. My number five top Christmas movie

is nothing like the holidays. It has John Leguizamo and Deborah Messing and I just think it's so cute. When did you first watch this movie? Oh, I think it came out in 2007, 2008, so probably then. Yeah, 2008. Okay, so yeah, I saw it when it came out. What makes this one of your favorites? I just like all of the like family-oriented Christmas movies.

I mean, all of them have like semi-disfunctional families, but I just think it captures like the essence of like spending Christmas with your family. And I guess when I was younger, I liked watching them because it was people with like siblings and they all come home for Christmas. And I, my younger brother was born when I was 12. And so I was an only child for so long that I was like, oh, I just want like that family relationship. You made me watch this one the other night. I will say we have watched all of my top-time.

Research. And going into this one, I thought it was going to kind of be your typical Christmas movie, which I think is why I don't love Christmas movies entirely because they kind of feel like they have that same cheesy formula. They do. It comes to the very kind of cheery ending at the very end. This one, it was a little more, I don't want to say depressing, but it kind of had like a lot of issues with the family going on that was all like, how's this all going to play out?

It was real life and real life. doesn't stop for Christmas and it was just them figuring out to navigate real life during the holidays. And a rare scene for a Christmas movie, but there's a scene where somebody pulls out a gun. Yes. Which I wasn't expecting. There is. You did give a little gasp at that. Yeah.

But overall, I thought this one, it didn't feel so much like a cheesy Christmas movie and it had some elements of it being a normal movie. Would you say this is a good movie? Like, aside from it being a Christmas movie? I would say yes. Because it stands at like a 54% Rotten Tomatoes score. Okay, well, we've already addressed before that I don't necessarily like things that Rotten Tomatoes would consider. And I feel like that's kind of where Christmas movies are.

They usually have a lower rating. I watch a movie to like be entertained and to not have to think for two hours. I feel like Rotten Tomatoes will give something that you have to pay attention to every second 100%. I also have to pee all the time. So if I go see a movie, I'm missing probably like a solid five to seven minutes. So I need to be able to catch up when I come back. All right.

So that's your number five. What's your number four? My number four is the holiday. Okay. Great movie. You hadn't seen it. Nope. You also fell asleep at the end.

I did. So I don't feel like you can give an entirely confident review. I will say we watched it on TV. It was three hours long with commercial breaks. Those were unnecessary. Who's in this one? Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Cameron Diaz. And she kind of stepped away from acting about four years ago,

straight up retired from it. It was kind of weird seeing her and reminded of how, like, how many big movies she was in and how just famous she was. Which we talked about last night, just like thinking back on all of the ones that she was in. Yeah, I mean, she was one of the biggest movie stars for a very long time from like the late 90s to the early 2000s. And for her to just kind of step away from that, I thought it was kind of amazing. And I think she has really no plans of going back to acting. So who do you think this Christmas movie is for? It's definitely a trick flick.

Definitely. Weird seeing Jack Black in this, too, because he's, He's just such a comedic actor. And he plays a more serious role. Yeah. He's still kind of funny, but it's a lot more serious than you're expecting from him. I will say I feel like there's two camps of holiday movie people. You're either a Love Actually fan or a holiday fan.

And I'm a holiday fan. Not saying fans of both can't love the other one, but I feel like those are the two like strong chick flick like rom-coms at Christmas that people either fall into one camp or the other. So far in your list, that's kind of where you're leaning. Yes. Okay. What would you rate this? holiday movie. I think a good holiday movie as far as what you rated is rewatchability. I think that's what

they shoot for when they make holiday movies. They want movies that you can watch every single year and pretty much get into like a syndicated thing of like, okay, we can make a lot of money off this movie. That's why I feel like I don't like Christmas movies all that much because I feel there a little bit of a cash grab. I'll watch them every year. Yeah. They have the syndication going. That one was on lifetime all day. Yeah. Literally every three hours on lifetime. The only place you can watch it for free right now if you have a lifetime. Yeah. So, because the other movie, we had to pay to rent. Yeah, we won't go into that. Okay, we can go into that. I think there's a weird mental thing when it comes to paying for things online. Is it because we paid for movies you've already seen? For me, it's weird to go and pay for like an older movie.

Like, I have no problem paying 20 bucks for a brand new movie. That's, oh, that's why we got into this disagreement. And when it comes to that $3.99 or $2.99 even what it was. See, but you won't let me buy the 299 one because we can't watch it in standard definition. That's another thing I have. If I'm going to watch a movie, I have to watch it in HD. I don't know why. I'm very particular about the quality when it comes to watching something because I want to see it in best qualities it can be.

So I have to, I will spring for that extra buck if I'm going to pay to stream it at home. Okay, well, luckily I had a dollar off coupon on Amazon so we could spring for the HD. You were like wanting to bust out the piggy bank. Like here, I'll give me the two dollars. I did. I mean, it was on my Amazon account. Okay. All right, back from couples therapy.

Anything else you need to say about that one? No, it's just a good one. I ended up what I remember from it. I thought it was pretty good. I didn't know where it was going in the beginning. You didn't know where it was going for like the first hour. Yeah, because it's Cameron Dea's character goes to live where Kate Winslow's character is living. Yeah, they do like a house swap.

Yeah, and then they mean somebody and then it goes from there. I just didn't know where it was going. Ended up with a twist that I wasn't expecting. And I thought it was fine. Yeah. It was okay. That was all I asked is that you watched it with me. Okay.

Hit me with your number three. Four Christmases. There's just so many good parts. Well, okay. So this one I actually, if you wouldn't have forced me to watch it. Again, we're seeing a theme here. You've made me watch all of these. This was the most unexpected that I actually really liked.

Had you not seen that one before either? No. I thought we watched something last year at Christmas. Yeah, but that was the first time I had seen it because of you. So. This is one that I actually go back and seeing like, this is actually a funny movie. It's hilarious.

My family quotes the whole thing. It's a very quotable Christmas movie. Extremely quotable. And with this one, I also think it wasn't trying so hard to be a Christmas movie with like all these little clichés or anything. I just thought it was its own kind of funny movie. I like Vince Vaughn.

I like Rousse With Spoon. I know they didn't really get along when they did the movie together, but I don't think that shows when you watch it. No. Favorite scene in the movie? It has to be when they're playing taboo. Mine too. Either that or the scene where they're reenacting at church.

Oh, yeah. Those are my two favorite scenes. The best scenes in the movie. Who do you think this Christmas movie is for? Because it's not a wholesome Christmas movie. It's not really a family Christmas movie. But it's also not like a, what's your other favorite, bad mom's Christmas? It's not on that end either.

I wasn't going to put that one on this list. But that's one of your other favorites. Where do you think this kind of falls? in the room. It's PG-13. Yeah, because they would play it on what, TBS or something? I think it's just the language that gets edited out a bit. I don't really feel like there's any parts of it that are inappropriate. I actually enjoy this one.

So this is a Christmas movie I could actually, hey, every Christmas I could stand to watch this movie. Okay, Tim McGrath in it. Tim McGrath in it. He looks much different. It does look different. It's a different Tim. This is the one movie he says he's never seen himself in.

Really? Yeah. Huh. Because he just doesn't want, like, he saw, like, he saw, like, Like just the trailer and how he looked in it, he said, never want to watch it. But that was also a part of his character, I feel like. Yeah. He was great and it.

It's funny. Yeah. Vince Vaughn's family in the movie, like his brothers. Yeah, that's the best. And the kids. The kids are even better. All right. What's your number two?

Elf. Classic. Classic. I have seen it, I don't even know how many times. Alamo Draft House, a movie theater in Austin, does a quote along. And so for the past like four years, obviously not this year. I have gone to that several times. I think once with my friends, we make it like our girls' Christmas night.

And then once with my mom and my brothers. And so I just, I love that movie. Yeah, once recently, we were cleaning your car. And I guess you get an elf hat every time you go. Okay, so it was like, here's one. Here's another way. How many times have you gotten to see this movie? At Alamo draft house, when you go to like a quote along, it's different than seeing a typical movie there.

Because if you see a movie at Alamo, you know you're supposed to be super quiet. No talking. At a quote along, you sing, you're loud, you're annoying. They give you props. They give you an Elmo. elf hat and I have gone many years. I've also driven my friends several times and they leave their elf hats in my car. So I did happen to have like five elf hats, which you made me throw away.

A little bitter about that now. It's fine. If you've never been to an Alamo draft house, it's basically a place where you can go and order food while you watch the movie. They have such good food. Which I know some places don't get this entirely right because either the food isn't that great or it's just not a great process. But Alamo draft house, I got to say they have it down to where

it's not annoying when they're running around and taking your orders. They do a pretty good job about it. And the food is actually good. And for me, being vegan, they have really great vegan options. And the thing I love about Elma Draft House besides that is the screens are like really great there. And the sound is amazing. So above all else, like you get a better movie watching experience there. So if there is one around you, whenever everything's kind of back to normal,

I highly recommend Alamo Draft House. I will say I think Alamo Draft Houses are actually open right now with a ton of like. protocols in place. So there you go. I know they're doing the off-screening. So please go see it on my behalf. All right. Hit us with your number one Christmas movie.

All right. This is going to be controversial. I did this in our like podcast about my favorite movies. Overall, it's the family stone. Either you love it or you hate it. I don't feel like there's an in-between. People either just love the family dynamic or Sarah Jessica Parker's character

ruins it for them because she does, she's just kind of an uptight. She clears your throat a lot. She's kind of annoying. but that's the whole like, that's the schick of her. Like, that's what she's supposed to be. I think that's just her character. That's who she is.

I think even a little bit in Sex and the City, that was kind of her character of sometimes being, I don't know, annoying. Yes. Or just kind of like... There's certain scenes that you look back and you're like, that was very carry. I just think that's who she plays and she does it well. I don't think it should be an attack on Sarah Jessica Parker. But why do you love this movie so much?

I think it goes back to... It's one that my mom and I watch all the time. We'll watch it whenever it's on TV. We watch it every year for Christmas. I think we usually start Thanksgiving weekend and then watch it again before Christmas. So we're talking like twice a year. And I think it just goes back to like those memories of watching it with my mom and just pour a glass of wine, fix some like cheese and crackers, turn it on.

That's our movie. So do you think this is a good mom and daughter Christmas movie? I do. Yeah. That'd be a good like camp to recommend it to. Well, there you go. I enjoyed your list. Thank you.

Did you enjoy all of my movies? I enjoyed most of them. What are your thoughts on the Family Stone? Again, I would not watch it unless you even brought this movie to my attention, but we watched it again for the second time this year, and I like it. I can't remember if you actually paid attention during it. I did pay attention. I feel like you were on your computer.

No, I watched the movie. Okay. I like it. I'm good also with this one watching it every year. Okay. So there we go. So the only one out of my list that you like, what was, what's released for? favorite out of my list.

Lees favorite? I could guess. What? The holiday. Yeah, probably the least favorite. Okay, that's fair. I just don't think that one has a high rewatchability factor. I saw once, I don't think I want to watch it again, unless you want me to.

Maybe the end. Maybe the end. All right. We're going to take a quick break now. We'll get back with my movies, all right? All right. So now I want to give my top five Christmas movies for people who don't like Christmas movies. Now, I don't think.

In my list, you'll find any of the all-out Christmas classics. I think those are a whole different kind of category on their own. So you won't see any of like, it's a wonderful lives or even like a Christmas story on my list. What I want to cover is just movies for me, Christmas movies are my favorite. Out of every genre of movie, I feel they're very down there because they're either, like I said earlier, kind of a cash grab, a little overly cheesy, or there's just something about them that the elements, to making a good movie aren't really there. So that's sometimes why I don't like Christmas movies.

So when I can find movies that have just a little bit of Christmas in it, and if you put them on around Christmas time, your entire family's not going to be like, why are we even watching this? It has a little bit of Christmas, a hint of Christmas you could say. And I think you could put these on and at least maybe half your family will enjoy it, which is a pretty good ratio for a movie you pop in during Christmas. I feel like with my family,

it's kind of hard to find a movie around the holidays that we all like. Our longstanding tradition has been to watch a Christmas Eve on Sesame Street every year. That's like our go-to movie. And it was basically just a PBS special back in the day. And we've since found a YouTube link that we can watch it while we open gifts. And that's kind of our thing. But aside from Christmas movies, there aren't a whole lot that we all like. So at number five on my list, I'm going with Bad Santa, which is a very crude movie.

Wasn't expecting that one. But Checks out. Underneath all the Christmas elements, it's still just a funny comedy. And I think for people who don't like Christmas movies, if you can watch something

that's going to make you laugh no matter what and still kind of fit that Christmas theme, it's a win-win. And it's one that I usually watch every single year and there's a lot of kind of funny memorable moments

and it has a high re-watchability factor. But again, it's just a funny movie beside the fact that it's Billy Bob Thornton playing a bad Christmas Santa at the mall. I just think it's a funny movie.

They made a sequel to it. Wasn't as good, but still, the original holds up after all these years. Have you seen Bat Tanna? I have, but it's been a long time. We haven't watched it yet this year. We will watch it if you're down for it. I'll always watch anything.

At number four, I'm going with Home Alone. Okay. Now, I don't consider Home Alone to be a full-on Christmas movie, mainly due to the fact that they've made part two, part three, part four, whatever. They've made sequels to this. and the first one, if they played Home Alone in July, I don't think that a whole lot of people would flinch.

You would just see it on TV, like, oh, it's Home Alone, there's a little bit of Christmas in it, but I don't think you'd be as weirded out if you saw like the Santa Claus on in July. You'd be like, why are they showing a Christmas movie in July? Home Alone, you could watch it really whenever, and it'd be all right. But also, it has that little bit of Christmas in it

that what actually happens in the movie happens around Christmas. And then again, it's just a funny movie besides all that stuff. There's a lot of memorable parts to it. It's been out for 30 years now. So clearly it can stand the test of time. But even if you don't like the cheesy Christmas elements to it, it's still a funny movie. And it's a movie that holds up.

So what are your thoughts on Home Alone? I like Home Alone. It's not one of my favorites. Like I'll watch it, but I mean, it wasn't on my list. So it's not something that I like have to watch. every Christmas. I would, but I don't go out of my way to turn it on. I think for me and my family,

the reason we can all agree on Home Alone sometimes is because it has a lot of slapstick humor. Like, there's not much thought that goes into getting the joke of somebody getting hit in the face with a paint bucket. Yes. But you watch that, you get it. No matter what language you speak, no matter how old or how young you are,

that joke you get. Yes. So with other Christmas movies that don't have that element, Like that's just an instant thing. So I think that kind of works well for our family because my dad has a really hard time watching any movie, let alone a Christmas movie. So I think like one of his favorite shows back in the day was The Three Stooges. So it has that kind of humor into this movie. So I think this is one of the only ones he will, he can kind of stomach to watch.

Will he stay awake through it? No, probably not. I think with my dad, he'll watch like 20 minutes of any movie and he's out. He'll all asleep in a theater. Yes. I think the first movie he ever would. went to when I was a kid was probably the Lion King in 94 and he fell asleep. So that's kind of his thing.

At number three on my list, I'm going with Die Hard. Have you ever seen Die Hard? I don't think I have. What happens in this movie just happens to occur during Christmas. So there is a whole debate every single year of like, is Die Hard a Christmas movie. It's not really a Christmas movie because they've made many a sequels to Die Hard, the same way they did with Home Alone. It just happens to happen around a Christmas.

party. But this is my thing. Reason why the Christmas genre is trash that we fight so hard for movies like Die Hard and Home Alone to be Christmas movies. That means there aren't a whole lot of Christmas movies for us to watch every year that we force even just any kind of movie that has any kind of element of Christmas to being a Christmas movie. I think that's why we get into the debate every single year. And also it's kind of tradition to argue about it. Okay. So if your whole thing is that it's not a Christmas movie, if it just takes place at Christmas. And half of my movies wouldn't have been Christmas movies. The holiday only really takes place at Christmas time.

Nothing like the holidays for Christmases. So what makes a Christmas movie then? I feel like if they're taking place at Christmas, it kind of almost makes the whole thing a Christmas movie because the colors are different. You've got trees and just singing. I just feel like if it's set any time around Christmas, then it's therefore kind of a Christmas movie.

I think that's what we've made the genre out to be. I think a true Christmas movie, movie, the entire plot is embedded in Christmas and there's no way you can get around it without having Christmas. So like something like Miracle on 34th Street or something like, I say, Santa Claus or Elf is a straight of Christmas movie. Okay. Because he is from the North Pole. So anything that has to be embedded in the idea of Christmas, you couldn't take it out. Like any of those movies, you could probably plug into anywhere else and then, you know, work still. Okay. But if it has anything to do with Santa, if it has anything to do with elves or the

actual story of Christmas is what makes it a Christmas movie. All right. Thank you for clarifying. So there we go. But die hard, great action movie, even though it came out in the 80s, it still kind of holds up. And probably my favorite Bruce Willis movie. I'm not a big Bruce Willis fan.

I think for me, like action movies, I don't know, I get kind of tired of the same whole thing. But diehard kind of did this genre first. And there was a lot of kind of, there's a really great movies that made us episode that came out on Netflix of the whole story about this movie and how it was really kind of the first big major movie for Bruce Willis. Like he wasn't an action star before this. He was doing like soap operas before that.

So every action movie has kind of pretty much tried to be like diehard since. So again, happens around Christmas. You can get away with it. I'd say go for die hard. All right. At number two, another one that happens around Christmas is Batman Returns. and probably my favorite well a lot of

Batman movies have come out since but before the Dark Night this was easily my favorite Batman movie mainly because it has the penguin and has Catwoman and overall it looks the most like a comic book Batman that I kind of envisioned in my head as a kid

and it has a lot of those kind of cool production elements and kind of throwbacks to like the classic comic books but it was never cheesy in any way. And what they did kind of with the Dark Night later was make it more dramatic and realistic.

But this one had a little more of what I liked as a kid to watch. And you've never seen any of the original Batman's? If I have, they're not sticking out in my head. Okay. So I will now force you to watch all the Batman and come back and report. Okay. I can agree to that. Would you watch all of them?

Yeah. Okay. They're not scary. Or are they? They're not a horror movie. That's true. Are they, now, this year's, last year's Joker scared me. So we'll go, that's another story.

If they're that level, then no. No, they're not. Okay. At number one, my favorite movie that feels like Christmas, even though it's not a Christmas movie, is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone. Now, Christmas is a big part of, I'd say, a lot of the Harry Potter movies.

The books even more so, because I've read all the books multiple times. And the Christmas scenes in the books are way better than they are in the movie. They just get downplayed to like five minutes in the movie. But there are some important elements in the first one like that happened around Christmas because he gets the cloak from, it's a Christmas present. Yes. So and aside from that, kind of watching these movies on Christmas Day feels a little bit special

because they are just so big and cinematic and like there's this, it's this whole Harry Potter world that you're watching. It kind of feels like a holiday movie because it's usually they're all cold and then I don't know, robes and stuff. So it kind of has that feeling of like a holiday movie and a perfect time to watch them. And they used to always come out around November, December, when they would come out. So there's something that I associate Harry Potter with being around the holidays. And if you put these movies on, it just kind of makes like Christmas Day or Christmas morning feel a little bit Christmassy, even though it's not a straight up Christmas movie.

I would agree with that. There are no arguments here. You know I love Harry Potter movies. And I was a little late on the Harry Potter movies. Because I'd never, you got into going to the midnight screenings. Yeah, I read the books. I like would pre-order the books. This is a funny story.

When I was, however old I was when the seventh one came out, I pre-ordered it, I bought it. And then, you know, when you're like a preteen, you're a little sassy. Instead of getting grounded, my parents took away my Harry Potter book. That's how into the books I was. Dang. I've never been punished in that kind of way. That's how you punish a nerd. Well, anyway, those are our lists.

I feel like there's some people who maybe want to hear more about, like, classic Christmas movies, but I don't feel, I don't know, I just think that we, when you get into those lists of like what the best Christmas movies are, you're kind of going to have the same ones over and over, so I didn't want to get into that. I wanted to do a little bit differently. And I liked your list because it's not your traditional Christmas movies. For you who is such a big fan of the holiday, and such a big fan of this kind of genre of movies, I feel like your picks were a lot different

that people who maybe wouldn't have watched those movies would enjoy them. Yes. And it gives somebody something different to watch. And again, honorable mention goes to Bad Mom's Christmas, but don't watch it with your children around. Well, an honorable mention for me

was going to be National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. Oh, such a good one. Because above everything, that's just a funny movie. It is. So that was very right. on for being in my list. But that's an honorable mention. All right.

All right. Well, there we go. Next, we're going to review, happiest season. Ready? Ready. All right, we're going to get into a movie review now, talking about happiest season,

which just came out on Hulu. Both of us were very excited for this movie, pretty much because of the cast alone. You got Kristen Stewart, Allison Bree, Dan Levy. The list goes on and on. But before we get into our review, here's just a little bit of happiest season.

I'm so excited. I can't believe I'm finally going to meet everyone. There's something that we should talk about. Hi. I didn't tell my parents I'm gay. So who did I think I am? This is Harper's orphan friend, Abby. Yes, of course.

You're there. You're so brave. Riley, Harper. This is Abby. Abby is my orphan. Roommate. I am an orphan, but we live together as friends. Like acquaintances.

Oh, please. Yeah. All right, so when you sat down to watch this movie, we had already seen some early reviews on it and saw it was doing pretty well. And I think we were both excited, mainly because we had just come off watching Schitt's Creek, and we're a big fan of Dan Levy's character in that, David. And overall, the cast in this was just so many great people that were like,

how could this movie not be great? That's kind of what we thought going into this, right? Yeah, we were really excited. Well, A, it was also a new Christmas movie and one that we were both excited about. And Dan Levy, again, having finished Schitt's Creek, we were like, yes, I'll watch anything with him in it right now. And the premise of this movie is that a girl played by McKenzie Davis is dating Kristen Stewart and she takes her home to meet her family, but she hasn't told her family that she's gay.

Right. And that's kind of where this whole movie plays out. You pretty much find that out in like the first, what, 15, 20 minutes of the movie. Yeah. And this movie was a little bit sadder than I was expecting. I didn't laugh as much as I wanted to. I thought it was going to be a full on straight comedy. Yeah.

and I think they sold it a little bit more as like Dan Levy having a bigger role in it. I think because he is coming off the success of Schitt's Creek, they were like Dan Levy in this movie with Kristen Stewart. And I felt like it lacked a little bit of him, which I was a little bit let down by because I wanted it to be, from the trailer, it looked like they're best friends and he's in the movie the entire time. I feel like you get him very little in like the first act, the second act, and it's kind of more in the third act where he's really a part of it.

Right. So I felt a little bit let down by that. And it wasn't as funny as I was expecting, but I don't think that was a bad thing. I was kind of looking back on it today. And I just think if I went into it a little bit different, I would have enjoyed it more at the time. What did you think?

Yeah, well, I read one review that said it wasn't as funny as expected, and it was just kind of like bogged down by some of the relationship stuff. And I would agree with that. I still thought it was good. but it won't be making my favorites list. Do you think it's a Christmas movie you would re-watch? I'd re-watch it. I think so too.

And I think initially after we finished it, I wasn't expecting to feel what I did because there's some scenes in this movie. Again, we won't spoil any of it because I do recommend watching it. But there's some scenes in this movie where some things played out and you kind of feel bad for the characters involved.

You do. And then, like, I like Kristen Stewart. and I feel she was very Kristen Stewart in this movie She was very very Kristen Stewart And I think some people I don't know they get annoyed by her Like her personality or the character she does sometimes But I like her

And I like when she delivers that kind of Kristen Stewart character And I really felt for her in this movie So the parts where it kind of gets bad for her character I felt more sad than I was expecting There's some parts where you just cringe Because you're just kind of imagining I would say they do a good job of not making you feel as if you're the character,

but they make you feel the emotions that the characters are feeling. But I think looking back on it today when I was thinking about it, I liked that it made me feel that way. And I liked kind of how it ended up playing out and kind of the avenues they decided to explore. And I liked it a lot more looking back on it. Initially, I was like, ugh, like I wanted to laugh more and I wanted to enjoy it more in that way.

But I think the movie does kind of make a statement about things and it does kind of show acceptance a little bit and also like how hard that can be with your family, especially around the holidays. So again, it wasn't what I was expecting, but I think looking back on it, it made me enjoy a little bit more. How do you think?

Yeah, I'm, I haven't processed it as much as you have, apparently. I thought a lot about this movie. But I will say my rating has gone up a little bit initially. Well, let's get into our rating. and then we'll kind of discuss it after that. What would you rate this movie? I would give it

3.75 paintings out of 5. Okay, so it's gone up. I think right after we first watched it, we both said 3.5. We did. Why did you give it a 3.5 at that time? Because I didn't laugh as much as I wanted to.

Yeah. I just think they shouldn't have sold us as a comedy. Yeah, it was more of a... It kind of fits into the theme of all my other, like, favorite ones of, like, a little bit of family drama. That's what it felt a bit more like And it was presented as a comedy

It's a dromedy with heavy on the drama Yes I have gone up since and I give it a four Okay Because the acting in this was actually really good Oh the acting is amazing Because again the cast is great It's just

On a higher level than other Quote unquote Christmas movies To where when I was watching it I didn't feel like it was It wasn't cheesy in any way And it is very dramatic and the acting was just so good and on a different level

than a movie that I was expecting that I had to rate it a little bit higher because it's a really good movie. Yeah, it's well done. Great cast, good storyline. Like, everything about, like, what went into this movie is great. And it made me feel, which I liked.

And again, if... You do love a movie that makes you feel. That makes you feel. And even if it makes you feel awkward, even if it makes you feel sad or mad or upset in any way, or you have an opinion on it, I think it's very... powerful thing that a movie can do.

And if you watch this, you're going to feel some type of way, no matter what you feel about the movie as overall, but it will make you feel. So I had to bump it up to a four. And also the fact that it was on Hulu. And Hulu is kind of, I would say arguably, like, a kind of sleeper pick when it comes to, like, streaming movies because they don't have the amount that Netflix does.

But I feel like every few months they have a hit like this that's kind of unexpected. And I think looking back on, all the movies I really enjoy this year, I can think of at least three Hulu movies from this year that I would put on my list. So I'm kind of excited for Hulu now. And in a world that we have Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney Plus now, I think Hulu is kind of, you know,

they're being able to not only make their own original movies, but also like acquire other big movies. I was going to say, I feel like they've, that's where I've watched a lot of, like, big movies. They had Parasite. That's where I watched Parasite. That's where we watched BookSmart.

So I feel like sometimes they're the streaming platform that actually has it. Yeah, they don't have the quantity that other streaming services or like Netflix has. But the movies they do have on there are pretty solid. And they also, Hulu is nice because they'll do live TV like the next day. That's the allure of Hulu. That's why I originally got my Hulu account. So this has also turned into a commercial for Hulu. We're learning.

No, I'm just saying. Talking about the difference between Hulu and Netflix. Netflix is all, I feel like, either original or content that's already been on TV. Like, it's not like current seasons of things. If I were to rank the streaming services right now, I'd still put Netflix at number one because they have movies and TV originals. I think I would put Hulu at number two. After this movie, last week I watched Run. I'm watching the Animaniacs reboot right now, so that's up there as well.

and then I would probably put Disney Plus for the amount of newer stuff they're starting to put out and also all the old Disney movies. Which we also watched Honey I Shrunk the Kids over the weekend. We did watch that on Thanksgiving morning. Randomly. Don't know why you turned that on. Anyway, that's a review of Happy Season.

Anything else you want to say about the movie? I don't think so because if I say too much, I'll give stuff away. Well, there you go. We recommend it. Check it out. We'll get into some movie news now as we wrap up the episode. probably the biggest headline is now that they are going to start filming Black Panther 2 in July, and it's expected to come out still on May 6th, 2022. I think that'll get pushed back a lot more because they haven't even started yet.

Who knows if they'll actually get to start filming next year. But the big thing is that they are not going to recast Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther. Like they haven't really said what they're going to do there. They brought in some new actors to play some villains. And they're just saying they're going to focus more on another character. So it's still kind of early for them to put out anything like if they were to replace him. And even when that first kind of happened, like I was like they, they just can't. Like I don't think it would work.

I think people would be more upset if they tried to bring in somebody new to play him. But it's a weird spot to be in because he's the title character. Like he is, he is Black Panther. Like that's him. That's his role. I can't see anybody else doing that. and to recast him, I think, would kind of be a dishonor to him, a dishonor to the character, and I think it would just, I know that it's such a big movie for them and it's such a big franchise

that it's, I mean, they only have one so far, but there's so much potential for them to take that into different places that recasting him is not the way to go. So I like that the fact that they're going to, you know, kind of focus on another character, glad to see they're not recasting him. All right, and that is movie news. Thanks for hanging out with me on this episode. episode, Kelsey, my fiance. You're welcome.

How do you feel about the fact that you're basically engaged to buddy the elf? Like, I've made you get way more into Christmas than you ever were. Yeah, Christmas was never really a big deal for me growing up because normally every year we would go to Mexico. And we would either celebrate way early in advance because pretty much right when school let out, we would be like, all right, time to go to Mexico. And we would all usually get one gift. We never did stocking stuffers. So we were never really around in the United States when Christmas was happening. So it was probably why I didn't watch a lot of Christmas movies as a kid.

So later in life, it became a thing of like, okay, let's buy each other gifts and do this normal thing once we all were adults and had our own money. And now that I have you, I mean, I'm into putting up stockings around the house early, putting up not one but two Christmas trees. and even before we started this podcast, I wanted to make the table seem a little bit, Christmas theme. It is very festive.

We have the white Christmas tree lit up. Which you just took off of our coffee table. With a string of light. So I would say you have made me like Christmas more. And you've made me realize that it can be fun to celebrate with other people. My work here is done. So there we go. And if you had the buddy the elf costume, I'd be all for it.

Can we order one on Amazon? Can we just end that here? Okay. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the podcast. If you don't mind, you're listening on Apple Podcasts, hit that five-star rating and write a quick review or just subscribe wherever you're listening. And I will talk to you again next Monday here. And until then, later. All right.

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