Review: Happiest Season

by Eurocheese

Yes, it’s that time. Even in this, the strangest year of most of our lives, there’s something comforting about knowing that holiday season always rolls around and we can put on our favorite holiday songs and movies to keep us company. Clea DuVall’s new film Happiest Season not only understands that we need this escape, but manages to find humor in a season that can also be high pressure and exasperating for those who don’t adore it.

Abby (Kristen Stewart) is one of these people. While her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis) seems over the moon for the holiday, it’s always been a tough time for her, connected to the loss of her parents. In a romantic moment, Harper impulsively invites Abby back to meet her family for Christmas. Abby jumps on the opportunity, and doesn’t pick up on Harper’s hesitance the next day… or her nervous vibe as they head out on the trip…

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Review: Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square

by Christopher James

When someone tells you who they are, believe them. If the title Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square didn’t already clue you in as to whether you are within the target audience for the film, the opening minutes do. After credits play over the kitschiest of Christmas landscapes, Dolly Parton appears as the world’s comfiest homeless person in full hair and makeup. Her beautiful voice launches into an original song/life lesson that prompts the entire town to break out into a highly choreographed dance routine. This all takes place, you guessed it, in the titular Square. Over the next 98 minutes, Dolly Parton’s Christmas of the Square continues to deliver exactly what it promised you upfront. With __ original songs throughout, Christine Baranski doing a drag version of her gay Twitter persona and Dolly Parton as the chicest homeless person around, Christmas on the Square is Parton’s Citizen Kane...

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Almost There: Cary Grant in "The Bishop's Wife"

by Cláudio Alves

Movie stars are not like us. Most people look perfectly banal when observed through camera lenses, but the stars are ravishing. When one appears, all eyes go to them, as if their mere presence is a gravitational hold. They are glamourous and awe-inspiring, terminally charming, and even more alluring. Idealized beyond humanity, those icons of the silver screen are the green light for which Jay Gatsby reached.

No matter the other sins of Old Hollywood, they were an exemplary movie star factory. The studios often knew just how to showcase the great stars to maximize their appeal. Or at least the finished product often suggests so. For a fascinating example of all of this look no further than Cary Grant in the 1947 Best Picture-nominee The Bishop's Wife…

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Christmas Movies of the Moment

by Tony Ruggio

Christmas movies, full of cheer, pretty lights, and sometimes reindeer. I grew up on ‘em, on Home Alone and Christmas Vacation. I continued loving ‘em as a big kid even, with Elf and The Santa Clause holding a special place in my cold heart. They used to be one of those seasonal things Hollywood did best, but as comedy has sunk, so have movies set during the holidays. 

They were on the fast track to extinction, in fact, until streaming came along. Sure, there were Hallmark hate-watches and other network specials gasping for attention. Hallmark still has a certain devoted fan base despite the decline of cable television, but theatrical movie-going has been devoid of the holiday spirit for some time now. Thanks to Netflix, I’ve been able to indulge and Christmas party like it’s 1999, so here are three new Christmas films you may have heard of (there are two more I won’t even mention) that you may or may not want to spend time with this season...

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The Gay Heart of "The Family Stone"

Members of Team Experience have been asked to share their favorite holiday film. Here's Spencer Coile with his...

I vividly remember the trailer for The Family Stone when it first came out in 2005. I was thirteen, a recent film and Oscar snob, and still incredibly naïve. I was swept into the two-and-a-half-minute long saga of uptight Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) visiting her boyfriend Everett’s (Dermot Mulroney) family for their first Christmas together and the family’s cliquey antics. Add on a stellar cast and the Maxine Nightingale classic, “Right Back Where We Started From,” and I was hooked. I couldn’t possibly wait until December to see it. 

And I didn’t. I waited even longer, months after it was released...

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