December Movies

Lots of movies come out in December, and with winter break coming up, you'll have plent of time to enjoy them. Here's my top 5 to watch.

Krampus- the premise is this: No one on Santa’s list is good this year, everyone is too wrapped up in the commercialized version Christmas. So, instead of getting presents under your tree, you’ll get Krampus. Santa’s demon helper sent to punish those that don’t have the proper Christmas Spirit. While this is probably just  a ploy to get people to come watch the movie and have a laugh at the ridiculousness, i’m okay with it. I will definitely be watching this christmas horror movie.

The Ridiculous 6- This Netflix original movie and comedy tells the story of six wild west outlaws who share one thing in common. Their father. When this minor detail is found out, they must band together to find him. With a mostly diverse cast of actors and comedians (and actual Native Americans playing Native Americans) this movie appears to be a funny western that I’m definitely making time to watch.

Star Wars episode VII: The Force Awakens- The latest Star Wars sequel promises to be a nostalgic galactic adventure for all ages. While the actual plot has me a little hesitant ( it appears to be just Darth Vader II) the cast and characters have me excited, as well as the classic Star Wars tech and aesthetic. I’ll probably be watching it Christmas day with my dad and brother, and am super excited.

The Hateful Eight- While this western’s name is unfortunate (I originally thought it was just The Ridiculous 6 part II) you shouldn’t dismiss it. With director Quentin Tarantino and lead Samuel L Jackson, this is an automatic can’t miss movie. When a hangman takes a 10,000 dollar prisoner to her execution across the state, a bounty hunter-and five others- conspire to keep her alive long enough to collect, and kill their untrustworthy companions. A story asking for a plot twist or two, I will definitely watch this movie.

Sisters- This comedy starring the inseparable Amy Poehler and Tina Fey is the story of two middle aged sisters throwing a party at their childhood home. And watching it turn into a disaster zone. With lots of cameos by celebrities like John Cena, expect this movie to be a hilarious story of self discovery.  

Mockingjay (part II) Suzanne Collins

*I’ll give a spoiler warning here, since the movie is still in theaters*

The last part of the last book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay part 2 was a highly anticipated movie, and came out just this past November.

Honestly, I feel that while this movie included more than I expected, it didn’t include as much as I hoped (including one of my favorite parts of the books). It had the scenes from in District 2 at the mountain, where Prim’s death is... foreshadowed? Explained? I don’t know if that’s what it was, but it did allow us to understand that District 13 was in possession of the bombs that killed her. The whole movie made you hate Coin a lot more than in the books. I’m a little torn about that. It made her death a lot more obvious, you knew watching that Katniss wasn’t going allow Coin to be in charge from the beginning. In the book, you knew that Coin wasn’t a good person, but her death was still a surprise. And you’re in Katniss’ head. That may be why they made the reasons for Coin’s assassination so obvious, so it wasn’t so surprising... I don't know. The scene was beautiful though, and the shot of coin in gray with blood dripping down the steps, while morbid, was so well done.

The love triangle wasn’t done as well as in the books, but it was still pretty good. Because you can’t read Katniss’ mind in the movie, you have to read the books to really understand why Katniss married Peeta. When Gale told Peeta that Katniss would choose whichever of them she could not survive without, Katniss had thought to herself that she could survive without both. She chose Peeta not because the alternative was the guy that killed her sister, but because Peeta balanced her. And she wanted that. The movie’s inclusion of the love triangle was weird too, like the writers forgot it was even a thing until halfway into the movie. It was unclear whether Katniss and Gale were friends, “dating”, or whatever, so Peeta entering the picture led to more ‘I have no idea what's going on’ rather than the intended ‘I wonder who she will choose’ thoughts.

Prim’s death (and the aftermath) was also interesting. The movie made it clear that Snow had already given up when the bombs came, but in the book he was using the children as human shields. He did not kill them, but thought District 13 wouldn’t kill them either. He wasn’t quite ready to surrender. Katniss’ reaction to Prim’s death was a let down, too. Katniss was scarred mentally and physically, while in the movie she gets out with barely a scratch. She has a break down briefly after she gets back to District 13, but she’s just cold otherwise. Where is the depression? Her refusal to speak? Her scars where the skin grafts from her 3rd degree burns meet her skin? The same goes for after she killed Coin. She was in jail a lot longer than the three hours in the movie. She tried to kill herself. Actually, from the beginning of the book Katniss is almost always on some kind of psychological meds to help her heal from the games and the losses she experienced. The ignoring of her mental illness was incredibly disappointing.

One thing I always forget about the Hunger Games, is just how gorey they are. In the lizard scene in the sewers, there are other pods getting activated while Star Squad flees for their lives. A huge meat grinder that tries to swallow them up (and succeeds with one) and an alien abduction type beam of light that paralyzes and melts the flesh off anyone captured within it’s trap are the some of the worst. While I understand the movie is trying for a pg-13 rating, I would have liked a little more of that (and the trauma it inflicts) to have made it to the big screen.

So, great movie, but overall it could have shown more of the mental and physical effects of war, and found ways to allow insight into the love triangle and kept it more cohesive with the main plot.

Maleficent

A fairly popular adaptation of sleeping beauty, Maleficent tells the story of the antagonist   a la Wicked. While this movie has many great parts to it, the few things that bug me REALLY bug me, making this a hard movie for me to watch.

First, the plot twist. Considering this was the first Disney movie to come out after Frozen, you would think the directors would have met up and said ‘hey, our plot twist is exactly the same, maybe we should do something about that?’ and then not both done the platonic love is what cures the curse thing. Watching this I saw it coming as soon as the prince was introduced and given no personality whatsoever. They could have tried to hide it at least.

Then, there’s the setting. Either the kingdom is really tiny, or the king picked the least strategic spot for a castle. An hour away from the possibly dangerous fairyland. And when the fairies took Aurora away, they took her even closer to the definitely dangerous fairyland. And did absolutely nothing to take care of her. Like letting her wander around in the forest going right to fairyland. peaking of the fairies, how do their powers work? Why does Maleficent need wings to fly when she can levitate things? Why does she even bother with fighting when she can control people? How are her wings still alive after being severed off her body and manage to reattach themselves after at least sixteen years?

And, of course, my pet peeve. Everything is CGI but none of it is good CGI. The fairies, the flying, the tree things, the soldiers. Everything. Rewatching the movie less than two years after it came out should not have me cringing every scene at the special effects like it's a nineties movie. To already be that dated shows that they needed more than the two year production time given.

One thing I did like was how Maleficent’s ex-love interest was portrayed. His changing into something of greed was done well, and the scene in which Maleficent’s wings were taken was wonderfully emotional and heartbreaking.

This movie has a decent plot, a lot of plot holes, poor CGI and a good main character but an underdeveloped supporting cast. I won’t tell you not to watch it, as it does have good parts, I just wouldn’t watch it expecting it to be super well done.