Ready for the Holidays

I know I am.

So, listen, you know what the best part of everyone in your house getting sick around the holiday season is?

No, I’m asking. What’s the best part of that? Is there a best part? It’s not a lot of fun! (No COVID in our house, but a fair amount of other unpleasant things like bronchitis and strep throat, and I generally do not recommend them.)

I say this to you because you should know this will be a very short newsletter, not only because it’s the Friday before the Christmas weekend.

First, a general reminder that, as noted in the post below, the next bracket starts on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, and will be a 256-seed bracket in which you decide the ultimate winner of the Walt Disney Company Performances bracket. (Yes, Bob Hoskins’ work as Eddie Valiant is part of the bracket. I have made it about as challenging as possible for him to win, but we’ll see. He’s won enough!)

Second, over the last few days, I did have a couple pieces go up at Slashfilm that I wanted to point you all to. I reviewed the perfectly OK new DreamWorks Animation title Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which I appear to like a bit less than some of my fellow critics. It’s fine! I think the bar for most DWA titles is very low, compared to Pixar or Disney or other animation studios, and while this movie does cross that low bar, it’s only so compelling as part of the ever-exhausting Shrek franchise.

I also offered my more spoilery thoughts on Avatar: The Way of Water, a film that — in case you haven’t heard — is a sequel to a movie absolutely no one cares about, which is why it’s made over half a billion dollars across the world in a week. (I am not a huge Avatar fan, but the more I hear “But who even remembers that movie?”, the more my eyes roll.) Arguably, words cannot spoil the experience of seeing this movie, which you should do (if you’re healthy). But you can still read my words on the film!

For now, it’ll be a week off — I will return next Friday with my list of the ten best films of 2022 and encourage you to keep an eye out for that.

I wish you all a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season! And I also wish myself and my family a healthier holiday season. (What can I tell you, I’m selfish.)