Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Given the sheer tonnage of product that Netflix releases at a near-constant clip, it’s not all that out of the ordinary for them to drop a trailer, or an entire show/movie, and for the collective Internet to look up in confusion going, “Wait, that’s a thing?”
But perhaps no thing has made us pause and go “Wait, what?” as severely as The Christmas Chronicles, starring Kurt “Shake the Pillars of Heaven” Russell as Santa Claus. He, uh, he puts his own spin on it.
Yes, the once and forever Snake Plissken is no traditional Santa. This St. Nick keeps himself trim (and resents the pot-belly he always gets drawn with), hollers “Fake news!”, refuses to drop a “Ho Ho Ho”, and, if pressed, will launch into impromptu musical numbers accompanied by E Street Band members. As you do.
But The Christmas Chronicles, from director Clay Kaytis (an animation guy, making the move to live action after directing the Angry Birds movie, The Angry Birds Movie) is less about Santa Claus than it is about two kids from Lowell, Massachusetts who sneak into his sled one night. Teenager Teddy (Judah Lewis) and 10-year-old Kate (Darby Camp) used to be close, but their relationship has grown fraught after the death of their father. After accidentally crashing Santa’s sleigh over Chicago, the siblings need to put aside their bickering and help Santa recover his reindeer, presents, and magic hat before Christmas arrives.
Since the film’s debut, Netflix declared that over 20 million people have already watched The Christmas Chronicles, so we expect we’ll see this particular Santa again. But while we wait for our own Yule time to begin, let’s kick back and discuss whether or not this particular ride ever gets off the ground.
Next Week’s Pick:
It’s been a tumultuous year, so let’s finish off with a film that enables us to laugh at the craziness that is America, while remaining as piercing and dead-on in its assessment of race relations as any film ever made.
Blazing Saddles is streaming on Netflix.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
The Team
When I heard about a movie with Kurt Russell playing Santa Claus, I was immediately excited at the proposition. The very idea of the incredible genre master portraying the Christmas icon immediately placed the film in the “must see” column. And, thankfully, both Russell and the film deliver in spades.
In a film that’s sure to be an annual watch for my family, we get a perfect blend of over-the-top madness, Christmas spirit, and well-executed genre filmmaking. The jokes land, the musical number is fantastic, and somehow even the bizarre CGI elves work. It’s a film that is for the entire family and is sure to bring smiles to man, many exhausted faces this holiday season! (@thepaintedman)
Look, regardless of whether the movie is any good or not (which…eh), Kurt Russell looks like he’s having a lot of fun, and I’m sure he got paid a whole bunch. And, really, isn’t Kurt Russell’s happiness the most important thing? Yes, yes it is.
As for the movie itself? Eh. I’m an easy mark for Christmas fluff, but The Christmas Chronicles frequently abandons Russell’s Santa so it can instead spend lots of time on two kids grappling with their grief over their dead dad and their animosity towards each other, and the tonal whiplash between those scenes and the ones with Kurt Russell doing Bruce Springsteen-esque musical numbers in jail, or the wacky CGI elves and their chainsaws and blowtorches, it’s enough to make your head spin. The movie also tries to goose the very simple straightforward stakes of “We have to save Christmas!” with the threat that if Santa doesn’t deliver his presents, the world is in danger of plunging into global conflicts (that’s right kids: the Holocaust happened because Santa missed a year) which is just weird.
I wish The Christmas Chronicles had recognized its own strengths and placed the emphasis more on the Russell end of things, but the film is a pleasant enough addition to the seasonal viewing if you are worn out on the Rankin-Bass specials and Love, Actually and/or Die Hard rewatches. (@theTrueBrendanF)
Every year seems to bring a new wave of awful, forgettable, samey-samey Christmas movies. The Christmas Chronicles could’ve been one of these. It has some of those “hallmarks” — predictable family drama, flat digital cinematography, and it’s made for TV/DTV (albeit via Netflix).
But there’s two things that make it stand out: Kurt Russell is having a ton of fun and the so is the movie. This sarcastic, kinda hip Santa Claus is a fresh take on the character that wouldn’t work without the right actor in the role, and Russell knocks it out of the park — the jailhouse rock scene in particular is destined to become iconic. This Santa had me grinning, and I was on board by the time the goofy elves showed up for a bizarre left turn.
The Christmas Chronicles will definitely become a perennial viewing, and has the makings of a new Christmas classic. (@VforVashaw)
Watch it on Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80199682
Next week’s pick: