Bridgerton

From IMDb: Wealth, lust, and betrayal set in the backdrop of Regency era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family. Released this Christmas

Lee: Great music! Not sure this is my cup of tea though…

Sarah: I’d agree with you Lee, music sounds great but that was the only thing in this trailer that appealed. The rest of it looks dire. I can think of much better things to watch on Christmas Day!

Clare: I saw someone call this Aristocratic Gossip Girl and they’re 100% right. Whilst I adore Shonda Rhimes Grey’s Anatomy (well, up until last season because Karev would NEVER have made that choice, but that’s for a different rage blog), I’ve struggled to vibe with any of her other shows. I’ll give this a go, Rhimes has a great ability to take a lesser-known cast and thrust them into stardom, so I can see this being no different. And it looks pretty?

Mary: Yes definitely Gossip Girl vibes. This feels like a really modern regency period drama, I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. It could work it could not, but people love a scandal so if it has plenty of that it will likely do well.

Matt: I feel like no one mentioned Julie Andrews, so I’ll just mention her. Julie Andrews.

LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special

From IMDb: Rey leaves her friends to prepare for Life Day as she sets off on an adventure to gain a deeper knowledge of the Force. At a mysterious temple, she is hurled into a cross-timeline adventure. Will she make it back in time for Life Day? Released November 17

Clare: Oh this looks so silly and fun. The exact thing that I would buy for my 9yr old nephew. As someone who has seen the original Star Wars Christmas special, I feel this might be one modern Star Wars film that is better than the originals?

Mary: Whose idea was this? This looks absolutely ridiculous, I can’t believe it’s actually a thing. Don’t get me wrong I love Star Wars but no this is beyond me.

Matt: Me likey. Love the LEGO humour, loved the LEGO Star Wars games too, and it reminds me of when Family Guy did their parodies, except there’s something funnier about Star Wars/Disney mocking themselves! A festive treat for all, ho ho ho, etc.

Sarah: I laughed a lot more than I thought I would watching this. You can’t really go wrong with LEGO films and this just looks like so much fun. And I agree with Clare, it has to be better than The Rise of Skywalker at least?

Lee: Well this just looks like a great big bundle of joy! I had so much fun watching The LEGO Batman movie, so if this has the same level of fast-paced action, humour, in-jokes and Easter eggs for Star Wars fans as that movie had for Batman fans, then this is the Christmas special for me!

Happiest Season

From IMDb: A holiday romantic comedy that captures the range of emotions tied to wanting your family’s acceptance, being true to yourself, and trying not to ruin Christmas. Released November 26

Matt: They should have called it “Make the Yuletide Gay” but I looked and it’s already been taken… I also didn’t think I’d ever see a Kristen Stewart film with ‘Happy’ in the title. Progress! I bet it ends with her character slaughtering the entire family (who turn out to be homophobic) and burning down the house to escape. If it does, then they definitely should have called it “Get Outed”. Anyway, Merry Christmas.

Mary: I think this might be the first role where Kristen Stewart actually looks like a human being and not mostly robot. This did really make me laugh and I love the cast (minus Stewart who I usually would like to throw something at)I think I’ll add this to the Christmas movie calendar!

Sarah: This doesn’t look as horrifically bad as I was expecting. The trailer did make me laugh and the cast is decent although i think the plot is going to be entirely predictable. Although I am rooting for it to turn out the way Matt has predicted instead! 

Clare: Mackenzie Davis and Dan Levy in a film together are all my wishes together at once. Davis in a rom-com again, bestill my heart! It looks cheesy and silly and that’s what every good rom-com should be. As a grinch, I don’t love that it’s set at Christmas, but that does mean it will enter the zeitgeist and get automatic repeat showings every year, so that’s great. I’m ready to believe in love (and Christmas) again!

Wild Mountain Thyme

From IMDb: A pair of star-crossed lovers in Ireland get caught up in their family’s land dispute. Released December 2020

Mary: This film has two things I absolutely love without question…. Emily Blunt and Ireland. This looks really really quirky and I’m sure it’ll be full of extremely questionable Irish accents (Christopher Walken I’m looking at you) but this has me hooked. I’d never miss an Emily Blunt film, especially in Ireland I mean come on… perfection!

Sarah: This film has two things I absolutely love without question…. Emily Blunt and Ireland. This looks really really quirky and I’m sure it’ll be full of extremely questionable Irish accents (Christopher Walken I’m looking at you) but this has me hooked. I’d never miss an Emily Blunt film, especially in Ireland I mean come on… perfection!

Clare: I’m actually a bit in shock. That looks appalling. Blunts accent is terrible, they don’t look like they have any chemistry and the whole thing looks ripped out of a terrible mills and boon novel. Sarah is right, the music was the final nail in the coffin. Blunt is going to win a Razzie before she wins an Oscar at this rate.

Lee: I do love Emily Blunt but what the hell is this? Just to echo what’s already been said, the accents and the overuse of Irish music are really working against this. They seem to really, really, really want you to know that this is Ireland, everyone is Irish etc. But the cast just seem totally out of place. As much as I don’t usually like this type of movie, with a lesser known or completely unknown cast and a more subtle trailer I actually think there’s something interesting about this. But I probably won’t watch it now, thanks to this trailer.

Matt: I just vomited in the shape of a Leprechaun. But I don’t think this looks *too* bad… it’ll be fun I suppose. The writer of the original Broadway play is the screenwriter and director of this, so he must know what he wanted? Or he was just trying to get the biggest stars he could! Fans of Blunt/Dornan/Ireland will flock to this all the same.

Let Them All Talk

From IMDb: A famous author goes on a cruise trip with her friends and nephew in an effort to find fun and happiness while she comes to terms with her troubled past. Released December 2020

Matt: Another quirky pick, but with Oscar-winning names like Steven Soderbergh, Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest involved, plus nominees Lucas Hedges (who I adore) and Candice Bergen, it definitely has my curiosity! Although admittedly this will probably be rather underwhelming.

Mary: Hmm…. I am so unsure about this one I mean on the one hand wow that cast; amazing but I didn’t really get a spark from the subject matter. The general tone they portrayed in the trailer isn’t really my thing. But again could I miss this with a cast like this?

Clare: I think this will either be an amazing character study, or like Matt and Mary have said, fall a bit flat. Lucas Hedges is becoming the modern stamp of excellence in film, but I still have PTSD from my own cruise holiday, so that has me quite scared off of this one!

Sarah: I actually found myself quite taken in by this one. It has a fantastic cast and anything with Lucas Hedges in is me sold. Like Clare has said, to me it looks like it could be a great character study and the trailer holds a lot of promise. And with Steven Soderbergh involved it’s bound to look good if nothing else.

Lee: As everyone has already said, it’s a great cast but definitely has the potential to be a little dull. You never know though, Meryl Streep and her reunited friends might break into song a few times on their trip and we’ll have a Mamma Mia sequel on our hands!eryone has already said, it’s a great cast but definitely has the potential to be a little dull. You never know though, Meryl Streep and her reunited friends might break into song a few times on their trip and we’ll have a Mamma Mia sequel on our hands!

The Midnight Sky

From IMDb: This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine, a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully and her fellow astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe. Released December 2020

Sarah: To me, this looks like a mash-up of The Day After Tomorrow with virtually every other sci-fi film going, especially Interstellar, Sunshine etc. However despite this, it looks pretty decent and has a great cast, so I’ll definitely give it a watch.

Lee: Drama on Earth, drama in space, all involving some kind of mysterious apocalyptic event on Earth. Sarah is right, there are hints of movies we’ve seen before, but this does look really interesting.

Clare: So they saw Interstellar and Ad Astra and thought, why not both? I do wish I enjoyed sci-fi more as it looks very well done and as Sarah mentions, a wonderful cast. I have a suspicion that Clooney’s young daughter grows up to be Felicity Jones character? I just don’t trust space films to have singular narrative threads anymore!

Mary: Welcome back George Clooney, feel like it’s been ages since he’s done anything. This reminds me very much of interstellar, which I did really like and it’s got a very favourable cast so I’ll definitely make time for this.

Matt: Don’t forget ‘Gravity’, when he floated away into space and died! I think this looks good but I completely agree that the similarities to so many other films is a bit distracting! Hopefully, the story retains some of its own originality.