The Holdovers (2023)

Had I remembered that this was set around Christmas, I would have waited until late July if not December. As it was, I knew only that it was an Academy Best Picture-nominated comedy drama featuring Paul Giamatti. And that it was available on Prime.

Paul Hunham (Giamatti, naturally) is the Scroogiest teacher at a prestigious New England boarding school in 1970. Since he's unpopular and was going to spend winter break at the school anyway, he is assigned to supervise five boys who can't go home for one reason or another. Unlike the headmaster (Andrew Garman), he believes that the students need extra discipline at this time. Four of them get parental permission to go on a ski trip instead, leaving the neglected, rebellious, yet rather scholastically adept Angus (Dominic Sessa) alone with Hunham, cook Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), and occasionally custodian Danny (Naheem Garcia).

April and the Extraordinary World (2015)

You might call me a casual fan of steampunk, in that I tend to like what I see of it but don't know a whole lot of works within it. Seems to me they're usually set in an alternate 19th century. This movie starts then to establish where the timeline diverges from reality, but then it skips ahead to 1931 and, for the bulk of the story, 1941, with an epilogue chronicling up to 2000. The important premises are that the line of Napoleon Bonaparte has continued and prevented many scientific advances by pressing gifted scientists into service in other areas. Among other things, this means a budding war with North America for its supply of wood and coal for steam power.

The science-minded Franklin family has no intention of slaving away on weapons. Their rebellion leads to young April (voiced in English by Angela Galuppo) being left to fend for herself as a street thief, refusing to go to a state-run orphanage. Disgraced former inspector Pizoni (Paul Giamatti) thinks she's the key to finding her missing, talented grandfather, "Pops" (Tony Robinow). By her teen years, Pizoni has sent a young thief, Julius (Tod Fennell), to spy on her. It becomes apparent that there is yet another party interested in April and the rest of the Franklins, particularly for their progress on a serum for Deadpool-level rapid healing.

The Illusionist (2006)

No, not the 2010 animation written by Jacques Tati. Like Infamous, this movie got overshadowed by a similarly themed movie out around the same time, in this case The Prestige. (Scoop also focused on magic that year, but despite the Woody Allen label, it didn't enjoy as much popularity as either competitor.) Regardless, TI has pretty high ratings, so it must have...cast a spell on some viewers.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire late in the nineteenth century, Eduard Abramovich (Edward Norton) is a magician with the stage name of Eisenheim. One night, his volunteer from the audience is Duchess Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), once his teen sweetheart until authorities forced them apart due to his lower class. Alas, she is betrothed to Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), who has a reputation for physically abusing women, is believed to have killed one, and plans to usurp the throne. Leopold takes little time to grow suspicious and sends Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) to snoop on Eisenheim and look for an excuse to arrest him. Rescuing Sophie and/or bringing Leopold to justice would take an extraordinary feat of magic....

The Little Prince (2015)

I never read the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, tho a friend of mine loves it. All I had gleaned was the prince's appearance, his habitation of a tiny planetoid, and his sad parting from a talking fox. Further study confirms that it's quite solemn in spite of a whimsical, seemingly kid-friendly setup. But this animation isn't a direct adaptation; rather, it's a story about the story.

As in the novella, nobody has a stated name. The protagonist is an eight-year-old girl (Mackenzie Foy, who already starred in an animation connected to France) whose mother (Rachel McAdams), while affectionate, has way too strict a plan for her life. They move next door to an eccentric old pariah (Jeff Bridges) who turns out to be the novella's narrator and illustrator, eager to share his story with whoever will listen. The girl rebels against Mom's schedule to learn about the spacefaring boy (who doesn't seem to be a literal prince) whom the man claims to have met in a desert. What we get must be a highly capsulized version of the story -- leaving room for much more....

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Ordinarily, I would skip this. I can enjoy movies set in African-American ghettos (Boyz n the Hood, Do the Right Thing) and biopics about musicians whose music doesn't do much for me (Coal Miner's Daughter, Walk the Line), but the godfathers of gangsta rap really didn't interest me. Only claims that it was unfairly passed over at the Oscars sparked my interest, followed by the high praise from the big three rating sites.

About all I knew going in was that N.W.A (that's the correct punctuation), an offensively named group that included later successful solo artists Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, made an early-'90s album with the same title as the movie, its cover showing four guys standing over the camera on the ground, Eazy-E about to shoot it (or having just shot it). Little did I know that they had brought more of a thuggish image to the music scene than ever before, drawing even the FBI's attention. The story documents their rise and, before long, heated breakup.

Cinderella Man (2005)

Perhaps the most notable thing about the second collaboration between Russell Crowe and Ron Howard is the discrepancy between its reception by both critics and the general audience (great) and its box office take (inadequate). I blame the title, which may have confused audiences on what sort of movie it would be. When Damon Runyon gave real-life prizefighter Jim Braddock the nickname in reference to his rags-to-possible-riches situation, it had previously been a known insult. Who wants to see a girly boxer?

I wasn't sure what I'd get out of it myself. Sports mean little to me, and boxing is one of my least favorite. Even highly acclaimed movies about boxers (which somehow have become disproportionate in the sports film genre) rarely entertain me much. Sports films in general are prone to exaggerating the seriousness of the climactic game, in keeping with major fans. But CM has a pretty good excuse.