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Reviews
The Christmas Train (2017)
Christmas Train Wreck
The horrible twist at the end renders this holiday fiasco infuriating.
On the surface, this seems like just another harmless holiday movie in traditional Hallmark fashion.
Featuring a cast of familiar faces and former A-List stars, the film shows some promise initially. For most of the narrative, the production feels comfortable and a little higher quality than Hallmark's standard holiday fare.
That is, until the end.
While the people responsible for The Christmas Train could have have wrapped their movie in a pretty bow for the audience to feel good about and savor for holiday seasons to come, instead, they fell flat on their faces with a twist ending that made absolutely no sense. Nonsense. The ending stole the heart from an otherwise decent Christmas movie, leaving this viewer feeling manipulated and angry.
If you're looking for a wonderful Holiday movie in the Hallmark vein, I recommend that you forget this train wreck and check out My Norwegian Holiday.
The Christmas Train ends painfully.
Celebrity Jeopardy!: Quarterfinal #5: Troian Bellisario, Wil Wheaton and Hasan Minhaj (2022)
Painful to Watch
It's as if Mayim Bialik was left to housesit the Jeopardy studio in the late Alex Trebek's absence, so she invited over her actor friends and together they trashed the house.
"Celebrity?" Hasan Minhaj's presence made me wonder how Jeopardy defines the word "celebrity?"
Worst of all, he disrespected the game.
He was an absolute buffoon, an embarrassment. He seemed a little too caffeinated, and appeared to be more interested in hamming it up for the camera than actually playing the game. He was simply obnoxious. A distraction. He didn't acquit himself well as his antics overshadowed any ability he might have had to play the game.
Meanwhile, the hostess snorted, chuckled and guffawed her way through the entire tedious affair. She seemed thoroughly charmed and entertained by Hasan's "performance."
Overall, Celebrity Jeopardy is painful to watch, but this episode really took the cake.
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016)
Overall, A Decent Documentary
I should begin by disclosing that I watched this documentary immediately after viewing Peter Jackson's superb effort, Get Back.
Get Back succeeds by inviting the viewer to be a "fly on the wall" during the Beatles' songwriting process. Everything that happens unfolds in the room right before the viewers eyes. There's no real attempt to explain to the viewer what's transpiring. There's no real narration. Jackson understands that his audience is smart enough to draw their own conclusions about what's transpiring on screen.
In "Eight Days a Week," Director Ron Howard relies on some of the same narrative devices one might see in a television show on the E! Channel. Just when the viewer is being captivated by the documentary footage and the wonderful music, the film gets interrupted by the likes of Eddie Izzard and Whoopi Goldberg elaborating on how they feel about the Beatles and offering their opinions on the band's impact on popular culture.
While I enjoyed "Eight Days," I much preferred Jackson's understated approach to storytelling.
Admittedly, I watched the films in the wrong order. In hindsight l, I should have watched Howard's film first and then moved on the Jackson's, if only to enjoy the chronology of the story.
Whether you're a hardcore Beatles fan, or not, I recommend watching "Eight Days" first, followed by a good binge watching session of Get Back.
And when watching Howard's film, try not to be distracted by the few "cameos" that seem superfluous and completely unnecessary l.