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Holiday Movie Review 2021

Our movie critic is here to help you choose what movie to see this year with his annual holiday season recap.
HolidayMovies2021

Going to the movies is a big tradition and extremely popular activity over the holiday season. This year is no exception, and with renewed virus concerns, people are ready to enjoy some well-earned leisure time with their loved ones.

To that end, Oakville News (along with the tireless work of our humble resident film critic) is pleased to present our sixth annual review of holiday movies to help you choose what to see.

Which new movies are worth your time and money? Which ones are in theatres and which ones are streaming - or both? These are confusing questions, especially with more new movies than ever. But everything in this list has been released over the last month, with many of them releasing in the last week.

Each film is organized chronologically and listed with our rating, description and a guide to how you can watch them at home. There’s also a paragraph or two highlighting our thoughts on each, along with a trailer.

Hopefully this can be your guide map to movies over the holidays and into the early new year. Happy watching!

The Power of the Dog

10 out of 10

Written and Directed by Jane Campion.

14A, 2hrs 6mins. Western Epic Drama.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons.

Released December 1st. Now streaming on Netflix for subscribers. (Opened in theatres Nov. 19)

Legendary filmmaker Campion (the first woman to be nominated for a directing Oscar for 1993's The Piano) is back with her first movie in 12 years. Based on the novel of the same name, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a ruthless and hardworking cowboy in early 1900s Montana. When his brother marries a new woman (Kirsten Dunst), he reluctantly takes her teenage son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) under his wing.

The Power of the Dog is one of the best movies this year. It's haunting, beautiful, and gritty with dirt stuck in its teeth. All four actors are marvellous, but Cumberbatch is giving the best performance of 2021 full stop. Dunst and Smit-McPhee are also doing great work, and while the beginning is a bit slow, it emulates what early life in rural Montana was like. And the ending is impossibly spectactular!

Nightmare Alley

7 out of 10

Co-Written and Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

14A, 2hrs 30mins. Drama Mystery Thriller.

Starring Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Toni Colette, Richard Jenkins, Willem Dafoe and David Strathairn.

Released December 17th. Now Playing at Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.

Speaking of great endings (as above), Nightmare Alley is also based on a 1940s novel, though the plot this time revolves around a carnival man (Bradley Cooper) going from a small sideshow to the elite audiences of Chicago. The story takes too long and is oddly split into two halves (like a first and second act), and unlike director del Toro's past work, there are few fantasy elements. It's not as enchanting as his 2017 Best Picture-winning The Shape of Water, but it's still a fine movie and a great entry to film noir.

Rumble

5 out of 10

Co-Written and Directed by Hamish Grieve.

PG, 1hr 35mins. Animated Family Comedy.

Starring Will Arnett, Geraldine Viswanathan and Terry Crews.

Released December 15th. Now streaming on Paramount+ for subscribers.

There's a surprising lack of family movies playing right now, and the only streaming service with a new kid's film this month is....Paramount+? After having its theatrical release cancelled, Rumble is nothing more than a well-animated and forgettable sports comedy about a teenage girl training a big red monster (Will Arnett) to have a wrestling match with a big blue monster (Terry Crews). It's an okay choice for kids age seven and younger, but anyone older will find it laughless and boring. And is Rumble worth signing up for Paramount+? No. 

The Matrix Resurrections

6 out of 10

Co-Written and Directed by Lana Wachowski.

14A, 2hrs 28mins. Sci-Fi Action Thriller Drama.

Starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Released December 22nd. Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.

Almost 20 years after the last instalment, The Matrix Resurrections returns with Neo (Keanu Reeves) confronting the meta-loop he's been stuck in for decades, only to fight a new enemy that's trapped him in "The Matrix" for so long.

If that last sentence doesn't make sense to you, stay far away from The Matrix Resurrections. The first 50 minutes are long, dull exposition, but once we get to the sci-fi action (including more great use of slow-motion) the story gets much more exciting. This is a complicated and detailed franchise to make sense of, and this new film has a lot of annoying metafiction in its humour. But Matrix and Sci-Fi fans will leave satisfied.

The King's Man

4 out of 10

Co-Written and Directed by Matthew Vaughn.

14A, 2hrs 12mins. Spy War Action Adventure.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson, Gemma Arterton, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans.

Released December 22nd. Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.

The other massive action movie now playing is a prequel from Matthew Vaughn's Kingsmen franchise. Set at the start of WWI, the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) is establishing the world's first private spy agency, all while trying to control his son (Harris Dickinson). The movie is more enjoyable than it is well made, especially in its stunt scenes. The WWI setting is inappropriately serious for this comedic series, and the story is incredibly disjointed. Worst of all, there are two really irritable twists that suck a lot of the fun out of the movie.

Don't Look Up

5 out of 10

Written and Directed by Adam McKay.

14A, 2hrs 18mins. Sci-Fi Comedy Disaster Drama.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill and Mark Rylance.

Released December 24th. Now streaming on Netflix for subscribers. (Opened in theatres Dec. 10)

If you're looking for the most star-studded cast of 2021, take a look at Don't Look Up. Netflix's disaster comedy is an ensemble piece from Adam McKay (Anchorman and The Big Short) about two scientists trying to tell the world a giant comet will destroy Earth in six months unless someone intervenes.

The story is disappointing and extremely bleak, and it's hard to find the jokes funny (even though most are very funny) when the other half of the movie is inescapably sad. But the whole cast is terrific, with razor-sharp satire. Not even listed above in the main cast includes talent like Timothée Chalamet, Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Ariana Grande, Ron Perlman, Melanie Lynskey, Himesh Patel and a very funny Chris Evans cameo.

American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story

8 out of 10

Co-Written and Directed by the Erwin Brothers.

G, 1hr 52mins. Family Sports Drama Biography.

Starring Zachary Levi, Anna Paquin, Ser'Darius Blain and Dennis Quaid.

Released December 25th. Now Playing at Cineplex Winston Churchill & VIP.

American Underdog is the diamond in the rough at the cinema this holiday season. The story of St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi) is expertly told by the Erwin Brothers (2019's music biopic I Can Only Imagine). What makes it great is most of the story isn't about football: it's about meeting his wife Brenda (Anna Paquin) and becoming a stepfather to her two kids while trying to be a football star.

Levi and Paquin have incredible chemistry and vulnerability together on screen, and their commitment makes the movie heartfelt and deep. This is a great sports movie, romance and biography - and it's completely family friendly too! Young kids may get bored of the story, but the movie is wholesome and lands a big touchdown.

In addition to the above, there have been some other terrific movies released in the month of December, all playing in theatres now. We wholeheartedly recommend these other titles Oakville News has reviewed in the past few weeks:

You can read more reviews and entertainment news with @MrTyCollins on Facebook and Twitter.