Red One

2024 MGM Amazon Studios

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 4min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Christmas ~ Comedy

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J. K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Nick Kroll and Kristofer Hivju.

“Last night, Red One, also known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, was abducted from the North Pole Complex. And you’re gonna help us find him.”

J. K. Simmons stars as Saint Nicholas of Myra, code-named Red One by his security detail who follow his every step in and out of the North Pole. It is Christmas Eve and Nick, as everyone around the North Pole Complex calls him, is getting ready for his yearly marathon of delivering Christmas Cheer and presents to everyone around the world. He’s doing some last minute working out, lifting weights and bulking up on carbs or should we call that Christmas cookies. The entire complex is a beehive of activity as they prepare for the yearly run, it’s crunch time.

Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) is the head of Nick’s Security team and has taken a moment for himself outside before the action starts. He is standing in front of Saint Nick and Mrs. Claus’ (Bonnie Hunt) original small cabin, the area roped off as a major landmark in the complex, when he notices lights going off in the new high rise building that houses Nick and Mrs. Claus (Code-named MC) and all operations. Callum checks with part of the security detail in the building and starts asking for Red One’s location. Frantic as no one can find Nick, Callum makes his way to Red One’s living quarters and finds the window open. He rushes to it and sees a Snow vehicle racing away and orders his team to lock the dome and complex down.

Whoever kidnapped Saint Nick gets away and Callum notifies Director Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu) of M.O.R.A., The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority, about the incident that now threatens to keep Christmas from happening around the world from. Zoe decides that they need to enlist the help of Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), better known as “The Wolf”, a world renowned cyber hacker infamous for being able to find anyone and anything worldwide. They bring him in and find out that he is unwittingly responsible for identifying and selling the secret hidden location of Saint Nick and the North pole. Director Zoe decides that Jack is going to help them locate Nick and his kidnapper, accompanied by Callum.

And what follows is the globe-trotting chase to find Saint Nick and bring him back before Christmas. It is a journey through Norse legend and folklore. There is the legend of Grýla, the shape-shifting Winter Witch with thirteen shape-shifting sons who chase evil children. And the legend of Krampus, Saint Nick’s adopted Evil Brother who developed The Naughty List against Nick’s better judgement and along with his ex-wife Grýla sought to punish the children on the naughty list. There are also hell hounds, Ogres, Trolls, evil snowmen, elves, Polar Bear security forces, giant Reindeer and a high tech sleigh the likes you couldn’t even dream of.

It is a hilarious Christmas Adventure through Christmas lore filled with action and one-liners like “I love the kids, it’s the grown-ups that are killing me.” It is a different take on the whole Santa Claus and the North Pole theme, the Nordic folklore tends to give it a darker feel. The North Pole, it’s operations and look are definitely more high tech than we are used to. J.K. Simmons being the Buff muscle-strapped Santa working up to the big night, complete with infinite Santa wisdom was a good choice. Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Bonnie Hunt and Lucy Liu were all good in this. The best part of the movie is the end. At the very end they show Santa, Callum and the Christmas team travelling all over the world doing their thing. It is a unique look and take on the whole operation.

So that’s a yes for me, something a little different in the Santa Movie category.

Two Thumbs Up!

That Christmas

2024 Netflix

Rated: PG

Length: 1 hr 31min

Adventure ~ Animation ~ Christmas ~ Comedy ~ Family

Directed by: Simon Otto

Starring: Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy.

“Down to one Reindeer and the worst snowstorm in history, and a town that needed a sack full of Christmas fixing….You’re about to hear the tale of one of the most challenging nights of my long career.”

Brian Cox stars as The Handsome Fellow in the Red Onesie, and narrates as he tells the tale of one of the most challenging nights of his long career. Wrap up and get warm as he tells the Tale of That Christmas. At the end of his Christmas Eve journey and down to one reindeer, Santa Claus and Dasher have to make one last stop to Wellington-On-Sea. It has just shown up on his radar as having nothing but Christmas trouble all over town. He believes he can pinpoint the start of all the trouble to the School Christmas Play December 22, 4 PM.

And that’s where the story begins, at the school play and follows the trials, tribulations and troubles the townspeople face as they hurry to pull Christmas together over the next two days. The next day December 23 turns into a snow day as the town wakes up under feet of snow. Which hampers and changes everyone’s plans. To make matters worse, a huge unexpected snowstorm is headed right for the little seaside town later that evening.

The animation is outstanding in this movie. The story is great, full of adventurous twists and turns as the families try to deal with the many obstacles thrown in their way. The characters are all very loveable, and there is something very familiar and comforting about Brian Cox’s voice as Santa. It makes you want to nestle up all comfy with a nice big cup of Hot Chocolate. I really like Sam’s Christmas wish of a metal body Resonator Guitar, one of my personal favorites. I love the Blue Volkswagen bus, it is too cute.

Heck, I love everything about this movie. It takes me back to the standards from when I was a kid. There were certain movies you couldn’t wait to see every year….Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming To Town, Frosty The Snowman, The year without a Santa Claus……I think this belongs in that category. It should be the next new Christmas classic you want to watch every year.

With that being said about this Family/Kids Animated Christmas Adventure Comedy, I highly Recommend it as part of your Christmas season and viewing. Better hurry, there’s only 2 days left…….

Two Thumbs Up!

April 6, 2025

I just discovered that this movie is based on the Trilogy of Children’s books by Richard Curtis: Snow Day, The Empty Stocking and That Christmas.

There is a special edition with all three books coming out August 5, 2025: You can pre-order it here: That Christmas And Other Stories.

The Lost City

2022 Paramount Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 52min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Comedy ~ Romance

Directed by: Aaron and Adam Nee

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Brad Pitt.

“Dulcius Ex Asperis……..Sweeter after difficulty.”

Sandra Bullock stars as Loretta Sage, a widowed Adventure Romance Novelist whose life and career has been very negatively affected by her husband’s death five years ago. Her Publisher Beth Hatten (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) has been trying desperately to save her career from going down the tubes and with it her livelihood. She has hired a younger woman to run her social media campaigns and has arranged a highly publicized book tour for Loretta. As Loretta and her publisher arrive at the first stop and public appearance on the tour, Loretta is dressed in a purple sequin sparkly jumpsuit against her better judgement. Beth tells her how important this is and that she also booked……..

Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum), the cover model who portrays the hero Dash in her Romance Novels. Loretta is horrified and wants nothing to do with it but is convinced by Beth to “Go On with the show.” The appearance ends in disaster when Loretta accidentally gets Alan’s wig caught in her watch as she tries to rip off Dash’s shirt to satisfy the female crowd yelling for Dash to do so. Alan falls off the stage and Loretta is left onstage with his wig dangling from her watch. She rushes off stage and heads outside. The doorman calls a car for her, but before it comes she is forced into a car and taken to meet……….

Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), a billionaire who has discovered a lost city on a remote island he believes might be where the lost treasure, The Crown Of Fire is located. He believes that Loretta and her late husband had done extensive research on this subject and will be able to help him decipher the scrolls that reveal the exact location. He explains that he has kidnapped her and they are flying to the island he now owns. As they arrive and Abigail persuades Loretta to cipher the information he needs, Beth and Alan are busy trying to figure out what happened to Loretta. Alan thinks he knows someone who can help find her and calls……..

Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt), a former Navy Seal and a CIA operative. Together Alan and Jack fly to the island to free her. Jack turns out to be a complete bad-ass, a one man army. Kind of like Denzel Washington in The Equalizer Movies, using everything in the room as a weapon to quickly decimate the enemy. From here on out it is a hilarious action-filled adventure as they free Loretta and traipse through the jungle running from the billionaire and his henchmen. There is one last scene in the movie with Brad, Sandra and Channing that appears halfway through the end credits. If you’re not paying attention to the credits you might miss it, it changes what you think is the end of the movie before the credits.

I have seen it three times and still enjoyed it. It is goofy, funny, full of silly one-liners, a rom-com in the end and a great action adventure comedy. I really liked Brad Pitt as Jack Trainer, Channing Tatum is laughable and loveable as “Dash”, and you gotta love anything Sandra Bullock is in.

Two Thumbs up!

The Adam Project

2022 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 46min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Comedy ~ Sci-Fi

Directed by: Shawn Levy

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, Zoe Saldaña.

“Time travel exists, you just don’t know it yet.”

Ryan Reynolds stars as Adam Reed, a fighter pilot in the year 2050. He has commandeered a fighter jet equipped to time travel and is attempting to travel back in time to the year 2018. Narrowly escaping and taking a bullet in the side, he puts in the wrong info and crash lands in 2022. He lands just outside the house he grew up in with his mother and father. He makes it out of the jet and makes his way to the shed in the back of the house. Knowing how to get in because he grew up there as a child, he rests for a minute as he assesses his situation and is discovered by…….

12 year old Adam Reed (Walker Scobell)who immediately threatens his older self with a baseball bat. The ensuing conversation as Younger Adam Reed puts two and two together and discovers that this strange man pilot is actually the future him is absolutely hilarious. The witty banter between Ryan Reynolds and Walker Scobell is really well done. Walker holds his own against the veteran actor as they trade barbs toe to toe.

The older Adam explains to the younger Adam that their deceased father, unbeknownst to him, invented time travel. But his partner at the time, Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener), has taken control of it in the future for pure greed and now controls every aspect of it. Old Adam was attempting to go back to 2018 and warn their Dad about his current partner and her future plans. But somehow he ended up here confronting “You, my younger self. The one thing in time travel you’re not supposed to do.”

Before they can go any further, the evil Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) shows up after having tracked him and unleashes a small army of men to take him back to the future. While attempting to fight off the small army of men and losing ground, he is suddenly assisted by his wife Laura (Zoe Saldaña), who Old Adam thought had been killed by Maya. After defeating Maya and her henchmen Laura takes the two Adams to her hideout where she has been for the past four years.

What follows is a a hilarious action filled adventure as they attempt to go back to 2018 and convince their Dad (Mark Ruffalo) that his current partner Maya is really evil as her future self and must be stopped. Jennifer Garner plays the Adams’ mother and does a good job of portraying the widow dealing with raising her precocious, rebelling son. Again the relationship between the two Adams is well done, and keeps you laughing as they trade witty barbs. This is Walker Scobell’s Movie debut and I think it was an absolutely perfect debut. Well done, Lad!

It is more of a family feel-good movie that does touch on the relationships between a father and his younger and older versions of his son.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!

Edge Of Tomorrow

2014 Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 53min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Sci-Fi

Directed by: Doug Liman

Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson.

“What I am about to tell you sounds crazy, but you have to listen to me. Your very lives depend on it. You see, this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”

Tom Cruise star as Major William Cage, an Advertising Agent now working for the US Military PR Department. He is sent to London to help promote the UDF in getting recruits for the war effort. The UDF (United Defense Force) is comprised of 17 Nations and was created to combat the Mimic invasion. Five years earlier an Alien species known as The Mimics landed in Germany and has been spreading across Europe killing hundreds of thousands of people. They are nicknamed “Mimics” because they have the ability to mimic our actions in battle and anticipate our moves. When “Bill” Cage meets General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson) in London to discuss The PR campaign, he is told by the General, “Tomorrow we will throw everything we have at the front lines and you will be right there leading the charge….PR in person.” Bill tries to object saying he’s no soldier, but the General won’t here of it and has him arrested and escorted to the staging camp.

He comes to at the staging camp where he is given a uniform, assigned to the misfit J-Squad, and the next morning shuttled out to the front lines. Outfitted with an AI assisted weapons Exo-Suit he has no idea how to operate, he is forced to drop into the frontline fighting and scrambles to survive. He is quickly killed and finds himself back at the staging camp going through the exact same routine 24 hours later. Once again he is outfitted with the weapons suit and J-Squad head out to the frontlines where once again he is killed, but not before taking a few evasive steps to survive based on his memory of the day before. And over and over again, each time remembering a little more, getting better at operating his suit and remembering the evasive steps he has learned to survive. Each day advancing a little further on the battlefield until one day he encounters……..

Emily Blunt who stars as Rita Vrataski, a female soldier who earned the nickname “The Angel of Verdun” for her slaughter of hundreds of Mimics in The Battle of Verdun. He saves her life on the battlefield right before he dies, and after he goes back again and again, she eventually tells him to find her tomorrow when he comes to. He does and they discuss the “Time Loop” he is stuck in. Rita tells Bill that the same thing had happened to her when she had killed an Alpha (A bigger class of the Aliens) and the blue blood from it entered her body. She explains that the Alpha he killed covered him with the blue blood and now he has the ability to reset every time he dies and live the day over again. Enabling him to see further into the future each time and get closer to the The Omega, The Alien that controls the rest of The Mimics.

They spend countless days training, learning and planning to get closer to The Omega. Killing it is the only way to stop the invasion and destroy the Aliens. Every day being a repeat of the day before, only each time armed with more and better knowledge they need to accomplish their task and win the war for Humanity. It is a fascinating story and glimpse into what an Alien Invasion might look like. It is non stop action and the graphics are nicely done. The Mimics and the Alphas are crazy fast, scary killing machines that seem to pop out of nowhere and anticipate your every move. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt are excellent together and make a dynamite fighting team. Two of my favorites going at it side by side.

I don’t know how I never saw this before. Completely missed it somehow.

I liked it and thought it was a great Action Sci-Fi Adventure complete with an Alien Invasion.

Lots of action and some humor.

Yes, if you haven’t seen it I recommend it.

Two Thumbs up!