knowledgefiend

Violent NIght is different than the trailers you may have seen for it. It hits the standard Christmas beats (marriage trouble, sweet kids, people finding the Christmas spirit) and pushes said beats into a genre they usually don't mix with. It manages to be both John Wick with Santa, while pulling on your heart strings like Miracle on 34th Street. There's a cartoony tone just like Home Alone that doesn't go too far violence-wise, so as to take you out of the movie by being to grotesque.

While the first 5-10 minutes are a little try hard and, "This ain't your daddies Santa." Think 'Bad Santa' and the rest of those types of movies. But the rest of the movie comes off as authentic, owing in no small way to the casts earnest delivery and the direction. David Harbour is perfect for playing broken, tough guys with soft hearts and he really brings it here. He's playing it (emotionally) straight even though the movie isn't. The rest of the cast are equally devoted to their roles (however absurd).

I feel like this may be a classic in the future. Or at least cult classic.

When Casino Royal came out I was blown away by it. I loved that it took what we expected from a bond movie and then broke those clichés. I had hoped that the rest of the series would follow in the example of the first film, but they just wound up devolving into the same basic 007 formula.

I wasn't excited for No Time to Die, but I was hopeful. It carried the burden of the muddled mess of the three previous films. I was however pleasantly surprised. The action feels as tough as the first film and has some damn good set pieces. The film firmly commits to its choices and plays them to their conclusion--dare I say--boldly. And it is unique in the franchise for its choices. I left the theater on a high, which simply doesn't happen much for me.