badhabitslounge

Imagine if you will, a time and place, not so long ago where a very talented and creative troupe of producers, writers, actors, musicians, cinematographers and a plethora experts all collaborated to take the powerful spirit and message of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and rewrite it into the 2nd decade of 21st century America. The sheer chutzpah! Who dares to reimagine this timeless classic? Then imagine if you will, the fact that this production was filmed at the height of the COVID pandemic when all theaters were shuttered. Each actor was filmed individually, all by themselves, in front of greenscreen and then digitally combined into a final full length feature film. The thoroughly stunning result is "Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist." Sure, there's a peculiar AI quality to its look. But that easily fades away as the creative charm sweeps you away with one toe-tapping memorable song after another. Granted, this take on the beloved classic is not for everyone. But I highly recommend it as I was totally enchanted. You'll need some tissues close at hand for this one!

As a 20-year veteran of the US Air Force, I have a serious pet peeve with ALL military movies - I've watched thousands of military movies over my 73 years - I know these military movies have distinguished high-ranking military advisors - Yet, I'm scandalized by their surprising dereliction of duty - The very first thing all recruits learn in basic training is you NEVER, EVER wear your cover (hat) indoors - Yet, name any military movie you want (from the silent era to present); all of them - ALL!; the military members wear hats indoors - Sure, Hollywood directors have artistic license, but their indoor-hat-wearing preference is over the top egregious - In my 20 years wearing the uniform, I wouldn't get 3 steps inside a building before someone would yell, "Remove that cover!" - Moreover, there is no saluting indoors - The only exception is when one is formally reporting to his/her commander - OK, now that this is off my chest, the movie's jargon and intensity of swearing is authentic - And the service in-fighting is well represented.

I'm puzzled how this film won Best Picture. Sure, it's visually stunning but a long idealized story that is unconvincing and unsatisfying. An hour could have been edited out and it would still be a boring and sad film. It wasn't clear why she went to Africa in the first place. And it was even less clear why she went back after being cured of syphilis in Europe. Throughout, I kept wondering where they got the gasoline for all those cars and the airplane in 1919 British East Africa. They would drive hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere and never get a fill up. They certainly carried more wine and whiskey on their camping trips than petrol.