🍿 Watched A Merry Little Ex-Mas. Excellent cast and Alicia Silverstone made me cry.

🍿 Watched A Royal Montana Christmas.

I always love a horse movie and Warren Christie makes a great cowboy. Not much chemistry between the leads here, though. And I wish the horses had gotten more screentime.

It’s a little embarrassing that it took me watching Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein to understand that Mary Shelley is both Victor AND the creature, not just Victor. (It’s not news that I make too much of her alignment with either of them.) 🍿

🍿 Victor Frankenstein has postpartum depression.

🔖🍿 Read Why Minecraft Movie Fans Are Getting Rowdy and Going Viral by Lynn Zubernis Ph.D. (Psychology Today)

Found this via Austin Kleon’s newsletter. I love this explanation of how rowdy theater behavior is developmentally appropriate.

And there’s a whole Science of Fandom Column? I am excite.

🍿Watched A Minecraft Movie.

Super fun if you’re familiar with Minecraft. I loved seeing it in the theater with a bunch of folks who clearly love Minecraft and applauded as each key bit of Minecraft lore was revealed.

📺🍿 How I Met Your Mother co-creator Craig Thomas wrote about the influence the movie A Christmas Story had on the show.

I replied with this:

This has me thinking about the voice-over narration in The Wonder Years, beautifully done by Daniel Stern. A Christmas Story (which for years my dad would put on for its 24-hour marathon) came out in 1983. The Wonder Years ran 1988-1993. What other films and shows use this device? (I think maybe 8-Bit Christmas does?) Are they all doing the same thing with it? What does it do that stories without flashback voiceover don’t? I would read the heck out of a smart pop culture essay about this.

🍿 Watched Saturday Night.

A delight, specially crafted for sketch comedy nerds like myself.

🍿 Watched Dog Man.

Exactly what it says on the tin. If you enjoy the Dog Man graphic novels, you’ll enjoy the movie, and if you don’t, you won’t.

🍿 Watched This Is My Life.

Nora Ephron’s film directorial debut. I love a story about a mother and her kids.