KWIF= Kent's Week in Film. I've been delinquent in keeping up with each of the many series' I've been following this week. It's Hallmarkie season, which means some of the usual time I set aside for film and TV watching goes to the delightful brainrot that are holiday romances. The heart wants what the heart wants.
This Week:
Bugonia (2025, d. Yorgos Lanthimos - in theatre)
Predator: Badlands (2025, d. Dan Trachtenberg - in theatre)
Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper (2025, d. Jason Bourque- W/Hallmark)
Christmas Above the Clouds (2025, d. Peter Benson - W/Hallmark)
---
[I don't know how to talk about Bugonia without potentially spoiling anything, so before I even get started, potential spoiler warning]
When I think about a Yorgos Lanthimos film, I think about discomfort. More often than not, a Lanthimos film is about making the viewer uncomfortable by challenging their perception of the world, or by putting them in a world that challenges the familiar, the pleasant, the demure or the polite. In other occasions, a Lanthimos film challenges the comfort of his characters, which, in doing so, may or may not challenge the audience as well. Lanthimos' regular screenwriting partners like Tony McNamara or Efthimis Filippou get the assignment, and every Lanthimos film has been unequivocally unique.
I had assumed, based on the trailers, that Bugonia - written by Will Tracey as a loose adaptation of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet! - would be more of the same level of discomfort. The trailers showed Jesse Plemons and an unfamiliar associate kidnapping power-CEO Emma Stone and holding her captive in a basement, spouting some Q-anon-style, possibly manosphere-influenced conspiracy bullshit. The last time I saw Plemons was in Civil War in a deeply upsetting and all-too real "oathkeeper"-style role. Plemons is very good at awkwardness, it's no wonder Lanthimos' has paired up with him again after Kinds of Kindness (a deeply uncomfortable movie I've only seen about 20 minutes of but may return to). So simply by putting Plemons in the role of kidnapper of a woman, the discomfort alarm is sounding at max volume.
I was not going to see this film, simply because my discomfort bucket is pretty much maxed out by the political and financial climate these days, but a review of the film (Alonso Duralde and Dave White on the Linoleum Knife podcast) said the crux of the film was Plemon's Teddy Gatz trying to get Stone's Michelle Fuller to confess to being an alien, and the film -at least in the review's telling- expertly distorts whether she is or she isn't one. That was enough for me. I've been watching a lot of Twilight Zone lately, and this really fits the vibe.
There's a lot to unpack in Bugonia, simply because it's not against Teddy. He is our protagonist. As we spend time with him and his autistic-coded cousin, Don (Aidan Delbis, himself a neuro-atypical actor) as they train for their mission, we get hints as to what's fuelling Teddy. He's a beekeeper, and the bees are dying. He's been deep in the weeds in online conspiracies, and his conclusion is that Earth has been invaded. His mother and possibly other family were victims of something megacorp Auxolith did. Teddy is angry and vengeful, and believes he has found purpose. There is a bit of sympathy played towards Teddy, who, clearly has had a troubled past and on the brink of a mental breakdown, and Don is such a kind and accepting partner, Teddy's only remaining family and best friend, but also our sympathies towards Teddy are strained because he manipulates Don constantly into following his own goals.
But our sympathies largely stay with Teddy because, Michelle, the ruthless CEO of a big-pharma corp Auxolith never plays the victim. During the kidnapping Michelle puts up one hell of a fight, and the tone waffles between the comedic and the deep discomfort in watching a man use his physical size to overpower a woman. But it's a remarkably smart movie from Tracey's script to have Teddy and Don chemically castrate themselves, as it takes the threat of sexual violence off the table. Michelle even asks point blank if that's what the kidnapping is about and Teddy just chuckles it off. She has her head shaved and she's slathered in antihistamine cream, something about sending and receiving messages, and then the cat and mouse psychodrama is afoot.
Teddy's concern, on the surface, is the fate of the world. He thinks Michelle is from Andromeda and her species is trying to terraform the planet, using capitalism as its device. Subtextually, Teddy is angry for what has happened to him and his family, and all his energies have been hyperfocused that this alien invasion is the reason why. It is the portrait of a lonely, isolated, traumatized man who, rather than going to therapy, has fallen down a conspiracy rabbit hole to try and make sense of it. It's a modern film for modern time.
We're all anxious about the state of things. Capitalism run wild is spelling doom for the planet, and if one's hypersensitive enough, that could drive you mad. But to be directly and personally affected by the agents of this ecological chaos... there is sympathy towards Teddy.
Bugonia is a film about ecological anxiety. It's a film that twists around anti-capitalism and class structures. It's a film about the dangers of online echo chambers. It's a film about trauma and mental health. And it's a film that in its end, somehow, makes you feel at peace with the end of the world.
Despite the trepidation I went into it with, I didn't really feel uncomfortable at all watching Bugonia. It's much more amusing than I thought it would be, Teddy's delusions are so far gone that, when they're not threatening, they're absurd. Since we're never really rooting for Teddy to succeed, nor are we really on Michelle's side, the usual anxiety around such a situation isn't present. We kind of like both characters but only so far, and there's a strange peace to wanting to watch the scenario play out.
Lanthamos shot the film largely with VistaVision cameras on 35mm film, and even though I can't outright quantify what it contributes, there is a quality to it that is so warm and cinematic and textural that is both tangible and intangible at the same time. It looks great. I had a great time.
[poster talk - the main poster, the only one I've seen promoting the film, is the one of Emma Stone's head being enveloped by blood an honey. It's a striking poster, but insinuates something grotesque, and the film...isn't. The "see it in 35 mm" poster, a painted image of mostly empty space with sort of a traditional Japanese feel, is beautiful, but doesn't sell the film at all. And the third poster, with the space backdrop and Emma Stone butting heads with the Earth is...well... even after watching the film...confusing as an image.]
---
Where Bugonia is a film heavily rooted in the present reality, Predator:Badlands is pure escapism.
On Genna, Dek learns fast the planet's deadly nature, and is put through a gauntlet before encountering the synthoid Thia (Elle Fanning). The Wayland-Yutani corporation (of Alien infamy) has sent a platoon of synths to the planet for research purposes. Thia had her sympathetic and emotional receptors enhanced so that she could more emotionally in tune with the planet. The planet repaid her by tearing her in half. She offers to help Dek on his hunt, and Dek declares a Yautja hunts alone. Thia stranded in a nest and without legs, reframes herself as a tool for Dek to use, and the highly unexpected buddy road comedy adventure begins.
There's no point in hashing out any more of the plot or events of the film. It's your standard sci-fi/fantasy adventure, which aren't so standard anymore. This felt like an 1980's throwback, pure escapist fiction that whisks to away to a world of discovery, both of culture and environment. The film explores the Yautja like never before. Trachtenberg, having successfully revitalized the franchise with the incredible pandemic-era streaming release of Prey, has been handed the keys to the kingdom, and he's unlocking it really for the first time. With the animated Disney+ movie Killer of Killers, there was some revelations of the Predator home-planet that we'd never seen before, as well as some small hints at their society. But Badlands gives us our first Yautja protagonist, a main character.
It's with efficiency that our sympathies are tipped towards Dek. His opening training with his brother reveals a lot about how he is an outsider, he is looked down upon, and he feels lesser-than but with a relentless desire to prove himself. The killing of his beloved brother by their heartless father also shows Dek as an emotional creature, one who carries trauma with him on his subsequent journey.
Meeting Thia, he's given company, a companion, a chatterbox that should annoy him but seems to comfort him in his grief. She teaches him that not all hunters are solitary, that some are pack animals, and that the alpha of a pack is not the greatest killer, but the greatest protector of the pack. Dek accepts the lesson, and the idea of the wolfpack is such a wonderful thing contribute to the Predator mythos.
Badlands, while playing squarely in the Predator/Aliens universe, relies upon no prior films. Every Predator film in the franchise has been stand-alone so far, and I was curious, in being given authorship over the property, if Trachtenberg was going to start tying his stories together. Mercifully not. Badlands is unlike every other Predator film - there is no human being hunted by a Yautja here - but it still can be watched on as a stand-alone film. It also earns its distinction, it earns not being a typical Predator-hunts-man story. Its characters are enjoyable, its world building of the Yautja society isn't terribly surprising, but it does codify much that's only previously been teased, and the planet of Genna is a fun place to visit as a distant observer.
The most surprising thing about Badlands is that it has a sense of humour. At times it's downright silly and it owns that silliness. Some may bristle at any levity, but...I mean...how can you not enjoy a choreographed fight sequence where a lower torso, just a pair of legs, takes on three guys?
It's a fun time at the movies (and somehow, the first Predator film I've seen on the big screen).
[Poster talk - there are a lot of posters for Predator:Badlands, and none of them are particularly striking or eye catching. The best way to sell the film, I think, is the image of a bisected Elle Fanning strapped to the Predator's back, and obviously I'm not alone as there are a lot of posters with such an image, but none of them are very stylish. They are the epitome of perfunctory posters. They're there to do one job, and sell you on the ideas of the movie, which is a Predator and a half robot getting in scraps on an alien planet. Most of them do that job, but not with a heck of a lot of excitement.]
---
Toasty and I put together a format for reviewing holiday romances (or "Hallmarkies" as we call them) because they're so formulaic that the fun in watching them is in picking apart the formula. We called the format "A Toast to HallmarKent", and it's just one of the many ways we like to amuse ourselves with this blog.
The "problem" in recent years is that Hallmark has decided they don't really want the formula anymore, which neuters our "A Toast to HallmarKent" template somewhat. It ruins our fun!
But after a few years of deep-diving into Hallmarkies, it became the outliers that I tended to appreciate, the ones that dared to do something different, the ones that said "what if we actually care about this thing we're making?"
Movies like Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper and even Christmas Above the Clouds, 5 years ago wouldn't have been Hallmark movies. They're bucking the formula so hard. So rather than the big sprawling recaps that breakdown the insanity of what use to constitute a Hallmarkie, let's rapid-fire through the "A Toast to HallmarKent" template with these films, and see how it goes. (Usually I need to be working through the template while watching the film, and I didn't do that here so it may be sketchy).
Merry Christmas Ted Cooper
The Draw: Robert Buckley as a performer has had more authorship over his Hallmarkie appearances than most, and those tend to be much more comedic movies, so I was expecting something funny and outside the normal holiday romance.
HERstory: Time was it was rare for a Hallmarkie to have a male lead. It's not so uncommon anymore. Ted Cooper is a small-market weatherman beloved by both his station and his community. He's been given a job offer in his home town of Buffalo, but feels loyalty to the station that gave him his break (this would be a lot more resonant a plot if Ted Cooper wasn't in his 40s). Buffalo is his hometown, and he's returning home to help promote his sister's fundraiser for a children's wing at the local hospital.
Ted has a history of unfortunate events around Christmas, but he's a terminally upbeat person and doesn't let that get him down. He gets conked on the head by a box of lights while helping set up his sister's place and winds up at the hospital where he runs into his high school crush Hope Miller (Kimberly Sustad).
They connect and start enjoying the seasons together while more mishaps befall Ted, though it never gets him down.
The Formulae: The meet cute (it's pretty cute). The absurd event that the production doesn't have the budget to pull off (in this case, the fundraiser is some sort of gingerbread fair with the biggest gingerbread person competition, and those big gingerbreads are so not real). There's a "complication" in the romance (but it's also unformulaic so we'll get to that). Ted has a sibling, Hope has a best friend who are pushing them towards each other.
Unformulae: Ted is coming from the small town returning to his big city (Buffalo) home, and is feeling the tug to return, which is kind of the opposite of the typical Hallmarkie story. Nobody has a kid, not even Ted's sister. There's no wise parent to turn to here, instead Ted befriends his old high school teacher, Ms. Mittens, and starts hanging out with her seniors walking club (that dynamic is freaking delightful). The complication is Hope worries that Ted isn't honest about his feelings, that his perpetual upbeatness is a mask for real emotions... and she tells him in an earnest, adult conversation that these dumb movies so rarely have... and Ted, later, responds in an earnest and emotionally intelligent way that shows that these two peopler are fucking adults and not high-schoolers in middle-aged bodies.
True Calling? It IS a merry Christmas for Ted Cooper, and it will be no matter what happens.
The Rewind: Honestly, I would watch this whole thing again. It was just warm, feel good, fun and funny vibes, all resting on the back of the delightful charm of Robert Buckley.
The Regulars: Buckley broke into Hallmark with The Christmas House, and has had a few others. Sustad is Hallmark royalty, and definitely in my top 3 Hallmark leading ladies. Ms. Mittens is played by Barbara Pollard has been all over the Hallmarkie spectrum for years. Brendan Penny, a usual leading man, is in a bit part as the news anchor at Ted's station and they have a bit of a rivalry. Canadian Meghan Heffern plays Kate Cooper, Ted's sister and she is phenomenal. Heffern has been working steadily for a long time, but in nothing I've watched before...she stands out in this sister role like Carrie Coon did in Gone Girl...if there was any justice this would be a breakout performance.
How does it Hallmark? "A" tier. This is in the top level of Hallmarkies because it succeeds at pretty much everything it's trying to do. It's funny when it's meant to be funny, the romance is super charming and full of sparks, and its secondary cast are all great and unique in the sphere, people who seem to have lives outside of being associated with the leads. The stakes, to be honest, are pretty low in this film which is the only thing that dials it back from the "A-plus" tier (or "S" tier, as the kids call it?).
How does it movie? It's a Hallmark romcom, and doesn't pretend to not be. I don't know that more budget would have accentuated this film any more, it seems tailor made for the size of production it is and for the channel it's being aired on. A director more skilled in comedy, and maybe a little more attention to detail in shooting the news anchor sequences would have made it stronger.
How Does It Snow? Was there even snow? I didn't even take note. But it's Buffalo at Christmas...there should have been mountains of snow, and there was not.
---
Christmas Above the Clouds
HERstory: Ella Neezer (gesundheit) is the owner of her own mid-level travel company. She's sacrificed everything for this business including her empathy towards others. She would be the titular "B" in Apartment 23, if you catch my meaning. She's awful to everyone and making them work on Christmas without telling them they have to work on Christmas. She's catching a flight from New York to Australia which, given the time jump, means she will leave on the 24th and arrive on the 26th and miss Christmas entirely, and she likes it that way (unfortunate for her assistant Bobbi, who has to bend to Ella's every whim in order to pay for her sick child's treatments). On the plane, seated next to her happens to be her ex, Jake. There's still a spark of connection there, but there's also a lot of baggage.
Now, stop me if you heard this one before, but Ella is visited by the ghost of her mentor, Marleen Jacobs, the woman to taught her everything she knows about running a business with a cold heart. Marleen is in purgatory, stuck in an airline safety tutorial teaching grinchy businesspeople life lessons. She tells Ella she will be visited by three ghosts on her flight, the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future.
You basically know the rest.
The Formulae: It's A Christmas Carol, on a plane! With Tyler Hynes! The formulae isn't very Hallmarkie, but it is ALL Dickensian.
Unformulae: Uh... it's A Christmas Carol, but on a plane!
True Calling? It's a dumb title, but probably because it's hard to think of a plane-based pun that will fit into A Christmas Carol. "Flying Past Christmas" or "Christmas Flying By" would be more apt..."Skipping Christmas"... and yet, it should really be referencing A Christmas Carol. Like "Scrooge in the Sky" (that sounds dirty). Ok, yeah, it's a hard title to come up with.
The Rewind: Rather than rewind, there are things I would like to skip past, thank you very much, like any time Bobbi's kid Tim (he's sick...with asthma, because asthma is the Hallmark sickness, and is the deadliest disease in existence in Hallmark reality). The kid playing Tim is atrocious.
The Regulars: Erin Krakow plays Ella Neezer (gesundheit), and is one of the most regular of Hallmark regulars...in fact she's been the star of a thousand episodes of When Calls The Heart and an equal number of Hallmark movies. Here, she does a really good job of putting the "B" in "boss", but I also just watched Emma Stone in Bugonia a few hours before watching this and it's, like, not the same, but Krakow holds her own. Hynes is my Hallmark boy, y'know, and I can't wait for the next "3 Wise Men" movie this season, but this was a nice lil' stocking stuffers, an amuse bouche. Hynes is wearing one of those Hynes sweaters he looks so good in. Gabrielle Rose has been all over Hallmarkies for years in parent and senior statesman roles. Emily Tennant who plays Bobbi has led a couple Hallmarkies of her own, so this is a bit of a downgrade. Faith Wright plays the Ghost of Christmas Past and is super charming, she should hopefully level up from here. Canadian Matt Clarke playing Ghost of Christmas Present puts on a decent Aussie accent and is pretty fun, but more than a few Hallmarkie credits under his belt.
How does it Hallmark? It's actually a pretty effective modernized production of A Christmas Carol but Hallmark-ized to *really* emphasize how much Jake used to be part of her life and how much he needs to be again. There's a definite budgetary impact to this whole production as the plane set...migawd is it awful. it looks like a bunch of lounge chairs in office cubicles and not a first class plane compartment. And the flashback to college, where they give Krakow a really late-90's-styled wig, but Hynes looks completely unchanged (they didn't even do that thing where they comb the hair all forward to hid the receding hairline - see Batman Begins for example). It leads me to believe Jake is a highlander. In a proper budgeted production we would have had younger actors playing them as teens (or they would have paid Hynes to shave the beard and shot that sequence last).
How does it movie? Again, a decent production of A Christmas Carol, but not even close to cinematic quality. As much as I like Hynes, and Krakow puts in a good performance, they're not movie stars. They're Hallmark stars, and there is a difference. As well, I didn't fully buy into the chemistry between them. These two have history on screen together, and clearly are pals, that was undeniable, but the romantic spark just didn't come across. I also couldn't buy that Jake has basically been celibate since they broke up 5 years earlier. Not that handsome man with his laid-back charm, no way.
How Does It Snow? Again, forgot to look, but it was largely on a plane or indoors so there wasn't much to look for as far as I recall.
No comments:
Post a Comment