T&K's XMas (2023) Advent Calendar: Day 2 - Christmas on Repeat

T&K Go Loopty-Loo: XMas Edition - normally Toasty and I do a "Loopty-loo" as a joint effort, but I'm going to spare him on this one, because he's got his own list of xmassy so-bad-it's-good-ness to get through (and also there's a couple other Christmas Loopty-loos from the covid years still sitting in draft that he needs to get to ;P )

If you were to take this poster at face value
who do you think the married couple would be?
That's right, it's the lady in red, and the guy
in plaid in the background, ya racist.

2022, d. Lindsay Hartley

How did the Loop Begin?
Andrea (Jennifer Taylor, Two and a Half Men) tried to have a good Christmas, but she woke up and fell on her face, she tried making pancakes but set the smoke alarm off, the neighbourhood kids knock into her playing basketball, she was late to a last-minute ad shoot that had the director and the influencer star both quit, she twisted her ankle doing a dance for TipTop with her daughter, and all her Christmas gifts were very poorly received. She's taking the trash out when she wishes she could do that day over again when (just as grocery store Santa predicted) a shooting start zooms by. Her wish be granted.

What was the main character's first reaction to the Loop?
At first Andrea was sensing that everything was just a little too similar to the day before but when she was at the commercial shoot, when the director informed her it was Christmas Day again, she fainted. And from there she was just kind of stunned and overwhelmed.

WHY did the main character get put into the Loop? Can someone else be brought into the Loop?
Grocery store Santa (and I should use "grocery store" in quotes because it's a nasty looking building, hastily painted white, with even hastier Christmas decorations slapped up, with no windows and two solid doors with regular turn-knob handles that, at best, make you think it's a shut down sex shoppe ), when Andrea visited him again (I think in the third loop) tells her that she needs to figure out what it is she really wants and that is what will get her out of the loop. 

Would you go buy your groceries here? It's like it only sells end-of-days 
bunker survival food.  And the "snow" is clearly melting rapidly.

You would think that, by the way her husband behaves, that he was in the loop too, because on Christmas Eve he was still huggy and loving and affectionate and supportive to his wife, but by the very last loop, he's telling Andrea that they need to separate because she works too much and he's lonely.

How long is this time Loop? What resets it? Can you force the reset?
The loop starts on Christmas Day when Andrea wakes up to the sound of neighbour kids playing basketball. It ends when she goes to sleep. There's really no testing of this time loops' limits. On one bad loop, she just takes a heavy dose of Nyquill and goes to sleep.

How long does the main character stay in the Loop? Does it have any affect on them, their personality, their outlook?
I counted three time loops before the montage kicked in of Andrea trying to gain some semblance of control over the day's events, at which point I counted at least 7 more time loops. She's trying her best to make pancakes, to get rid of the crappy presents, to make the ad shoot go well, to learn the TipTop dance, to just have a happier day, but by the end of the montage, she looks defeated.  It's not until she skips out on work and just spends the day with her family that she feels happier, more confident, more fulfilled. And from there she starts to learn about her children's problems and desires, likes and dislikes, which her new job has taken her away from for the past year.  Turns out what she's really wishing for is a better work life balance.  When she actually achieves that, the loop ends, but it turns out for her husband John, it's too late....

One thing about the loop Andrea never seems to learn though is not to speed through that section of town where she's always getting nabbed by the kinda charming cop. Wouldn't it be nice if this were a time loop romance between Andrea and that guy?

What about the other people in the Loop? Are they aware? Can they become aware?  Does anything happen if they become aware?
Only "grocery store" Santa knows about the loop. Turns out he's a real magical Santa. For real. 

What does the main character think about the other people in the Loop? Are they real? Do they matter?
The other people in the loop are her family, her neighbours, her co-workers, they matter the most to her, and she does everything in her power to try to do better for them. Even her pushy dickhead boss she's trying to give advice on how to negotiate dealing with his in-laws on Christmas ("is he on the phone again!?")

Most memorable event in a Loop? Most surprising event during a Loop?
These loops are pretty banal, all things considered. But the most surprising thing was for the loop to come to a close, with Andrea having brought her daughter to work with her so she could meet the influencer she loves so much, which helps reveal the influencer's problems are a self-confidence thing and are finally resolved, which makes most of the people in this story happy. She sets her kids grandmother (I was never clear on whose mother she was...she's not Andrea's mom, it doesn't seem like she's John's mom... she could be Andrea's dead husband's mom, but her son with John calls her Nana too which I guess is fine?) up with her grumpy neighbour who happens to cheer up when he's invited over for dinner. Her son's confidence issues about not making the basketball team are resolved when she helps him to just go out and play with his friends.  The only thing she can't fix is John, even as she makes pancakes perfectly and gets him a very touching gift of memories of past great times together... John's just like "too little too late, beautiful successful woman, I'm out".

I mean, man, fuck that guy. On Christmas, just before the loop began he says "You know I support you in your career Andy, I always have, I just didn't realize you'd be working this much... it's been lonely."  He talks about how he's behind on work, which makes it sound like his job's not going well, and now he's being a whiny bitch about being left alone too much. He says he wants Andrea to spend her week off together as a family, but after a bunch of time loop shenanigans, when she's absolutely ready to commit to all that, John says he's out? It's over? Because, for only ONE YEAR, he's been lonely.  You know when men are that ready to call it quits, even when the woman is clearly ready to make change, it's because he's got a side piece right?

Andrea says "You helped me chase my dreams, even when I chased them too far..." (What the hell does that mean? ) "...and not because you had to," she continues, "but because it's just who you are." So who he is is a guy who is supportive until he has to sacrifice a little more?

And then she says "without you I don't have any dreams. I don't have anything. I don't care if we go broke. I don't care if we have to sell the house. I don't care if we have to eat ramen for every meal...I will let everything else go if there's even a chance that I can hold onto you." Great speech, but holy shit, this guy has emotionally manipulated this gorgeous successful generally thoughtful and well-intentioned woman into thinking she is the problem. This is unhealthy bullshit. What a selfish, immature, insecure asshole John is, and I'm embarrassed by the speech Andrea gives.

The film gives her her cake and lets her eat it too when her boss calls with the promotion and she effectively tells him what's what, that she's taking vacation and keeping her job, and then the boss says he's starting to like her. Eyeroll.

How does this stack up in the subgenre?
I have to admit that it's not a good movie, that the time loop is such incredibly low stakes that, of course it has to push itself into some incredible crisis for the big finale.  I was into it, though. I found Jennifer Taylor very likeable and held the picture very well, which was enough to carry me through the lazy writing, some bad acting, some horrendous snow placement and the rest of the holiday movie shot in the summer production tropes. The script isn't charmless and it's constructed in a way that everything comes together even if it is in an exceptionally telegraphed, oversimplified manner, but the message of this film, that a woman prospering in business to the detriment of her family is absolutely unacceptable is utter bullshit.  The last 15 minutes ruin both Andrea as a character and whatever was enjoyable about the film.

How does it snow?
Like this:
This is Andrea's side of the street. There's just sheets of batting draped over everything, icicles dangling from the eaves trough, but the trees are lush and green.

And on the other side of the street, not a lick of snow, bright and sunny suburban afternoon

We Agree: Deadpool

2015, Zack Snyder (Sucker Punch) -- cinema

Hey, I got out to a movie, in the cinema, with no kids and even fewer bro's playing with their phones.

Yay me.

So, early 90s. That was probably my post-X-Men phase, when Mukey (then known as Gushie) introduced me to a world of non-superhero comics. Rob Liefeld had actually perked my interest for a while, with his gritty trenchcoat wearing heroes but somehow, I don't remember ever being introduced to Deadpool. In fact, my first real exposure to the character has been recent, as a Redditor's Boyfriend. For years, Marmy's been sitting to the left of me on the sofa, sharing all the best bits of Deadpool from the Internet. Damn, he is one popular character with the Reddit kids. For the longest time, I wasn't even sure if the whole Breaking the Fourth Wall bit, the comedy or the ultra-violence were his real schtick(s) or something attached to him by his Internet fanbase.

With all that exposure, and her fondness for him, I knew we would see it in cinema. In fact, I hoped we would break our Cineplex VIP virginity with it, seeing how we were horrified at how people were dragging kids to it. VIP -- adults only, costs more so they enforce good behaviour (they better) and there is beer. You had me at beer. Alas, plans didn't come through.

Boo me.

So, yes, with Kent on the movie being so.... much.... FUN. Seriously, I have not walked out a movie having so thoroughly enjoyed myself in a long long time. And not only did I enjoy it, I found it well done. It was not the slapdash, blood and guts movie I was expecting. OK, it was but it wasn't only. The connection of his history to his current predicament are well played out and, well, sweet. He really does it for love.

Deadpool starts with flashbacks to Wade Wilson, not the guy from the Wolverine movie, but pretty similar. They have fun with the fact they are not quite from the same universe as the X-Men movies, but share some sort of connection with all the Marvel movies, even if it's as minor as making fun of them. Really, the movie doesn't care a bit about continuity, and drawing upon his behaviour in the comics, breaking the fourth wall is expected. So, Wade is a mercenary, a crude but nice killer for hire who falls in love with a hooker who is as crazy as he is. They fuck, they laugh, they peg, they fall in love. They do weird things with candy pop rings. And then Wade gets cancer.

Morena Baccarin is already my kryptonite, but she completely dives into this role and melts me. She is not a heroine type, not before getting involved with Wade, nor after he disappears having been dragged into a superhero making outfit that makes mutants out of injectable goo and torture. It takes quite a while, but when it kicks in Wade is left horribly disfigured and nigh indestructible. He cannot go back to Morena so he has one thing left --- revenge!!

That's what the whole thing on the overpass is about, him catching up with and trying to kill the guy who made him look like the inside of an asshole's asshole. Wade was already a bit nutz to begin with but as Deadpool, he is bonkers. A stable bonkers, but one who is aware he is in a movie and we are watching him. By the time he is on the bridge, he has been tracking his bad guys for a while and the X-Men are aware of him. But they could only afford two, so we get a redesigned (and entirely CGI) Peter Rasputin and a gender bent Cannonball, renamed as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, seriously the best superhero name of all time. They want to contain Deadpool as a potential X-Men recruit. He's not having it.

The plot, well the plot is very small. Don't get me wrong, it's not a small movie as I often use the term, as the number of flashbacks and references expand beyond the 'Wade gets revenge on Francis' focus of the movie but that is it. That is the whole story --- Wade meets girl, Wade gets cancer, Wade becomes Deadpool, Wade hunts down and kills people who made him Deadpool. But who cares, its constant laughter along the way. But not just stupid comedy, but inventive, outrageous and guffaw inducing comedy.  And pretty decent action bits considering their budget cuts. The entire battle at the helicarrier (yes, that is a crashed helicarrier from Winter Soldier) being gutted is reduced to a quick take-out-the-mooks scene and a superhero jump.  Oh, and a blade battle with Francis.

Finally, I cannot be more amazed at Ryan Reynolds in this movie. He is always fun, but he really is stupendous in this role. This is what being invested in a character brings to the table. He not only provides a great portrayal but had his part in making sure the plot had him as a proper character and not just the fourth-wall-breaking gimmick. He was provided range and depth.

Yay Ryan!

Bonus Paragraph!  *ahem* Director was actually Tim Miller, director of... well, nothing but known for being the visual effects guy on a few movies, video games and the opening titles on Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

3 Short Paragraphs: Branded

2012, Jamie Bradshaw and Aleksandr Dulerayn -- download

It seems I am not the only one who fell for the advertising of this full of itself movie about the power of advertising, post cold war idealism, allegorical destiny and pretentious nonsense.  We all saw the trailers and posters on these specfic blogs, showing weird wibbly-wobbly creatures growing out of people's heads, that nobody but the main character can see, and it is some how connected to advertising.  Nouveau They Live indeed.  Yeah, but that is not this movie.  That was just the shill.

OK, it is  about the power of advertising.  Misha is a genius ad exec in Russia who lives by the core ideal that Lenin created advertising, in its modern conception. He is wrapped up in a skinniness-sells TV show that goes wrong and puts the contestant into a coma.  But really, what is happening behind the scenes is that Big Burger (you know, like Big Oil) has hired a James Bond reject-villain (Max von Sydow) who will manipulate the world sentiment and not only return us to eating burgers, but flip the tables so soundly that we will eat nothing but burgers will suffice.  It is not about eating what you want, but embracing gluttony.  And it works.  So our hero runs away to the countryside and ritualistically kills a cow.

That was the first half of the movie.  When our hero returns we get the wibbly-wobbly alien blobs attached to heads.  Apparently they are doing the burgers-are-good-for-you convincing, or at least he thinks.  We never really know.  Surrealism?  Maybe.  Absurdity?  Really.  As a hero it is now his job to again flip the table (but fast food tables are secured to the floor you say?) and find some way to make burgers Evil.  He is an advertising genius who sacrificed a cow, so he is ready.  It works, and really don't whine about spoilers because you will not / should not see this movie.  It works and villain-reject is killed by a spear of destiny come lightning bolt.  Poof.  Dust.  Gah, what clap trap.

5 Seasons of Mad Men

The first episode of Mad Men I saw was the Season 4 Christmas episode my sister was watching on Netflix.   It wasn't terrible but it didn't captivate me either.  I just felt rather lost.  

Mad Men has a reputation as one of those "great shows", addictive television like the Wire or Breaking Bad, that has achieved both commercial and critical success, yet seems to retain a tight artistic focus that was once rare on television, (though, in the wake of Mad Men's surprising popularity, seems to be as prevalent as network-driven programming).  I didn't have a tremendous interest in watching it initially, yet with the critical acclaim continuing through its fourth season, I thought I should at least give it a shot.

The first season, to be honest, was a bit of a slog, not nearly as immediately captivating or addictive as I was led to believe.  The wife and I watched a half dozen episodes over a month's time and then left it for a while... at least half a year before resuming.  It was around episode 9 of the first season that the switch was flipped, however, and the addictive nature of the show kicked into full gear.

There are many facets to Mad Men that contribute to its appeal.  It's very soap operatic, meaning there's a lot of romantic entanglements to deal with, a tremendous amount of infidelity and relationship drama.  It's a nighttime soap, like Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, amongst others, that long ago went out of favour (replaced by teen-geared soaps), yet more mature, less tawdry.  With its early-1960's setting, it's impeccable set dressing, wardrobe and styling, it's visually striking, refined and very stylish.   There's an investment in production value, and a palpably high level of research into the advertising game, the culture and the zeitgeist of the '60's. 

What really makes Mad Men tick, however, is its characters.  It's evident from its slow-burn beginnings that creator Matthew Weiner wasn't interested in shorthanding his characters by archetyping, instead they come fully formed and it does take over half the first season for the audience to get to know them and begin to understand their motivations.

Weiner also created a storytelling language for Mad Men that makes it distinct from almost every other program on television.  Besides Don Draper, no other character's story carries on from episode to episode.  They're generally all present in the community of Sterling-Cooper, but the focus shifts around the large cast, and it can be 3 or 4 episodes (or more) before focus falls back on one of the supporting players, picking up their story in a "real time" sense.  This means, typically, that much has developed off screen since last their non-professional life was followed.

Then there's Don Draper, the show's centerpiece, it's ace in the hole, an instant classic character that has transcended the show, to the point that I'm sure as many people know of him that don't watch the show as those that do.  Don Draper begins as a bit of a mystery, but a man of ultimate cool:  composed, suave, dapper, talented, respected, even a little feared.  He's part James Bond, part Wolverine for the dramatic set. It's evident early on that nobody on the show really knows him, and the show parses out bits and pieces of Don's surprising past across the first three seasons in flashbacks and fever dreams.

Don's character constantly pulls at the seams, in surprising ways.  When Don has a breakdown, or is stymied, or becomes Dick Whitman, you see the facade drop, chipping away at his mystique, if not his appeal.  Yet, Weiner always has a restorative bullet in the chamber, something that, once fired, immediately brings Don back to his god-amongst-men status.  Jon Hamm is fantastic in the role (and so goddamn handsome, you want to hit something), and it's his ability to show those fractures in the mask that the show is hinged upon.  Without it, Don Draper would be too perfect, perhaps unlikeable, callous even.

The show is typically exceptionally well written, and it constantly defies expectations.  Unlike most nighttime dramas, Mad Men rarely takes you where you think its going to go.  We've trained ourselves as a viewing audience to look for foreshadowing and to get wrapped up in the build up of drama, and as such Mad Men is constantly setting up paths in that regard.  Yet it rarely follows them, as it seems doing so would be far too easy, too "TV dramatic" and less interesting than the road it actually does wind up taking, those which are rarely foreshadowed.

The show's involvement of the events and politics of the '60's is one of its weaker traits, though valiant in its efforts.  As often as it handles these well, it doesn't.  It's use of the Kennedy assassination was brilliant, especially in how it interrupted the drama in everyone's life, an even that united people in shock and sorrow.  Conversely, its handling of era's race issues is quite often clunky, as is it's pointed use of smoking, big tobacco in advertising, and things like shock therapy or even littering, which are displayed in a manner like "look how ignorant we were".  It's a little too flagrant and could've been incorporated more organically or not at all.  It handles feminism and gender issues far, far better.  The diversity in its female characters, how they view themselves and their roles within their professional and personal lives as the sixties barrel on is one of its strongest facets.

That said, weakest element of the show is, hands down, January Jones.  Devoid almost completely of any charisma, she's unappealing in the role of Betty Draper, Don's somewhat depressed suburban housewife.  Prudish, sour-faced, and neglectful, she's a thoroughly unlikeable, and with Jones in the role, mercilessly unsympathetic.  I have a feeling that the audience is supposed to feel something towards her other than pure detestation, alas, Jones is unable to elicit anything resembling compassion or affection. 

Mad Men's first four seasons are exceptional, with the fifth season only slightly less so.  The latest season suffers from, primarily, the distance to its beginnings.  It's pretty much exhausted the drama of Don Draper's origins, which means as the central figure to the show, he's marginally less engaging, and largely demystified.  As well, the transition from the buttoned down, conservative style of the 50's into the mod-influenced mid-60's (including a set change between the 3rd and 4th season for the advertising agency) greatly impacts the overall feel of the show.  The fifth season is a little too bright, a little too showy, losing some of its subtlety.  While still good, with some of the show's most shocking and depressing moments (and, finally, a scene the focuses solely on Jon Hamm and Christina Hendricks, which is so much concentrated attractiveness that your TV set might overheat) it also features so much infidelity (a show staple) that the affairs have become tiresome and uninteresting. 

Next to Don Draper, infidelity is the show's center point.  The characters seem to constantly revolve around it, but there's little exploration of what it actually means to these people, why they all do it (and they all do) and I find it even harder to believe that the 60's are accurately represented by its prevalence within the show.  The closing scene of season five had me throwing my hands up.  We will see where we are when season six hits, and apparently there's another season to follow before the show runs down, but by then I'm wondering if it won't have overstayed its welcome.