Every year around this time, it seems studios are attempting to release the next holiday classic, or at least a film that will be revisited by fans. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, and Die Hard (yes, it is a Christmas movie) are just a few that are in heavy rotation in my household. For those looking for something a little more wholesome and family-friendly, you may be in luck with the release of Dashing Through The Snow, which will be debuting on Disney Plus just in time for the holidays. At first glance I wasn’t so sure about this film, but when I saw that the film was written by Scott Rosenberg, I couldn’t resist. Rosenberg is responsible for writing the screenplays for Beautiful Girls and High Fidelity; both movies are near and dear to my heart, and if you haven’t seen these films, I highly recommend checking them out. More recently he’s been attached to more big-budget popcorn films like Venom and the newer Jumanji films. Then helming the film is director Tim Story, who has an impressive resume as well with The Barbershop and the Ride Along films. So does this film deliver us something nice, or was the viewing experience on par with receiving a massive lump of coal in my stocking?

When we first meet Eddie Garrick, we are taken 30 years back, as we get to hear why it is that he isn’t a fan of Christmas. It’s a slightly amusing yet tragic story about a mall Santa coming into his home to rob the family, and things end up getting worse for poor Eddie. Modern-day Eddie is played by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. Eddie has grown up to be a social worker who helps out the Atlanta PD and is also a divorced father. For Christmas Eve, Eddie is spending time with his daughter, Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum), but things are not going to remain peaceful and quiet; in fact, the night is about to turn into an adventure of a lifetime when Eddie comes across Nick (Lil Rel Howery), who claims to be Santa.  Eddie is a good guy and wants to help Nick. It’s Christmas, after all, but Nick aka Santa is being chased by a trio of goons who have been ordered by Conrad Harf (Oscar Nunez), a corrupt congressman, to retrieve a tablet that Santa may have accidently picked up earlier that night.

“Imagine a place where wishes come true. Where your heart's desire can become a reality. What if I told you that place is within reach? All you have to do is give your wish ... to me.”

Disney has been taking us around the world in its efforts to duplicate its achievements with a certain princess that had to let it all go. And while I respect what they are trying to attempt, I doubt they are going to find that kind of lightning-in-a-bottle success that they found with that movie with Wish. That is not to say that Wish was not a enjoyable experience; I just don’t feel that the story came together fully in the manner that would make it iconic. However, I fully appreciate Disney’s efforts with taking us across the globe to foreign lands. And while the lands and areas tend to be fictional, they are always clearly inspired by real-life areas with diverse cultures. It reminds me of EPCOT and feels very inclusive. This time around, we are taken to the fictional land of Rosas, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, where the people are protected by King Magnifico and his wife Queen Amaya. Having studied magic and sorcery, Magnifico has become a powerful practitioner and gained the ability to grant the wishes of his subjects. When each resident of Rosas turns 18, a ceremony is held where they give up their wish to Magnifico, who keeps them sealed in his observatory. Once a month, Magnifico selects one of the residents' wishes to be granted before the city.

“Higher, Further, Faster.”

While The Marvels is more entertaining than Quantumania, it is far from the best sequel that the MCU has ever created, despite this film in a sense serving as a three-way sequel for three separate MCU characters. Picking up after the events of Captain Marvel, WandaVision, and directly after Ms. Marvel, The Marvels brings together Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, Teyonah Paris’ Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan into one movie to thwart an intergalactic threat. Fair warning: there are prerequisites for watching this movie in order to ensure that you can keep track with the continuity. Obviously, you will need to have seen the first film, which followed Carol Danvers, but if you have not also watched any of the miniseries featuring the backstories for the other characters, you will find yourself struggling to keep up. As I said, this film can be considered a three-way sequel rolled into one film. Encompassing all of this for three characters was a big task, that the film clearly struggles to accomplish at times, but for the most part, I would categorize this film as an enjoyable experience, albeit one that I don’t see myself ever feeling the need to repeat.

When watching Quiz Lady, the first thing that came to me was this strange wave of 90s nostalgia. It was like I was watching the early films of Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Farley, and Will Ferrell, only this time it had Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in the starring roles. This isn’t a slight against the film, but instead I found it a bit refreshing, despite being a familiar formula. While this time of year a lot of us are used to seeing films that are heavy on the drama and are fighting for awards contention, this is a film that is instead a fun comedy that definitely doesn’t take itself seriously. Anne (Awkwafina), is a boring young woman who is single and lives on her own, well, at least with the exception of her adorable pug, Linguini. The only thing that seems to bring any excitement (I’m being generous here) is that every evening at 7 o-clock she watches her favorite game show, “Can’t Stop The Quiz”. The game show is a lot like Jeopardy and has Will Ferrell playing the mild-mannered host who Anne has a bit of an obsession with. While Anne may be content with her boring life along with having to deal with her curmudgeon of a neighbor, Francine (Holland Taylor), her life is about to get thrown for a loop when she finds out her mom has escaped the nursing home. It turns out Anne’s mom has fled the country to run away from some gambling debts ($80 thousand worth, to be exact), and this is when her sister, Jenny (Sandra Oh) enters the picture looking for a place to stay. Of course, in this scenario Jenny is the total opposite of Anne; she’s fun, charming, aloof, and completely irresponsible, so we all know this Odd Couple situation is just a recipe for disaster. That disaster turns out to be a gangster kidnapping Linguini as way to get Anne to pay off her mother’s debts. If this sounds silly and ridiculous, I can assure you it is even more absurd than it sounds, but that’s OK; Awkwafina and Sandra Oh make this work.

Just how do these oddball siblings get out of this mess, you may ask? Jenny has decided to become a life coach and wants to make Anne her first project. Jenny has seen that her sister is pretty much Rain Man when it comes to her quiz show, and she plans to make Anne a contestant on the show and win it to get the money and pay off the gangster and get her adorable pug back … I did say this got more absurd, right? As the film progresses, there are several entertaining characters, and one little surprise appearance along the way that I couldn’t help but smile about. I feel like when you see it, you’ll know what I mean. Will Ferrell does great here. It’s hard not to think about his portrayal of Alex Trebek on SNL, but he injects a bit more charm in this role; and then there is Jason Schwartzman, who seems to be having fun playing a smarmy returning game show champion.