Category TV & Movies

Don’t get me wrong: Rutshire is hardly a place of resounding romantic success. Everyone is cheating on everyone, or wishing that they were. And there are some vast age gaps that look a little strange through a modern-day lens—yes, I’m talking about the ambivalent relationship between 20-year-old Taggie O’Hara (Bella Maclean) and Rupert, a.k.a. the 40-year-old man her mother fancies and her dad is mates with.

Burlesque

I don’t need to tell you that we live in very cynical times. The cynic in all of us watched, mouth agog, as the two Wicked leads first started gushing over each other in front of the world’s media. These days, we’re used to seeing staunchly media-trained actresses dole out polite platitudes about their acting roles, nothing-burgers that fans gobble up as the rest of our eyes roll. We’re so inured to this glamorous pantomime, this Hollywood-colleague politesse, that watching Grande and Erivo gently caressing hands and openly weeping because of, well, their parts in a film felt unsettlingly unreal. We saw these high-emotional-intensity interviews, this deep intimacy, before we saw the film and the yellow brick road that led to their closeness. While these two witches weren’t in Kansas anymore, the rest of us were still firmly rooted to the ground.

Grant’s newest film, Heretic, extends the actor’s passion for the strange or off-kilter into new realms of horror. The stylized chamber piece is set in a Mountain West suburb, where Grant’s charming milquetoast Mr. Reed (no first name given) has summoned a pair of young Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), to his unassuming doorstep to hear out their conversion pitch. Wary, at first, of his invitation inside, the sisters are assured by Reed that his wife will soon make an appearance with freshly baked blueberry pie. But Reed’s nerdy mannerisms and goggle-eyed ebullience slowly give way to discomfiting questions about faith that disturb the more experienced Sister Barnes. By then, however, the two women are already trapped inside his domestic labyrinth of intellectual, spiritual, and physical booby traps.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie had a lot to recommend it: an all-star cast, eye-popping sets and costumes, a delightfully madcap premise. Add to that a compilation soundtrack overseen by Mark Ronson, and it’s no wonder the film became such a phenomenon. Among the highlights of Barbie: The Album? Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s spin on Aqua’s “Barbie Girl,” and Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning ballad “What Was I Made For?.”

But look, you say, I’m already wearing my soft pants and my enormous knit and my extremely cute at-home socks, and I really have no intention of stepping outside for any sort of entertainment, even if it is Oscars-bound. That’s fine! The good news is, there’s a happy medium between making a big show of heading out for the cinema and settling in for treacly, cavity-inducing holiday fare! You can watch something that’s wintry and fun but completely unrelated to Santa Claus or Hanukkah gelt or poinsettias or presents. And you’re not even being Grinch-y! There are wintry movies out there that are also just really good movies, regardless of the fact that they may be set in Hallmark’s favorite season. So put down the colored icing, step away from the baking sheet, and train your focus this way. (Consider it something like a palate cleanser.) Without further ado, here are 27 of the best winter movies that have nothing to do with the holidays. You’re welcome!

The team behind the scenes is also (mostly) back: showrunner Katharina Eyssen is supported by executive producer Robert Eyssen. Sommerhaus Serien GmbH and its two producers Jochen Laube and Fabian Maubach are also once again responsible for production, while Scarlett Lacey returns as executive producer. Barbara Ott and Maximilian Erlenwein are in the director’s chair this time.

It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football