White Christmas (1954)

There are so many classic Christmas movies out there- both old school and modern- we tend to watch every year.
It’s a Wonderful Life, the first two Home Alone movies, Love Actually, and of course Die Hard.

For me, White Christmas will always be a top tier Christmas movie. It doesn’t matter how many versions you hear every December on the airwaves on the radio and all the stores. It’ll always be something extra special because it’s very much a product of its time. (And when I say this, it’s meant as a positive). Classic Hollywood with the big production musical numbers and one of a kind costumes. And how it’s a love letter to those who served in World War II.

It reminds me of my grandma on my dad’s side and all the production that led to spending Christmas at her house. The hour-long car ride, having to dress up, etc. I know she had a Barbie doll that was dressed as Eliza Doolittle at the Ascot race and I want to say she also had one Barbie dressed in one of the Haynes sisters’ Mrs. Claus outfits but I’m not positive.

I didn’t see the movie until years after she’d passed away, but I feel oddly nostalgic about it. For it showing a simpler time in Hollywood but also the time period it’s set. My grandma on my mom’s side served in World War II. He passed away before I was born so I never met him. But I’ve heard stories of how he wanted a big family (got the 12 kids but not the 50/50 boy-girl ratio) and had an affinity for peanut butter on EVERYTHING, including sardines.

So, I guess this movie resonates with something in my DNA.

As good as the actual song is and how it feels like a distant memory of Christmases past, it’s another experience to see how the movie used it to its full potential.
It serves as the perfect bookend. Bing Crosby sings it to his fellow troops overseas to give them a taste of home during a lull in the action. Then it’s done to greater effect to conclude the movie. Trust me, seeing the snow come down in the background while the whole cast sings the song- if you don’t feel something by the end of it, you’re not human.

The movie revolves around two army buddies Wallace and Davis, how they meet up with the sisters of another buddy from their regiment and spend the holiday at an inn run by their former general, General Waverly. The inn is having an off season due to lack of “snow, snow, snow…”

In his older age, he’s content but they believe he feels a bit forgotten and underappreciated, particularly when his petition to reenlist is denied. So, they move their stage show to his inn and plan a massive surprise for him.

Meanwhile Bob Wallace and Betty, the oldest of the sisters, tiptoe their way towards a relationship and his friend Phil and younger sister Judy try all they can to play Cupid for them. Unfortunately, the road towards this conclusion is a rocky one through misunderstanding and being unable to get out of their own way. A little too much “one step forward, two steps back”. Almost like a romcom but the laughs aren’t as frequent. Phil bringing up his “injury” from when he saved Bob’s life on the battlefield to twist his arm into going along with his schemes is only funny the first couple times.

The musical numbers are admittedly a mixed bag. The rehearsal numbers range from spectacular choreography to bizarre themes. If we learn anything about the Wallace and Davis production, it’s eclectic. None of the numbers have anything to do with each other except for the fact it’s Hollywood in its heyday of musicals.

The “Sisters” number(s) and Phil’s first dance with Judy are the better highlights and the payoff that is the 151st regiment reunion on stage and the finale… the whole movie is worth watching for that alone.

This year the Sundance channel had a movie marathon, but I made sure to put it on for the last half hour where everything comes together.

Theatrical Review: Zootopia 2

Date: Sunday November 30, 2025
Time: 10:15am
Party: 2 (my sister & I)

Introductions

As promised, I saw the new Wicked movie with my mom and the new Zootopia with my sister. We'd been kinda slacking with the movie watching this year, but there also hasn't been much that generate that excitement. 
Perhaps next year will be better.

We arrived just in time for the previews, thanks to not accounting for the kind of traffic we'd see the weekend after Thanksgiving. We got off an earlier exit and she was my navigator as we cut through some local streets to get back to the route that leads to the mall. 
It was night and day, how slow the highway was and how [almost] deserted this road was.
Then when we made our way back, naturally the East side of the highway was slower than it had been earlier. But at least we got to see a rare Hawaii license that made the slow trek worth the extra effort.
To quote Ryan Stiles from Whose Life is it Anyway? 
"Welcome to Hawaii: how do you get here in a car?"

The trailers were nothing really special. We caught part of "GOAT," which is a basketball movie featuring animals and Steph Curry has the starring role.
Actually, he's not the starring role, but he does have a role as one of the players on the basketball team the goat character aspires to join. He's also one of the movie's producers.

Then they had the trailer for the SpongeBob movie and "Hopper," where there's technology to download human minds into really realistic robots of furry forest animals. I'm sure I'd mentioned it in another review but it still doesn't wow me. 

Movie Talk

I LOVED the original Zootopia so I was looking forward to this as well, while secretly hoping that this sequel was worth the wait and all the effort. Sequels are tricky business in general. "Frozen 2" I still consider a big disappointment with how good the original movie was.

Thankfully, Zootopia was the rare exception of a good quality sequel.
Was it as good as the original? Maybe not... both were super fun and exciting, but also had their dramatic moments. That moment where you find out who the real villain is and can't help wondering how things are going to resolve so the good guys are able to win. 
This plot twist and all the drama and peril following it ran a little long... but the good thing about these movies is the way they lighten the mood. 
In this case, Judy and Nick are having a really nice heart-to-heart where they apologize and say how much they care about each other and another character comments just as they finish "oh, by the way, the bad guy is getting away." 
Disney (and their many affiliates) have gone a little far with meta/self-aware humor but in this case, I couldn't help but laugh because I thought the same thing maybe five minutes before this was said on screen. 

The movie had a lot of moments where I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Some of those highlights were in Marsh Market where the Judy and Nick are being escorted by their new ally, a conspiracy theorist played by Fortune Feimster (a role absolutely written for her brand of humor) through the Marsh Market and Nick keeps making faux pas with the locals. 
Despite how dire things feel at times, with our main duo being wanted fugitives, there's still the occasional moments humor shines through and you're having such a good time that you forget just how much is at stake.

In both movies, the heart of it is obviously the camaraderie between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Here, they're officially partners on the police force, but this comes with some unexpected complications that lands them in couples therapy. They take their first case and it falls into chaos because Judy is too gung ho about tracking down the bad guys that she ignores any attempts from Nick to think things through before acting. 
The lead they follow that gets them into trouble, not only with the powerful Lynx family but their brothers in blue-- the first snake had gotten into Zootopia for the first times in 100 years and they're branded fugitives for helping it escape.

Much like in the original, the plot revolves around debunking misconceptions. Instead of it being about "predators acting out because of their instincts" (spoiler alert- they were being set-up), it's about reptiles being outcast from Zootopia because one had been implicated in a murder, so therefore none of them can be trusted.
In truth, the real bad guys are the Lynx family and their hidden agenda is about expanding their territory, even if it means resorting to revisionist history. Judy uncovers this century-long cover-up and like it or not, Nick is by her side to help her see it through.

In addition to the new characters, NIbbles Maplestick the beaver, Gary the pit viper (Ke Huy Quan, who's still experiencing an incredible resurgence since being in The Goonies and The Temple of Doom back in the 80's), action movie-star-turned-mayor Brian Winddancer (whoa, Patrick Warburton has come a long way since he played Kronk in the Emperor's New Groove), we have the return of some old favorites.

"Try Everything" is one of the big reasons why I loved the original Zootopia. (The second biggest being Jason Bateman as Nick... I wasn't even a fan of this guy before this movie. Now, it's sort of like what happened with Ryan Reynolds. I didn't think much of him until he was Deadpool. Now, he's just awesome. Same goes with Jason Bateman)
But yeah, "Try Everything" is such a fun bop and it really set the scene for when Judy makes her first trip into the fabled Zootopia to make her dream of being the first bunny cop a reality. 
Shakira is back as Gazelle with a new song, which features at a Burning Mammal festival in the desert (gee, I wonder what that's a reference too...) and the end credits. 
"Zoo" isn't quite at the same level, but I still enjoyed it. 
Also, she gets to have a cool moment where she helps the good guys by distracting some of the animals pursuing them.

There's a few duos on the police force. The pigs (which I'm just now realizing is a really on-the-nose reference) show up the most and are the most cutthroat of the bunch. 
On the other hand, we have a couple of zebras who serve as occasional comic relief. As soon as they did their first head-butt chanting "Zebros!," I was immediately a fan. Sometimes I just can't resist a good pun, especially when it's this perfect. 

Also returning is Flash, everyone's favorite sloth from the DMV. As limited as his screen time is, he leaves an undeniable impression. 

Probably the most fun thing is all the little references scattered throughout the movie.
A lot of Disney references, like Judy wearing Belle's ballgown when she and Nick sneak into a gala. And when a frying pan gets used as a weapon (a little nod to Rapunzel from "Tangled").
My favorite might be a polar bear being seen holding a Coca-Cola bottle right before his snow mobile gets stolen. It's not labeled, but there's no mistaking the shape. A very fitting reference for a movie being released just before the start of Christmas time.

There isn't much left to say without giving any major spoilers away so I'll leave it here.
I'll just end with saying that this is a Disney sequel, or a sequel in general, that's definitely worth your time. Especially if you or someone you know is in the target demographic, although this is a movie that would be fun for both kids and adults.

Grade: A/A-

Theatrical Review: Wicked For Good

Date: Sunday, November 23 2025
Time: 10:15 am
Party: 2 (my mom & I)

Review

A year later, part two of this story is finally here.

My main concern had been avoiding spoilers and while I didn’t completely succeed (particularly in regards to members of the “Wizard of Oz” quartet), I went into this with the same anticipation I had at the end of part one.

This is going to be hard to review spoiler-free but I’ll do my best.

Part one was so fun and colorful and enthralling from start to finish. Definitely the kind of experience that demands to be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated.

Part two was a decidedly different cinematic experience and I didn’t enjoy it quite as much. But while the songs weren’t as memorable and it wasn’t as fun or colorful, it succeeded in other ways. Most of which lay below the surface and may take a little extra thought to fully appreciate.

One obvious highlight visually was the tornado scene. Cinema has come a long way since “the wizard of Oz” and while that tornado was impressive for its time, the one in this movie… as incredible as it was to watch, the combined sense of wonder and dread I felt in the midst of it left the bigger impression.

Easily, the biggest draw of this movie for me was its characters. All of the main cast disappear into these roles so it’s not even a question about how good the acting is. My one little nitpick might just be Glinda’s two friends from Shiz University. Other than the one scene they share together, being her yes-people like always, they pop up in background periodically and are just sort of… there. They contribute nothing to the plot other than maybe being the colorful people in the background so they stand out in that respect.

As much as the wizard is a con man, the true villain really is Madame Morrible. Michelle Yeoh at peak level like always. But I can’t help but wonder why she doesn’t take charge and rule herself. Aside from Elphaba, nobody would be able to stand up to her powers. I suppose it’s probably just easier to hang in the background and maintain power through illusion and propaganda…

It does help to have Jeff Goldblum playing the wizard. Because despite his faults, it’s easy to buy into his con when you think about it. The people in Oz are used to living life a certain way so why rock the boat and ruin that sense of security for them? He makes a self aware jab at history being an illusion that can be manipulated. There’s always a good side and bad side but there’s more gray area than people want to admit. His only real fault is his treatment of animals. I can’t see any reason for doing that, keeping them enslaved and silent. If a reason was ever given, it escaped my notice.

Despite the lines being drawn between good and evil, the main cast are all tested as to whether they’ll settle for their current reality or risk it for those they love.

Prince Fiyero was my big question mark at the end of part one. He may have his royal title but he’d always danced through life to the beat of his own drum. Now he must choose between what is right and what is easy. While most of his character arc met my expectations, there were still some nice surprises along the way.

As for Glinda, her predicament reminded me of a scene from “Charlie Bartlett” where the vice principal (played by Robert Downey Jr. in one of his more underrated roles) informs him that popularity isn’t nearly as important as what you do with it. She’s thrust into the spotlight as a force for good to give Oz hope in these dark times and while it’s the kind of attention she’d always aspired to, her friendship with Elphaba makes her question whether it’s worth it.

Elphaba continues to advocate for the animals of Oz and tries her best to convince the citizens of Oz not to trust the Wizard. No matter what she tries, resistance meets her at every turn. Probably the best part of her story are those rare instances she does receive help and it’s from an unexpected source. “No Good Deed” is also a great number, one of the few standouts for me other than the big duet at the end.

The way this whole conflict affects her sister Nessa, who recently took her late father’s mantle of governor… there’s so much to unpack. As afraid as she is for people to think she’s like her sister, what she struggles with most is her absence. Feeling left behind. Admittedly their relationship had already been pretty complicated and no matter what she did, Elphaba was never able to do right by her.

This has some sad implications on her relationship with Boq. I forgot in the past year that he’d been in love with Glinda this whole time and she doesn’t take it well when he broadcasts it. This sort of thing happens in movies all the time but as much as we want to get revenge on the men we love because he want to leave you for someone else, especially someone you can’t compete with, how far would you be willing to go to change their minds? Or if it’s worth the effort and heartache when you’re better off waiting for someone who puts you first?

Like I said, I like how this movie makes you think about the characters and their actions and whether they’re right or wrong for doing so. Knowing what you know from what these actions lead to, would you do things differently if you were in their place?

One criticism this movie has is the way the Wizard of Oz storyline was wedged in… or forced, depending on who you ask.

I feel like it was handled well enough where you could splice in footage of the 1939 film into this one and it wouldn’t ruin the illusion too much. Although some of Glinda’s comments to Dorothy is clearly self parody (“it’s that one road the entire time”) and a tad insulting to the original’s legacy. We never see Dorothy’s face and get silhouette shots or those from a distance. Which is fair because this isn’t her story this time.

The true heart of the story really is between Glinda and Elphaba. The chemistry between the two actresses cannot be overstated. Despite them being on opposing sides, you can’t help but want both of them to find happiness and it’s equally devastating to be with them during their lowest moments.

Their big duet “For Good” is featured in all the marketing for this movie and while it’s not at the level of “Defying Gravity”, it gives you all the feels. My mom and I were both waterlogged by the end of it.

I’d commented previously on how I often cry at the end of musicals, even when it’s a happy ending. I held out until the very end before I let my emotions get the better of me and I’m glad I did. Yeah, it was still a tear jerker but I was just so happy to see how all the good characters got what they wanted and the bad guys got what they deserved.

We also get a nice bookend where one of the final scenes echoes the opening scene of part one… but wait, there’s a little bit more.

Grade- a solid B

Trailers

Also a quick comment about the audience… it was maybe a dozen people in there and it was a quiet reserved crowd. I’m sure it’s better than an audience singing so loud you can’t hear the movie but still…

Only a few trailers but the movie started almost 20 minutes after its start time.

SpongeBob: Search for the Square Pants

I mean, yeah, we grew up with SpongeBob. This looks stupid and ridiculous but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud of few times. I don’t think I’d seen the show in years, certainly not any of the post Stephen Hillenberg seasons.

David

This time of year, we tend to have one Christian or biblical movie in the trailers. This is David’s story, before he defeated Goliath and his life afterwards. Whether he tired of his crown in the actual story, I don’t know. I haven’t read it. But it’s an interesting thing to consider.

I also was excited for half a second hearing the song playing with the trailer because I thought it might be Colton Dixon. Someone I followed from American Idol and is a very successful Christian artist.

It wasn’t him… it would’ve been cool, though. Someone like him being featured in a movie a fair amount of people will see.

Reminders of Him

Considering the controversy surrounding “it ends with you” because of the Blake Lively lawsuits, it’s surprising this author got another film adaptation of their work.

This one is also a little unsettling with its plot. Apparently the woman lost the love of her life in a car accident but she was driving and had to serve jail time for his death. And because of that, she’s an outcast in society and no one will hire her. I suppose I’d have to see the movie to see why she was implicated. She didn’t seem drunk or high when she was driving so how was it her fault?

Super Mario Galaxy

We already saw the trailer online so this was nothing new. But my sister and I will definitely be seeing it next April.

My one hope is that Brie Larson nails her portrayal of Rosalina because she’s a major character in that game and some big shoes to fill.

Shrinking (2 seasons... so far... on Apple+)

 As of writing this post, I've officially ended my Apple+ subscription.
You know how subscriptions tend to reel you in and try different tricks to make it hard to quit... I decided to end my subscription because:

a) I've finished all the shows I wanted to see and I don't feel like waiting around for future seasons; and
b) the price per month is being raised from $9.99 to $12.99...

The screen immediately following me hitting "cancel subscription"- the whole vibe read "oh, please don't go, we'll give you 2 months at a reduced rate... and then we'll raise it up to $12.99"

When Ted Lasso and this show come back, I might reconsider it. But for now, I can confidently say I'm ready to move on and I'm happy with what I did with the time I had. 

***

Of the series I'd watched with my mom, this was her favorite. Months from now, she'll still be talking about how great it was. How fun the characters are and how great the banter is.
Ted Lasso is still my #1, but this will sit at a firm second place.

I was inspired to check this one out after the Emmy nominations came out and the trailer did a good job showing just how an interesting a series this could be. 
But I still wouldn't have expected to enjoy it THIS much. It had a good mixture of funny moments as well as heartwrenching and serious ones.

For starters, the main three characters, Jimmy, Paul and Gabby, are therapists who work at the same practice and are good friends outside of work as well. Also in their friend group are Jimmy's neighbors Liz and Derek and his BFF, Brian.
The series's main hook, which was played up really well in the trailer, was about Jimmy being a grieving widow who'd essentially sleepwalked through the past year of his life. He finally reaches a breaking point where he decides to give his clients unfiltered advice and becomes personally invested in their lives. And he slowly gets reacquainted with the people in his life. The most important of them being his daughter, Alice. 

It's an interesting concept. These three therapists are all good at what they do and their skillsets vary. They are also human and sometimes struggle to deal with their own problems. 

My mom is a huge Harrison Ford fan and both of us equally loved him as Paul. Being that residential voice of reason combined with his dry sense of humor makes it a role tailor-made for him. While he's really good at advising those around him, he's not perfect. Now that he's dealing with the early symptoms of Parkinson's, he's forced to be more open to receiving help and, more importantly, knowing when to ask for it instead of trying to get by on his own. 

Under that gruff exterior is a big heart and he shows this off in some nice unexpected ways through the series. The greatest of these moments is in the second season finale during Thanksgiving. Not going to spoil it, but have some tissues handy. 
I hadn't seen too many of his movies beyond his work as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but I'd say if he does nothing else with the rest of his career, that scene will stand out as one of his greatest acting moments.
Wendie Malick also has a recurring role as his doctor-turned-girlfriend and the two of them are really great together. 

Then there's Gabby, who fills a variety of roles throughout the series, but the common denominator of them all: she's so quick to assume the role of caregiver and putting others' needs first that she doesn't always give herself permission to look out for her own interests. The end of season two shows her slowly moving in that direction and hopefully she's able to make more progress in the future. 

While Jimmy starts making some major headway with his patients while getting a little more involved in resolving their issues, he has one major relationship that needs to be remediated on the homefront. 
His daughter Alice isn't talking to him because he'd checked out while they were grieving her mom's death. They have several ups and downs throughout the series and things have a way of working themselves out.

Also, in the times he'd been checked out, others have stepped in to fill in the void left by Jimmy's absence.
The most notable being his neighbor and recent empty nester Liz. She can be kind of a bitch and over the top sometimes. But when it comes to the people she cares about, she'll fiercely defend them. Aside from being a bit of a busybody, she likes to polish rocks and she gives the special people in her life a rock when they've earned it. 
Her husband Derek is the polar opposite in a lot of ways. His actor played a similar role in Married with Children where he's the more laidback member of the married couple. If anything, he's good for a laugh but that's not all there is to his character.
And also, Paul has had regular sessions with Alice where she'll meet with him on a park bench and they talk about things. She often brings some sugary treat as payment and it's a fun running gag to see his reactions to them. 

Another character we're introduced to is Brian. Who doesn't just play the overenthusiastic gay friend, but he's also the type of lawyer you only see in TV and movies where they use their law degree in multiple facets of the legal profession. He's an estate lawyer but a few times, he acts as a defense attorney on Jimmy's benefit (or technically, his patient's behalf). I'm no expert but apparently this would not fly in real life. Just because you have a law degree in one particular thing, doesn't mean you can just use their legal expertise whenever it's conveneient.

His character has a few interesting plots points throughout the series. He gets married to his longtime boyfriend Charlie and they pursue adoption to start a family.
This particular storyline, I kinda took issue with... they went into the marriage with the understanding they weren't having a family even though Charlie wanted kids but Brian isn't interested. Yet the typical peer pressure thing happens and Brian is forced to change his mind. Media needs to stop doing this nonsense. This is a big decision both parts of the couple need to agree on before going to the altar. No takebacks.
Oh... and in the show, there's an outdoor dining establishment with cornhole and Brian started a movement where you yell "cornhole!" when you sink a beanbag in the hole. This comes back a few times through the series- always good for a smile.

As for Jimmy's patients, there's two notable ones because they get massive character arcs.

Grace is played by that one actress from the Hotels.com commercials and she's always over the top and quirky. In this role, she's a lot more understated. Which I personally prefer- both of those Hotels.com actors annoy me.
So Grace's whole character arc is about her emotionally abusive relationship with her husband. When Jimmy finally snaps out of his funk, he flat-out tells her to leave her husband because he's never going to treat her well. And for a while, he succeeds... 
The story has a good resolution in the end but, man, it had its frustrating moments. 

Then there's Sean, an army vet who'd recently ended his tour overseas and he's dealing with a lot of issues afterwards. Anger, PTSD, not knowing what to do without the routine that comes with the military life.
Jimmy goes above and beyond to help him get back on his feet when his folks kick him out of the house for getting into too many bar fights. Some of his advice is unconventional and not all of it works to his advantage. But eventually they do get things right and Sean's life is made better for it. And Jimmy's various connections are also impacted by having him in their lives as well. 

For me, probably the most unexpected turn with this series... Jimmy's wife/Alice's mom/Gabby's best friend Tia was tragically killed in a car accident.
We actually get to meet and spend time with the guy responsible for her death.
And it's none other than Roy Kent himself, Brett Goldstein, who was a writer on this show as well as Ted Lasso.

It's bizarre but also kinda funny how this dude kept showing up in the Apple content I was watching. I've had several actors I'd actively followed from one movie to another... and in some cases, actors I followed through various roles because of how they were connected with a certain actor. But that wasn't the case here, just a series of funny coincidences.

The only thing I purposely watched for Brett Goldstein on this streaming platform was the movie "All of You"... somehow, my Google page on my phone got the idea "oh, you liked Ted Lasso? Check out one of the actors from that show in this movie."
It wasn't the best movie in the world but I still enjoyed it. He was probably the best part of it honestly and I'm just saying that as someone who finds him likable as an actor.

So his character, Louis, in this series shows up a number of times in season 2. Alice gets several bits of advice for dealing with her grief throughout and one is writing a letter you don't intend to send but the act of writing it is therapeutic.
She tracks him down to where he works and finally gets some of her grievences off her chest about how his actions ruined her life. But we also learn he'd been struggling with what he'd done and hadn't quite made peace with it. 

One episode shows a bunch of flashbacks with the main characters but also what his life was like before the accident. He and his girlfriend had this really cute relationship, including their favorite pasttime of people watching at the train station. 
I think the last time I saw this was in Family Guy with Stewie and his girlfriend, Olivia, where they'd comment on people they see while in the park. But with Louis and his girlfriend, they make up lives and backgrounds for the people at the train station.
There's a huge question mark about what happened to his girlfriend after the accident. Was she also collateral damage? Did she leave him? The answer was somewhat anti-climatic but at least it was something I didn't expect. 
Alice and Brian both wind up spending time with Louis and getting to know him. This does not go over well when Jimmy finds out... this thread finds its own resolution later on and again, it's unexpected and that's what makes it good. 

So often, when someone drives drunk and someone else is killed as a result of their actions, it's easy to write them off as villains or jerks who had no sense of accountability. Just like the whole angle of therapists being as imperfect as their patients, the way the show spun this was really well done and kinda makes you think. 

With Jason Segel, who plays Jimmy. I'd only seen him in a couple of roles prior to this. The big one that comes to mind is Forgetting Sarah Marshall. That movie starts in a similar place as this series did... where his character is grieving someone that had been a huge part of his life and eventually finds his way out of that depression. 
But much of my memory of that movie was ruined by the full frontal nudity in the first several minutes of it... maybe I owe it to myself to try watching it again but maybe on cable where all the R-rated stuff is edited out... 

Speaking of the content, this series mostly had langauge under the content warning section. Occasionally violence and a little sexuality. Whatever sexuality it had, it was handled really well. And compared to The Morning Show, where there were endless tirades laden with F-bombs, the cursing was used very tastfully. I'm not so sure about Alice, who's only 17, using that language, especially towards her father. (I definitely wouldn't have gotten away with that if I was her age). But whenever any of the other cast members used the f-word, it was always to express frustration, not just tearing the other person a new one. 
Again, Harrison Ford showed why he was the best actor on this show because the way he used language, it not only felt organic, but it was as if he turned them into an art form. 

So yeah, overall, this was a really good show. And I can say from experience that it's a good one to watch with family or anyone you consider as close as family. 
In fact, that's another reason why this show is so good. It's about a group of friends and their families and together, they're all as close as family. And if they're not at first, they become as close as family over time. 

Freaky Friday (2003)

Because it’s me, I have to spend the first few paragraphs setting the scene…

Can I just say 2003 was an amazing time to be a teenager? So many great movies and in terms of music, Disney was at its peak. That summer I remember setting a goal to see three movies in theaters.
Freaky Friday, Finding Nemo and one other… I think it was Rugrats gone Wild. The Lizzie McGuire movie was also around that time and another special theater experience that stuck with me for months.

All these years later, I'm still not sure if the rivalry between Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan had any truth to it... but I'll always be Team Lindsay. She may not play guitar like she does in the movie but she has a much better singing voice.

In terms of Lindsay Lohan teen Disney movies, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is still my favorite.
But I think I watch Freaky Friday a little more frequently. Maybe once every year or so while the other, it’s more like every 4-5 years. I got the Confessions soundtrack first and listened to it a lot more. So it breaks even at the end of the day.

It was either during this time or after the movie, but I got really into magazines like Tiger Beat so I could read the latest on my favorite teen idols. And obviously any news on Jesse McCartney when he was on the cusp of a solo career post-Dream Street. My clearest memory after seeing this movie- seeing a coupon for something to put highlights in my hair and I decided it was something I wanted to do. I wanted to get blonde but wound up with red, dyed a few times after that until finally I grew my hair out until it regained its original dark brown.
Between this movie and Michelle Branch being one of my top artists at the time, I’m still kinda surprised I didn’t lobby for guitar lessons also. But I also had a keyboard I barely knew how to play so clearly that wasn’t happening.

I really liked Lindsay's look in this movie and I wanted to do it myself. That's probably as far as things went in terms of her being a role model.

Movie time…

The movie begins on a tumultuous Thursday where both Tess and Anna Coleman are having not-so-good days.
It’s hard not to find the chaos generated by Tess's army of electronic devices hilarious in retrospect… had this been a few years later, all of these devices would’ve been replaced by a little invention called the iPhone.
Anna clearly gets the shorter end of the stick, though. "Mr. Bates is out to get me" is one of the best lines from this movie-- I'm sure a lot of teenagers felt like this about one of their teachers at some point, but in this case, it was actually true. Between him and her ex-friend Stacey, she gets in detention twice in one day.

One thing I never understood… why is detention multiple times a day? I’ve never been to detention myself but I always thought it was an after school thing where your punishment was being forced to stay after. Or, you know, The Breakfast Club, where you’re forced to come in on a Saturday.

We get the impression in the first few seconds of the movie that this mom-daughter duo were close once. But in typical fashion, the teenage years change all that. I was an exception to this cliche because I often bent over backwards to not get in trouble, but I know it's a common thread in a lot of teen movies.
It takes a while to drive the message home, but this movie does a great job explaining the reasons why this once strong relationship broke down. 

Things reach a boiling point when Tess learns that Anna wants to go to a band audition instead of her wedding's rehearsal dinner and feels that this special event is meanginless to her. Fate intervenes in the form of a fortune cookie. And two women experience a body swap overnight.
Once they piece together what happened, they decide to live each other’s lives in order to keep up the pretense everything is normal. 

In her mom’s body, Anna enjoys her newfound freedom anyway she can, including a really fun makeover/shopping montage. Chaos descends in the form of that fleet of electronic devices and she has to swing by the therapists’ office to do work. Her patients seem to be none the wiser except for the one woman she gives valid advice in dealing with her teenager. She also quips the best response to an upcoming root canal spoken by anyone ("That's not fair, they're not my teeth...")

Then as Anna, Tess fails to mend fences with Stacey and succeeds in putting Mr. Bates in his place— apparently his vendetta against Anna was revenge against her mom for not going to a high school dance with him.
She also learns a lot from Anna’s friends about how she’d talked about her. How she doesn’t care about her music and hadn’t paid her any attention since Ryan came into the picture.

If it's possible, the second half of their day as each other gets even crazier.

Ryan surprises "Tess" with a guest appearance on a TV show to promote her new book and in her mom’s body, Anna generates so much buzz the host has her thrown out by security. God forbid a guest outshines a talk show host… I always hear rumors about those people either being egocentric, nicer on camera than they are when they’re off or some combination of both.

Or people like Oprah and Ellen, my dad dislikes how they're always giving stuff away to guests but they do it through sponsers instead of using their own money.

She also attends a parent-teacher conference at her brother's school. He’d spent the better half of the movie annoying and embarrassing her. But then she learns he wrote a paper on why she was the person he admired most. We never get to see how this betters their relationship once the bodies get switched back, but in the only way she can at the time, Anna talks to him about it and you’re left feeling hopeful that things will be better between them in the future.

Back at school, the second verse of "This is why we can't have nice things" by Taylor Swift kinda sums up what happens between "Anna" and Stacey at the much hyped Honors Qualifying exam. So much for Tess's boasts that she could make it through at a day at Anna's high school without getting detention. She and Jake get some extra time together when he offers help her out, but he's just as quickly put off when he catches her doing something less than noble with the opportunity.

This one small act gives away to potentially the most insane part of this whole predicament. After the talk show debacle, Anna winds up at the coffee shop where Jake works and they hit off. This leads Jake to develop an unrequited crush on Tess and hilarity ensues. 

As a quick side note- as good as the soundtrack is, they did not need to include that Chad Michael Murray sound bite of him singing a Britney Spears song… he meant well but it’s excruciatingly bad.

Finally, we have the night of the rehearsal dinner and audition. So much happens but it sometimes takes a few watches to fully grasp all of it. As a teenager, I was stoked when Anna’s friends showed up to “kidnap” her for the audition and in the end she finally gets to go. Watching this again a bit older and (hopefully) wiser, I get even more of this moment. As her mom, Anna finally gets to see how Ryan feels about her and her band and how he sees himself fitting into this new family. Up until this point, he’d made small attempts to make her warm up to him and she shut all of them down. And I guess she also assumed he didn’t care about any of her music stuff because her mom never gave her positive feedback on it. This movie is really about the two female leads at the end of the day but this was Mark Harmon’s moment to shine.
And it’s thanks to him that the audition is a rousing success. If he hadn’t told Tess to cheer on the band, they wouldn’t have pulled it off. There’s also a funny joke where Anna tells her mom to fake playing guitar like Keith… and she had to elaborate “Richards, mom!” Her improvising is probably a little closer to the lead guitarist from AC/DC but it’s good enough that everyone else at the House of Blues is none the wiser.

Then in exchange, Tess tells Anna that she has to tell Ryan to postpone the wedding. There’s a really nice heartwarming speech about the tragedy of losing their dad/husband and how Ryan made her mom happier than she’d been in a long time. So happy she was singing in the shower again, to the chagrin of everyone else.
But the speech kicks everything into motion to be set back to normal. 

The only issue I’m sure a lot of people had with it, though… there’s an earthquake after the fortune is told that only the two of them feel, yet when everything goes back to normal, everyone notices. (In "Freakier Friday," nobody notices an earthquake except the people involved at the start and end of the spell… so it’s a major continuity error, but a minor nitpick on my part).

We have the wedding, Jake is in attendance and things are looking up for him and Anna, and the younger lady from the Chinese restaurant prevents her mom from giving away another fortune cookie. This moment is so dramatic and over the top, but good for a laugh every time. It would’ve been an interesting body swap but maybe not enough for a whole movie.

Then the movie ends with another catchy Lindsay Lohan song. 

Soundtrack discussion

“Ultimate” got as much play on Disney Radio as the title track from “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.” Both were huge staples in my teenage years and even though I don’t listen them as much as I used to, I still know (nearly) every word and have a great time when they’re on.
A lot of the soundtrack is just covers of older songs and not necessarily covers that improve on the original. “Happy together” by Simple Plan is a little too fast. It’s a good way to start the movie but I’d be fine without a full 3 minute version. I’m not really a fan of the Bowling for Soup Britney Spears Jake and Anna are raving about. The Lillix version of “what I like about you” is probably the best one. "What a wonderful world" by Joey of the Ramones isn't bad either. 
The big non-cover standout for me is “Brand New Day” by Forty Feet Echo, which kinda serves as Jake’s theme song since it canvases two scenes between him and Anna-- directly before and after the body swap. It kinda reminds me of “Here Without You” by 3 doors down.
The rest are a mix of pop and punk songs by indie artists or people like Ashlee Simpson who became a little bigger later on.

Theatrical Review: Freakier Friday

Preamble

There’s been a recent trend of sequels to movies that came out decades after their predecessors. Maverick, the long awaited sequel to Top Gun, was the start of it and we can all be certain there’ll be dozens of similar instances to come. That is until Hollywood gets back to putting out more original stories that hadn’t been already done a thousand times. Although many of the trailers preceding this movie have given me some much needed reassurance more original stories will be on the way.
https://moviegoerconfessions.blogspot.com/2025/08/freakier-friday-trailers.html (I did something different and gave the trailer their own post... not sure if I'll continue to do so but this time it felt like the right call)
Also I am aware horror movies have been navigating similar gaps between sequels as well. I’m not a fan of horror movies so forgive me for not counting those.

Personal Connection

So… I’m officially that age where I can say how excited I am for a sequel to a movie i saw in theaters in high school. The original Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan Freaky Friday came out in the summer of 2003 when I was coming off my first year of high school (in Neshaminy High School, we had grades 10-12 so I’d just finished 10th grade). I enjoyed the Parent Trap remake with Lindsay Lohan so of course I wanted to see this movie too.
It was a blast and I still come back to it on DVD at least once a year.

Also in case anyone is wondering, I did see the original versions of Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. I wasn’t a fan of either one. Especially not the original freaky Friday with Jodie Foster… it was nothing like the Lindsay Lohan version. In fact, we only follow the one character and don’t know the other was switched until the very end when she reveals “oh I was switched the whole time, I just didn’t tell anyone”

As for this sequel, of course I was thrilled when it was announced but that didn’t mean I didn’t have my reservations. I was concerned in some way this movie would take away from its predecessor… or it would ride so much on its coattails that it wouldn’t have its own identity. I had a little more faith this time around because I’m sure the nostalgia would carry me some of the way. Plus, Jamie Lee Curtis, who has enough control of her career and understanding of herself as a veteran actress… the fact she lobbied for this sequel and got it made speaks volumes. I mean, she wouldn’t stand by something like this unless it was good, right?

Two Different Rating Systems

In terms of rating or reviewing this movie, you could say it has two ways to score. How I’d rate it as a movie and how I’d rate it as a sequel. Especially a sequel to a movie that’s 22 years old.

As a movie… it’s good. I actually really liked the first act before the switch happens and it had a decent conclusion but the middle was a very chaotic jumbled mess. At times, it was difficult for me to keep these characters straight despite knowing who they were from the previous film and it was hard at times to catch my breath. But in the moments it did slow down and the actresses got to breathe and do their thing, it was really good.
I suppose if I was being objective, I’d give it maybe a B to a B- taking points away for the two or three jokes that overstayed their welcome. There wasn’t as much cringey stuff as I expected considering we have different generations and nowadays when generations are in a room together, they harp on that fact way too much. Actually, most of the comments from the gen Z characters were about how adults really don’t get it.

As for rating this movie as a Freaky Friday fan, I’d say my satisfaction rating is at 90%. So I’d give it an A- essentially.
I didn’t read a lot of reviews for Maverick, but I’m sure the criticism that it leaned too much on the nostalgia factor.
For Freakier Friday, I think it might have struck the perfect balance between throwbacks to its predecessor and telling its own story. Well, perfect might be overselling it but I was very happy with it.
The movie brought nearly all of the main characters from the original and their chemistry still holds up really well all these years later. We also added Anna’s new finance and her daughter Harper and his daughter Lilly and they more than held their own against the others. 

The only low points in that regard were Tess’s husband Ryan almost blending into the background (I barely noticed Mark Harmon was in this movie but that’s likely due to Jamie Lee Curtis stealing nearly every scene she was in) and the unpleasant return of Elton Bates (Anna's teacher who failed her purposely until Tess sets him straight during her day as Anna). Although it should at least be some consultation that he’d been demoted to detention babysitter and he was equally unpleasant to everyone.
What is it with Stephen Tobolowsky always playing unpleasant teachers with some unearned sense of entitlement? He’s literally the same character in everything I’d seen him in.
We also have a brief cameo from Anna’s brother Harry at a rehearsal dinner. The only character who doesn't make a reappearance is the grandfather (Harold Gould passed away in 2010) and Tess's "regular" patient Evan (Willie Garson passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2021). Evan was such a nervous wreck, it wouldn't have surprised me if his character arc ended tragically, but that might've made the movie too heavy.

Family and Casting dynamics

Going off the trailers, I knew there’d be four people switching bodies but I had no idea how it was going to break down, who would be who, etc. I also had no idea who the 4th girl in the freak-out scene was. But in my defense, I did go into this blind and wanting to be surprised and trusting everything would work out. And my faith was rewarded, which doesn’t happen often.

Who Harper’s dad is, that’s never revealed and part of me is kinda disappointed in that. One because it wasn’t Jake and he was only the typical high school boyfriend that just stays in high school. And two- I’m curious about the story. Was it a one night stand or was the guy even less responsible than Anna and she decided to put her music career out to pasture to be there for her?
But I like the updated dynamic between Tess and Anna where they coparent Harper. In fact the dynamic is so good the question lingered… ok, why is this switch happening again? As it turns out, not only is Anna now the one getting married but there’s the addition of another daughter into the family. And Lily happens to be a girl in school Harper doesn’t get along with. Their parents meet in the principal’s office after the duo causes a lab accident in science. And quickly fall in love.
Yeah, I didn’t see that coming but after seeing how cute they were together, I was all for it. The bulk of the conflict comes down to living arrangements. Lily wants to go back to England and Harper wants to stay in LA. Especially since her grandparents live nearby and surfing is her thing.
In addition to her therapy career, Tess does a podcast and plays pickleball with Ryan.
Anna’s old band Pink Slip has since made decent progress since their garage phase. Since becoming a mom, she now works at a music studio and manages upcoming pop star Ella, which proves a bit more of a challenge after Ella’s boyfriend breaks up with her in a very public way. She also still writes songs in her free time but it’s mostly taken a backseat between her job and parenting.

For a more politically correct twist, the switch doesn’t happen through “Asian voodoo” (we do get a quick cameo from that mom-daughter team who now have this big food empire). Instead it’s a psychic played by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer- someone else who plays the same character in every role- but this role definitely gave her plenty of freedom to be as weird as possible.
The switch navigates its way across the generation gap- the coparents switching places with the two girls.
The girls interpret the fortune they receive as a reverse-parent trap situation, where they work towards breaking up their parents’ engagement.
At one point, they track down Jake on Facebook, commenting how it’s how old people find each other. (Omg- I got on Facebook when I started college. Old?!)
He owns a record store and yeah, Chad Michael Murray is still as hot as he was back in the day. What’s funny is seeing him still having a soft spot for Tess despite the age gap and her being married. There’s a bunch of funny jokes here but the top of it is "Lily" looking for something “vintage… like Coldplay”.
Omg, still no respect… and for me, I always flip out when music I listened to when I was a teenager 20 years ago is now concerned “old”. My version of old is the Beatles and Elvis. But I also own 5 Beatles albums so I love me some vintage as well.
Sometime during their scenes, they give Ella a much needed pick-me-up via a cheesy fashion montage.

Meanwhile Anna and Tess, once they spring themselves out of detention… most of their shenanigans are rolling around town on motor scooters and consuming vast amounts of junk food while their metabolisms are still super high. All while “Spice Up Your Life” plays in the background. I think that was probably my favorite part of those sequences, the music.

I own the soundtrack from 2003 movie because it had some great songs but mostly because I had to own all of Lindsay Lohan’s stuff.
And I just have to say how much I loved her being back for this movie and lighting up the big screen. I’ve wanted this comeback for a long time and hopefully there’ll be more… especially if they’re decent quality and not exclusive to Netflix. Cuz I don’t have Netflix…

Having this switch happen four ways has its dodgy and chaotic moments for sure. But it also allows for extra opportunities for characters to bond and get to know each other more. This is done especially well when Anna’s fiancé Eric is part of these heart-to-hearts. I cannot overstate how great these sentimental character interactions are. When everything just slows down and they’re able to be candid with each other.
Part of me also wondered a bit whether everyone would switch back at the same time or there’d be two sequences for when all of the characters resolve their differences. 

It could've gone either way, but this is a 2 hour movie. However, unlike some movies that run too long these days, I felt like the story merited it being longer than the original 90+ minute movie.

Conclusion

The final major scene of the movie takes place at Ella’s concert. I don’t want to give everything away - although some YouTube thumbnail is sure to do that for me- but it wasn’t just the biggest ode this movie made to its predecessor, it gave me the big thing that was missing from that movie.
I swear if there weren’t other people in the theater (maybe 5-6 other people), I would’ve stood up cheering because the movie did this.

Just as a final comment overall, the movie wasn’t perfect nor will it win any awards. At the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. I got a little more out of this than I expected, sometimes a lot more. I just had a lot of fun with this movie and I’m really happy I went out to see it.
You can bet I’ll get it on DVD at my first opportunity. I’ll still go to the 2003 movie more but I’ll probably watch this a bunch as well.

Freakier Friday- The Trailers

[I decided to make this a separate post from the actual movie review because the post was long enough on its own]

A big bold beautiful journey
Starring Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie

This trailer got the day off to a good start. First off, I’m game for almost any Colin Farrell movie where he gets to use his native accent. And Margot Robbie lit up the screen like she always does but per usual I didn’t know it was her until her name was mentioned. (You’d think after Barbie and especially after seeing her twice a couple weeks ago in two Harley Quinn movies I’d recognize her quicker by now).
This movie is about the two of them meeting, one’s AI personal assistant leading one to where the other happens to be, and they go through a bunch of doors to re-experience things in their lives. The good and the bad.
Not saying I’d buy a movie ticket for it but I’m highly curious how it goes from there.


Regretting You

The novel this movie is adapted from is by the same author who wrote “It ends with us”… a movie that stirred up a LOT of controversy between the harassment lawsuits and the fact the trailer promoted it as a love story when it’s actually about a familial cycle of abusive relationships.
I’ll have to read this book first but after enjoying the trailer I really hope it’s a good movie.
It revolves around a family and how the dynamic is shaken up when tragedy strikes. A pair of sisters find love and the one sister dies in a car accident with the other’s husband and for the widows left behind, there are a lot of unanswered questions they may/may not want the answers to.
Must be a bunch of books I’ve read in recent years about interesting family dynamics but I’m highly curious where this is going.


Eternity
Starring Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen

The career arcs of these two actors has been really fascinating and that’s not me paying them a compliment. It just strikes me as odd. Elizabeth Olsen has yet to do anything that’s resonated with me. I’m still astonished she got her own Marvel spin off. Formulaic as they are, I’d rather have a dozen more Olsen twin movies. Then with Miles Teller- the Divergent movies have been out for a decade, but I’m still astonished he was made to be the breakout star because his role in that series made him so unlikable. Now a similar thing is happening with Glen Powell who was even more unlikable than he was in the Top Gun sequel and now he’s Hollywood’s new golden boy.
Back to the actual trailer, though, it’s another fun concept I’d like to see play out, although not necessarily in a movie theater. He dies and goes to the in-between (sort of like Grand Central Station meets hotel but with millions of people) where the two are reunited. Then she also runs into her first husband who’d died in the war. The central conflict- everyone in limbo has to choose the one life they’ll live for all eternity and she has to choose which husband to stay with. Needless to say, it gets very competitive between them and there were a couple of funny jokes at their expense.
The concept of having to choose one life to stick with is an interesting one and I’m curious to see how they’ll handle it. I just hope I enjoy it more than reading "The Midnight Library"- great in concept but the fact the protagonist got to her limbo predicament via suicide because her life was unsatisfying… it was a reading experience I don’t care to have again.


Hoppers

I was admittedly half distracted during this trailer but it’s basically Avatar but with cute cuddly animated animals. And the fact Avatar is referenced in this movie pretty much tells you it’ll be another of those meta humor movies I’m not a fan of. Yet they can’t seem to stop making them…


Zootopia 2

I knew this was coming soon but this is the first time I’m seeing the trailer. It opens with Judy and Nick in work couples’ therapy. Not sure if it’s a trailer thing or the actual movie will keep coming back to this but I’d like to see more.
And it looks like the two of them are on a mission to expel a snake from Zootopia because it hasn’t had one for ages. So I’m thinking “is this a garden of Eden thing and snakes aren’t allowed in paradise?” And considering who the villain wound up being in the previous movie, something tells me it won’t be as cut and dry as “snakes are just bad and that’s the end of it”.
By the time it comes out, I can definitely see this being pitted against the conclusion of Wicked in the box office. Between the two, I know my sister would definitely prefer this over Wicked.

"Wicked for good" is definitely on my list to see just because I have to see how it ends and I'll be busy avoiding spoilers until I do.

Overall, I came away from this block of trailers hoping these movies are half as good as their trailers because they look so fresh and different.
Movies feel like they’ve become so formulaic and predictable and obsessed with inclusivity to make up for all the years they weren’t. And very little is making me want to go see them anymore.
It’s crazy how in 2025 I’d seen more movies streaming them on Apple+ when I’d spent so many years rejecting this streaming trend. It’s definitely more convenient than driving 25 minutes to the local theater. I’d bring up ticket prices but considering I’m paying roughly the same price per month for my subscription and in the past year I’ve only watched 8 seasons of different shows (three being Ted Lasso) and 3 movies, it breaks even.