Happy Saturday: It's the Busiest Weekend of the Year

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Happy Saturday, all. I’m so happy to find a moment to sit down and write to you. This is the craziest time of year in my world — perhaps more than the Oscars, even — because this is when the LA Film Critics Association votes. We watch a ton of movies all year long, but most of the big awards contenders come out toward the end. Plus, we get flooded with screener links and discs from publicists and studios who hope we’ll prioritize them in the days leading up to the vote. There’s never enough time, and there’s always something I miss, which I’ve just resigned myself to after doing this for 15 years. Anyway, the vote is Sunday, and it’s a long, fun day when we all get together in one big room to talk about our favorite movies and performances. I’ll update you on our choices next Saturday.

For now, here’s what Alonso and I discussed this week on our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel and podcast:

• NOSFERATU. We did a super-early review of Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” because we knew there was massive interest in it. The director of “The Lighthouse” and “The Northman” would seem to be a perfect fit for this material. Eggers’ take on the classic vampire tale is exquisitely made and dripping with mood, but we were both bummed to find we didn’t totally love it. In theaters Christmas Day.

• NIGHTBITCH. Amy Adams stars as a stay-at-home mom who escapes the doldrums of her daily routine by turning into a dog and rampaging through the neighborhood. I relate to a lot of what her character experiences here, minus the whole turning-into-a-dog part, but I’m mixed on the movie as a whole. I also wrote about it for RogerEbert.com. In theaters now.

• Y2K. Kyle Mooney’s comedy/disaster movie imagines what might have happened if the Y2K bug really did cause machines to go haywire, as so many people feared it would. It’s a fun idea stretched thin, and too much of “Y2K” is about wallowing in the dial-up and Limp Bizkit of it all. In theaters.

• THE END. It’s a theme: Joshua Oppenheimer’s film is also about the possibility of the world ending. Here, it actually happened, but one family had the foresight to build an elaborate bunker inside a salt mine and live out their days in opulent isolation — and song! This is a big swing that doesn’t really work. Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay and Moses Ingram co-star. In theaters.

• YACHT ROCK: A DOCKUMENTARY. I love yacht rock with zero irony. But for a musical genre that’s gentle and soft, it inspires intense opinions, as we’ve learned from the comments on our review. This Max documentary offers a lot of amusing anecdotes from such titans as Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins and Christopher Cross, and while it has fun with the cheesy connotations of the label, it also offers sincere appreciation for the quality of the musicianship and engineering behind these ‘70s classics. Streaming now.

• MOVIE NEWS LIVE! We spent the whole time talking about the state of awards season, between Spirit Award nominations, Gothams, AFI and more. We won’t be here next Friday because Alonso is traveling, but I’ll have details soon on our annual Christmas Movie Livestream later this month. Hope you can join us.

And as if this week weren’t wacky enough, I was also on FilmWeek on LAist, where we talked about several of the movies above as well as “The Order,” “The Girl With the Needle” and more. Listen and enjoy.

Speaking of how busy this time of year is in our world, here’s the deepest of inside baseball topics that I think you’ll find interesting, too: The mad dash to secure screening rooms in Los Angeles. Studios and publicists try to get their movies in front of critics groups, guild members and Academy voters as often as they can and in the best possible settings during awards season. With the Landmark shut down on the Westside and the Arclight in Hollywood still closed four-plus years after the pandemic, there are even fewer options for theaters with high-quality picture and sound. Plus, a lot of these events feature cocktails and nibbles afterward, or the kinds of Q&As like I moderated recently after “The Last Showgirl.” This LA Times article offers a detailed glimpse into what life is like in our industry during this competitive time.

Over at our Patreon, we’ve started recapping “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” a new live-action series on Disney+. It follows a group of misfit tweens who discover a crashed freighter ship, climb inside and blast off into the galaxy. So far I think it’s really fun; so does Nic, the “Star Wars” expert in our house. It’s light and playful and bursting with homages to ‘80s Spielberg movies, down to the lens flares. But Alonso isn’t sold, so we’ve posted a poll to get feedback from our viewers as to whether we should keep going. If you’re a member of our Patreon, we’d love to hear from you!

If you’re thinking of starting a newsletter of your own, or maybe zhuzhing up the one you already have, I highly recommend beehiiv. I’m loving using it, and hopefully you’re enjoying reading what I write here, as well. With my link, you’ll get a 30-day free trial and 20% off your first three months at any paid plan. It’s super easy and fun to play around with layouts and various other features, and I’ve really enjoyed connecting with folks this way. You can find out more about beehiiv here.

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Thank you so much for hanging out with me. The holidays are such a crazy time, so I don’t take for granted that you’ve chosen to spend a few moments here. If you’ve found value in my newsletter, I’d be honored if you’d pass it along to family and friends. Take care, Go Mustangs, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.