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It was a big week for streaming releases, including a pair of new holiday releases. My thoughts on the films of the week are below! As always, you can keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd @knighthawk7734.

Candy Cane Lane (Prime Video)
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Jillian Bell
Synopsis: We get into the full swing of the Holiday Season with the latest release from Prime Video. This one focuses on a husband and father, Chris Carver (Murphy), who is having a rough time. He’s laid off just before the holiday and latches on to a neighborhood decorating contest with a $100,000 prize as a way out. He finds a small Christmas shop run by Pepper (Bell) and buys a lot of things he thinks will help him win. But he doesn’t read all the fine print. Turns out Pepper is an Elf, and her store is a means of getting people to make agreements they can’t possibly achieve so she can imprison them for life as characters in her Christmas village scene. Can Chris, his wife Carol (Ross) and their kids achieve the mission in time to prevent Chris from becoming a glass figure? That’s only part of the challenge here. We get all the trappings of Christmas, and we get a fun family tale. The Carver family has some learning and growing to do if they hope to come together and achieve their goal. Christmas films all have a similar feel no matter the varied plot. It’s about family, the real meaning of the season and having fun along the way. Murphy and Ross are great as the leads here and I enjoyed Bell in a wild role as Pepper. We get other fun actors, including Nick Offerman, Timothy Simons, Ken Marino, Robin Thede, Chris Redd and David Alan Grier as Santa that make the film hum. This was a clever concept, a good watch and a fun ride. I enjoyed it a lot. It’s a great addition to the holiday landscape.
Rating: Rated PG for language throughout and some suggestive references.
Verdict: Three stars out of five

Dream Scenario (Theaters)
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Tim Meadows, and Dylan Baker
Synopsis: Sometimes our dreams are hard to understand. The people and places we see can feel so real, and yet they are a figment of our deepest imaginations. But what if we could all collectively share dreams—or at least an aspect of dreams? That’s the set up for the new film Dream Scenario, which is playing nationwide this week. In the film, Paul Matthews (Nicholas Cage) is a mild-mannered professor living a simple, somewhat boring life. He’s got a wife (Julianne Nicholson) and two daughters (Jessica Clement and Lily Bird). He’s got a plan for writing a book but mostly is content teaching his classes. Suddenly, his life changes as he becomes the subject of dreams. It seems people all over the world are dreaming of Paul. He discovers that, mostly, he’s a passive bystander in these dreams. But, still, it brings him newfound fame. He does interviews and seems to have a path to achieving his dream of becoming an author. All that quickly turns when the dreams in which he appears begin to change. Instead of being a passive bystander, Paul turns into a nightmare for most that see him in their dreams. Suddenly, he becomes a villain, and it turns his popularity into something else. This new development not only threatens Paul’s dreams but his everyday life. There’s a lot to potentially unpack in this film. Cage gives a great performance as Paul but the film itself takes some strange turns. The script comes from writer/director Kristoffer Borgli, and it starts as a clever idea. But the film’s later second and third act seems to drag on and there are some curious additions to the end of the film that didn’t quite work for me. Overall, it’s a unique idea that provides some interesting fodder. As noted, I liked Cage’s performance, but I wish the story built around that was somewhat better. There are good moments here, but the film ultimately under-whelms a bit. It’s OK and an amusing watch at times but the meandering ending left me disappointed.
Rating: Rated R for language, violence and some sexual content.
Verdict: Two and a half stars out of five

Family Switch (Netflix)
Starring: Ed Helms, Jennifer Garner, Emma Myers, Brady Noon, and Rita Moreno
Synopsis: Another holiday film, this one a family tale that follows a familiar narrative. The Walker family is busy and approaching the holiday season, they don’t always see and appreciate each other’s talents. During a pre-holiday event, with the planets perfectly aligned and a special helper (Moreno) guiding the process, the family undergoes a swap. Mother (Garner) and daughter (Myers) swap bodies. So, too, do father (Helms) and son (Noon). Soon, it becomes a race to set things right. Along the way, that means they have to learn to appreciate each other’s struggles and perspective. We’ve seen body switch comedies before. This has some fun moments. Garner, Helms, Myers and Noon all seem to have a lot of fun with the concept and lean into the narrative. There’s also some holiday cheer and a fun cameo from Moreno. It’s a fine watch that doesn’t feel particularly compelling or original. But if you’re looking for a light family watch for the holidays, this works well.
Rating: Rated PG for suggestive material, language, teen partying and some thematic elements.
Verdict: Two stars out of five

May December
Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton
Synopsis: We’re deep in the heart of awards season, which means deep stories with strong emotions. That’s certainly the case with May December, which is loosely based on the narrative of Mary Kay Letourneau, the teacher who had an affair with a middle school student. In this new film from Todd Haynes, an actress (Portman) has been cast as the lead in a film about a Georgia woman (Moore) who had an affair with a 13-year-old boy (Melton). Now, nearly 24 years later, the woman and the boy are married, and their children are about to graduate from high school. It’s a time of reflection for the couple, and into that delicate period comes this actress who is digging into their lives, past and present. Will it bring them to a breaking point? There are a lot of aspects of the real-life story that are worth considering, especially when it comes to what that kind of spotlight and relationship would do to the emotional and mental development of a young man. We see some of those aspects explored in this film. It’s also at times an exploration of what would lead a 36-year-old woman to commit to a relationship with a 13-year-old child. And, at times, it’s the story of a scheming actress who would do anything—and push anyone—in order to craft a richer performance. The problem is the film doesn’t seem to know what it wants to focus on. With all those possibilities in the midst of this film, we don’t get enough depth or resolution for any of them. That is a shame. What does work here is some of the craft. I enjoyed a number of the shots and sequences in this film. The cinematography draws you in even if the score feels misplaced at times. The visuals help craft the world and the mood. I also appreciated the performances. Moore is solid but she’s largely overshadowed here. I was more taken with the layered and devious performance of Portman, who acts as an igniting engine throughout most of the film. At times it almost feels like, most of all, this is her story. And yet, the best performance belongs to Melton. I wish we’d gotten more time to examine the complex stew of emotions for this character. Still, Melton makes the most of his opportunities to shine. She should be in the supporting actor conversation. There was potential and some good elements here, but it doesn’t all come together as I’d hoped. There are great moments, but the final product is a bit under-whelming.
Rating: Rated R for some sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language.
Verdict: Three stars out of five