Although Christmas is a time of year for love and cheer for all, holiday cinema has not always represented diverse communities. Being a holiday with Christian origins, much of its media consists of straight white families or straight white romances. Luckily, modern years have been bringing with them plenty of POC and LGBTQ+ representation that the holidays so desperately need.
The trainwreck is hot but tame.
Films and TV series often tend to misrepresent or not acknowledge bisexual characters, but recent trends show that bi-erasure is now under deserved scrutiny. So, I’m genuinely happy about the direction bi-representation seems to be taking.
“Nobody 2” is the kind of sequel you expect to roll your eyes at—and then end up grinning through the whole thing. Bob Odenkirk proves once again that an ordinary-looking guy can be the most entertaining action hero alive, battling cartels with harpoons, deep fryers, and pure chaos. Toss in Sharon Stone as a delightfully over-the-top villain, and you’ve got 89 minutes of wild, joyful mayhem that reminds you why going to the movies is just plain fun.
"Up" features one of Pixar's few Asian-American heroes and explores the institutionalized hardships elderly people face. Also, Dug is a good boy.
The Roses is a wickedly sharp marital warfare comedy that transforms domestic dysfunction into high art. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch deliver powerhouse performances as a couple whose fairy-tale romance implodes when his architectural career collapses just as her culinary empire takes off. What makes Jay Roach's remake so devastatingly effective is its refusal to pick sides—both spouses are equally sympathetic and monstrous, wielding Tony McNamara's razor-sharp dialogue like weapons forged from shared intimacies. It's a film that dares you to laugh at relationship wreckage while forcing you to confront the uncomfortable truth that the line between passionate love and mutual destruction is terrifyingly thin.
