Here Comes a 'Spirited' Christmas
Spirited inverts the tropes of the holiday musical genre to update an age-old tale for 2022. It's a paean to those who make grand spectacles possible.

Many of the young workers at an aircraft factory near Prague are members of an aviation club. On the one hand, there is the responsible Franta, who is highly regarded by his colleagues due to his understanding nature. Opposite him is the talented aircraft designer Ruda, who is also an excellent pilot, but also hotheaded, undisciplined and condescending towards his colleagues. He starts flirting with the glass grinder Lída, although he knows that she is Franta's girl friend. A conflict is not long in coming. When Franta's glider crashes due to a suspected mistake by Ruda, Ruda is banned for a certain period of time. This is fatal, because both young men were actually supposed to represent Czechoslovakia at the upcoming international gliding championships in Poland.
Spirited inverts the tropes of the holiday musical genre to update an age-old tale for 2022. It's a paean to those who make grand spectacles possible.
With The Father, writer-director Florian Zeller- who wrote and developed the play upon which the film is based- pulls no punches as he confidently makes every effort to put the audience in the mind of someone whose grip on reality has all but vanished. It’s a dazzling testament to Zeller’s abilities as a director as he makes his first transition from stage to film appear as if he’s been working behind a camera his entire career. The dialogue he fashions with co-writer Christopher Hampton, along with the work of production designers Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone, collectively makes the downward spiral of dementia startlingly tangible, doing so in a way that can be comprehended by everyone except the person it directly affects.
Overall, “Dark Fate” is a run-of-the-mill flick. Together, Reyes and Davis have excellent chemistry, but their characters’ story is nothing new, lacking surprise and deep emotion. During the middle points, the film drags considerably, and when the action hits, it feels consistently tight, eliminating the rhythm and fluidity of conflicts.
At Coopers Chase, murder isn’t just tragedy—it’s Thursday’s entertainment. Chris Columbus’ The Thursday Murder Club transforms Richard Osman’s bestselling series into a cozy, clever whodunit where Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie prove that life’s sharpest twists don’t stop with age. With llamas on the lawn, cakes at the ready, and secrets around every corner, this star-powered mystery balances charm, humor, and heartache, reminding us that friendship, resilience, and reinvention might just be the ultimate clues.
Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) are a delight to watch evolve, sometimes devolve, then evolve again.
Viewers get a glimpse of life of mediocrity in a world where humans and cartoon characters live together in this comeback.