Chuck's Movie Breakdown

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we've reached the end of 2023, which means it's time to count down the best movies of an otherwise rough year. And, I mean it, 2023 was a rough year, predominantly because of the Hollywood Labor Disputes, which have luckily been resolved. But, even in a rough year, there were some bright spots at the box office. So, I'm here to talk about my ten favorites of the year. This is my Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2023 .         And, before we get to the Top 10, a few honorable mentions: The Super Mario Bros. Movie : a massive success, and a fan-favorite adaptation of Nintendo's flagship franchise; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem : a fantastic animated movie that gives a surprising new spin on the heroes in a half shell; Blue Beetle : the penultimate film of the DCEU had great humor, great action, and made me a fan of the character Jaime Reyes; Gran Turismo : arguably one of the best video game movies...

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and it's the end of the year. Which means, it's time to rank all of my favorite new releases of 2023. Specifically, my favorite new streaming television series of the year. Now, to qualify, a series had to have made its debut in 2023, and cannot be a second season of a series released previously. So, with that in mind, let's take a look at my favorite new series of 2023.            #8 - Stars on Mars : this space-themed Fox reality competition series was a ton of fun, with a eclectic cast of celebrities, and the phenomenal William Shatner as host.            #7 - Ahsoka : Dave Filoni's Star Wars series worked as a great live-action continuation of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, with fantastic performances by the likes of Rosario Dawson, Lars Mikkelsen, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.           #6 - Scott Pilgrim Takes Off : the Netflix anime b...

          Hey guys, Chuck here. I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas holiday. And, as promised, here's my review of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the final film in the DC Extended Universe. This film is directed by James Wan, and stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren, Randall Park, and Martin Short. I saw the film this past Saturday, and here I am with my thoughts.           So, the movie sees Arthur Curry/Aquaman dividing his time between being King of Atlantis, and being a family man, along with his parents Thomas and Atlanna, his wife Mera, and his infant son Arthur Jr. Unfortunately, a couple of issues arise when the Atlantean Council vetoes his desire to have Atlantis make peace with the surface world, and even worse when Black Manta returns with ancient Atlantean technology. The source? The Lost Kingdom of Necrus. So, Arthur must set aside old ...

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we've reached the end of yet another 12 Reviews of Christmas.  We had quite an interesting mix of fun yuletide titles to discuss, some old and some new. But, it's time to bring 12 Reviews of Christmas to a close with another rendition of A Christmas Carol.  And, since we're also continuing to enjoy the sixty year anniversary of Doctor Who, I think that it's the right time to talk about the 2010 Christmas special: Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol.         Written by Steven Moffat, this isn't really a traditional adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but rather a fun Doctor Who story inspired by A Christmas Carol.  The story starts off with an interstellar cruise ship on a collision course with a nearby planet. The planet has a unique cloud and atmosphere, and has fish and sea life literally swimming through the air. And, because two of the cruise ship's passengers are Amy Pond and Rory Williams, enj...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're almost at the end of 12 Reviews of Christmas.  So, today, I'm diving in to a 2002 made-for-television Christmas comedy Mr. St. Nick,  starring Kelsey Grammer, Ana Ortiz, Elaine Hendrix, Brian Bedford, Wallace Shawn, Katherine Helmond, and Charles Durning. Now, I remember when it first aired as part of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney, and was easily a lot of fun when I was a kid.          So, the movie establishes that the North Pole is overseen by the royal family of Von Claus, with the mantle of Santa being passed from father to son. The current Santa is King Nicholas XX, who has served as Santa for a hundred years, and his son will be King Nicholas XXI. Unfortunately, Nicholas XXI, who moonlights under the name of Nick St. Nicholas, is living the sweet life as a playboy in Miami, and is completely uninterested in becoming Santa, much to the chagrin of his father, as well as his butler Ja...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and for 12 Reviews of Christmas, we're heading back to the Hundred Acre Wood with Disney's Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year , released as a direct-to-video movie in 2002.          The movie starts off with Pooh taking home a Christmas tree, which is part of the Christmas Eve tree trimming party and gift exchange. Pooh, however, has to hide his gift for Piglet, who has arrived with everyone else, including Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Gopher, Eeyore, and Tigger. After letting everyone in, Pooh and the gang decorate his house, Tigger annoys Rabbit with some jingle bells, and Rabbit recounts the story of how they almost missed out on Christmas gifts one year, cutting back to the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh episode Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too.         The story of that episode is as such. Christopher Robin writes a letter to Santa, with what everyone wants for Christmas. Rabbit wan...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we're going from Tim Allen to Vince Vaughn, as today for 12 Reviews of Christmas , we're taking a look at the 2007 yuletide comedy Fred Claus, directed by Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin, and starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, John Michael Higgins, Rachel Weisz, Miranda Richardson, Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Bates, and Kevin Spacey.          So, the story goes that many years ago, the Claus family had two sons, Fred and his little brother Nick. Nick is extremely charitable, and creative in that he learned to shimmy down the chimney. And while his parents find this to be charming, Fred finds it weird, and feels neglected and begins to resent young Nick. As time goes on, Nick eventually becomes a saint, meaning that he, his wife, and his family are effectively ageless, and Nick becomes known as Santa Claus.          Fred, meanwhile, is a repo agent in Chicago, and is kind of a d...

            Hey guys, Chuck here, and this one was definitely going to be on the list for 12 Reviews of Christmas.  The second season of the Disney+ Original Series The Santa Clauses ran from November 6th through December 15th, and I had a lot of fun with it. The season saw the returns of Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Austin Kane, Elizabeth Allen-Dick, Devin Bright, Matilda Lawler, Ruby Jay, and Laura San Giacomo, along with newcomers like Eric Stonestreet, Marta Kessler, and Gabriel Iglesias, along with guest appearances by Kevin Pollak, Tracy Morgan, and Michael Dorn.          So, after reclaiming the title of Santa, Scott Calvin is still looking to eventually retire, but this time, Scott is looking to begin training his son, Cal, to eventually become the new Santa. Scott's daughter, Sandra, is showing signs of magic and also begins training of her own with La Befana. Unfortunately, Santa's head elf Betty must take a leave, ...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and I just went to see what, in my opinion, is easily going to be the breakout film of the holiday season. Wonka , starring Timothee Chalamet, Calah Lane, Matt Lucas, Keegan Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Coleman, and Hugh Grant, is Warner Bros. new film that explores the backstory of Roald Dahl's iconic character of Willy Wonka. The film was directed by Paul King, director of the  Paddington movies, and I found it to be a genuine delight.        The movie focuses on Willy Wonka, a young man with a dream of making many people happy with his one-of-a-kind style of chocolates, with a shop in the prestigious Galeries Gourmet. Unfortunately, his unique chocolates draw the ire of a terrible trio of chocolatiers known as the Chocolate Cartel. This trio, unsurprisingly, consists of Arthur Slugworth, Felix Fickelgruber, and Gerald Prodnose. With the help of his new friends, all working in the wash ho...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and given that I already talked about the Disney animated classic Beauty and the Beast for Disney Renaissance Month  back in February, it stands to reason that I talk about this 1997 direct-to-video follow-up for 12 Reviews of Christmas . Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas sees the returns of a majority of the original film's voice cast, including Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, and David Odgen Stiers, with Bradley Pierce being replaced with Haley Joel Osment as Chip, and three new cast members this time include Bernadette Peters, Paul Reubens, and Tim Curry.          So, we open with the local villagers arriving at the castle for a Christmas celebration, and everyone from Cogsworth to Lumiere is getting ready to celebrate the holiday. However, both Cogsworth and Lumiere debate over who saved the previous year's Christmas from total disaster, and it's here where Mrs. Pot...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and while this one isn't strictly a Christmas short, I, like the Nostalgia Critic, feel that it's certainly one that's worth a watch around the holiday season. Disney's The Little Matchgirl is a 2006 animated short based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Anderson, and was directed by Roger Allers.         Set to the tune of the Nocturne from Borodin's String Quartet #2, The Little Matchgirl is set at Christmas time in pre-Revolution Saint Petersburg, Russia. The story focuses on a little girl selling matches to passersby, but to no avail. The remainder of the short sees her lighting her matches in a snowy alley, in an effort to get warm, seeing warm visions of her grandmother, a Christmas dinner, and so forth. By the next morning, the girl passes away due to the cold, and her spirit is brought to the afterlife in the warm embrace of her grandmother's spirit. The short ends with a comet across the sk...

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and it was only a matter of time before I covered this one for 12 Reviews of Christmas.   The Snowman , based on the book by Raymond Briggs,   is a 1982 animated British television short film, and is easily one of the most talked about short films of all time. And, although my introduction to it came from the Nostalgia Critic, I find it to be a very charming short, and definitely worth a watch.           So, The Snowman follows a boy named James, who plays in the snow and builds, of course, a snowman. The Snowman comes to life, and James shows him around his house. A good portion of the run time is James showing the Snowman some of the various knick-knacks and tchotchkes around his house. However, it's when the Snowman sees a picture of the Arctic where things get interesting.          So, taking James in hand, the Snowman runs out of the house, through the garden, a...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and I absolutely loved making my review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer last month, so it's fitting that I talk about the time Joss Whedon made a Christmas episode of Buffy for 12 Reviews of Christmas.             Marketed as A Buffy Christmas, the official episode title was Amends, and sees Buffy and co. getting ready for Christmas in Sunnydale. Xander is preparing for his annual campout, Cordelia is heading to Tahoe for a family trip, and Willow and Oz patch things up and spend the holiday together. Faith, meanwhile, has nothing going on and accepts an invitation from Buffy and Joyce to spend Christmas at the Summers' house.           Unfortunately, it's not such a Merry Christmas for everyone, as Angel is being wracked with guilt over much of the horror he caused, both in the past and most recently, as Angelus. Specifically, he's seeing an apparition of Jenny Calendar,...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and today for 12 Reviews of Christmas, I'm taking a look at Merry Little Batman,  the new DC Animated holiday movie released recently on Amazon.          So, it's the Christmas season in Gotham, and things aren't so silent at Wayne Manor. Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne, causing a bit of a ruckus in the mansion, all in an attempt to train to be a superhero like Bruce. And, the movie sets up that Bruce, as Batman, pretty much cleaned up the city, leaving the criminals and villains not locked up to go into retirement, and Gotham literally becomes the safest city there is. Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, Bruce is called back into action by the Justice League, who need him to tend to a weather anomaly in Nova Scotia, Canada. So, Bruce suits up in the Batsuit and takes off, leaving Damian at home with Alfred.           This leads to a number of Batman's archenemies, including the J...

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Today for 12 Reviews of Christmas,  we're taking a look at a genuine Christmas classic: Miracle on 34th Street  starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, John Davies, and Natalie Wood.           So, the movie tells the story of how a man named Kris Kringle is hired to step in to be Santa Claus for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Kringle is such a success that Doris Walker, who hired him to fill in for the previously hired Santa (who was drunk), to sit in as Santa at Macy's Department Store on 34th Street in New York City.          As the days continue, Kringle is proving to be quite the enigma, ignoring instructions from Macy's toy department head Mr. Shellhammer to upsell overstocked items by suggesting that a mother look at a competing department store for the toy she's looking for to get as a Christmas gift for her son. Appreciative of Kringle's honesty, th...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and the most wonderful time of the year is back. It's time for 12 Reviews of Christmas.  And, yes, I'm starting a bit early this year, but it's mainly due to a road trip I will be on for the Christmas holiday.           So, let's get 12 Reviews of Christmas started with the 2009 Doctor Who Christmas special The End of Time.  Released as a two-parter, this special marked the end of the Tenth Doctor era, and would see Russell T. Davies hiatus from serving as showrunner for the franchise, until his very recent return. This special stars David Tennant, John Simm, Bernard Cribbins, David Harewood, Jacqueline King, Catherine Tate, Karl Collins, Alexandra Moen, and Timothy Dalton.          So, it's approaching Christmas time on Earth, and a number of people are seeing visions of a madman cackling. One particular individual seeing visions of the cackling man is Wilfred Mott, ...

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and I absolutely enjoyed the 60th anniversary specials for Doctor Who, streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Ireland, while streaming on Disney+ for the rest of the world, including the US. With all three episodes written by Russell T. Davies, the specials star David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Other notable cast members include Jacqueline King, Yasmin Finney, Carl Collins, Neil Patrick Harris, and Bernard Cribbins in his final performance as Wilfred Mott.           So, shortly after arriving in London, the Doctor is confused regarding why his current regeneration is of the same face as the Tenth Doctor, and he realizes that something is drawing him back to his former Companion Donna Noble, who cannot remember him because of the meta-crisis from The Stolen Earth/Journey's End . We also learn that not only is Donna married to Shaun Temple, which we saw during Th...

          Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it looks like Toho made easily one of the best movies of the year. Godzilla Minus One, which was released back in November in Japan, was released for a limited engagement in American theaters, and was an absolutely awesome flick to see on the big screen.            So, the movie focuses on a World War II Japanese fighter pilot named Koichi Shikishima, who ends up at a holdover base on Odo Island, when it ends up attacked by a creature that the locals call Godzilla. Unfortunately, Koichi is unable to shoot the creature, leaving many scientists based on the island to be killed.         Upon returning home, Koichi meets a woman named Noriko, who is looking after a small orphaned girl named Akiko. As time goes on, Koichi is given an opportunity to right a wrong and stop Godzilla, who is making various attacks on Japan.           Now, I don't thi...