Here it is the start of January 2026, and — despite the New Year holiday — I already have my December 2025 reviews done!  Amazing!

My new “shorter review” system seems to be working, though somehow the reviews don’t really seem that much shorter to me.  Maybe just taking off the pressure to make them longer was enough to break the ongoing logjam.

This month, I’ve got plenty of films on tap to finish out 2025, including some Sherlock Holmes classics, a whole bunch of Scrooge and Christmas-related flicks, and some cryptid docs (which helped me write my annual free Cushing Christmas story, “Dr. Cushing & the Mountain Devils.”  You read that, right?  If not, click the previous link!),  Plus, I give give you my opinion on the greatest animal actor of all time.  And I braved and survived all 3 of the Santa Clause films!  All that and plenty more.  So, dive right in!

Here’s the usual ratings system:

* – This film is not good. Avoid it unless you tolerate dreck well.
** – A flawed film. You may enjoy it if you like this genre or the folks in it.
*** – A good solid film. If you like this genre, you’ll probably like this film.
**** – A superior film within its genre. Thoroughly enjoyable.
***** – An outstanding film on many levels. A great example of its genre.

Note that some shows I’ve given a parenthetical star rating, usually adding (occasionally subtracting) stars, depending on how your amusement may differ from mine. I’ve explained the meaning in the reviews themselves. Mostly.

Scarlet Claw, The (1944) **** Holmes & Watson go to Canada and get pulled into the slaying of a rich woman, apparently killed by a local monster who claws people to death. Lots of cool atmosphere in this, like Holmes meets a Universal horror movie. Great fun!
Dogman Territory: Werewolves in the Land Between the Lakes (2024) *** Small Town Monsters does a lot of cryptozoological movies (usually 1 hour to 90 minutes), and this is another one, tackling the stories of people who’ve encountered dogmen/werewolves near the Land Between the Lakes National Park in Kentucky. They treat all the accounts as true, but you can make up your own mind in this and the others I watch this month.
American Werewolves (2022) *** A more general look at whether werewolves exist from Small Town Monsters I enjoyed the focus on the stories here more than in the other werewolf cryptid docs I’ve watched. (It’s billed as “Real eyewitness encounters with dogman.”) But there’s never any real attempt at science, just mythology. And I’m okay with that as someone interested in legends, both old and modern.
Lake Champlain Mystery: the 400-Year Hunt for Champ *** A good overview on the Lake Champlain monster, this hour-long documentary traces the history, lets people tell there stories, and looks at some of the best evidence, along with having some scientific views.
Abominable (2006) **** After a climbing accident, a newly paraplegic author returns to his isolated mountain cabin to try to regain his former life. His only company is a surly male nurse and party-happy college girls in the rental house next door. Unfortunately, all of them are being stalked by a hungry yeti/bigfoot, and in a Rear-Window-like twist, nobody will believe the author when he starts seeing the monster, not even when the girls start to go missing. A tense thriller, well staged and with a good monster suit/FX, this is one of the best bigfoot-yeti films around. In turns funny, tense, and horrifying.
Journey to Ape Canyon (2025) ***(*) This film details the journey of some of the Smalltown Monster guys to the actual journey of the famous Ape Canyon Siege, where a party of minders claims to have been attacked by a group of Mountain Devil apes/bigfoots. Whether the story is true or not, they do locate the site of the cabin and mine in the story, and as a travelogue to a famous cryptid sighting site, I enjoyed it. Giving it an extra star for those who like such things, or for me, because it’s valuable research for my 2025 Cushing Christmas story.
Karen Pirie (S1) **** Karen is a good cop promoted over her also-good-cop boyfriend because the police want a woman leading the investigation of a cold-case murder of a woman found in a ruined churchyard in 1996. The suspects are 3 college students, but Karen quickly discovers there are things the original investigation missed. Though she made one “error” in the case that bugged me (though it didn’t affect the outcome), this kept me wondering about the final reveal until the end Looking forward to Season 2.
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010) **** Dale & Tucker, two decent lower-class guys, are looking forward to a relaxing vacation in the ramshackle cabin that Tucker has just bought. Unfortunately, a group of vacationing college students are in the same woods, and quickly mistake Tucker and Dale for horror movie cliche hillbilly killers. That mistake leads to hilarity, gore, and many, many unnecessary deaths. This flick was an unexpected treat. Love it!
Clash of the Wolves (2025) ***(*) Rin-Tin-Tin stars as a half-wolf pack leader who becomes domesticated when rescued and tended by a borax prospector (!) after hunters chase him into a cactus patch. The young prospector has run afoul of the local villain who wants ot jump his claim, and of course Rinty, playing Lobo, will foil that. Honestly, Rinty is the best actor in this flick (thus the extra star for fans of him or dogs in general), and that’s more a testament to how good this German Shepherd was than a slight to the fine-for-their-time actors. Unlike most dog actors who seem to be waiting for their next command, Rinty seems most of the time to actually be in the scene, reacting to others and emoting to the camera He was also a great stunt dog. This was a blast to watch.
Silent Trailer, The (Fearless the Police Dog – 1926) **(*) Con men force a woman to pretend to be an heiress to rip off a rich woman. Fearless the Police Dog foils their scheme, but after a Rin-Tin-Tin movie.. This short film was pedestrian at best. Another star if you love dog movies.
Saint in London, The (1939) *** George Sanders is charming as The Saint in what seemed to me like it might be the first in the series, but is actually the third. He picks up ex-con/pickpocket Dugan as a sidekick and is trailed by a beautiful woman, Penny Baker. They rescue a French diplomat who’s entangled with a counterfeiting and espionage scheme. Good fun. Sanders amusing as always. Dugan seems more like a hood than usual. Could use restoration.
Phantom of Chinatown, The (1941) ***(*) Key Luke is Mr. Wong, who attends a lecture about an archeological expedition in China, only to have the lecturer die during the presentation. He had found a scroll purporting hold the secret to finding the Temple of Eternal Fire, rumored to contain great treasure (possibly an oil field). The main attraction in this mystery programmer is the great Keye Luke, the first actor of Chinese descent to play a Chinese Detective in US films. He took over the role from Boris Karloff (!) who played Wong previously, but sadly this is the last in the series.
Red Sonja (2025) ***(*) The new incarnation of Red Sonja has the Hyrkanian living at a forest protector at the start and then captured by bad guys and forced to fight in their arena. In an unusual twist, the main bad guy isn’t a warlord but a genius inventor who wants to make the world safe for everyone by conquering it — like a tech-bro Alexander the Great. The action scenes are good and the CG passable and sparingly used. Everything looks good, and I found it much more enjoyable than expected. If you like fantasy and Red Sonja, give it that extra star.
Karen Pirie (S2) **** The cold case in the second series of this Brit detective show finds Karen and her team investigating the kidnapping and disappearance of an heiress, who along with her baby was taken off the street outside a pub and never seen again. The heiress disliked her rich parents (now divorced) and it seems likely her association with non-rich people, including a shady boyfriend, may have resulted in her kidnapping. Naturally, nobody really wants to help solve this case, and Karen’s personal life, dating a fellow team member, unbeknownst to the police, complicates matters. There are some predictable plot elements, but overall I enjoyed the case and resolution
Mad Ghoul, The (1948) ***(*) George Zucco is a mad scientist trying to revive creatures from death/near death using a serum derived form the hearts of the recently dead. Because of his love of a young woman (Evelyn Ankers), he decides her boyfriend (Zucco’s assistant) would make a good test subject. This makes the assistant a ghoulish zombie until he has new serum. Zucco thought this would make Ankers his, but instead she falls for a musician she works with. Clearly, a mad ghoul could help solve that problem. Surprisingly dark with an EC-comics-like ending, if you dig that kind of stuff or Zucco, give it an extra star.
Jack & the Beanstalk (1967) **** Gene Kelly is a friendly peddler who helps Jack in his adventures atop the beanstalk in this combination live action and animated TV musical. The dancing is great, the music surprisingly good and memorable, and the animation at the top of Hanna-Barbera’s TV work. I’m surprised this isn’t shown more often and better known.
Sasquatch, The Legend of Bigfoot (1976) **(*) Another 70s pseudo-doc claiming to present a hunt for Bigfoot. This flick starts with the famous Patterson-Gimlin (hoax) film, and then retells various other historic bigfoot stories — like Ape Canyon (the subject of my Cushing Horrors Christmas story 2025) — while the film’s expedition does a lot of riding around. They also set up and film some staged animal battles, including a cougar attacking horse and riders, where I hope that no animals were actually harmed. The whole climaxes with a “real” staged bigfoot battle which sends the searchers home battered and bruised. Only if you’re a bigfoot nut can you give this an extra star. And if actual animal fights concern you, take a star or two off.
Prophecy, The (1995) **** Christopher Walken is Gabriel, a top angel now falling because he’s started a new War in Heaven, and is now trapped between God and Lucifer (a great turn by Viggo Mortensen). Gabriel hopes to gain a truly dark human soul to tip the tide of battle, and this leads him into conflict with a traditional good cop, a teacher, and an underpopulated school full of kids in a remote area. This flick is much better than I expected, largely because the main actors are really good.
Troll (2022) ***(*) This Norwegian film follows in the footsteps of Troll Hunter but with a kaiju twist. A woman paleontologist with a background in mythology is called in by the government, when a tunneling project accidentally unearths a gigantic troll. The plot follows your standard Godzilla fare, with nobody in the government believing the threat until it becomes obvious, but the film is fun. The dubbing into English is okay, but I think you can give it another star if you watch it in the original Norwegian. The sequel, Troll 2, just came out this year (2025).
Rocketship X-M (1950) **** A surprisingly good low-budget space exploration movie. A team of men and one woman scientist embark on the first mission to the moon. A costly error, though rockets them to Mars, where they find the remnants of a lost civilization and are attacked by the barbaric human-types inhabiting the radioactive ruins. Lloyd Bridges has some of the usual 1950s sexism, but comes around by the dramatic and unexpected end. I always think this flick has the rock men in it (that’s Missile to the Moon), but even without ’em, I love it.
Battle of the Worlds (1961) **(*) A rogue planet that looks likely to hit Earth has people freaking out, but when instead it takes up an eccentric orbit, Claude Rains’ character deduces it must be under intelligent control. Earth’s defenses battle flying saucers in cool (but repetitive) SPFX scenes. Then Rains leads a team to the planet itself to figure out its secrets. Director Margheriti (under a pseudonym) has all the elements here, but the actors are less interesting than the effects. Rains is too “big” for the film, in that the camera can’t seem to contain him, and the rest of the cast isn’t up to his standards. Still, the final revelations are enough to make up for the slow spots for me, personally for that extra star.
Troll 2 (2025) *** This is NOT the infamously bad film, but a sequel to the Norwegian film Troll from 2022). Most of the cast from that first film returns, but unfortunately some of them seemingly only to give us noble tearjerker moments. Story is similar to last time, with another gigantic troll discovered, and kept for experimentation by scientists. When it breaks free to torment Norway (again), only another troll and our intrepid heroes can help. The War of the Gargantuas premise is undercut but a bucket of movie tropes. It looks good, and it’s not terrible, just predictable.
There’s Something in the Barn (2025) **** A US family moves to an inherited home in Norway, only to discover they have a nisse — a Norwegian Barn Elf — who will help them if treated well or cause harm if they don’t.  Unfortunately, only the young boy in the family is paying attention to the elf rules, while the rest of them are trying to bring their noisy US style of Christmas to the town. Bloody chaos ensues, in what I might describe as a mix of Gremlins and Home Alone with a bit of Rare Esports on the side. I enjoyed the heck out of it, though my half-Swedish heritage (which has many similar Christmas traditions to the Norwegians) may have something to do with it.
Black Christmas (2019) ***(*) In theory a remake of the 1972 slasher classic, this is a very different take on a sorority house killer over Christmas break. Shadowy figures in grim reaper costumes pursue college co-eds after they do a variety show musical take down of frats and date rape. Usual slasher antics follow, with the killers seemingly being able to be in more than one place very quickly. I won’t give too many of the twists away, but the women are not as helpless as in the original, and the patriarchy takes it on the nose. If that’s good with you, give it that extra star.
Sint (2010 aka Saint, Saint Nick) *** The St. Nick (Sinterklaas) you know is all a lie & a coverup. The real one was actually the leader of a band of evil pirate types that killed people and kidnapped children. After a couple of prologues, the film brings the evil Sint (Saint) to modern Amsterdam to wreak havoc. The havoc is fun, though the story loses track of one of the two main characters for a while. So, it could have been tighter. Did I mention that the only one who knows what’s going on is a grizzled cop whose family was killed by St. Nick when he was a boy? Plenty of tropes, but still pretty fun.
Christmas Evil (1980) **** A toy manufacturing worker becomes creepily obsessed with Christmas, even spying on neighborhood kids to keep his own naughty and nice lists. When his bosses and other people prioritize greed over kids, he goes rogue, steals presents from the rich and gives them all to charities. Then starts taking slasher-style retribution on naughty adults, while still giving presents to and being beloved by kids. I really dig this weird mix of holiday gore and goodness. It even has a weird “happy ending” for the protagonist and his Christmas-decorated white van!
Jabberwocky (1977) ***(*) Terry Gilliam’s first solo-directed film maintains the medieval fantasy grunge feel of Monty Python & the Holy Grail. It also has Michael Palin as the lead, a peripatetic man who leaves his swamp home and the woman he loves (who doesn’t love him) to find his fortune in the big (filthy). There, he gets wrapped up in various misadventures, eventually leading to the hunt for the Jabberwocky. I did this gory, tragi-comic odyssey, but it may not be for everyone.
Time Bandits (1981) **** A boy is accidentally kidnapped from his room by a group of little people on the run from God because they’ve stolen His map showing all the time holes in the universe. The rogue band is determined to be great thieves, stealing from Napoleon, Agamemnon, the Titanic, and other people and places in history. But a great evil, played perfectly by David Warner, wants the map for his own wicked purposes. Great fun, weird, fantasy with more than a bit of grunge. A real jewel from director Terry Gilliam.
Longmire (S6) ***** The final season of Longmire wraps up most of the threads left dangling, including Henry being left to die, Cady’s legal clinic problems, Vic’s pregnancy, and Walt’s lawsuit. Nighthorse becomes more shady — or does he? — and Malachi and his cronies are only rivaled in evil by the returning cult and its leader. Zach returns, too, complicating life, and we get a great finale to a great series. What more can you ask?
Missile to the Moon (1958) ***(*) A scientist determined to reach the moon quickly launches his rocket with two fugitive stowaways as well as his own small crew. On the moon, they discover rock men, cave spiders, and (of course) a lost civilization composed of women, whose blind leader mistakes one of the crew for her lost love, gone to scout Earth long ago. Of course, the moon women also have vast treasure for the softcore criminals to covet. It’s all very silly 50s SciFi, and I love it to pieces.
Psycho Beach Party (2000) **** A group of beach-party-type teens and their friends get menaced by a psycho killer whose motives and identity remain a mystery in this colorful horror comedy. We have all the usual 1960s cliche characters with modern twists — the (gay) jock, the Swedish exchange student, the lonely brainiac hunk — as well as a perky heroine with a split-personality, called Chicklet, who may be the killer. It’s a hoot, and I’m surprised that I hadn’t even heard of it before this year which is/was its 20th anniversary. Check it out!
Santa Clause, The (1994) ***(*) Tim Allen is a toy company exec with a screwed up life including a re-married ex and a son who doesn’t like him. But all that changes when Santa falls off of his roof, and he accidentally becomes the new Santa Clause (because of a clause in the red suit he puts on). Lots of silly fun follows as he first denies and then adapts to his new role, which endears him to his son but nto his ex and her psychiatrist husband. It all ends with a near riot manhunt that’s pretty fuzzy on the law but has it’s heart in the right place. Sometimes touching, I enjoyed the schmaltz for that extra star.
Santa Clause 2, The (2002) *** In this sequel to the kid-friendly Christmas hit, Tim Allen’s son is moving onto the naughty list, while his ex’s family has young daughter, who calls Santa “uncle,” and Santa discovers he has to have a Mrs. Claus or he’ll use his power. Fortunately, there’s a grouchy principal at his son’s school to win over (Elizabeth Mitchell) with a big dose of Christmas magic. Allen remains charming as Claus, and I really enjoyed both the makeup and portrayal of the robo-Santa who’s supposed to fill in but tries to usurp him.  Though this sequel doesn’t rise to new heights, I enjoyed it.
Santa Clause 3, The: The Escape Clause (2006) *** Tim Allen and Elisabeth Mitchell’s Claus family is thrown a couple of curves as she gets pregnant and, at the same time, Jack Frost (Martin Short) volunteers to help out at the North Pole to increase his status among the legendary figures (who include, Mother Nature, Sandman, Tooth Fairy, Cupid, and the Easter Bunny). The Claus in-laws and family show up just in time for Jack’s attempt to make himself Santa, resulting in a Wonderful Life-like sequence. Of course, it’ll all be sorted out by the end of this family-friendly holiday flick — last in the trilogy, though there’s a new mini-series now, too. I liked this one about as much as the first two. Kid stuff.
Mystery Mountain (1934 serial) **(*) The Rattler is a masked villain with designs on a hidden gold mine and seemingly everything else. His goofy-sounding villain voice helps mask his identity, as does his penchant for disguise, in which he impersonates the hero, Ken (Ken Maynard), as well as other folks. There’s western tough damsel with ranch/range problems, and the usual bad guys. The only reason for the extra star is if you like Tarzan, Ken’s wonder horse, who’s pretty cool. The rest is standard, and even the restored Serial Squadron version looks pretty muddy.
Brides of Dracula (1960) ****(*) A young woman on her way to work at a girls’ school ends up stranded and spending a night in a spooky castle. There, she releases a young man, Baron Meinster, not realizing he’s a vampire. Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing knows, though, and is determined to save the woman from a fate worse than death. A great Hammer production all around and one of their best vampire films. You can dock it a star if the fact that there’s no Dracula (or the brides aren’t dealt with on screen) bother you — but I’m over it.
Sharktopus (2010) **(**) A government experiment shakes off it’s shackles and releases the title monster, Sharktopus, on an unsuspecting public. The first and best of these crazy monster mashups, there’s plenty of blood and gore and women in bikinis — and more than a few funny kills. I really dig this Corman SyFy production, but you could maybe take off a couple of stars if it’s not your thing.
Lady in the Lake (1948) **** Philip Marlowe is played by a point-of-view camera for most of this ambitious adaptation of the Chandler story, with star Robert Montgomery only seen in brief narrative breaks and when Marlowe looks into the mirror. A missing woman Marlowe’s been hired to find may or may not have been a body floating in the lake, and of course, nobody wants to tell him the truth, and crooked cops want to frame him. Great stuff, and some very imaginative camera work in the days before small, portable cameras or even Steadicam. I dig it and it’s Christmastime noir!
Saint Strikes Back, The (1939) *** The Saint (George Sanders) travels to San Francisco and saves the life of a mobster, which puts him in Dutch with the police. He then spends the rest of the film with both the cops and the mobsters thinking he may be on the other side in a case involving the theft of a small fortune that may or may not be in a locked safe, depending on who’s looking for it and when. Fun.
Brokenwood Mysteries 3-4 A Merry Bloody Christmas (rewatch) ***** Christmas seemed a great time to rewatch one of the many good episodes of Season 3 of Brokenwood. In this one, a ceremonial Santa, who also happens to be the mayor is found dead at his home right after being in a holiday parade. Things get more complicated for Mike, Kristin, and Breen when a second dead Santa is found in the home’s chimney. Dark comedy abounds in this fun movie-length episode.
Vincent Price Presents A Christmas Carol (1949) *** Vincent Price reads parts of the story in between dramatizations of the classic tale in this (I assume) early for-TV adaptation. It’s a good effort hitting most of the story’s high points with Scrooge going from miser to benefactor because of visits from four ghosts (counting Marley).
Christmas Horror Story, A (2015) ***** William Shatner as an all-night radio DJ serves as a thread connecting the other horror stories while updating us on troubles in the small town where all this takes place at Christmastime. Other stories include teens investigating the mysterious deaths in their school; a cop whose son beings acting strangely after returning from the family cutting their own Christmas tree; a family leaving a relative’s house only to be hunted by Krampus; and Santa being plagued by rabid zombie elves. My favorite Christmas anthology and tops among my holiday re-watch list. A great combo of horror and black comedy.
Prancer (1989) **** A young girl whose father is struggling to hold their farm together finds an injured reindeer and, since it’s Christmas, becomes convinced that the deer is Prancer, one of Santa’s team. Other adults aren’t so sure, and her dad doesn’t even know she’s adopted the deer and is hiding it in an outbuilding. This charming holiday family drama feels almost like a slice-of-life 1970s film but with a little touch of magic. I’d never seen it before and really liked it.
March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934 aka Babes in Toyland) **** Laurel and Hardy are fairy tale characters, but so is everyone else in this loose adaptation of the operetta (I guess). There’s plenty of Mother Goose-type characters to recognize, some played in disturbing makeups (the little pigs; the Mickey-Mouse-type character). But it’s all in good fun as evil landlord Barnaby tries to force Bo Peep to marry him, even framing her actual beau and having him exiled to the land of the Bogeymen. Ends in a big battle between toylanders, toys, and Bogeymen. Fun if dreamlike and a bit disturbing.
Scrooge (1970) ***** Albert Finney is in old age makeup for much of the film as Scrooge, a miser so mean that nobody likes him. Until the ghost of his old partner sets him up with visits from three spirits — past, present, and future — to convince him to change his ways. What sets this excellent adaptation apart from most of the rest is that it’s a musical, by the same man who did the music for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and the music is great, with a number of very memorable (and hummable) tunes. Production was shot on some of the same city sets as the Oscar-winning Oliver, so it looks great, too. You haven’t seen all the Christmas Carols worth seeing until you’ve heard a mob singing about how grateful they are that Scrooge is dead, with the shade of Scrooge missing the point entirely. One of the best.
Polar Express, The (2004) ***(*) Story of a young boy who’s begun to doubt Christmas and gets swept off to the North Pole in the titular train, the Polar Express. There’s a lot of 3D-type spectacle in this flick, which is a little wearing without 3D, amid the eerie incidents from the book (I assume). But I forgive director Zemeckis’ experimentation & attempts to push the medium forward, just as I forgive the (1st ever) motion-capture-based intimation which leaves all the human characters firmly within the Uncanny Valley. (Where near-human images creep out us actual humans.) This all adds to the eerie Christmas atmosphere, but if it bugs you, take off a star.
Scrooged (1988) ***(*) Bill Murray is a Scrooge-like TV executive who treats all his underlings, and well, everyone badly. So, per the original story, he gets berated by past-present-and future spirits who, in this adaptation, are just as surly as he is. Karen Allen plays is beleaguered girlfriend, which ads some real heart to the proceedings. All in all, it’s a fun romp, though you can take a star off if you’re not a fan of the Murray-typical schtick.
Krampus (2015) ***** A boy gets frustrated when his obnoxious relatives come to visit for Christmas. Vexed, he tears up his letter to Santa and makes a bad wish, thereby unwittingly inviting Krampus the winter demon to their neighborhood along with his legion of evil minions. There’s as much terror as laughter in this horror-comedy, which makes it a seasonal favorite and annual rewatch for me. The cast and production are great, and it has many memorable scenes. Team it with A Christmas Horror Story for a great double feature.
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) *** Ron Howard directed and Jim Carey stars in this adaptation of the classic Seuss tale. And because it’s four times (or more) as long as the original TV version, there’s a LOT of stuff they have to add, including an origin for the Grinch and a lot more Grinchy tricks and Carey-style schtick. As an author, I can’t blame them for the padding but really, there was no need to make this film. For what a kids’ film, it’s not that bad — though not a patch on the original cartoon.
Red One (2024) **** J.K. Simmons is a buff Santa Claus and Dwayne Johnson his (about to retire) chief security elf in this Christmastime actioner. When an often absent father and security expert, Chris Evans, hacks flight plans and gives them to some bad guys, he doesn’t know it opens up a take over of Santa’s operation and “Red One’s” kidnapping. Evans teams with Johnson to make up for his mistake and comic-action ensues. I know other peole don’t like this flick, but I enjoyed it enough to rewatch this year. Though some of the SPFX at the climax are pretty threadbare.
Muppet’s Christmas Carol, The (1992) ***** The Muppets take on the classic tale with Michael Caine as Scrooge and Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit in this fun adaptation with music by Paul Williams (Phantom of the Paradise, The Muppet Movie). It all proceeds as usual but the Muppets are delightful and Caine a really terrific Scrooge. What’s not to love?
Charlie Brown Christmas, A (1965) ***** The second classic TV Christmas story to be produced (Rudolph was the first), this — the first ever Peanuts animation — still holds up 60 (!) years later, despite the primitive animation. Everything about this is true to the original strip, and the music is great. I was glad we have Apple TV right now, so w e could watch it in HD.
Scrooge (1951 aka A Christmas Carol) ***** Alistair Sim is Scrooge in the best adaptation of all the Christmas Carol films — and yes, I include even the other 5-star adaptations I’m reviewing this year. Everything about this black & white film is perfect, the acting, the production, the (for the time) special effects. Most important, though, is that it sticks to the original Dickens story, and when it has to expand on that slim novel, everything it adds fits seamlessly with the original work. Capping it all is a masterful performance by Sim, revealing Scrooge’s conversion to a new man in reluctant layers, making it the most believable transformation of all. (See also his great cartoon animated version.)
Bishop’s Wife, The (1947) ***** When a bishop (David Niven) is under pressure to build an expensive new cathedral, he prays for heavenly guidance. What he gets is Dudley (Cary Grant), a suave angel at least as interested in the bishop’s wife and her happiness as the bishop’s plans. Clever comedy and emotionally moving angelic doings follow. This charming, feel-good holiday story won my heart when I first saw it and is now a Christmastime must-watch.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean (1-7) **** How could I resist adding Mr. Bean to my Christmas watch list after I found this special episode on YouTube? Obviously, I couldn’t, and my now-grown son enjoyed it almost as much as when he was a kid. Mr. Bean plays with a manger in a department store, conducts an outdoor Christmas brass band, and gets his head stuck in a Christmas turkey, among other antics. Fun.
Mihmiverse Holiday Special, The (2021) ***(*) Outer space man (puppet) Stu comes to Earth to get help from Evelyn Johnson (Alice Mihm) because his evil ex-queen has kidnapped the beloved Steve (puppet)… And Santa Claus! A trip to the North Pole and a battle with an evil snowman ensues. This is a fun, kid-oriented holiday special, shorter than a usual Mihm movie. If you like his stuff, give it that extra star.
Violent Night (2022) ***** David Harbour (Stranger Things) is a Santa Claus suffering from total burnout. After getting plastered drunk in England of Christmas Eve, he finds himself stranded in the house of a rich family who’s compound is being assaulted by bad guys intent on robbing the place and getting revenge. But there’s a little girl there counting on Santa, so even if he could leave (the reindeer took off), he couldn’t. What follows is a kind of Die Hard Christmas flick, with plenty of action, gore, and comedy. And I love it. An annual rewatch for me.
Beyond Paradise Christmas Special (4-1 – 2025) **** Detective Humphrey finds himself and his department with plenty to do for Christmas season after the bar they were drinking in the previous night is broken into and robbed of its cash take as well as a sizable charitable donation, a man gets stuck inside a snowman costume, and a dementia patient shows up on their doorstep with no idea of how he got there. Martha is also up to some secret scheme, and it all comes together for a satisfying mystery with holiday good feelings. Nice extra-long episode/entry.
Monster on the Campus (1958) *** A scientist becomes a throwback Neandertal-type monster after he’s accidentally bitten by an irradiated coelacanth specimen in his lab. Same specimen also reverts a dog to an early wolf and causes a dragonfly to grow giant size. Sure, it’s pretty silly ,but it has good Universal production values and (stock) music, and I’ve enjoyed it numerous times, despite the caveman makeup looking like an obvious mask in at least one closeup.
Forbidden Jungle (1957) *(*) A Great White Hunter goes to a distant jungle to try to find the missing heir possibly stranded there by a plane crash. But an old man and jungle girl seem to not want him to find the jungle boy in question. What follows is a lot of jungle animal clip footage — including some distasteful real animal fights — as the citified man realizes the jungle may not be so bad after all. But this film is bad, mashing up Tarzan tropes with Jungle Book ones, with very little to recommend it.  An extra star for having an Ape Suit with Ray “Crash” Corrigan inside.
Creation of the Humanoids (1962) ***(*) After nuclear holocaust, humankind has dwindled to very few people, and those who are left are outnumbered by the humanoid robots who serve them in this low-budget Sci-Fi effort. A pro-human faction wants to make the robots even less human, while the robots themselves are creating more human-like variations. Are the robots planning a total takeover as the humans fear, or is something more complex going on? A lot of people don’t like this flick, because it’s super-chatty — almost a stage play filmed — but I think its ideas about race, humanity, technology, and AI still ring true today, nearly 65 years after it was made. I also like the minimalist sci-fi sets, the strange lighting, and even Jack Pierce’s makeup for the robots with their blue-green faces and mirror like eyes. So, extra star for me and those like me.
Three Godfathers (1936) *** Three scoundrels, Doc (Louis Stone), Gus (Walter Brennan), and Bob (Chester Morris), meet in a small town to rob the bank, which has a lost of Holiday Season cash on hand. Doc is shot in the arm but otherwise the plan goes smoothly, until they try to escape across the desert. There they find a dying woman, and Doc and Gus agree to take her baby to safety. But local water holes are poisoned, and soon the men decide they must return the way they came before time runs out for all of them and the child. I dind’ tknow there was a second version of this movie (aside form the Ford one with John Wayne), but it turns out there were numerous versions before even this one. The actors make it entertaining, but I’m not sure that the redemption arc feels totally earned despite the dramatic finish.
Saint Takes Over, The (1940) ***(*) After rescuing a woman, Ruth, from shipboard card sharps, the Saint (George Sanders) arrives in New York only to find that his cop friend, Farnack, has been framed for a large theft. Only a few men in the mob can clear him, but now they’re dying one-by-one, and Farnack and the Saint’s new pal, safecracker Pearly, are the prime suspects. The Saint schemes with the remaining mobsters to protect them, and clear his friends, but the mysterious assassin strikes again and again. Amusingly complex, as always, and I’m giving it an extra star for the reveal and the noir-like (but Code Approved) ending.
Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966) ***(*) Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are back to foil a plot by THRUSH involving ex-Nazis creating a super weapons, including a sonic ray/shield and missiles. Jack Palance is one of the lead villains, and Janet Leigh his aide-de-camp assassin and torturer. Napoleon gets into a fix when he’s caught with the niece of some old mobsters, the Stiletto brothers (gangsters played by classic movie & TV gangsters), who want to force him into a shotgun wedding. This brings the gangsters and Solo into conflict with THRUSH, who plan to kill Illya before their big blow out. It’s all camp fun and even has music cues that might fit in the 60s Batman. Extra star for Leigh and/or Palance fans. It’s fun seeing Jack as NOT all cool and always in control.
How to Steal the World (1968) *** Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin face off agains t a diabolical general (Leslie Nielsen) and the inventor & leader of a cult who wants to “pacify” the world, making everything safe for everyone with a special gas. Of course, THRUSH has infiltrated that group and has plans to bring the group and its inventions under their control and, of course, take over the world. Complications include the inventor’s son being on one side and his girlfriend in another. But it’s all pretty standard UNCLE stuff. Amusing but aside from Nielsen as a villain, not super interesting.
Night to Remember, A (1958) **** This telling of the maiden voyage of the Titanic and its sinking is serious and well made, with good acting, accurate sets, and good special effects. Because of when this was made (less than 50 years after the events, the moviemakers were able to interview survivors to give versimilitude to their events. The “unsinkable” Titanic strikes an iceberg on its first Atlantic crossing and goes down with a huge loss of life, due to inadequate lifeboat regulations, bad luck, and a nearby ship not understanding the gravity of the situation. The 2nd mate stands out heroically ,as do the captain and crew of the Carpathia, who steam to the rescue.
Spider Woman Strikes Back, The (1947) **(*) Gale Sondegaard is the titular villain; Rondo Hatton (the Creeper) her henchman/servant. The Spider Woman has a mad scheme to feed a plant blood from a woman she hires to create a poison to kill cattle and regain her family land Yes, that’s as nutty as it sounds. But because the production values are decent and Sondegaard and Hatton are entertaining, Their fans can give this the extra star.
Sherlock Holmes & the Pearl of Death (1944) **** A blunder by Holmes (Basil Rathbone) allows a mastermind thief to steal the famous Borgia Pearl from a museum. The crook is quickly caught, but not before he hides the pearl, which leads to a series of deaths as his criminal gang tries to recover the jewel. (Big OOPS, Sherlock!) Based on “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,” by Arthur Conan Doyle, this is another gem from the Rathbone-Bruce Holmes series. Faithful but often bumbling Watson (NIgel Bruce) devises a hidig place for the pearl that still makes me smile, more than 50 years after I first saw this flick A pearl of a movie, indeed!
How Green Was My Valley (1941) ****(*) A young boy grows up in a Welsh mining town with his brothers, sister, matronly mother, and chief miner father near the turn of the 20th century. There, they face the perils in the mine, the travails of courtship during that time, tensions between working class and intellectualism, and greed on the part of the mine owners that echo events even to today. Roddy McDowall is the young boy caught between his exceptional smarts and his family heritage. Maureen O’Hara is his sister, forced into a loveless marriage, and Walter Pidgeon plays an idealistic minister too poor to propose to her when he could. John Ford directs this Best Picture winner with his usual manly verve and nostalgic sentimentality. The town was recreated from an actual Welsh town, as WWII prevented location shooting The cinematography is amazing. Really, it’s a 5-star film, but I only give it a provisional 5th star, because it (wrongly) beat out Citizen Kane for the Best Picture Oscar that year. It’s good, but not Kane good.
42nd Street ***** A driven producer/director whips a band of singers and dancers into shape for his latest production amid soap-opera goings- on with his leading lady, an up-and-comer, the leading “Juvenile” actor (Dick Powell), and a chorus line featuring Ginger Rogers and Una Merkel. In the end, the up-and-comer must step in and carry the show. I this plot seems familiar, it’s because this film set the template for many, many show films to come . What lifts this up to that 5-star rating for me, though, is the amazing show production in the end sequences by the inimitable Busby Berkeley, which features not only his tradmark kaleidoscope human-body imagery, but also an amazing set piece moving from inside the theater out to the depression-era streets. A classic.
Thin Man, The ***** Speaking of 5-star classics… Nick Charles (William Powell) is the urbane private detective lured out of retirement both by his rich socialite wie (Myrna Loy) and to help the daughter of an old friend accused of murder. The friend, the Thin Man of the title (not Nick Charles, as in the rest of the series), actually vanishes early in the film, only to mysteriously reappear to apparently muder people. Adapted from the seminal story by Dashiel Hammett, this flick kicked off a series of great detective flicks featuring Powell and Loy as Nick & Nora, and influences mystery stories and productions to this day. And rightfully so, though the chemistry between Powell & Loy may never again be matched. It’s become a tradition to either start or end the year (or both) with a Thin Man movie, and 2025 is no exception. (Check TCM if you’d like to follow along — assuming they keep up the trend.) HAPPY VIEWING! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And that wraps up December and all of 2025, a year with some ups and downs for my reviews for sure ,but ending on a very positive and on-time note.  The number of reviews for December is another BIG 71, films, series, and noteworthy shorts, bringing the number for 2025 to a staggering NEW ALL-TIME RECORD TOTAL OF 741 REVIEWS!  Yes, that’s over 2 per day on average.  (Though I often “slack off” during the week and really pile up the numbers on weekends.)  And I’ve already started working on reviews for 2026.  So…

NEXT MONTH:  It’s only the 5th of January, 2026, and I don’t really know what the rest of the month will hold.  And of course, I’m not foolish enough to promise more total reviews than I just did in 2025.  However, I have already finished watching the final season of Stranger Things, finished up Shakespeare & Hathaway (S1) and Goblin Slayer (S1), and rewatched Primitive War, among others.  Plus, I’m back working on my Waldemar Daninsky book, so there will be some werewolf flicks coming, along with plenty more.  See you next month.  And by the way…

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026!

Covid is still here — & other diseases we thought were licked are back — so YOU can still help!
Please…  #VaxUp! #BoostUp! #MaskUp! And get your kids & family vaxed, too!
Let’s Make the World Safer for Everyone!

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