Santa Jaws

"Ho ho ho, you son of a fish."

Merry Christmas in July! Did you know that there is a sharky Christmas movie involving a Santa hat wearing great white shark? Because there is. And it's actually kind of great.

Doctor Who: Joy to the World

Ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin Latte?

Doctor Who delivers the best, most perfect, most lovely Doctor Who story of all time.

It lasts for slightly under nine minutes and is awkwardly shoehorned into the middle of a relatively enjoyable, albeit deeply flawed Doctor Who Christmas episode.

Mini Movie Reviews: Black Christmas

Today's theme is Christmas movies that aren't entirely full of good cheer featuring films by Anthony Harvey, Renny Harlin, Richard Donner, and Henry Selick.

What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?

This was fun.

Do I need to say more? Yes, okay fine.

Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road

"Name: The Doctor. Occupation: Not a Doctor. Current status: Just passing by. Employer: Myself. Address: That blue box over there."

Doctor Who meets Labyrinth. A bit. Although it does need to be said that if this Goblin King is meant to be the same one played by David Bowie back in the film, he's clearly let himself go quite a bit.

Hawkeye

Reviews |
Related Links |
Cast |

Hawkeye (2021) is a Christmas-themed MCU limited series on Disney+ starring Jeremy Renner as Avenger Clint Barton and Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop.

The Agents of Doux covered Hawkeye in rotation.

Reviews

1.1 Never Meet Your Heroes
1.2 Hide and Seek
1.3 Echoes
1.4 Partners, Am I Right?
1.5 Ronin
1.6 So This is Christmas?

Related Links

Our Marvel Index includes links to every Marvel movie and TV review on Doux Reviews.

Cast

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop
Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
Vera Farmiga as Eleanor Bishop
Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez

My Five Favorite Christmas Movies

Lists like these are almost inevitable this time of year. So is one of the most common questions: What is your favorite Christmas movie?

Bojack Horseman: Sabrina's Christmas Wish

Bojack: “Todd, special holiday episodes are always stupid. Cynical cash grabs, by greedy corporations, looking to squeeze some extra Nielsen points, from sentimental clap-trap for mush brain idiots, who'd rather spend their Christmas watching a fake family on TV then actually trying to have a conversation with their own dumb families.”
Todd: “I like when people on TV hug each other.”

I for one love a good cynical cash grab. And I also love Bojack Horseman.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

"I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel. I just don't understand Christmas, I guess."

First broadcast on December 9, 1965, and rebroadcast every year since, A Charlie Brown Christmas is a permanent fixture of American pop culture. It is also the single most radical, subversive, counter-cultural Christmas special ever made.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter's Tale

“So much for a peaceful Solstice.”

This Holiday special finds the people of Greendale preparing for their respective festive traditions. In the case of the vast majority of the town’s residents, this involves visiting Santa, putting up Christmas trees and carolling. In the case of the Spellmans, it’s lighting a magical Yule log to keep out evil spirits and holding séances to contact long departed loved ones; normal witch stuff. For the most part this is a fun little mile marker for Chilling Adventures of Sabrina; a way to whet viewers appetites until Part 2, and take time out to play around with the wonderful mythology of this magical world. But as a stop-gap, essentially filler episode, there isn’t much room for forward momentum in the case of certain plot threads, and in some case, things even regress backward. Thankfully the absurdity of the witchy side of things saves it.

A Christmas Story

"I want an official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle!"

"No, you'll shoot your eye out."

A recent immigrant from a non-Western country used to work in our office. One December day, a group of us were talking with her about films and old TV shows she could watch to become more familiar with American pop culture. On the subject of Christmas, we had one unanimous recommendation: A Christmas Story, the epic tale of Ralphie Parker's quest for the ultimate Christmas present.

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time

"Time to leave the battlefield."

Ah, brilliant.

Legends of Tomorrow: Turncoat

"I get that Rip is now somehow evil, but does he really have to kill Washington on Christmas?"

Another really enjoyable episode, and it didn't even feature the Legion of Doom. Has Legends finally hit its stride?

Sense8: A Christmas Special

“We exist because of sex. It’s not something to be afraid of. It’s something to honor.”

You have to hand it to Sense8. It’s the only show out there that could make two montage scenes with overused songs - “Feeling Good” and “Hallelujah” - in the same episode and make it work both times. Lana Wachowski and co. really like their montages and big moments. They want to make us Feel®. There is a risk, of course, that those scenes will come off cheesy, but the result is nearly always grand and it’s no different with the “Christmas Special.”

Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Doctor: 'I've been away for a while, but I'm back.'

After the emotionally replete ‘Last Christmas’ which saw Clara flip the middle finger at her haters and stay on for another year, and ‘The Husbands of River Song’ which brought a satisfying end to a storyline eight years in the making, tonight’s episode was always going to be up against it. How do you inject the same level of pathos into a story with no main returning characters (save the Doctor), minimal follow through narrative, and a premise as worn as Russell T. Davies’ plot devices? Simple, you bring back Nardole. You remember Nardole, the completely unremarkable character from last year’s Christmas special? Yeah, that guy.

Vampire Diaries: The Next Time I Hurt Somebody, It Could Be You

“Ho, ho, ho!”

Let’s take a minute to talk about suspense. Remember when people died on this show? And how now, they don’t? (Tyler doesn’t count.) If Elena’s Sleeping Beauty spell is basically a metaphor for this show’s pacing, this episode’s opening shocker is a metaphor for suspense. The episode started with Stefan’s voiceover about how it may be his last day on earth, reminding us of everything at stake.

Downton Abbey: The Finale

Isobel: “We’re going forward to the future, not back to the past.”
Lady Violet: “If only we had the choice.”

Well! That may very well have been the sappiest, silliest, most sentimental ninety minutes of television I have ever watched. I loved it.

Downton Abbey: A Moorland Holiday

“Well, you’re in for the Downton Christmas this year, and, if that doesn’t put you off, nothing will.”

I do love a happy ending. After a season with more than its share of angst and stories that were often less than they could or should have been, this season finale left me with a smile on my face.

The Flash: Running to Stand Still

"So what do you say, speed freak? Wanna roast chestnuts?"

The Weather Wizard tries building a team to attack the Flash. Meanwhile, Zoom attacks the Flash team from the inside–and Barry, Joe and Iris face some tough revelations.

Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song

Doctor: 'I think I'm going to need a bigger flowchart.'

This year's Christmas special was the dream team-up I've been fantasizing about for years, yet never really believed would happen. There's always been something compelling about the prospect of seeing Capaldi and Kingston onscreen together. Seeing two old pros trading chops on your favourite show is as good as it gets in my book, and not only did Moffat make it happen, he managed to create one of the show's most emotionally complete episodes to date.