A Very Murray Christmas

It always has been a respectable digital platform for films but this year Netflix went up another level. With them putting out respectable TV shows on their platform like Daredevil or good comedy specials from people like Chris Tucker or Aziz Ansari, they are an entertainment platform here to stay. Even more so, it's impressive how they stuck a big named actor like Adam Sandler to sign a four film deal with them. Let's also not forgot the film A Very Murray Christmas Netflix made with Bill Murray that came out earlier in the month to celebrate Christmas.

Due to a massive snowstorm during Christmas time in New York City, Bill Murray worries that nobody will shows up to his TV show. Even with everything going on outside, guests and celebrities still find time to join Bill Murray to celebrate Christmas and to find a real meaning to the holiday.    

With really no plot here and only running fifth-six minutes long, don't expect a lot and this drags a lot also. It's a holiday special that depends on how much you like Bill Murray. He is much the same in A Very Murray Christmas as he is throughout the year. He is loud, obnoxious, and of course drinking is a must. His cast includes people like Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, George Clooney and others. Expect a lot of fun singing even by Murray himself and the best singing comes from really a surprising guest.

With the type of talent here and with the excellent director in Sofia Coppola, I would rather have wanted this to be a full-length film with actual real characters. In a way though, that is asking a lot. A Very Murray Christmas is at least a respectable holiday special even if it's a bit of a disappointment. It is a special that likely is just going to be forgotten in Murray filmography years down the road.

3/5

The Ridiculous 6

Without a doubt, Adam Sandler's career is among the most interesting of any actors in the business. By popular choice, it's said by some that his earlier films like Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore was his prime. For me, Adam Sandler's odder and less talked about films like The Wedding Singer, The Cobbler and even the below average Men, Woman and Children are to my eye his more interesting works. When you have the awful comedies recently like the Grown Up's series or That's My Boy, it's fairly obvious that Sandler is now on a downward spiral of bad films that doesn't seem to stop. Even if only a Netflix film, the part-comedy/part-western The Ridiculous 6 is a dreadful film.

Indian Tommy "White Night" Stockburn (Adam Sandler) never knew his real family until con-man named Frank Stockburn (Nick Nolte) shows up at his Indian Camp claiming to be his real father. After Frank Stockburn is kidnapped by Cicero (Danny Trejo), White Knight goes on the road to rescue his father. Along the way, White Night meets his five biological brothers who all also go on the rescue trip. The typical Western story involves money and some type of journey and of course all in the middle of a desert.    

The Ridiculous 6 no doubt counts as another bad Adam Sandler film but he's hardly the only issue here.

You have an odd casting for the "Ridiculous 6" bunch of brothers. Rob Schneider as Ramon is the Mexican brother who literally can't stop talking about his burro. Jorge Garcia is Herm who can only talk gibberish due to his mom drinking and this is quite a waste of Garcia's talent. Terry Crews is piano player Chico and he is a totally forgettable character. Taylor Lautner is the strange Little Pete who's just too odd and I don't know why we like a character like this. Luke Wilson is Danny who's character's only plot-line is that at he's fault for letting Abraham Lincoln get assassinated and it servers no point to the plot whatsoever. Even Sandler plays his role very dryly and he doesn't seem to care much about this. The acting really is not bad and it's a start at least but these characters seems so off together and it is very uneven.

Once you get past the main issues, the problems then go to the plot and the secondary characters. Again the talent is here in these secondary roles with actors like Danny Trejo, Steve Zahn, Will Forte, but the list goes on of wasted actors in more useless roles. This movie could go down in film history as a film with some of the most wasted talent. The plot itself is so basic for a Western and never goes anywhere new. The plot is also hamstrung sometimes and can't go anywhere because they try so hard to insert humor that it disrupts the plot. There is typical bathroom humor that you sometimes get in Sandler films but then you have some pretty dirty humor in this movie. When you combine bathroom humor and dirty jokes, who knows then who your main audience is? Kids wouldn't care about this and adults don't support Sandler like they once did.

                                         

Even if the Western genre isn't as popular as it once was, better Westerns can be found than The Ridiculous 6. It is a highly forgettable movie with not a laugh or chuckle to be found. Unlike most Sandler films, this had some potential but at this point in his career, he never puts himself in with good material. Let's also not forgot the four film deal Sandler has with Netflix. Three more films for our viewing pleasure are coming up!

1.5/5