John Candy: I Like Me (2025)

A portrait on the late actor who starred in 43 films in his 43 short years. Still remembered fondly by fans and all who knew him, he was larger than life, but known for his kind heart and gentle nature. If you're looking for dirt, you won't find it here. No one has nary a bad word to say about him. His only demons were the ones he was battling in silence. A lot of his story is told in his own words, as well as through his SCTV castmates, and especially his collaboration with John Hughes. He resists being typecast as the fat man, while seeming very secure in who he is, which remains relevant 30 years after his death. Like John Belushi or Chris Farley, he appears to live on with each new generation.

3 smiles through the pain out of 5

Note: Hearing Catherine O'Hara give John's eulogy hits doubly hard now. R.I.P.

Marty, Life is Short (2026)

Comic actor Martin Short has led a life lined with many failures, punctuated by death and tragedy, but in the process managed to find his own voice. Filled with madcap energy, and ever the life of the party, his efforts might come off as exhausting, but his sensibilities are always funny. His greatest success was with his wife Nancy, whom he shared 36 years with before her life was cruelly curtailed. Lawrence Kasdan's documentary explores the behind the scenes through home movies and celebrity interviews, who all praise the man behind the persona, previously a one-note joke, but now more in demand than ever.

3 insults out of 5

Black Christmas (1974)

AKA: Silent Night, Evil Night

In terms of holiday horror movies, this one stands at the pantheon. Before John Carpenter brought us Halloween, Bob Clark (not one to confine himself within one genre) gifted us Black Christmas and helped to define the slasher genre as we know it. Taking on a whodunnit angle, a group of sorority girls are stalked by an unknown assailant over the Christmas season. What I love about this film is that it truly feels grim and morbid; there is not a whole lot of 'holiday cheer' that can be bled dry from this. You'd never know this was from the same guy who would go on to bring us the perennial family favorite, A Christmas Story.

One of the rare cult horror films not to warrant a sequel, but it was followed up by two shitty remakes in 2006 and 2019, so I guess it all balances out.

3½ obscene phone calls out of 5

Frosty Returns (1992)

The animation company changes hands from Rankin/Bass to Bill Melendez Productions, which likely explains why this special feels so oddly Peanuts-esque. Something about it just doesn't work. Not sure if it's the awkward casting of John Goodman as the titular snowman, the uninspired plot or the dull song(s). This one caps off the "Frosty trilogy" beginning with Frosty the Snowman and Frosty's Winter Wonderland and it couldn't come soon enough.

2 Summer Wheezes out of 5