And Not to Yield

For any readers who aren’t in the snow globe that is upstate New York right now , fear not, Netflix has your white Christmas dreams covered. With two original movies that come from the same North Pole shop as Hallmark’s Christmas range blowing up the internet, Netflix knows exactly what you need for this holiday weekend of baking cookies and wrapping presents.  No doubt you’ve heard about the candy-coated craziness that is  A Christmas Prince . Starring  iZombie ’s very own Rose McIver,  A Christmas Prince  tells the story of a hungry journalist who travels from NYC to the country of Aldovia to get the scoop on the handsome prince who is about to ascend the throne. Inexplicable English accents abound, along with all the best romance movie tropes and a dollop of political intrigue that culminates in the most thrilling race for legal clarification your heart never knew it wanted. Suspend your disbelief at the door and curl up with some cozy cuteness.  If...

When last we left our heroes at the end of  The Force Awakens , the Resistance had sustained heavy losses but still defended the faith, putting their hope in the legend of the Jedi and Luke Skywalker himself. The chatter surrounding  The Last Jedi  has called the title into question, wondering if this movie would follow its immediate predecessor,  Rogue One , in telling a darker, sadder tale. Is the Jedi referred to in the title singular, giving us a hint at Luke’s fate, or is it plural, the end of the Jedi Order itself? Don’t worry, questions are answered, but as Luke advises Rey, this isn’t going to go the way you think. The Last Jedi  is both a satisfying next chapter in the story and an interesting film in its own right. In two and a half hours of daring rescues, big space battles, and cute critters, this chapter mixes nostalgia and humor with potent sociopolitical commentary and sorrow to bring nuance to the time-honored dance between the Dark Side and t...

If Guillermo del Toro’s last movie,  Crimson Peak , was about how love can make monsters of humanity, then his newest movie is the exact photographic negative.  The Shape of Water ,  out this weekend, is a sci-fi romance about people the world has discarded. Elisa, a mute woman serving as a custodian for a secret government facility, meets her very own fairytale frog prince, who just so happens to be an actual amphibian. Part send-up of B-movie creature features, part metaphor for living on the outskirts of a world enforcing normalcy with violent insistence,  The Shape of Water  is the fusion of conceptual weirdness and genuine emotion for which del Toro is known. Originally posted 12/1/17 at Latest and Greatest

D irk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency , airing Saturdays at 9pm on BBC America Join Dirk Gently, a detective who doesn’t so much observe and deduce as stumble over the solution to a mystery he hadn’t learned about yet, and his friends as they find themselves in a fairytale. Somewhere between Disney and Grimm lies a realm where storybook characters find our world to be of immense interest, thanks to an ancient prophecy.   Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency  is currently rocketing into the final third of a truly spectacular second season, but you can easily marathon all episodes on the BBC America website or  Hulu .   It Devours!  by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor If you took my advice from August and started listening to  Welcome to Night Vale , then you’ll understand how excited I was to read the second novel in that universe. Nilanjana Sikdar, a scientist who studies but does not really connect with her chosen home, follows a dangerous t...