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A creative woman and Gallery Director (Amy Adams) gives up her career to start a family with her husband (Scoot McNairy) who’s often away on business. Before long, life as a stay at home mom begins to lose its shine, now with a two year old who refuses to sleep in his own bed (Emmett and Arleigh Snowden), a strange calling from within seems to have a message that refuses to be ignored. Could this be a call of the wild to liberate the domesticated and suburbanized mother, only one way to find out. Written by Marielle Heller and Rachel Yoder and Directed by Heller this Kafkaesque horror of a woman losing herself in her prime and making the ultimate sacrifice of self for her children is familiar theme to many couples, and, while layered with metaphor and humor, the truths revealed are also somewhat blatant in their delivery just the same. To that end, kudos to Heller and team for taking on this project, but repetition, and lack of clarity between folklore, what’s real, and what’s imagined becomes hard to discern and ultimately leaves us questioning all of the parallel concepts and narratives. A slower pulse to the film’s overall pace makes its already brief hour and thirty eight minute runtime also feel longer than necessary. End result, a deep sigh, a maxed out volume of empathy capable, and frustration. Nightbitch is rated R.

When Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the Wicked Witch of the West, dies and the munchkins of Munchkin land are rejoicing, Glinda The Good Witch, AKA Galinda (Ariana Grande) descends in a bubble to confirm the news; it’s then revealed that Galinda and Elphaba were once good friends. Recounting how the two met, grew close, and broke apart while a great disturbance in the land of Oz was on the rise, the untold story of Elphaba and what she truly stood for is set to unfold. Based on the wildly successful Broadway Hit and Directed by Jon M. Chu this fantastical and magical trip to Oz has finally peaked after what feels like a metric ton of marketing and advertising, and, to be blunt, the hype is real. Packed with now iconic hits including Popular, What is This Feeling, and Defying Gravity, leads Erivo and Grande turn on the power and crank their vocals to eleven to illicit sing along action from the audience and actual applause at the end of each number, meanwhile, further cast support from Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Marissa Bode, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater fill out the front line and deliver fitting performances. With solid production design, costuming, well thought out choreography, and further digital support the land of Oz feels strangely palpable and still full of whimsy. On a critical note, the film is a beast in terms of runtime, at two hours and forty minutes, and this is just part 1, the whole experience does drag in a few points and could have been assisted from a heavier editor’s knife, regardless, the fun abounds and the magic continues. Wicked: Part 1 is rated PG.

When Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped the ELF team of the North Pole steps in to save Christmas. Heading up the security detail is Santa’s most trusted advisor, Callum Drift (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), the beefiest mythological protector aside from a polar bear. But, tracking Santa’s captor will take some special skills, to that end, world hacker and bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) finds himself called in to action. It’s naughty vs. nice and the clock is ticking, will hope prevail?Written by Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia and Directed by Jake Kasdan this globe trotting action adventure for the holidays delivers surprisingly decent action set pieces and clever adventure premise in a surprisingly touching and feel good way, a careful dichotomy tightrope act that once again proves Johnson’s charisma and humor seems to have a magic ability to thread success in the face of what could be utter flop or failure, left in the hands of someone less adept and the “magic” of Red One might not be so magical at all. Meanwhile efforts from Evans, Simmons, Lucy Liu, Bonny Hunt, Kiernan Shipka, and Kristofer Hivju add more fun and flair to the mix. Surely this won’t go down in history along side other family favorites such as Miracle on 34th Street or A Christmas Story, but for creativity in weaving folklore, action, and fun, this may be one of the better Holiday offerings we’ve seen in some time, albeit irreverent, but fun. And, with production design and CGI that stays consistent, it’s all about the look and the feel, it must be Christmas. Running just a little longer than necessary at 2 hours and three minutes, Red One is Rated PG-13.