The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Premiered November 2, 2018.

On a Christmas Eve in Victorian London, the Stahlbaum family is preparing to celebrate their first Christmas without their mother Marie.  Middle child Clara (Mackenzie Foy) is having an especially tough time getting through the holiday.

She receives an egg for Christmas that’s accompanied by a note from her mother.  It tells Clara that everything she will ever need is inside the egg.  Unfortunately, the egg is locked, and there appears to be no key.

Drosselmeyer takes a look at Clara's egg in his workshop

The family attends a Christmas party hosted by Clara’s godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman).   As per tradition,  the children at the party follow ribbons through Drosselmeyer’s mansion to locate their Christmas presents.   Clara’s ribbon leads her to a strange alternate world where she finds the key to her mother’s egg. 

Almost immediately,  a mouse steals the key and takes off.  With the help of a nutcracker soldier named Captain Phillip Hoffman (Jayden Fowora-Knight), Clara pursues the mouse and winds up in a palace.

She meets rulers of three realms who are at war with the Land Of Amusements, which is ruled by Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren).

The Sugar Plum Fairy (Kiera Knightley), regent of the Kingdom of Sweets,  hosts a ballet which tells the story of the creation of their world.

The Four Realms owe their existence to Clara’s mother’s invention of a device that made toys come to life.

Sugar Plum believes the key to defeating Mother Ginger’s forces is to make use of the device (which operates with the same key as the one for Clara’s egg) to turn toy soldiers into a real army.

However, Clara may not have the whole truth about the conflict!

Can Clara bring peace to the Four Realms and make it back to her world and her family?

J.A. Morris says:

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a beautiful looking film based on a classic Christmas story.  Mckenzie Foy is a likeable, talented lead and it’s nice to see a girl on the big screen who is interested in science.  The cast is full of big names who give solid (if not great) performances. 

However, there’s not a lot of substance to the movie and it felt like a lot of content was edited out.  This gives it the feeling of being both too long and not long enough at the same time.

Since this film was recently released and is still playing in some areas, I’m reluctant to reveal much more about it..

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is decent and it’s worth seeing once, but the movie isn’t likely to become a classic.

J.A. Morris’ rating:

.5

2 and a half candy canes.

RigbyMel says: 

This movie is a visual feast with amazing colors, elaborate costuming and steampunk-ish design, but as J.A. Morris says, the Narnia-retread story with a feeling of being written by committee in a bad way is unfortunately not quite as fun as the visuals.

Pretty! 

There is fun use of the musical source material throughout as well.    We get a lovely ballet performance to tell the story of the Four Realms featuring Misty Copeland with a cool life sized Victorian toy theater set design.

This sequence also includes a visual nod to the use of Tchaikovsky's music in Disney's Fantasia as we see a conductor mount a podium in front of an orchestra in silhouette.

So, although the movie is worth seeing on a big screen for the production design and solid performances by its cast,  but the lack of compelling story will keep it from becoming a perennial holiday classic.

RigbyMel's rating: 

.5

2 and a half candy canes. 

SCTV: "Staff Christmas Party"

SCTV (AKA "Second City Television) was a series about an independent television station located in a fictional town called Melonville.  Most episodes presented a day of SCTV programming and lots of behind-the-scenes network politics.  In this episode, the staff Christmas party serves as a wraparound for the network's holiday programming.

SCTV - “Staff Christmas Party”

Maureen Wallace (Catherine O'Hara), SCTV's Director of Public Relations greets the partygoers as they arrive.

Aired December 18, 1981

It's Christmas Eve in Melonville.  The entire staff of the SCTV network has gathered at the studio for a Christmas party.  It's hosted by station owner, Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty). Johnny LaRue arrives drunk, flirts with Maureen. Talk show host (and all-around sleaze ball) Johnny LaRue (John Candy) shows up to the party already drunk.  LaRue is in trouble for going over budget on his last project.   He used too many crane shots on a made-for-SCTV movie.  Caballero says LaRue needs to host his show Streetbeef, a show built around "person-on-the-street" interviews.  He begs Caballero to let him take the night off, to no avail.   Guy Caballero reminds LaRue who's boss.  Streetbeef:

LaRue is forced to go out in the streets of Melonville with one microphone and one camera.  It’s a cold, snowy night outside.  No one is out on the streets and all the businesses are closed. 

LaRue gets into a fight with his camera man and he’s reduced to sitting in the snow by himself talking into the boom-mic, looking into the camera. 

LaRue starts to ramble incoherently, until he gets a Christmas visit from the ultimate Streetbeef guest: Santa Claus!  Santa has a very special present for LaRue. 

Great White North:
The McKenzie Brothers, Doug (Dave Thomas) and Bob (Rick Moranis) host the Great White North talk show.  They advise viewers on how to get out of drinking eggnog during the holiday season.  Doug also performs a special "Christmas" version of the Great White North theme song. 

The Sammy Maudlin Show:

Sammy Maudlin (Flaherty) welcomes playwright Neil Simon (Dave Thomas) and Simon’s wife, actress Marsha Mason (Andrea Martin) to his chat show.  They’re promoting their new movie Neil Simon’s Nutcracker Suite, which will air on SCTV on Christmas Eve.  Maudlin and his sidekick William B. Willams (Candy) spend most of the time making jokes about the movie’s title.  They also keep calling Marsha Mason “Pamela Mason”, which makes her very angry.  

Later, we, the viewers, get to see Simon's movie. 

Neil Simon’s Nutcracker Suite:

Judd Hirsch (Levy) stars as Neil Madison, a Neil Simon-esque playwright, Marsha Mason (still played by Martin) plays his wife Jennifer.  They check into a New York hotel on Christmas Eve, where Neil intends to write a play that will feature Jennifer as the star.   

Neil & Jennifer encounter Richard Dreyfuss (Moranis) in the Nutcracker Suite.

He’s written several movies with her in mind, but never a play (this closely mirrors what Neil Simon had done for Marsha Mason in real life).  The hotel is overbooked, they have only one suite available: The Nutcracker Suite.  

Neil tries to calm Jennifer.

When they get to the room, Neil sits down at this typewriter and starts writing a new play.  

Neil takes a "reflective pause" while writing a new play for Jennifer.

He falls asleep and wakes up at midnight to find the Mouse King, a human-sized mouse, helping himself to food in the fridge.  

Neil is helped by the arrival of the Nutcracker Prince, played by Alan Alda (Flaherty). The Mouse King is winning the fight, until Neil tricks the mouse into leaving (Cheez Whiz in the hallway!).  

The Nutcracker Prince boxes with the Mouse King.

The Nutcracker Prince thanks Neil for saving his life and invites him to his suite.

Once there, Neil meets the Sugarplum Fairy and the Snowflake King, played by Maggie Smith and Michael Caine (actually Catherine O'Hara and Thomas), respectively.  They will give him the inspiration to finish his play and give it to Jennifer for Christmas.  

The Sugarplum Fairy (O'Hara) complains to Neil about being typecast...as a Sugarplum Fairy.

Dusty Towne's Sexy Holiday Special:
Next up, it's time for singer/comedian Dusty Towne's first-ever tv special.  Dusty's guests are comic-actor Divine (Candy) and Solid Gold dancer Marcie Odette (Martin).  

Dusty Towne (O'Hara) opens with a Christmas song and an opening monologue filled with sexual innuendo.  

Odette follows with an "interpretive dance" built around "Deck The Halls." Then Dusty performs a medley of Christmas songs with new, lyrics, most of which consist of sexual puns.  

Divine shows up next.  After a brief exchange of banter, they play a music video that features Divine performing Elvis' "Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me".  

Dusty closes the show with a reading of a sexually charged version of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" called "What A Night Before Christmas". 

We cut back to the staff party, where Lola Heatherton (O'Hara) leads the staff in singing "White Christmas" in front of a chroma-keyed Bing Crosby. 

Lola Heatherton performs a "duet" with Bing Crosby.

Plus, we get a promo for SCTV's upcoming Liberace Christmas special!  And a commercial for "Frank Incense". 

J.A. Morris says:

I'll admit that it's hard to be objective here.  I remember catching some of this episode when it first aired in 1981 (on the first day of Christmas Vacation!).    

Dave Thomas as Liberace

Around 1987 or '88, I taped it during a "Nick At Night" Christmas marathon.  It became a Christmas Eve tradition for my parents and I to watch Sammy Maudlin, Neil Simon's Nutcracker Suite and Johnny Larue.  Every year the picture quality on that tape a little fuzzier.  Thankfully, it was released on DVD in 2003.  

Orson Welles (Candy) blows up on the set of Liberace's special.

It's a great Christmas episode, one of the best.  SCTV featured one of the best comedy ensembles of all time.  They're all great here, in every role they inhabit.  I still laugh at "Neil Simon's Nutcracker Suite" and Dusty Towne's horrible puns even if I can recite the whole episode by memory at this point.     

Liberace backs up Ethel Merman (Martin) on "Silent Night"

But one problem with this series is that much of what it parodies is now out-dated.  The Liberace promo and the Dusty Towne show are brilliant send-ups of variety specials that were omnipresent at the time.

The Nutcracker Prince arrives in the Nutcracker Suite.

If you're under 40, you probably don't remember those variety shows.  There's a running gag on the show about "Jane Russell's Cross Your Heart Bra" that won't make any sense if you don't remember the early 80s.  Also, who remembers Marsha Mason or Pamela Mason today? 

Edna Boil (Martin), sings at the Staff Christmas Party, backed by her husband Tex (Thomas) on organ.

But you don't need to know who they were to appreciate the Nutcracker Suite sketch.  Sammy Maudlin and William B. are brilliant characters, both personifying the schmaltzy phoniness of show biz.  And Candy is brilliant as Johnny LaRue.  His bit was taped on location in the freezing streets of Edmonton, Alberta.  Much of his dialogue was made up on the spot.  It's a hilarious, acting tour de force by the late, great Candy. 

Edith Prickley (Martin) and Lola Heatherton get sentimental & weepy talking about the movie Holiday Inn.

"Staff Christmas Party" is must-watch viewing in my house every Christmas and it's also one of the best episodes of a great series.    

Season's Greetings from Sammy Maudlin!

J.A. Morris' rating:
4 candy canes