What if Will Farrell interferes in Ryan Reynolds’ life?

Anders’ movie is a modern take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but with a beautiful twist. What if the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future would transform someone into a much better person every Christmas and not only once? The world would be so much better! For this Christmas, the Ghosts and their team found the perfect man: A hotel boss who treats his staff in the rudest way possible. However, before they start interfering in his life, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) runs into a hotel guest, Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds). The businessman uses social media and his ability to swoon everyone over with his fancy words to profit from weaponizing the war on Christmas. This goes against everything the Ghosts stand for, and because of that, Briggs becomes their target.

Present discovers that Briggs has no sense of morality when infiltrating his life. Briggs doesn’t see how worn out his loyal assistant Kimberly (Octavia Spencer) is, and when his young niece Wren (Marlow Barkley) wants to become an important person at her school, he convinces her to play it dirty instead of fair. However, it turns out that this mission might not be an easy one at all for Present. Briggs is stubborn as hell, and Present falls for Kimberly and has to face his dark past. Will Briggs be the unredeemable who’s redeemable after all, and how will Present face his demons?

Go on a joyful, Christmassy and never-ending trip

What makes Spirited extremely enjoyable is the chemistry and performances of the leads. After appearing in Elf and Eurovision, a film that combines the Christmas spirit and musical numbers is right up Ferrell’s street. He leads this movie with such humour, sassiness and emotional touches so that you can connect instantly with the characters. Hollywood-favourite Reynolds (Free Guy, Deadpool 2) is again on-point as a cruel and macho businessman who lets no one or nothing stands in his way. He brings bags of humour, witty moments and even an uplifting vibe to this movie.

For us is Spencer (Snowpiercer, Ma) an actress who shines in every role she takes due to her impeccable talent and delicate performances. This time is no different. She took singing classes for this movie, and it paid off beautifully. Her lovely singing voice is a beautiful addition to her multi-layered performance, and she heightens that touching feeling of this movie immensely. Some cameos throughout this movie will put a smile on your face.

When watching Spirited, it’s clear that cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau (Thor: The Dark World, Creed II) understood the assignment perfectly. The combination of red-green is seen in every scene in one way or another; the tailing shots bring the songs and dance routines perfectly to life, and the wide shots add another beautiful layer to this movie. With music from The Greatest Showman and La La Land duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, it’s not surprising that the songs and dances are full of glitz and glamour.

Sadly, Spirited is not all fun-fun, joy-joy. Due to using the same songs, sung each time differently, the film becomes too repetitive to stay interesting for the 2h7min runtime. Another reason why we can’t give this movie the full five stars is the cheap-looking production design. Sometimes it feels like the musical numbers are sung in front of a green screen or on a cheap set. The songs would have had a much better impact if the director would have used actual physical spaces.

Not a classic Christmas film but a pretty damn good movie!

Whether you like this movie mostly depends on how much cheesiness you can take from a film. As long as you want to be carried away by sweet and predictable plots, uplifting songs, over-the-top choreography and outstanding acting performances, this is certainly a movie you will enjoy! While Spirited won’t become a classic Christmas film, it’s a pretty damn good movie!

Rating: (4 / 5)

Spirited is out now in UK cinemas and on Apple TV+.

Also Read: Who Did It Better: Miracle on 34th Street

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

The post Review: Spirited appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Here are a few tips to help you take advantage of Apple TV features and make the most out of your subscription. 

Watch offline or on the go

Did you know that you can download content for offline viewing on Apple TV? You can download content on your Mac, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. Open the app, select the movie or show you want to download and tap the cloud-shaped download button. The download feature comes in handy if you have an unstable internet connection. You can also download movies and TV episodes to watch on the plane when traveling.

PIN Protect content

With Apple TV, you don’t have to worry about your kids watching inappropriate shows when you are at work. Apple TV allows you to PIN-protect adult content and ensures that your kids don’t watch content meant for adult viewers. This parental control feature is accessible via the settings page on Apple TV. From here, you can restrict users based on age and the devices they are using to view content. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions to set the code. 

Subtitles

Apple TV gives you the option to view content with or without subtitles. Turn subtitles on or off by swiping downwards while watching a movie or TV show on Apple TV. But there’s a lot more you can do with the subtitle button on Apple TV. For instance, if you don’t like keeping the subtitles on all the time, you can always ask Siri, ‘what did he just say?’ if you didn’t catch what the character said. The program will remind and turn the subtitles on temporarily

Access iTunes Extra

Apple TV lets you go behind the scenes of your favourite movies and TV shows and watch stuff such as deleted scenes, gag reels, trailers, and more. This feature is known as iTunes extras. Some titles have iTunes extras; others don’t. Open the movie app, select a title, and scroll down to see if the movie you are watching has iTunes extras. The iTunes Extras will be in the preview section next to the trailers. 

Share your Apple TV subscription

From movies to TV series and exciting documentaries, Apple TV has content for the whole family. You can share your Apple TV subscription with your loved ones; you don’t have to get a separate account for each member of your family. Up to six family members can share subscriptions to Apple TV channels using just their Apple ID and password with Family Sharing.

Use VPN to view geo-locked content

Streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV follow an antiquated business model where they divide the world into broadcast territories. As an Apple TV user in the United States, your catalogue will differ from that of a viewer in, say, the United Kingdom. The good news is you can use a VPN for Apple TV to connect to a server in another country to see what Apple TV has to offer for streamers in that location.

At the price of $179 / £169 the Apple TV streamer is one of the most expensive streaming boxes in the market. To make sure that you’re getting your money’s worth, use these tips to help you take advantage of all the exciting features that Apple TV has to offer. 

Want more tech tips? Visit our friends at The Tech Fools

Also Read: Helpful Tips To Maximize Your Netflix Subscription

Your contribution to Big Picture Film Club will allow us to continue to produce content. No matter the amount your contributions are greatly appreciated.

The post Six Tips and Tricks to Get the Best Out of Your Apple TV appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.