#Clay Kaytis

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Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn as Santa & Mrs Claus THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES (2018) dir. Clay Kaytis

[fyeahmovies]

THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES (2018) dir. Clay Kaytis

[pierppasolini]

A Christmas Story (1983) // dir. Bob Clark

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022) // dir. Clay Kaytis

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Christmas Chronicles (2018, Clay Kaytis)

31/12/2023

The Christmas Chronicles is a 2018 film directed by Clay Kaytis, starring Kurt Russell as Santa Claus.

The project was announced in December 2017, when Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis and Darby Camp were chosen as the protagonists of the Netflix film.

Filming of the film began in January 2018 in Toronto and then continued in Chicago.

The Hollywood Reporter includes the film among the thirty-six best Christmas films of all time.

The sequel, also produced and distributed by Netflix, was released in 2020 and sees the return of Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Judah Lewis to the cast, while the new faces are Julian Dennison and Jahzir Bruno; Chris Columbus is directing, and is also co-writing the screenplay with Matt Lieberman.

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[rookie-critic]

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022, dir. Clay Kaytis) - review by Rookie-Critic

I'm not going to lie, A Christmas Story Christmas had me worried at first. It already had some tall shoes to fill in following up what has always been my favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story (a lot of that is probably fueled by nostalgia, but I don't care it brings me so much joy every Christmas). I watched it on Christmas day with my family (most of whom had already seen it), and for the first 20 minutes of the film the vibe felt off. I can't put my finger on it, but it didn't seem like what the sequel to A Christmas Story should be. Peter Billingsley was there, and he was for sure acting like Ralphie, but it wasn't clicking for me. That was, until they brought in Flick and Schwartz (Ralphie's two best friends from the original film). After that it was like a switch flipped. I was laughing almost the entire time, and when I wasn't I was at least grinning. The whole experience made a complete 180 from where I had started the film at.

I want to really take a moment to applaud this movie for knowing the difference between homage and unoriginal retreading. A Christmas Story Christmas could have easily slid by on taking the events of the original and copy/pasting them into the events of this movie, and while there are moments that are similar in the sense that the same thing is occurring (bargaining for the Christmas tree, children getting bullied by the neighborhood menaces, a "triple-dog dare" situation), it's always either flipped on its head or framed in a way that gives it new relevance. The film adds in a handful of its own, original gags as well, and adds some welcome new pieces of Parker family Christmas lore (their attitude towards carolers being chief among them). All the returning characters are played expertly by their original actors, with the exception of Mrs. Parker, who is being played by Julie Hagerty (who you might know from Airplane) instead of Melinda Dillon this time around. Hagerty does a pretty good job of stepping into Dillon's shoes, and the change is barely felt at all. The main new additions to the cast, Ralphie's wife, Sandy (played by Erinn Hayes), and children Mark & Julie, don't quite fit right in with the eclectic cast of characters surrounding them, but the film does this intentionally and uses it as a further vehicle for humor. Hayes plays a great "fish out of water" character among the residents of Hohman, Indiana, and deserves just as much praise as the legacy cast members do for her performance.

Outside of the film's humor, there's a surprising amount of great emotional moments, as well. I found myself on the verge of tears multiple times and even allowing a full cry during a particularly emotional scene towards the end of the film. The movie pays massive homage to the late Darren McGavin, who played the father in the original film (or as he is referred to in both the original and this one, The Old Man), and it's in those scenes that the movie finds its heart. Is A Christmas Story Christmas actually as good as I'm making it out to be? Possibly not, it could be that I'm tying my nostalgic love for the original Christmas Story to this one and can't look past it, but at the very least this should be a relief and an absolute treat to those who love the original film like I do. Just make sure not to discount it based on the first handful of scenes.

Score: 8/10

Currently streaming on HBO Max.

[retrotariotr]

A Christmas Story Christmas is a 2022 American Christmas comedy film directed by Clay Kaytis from a script by Nick Schenk, who is also one of the executive producers. Produced by Peter Billingsley and Vince Vaughn along with Legendary's Cale Boyter and Jay Ashenfelter, Marc Toberoff and Irwin Zwilling, it is a sequel to the 1983 film A Christmas Story. 

[cinematitlecards]

"A Christmas Story" (1983) Directed by Bob Clark (Comedy/Family/Christmas) . . "A Christmas Story Christmas: Ralphie Returns" (2022) Directed by Clay Kaytis (Comedy/Family/Christmas)

[chillingcinemachronicles]

Best Animated Movies on Netflix for a Visual Feast

1. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

Director: Joel Crawford

Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Wagner Moura

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Sequels released over a decade after the first film are always a gamble, but Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was one of multiple films from 2022 (Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water) that actually improved upon its predecessor. Eleven years after the first Puss in Boots, the eponymous rascally cat has now burned through eight of his nine lives on his various adventures, reteaming with Kitty Softpaws in pursuit of the Last Wish, which would restore his lives. Along the way, he tries to outrun Goldilocks — hoping to attain the Last Wish for herself — and a menacing wolf who mysteriously stalks Puss. Like other DreamWorks films post-Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the blend of 2-D and 3-D is striking in its visual texture, particularly in action sequences, but its darkly authentic themes of anxiety and the value of friendship resonate most of all.

2. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: David Soren

Cast: Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Thomas Middleditch, Jordan Peele, Kristen Schaal

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The wildly popular Captain Underpants book series has kept kids entertained since 1997, but it wasn't until 20 years later that the tighty-whities-clad hero made it to the big screen. The First Epic Movie centers on George and Harold, fourth-grader best friends who create the Captain Underpants comic book and hypnotize their strict principal into becoming the superhero — who doesn't actually have superpowers. Kid-friendly without being too mind-numbing to their parents, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie has "charm to spare," praises EW's critic, noting it works "mostly because it never tries to be more or less than what it is." It also spawned a series on Netflix, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, which ran from 2018 to 2020.

3. The Angry Birds Movie (2016)

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly

Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Bill Hader, Peter Dinklage

While it may be damning with faint praise to give credit to The Angry Birds Movie for not being a total disaster...it really could've been much worse. Based on the wildly popular app of the same name, the film follows Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis), a talking bird who comes to suspect that his island's new pig inhabitants have malicious intent. Your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for punny/juvenile humor, but as EW's review notes, the film "delivers a mildly diverting mix of winky meta-jokes and moral lessons, cannily aimed at both the next generation of tiny consumers and their more sophisticated parents.

4. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Director: Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson

Cast: Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton

Codirectors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson transport the classic story of Pinocchio to World War II-era Italy in this meticulously crafted stop-motion animated film. Following the death of his young son, carpenter Geppetto cuts down a tree and carves a wooden boy, who is subsequently brought to life and dubbed Pinocchio. As the boy ventures to the outside world, he is met with dark forces that attempt to use and corrupt him, all against the backdrop of Benito Mussolini's reign as leader of Fascist Italy. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is a darker take on the tale compared to the well-known Disney adaptation (which also received a far-inferior live-action remake in 2022). From the fraught setting to the detailed creature designs, del Toro and Gustafson create a distinct world while providing valuable life lessons to viewers of all ages. The film became the first Netflix production to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

5. The Sea Beast (2022)

Director: Chris Williams

Cast: Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jared Harris, Marianne Jean-Baptiste

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A brave orphan girl named Maisie stows away aboard a ship of sea monster hunters in The Sea Beast, helmed by Big Hero 6's co-director Chris Williams. The sailors are renowned for their hunting abilities, though their status is threatened by their society's admiral, who wishes to replace them. They go out on one last hunt to track down a powerful sea beast called the Red Bluster, but, as Maisie soon discovers, the creatures may not have the kind of malicious intent for which they've come to be known. With dazzling colors, fast-paced thrills, and classical storytelling, it's easy to see why The Sea Beast became Netflix's most watched animated original film as of October 2022, according to the streamer. The film also earned a Best Animated Feature nomination at the Oscars, following a wave of critical praise.

[mylifeincinema]

My Week(s) in Reviews: January 1, 2023

First and foremost... Happy New Year!!

Okay... now let’s get into it. I’m keeping these short because I have little to say about them or they’re going to be featured in My Best of 2022 shortly, anyway, so let’s just go with the old three things format for most of these, yeah? Good.

The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022)

1. Wholly feels like the film Spielberg’s been working toward.

2. That final shot is the reason (as if I needed another one) why Spielberg is my favorite director.

3. I’m going to be genuinely shocked if this lands anywhere other than on top of my top films of 2022. - 10/10

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, 2022)

1. What a cast!!

2. A ton of fun, and it chooses an approach and sticks with it. If you’re underwhelmed with the ‘twists’, that’s kinda the point.

3. Seriously, though... what a cast!! - 8.5/10

Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022)

What a clusterf*ck…

It’s very clear Chazelle lost the thread about 40% in. Cutting that whole Tobey storyline would help. Also cut the opening scene, just start on the party. Tighten up Margot’s arc, we didn’t need that snake shit. Cut Jovan’s arc complete, there’s enough there thematically for a separate film. Give that to someone who can tell it in a way that’ll actually resonate. Leave everything with Brad Pitt alone. He was fantastic and his arc is the only one that felt like it progressed and ended naturally. Beautiful, tragic, interesting shit, right there. Actually loved the ending, but a bunch of other late moments for Diego felt sloppy/rushed. The phenomenal editing helps some of the more upsetting issues throughout, but can’t save the film from the total loss of cohesion in the those final acts. Despite all its many flaws, though, I still pretty close to loved about 65% of this film. - 6/10

Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron, 2022)

1. Visually stunning. Probably the easiest VFX win since the last, right?

2. Someone should give Fincher the money for his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea... if this film is anything, it’s proof the tech has reached the point where Fincher’s vision is not only possible, but feasible.

3. Has James Cameron actually ever heard two people talking to each other? My God, that dialogue is atrocious. (The screenplay all-around, really.) Yikes. - 6.5/10

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Eric Appel, 2022)

1. This is not only the perfect approach to a Weird Al biopic, I’m pretty sure it’s the only approach to a Weird Al biopic.

2. Very funny if you’re familiar with Yankovic as a person, downright hilarious if you go in only knowing his music.

3. Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna... I repeat, Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna. My God! - 7.5/10

Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford, 2022)

1. Aubrey Plaza is really damn good.

2. So is just how terribly things go in that third act.

3. The rest... not so much. I really don’t get all the hype. - 5/10

Black Adam (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2022)

1. This is a very bad movie. Very easily one of the worst of the year.

2. Any promise Dwayne Johnson had every shown has been tossed in the garbage for terrible line delivery and tough-guy stares.

3. Pierce Brosnan deserved better than this. An interesting character and perfect casting completely wasted in favor of whatever this shit was supposed to be. - 2/10

The People We Hate at the Wedding (Claire Scanlon, 2022)

1. Not a good movie by any stretch.

2. But Kristen Bell.

3. And Allison Janney. - 5.5/10

A Christmas Story Christmas (Clay Kaytis, 2022)

1. Corny as f*ck.

2. But the type of corny I can get behind.

3. And that Christmas morning was the obvious tear-jerker material I’m a sucker for. - 6/10

The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)

1. James Stewart really is one of my all-time favorite actors. Just always so damn good.

2. Love me some Lubitsch, yet for some reason I have so many blind spots with him.

3. I know we live in completely different times, but even looking through the scope of the time, that ending seemed a bit forced. Still a delightful film overall, but she must’ve been really desperate to let the shit he pulled go. - 7/10

Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022)

1. Significantly better than I expected. But painfully overlong.

2. Austin Butler is fantastic. Tom Hanks is (somehow) borderline awful.

3. Baz Luhrmann’s direction is god-awful. But there’s a shit-ton of it, so I guess the Golden Globes look at Directing like the Academy does editing, now. - 5.5/10 (Almost all of those 5.5 are for Butler and the early performance sequences only.)

Enjoy!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[danielahumanities]

Anatomy Of A Scene

The two movies I will be covering are Denis Villenueve’s 2016 sci-fi film “Arrival”, and the 2016 comedy film “Angry Birds'', directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly. 

The Angry Birds movie is set on an island (officially called Bird Island), following the story of main character “Red”. Red is a red bird ,hence his name, that struggles with his short temper and has been casted out by the rest of his fellow birds to live far from their city. Red is sent to anger-management school and meets classmates “Chuck” and “Bomb” who have special abilities. Because of his anger problems, Red is never taken seriously, even when a threat comes to the shores of Bird Island. Pigs come to the island pretending to befriend the birds, when in reality they intend to steal their eggs and eat them. Red and his team are the only ones who notice and it is up to them to save the day. Though the nature of the movie’s plot has a sense of urgency, the film itself is rather fast-paced and full of energy. Its scenes are filled with visual effects, clever jokes, and cartoon-like character animations that further contribute to the movie’s comedic effect.

On the contrary, the movie “Arrival” sets a more mysterious, slow-paced tone before audience members. Its plot follows Louise Bank, a linguistics professor, as she is assigned with deciphering a message that alien creatures bring to the human race. What sets this movie apart from many others is how its plot is layed out: scenes jump between the past, present, and future, following a non-linear order of events. One scene that is particularly effective in contributing to the overall atmosphere of the film is titled “You Changed My Mind”. As nations get ready to declare war with the aliens, Louise experiences a “flash-forward”, in which she meets with a world leader who thanks her for changing his mind. In the present, Louise steals a military phone to contact this leader, while as the scene cuts back to the future, the lighting and close-character shots give a dream-like effect. As viewers are taken with Louise between the present and her future visions, they are presented with suspenseful music. The world leader gives her a phrase that will make him stand down his military, in which she shares over the stolen phone and saves the world. This scene joins in with the broad message of the film, in which Louise realizes that the aliens’ language grants access to be able to see into the future. 

[jmovielover]

Max Originals (Part 10)

A Christmas Story Christmas (November 17 2022) "Ralphie returns to give his kids a magical Christmas like the one he had as a child." (Directed by Clay Kaytis)

Velma (January 12 2023-?; 1 Season with a 2nd on the way) "The adult animated comedy series tells the origin story of Velma Dinkley and the Mystery Inc. gang from “Scooby Doo.” (Developed by Charlie Grandy & Mindy Kaling)

Fired on Mars (April 20 2023-May 11 2023; 1 Season) "Existential workplace comedy set on the Martian campus of a modern tech company." (Developed by Nate Sherman & Nick Vokey)

Love & Death (April 27 2023-May 25 2023; 1 Season) "Candy is a quiet housewife who, overnight, decides to have an affair with her neighbor. But the relationship soon spirals out of control when her lover's wife is found dead and all suspicion falls on her." (Developed by David E. Kelley)

Clone High (May 23 2023-Febuary 1 2024; 2 Seasons) "After a high school that was secretly being run as an elaborate military experiment to clone the greatest minds in history was put on ice, the clones have been thawed out 20 years later to resume the experiment with new clone classmates – all while navigating a new set of cultural norms and overly dramatic teen relationships." (Developed by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller & Bill Lawrence)

[pierppasolini]

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022) // dir. Clay Kaytis

[cinematicjourney]

Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (2021) | dir. Clay Kaytis

[movies-tv-more]

A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS is now streaming on HBO Max

[erikwiese]

Secret Life of Pets Ride: Off the Leash

Starting in 2017, I worked on the Secret Life of Pets blacklight ride at Universal Studios as a Co-Creative Director along with Clay Kaytis and Derek Drymon. Most of the work I did was to come up with gags for the characters in their designated spaces from the Universal Creative Engineers.

The premise of the ride is that you're a stray puppy hoping to get adopted. As you move through in a "cardboard box," Max, Duke, and the gang help you navigate the New York City streets as you try to get to Pet World for Adoption Day.

Above is an early concept and animation launch for the start of the ride as you enter Central Park.

I would occasionally animate some rough poses to see how much movement we could do, but I learned that full animation applied to robot animatronics has its limits: each movement has a lifespan before it eventually breaks. Also, the more movement, the faster the robot's fabric wears out. So a lot of what we animated needed to be reduced to essential movements. Forget tail wags!

Below is an early rough pose test (in Storyboard Pro) of Max and Duke on the couch welcoming you to the apartment while you're waiting in line to get into your "cardboard box" car. (Dialogue is scratch.)

In a million years I never expected to direct (co-direct | Illumination side) a classic blacklight ride like the ones I grew up loving. It still amazes me that this world that was entirely CG now exists as a place you can visit and immerse yourself in.