The Couch Critics
The Couch Critics is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan, along with a rotating door of eclectic co-hosts, dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critics bring thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan and friends guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critics
Beyond Romance: How Last Christmas Reinvents Holiday Films
The unexpected charm of "Last Christmas" caught us completely off guard. What appears at first glance to be another formulaic holiday romance transforms into something much more profound and moving – a supernatural tale about second chances and the true meaning of giving.
Starring Emilia Clarke as a directionless young woman working as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop and Henry Golding as the mysterious Tom who enters her life, this film brilliantly subverts expectations. The moment when we discover that Tom was never actually present – that he was the heart donor who saved Clarke's character after a life-threatening illness – recontextualizes the entire story in a way that left both of us emotional. The title "Last Christmas" takes on a literal meaning that cleverly ties to George Michael's iconic song.
We dive deep into what works about this film – its excellent performances, the restrained use of George Michael's music, and the clever clues planted throughout hinting at the supernatural elements. We also discuss its shortcomings, particularly the unnecessary side plots involving Emma Thompson's immigrant mother character and other "check the box" moments that don't enhance the core narrative. Despite these flaws, we both gave the film an impressive 4.5/5 as a general movie, though its Christmas spirit rating came in lower at 2-3.5/5.
Whether you're looking for something beyond the typical Hallmark holiday formula or appreciate films with emotional depth and surprising twists, "Last Christmas" delivers an experience worth your time. Join us as we unwrap this holiday gem and discover why it might just make even the most stoic viewers tear up a little. Listen now, and be sure to catch our upcoming episodes on "Freakier Friday" and the holiday classic "A Christmas Story"!
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On the couch. We're laughing, crying, feeling it all, Breaking down the big screen, the hits and the flaws. Grab your seat, press play. Let's take the pic.
Speaker 2:Lights camera action. Episode of the Couch Critics with an S. I'm your host, nathan, but I'm not your only host today, because, as the title suggests, there's more than one of us today it is me and my good friend Lexi.
Speaker 3:Hey fam, I'm back, she's back.
Speaker 2:So how are you? I know life is lifing because we're both teachers.
Speaker 3:Yes, first week back. Oh my gosh, I feel like the summer went completely by so fast see, I'm like.
Speaker 2:I mean, I enjoyed my summer. I thought it was good. I personally felt like it was just the right amount of summer, even though I'm still like having to get used to getting up early in the morning. So that's, that's the only part that I'm not enjoying, but I'm excited to see my students excited to get this year started with shows and things like that. And speaking of shows, we're talking about a movie, because that's what this whole podcast is about. On today's episode, we're talking about last Christmas and gave you the movie based solely all around all George Michael's songs ever last christmas, because we're talking about christmas movies. And before I talk about our likes and dislikes, I have to go over.
Speaker 4:This is a young woman subscribe to bad decisions. Working as an elf on a year-round christmas store is not good for the wannabe singer. However, she meets tom. There, her life takes a new turn.
Speaker 2:That seems too good to be true last christmas stars amelia clark, henry golding, michelle yao and emma thompson, who I believe also wrote this movie as well.
Speaker 3:So okay, yeah, okay, yeah, I was thinking it.
Speaker 2:And then a little bit of trivia. I haven't done trivia in a while in an episode, but I thought, sure, why not? Did you know that, in order to avoid crowds in London, where this film was filmed on location, many of the scenes had to be filmed at 2 am? Wow?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, yeah, I can see that, so I can see it yeah that, that that would be crazy to have to film at 2 am and to have that energy and just be on point that late into the evening early. Let's get right into what works about this movie. So what are some things, lexi, that you enjoyed about Last Christmas?
Speaker 3:The things I enjoyed. It was not a typical Christmas movie. I fully thought I was going to watch this movie and it's going to be, like you know, the typical Hallmark Christmas. She falls in love with the guy and he's like the savior of the movie and then, like they have a beautiful christmas, something bad happens and then it's all redeemed by christmas. I'm kind of I'm glad that it took a different approach and it felt like a good movie. That just happened to be christmas time, not the other way around. I did like the whole. Oh, can I spoil it?
Speaker 2:well, before you do that spoiler alert.
Speaker 3:Spoiler alert I love the whole part about how she received the heart. That made me yeah, I don't know if it was because I was emotional when I rewatched it or what, but I did tear up a little bit on that part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was not expecting that, so if you haven't seen this movie before, I already played the spoiler sound clip, so you already know we're going to spoil the movie. This, like lexi said, is not your typical romance rom-com, because there are some funny moments. It's not your typical movie going in, because I remember I was talking to lexi before. We recorded a couple weeks ago that I thought this was a completely different movie, so so I thought I think I got the movie with Queen Latifah called Last Holiday and Last Christmas Confused, because I was thinking that Emilia Clarke's character was her, that she was going to die and then, so she only had a certain amount of time to enjoy her Christmas or whatever. So that is not what this movie is, though, but, just like Lexi said, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It surprised me.
Speaker 2:it did a very good job at building up to that twist that you find out again, because we already said we're going to spoil it that the character of tom was never really there, and the reason she was seeing him is because it's always explained that when people get transplants from you know donors that a part of them is always with them, and so that's how the whole connection with tom is explained, because amelia clark's character and and and her character briefly mentioned something about an accident that happened last Christmas and they didn't dive into it until later in the movie, where she divulges that she had to get a heart transplant and it just so happens to be Pom's heart so she has a piece of him with him always and I can part of me can see how some people might get upset that you know he was dead and they had this really nice connection and come to find out he's not really there.
Speaker 2:But I just think they really did a good job. It kind of gave like sixth sense vibes a little bit, because it kind of, when it's revealed that he's dead, they go back and they show you other clips of the movie where it was them together, and then you see that it was just her by herself. So yeah, I I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I thought the acting was on point. I just thought it was really good. So what was what?
Speaker 3:what might have been some things that didn't work for you, if you can think of any so the only thing I did not like was I mean, I understand why they showed it, because it plays up like the whole she was down on her look thing, but like the whole her it was at her mom's suffering, depression, depression and all of that like that to me felt like it didn't need to be there. It was just like here's a little bit more sprinkle of drama, because if you take that part out you still have a good movie. But that's like only it's like I really have about it. I did think it was going to be a love story. So I was like, oh, her and tom are going to end it together and I was kind of interesting how that's gonna make that work, because wasn't she a lesbian in the movie or had a girlfriend that was her sister?
Speaker 3:Yeah, like I had got that part. I remember something like that. So I was like, how's this gonna be a love story? And then obviously, when they showed it, oh, he was dead. And then they went back and like proved that he was dead the entire time. But that was about it. I really did like this movie.
Speaker 2:It was not my typical oh she's in love christmas movie and I actually enjoyed it yeah, I I agree with you with what you were saying about the things that didn't work and I know I'm gonna get some flack about it, but if you listen to the show enough, you know about my check the box moments.
Speaker 2:So this movie had two of those. They didn't really fit in the story. So, going back to what you said about Emma Thompson's character, she plays Amelia Clark's mom and she I guess they were immigrants, they came over and they're trying to make a new life and I guess there's like this big puzzle about immigrants which kind of you know relays to nowadays. I like people saying, oh no, go back to your country and all this stuff. It didn't really. It didn't really make sense why it was in the movie. Yeah, it's kind of like a side story, also with her sister being a lesbian and having a girlfriend, and the whole point is, you know, amelia Clarke's like don't be ashamed of who you are in front of our parents. And then the sister's like well, don't be ashamed of where you came from. Like it didn't. All of that was just in there.
Speaker 3:I think, yeah, that part I didn't. I was like I was getting confused. It felt like you just threw in. Yeah, it didn't add to the story, it didn't build I was like I was getting confused.
Speaker 2:It felt like you just threw in extra. Yeah, it didn't add to the story, it didn't build her character up or anything, If anything. It just kind of took away from the story. I was like, okay, this is like the lame side story stuff.
Speaker 3:They didn't ever tie it in. Yeah, they didn't tie it in. If you're going to throw that in in there, at least wrap it up. They didn't wrap that part up.
Speaker 2:That was the only thing I didn't like about it I mean, I know at the end they all had christmas dinner together. So like the mom accepted the, the sister's girlfriend, which it never really said that she was against it yeah, they, yeah, so it was like it was unnecessary drama yeah, yeah so. So what did you think of Michelle Yow's character? They call her Santa throughout the whole thing because she's the owner of the Christmas shop. What do you think about her and her love interest?
Speaker 3:German guy so another thing, that's another check the box moment for me. I liked her.
Speaker 2:I understand her role in a movie, but if you take her out, the movie still stands yeah, yeah, I mean I guess I guess they felt like focusing just on amanda mcclaren's character and her relationship with tom kind of wouldn't hold the movie up, which I disagree wholeheartedly. I think that was the whole point of the movie, and they did a really good job at subtly giving hints that he wasn't alive, like when she would go to the homeless shelter that he used to help at. She would just so happen to go at the times where he wasn't working there I use quotation marks and no one really seemed to know who he was. That that was one thing that kind of confused me. So I'm assuming he didn't help there at one point. Okay, but the people who worked there seemed to not like not maybe they were zoom or what they knew like.
Speaker 2:Maybe he's like new people after he died so that I don't think I guess some people could consider that like kind of a plot hole, like why these people know who he was and why wouldn't they know what happened to him. But other than that I thought I thought this movie was was very well done. I it's a movie I hadn't seen before, so that was exciting to watch a movie I hadn't seen and, like I said, the acting was great. The soundtrack I mean george michael, you gotta admit george michael did have a a very interesting, fun soundtrack in his life and his songs so, and they didn't overplay last christmas, which I liked.
Speaker 3:I was worried about that I thought they was gonna butcher it. When I first went into this, I thought they was going to butcher it. When I first went into this movie, I thought they were going to take the song so literal, word for word, and I was like I don't think, I want to watch this.
Speaker 2:They did a really good job at handling, working in the songs and them, not overpowering the movie itself.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just thought it was a good movie. That's really all I can say. So I think if you haven't seen this movie, I think you should give it a shot. There is some language in it, not like overly. As far as I remember, there wasn't a ton of bad language.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I still wouldn't watch it with kids though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, don't watch it with kids the content, some of the storylines and that you may. You may not want your kids to to watch, but other than that, I think it's. I think it's a good movie. So with that, what would you give last christmas as a christmas rating? Lexi okay.
Speaker 3:So when we talk about christmas ratings, do you want to do based off of Christmas movies like compared to other Christmas movies? This is my rating.
Speaker 2:See my criteria of Christmas rating changes from movie to movie. Okay, so, with this, like usually, I would say, if you didn't watch this during Christmas, we'd still feel like Christmas, but I don't think this applies to this one, because I hadn't seen this movie before. So how did this movie make you feel when it comes to the spirit of Christmas, I guess?
Speaker 3:So I have, okay, I have two ratings. Okay, for the whole spirit of Christmas, I would have to rate it kind of low. Because it didn't give me the jolly feelings of Christmas, I would have to give it like a two. But as a movie by itself I would give it a four. Four and a half. Does that make sense? How hard I broke that down.
Speaker 2:No, because I mean that's how I separate the ratings anyway. So, as a Christmas movie, you said a two. As a general movie, you said 4.5. See, because when I think of Christmas and I think Katie and I kind of talked about this one time too we think about, obviously, as christians, we think about. It's about jesus coming to earth and what he eventually sacrificed his life and you know, so that we could live. That's basically in this movie right now. Did tom know that his heart was going to go to Amelia Clark's character? No, he did not, but he was a donor, he was on the donor list, so he knew his heart would probably be given to somebody else.
Speaker 2:So, in the realm of, like, sacrificial love and the hope of Christmas, I'm going to give Last Christmas a 3.5 out of 5. It's still kind of low, it's like in between. And then, as a movie movie, I'm going to agree with you I'm going to give it a four point five. It really surprised me. It was not what I expected and the acting was great. Did I get emotional at the end? Kind of smart, but I'm a guy. So, but it was great, it was a great movie.
Speaker 3:I teared up a little. Yeah, I mean, there you go.
Speaker 2:So if you, hadn't seen it again watch. It was a great movie. I teared up a little. Yeah, I mean, there you go. So if you hadn't seen it again, watch it, give it a chance. Those are our thoughts on Last Christmas. This Cinema Sunday, my friend Mitch and I, hopefully, will be talking about Freaky or Friday I went to go see it.
Speaker 3:Throw me on that one too.
Speaker 2:Oh well, lexi might join us on that one too. And then our final Tuesday episode of August. It's already the end of August. That's already insane to me. We're gonna be talking about a movie that I think everyone has seen at least once, because both on TNT and TBS they would do a 24 hour marathon of this movie. So if you've never seen it, I don't know who you are. We're talking about a christmas story with ralphie and the bb gun. So if you haven't seen it, yeah, I've seen it, I'm going to re-watch it. I'm going to try to watch the sequel they made too, not the direct dvd, but the legit sequel, a Christmas Story Story. I'm going to watch both of those before that episode on Tuesday of the Couch Critics.
Speaker 1:Where every movie gets its close-up. It's not just a movie, it's a way of life. We'll watch it together, day or night. So settle in close and don't miss a flick. This is the moment for the couch critic.
