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An Alpine Holiday, Hallmark Channel 2025 (2.5/5 Hot Chocolates)

Two aspects differentiate An Alpine Holiday: authentic French Alps sets (no fake snow!) and a story that focuses more on sibling relationships than romantic entanglements.

A last wish sends two sisters on a quest to retrace their grandparents' alpine love story. Ashley Williams, a Christmas movie regular with quirky comic timing, plays one of the sisters. Their tension drives the plot, each carrying a sleigh full of grievances and regrets to unwrap.

The rest? Weak romance cider. One gets a limp French tour guide, and Williams has a nonsensical marriage epiphany about her dweeb back home.

Only for Hallmark Heads.

An Alpine Holiday

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Pluribus Episode 6: HDP

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Episode 5 cliffhanger revealed: Carol turned vlogger and documented the frozen, shrink-wrapped body parts that fuel the Others' Human-Derived Protein drink. The cannibalism is explained by the body, mouth, but not the brain, of John Cena.

Diabaté returns in a glorious scene. He informs Carol that she is not in the private chat.

Motivated by Carol’s video, Manousos in Paraguay sets off to find her, but runs into “Mom.”

Gilligan served the obvious while shrugging it off. No narrative-changing reveals, just practical explanations of the Hive’s moral code. He provides plot answers, leaving us with bigger philosophical questions.

Watch it.

pluribus

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The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities Wayne Kramer 2018, read by author

Note: Part of my ongoing #AudioMemoir series reviewing author-read memoirs. Previous: Neko Case, Cameron Crowe. and Evan Dando. Coming: Larry Charles.

The late Brother Wayne Kramer's narration of his life was a liminal listening experience for me. Hearing his voice made him alive, even though I knew he wasn't. The back-from-the-grave narration started with a Michigan youth and ended in L.A. as a father and Punk icon.

Kramer laid bare addictions, crimes, and failures while celebrating resilience as a guitar gunslinger. The MC5 saga was covered, as was prison time with Jazz musician Red Rodney, and too much junkie business with Johnny Thunders. His reflections on being a roofer and woodworker balanced the Rock 'n' Roll excess.

Listen to it.

wayne kramer

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Stranger Things Season 5, Part 1 Netflix

The Stranger Things franchise is a hot mess. Bloated, convoluted plot, a chorus of characters to track, and the stars are now adults playing teens. But by the fourth episode of Part 1, I was back in.

The epic Boss Battle of Part 1 is the best action sequence I’ve watched all year. The Sorcerer twist was a solid payoff of nine years of loyalty and character development.

The show is a crockpot stew of nerd nostalgia, 80s revivalism, and theme-park thrills. That flavor remains even as the show expands, both in the story and its megawatt popularity.

Finish it

Part 1

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A Merry Little Ex-Mas, Netflix 2025

3.5/5 Hot Chocolates

So begins Larry's 100 Holiday Movie Season! My family and I have been studying the genre for a decade, and for the past five years, I have been reviewing them on my Instagram. I am now applying the Drable/100 Word review format and cataloging them here. But don't worry, Instagram Fam, I will still post them there to preserve this cherished tradition.

Read more #100HotChocolates reviews

Notable Stars: Alicia Silverstone, Jameela Jamil, and Melissa Joan Hart. Silverstone, Hart produced for Mellisa Joan’s Mom’s Heartbreak Films production company.

Alicia Silverstone joins the Christmas Movie industrial complex.

Consciously uncoupling Silverstone and Oliver Hudson attempt to maintain post-breakup holiday normalcy with their young adult children, new paramours, friends, and Granddads. Awkward festive gatherings, hurt feelings, and rekindled emotions ensue.

After years of trying, Netflix got its version of the Hallmark Christmas RomCom right, mimicking the look/feel with a few meta inside jokes while tweaking the Young Professional Female Gets Stuck In Wintertown trope.

Middle-aged “what now” angst and Silverstone's puppy-dog eyes ground the plot, and the writing sprinkles the story with core genre elements: humor, empathy, warmth, and baking.

Stream it.

A Merry Little Ex-Mas

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Pluribus Episode 5: Got Milk

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Being yourself is lonely. After Carol's interrogation of Zosia backfired, making the whole world hive-mind cry, the Others are giving her the silent treatment. They convoy out of Albuquerque and rely solely on recorded updates and drone interactions. Her only social outlet is video messages to the other twelve soloists.

Sparked by moments of action and levity with her co-opted police car, Carol's solitude, with help from a pack of canines, lets her grieve Helen.

Carol becomes Agatha Christie as a series of clues eventually leads to an abandoned dog food factory and a classic episodic TV cliffhanger.

Watch it.

Milk

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All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

Rumors of My Demise Evan Dando Audiobook read by author (2025)

Note: Part of my ongoing #AudioMemoir series reviewing author-read memoirs. Previous: Neko Case, Cameron Crowe. Coming: Wayne Kramer, Larry Charles.

The 100 Word Review of The Lemonheads' new album, Love Chant

Funny, honest, and soulful, Dando takes an unflinching look at his life as a teen punk of privilege, alterna-hunk, and dope fiend.

Examining his Boston upbringing, 120 Minutes indie rock era, and the burdens of being hot, Dando ambles through life dedicated to art and deconstruction. Stories of Gibby Haynes, Courtney Love, Keith Richards, and others intermingle with harrowing tales of the House of Shock crack den and breakdowns in Australia.

He owns it all. No big sobriety arc or 12-step apology tour. He knows he’s hurt people and wasted time, but his warmth and talent shine.

Listen to it.

dando

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Pluribus Episode 4: Please Carol

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Carol can’t help herself as she amps up her war on the Uni-Consciousness. Fun with chemistry turns disastrous as she concocts new ways to hurt Zosia et al.

Watching television crafted by Vince Gilligan is like being in the hands of an artisan who makes beautiful things. As much as the Big Ideas of Pluribus are a philosophy class, the small moments like Carol setting up her camera (has a memory card ever been so cinematic?) or the Paraguayan’s existence in his bunker, communicate vividly.

Some might view Pluribus as a bold defense of individualism; I am not so sure.

Rhea Seehorn as Carol in Pluribus Season 1, Episode 4, “Please, Carol.” Photo credit: AppleTV

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Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe by David M. Perry, Matthew Gabriele (2025)

Warnings from the Carolingian Empire about our current era. To be familiar with 2025, we get Brinkmanship, bloody battles, and family infighting deconstructed and reexamined. Charlemagne’s offspring did not honor him.

Perry and Gabriele are dynamic public historians, deploying a lively narrative and sharp scholarship. The use of poetry and participant reflections builds empathy for players in this epic soap opera.

I appreciate the reminder that egos, power-mad schemers, and an endless supply of nepobabies are centuries-old tropes. The authors spare no one as they posit elites can be the stupidest of us, then and now.

Place a library hold.

Oath breakers

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The Uncool: A Memoir, Cameron Crowe, Audiobook Read by author (2025)

Note: This is part of a series on memoirs read by their authors. #AudioMemoir

Previously in this series: Neko Case

Coming soon: Wayne Kramer, Evan Dando, Larry Charles

Listening to Crowe’s warm narration as he mines his teen music journalism years for laughs and tears, it felt like Almost Famous: Writer's Cut.

A love letter to the 1970s, with Rock Stars galore, from Lou Reed to Dicky Betts. Tales of long tours, late nights, and chance encounters. All guided by mentor Lester Bangs.

Light on movie career, but has choice Fast Times stories. Even winning an Oscar is quick business.

Not the box set of his life, rather a double album. But in the end, it is a story about a family in San Diego.

Listen to it.

uncool

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All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →