One of the great debates around Christmas time is whether the classic Bruce Willis action-movie Die Hard should be considered a Christmas movie or not. Sure, it takes place at Christmastime, but is it really a Christmas movie the same way Home Alone or Miracle On 34th Street are Christmas movies?

The obvious answer is “Yes” though a more nuanced one would be “It’s up to you.” If you consider it a Christmas movie, it’s a Christmas movie. If you don’t, that’s cool by me. “To each their own” is an old saying that more people should study and practice.

Whether you consider Die Hard a Christmas movie or not will determine whether you consider Netflix’s new thriller, Carry-On a Christmas movie. Like Die Hard, it takes place near Christmas and like Die Hard 2 it takes place in an airport. Unlike Die Hard, it does not have the star power of Bruce Willis to elevate it into the halls of classic action movies. On the other hand, it’s much better than the later, lousier Die Hard films that released after Die Hard With A Vengeance, perhaps the greatest in the entire franchise.

Carry-On will never be considered a Christmas classic or an all-time great action-thriller, but it’s still a lot of fun and I’m happy we have another holiday action flick that doesn’t suck, because a lot of Christmas movies across genres are pretty terrible.

The movie stars Taron Egerton as Ethan Kopek, a TSA agent stuck in a job he hates with a remarkably patient and attractive girlfriend, Nora, played by Sofia Carson. They learn they’re having a baby, because having a pregnant girlfriend makes the stakes that much higher when things go bad. Nora also works at the airport, but not as a TSA agent. She tells Ethan that all she wants for Christmas is for him to follow his dreams of becoming a police officer.

Things take a turn for the worse when a mysterious criminal, only known as Traveler, shows up. Jason Bateman is terrific in the role. He’s casually, almost nonchalantly, villainous. Using Nora’s life as collateral, he forces Ethan to allow a suitcase through the baggage check. The contents of the luggage turn out to be worse than Ethan could ever imagine. What follows is a tense series of events as Ethan tries (and often fails) to outsmart the Traveler and prevent a terrible tragedy, all without getting his girlfriend and unborn baby killed.

Danielle Deadwyler plays Detective Elena Cole, a police officer investigating a murder which leads her down a trail of breadcrumbs right to the airport where she dives headfirst into the conflict playing out there. The Rossi plays the Traveler’s sniper and tech genius, Watcher. And Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris plays Ethan’s boss, Phil Sarkowski. It’s a good cast overall, though mostly the film focuses on Ethan and Traveler and their interactions.

The movie works because it does a great job at keeping the tension high and the pacing tight. It never outwears its welcome, moving along at a nice clip, with most of its best moments just a conversation between Ethan and Traveler. There’s action, but not Die Hard levels of action.

I did feel like the ending was a bit dangly, with some big plot points unresolved. I won’t spoil any of that because, well, you should watch for yourself. And while the writing is just fine throughout, it’s nothing special either. There are no classic yippee-ki-yay lines here. I doubt I’ll rewatch this over the years, not because there’s anything particularly wrong with the movie, but because there’s nothing particularly stellar about it, either. Carry-On is a fun, tense, popcorn movie with some holiday tinsel on top. Give it a watch.

Lizzo is getting frank about how a landmark year in her career has turned into one of its most fraught.

The “About Damn Time” hitmaker was fresh off of her first arena run last summer when three of her former touring dancers filed a sweeping harassment lawsuit against her, her touring company and her dance captain. A month later, fashion designer Asha Daniels, who worked on costumes for Lizzo’s tour dancers, filed a harassment and discrimination lawsuit of her own.

“I was literally living the dream,” Lizzo said Thursday on the “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” podcast — her first interview since the lawsuit news broke. Days later, she was “blindsided” by a slew of allegations she said “came literally out of nowhere.”

The four-time Grammy winner said she was “very hurt” because the dancers who filed the suit “were people that I gave opportunities to,” whom she “liked” and “respected.”

Lizzo said her legal team plans to fight until all claims against her are dismissed.

In August 2023, dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez filed a complaint alleging they were the victims of a hostile work environment and several forms of harassment while employed by Lizzo.

“It’s really hard to believe that somebody that you almost think could do no wrong, did so much wrong,” Williams previously told The Times. “I felt the need to even come forward publicly because this is not only her that does things like this. This is normalized in the entertainment industry in general.”

Among the dancers’ allegations in the ongoing case is that the Yitty founder “pressured Plaintiffs and all her employees to attend outings where nudity and sexuality were a focal point,” according to their complaint. Citing specific anecdotes from burlesque club Crazy Horse Paris and Bananenbar Amsterdam, which calls itself an “erotic bar,” the dancers recalled going along with Lizzo’s invitations to engage with nude club dancers out of fear of losing their jobs.

Lizzo said Thursday that she had merely been enjoying nights out with her team members, with whom she typically maintains friendly relationships. Attending the outings wasn’t “mandatory,” she said, and everything that occurred at them was “consensual.”

“We met the dancers, we laughed, we talked,” she told Palmer about the night at Crazy Horse Paris. “There’s photos and videos of the three girls who are the ex-dancers, who are suing me, in a video with them smiling, having a great time. And we all went back to our hotels. And that is one of the claims of sexual harassment.”

Lizzo said she used to struggle to understand why her music peers kept such distance from their crew, “but now I see why.”

“I think this experience taught me how to set those kinds of boundaries, not just to protect them, but to protect myself,” she said.

As for Davis’ claim that Lizzo body-shamed her and implied that her weight gain was a sign of her being “less committed” to her work, the “Truth Hurts” singer told Palmer, “Those words never came out of my mouth.”

“More things that just never happened,” according to Lizzo, include the singer “cracking her knuckles, balling her fists” and launching perceived threats after Rodriguez announced her resignation, as the dancer alleged in the lawsuit.

“This is the part of fame that you unknowingly sign up for,” Lizzo said. “People now will just believe anything bad about you.”

The dancers’ attorney Ron Zambrano addressed Lizzo’s comments Thursday in a statement.

“There is an utter lack of awareness by Lizzo failing to see how these young women on her team who are just starting their careers would feel pressured to accept an invitation from their global celebrity boss who rarely hangs out with them,” Zambrano said.

“There is a power dynamic in the boss-employee context that Lizzo utterly fails to appreciate,” he continued. “We stand by the claims in the lawsuit and are prepared to prove everything in court with Lizzo on the stand under oath before a jury of her peers, not spouting nonsense and lies rationalizing a failure to take accountability on a podcast.”

Separately, Zambrano corrected Lizzo’s statement on the podcast that Daniels’ separate suit had been “dismissed.”

A federal judge earlier this month ruled that Daniels could not sue Lizzo as an individual, but the singer’s touring company remains a defendant in the case, BBC reported. The judge also dropped several claims pertaining to Daniels’ work for Lizzo in Europe, where U.S. labor laws do not apply.

However, “The lawsuit is still very active and has not been dismissed,” Zambrano said in a statement published by People. “The ruling was not for lack of evidence, but rather on procedural jurisdictional grounds. It by no means absolves Lizzo of the egregious claims that occurred on her watch.”

A hearing in the dancers’ case is scheduled for Jan. 14.

Meanwhile, Lizzo told Palmer she remains someone who uplifts Black women and takes accountability when she makes mistakes.

“I still believe women. I still believe victims. Because this happened to me is not going to change that,” she said. “But people should not be able to just say anything about somebody and put it in the media and ask for money.”

The singer added that she’s been processing the events of the past year as she writes her new album, which has yet to be formally announced. “I’m putting everything in the art. I always have.”

Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario, August Brown and Stacy Perman and former Times staff writer Carlos De Loera contributed to this report.

A still from ‘ED – Extra Decent’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Dark comedies have a different ring to them, and a small misstep can leave them neither here nor there. Aamir Palikkal’s ED – Extra Decent has managed to fit into that space quite well, with the right mix of suspense, intrigue and some laughter.

The film opens with Binu, the protagonist, being hit on his head by his apartment’s security. He loses his memory and efforts are on at the hospital to make him remember something from the past. But his parents (Sudheer Karamana and Vinayaprasad), sister (Grace Antony) and brother-in-law (Shyam Mohan) are wary of that situation. It seems they fear for their lives. That is where Binu’s past, which is dark and disturbing, unfolds.

Binu, the jobless, subdued protagonist, is a loser in the eyes of his father, a retired tahsildar, whereas his mother and sister are sympathetic towards him. Binu’s behaviour is attributed to childhood trauma and bad parenting. But there comes a point when the embittered Binu goes into psycho mode and sets out to settle scores with his family in a ruthless way. However, for the residents of the apartment, he is that ‘extra decent,’ smart youngster who loves his family, and they do not know that he is in the process of transforming from extra decent to extra dangerous.

Even though certain actions of Binu look far-fetched, the impact is not lost on the audience, thanks to the fine actor that Suraj Venjaramoodu is. The National Award-winning actor, also the co-producer of the film, has pushed his limit as an artiste. The quirky and twisted but engaging narrative is shouldered by Suraj, whose measured performance transitions unabashedly between humour and villainy. The transition is subtle and with a smile that does not give away who he really is. It seems the actor has been let loose by writer Ashif Kakkodi and director Aamir, and his talent shines through in a scene where he loses control.

The taut screenplay has several moments that keep the viewers hooked. Even though the audience knows that all is not well with Binu, one keeps guessing about what he will do next. Just when you think the script is losing its grip, the writer springs a surprise.

Although promoted as a dark comedy, the humour is not that pronounced in the film. In fact, the film would have worked even without certain dialogues and situations.

A scene from ED – Extra Decent
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Sudheer Karamana and Vinayaprasad have done well as Binu’s parents. Grace is always a delight to watch on screen, and so is Shyam, especially after his impressive outing in Premalu.

Ankit Menon’s music is almost a character in the movie, with the tracks playing in the background, complementing the emotions unfolding on the screen. Editing (Sreejith Sarang) and cinematography (Sharon Sreenivas) add to the layers of the narrative, especially in the scenes shot inside the apartment that involve several close-up shots.

ED – Extra Decent is currently playing in theatres