American Woman (the one with Sienna Miller)

(Note: There were two films named “American Woman” released to U.S. audiences in close proximity)

If you took every one of the sad Sheryl Crow songs and tried to turn them into a movie, you’d end up with “American Woman” (2019). Haunted by the bad decisions of herself and others, slowly being grinded down by working-class life, Sienna Miller’s protagonist is a tragic figure except when she’s her own worst enemy. (Heck, Miller even looks like Crow.) There’s a missing-persons subplot that you keep thinking is going to spark into a full-fledged, true-crime story every time a new character is introduced, but alas, it’s simply a movie about perseverance, though a well-made one at that.

Bad Santa 2

It doesn’t take an effing genius to figure out “Bad Santa 2” (2016) wouldn’t be as good as the original because Bernie Mac is effing dead, so is John Ritter, and Heather Graham must have been too effing busy to answer the phone. Half the main characters (Santa-suited safe cracker Billy Bob Thornton, elf Tony Cox, clueless Brett Kelly) are back, but that’s just not enough. There was something about the original that made its degenerate nature a guilty pleasure. This one has too much dirty and not enough whimsy. Like a 21-year-old Thurman Merman, the effing innocence is gone.