Little Women (2019)

Amy, Jack, and I loved this adaptation of the classic novel, with its focus on empowered women, decorated with magnificent photography and luscious costumes and set design. Though a tad too long at 2:15, the performances and visuals make up for the excessive length.

Saorise Ronan is made for the lead as Jo March, the most forthright of the four sisters in the Civil War era. Apparently Ronan told, without actually asking, director Greta Gerwig she was going to play the part. Emma Watson plays her older sister Meg, Eliza Scanlen younger sister Beth, Florence Pugh is youngest sister Amy, Laura Dern their mother Marmee, Timothée Chalamet their besotted neighbor Laurie, Chris Cooper Laurie's grandfather, Meryl Streep is the girls' Aunt March, and Tracy Letts the editor Mr. Dashwood, among others.

The cinematography is thanks to Yorick Le Saux, the costumes are by Jacqueline Durran, and production design is by Jess Gonchor.

This year's #OscarsSoMale shut director/screenwriter Greta Gerwig out of a directing nomination (Oscars and elsewhere) but she did get one for the script, as well as the producers' nomination for Best Picture (it won't win), Ronan and Pugh for acting, Durran for costume design, and Alexandre Desplat for the score, which can be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, and more.

Ronan was last blogged for Mary Queen of Scots, Watson for Beauty and the Beast, Dern for Wilson, Chalamet for Beautiful Boy, Cooper for It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Streep for The Laundromat, Letts for Ford v Ferrari, Gerwig for Lady Bird (which also starred Ronan), Le Saux for Non-Fiction, Durran for Anna Karenina (it won her the Oscar, and she was also nominated for Mr. Turner, Darkest Hour, and Beauty and the Beast), Gonchor for Hail, Caesar!, and Desplat for Isle of Dogs.

Full disclosure: getting over a cold on Christmas day, I had a coughing fit and left the room, missing a good ten minutes towards the end. I'd like to see those ten minutes sometime. This was the fifteenth year in a row Amy, Jack, and I have watched a movie together on Christmas day. Pro tip: always get your Christmas day movie tickets in advance.

PBS has complied a list of the almost two dozen adaptations of Louisa May Alcott's two-part novel. This is a good one, not only according to us, but also to 95% of Rotten Tomatoes' critics and 92% of its audiences. See it on a big screen if at all possible.