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      Universal Pictures Spends Big for New 'Exorcist' Trilogy

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      The deal, expected to be announced this week, is for more than $400 million and is a direct response to the streaming giants that are upending the film industry’s economics.LOS ANGELES — Heads are spinning in Hollywood: Universal Pictures and its streaming-service cousin have closed a $400 million-plus megadeal to buy a new “Exorcist” trilogy, signaling a sudden willingness to compete head-on with the technology giants that are upending entertainment industry economics.Donna Langley, the film studio’s chairwoman, teamed with Peacock, NBCUniversal’s fledgling streaming service, to make the purchase, which is expected to be announced this week, according to three people briefed on the matter. These people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the still-private deal, said the price was in the vicinity of the $465 million that Netflix paid in March for two sequels to the 2019 whodunit “Knives Out.”Universal had no immediate comment.The “Knives Out” and “Exorcist” deals — both negotiated by Bryan Lourd, the Creative Artists superagent — solidify a new streaming gold rush. The eye-popping talent paydays of 2017 and 2018, when Netflix scooped up big-name television creators, have migrated to the film world.The proliferation of streaming services and their scramble for subscribers has driven up prices for established film properties and filmmakers. At the same time, traditional movie companies are under more pressure than ever to control those same creative assets; moviegoing has been severely disrupted by the pandemic and may never fully recover.Linda Blair as the possessed Regan in the original “Exorcist,” which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture.Warner Bros. Entertainment, via Associated PressIt is surprising, however, that Universal and Peacock have come to the table in such a major way. NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, has started to devote more resources to the little-watched Peacock. Programming from the Tokyo Olympics is available on the service, for instance. But Hollywood has heretofore viewed the year-old Peacock as unwilling to compete for top-tier movie deals.Universal’s decision to revisit “The Exorcist” is striking in and of itself. The R-rated 1973 film about a baffled mother (Ellen Burstyn) and her demonically possessed daughter (Linda Blair) was a global box office sensation — “the biggest thing to hit the industry since Mary Pickford, popcorn, pornography and ‘The Godfather,’” as Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times in 1974. It has become a cultural touchstone, the type of film that fans and critics guard as sacrosanct.Universal is not remaking “The Exorcist,” which was directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay that William Peter Blatty adapted from his own novel. But the studio will, for the first time, return the Oscar-winning Ms. Burstyn to the franchise. (Two forgettable “Exorcist” sequels and a prequel were made without her between 1977 and 2004.) Joining her will be Leslie Odom Jr., a Tony winner for “Hamilton” on Broadway and a double Oscar nominee for “One Night in Miami.” He will play the father of a possessed child. Desperate for help, he tracks down Ms. Burstyn’s character.Suffice it to say, Satan is not thrilled to see her again.David Gordon Green, known for Universal’s blockbuster 2018 reboot of the “Halloween” horror franchise, will direct the new “Exorcist” films and serve as a screenwriter. The horror impresario Jason Blum (“Get Out,” the “Purge” series) is among the producers, along with David Robinson, whose company, the independent Morgan Creek Entertainment, has held the “Exorcist” movie rights. The Blumhouse film executive Couper Samuelson is among the executive producers. (Blumhouse has a first-look deal with Universal.)The first film in the trilogy is expected to arrive in theaters in late 2023. Under the terms of the deal, the second and third films could debut on Peacock, according to one of the people briefed on the matter.Donna Langley, Universal’s chairwoman, and the horror maestro Jason Blum, who will help produce the new trilogy.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaconIn a business sense, the deal reflects the boldness of Ms. Langley, chairwoman of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. In the wake of the pandemic, which brought movie production to a halt, she led an effort to develop safety protocols to get the assembly lines moving again. In the case of “Exorcist,” she led a push inside NBCUniversal to pull off the big-money deal.The cost of the package is so high because Ms. Langley and her deals maven, Jimmy Horowitz, did not play by Hollywood’s old economic rules; they took a risk and played by new ones — those used by streaming insurgents like Netflix, Amazon and Apple to outbid traditional film companies, at least until now.The old model, the one that studios have used for decades to make high-profile film deals, involves paying fees upfront and then sharing a portion of the revenue from ticket sales, DVD purchases and television rerun licensing around the world. The bigger the hit, the bigger the “back end” paydays for certain talent partners.The streaming giants have done it differently. They pay more upfront — usually much, much more — in lieu of any back-end payments, which gives them complete control over future revenue. It means that talent partners get paid as if their projects are hits before they are released (or even made). The risk for talent: If their projects become monster hits, they do not get a piece of the windfall. More

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      ‘One Night in Miami’ Review: After the Big Fight, a War of Words

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storycritic’s pick‘One Night in Miami’ Review: After the Big Fight, a War of WordsA 1964 meeting of Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown is the subject of Regina King’s riveting directorial debut.A moment in time: A scene from Regina King’s “One Night in Miami.” Kingsley Ben-Adir, left, as Malcolm X, taking a photo of Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.).Credit…Patti Perret/Amazon StudiosJan. 14, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETOne Night in MiamiNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Regina KingDramaR1h 54mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.On Feb. 25, 1964, at the Convention Hall in Miami Beach, Fla., Cassius Clay — not yet known as Muhammad Ali — defeated Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion of the world. That’s hardly a spoiler, and the fight isn’t the main event in “One Night in Miami,” Regina King’s debut feature as a director. The movie is about what happens after the final bell, when Clay and three men who witnessed the fight gather for a low-key after-party that turns into an impromptu seminar on fame, political action and the obligations of Black celebrities in a time of crisis.The host is Malcolm X, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir less as a confident, charismatic orator than as a smart, anxious man facing a crisis of his own. We’re reminded in a few early scenes of the rift opening up between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad, his mentor and the leader of the Nation of Islam. Frustrated by Muhammad’s autocratic dogmatism and appalled at his sexual predations, Malcolm sees Clay (Eli Goree), who is gravitating toward Islam, as “the ace up my sleeve” — a prominent ally who will help him break away from the Nation.[embedded content]Joining the boxer and the minister in a modest suite at the Hampton House motel are the Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and the singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.). Each is at the peak of his career, and also at something of a crossroads. Brown, increasingly fed up with the ways Black athletes are exploited and commodified, has his eye on Hollywood. Cooke’s most recent effort to attract a white audience — a gig at the Copacabana in New York — was met with a chilly reception.Malcolm tries to push Cooke in another direction, arguing that the job of successful Black artists isn’t to court white approval but to use their fame and talent to advance the cause of their own people. The dramatic nerve center of the film, adapted by Kemp Powers from his own play, is the quarrel between Malcolm and Cooke, who have known each other for a long time and whose intimacy is laced with rivalry and resentment. It’s a complex and subtle debate that implicates Clay and Brown, and that reverberates forward in history and the later actions of all four.Cooke, who drives a red sports car, smokes cigarettes and carries a flask in his jacket, stands in obvious temperamental contrast to Malcolm, who is both the straight arrow and the nerd of the group, offering them vanilla ice cream and showing off his new Rolleiflex camera. Among the pleasures of “One Night in Miami” is how it allows us to imagine we’re glimpsing the private selves of highly public figures, exploring aspects of their personalities that their familiar personas were partly constructed to obscure.This is also, I think, an important argument of Powers’s script: History isn’t made by icons, but by human beings. Fame, which provides each of them with opportunities and temptations, comes with a cost. The fine print of racism is always part of the contract. What Cooke, Brown and Clay share is a desire for freedom — a determination to find independence from the businesses and institutions that seek to control them and profit from their talents.Malcolm, who faces different constraints, urges them to connect their own freedom with something larger, an imperative that each of the others, in his own way, acknowledges. Malcolm’s manner can be didactic, but “One Night in Miami” is anything but. Instead of a group biopic or a ready-made costume drama, it’s an intellectual thriller, crackling with the energy of ideas and emotions as they happen. Who wouldn’t want to be in that room? And there we are.What we witness may not be exactly what happened. I don’t know if Malcolm X really traveled with a copy of “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” in his luggage so that he could make a point about protest music by dropping the needle on “Blowin’ in the Wind.” There are aspects of the characters’ lives that are noted in passing but not really explored — notably Cooke’s and Brown’s treatment of women. Malcolm’s wife, Betty Shabazz (Joaquina Kalukango), appears in a few scenes, as does Barbara Cooke (Nicolette Robinson), but they are marginal to a story that is preoccupied with manhood. Still, there is enough authenticity and coherence in the writing and the performances to make the film a credible representation of its moment, and King’s direction makes it more than that.An actress of singular poise and intensity — see “Watchmen,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and, going back a little further, “Poetic Justice” — she demonstrates those traits behind the camera as well. There are a few boxing and musical scenes, but most of the action in “One Night in Miami” is talk. King’s attention to it as nimble and unpredictable as the dialogue itself, and creates an atmosphere of restlessness and spontaneity, that nervous, exhilarating feeling that this night could go anywhere.Clay, the youngest of the four, is the one who most vividly embodies that sense of possibility. Goree captures the familiar rasp and melody of the voice, and also the champion’s wit and exuberance. There haven’t been many people who could match his giddy, unapologetic delight in being himself, and Clay can look a bit callow next to Cooke and Brown, who have logged more years and paid more dues in the world of celebrity. But Goree shows that Clay, as playful as he could be, was also serious and brave, qualities that would come to the fore a few years later when he risked his career and his freedom to oppose the Vietnam War.The seeds of that action and others, this movie suggests, were planted that night. The shadows of a complicated, tragic future hover over the motel furniture. Within a year of that night, Sam Cooke and Malcolm X would both be killed, one in a Los Angeles motel, the other in a Harlem ballroom. (Only Malcolm’s death is mentioned in the film). The later chapters in Muhammad Ali’s life, and in Brown’s, are part of the crazy, contentious record of our time.And “One Night in Miami,” at first glance, might be taken as a minor anecdote plucked from that larger narrative. It doesn’t make grand statements about race, politics, sports or music. It’s just a bunch of guys talking — bantering, blustering, dropping their defenses and opening their hearts. But the substance of their talk is fascinating, and their arguments echo powerfully in the present. This is one of the most exciting movies I’ve seen in quite some time.One Night in Miami.Rated R. Smoking and Swearing. Running time: 1 hour 54 minutes. Watch on Amazon.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      20 Albums That Put a New Spin on the Holidays

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best MoviesBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest TheaterBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story20 Albums That Put a New Spin on the HolidaysStandards? Sure! But a crop of seasonal records from Dolly Parton, Tinashe and others introduce fresh original songs, too.Clockwise from top left: The holiday season has brought albums from Love Renaissance, Carrie Underwood, Leslie Odom Jr., Andrew Bird, Fuerza Régida and Jordin Sparks.Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica, Giovanni Russonello and Dec. 10, 2020, 1:47 p.m. ETMariah Carey’s modern classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” finally hit No. 1 (after 25 years) last holiday season, surely inspiring more songwriters to try their hand at a well-worn but welcome annual tradition. Our pop and jazz critics surveyed the latest releases and picked out 20 that offer worthy additions to your seasonal playlists.3D Jazz Trio, ‘Christmas in 3D’Here are three veteran jazz musicians who understand the joys of a firmly pressed swing rhythm, and how far it can take you. The pianist Jackie Warren, the bassist Amy Shook and the drummer Sherrie Maricle have released three albums as the 3D Jazz Trio (it stands for 3 Divas), which grew out of their work in Maricle’s DIVA Jazz Orchestra. The latest flaunts the kind of powerful locomotion that drives the DIVA big band, steaming through 10 holiday tunes — Warren’s buoyant improvising right hand leading the way. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLOAndrew Bird, ‘Hark!’The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and virtuoso whistler Andrew Bird riffles through moods and genres on his holiday album: He’s wistful, sardonic, jaunty and pensive by turns. Along with Bird himself, the songwriters include Schubert, Irving Berlin, John Prine and John Cale. Bird mingles songs of his own with idiosyncratic takes on the standards: whistling a wordless “O Holy Night” over pizzicato strings, toying with bossa nova and Hot Club jazz in the Vince Guaraldi “Peanuts” tune “Christmas Is Coming,” bringing Western swing to “Auld Lang Syne.” Bird’s “Greenwine” is a gruesomely comic rewrite of “Greensleeves,” while “Night’s Falling” and “Alabaster” offer comfort through long winter nights. JON PARELESThe Bird and the Bee, ‘Put Up the Lights’Greg Kurstin, a hitmaking producer with Adele, Sia and others, has been recording breezy, slyly retro pop since 2005 with the singer and songwriter Inara George as the Bird and the Bee. Their holiday album has a multitracked George harmonizing coolly with herself on songs like “Sleigh Ride” and “Deck the Halls,” and enlists Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl to supply the hefty beat on “Little Drummer Boy.” Kurstin’s productions for “The Christmas Song” and “Christmastime Is Here” collapse the decades between blurry old movie scores and digital glitches. And two of their own songs, “You and I at Christmas Time” and “Merry Merry,” celebrate domestic comforts amid playfully meandering chords. PARELESKarla Bonoff, ‘Silent Night’The cozy yet polished Southern California sound of Laurel Canyon in the mid-1970s returns on the holiday album by Karla Bonoff, who’s entitled to it. She got her songs recorded in the mid-1970s by Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt, among others. The guitars are burnished, Bonoff’s piano offers hymnlike chords and the vocals are natural and intimate. She sings old carols, Joni Mitchell’s “River” and a song she wrote with Kenny Edwards, “Everybody’s Home Tonight.” PARELESBarnaby Bright, ‘Bleak Midwinter’Barnaby Bright is Becky and Nathan Bliss, a married couple based in Nashville. She sings lead, he’s the producer and occasional backup singer; both write songs. Their holiday album, “Bleak Midwinter,” explores various production styles — Beach Boys in their own “Star-Crossed Christmas,” chamber-pop piano and cello in their “If We Listen,” booming drums and arena-scale reverberations in the English carol “In the Bleak Midwinter,” electronic percussion with big-band horns in “Please Come Home for Christmas.” Becky Bliss’s voice can be breathy and confiding, but she also has reserves of power when production drama ramps up. PARELESFuerza Régida, ‘Navidad con la Régida’Over the last two years, Fuerza Régida has emerged as one of the leading trap corridos bands, blending nimble musicianship and attitudinal singing. Holiday music is perhaps too plainly joyful a medium for the group, but on “Navidad con la Régida” it proves game, whether it’s the chipper tuba on “Feliz Navidad” or the brassy singing on “Ven a Mi Casa Esta Navidad.” But the album closer is closer to home: a heart-rending cover of the unerringly mournful “Cada Diciembre” by Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho, on which the frontman Jesús Ortiz sounds almost dizzy with sadness. JON CARAMANICAChilly Gonzales, ‘A Very Chilly Christmas’The keyboardist and producer Chilly Gonzales mostly offers familiar songs, from “Good King Wenceslas” to “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” as restrained instrumentals, usually piano solos. He has fun with reharmonizations, sometimes switching major keys to minor ones, as he does in “Jingle Bells” and “Auld Lang Syne”: every so often, additional instruments twinkle into the mix. The standout tracks have guest vocalists: Feist tiptoeing through a new song she wrote with Gonzales, “The Banister Bough,” and Jarvis Cocker and Feist sharing a fondly observant song by David Berman, “Snow Is Falling in Manhattan.” PARELESGoo Goo Dolls, ‘It’s Christmas All Over’Goo Goo Dolls cling to the earnestness of classic rock, but also step outside it, on their Christmas album. One of the two originals, “This Is Christmas,” splits the difference between Simon & Garfunkel and Billy Joel, with a waltz that praises “Not the things that you buy but the love that you bring.” The other, “You Ain’t Getting Nothing,” looks back to Cab Calloway, with horns, a swinging bass line and wry lyrics: “You think the season’s merry but you better think twice.” They also resurface Tom Petty’s “Christmas All Over Again” and a swinging Louis Prima obscurity, “Shake Hands with Santa Claus.” It’s a music fan’s album, cognizant of a long past. PARELESCory Henry, ‘Christmas With You’Cory Henry has shake-your-head-in-disbelief-level talent, and on this self-produced EP he mixes holiday-centric originals with classic carols taken in a gospel-pop style that’s recognizable if you know his work with the Funk Apostles. At an NPR holiday concert held earlier this month at the Kennedy Center in coronavirus-conscious fashion, Henry sat alone at a grand piano and played a short set including Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas,” an anthemic social justice plea, as well as two of the seven songs included on the EP. RUSSONELLOJoJo, ‘December Baby’After many years stuck in the purgatory of a bad record contract, the 29-year-old singer JoJo is making up for lost time: “December Baby” is her second release of 2020, following the confessional R&B of “Good to Know.” A mix of old classics, sleek originals, and personality-driven interstitials (“does anybody carol anymore?”), the modern-yet-tasteful album showcases JoJo’s silky voice and intuitive phrasings. “Bought a last-minute plane ticket so I could see you not just through a FaceTime,” she sings on “Coming Home,” a dreamy new song that certainly conjures the Ghost of Christmas Present. But “December Baby” is at its best when JoJo updates familiar songs like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “Silent Night” with her signature sass and pop-R&B cool. LINDSAY ZOLADZLove Renaissance, ‘Home for the Holidays’The pair of standout songs on this compilation from the Atlanta-based LVRN (Love Renaissance) imprint couldn’t be more different. The wondrous, wise R&B melancholic Summer Walker leans into a damp, deliberate version of “Santa Baby.” And on “12 Days of Bhristmas,” the charismatic female rapper OMB Bloodbath tackles the first half of the calendar, crashing a car and hitting the club and the mall, while Westside Boogie closes out with chaos, including a detour on day 10: “Don’t ask me ’bout the 10th day/got too drunk inside the daytime.” CARAMANICALeslie Odom Jr., ‘The Christmas Album’Even the Leslie Odom Jr. albums that aren’t about the holidays almost feel like they are. On the heels of his breakthrough role playing Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” Odom brought that Broadway ebullience into the studio in 2016 with a self-titled debut album. But it was “Simply Christmas,” released later that year, that sent him up the Billboard charts, establishing a niche beyond his stage persona. Two releases later, “The Christmas Album” mixes traditional gems (“Little Drummer Boy,” “O Holy Night”) with contemporary classics (George Michael’s “Last Christmas,” Sara Bareilles’s “Winter Song”) and a couple of his own tunes (the jingle-jangly, synth-bass-driven “Snow” and the power ballad “Heaven and Earth”). RUSSONELLODolly Parton, ‘A Holly Dolly Christmas’Yes, Dolly Parton admits on a hilariously hammy spoken-word bridge of the opening track, the idea for the title predated this album. “Holly Dolly” is just Parton’s second solo-billed holiday album, and her first since “Home for Christmas,” a collection of 10 traditional covers from 1990. The new LP features six of her own compositions: “Christmas on the Square” is a warm, rollicking bluegrass number; “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas” is a characteristically randy duet with a very game Michael Bublé. Aside from Jimmy Fallon on “All I Want for Christmas,” the other guests make the most of their appearances: Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus; Dolly’s brother Randy Parton; and, most effectively, Willie Nelson, joining with Parton to sing his own stirring 1963 holiday tear-jerker, “Pretty Paper.” ZOLADZJordin Sparks, ‘Cider & Hennessy’One of the year’s unique holiday albums, Jordin Sparks’s “Cider & Hennessy” is full of Christmas originals that temper tradition with modern twists. The title track is up-tempo R&B about a mother letting her hair down after a long December day, and “Trapmas Medley” smears Maybach and Birkin dreams over rat-tat-tat percussion. But the most radical song might be the most traditional: “A Baby Changes Everything,” a tender track about the trials of a teen mother (who just happens to be Mary, mother of Jesus). CARAMANICAMaddie & Tae, ‘We Need Christmas’Maddie & Tae, the spirited duo best known for “Girl in a Country Song,” bring their twangy, angelic harmonies to four standards and two new songs on their festive EP “We Need Christmas.” The originals are a mixed bag: The mawkish “We Need Christmas” contorts itself to be timely (any song that contains the lyric “now more than ever” is probably gunning a little too hard for commercial placement), but “Merry Married Christmas” is a genuinely sweet ode to a newlywed couple’s first holiday season together. The highlight is their cover of Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which slows the tempo and draws fresh emotion from a familiar tune. ZOLADZMat and Savanna Shaw, ‘Merry Little Christmas’Can I interest you in some Wholesome Content™? Savanna Shaw and her father, Mat, became a quarantine-era YouTube success story for their acoustic duets of religious-esque songs that were pinpoint precise, verging on stern. Things are moving fast — this Christmas EP is their second release in the last three months, all sung in the mode of Bocelli and Groban. Their rendition of “Mary, Did You Know?” is poignant and elegantly spacious, almost nervy in its conviction, and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” has an unlikely echo of Extreme’s “More Than Words.” Throughout, Savanna sings with airy sweep, and Mat booms like a drill sergeant — on “Thankful,” father and daughter harmonize into billowy bliss. CARAMANICATinashe, ‘Comfort & Joy’Tinashe treats familiar Christmas songs the way hip-hop producers treat samples: as springboards for commentary, moods, tangents, associations, sonic transformations. While the track list for “Comfort & Joy” looks familiar — from “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” — Tinashe ricochets off the familiar material, adding verbal responses or surreally warping arrangements, using synthetic rhythms and her gravity-defying voice to change and challenge expectations. PARELESMeghan Trainor, ‘A Very Trainor Christmas’Doesn’t every Meghan Trainor song already sound like a Christmas song? So it should be no surprise that her originals here — the frisky “Naughty List,” the swinging “I Believe in Santa” — could have easily fit in on her other, yuletide-free albums. Mischievous misbehavior, hope beyond hope, belief in the impossible: Trainor, one of pop’s least self-conscious stars, focuses on them the other 364 days, too. CARAMANICACarrie Underwood, ‘My Gift’The first holiday album from country music’s reigning vocal assassin comes full of promise. Bombastic ballads, bring ’em on! Hardcore hymns, thou shalt be exalted! And yet “My Gift” is … placid, light on melodrama. Restrained. Nice. Underwood duets with her son Isaiah, who is 5. And for most of the rest of the album she sings gently enough that he might be able to sing along. Bummer. CARAMANICAVarious Artists, ‘Eterna Navidad Celebremos’In 1986, stars of Latin pop, mostly Mexican, recorded “Eterna Navidad,” a collection of Christmas songs in Spanish that became a hit across Latin America. “Eterna Navidad Celebremos” revisits its track list and adds a few — including John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” translated as “Llegó Navidad” and sung by Manuel Carrasco, from Spain — performed by a newer assortment of stars. The lineup features Juanes (with a hard-rock version of “Little Drummer Boy”) and the rapper Pitizion from Colombia along with Mexican performers including Alejandro Fernández, Gloria Trevi, Kurt and Banda el Recodo. While the original album reveled in a contemporary, synthesizer-happy 1980s sound, the new one is more self-conscious and rootsy, placing accordions, acoustic guitars and brasses upfront, even in songs written in the United States or Britain, like “Dulce Navidad” (a version of “Jingle Bells”), “Blanca Navidad” (“White Christmas”), “Diciembre” (Wham!’s “Last Christmas”) and “Rodolfo El Reno” (“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”), which gets turned into a cheerful cumbia by Los Tigres del Norte. Throughout the album, the voices — scratchy, husky, chirpy, floating — are vividly committed. Time will tell if, in 34 years, this album will sound as dated as “Eterna Navidad” does now. PARELESAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More