THE NIGHT BEFORE (Rated R)

The holidays are fast approaching, and as usual, films with a Christmas holiday theme geared to family viewing are often on hand.

Of course, that may not be the case when part of the seasonal revelry involves an extended humorous scene involving Anthony Wiener-style cell phone imagery.

With Seth Rogen as no stranger to drug-fueled comedies, including “Pineapple Express” and “This is the End,” it should come as no surprise that “The Night Before” is appropriately rated R for drug use, strong sexual content and graphic nudity.

Oddly enough, “The Night Before” gets a rousing start with traditional storybook narration by Tracy Morgan, setting the stage for the enduring friendship of three disparate characters upholding a Christmas Eve tradition dating back to the their teenage years.

Having lost his parents in a tragic car accident when in high school, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Ethan remains in a state of arrested development. Unable to commit to his former girlfriend Diana (Lizzy Caplan) for whom he still carries a torch, Ethan’s life is stuck in place.

Meanwhile, Seth Rogen’s Isaac is a married man with an established career. His wife Betsy (Jillian Bell) is pregnant with their first child.

Needing to settle down into adulthood, Isaac find this Christmas Eve in New York to be likely his last night of debauchery.

That wild times loom for Isaac’s blowout holiday finale is made all the more evident by the unexpected gift he receives from Betsy, a tidy little box of hallucinogenic drugs, from mushrooms and cocaine to weed and an assorted mix of various pills.

Rounding out the trio is Anthony Mackie’s Chris, a journeyman professional football player suddenly thrust into fame in his NFL career at the unlikely age of 34, most likely due to the fact that his on-field performance has been recently enhanced by steroids.

These buddies have formed a pact to celebrate Christmas Eve each year with a series of rituals, from visiting the massive Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and wearing garish holiday sweaters to signing karaoke in a dive bar and searching for an elusive underground party.

Since Ethan is somewhat adrift in his professional life, he starts the evening as a waiter dressed in an elf costume serving drinks and hors d’oeuvres before being demoted to the position of coat room attendant.

While putting away an overcoat, Ethan stumbles upon three golden tickets which are the coveted invites to the exclusive Nutcracka Ball, a secret shindig that moves around the five boroughs of New York City.

The tickets represent the Holy Grail of holiday partying, and while Isaac and Chris are ecstatic about the sudden good fortune that has fallen into Ethan’s hands, there are number of obstacles and humorous situations that may derail their long-awaited celebratory plans.

First of all, Isaac has consumed so many drugs that he tries to counteract one bad reaction with an ingestion of other drugs that he mistakenly believes would ameliorate the ill effects.

Getting separated from the group, Isaac staggers around Manhattan in a state of freefall, winding up in front of a Catholic church where he encounters Betsy and her family attending a midnight mass. Let’s just say that he ends up causing a horribly embarrassing commotion during the service.

Meanwhile, Chris is trying to impress his team’s star quarterback by attempting to score a supply of weed, which leads him back to his childhood home turf in search of the enigmatic drug dealer Mr. Green (Michael Shannon), a deadpan existential philosopher who proves to be as fascinating as he is inscrutable.

When not getting into a fight with a pair of drunken louts wearing Santa Claus costumes, Ethan finds himself at a party where his former flame Diana is hanging out with Mindy Kaling’s Sarah, an uninhibited co-worker who has a visceral dislike for Isaac.

One of the funny bits is how Sarah’s cell phone gets switched with Isaac’s phone, with some hilarious complications for both parties, particularly when Isaac reacts to messages from a man posting photos of his private parts.

The journey of “The Night Before” is meant to represent the closing of one chapter in life and moving on to the next level of adult responsibility. Not surprisingly, Seth Rogen’s Isaac is mostly humorously challenged in transitioning to respectability.

As to be expected in this type of comedy, there’s plenty of room for hit-and-miss gags and slapstick silliness, and while some of the humor falls flat, other situations are preposterously and outrageously funny.

In the end, “The Night Before” is somewhat uneven but will likely appeal to fans of the genre and films that pair up Seth Rogen and James Franco.    

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

I’m well into my seventies, and I warm to simple, peaceful scenes. Here’s a fine love poem by Patricia Traxler, a Kansas poet, whose newest book, Naming the Fires, will be out in early 2016.

Weather Man

When it snows, he stands
at the back door or wanders
around the house to each
window in turn and
watches the weather
like a lover. O farm boy,
I waited years
for you to look at me
that way. Now we’re old
enough to stop waiting
for random looks or touches
or words, so I find myself
watching you watching
the weather, and we wait
together to discover
whatever the sky might bring.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright ©2015 by Patricia Traxler, “Weather Man.” Poem reprinted by permission of Patricia Traxler. Introduction copyright © 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

KRAMPUS (Rated PG-13)

For the first scene of “Krampus,” don’t be fooled by Bing Crosby’s classic holiday song, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” blaring in the background of a big box story opening its doors to Christmas shoppers on Black Friday.

Based on ancient folklore traced back through centuries of European culture, a horned beast named Krampus captured disobedient children during the Christmas season. You could say that the nasty demon with cloven-hooves was the anti-Santa Claus.

It is also possible to think that Krampus might find Black Friday his favorite day of the year, if the European myth should somehow take hold over here. After all, the frenzied scene of deranged shoppers mauling each other for toys would be fertile ground for the demon’s mayhem.

Somewhere in snowy Pennsylvania, the Engel family is only days away from Christmas.

Patriarch Tom (Adam Scott), a workaholic, constantly travels or stays on the phone. His wife Sarah (Toni Collette), a harried mom, strives for Martha Stewart-like perfection.

Teenager Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) is looking for ways to escape the family to spend time with her boyfriend.

The pre-adolescent yet sensitive Max (Emjay Anthony) wants to believe in Santa Claus but has become disillusioned after too much squabbling with family members.

The Christmas spirit at the Engel household is about to be crushed with the arrival of dreaded house guests, namely Sarah’s sister Linda (Allison Tolman) and her extended family.

A loutish brute, Uncle Howard (David Koechner, always ready for this type of role) is perpetually loud and obnoxious. It might have something to do with the fact that he’s a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, though being a Philadelphia Eagles fan would do just as well.

Howard and Linda’s brood of three bratty children are equally abrasive and insufferable. The chubby Howard Jr. (Maverick Flack) just might eat everything in sight. His sisters Stevie and Jordan (Lolo Owen and Queenie Samuel) dress like tomboys and lack good manners.

But the icing on the cake is taken by the clan’s Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell), a politically incorrect, hard-drinking naysayer who makes it clear she didn’t even like children when she was one. It doesn’t take long for the cranky Dorothy to complain about the food and decorations.

Tensions flare at the first family dinner when Max’s cousins make fun of his letter to Santa Claus, causing him to bolt to his room. Tearing up the letter, he tosses it into the wind outside his bedroom window.

Of course, this is a big mistake. A freakish blizzard soon arrives to cut off electricity and heat. Cell phones and the Internet get no service. The suburban neighborhood becomes a ghost town. And then ominous snowmen appear in the front yard.

A delivery man shows up with strange packages. Against common sense and everyone’s wishes, Beth decides to go looking for her boyfriend. When she fails to return, Tom and Howard set out as a search party, only to encounter true menace in a subterranean monster.

Retreating back to the Engel home, Tom and Howard warn the others of what becomes readily apparent. Strange, unexplained events are leading to palpable fear that something has gone terribly wrong. Soon enough, the house is under attack from the weird minions of Krampus.

Only Max’s immigrant grandmother Omi (Krista Stadler), who speaks German most of the time, is able to explain that the chaos is caused by the mythical Krampus, who comes to punish the naughty and unleash darkness and mayhem.

All hell breaks loose as the twisted doppelgangers of beloved holiday icons, from frost-bitten snowmen and cherubs, taken on a monstrous life of their own, laying siege to the fractured family’s home and forcing them to fight for survival.

Cuddly teddy bears turn feral and cute little dolls become satanic creatures bent on killing. Even tasty little gingerbread men come alive, gleefully using a nail gun as a nasty weapon. A jack-in-the-box stages a real fright.

Touted as a horror-comedy, “Krampus” lives up to its billing, with some amusing humor interspersed with the family quarrels and the need to take caution with certain holiday baked goods. The horror part is nicely delivered by the imaginative use of making toys deadly dangerous.

But the siege by demonic cookies and toys is just a prelude to bigger things to come. As if to signal Armageddon, the house is invaded by evil elves bent on a deadly mission. And then, Krampus, a hulking beast, finally makes his presence known.

“Krampus” aspires to be a dark and subversive alternative to traditional classic holiday fare, and it does have something to offer if you are game for some twisted holiday fun.

Yet, “Krampus” is not likely to be a holiday classic in its own right, and it certainly is not the type of family-friendly entertainment designed for the enjoyment of younger children.

After seeing “Krampus,” I am taking no chances. A letter to Santa Claus is in the mail as soon as I find a stamp. And I am not asking for anything for myself, for fear of a strange package showing up at my door.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – December can be the hardest month of the year, especially when you have fresh losses and uncertainties for the future.

Carolyn Wing Greenlee and friends invite you to come sing with them Scriptures chosen to strengthen and encourage you through whatever you have to face.

The concert, “Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled," is this Thursday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. at Kelseyville Presbyterian Church, 5340 Third St.

Admission is free.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Lower Lake High and Konocti Unified School District presents this month the holiday musical “Alice in Christmas Land.”

Come watch this wonderful fairy tale at Lower Lake High School in the multipurpose room at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10, and Friday, Dec. 11.

The admission fee is $5 for everyone.

“Alice in Christmas Land” will feature all of our childhood favorites: White Rabbit, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and multiple Alices.

The performance will feature a large cast, hilarious comedy, fun and easy Christmas songs for everyone to enjoy.

This year's cast is filled with young talent.

“Attendees should be prepared for a magical experience from a talented cast of young and veteran actors performing a tale that we all know and love,” said drama club teacher Tracy Lahr.

The drama club is in crunch time preparing for this musical during its last days of practice to give you their best performance.

This is a fairy tale the entire family knows and loves. Come join the excitement. Come watch our youth perform this wonderful classic.

For more information and tickets please contact Bruno Sabatier at 707-695-0834.

Lower Lake High School is located at 9430 Lake St.

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Friday appointed Dana Gioia as California Poet Laureate.

Gioia, 64, of Santa Rosa, has been the Judge Widney professor of poetry and public culture at the University of Southern California since 2011.

As chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2009, Gioia launched several nationwide programs to expand public support for the arts and for arts education, with a focus on fostering youth creativity and expression.

These initiatives include the Poetry Out Loud contest for high school students, the Big Read program to promote community reading initiatives across the country and Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, a project to support returning troops and their families.

In 2003, Gioia compiled the anthology California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present as part of the California Legacy Project.

The collection, which has been praised by the Los Angeles Times Book Review and California State Librarian Emeritus Kevin Starr, features poetry from 101 authors and explores California’s cultural history, a prominent theme in Gioia’s writings.

The California native’s body of work has received wide critical acclaim, including his 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter? which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award and triggered national discussion on the role of poetry in American public culture.

Gioia is also a winner of the American Book Award and was honored with the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2008 for his public service in support of the arts.

He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University, a Master of Arts degree in comparative literature from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University.

This position requires Senate confirmation and the California Arts Council provides an annual stipend. Gioia is a Republican.