Ed's Review Dot Com

Sandollar Productions, The Kushner-Locke Company

Dolly Parton, Roddy McDowall, Brian Kerwin, Allison Mack, Eli Marienthal, Ricki Dale, Matt Lincoln, James Lurie, Maria del Mar, Frances Peach, Gary Sandy

Ruby Diamond (Parton) is a country singer waiting for something to happen.  Well, it does, and suddenly she finds herself at the gate face to face with St. Peter (Roddy McDowall).  She was not the most virtuous girl, so it didn’t look good, but her last act on earth was to sacrifice her life for a cute little deer, so Peter thinks maybe she deserves a chance to redeem herself.   She has 6 days until Christmas to prove her worth.  She ends up with a single father and two kids, a girl and a boy.   These are brats, and Dad is not up to dealing with them, so Ruby Diamond (she’s a gem) is playing Nanny.

Now that Mom’s gone, the kids and Dad are all pretty down on the whole Christmas thing.  Ruby tries really hard, she really does, but she can’t catch a break anywhere.

This is a very classy movie, and Dolly sings.  She carries the movie with a lot of heart.  Roddy McDowall is excellent as well.  This has a lot of heart, and is a great story of love and caring, forgetting the past, and moving on. With the hurt this family has endured, it’s nice they get a little heavenly help, but it’s not an easy task.  Ruby has her hands full.  It’s funny and clever, but very sweet.  This is a good one to search out.

Hallmark Entertainment

Tori Spelling, Dinah Manoff, William Shatner, Gary Coleman, Michael Landes, Paula Trickey, Nina Siemaszko

This is another variation of A Christmas Carol,  and another one with a play on the title.  Carol (Tori Spelling) is a Talk Show Host and a real pain in the rear.  She doesn’t know how treat people and is a real diva.  Carol is in for a surprise as three ghosts appear and teach her the error of her ways.   I am a true sucker for the Ebenezer Scrooge story, and one of my traditions is to watch as many versions of A Christmas Carol as possible.  Not necessary the best twist on the story, but a good one.  This is one time when Tori is able to win you over and she does a wonderful job of the transformation from a witch to a nice person in one night.     Tori Spelling is not the greatest actress on the planet by any stretch, but she does do a decent job playing Carol.

Another clever thing in this made for TV movie is the special people they brought in to play the ghosts. It’s one of the funniest parts of this heartwarming Christmas tale.  You’ll crack up at the way the ghost of Christmas Past transports Santa around from place to place.  It’s an intentional tribute!   If you get a chance to watch this one, go for it.  It’s not Shakespeare, but it a guilty pleasure.

LifeTime Television

Nancy McKeon, Steven Eckholdt, Paul Dooley, Andrew Chalmers, Jordy Benattar, Maria Herrera, Dixie Carter

Jane Berry’s life is very materialistic.  She’s engaged to a jerk who doesn’t have a clue and doesn’t appreciate her, but she seems happy in her Manhattan apartment and her important job and her fancy cars.  On her way to a Christmas party, she’s in an auto accident and hit very hard on the head.   When she wakes she finds herself in a life that is not hers at all.  She has two children, and a husband.  They are barely getting by and her only job besides volunteering at the food bank is a housewife and mother.  She’s appalled and confused by it all, and tries to get her old life back.  But nobody from her former life remember her much, but as someone who used to work there, but who left the company ten years before.  Even her parents seem to accept the fact that she has been married for ten years and is a Mom, but she won’t have any part of it.   This is a wonderful movie and one of my favorites every year.  Nancy McKeon is awesome in this film. I never seem to tire of this film and even though I know the story by heart, I still can’t tear myself away.  This is one of my favorite holiday made for TV films, for sure!

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions

Anne Heche, Tate Donovan, Michael Mitchell, Cortney Jines, Max Martini, John Benjamin Hickey, Margo Martindale, Steve Ryan

Silver Bells is the story of a widower dad and his two children.  They raise Christmas trees and then sell them at Christmastime in Manhattan.  Catherine O’Mara (Heche) is a museum worker and Danny Byrne (Michael Mitchell) is a boy about to move into adulthood who fancies himself a photographer.  He wants to go to school, and Dad will not hear of it, so he runs away.   He befriends Catherine and provides her with a supply of photos of small spots in plain view in Manhattan that are photo gems which she eagerly publishes with the greatest being a picture of two silver bells.  Danny refuses to tell where they are located, and the whole city joins in trying to locate the Silver Bells.   Catherine tries to help Danny by giving him a warm place to study and some kindly advice, but when Dad sees him on the street and tries to catch him, Catherine gets involved.  Then an accident, and the whole thing comes to a typical Christmas happy ending.

This is one of my favorite of the Christmas movies on TV, and I try to Tivo this one every year to enjoy every year.  I’ve seen it a number of times and it never gets old. It has a very strong enjoyable and heartwarming story. The pains of growing up and becoming your own person despite a Dad who doesn’t want to let go.   Everyone does a great job in this film.  There are no bad performances.   Don’t miss it.

Columbia Pictures, China Film Group, Jerry Weintraub Productions

Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P Hensen, Wenwen Han, Ronqquang Yu, Zhensu Wu, Zhiheng Wang,  Zhenwei Wang, Jared Minns

The Karate Kid is an unfaithful remake that never needed to be made.  First of all, why is this called The “KARATE” Kid???  It’s in China and there is no Karate in it.   It should be called  The Kung Fu Kid.  To get around this, they put in a line where during their first fight, Dre takes up a Karate stance, and they call him the Karate Kid. Cheesy.  Mr. Miyagi was, of course Japanese and taught Karate.

Second, I’m glad Will Smith’s kid is getting work outside of doing his Dad’s music videos.  He’s a cute kid, but he’s way too young to be in this story.  He’s playing a 12 year old who falls madly in love with a really cute Chinese girl, but that doesn’t seem quite 12 year old stuff.  He has way to much freedom to come and go where he wants, to sneak off to do kissing scenes for a 12 year old.  Probably he should be still saying “Girls are yucky”.   The drive and the drama doesn’t seem to fit with a little kid.  Plus he is not a very good actor yet.  He’s not ready to carry the lead in the whole film.  A lot of the dramatic scenes, he rolls off the dialog like the guest host of SNL trying to read the cue cards in a sketch.

His mom is awful.  Screechy,  grumpy, rude, oppressive, but most of all always annoying.   And I think this was the worst I’ve ever seen Jackie Chan.  I’m a big fan of his, but in this film he shuffles along, mumbles his lines, and has very little heart.  His breakdown at the loss of his life pales in comparison to Miyagi (Pat Morita)’s breakdown in the original.  I think they thought that the scenery in China would make up for the lack of acting.  Daniel-san did not get to train on top of the Great Wall of China, nor did he get to the top of the mountain to drink the magic Kung Fu water from the Dragon Well.  (not sure how the water gets up to the very top of the mountain, that didn’t make much sense to me, but since it’s magic, I guess it’s ok.)

Now I’m getting nit picky.  I have to admit, I am biased because I am a really big fan of the original film.   The original came along at a time when it was all new.  We were just learning the mystical Asian martial arts, and it was very current.  The story resonated with a lot of people, and we really got to root for the underdog.

This remake doesn’t bring that across.  Dre (Jaden Smith) has the opportunity to move from Detroit to Beijing cause his mom has a new job there.  Now I’m not sure what widowed auto worker from Detroit gets transferred to Beijing, but it sounds a lot like “Fresh Prince of Bel Aire” to me.  Of course he hates it.  But it does give us, the viewers, a chance to see China all decked out for the Olympics, and some very pretty spots.

No doubt they tried really hard, and if this movie was an original story, it probably would have been really great.   But it pales in comparison of the heart and soul of the original, and that’s my problem with it.

Younger folks, especially those who aren’t familiar (or unable to relate to the 80’s life of Daniel-san) will probably love it, and the little girls are bound to be Jaden fans.  He’s a cute kid.  And Justin Beiber sings the closing song under the credits, so how could you go wrong?   Pretty fair film, if you don’t love the original.

Note:  I promised myself I wasn’t going to comment on this, but I HAVE to.   Sorry.   I just DON’T think  “Jacket ON, Jacket OFF” is every going to have the cultural impact that “Wax ON, Wax OFF” had!  What a joke.

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