Ed's Review Dot Com

Every year a few new Christmas films appear on TV and a slew of others are repeated year after year after year.   These show up on cable channels such as Hallmark, or LifeTime or ABC Family, and make the holidays ring.

One year I was home sick in December and started watching every Christmas movie that I could find.   Then DVR came along, and now I make it a holiday tradition to watch as many of these once_a_year Christmas films that I can.

I have decided this year as a gift to our followers to do ratings on as many of the Christmas movies as I can and add them to the list.   These movies will be listed with two snowflakes (**) in the title and are typically NOT feature films, but made for TV stories, many of which are available on DVD, but many that are only shown on TV.  These reviews will be shorter and to the point.  They will not have all the bells and whistles of normal posts.

If you get a chance to watch or record some of these films, hopefully these little reviews will help you to decide which ones are worth watching!

I will begin submitting these reviews in batches on every even day from now until Christmas.   I know there are a lot, but this is a special project that we’ll only do this once.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas from  EDSREVIEW.COM!!

Paramount Pictures

Katie Featherston, Gabriel Liotta, Sprague Grayden, Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, Micah Sloat

Well, this is sort of a prequel to the first Paranormal Activity.  This is a bit better in many ways than the first for several reasons.  First, the couple decide to install permanent video surveillance equipment, so we don’t have to look at near as much stomach churning shaky camera movement.  Nice touch.  This movie is creepy and it hit big time, but really, like the first one, it’s mostly just the use of quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, HUGE NOISE.  That’s a pretty cheesy way of  “scaring” somebody.  On the other hand, there are tons of  horror night attractions all over the country where they just shake a can of coins, or bang and on the wall, and people pay huge prices to be startled over and over again.   But a benefit of this film is that we know what’s coming, and there are so many little touches to let you know there is a huge noise around the corner.  Then sometimes nothing happens which disquiets you even move.  It’s a very simple formula.

So there’s not much need to write a huge review.  You’re going to get exactly what you expect.  There are lots of loud sounds and creepy happenings.   Sound systems are good these days, and you can do a lot with simple things if you play with people’s minds a little bit.  The ending is a bit abrupt, but that’s kind of normal for the kind of film it is.  So I rate it right down the middle.  I certainly enjoyed being frightened and I feel I got my money’s worth in that respect, but it’s not a great story, is it?  Just a simple one.  So if you decide to go out and see it depends on whether you like this kind of film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Muse Entertainment Enterprises

Rick Roberts, Gage Munroe, Rebecca Williams, R.D. Reid, Jordan Prentice

How come Santa never crashes into my house.  Oh well, at least he did crash into this house.   See, due to a calendar mishap, Santa takes off a day early and everybody knows Santa’s powers only work on Christmas Eve and no other day.   There are other troubles too.  For one, Santa lost his memory and can’t remember who he is.  Also he’s lost his magic pack (you know, the one slung over his back just like a peddler).  The folks at the Toys for Tots team found it, and every time the take a toy out, another one appears.  They thought someone brought it and dropped the bag off as a donation, but there are just TOO many toys!

So now everyone is trying to figure out how to bring Santa’s memory back.  Nothing seems to work.  Apparently the writers never saw one of the old comedy films where you just whack him in the head with a board or a brick and the memory magically returns.

This is a brand new TV movie for Hallmark this season (2010).   Every  year there are a few new ones, and this is for Christmas 2010)  The weakest thing may be the poor guy who plays Santa.  I say poor guy because he seems like a really nice man, but Santa he isn’t.  The accent is annoying (whether it’s real or fake) and he’s way too skinny (despite the fact that he eats tons of sugar in his coffee).  Even Leslie Neilsen did a far better job of Santa in the pretty weak “Santa Who?”  Every time I see Neilsen it makes me think of Frank Drebin (Police Squad) or Airplane.  “It’s a big brick building full of beds and patients, but that’s not important right now”.  But I digress.

Lucky for Santa, he arrived at a dysfunctional family with all kinds of bad dynamics.  Mom and Dad are both too busy wrapped up their own lives to pay attention to their kids. This gives Santa a chance to deal with their problems before he finds his own memory back.  But if Santa doesn’t make it back to the North Pole in time, Christmas will be ruined.

This one is not an instant classic.  It’s a decent, but is a little slow.  There’s not a great story going on here.  There are funny things going on, but it’s just got enough going on to make it.  Searching for the Lost Ark is a lot more interesting than searching for the lost bag.   But it’s new, and you haven’t seen it before.  So if you want something new to see, this isn’t the worst thing on TV.

Anonymous Content,  Winter’s Bone Productions

Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Kevin Breznahan,  Dale Dickey, Garret Dilahunt

Winter’s Bone, based on a novel, is a Sundance Film Festival picture. That means it’s a very thoughtful film.  I was really impressed with it.  The story is set in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.  Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a young lady of 17 with a dysfunctional family!  Her mother has serious mental problems, and her Dad is missing.  Formerly a pot grower, he’s moved on to harder drugs and fallen in with some bad people.  Ree also has two little children to take care of.   The film is shot on location and the homes and places are the real places where the actors, all from the area, live.   It really brings the reality of an Ozark winter home.  Ree has a visit from the sheriff who is looking for her father.   After Ree informs him the family has no idea where is he, the sheriff informs her that he is due for trial and he used the house and the land for bail and is nowhere to be found.   In a short time, if he doesn’t show for the trial, he will be declared a runner and the family will be thrown out.   Ree sets out on a quest to find her father.

In this area, families are extended, and it seems everyone around is related by blood or by marriage.  Most don’t get a long very well, and most are really unhappy to have people questioning his whereabouts.

Her quest is endless no matter what evil things fall upon her until she finds enough of the truth to piece together what happened.

This is rated R, but I’m not sure why.  The language is not so harsh, and there is no naughty parts.  But there is violence and certainly evil things happen.  But the story is much too deep for understanding of younger children.  However, for anyone who is able to understand good literature, this is an excellent study of the people who live in this deprived area.  These people live their lives, and don’t have all the luxuries most of us are used to.  Life is hard, but families do love each other and work to make life a little more bearable.

It’s a dark film, and a very thoughtful one, but the authentic regional actors are excellent and because they live here, they know how to portray it spot on.  I was quite impressed with the film, and even watched it again with the director and cinematographer commentary to learn more about the making of the film and the things they were trying to portray.

Highly recommended, not for pure entertainment, but for a very good character study of the people who live in this area.  Very excellent film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Relativity Media

Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Eileen Atkins, Mark Addy

Robin Hood is a story that is one of the most well known in history.  It’s been made into movies dozens of times.  This is a movie that didn’t need to be remade, but it was.  And boy did they give it their best shot.

Russell Crowe does a pretty good Robin Hood.  But this version is probably closer to the legend than many of the others.  Crowe’s Robin of Loxley is not a cheeky smart aleck that jokes and puns his way through his whimsical adventures.  He means business, and of course,  the battles are a huge part of this story, and they are graphically and realistically portrayed.   That’s probably the least favorite of my parts of the movie, but I have to give them credit for the way they are filmed.  

This is the story of those who fought for freedom and liberty from greedy pseudo King John who assumed the throne while his brother Richard was off fighting in the crusades.  In the beginning they tried to work with John and try to deal with him, but when it became clear that it was impossible, the decision to turn outlaw and steal back the taxes taken unfairly and give them back to the people.  It’s a long movie, but I rate it highly if you’re into this type of story.  Though there have been many previous versions that were very good, this one probably gets to the heart of the story really well. 

I didn’t buy Cate Blanchett as Maid Marion, but by the same token, she probably really nailed the part.  It’s just that she wasn’t the way I wanted her to be.  But what do I know.

I didn’t love the film, but I liked it, and I respect the job they did and the technical beauty of the movie, so I rate it pretty high.  It’s one of those that you probably want to see.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog