Ed's Review Dot Com

Active Entertainment,

Hilarie Burton, Tyler Hilton, Ed Asner, Markie Post, Randy Travis

Katherine (Hilarie Burton)’s marriage has failed so she jumped into her career with both feet. As a NYC marketing executive, she is a workaholic, but her 8 year old son, Zack (Brody Rose) is having a hard time dealing with. Katherine decides to spend Christmas in her home town in Louisiana’s bayou country, where her mother, Lilly (Markie Post)tries to match her up with Caleb (Tyler Hilton), Katherine’s old boyfriend. He’s anxious to win her back and convince her to move back home. Katherine can’t decide between the big city and the quiet, gentler rhythms of her Southern roots. But Papa Noel (Ed Asner) makes a connection with Zack and pulls off a miracle or two.

This is a very different Christmas movie due to the Cajun background in the film. Zack is not familiar with life in the Bayou, so as he learns the customs and traditions of Christmas in a new world where Santa is Papa Noel and travels the swamps in a boat pulled by an alligator, things are very different. But the difference helps to point out how no matter how vastly different, it’s still pretty much all the same. The hopes and wishes of the little boy is the same all over. Ed Asner is very good, as is Markie Post. Actually all the actors are pretty good in this film. It was nice to see Randy Travis, although his part is very small. All in all, this was a warm and touching 2013 premier movie from Lifetime, and one of many nice new additions to the holiday fare. This one is nicely different, and worth catching on TV.

[Here is the home page for this film from Lifetime]

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Lighthouse Pictures,

Haylie Duff, Antonio Cupo, Sean Michael Kyer, Jay Brazeau

Mia (Haylie Duff) is a hardworking employee at a Christmas themed store “Hats of to Christmas” She’s been working hard for 10 years, so when she’s called into the owner’s office she’s expecting a promotion, but is stunned to be asked to train the next CEO the owner’s son Nick (Antonio Cupo) who’s a New York financial whiz and not very happy to be returning to Dad’s store. But the bank is after them and the store may be lost unless Nick can do his magic and save the store. But there is a lot of friction between Mia and Nick as his attitude leaves a lot to be desired. But Mia’s son Scotty (Sean Michael Kyer) takes a liking to Nick, forcing Mom to reconsider her dislike for him.

This new film from Hallmark is a new 2013 Christmas movie and another good one. It’s very similar to a lot of other Christmas stories in that it’s someone trying to save the quirky Christmas store from the evil bankers, and it’s another holiday romance, but it’s still pretty good. We can tell where the talent landed in the Duff family. Haylie has been in several new Christmas films this year, and is very warm and does a good job getting us to like her. Nick is truly two people, because he can be a crass and callous as a NYC financial guy one minute, and truly sweet and considerate. But Nick is actually is a really good guy, who just needs to learn that about himself. All in all it was a nice little movie.

[Click here for the Hallmark page for this movie.]

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2 x 2 Productions, The Asylum,

Alicia Witt, Donald Faison, Christina Milian, Trevor Donavan, Art LaFleur, Steve Tom, Francia Raisa

Meg (Alicia Witt) is a hard nosed producer of TV Christmas movies who is a slave driver. Her own hatred of the holidays is passed on as she makes the cast work throughout the Christmas holiday. An elf like delivery person shows up (Christina Milian) who points out the meanness in Meg’s demeanor to no avail, but an accident with a snow globe knocks Meg in the head and she wakes up in the perfect little town inside the snow globe only to find she is married and has two kids and is the producer of the town Christmas Pageant. Meg has to struggle to find out who she really is and what she values more than work as she gets to know the townsfolk and see more in them that what’s on the surface.

The first thing that smacks me in the face when watching this is that she’s working her team so hard on Christmas Eve to make a Christmas movie for TV. These are made in June or July, so there’s no reason to be working like this in the middle of the holiday season when it’s way too late to be doing this anyway. Yeah, I understand that it could have been a live production on Christmas Eve, but it wasn’t. But we’re supposed to put this aside and suspend belief for a minute. This is a very nice little story, with more detail and richness than some of the other films. In fact, I must admit that with dozens of movies to watch this season for review, I actually watched this one twice. I am kind of a sucker for these “fall asleep and wake up in an alternate reality” movies, and this is a classic one. This is a well done Lifetime premier Christmas movie for 2013.

[Here is the link to the home page for the film A Snow-Globe Christmas]

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Fox Television Studios, Manitoba Film and Video Production Tax Credit, Original Pictures,

Christian Martyn, Eddie Steeples, Jodelle Ferland, Doug Murray, Malcolm McDowell

Finn Baxter (Christian Martyn) is a video game loving youngster who moves with his parents and big sister to Maine for Mom’s job. The kids despise the area and having a hard time fitting in to the new school and new neighborhood, but the worst part is that Finn is convinced the house is haunted. He decides to setup some traps to capture the ghosts. On an evening before Christmas when a snowstorm traps their parents across town, Finn and his sister are left home alone when – not the ghost – but 3 real life art thieves break into the house to steal a valuable painting belonging to the house’s previous owner.

Well, this one ought to finally kill off the Home Alone series. The first one was wonderful, and the second one wasn’t all that bad, but in this, the 5th Home Alone film of this so over series, jumping the shark doesn’t even apply. The shark was jumped so long ago it’s died of old age. They’ve totally given up trying to relate anything to the original films, and have gone completely haywire. They do, however, put a cute little kid on the cover cupping his cheeks in the Macaulay Culkin pose, hoping to coax you to watch this film. Malcolm McDowell is a talented actor, but he’s certainly no Joe Pesci, and the story is pretty horrid. It’s just really fluff, trying to get something on film to put in the box with a cute kid on the cover. I suggest you don’t waste your time on this junk. It would be much more fun to watch the original Home Alone again, as I’d rather watch it over and over 15 times than watch this.

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Hybrid, HFD Productions,

Tatyana Ali, Jordin Sparks, Bill Cobbs, Della Reese, Ernie Hudson, Larmorne Morris

Jennifer (Tatiana Ali) is a busy banker who lives in Los Angeles, but she gets a call that her father Ted (Bill Cobbs) has suffered a serious fall while putting up decorations. When she is unable to reach him, she takes off an drives to the small town up north where she grew up. She finds her Dad fine, but she decides to stay. While there she sees lots of old friends who reconnect. But when a series of mysterious letters start to appear in her mailbox, she becomes obsessed with finding out which of the people she knows could be her Secret Santa. When she finally learns who it is, it is a very unusual mystery of how she can be with the one writing the letters. In the process she learns a lot about who she really is.

“A Lake House Christmas” could be the title of this film, as it’s uses the same plot devices that Lake House used. Letters from the past appear and disappear from inside this mailbox as she tries to connect with someone from the past. This is an interesting take on the story, and though it’s not nearly technically explained as it was in Lake House (People here seem to accept the letters from the past pretty easily, perhaps because it’s the second time we’ve seen this trick), it’s still a pretty interesting story. The acting is good, with a good cast, and it’s a rather clever story, even if it’s directly taken from another work. With a mostly African-American cast, this film is very well done and takes itself very seriously. Although humorous at times, it’s a really good film. Though she and her Father do not see eye to eye, mostly since her Mother’s passing, these are really good people with good intentions, and Jennifer is lucky to be surrounded by really good friends who help her find her center. This is a nice little Christmas story.

[Click here for the Lifetime home page for this film]

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