Ed's Review Dot Com

Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA), Soundchef Studios,

Nicollette Sheridan, Olympia Dukakis, Sammi Hanratty, Bart Johnson

Charlotte (Nicollette Sheridan) is a journalist, but due to the fact that she gets too involved in her stories, she’s home with her family in a small town for the holidays. I big real estate developer has arrived and wants to revitalize the town and renovate everything. They are harboring a secret, and Charlotte can sense something is wrong, so she sets out to get the story and to protect the town. On the way to visit the developer, she’s in a serious car accident, and though her body is in a coma, her spirit is up and free to roam around. But no one can see her. She finds that the car who ran into her was driven by the developer, and he’s also in a coma. In order to return to life, they have to figure out the right thing to do and help to convince the town to make the right choices. However, the developer, though she’s attracted to him, is fighting her all the way.

This new Hallmark film for 2013 is a rather cute little story. It was not the greatest Christmas movie of all time, but it was a bit different and kind of interesting. I enjoyed the story, even though it was really predictable, but what Christmas movie isn’t, really? Olympia Dukakis played an interesting character here, as the only one with the ability to see the spirit. Part Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense, and part Whoppee Goldberg from Ghost, she’s actually pretty funny and a great addition to the film. The rest of the performances are just adequate, but it’s not all that bad. It will be on Hallmark all month long, so if you get a chance to catch it, it’s worth the effort.

Click here for the Hallmark page for this film]

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Cartel Pictures, Odyssey Media, Victory Angel Films,

Dean Cain, Jud Tylor, Bill Lewis, Jamie McRae, Cooper Barnes, Jodie Sweetin, Seth Menachem, John Savage

Santa (Bill Lewis) is knocked from the sleigh returning to the North Pole through the opening in space and falls to the ground where he’s found by Sheriff Hanson (Dean Cain) He insists he is the real Santa, so they politicians want him locked up for his own safety. But unless the trail to determine whether he is the real Santa or not is complete, he cannot return through the opening to get back to the North Pole for the next Christmas Eve.

Obviously stolen from Miracle on 34th Street, this is a play on the old crazy man who thinks he’s Santa theme. It’s actually a pretty good film, and another hit for the ION channel who has done a number of really decent films this Christmas. Santa in this film is very good. It’s an tough role to play, as many other people have done it, and it’s difficult to be yourself and still pull it off. This guy does. Some of the stuff is pretty silly, and although I am a fan of Dean Cain, he does take himself (and his role a small town USA sheriff) a little too seriously. But aside from that, it’s a really cute Christmas film, and very much worth your time watching this. It’s nice to have a few new films every year, and this is definitely a decent addition. This is not going to become a Christmas Classic, but it’s quite enjoyable and ION is doing a really good job this year.

[Here is the home page from ION Television for this film.]

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National Broadcasting Company (NBC), The Jim Henson Company, Jim Henson Productions,

Steve Whitmire, Dave Goltz, Bill Baretta, Eric Jacobson, David Arquette, Joan Cusack, Matthew Lilliard, William H Macy, Whoppee Goldberg

On Christmas Eve we find Kermit very depressed. He’s lost everything and the famous Muppet Theater is about to be foreclosed upon. An angel, Daniel (David Arquette), upon watching the sad sight, petitions his boss, God? (Whoppee Goldberg) to send someone to interfere and help Kermit feel better. Then via flashback we see the circumstances unfold as to how and why the theater was lost.

I am not sure how I have never seen this movie before. It’s from 2002, so this was a long time ago, but I never have. It seems they recycled the plot in many ways for the most recent film, “The Muppets”. There are many similarities, but this is much earlier in the Muppet’s career, so this would have happened long before the last movie. As in all Muppet films, this one has tons of cameo appearances, and so as not to spoil them, I’ll leave it to you to find them while watching the movie. This is a pretty good Mupett film. It’s nowhere to the level of A Muppet Christmas Carol which is an unbelievably good film, but this is strong, standard Muppet fare. It’s fairly predictable, but the outcome is not the goal. The goal is the journey, as they say, and the snappy one liners, music, and big stage productions, at which the Muppet’s have always excelled. The kids will love this, but so will the parents, and so I feel this is a fabulous family Christmas film, and though you probably won’t want to repeat it over and over like some classics, if you haven’t seen it, it’s sure to be a fun experience.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Johnson Production Group,

Ashley Williams, Ashanti, Shanola Hampton, Jon Prescott, Michael Durrell, Kylie Price, David Ralphe, Josh Crotty, Beverly Leech

Wendy (Ashley Williams) and her Mom are trying to save her deceased father’s toy store in their town, but the bank is about to foreclose so she heads to the city to take a position at Wolman’s, the largest department store in the city. But the store has lost the family feel that the store once had and is being controlled by the “board” who sends an expert (Ashanti) in to streamline and modernize the store and improve the bottom line. She fires the Santa and brings in a group of hunky Santa strippers, eliminates the Christmas bonuses and the day care facilities that the family friendly store used to have. So Wendy is trying to help, but runs afoul of the scheming woman who sets out to destroy her. Can she save the store and figure a way to save her Dad’s store at the same time?

This is a traditional Christmas film about the evils of big corporate and the niceness of family owned businesses. There’s a lot to be said for that scenario I guess, in real life every day. In this case though Ashanti plays a really good villain, and it’s not hard at all to hate her from the get go. She seems to be having a great time playing the bad guy in this movie, and she does a great job. Of course the owners of the store are an elderly father and his son who plays the love interest for Wendy. All in all it’s a concise story, well written, and very well performed. It’s interesting and fun, and a really nice Lifetime movie premier in 2013.

[Here is the official Lifetime home page for the movie and a link to watch it in full on-line]

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday December 17, 2013

• Elysium [Click Here for Ed’s Review]
• Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
• Devil’s Pass
• The Family
• Force of Execution
• Kick-Ass 2
• The Lone Ranger
• One Direction: This is Us
• Prisoners
• The Sound of Music Live!