Ed's Review Dot Com

Legendary Entertainment Alliance,

Garry Moore, Durwood Kirby, Marion Loren, Carol Burnette, Charlie Weaver, Mahalia Jackson, Jonathan Winters, Julie Andrews, Buster Keaton

This very old classic TV Christmas Episodes of The Garry Moore Show from the 1950′s is presented in their original form. These have not been seen in 50 years. The audio has been remastered and is very good considering the age of these TV shows. Filled with skits, songs, dancing, and lots of funny banter, even the commercials which in those days were worked into the show. This takes you back to the days when TV was king.

This title would lead you to believe that it is from the Carol Burnett Show era with Tim Conway, Lyle Waggoner, and Harvey Korman. It’s not at all. Many will remember that Carol Burnett started out as a regular on The Garry Moore Show long before she became a household name. But I suppose the makers of the DVD figured not near as many people would remmber Garry Moore. So they intentionally dropped the original title “The Garry Moore Show Presents:” to make it appear to be from the Carol Burnett Show era. Unfortunately Carol has a few small parts and appears just a handful of times. But if they had advertised it honestly, this is a great look back at a few decades earlier when Carol was but a kid, and TV variety shows were just finding their way. These are touching series, and it is very full of the holiday spirit. There are some really great appearances here, and some great music. This is a good look back at the classic early days of TV, and well worth it, but I took off some stars for the dirty trick of removing a reference to what the show actually is in the title. Don’t be fooled thinking you are getting something else. Some of the little bits Carol does, on the other hand, are very funny, and give you a glimpse of the comedienne inside waiting to burst out in just a few years. I found it enjoyble as I remember those days.

RSN Productions,

Torrey DeVito, Callard Harris, Matthew Felker, Kenneth Choi, Alix Elizabeth Gitter

Kate (Torrey DeVito) is a psychiatris in a children’s mental institute who is caught in an earthquake. A young man, Nick (Callard Harris) protects her and saves her from harm in the earthquake, but he falls and hits his head and knocks himself out. When he wakes, he thinks he’s Santa Claus, so Kate takes him to the hospital to care for him. While he’s there, he brings Christmas spirit to all the kids, and to the whole place except for Kate’s boss who hates Christmas. As Nick gets closer to the kids, he looks for a way to reach them, especially one troubled little girl, but all the while the sparks begin to fly between Kate and Nick and it becomes very clear they like each other a lot.

This final new 2012 Christmas Movie premier is a pretty nice little film. Torrey DeVito may look familiar to you, as she’s appeared in many different TV series and has a pretty decent career. She’s really a pretty good actress and this movie has enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. The patients each have their own issues and troubles. This should be another repetative, “Santa gets hit in the head” movie, but it’s actually quite unique in it’s own way. I suspect this one will be back next year, any maybe once or twice more this season, and if you get a chance to catch this new Lifetime premier, it’s well worth the time and error to see it. It’s a really sweet little gem.

Here is the web page for this brand new Lifetime premier film.

2DS Productions, Overture Films, State Street Pictures,

John Leguizamo, Alfred Molina, Freddy Rodriguez, Debra Messing, Elizabeth Peña, Luis Guzmán, Vanessa Ferlito, Melonie Diaz, Jay Hernandez

Alfred Molina is the patriarch of this Puerto Rican family from Chicago. For the first time in many years, the whole family is home for Christmas, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Everyone has their own drama, when Mama (Elizabeth Pena) announces she wants a divorce. On boy is home from Iraq where he witnessed the death of his close friend, another is in a crisis between having a career and family, and another is an actress who’s finding it a lot harder than anyone knows to survive in a cutthroat business like this. All in all, everyone has secrets and nobody wants to come clean.

This is a fairly interesting film for everyone, as most every family can relate to some of the crisis going on. But it’s rare to have a film with a Puerto Rican cast that deals directly with the holiday pressures facing this particular ethnic community. There are some great actors in this film, and it’s very well written. The only problem is there is so much drama and so many subplots going on, that all get wrapped up nicely in under 10 minutes. It’s like someone looked at the clock and said “Holy crap, we’re out of time, we gotta wrap this up!” THe pacing of the end was really rushed. But otherwise, it’s a charming Christmassy film that has been around for a number of years and is certainly very worth seeking. The tag line for this movie ought to be “Everybody’s human” as that is the real message of this film. We’re all flawed, and just trying to get by as best we can.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Chesler/Perlmutter Productions,

Casper Van Dien, Rachel Wilson, Ella Ballentine, Natalie Lisinska, Art Hindle

Two lawyers don’t get along at all. But their siblings have met and married and are now expecting a child at Christmas. So off to New York they trek to try to make peace and offer their support for the birth. But when they arrive, they find out that their siblings are in deep financial trouble. He has lost his job and the bank is going to foreclose on their house. To top it off, one of them is working for the law firm whose client is foreclosing the houses to purchase the property for high rise buildings. To make matters worse, the mother to be is having health issue that could risk the delivery and herself. All have to come together despite their rocky relationship.

This Hallmark film has been released for Christmas 2012 and perhaps is one of the weakest. It’s not a bad film, and there is a lot of tension between the son and his father that needs to be resolved. Perhaps he is an overachiever due to the neglect by his father. But this is probably the best relationship in the film. The relationship between the two stars is rather contrived, and not very believable to me. The go through the motions, but there’s not a whole lot to latch on to here. The suspense of the baby’s delivery is not really that suspenseful, really. It’s pretty obvious that hospitals today can take care of these kids of problems every day. There is a little girl for the cute factor, older daughter of the expecting parents, but she’s not really given much to do either. Basically, this film is rather ho-hum, and never really gets rolling. It’s okay to pass the time, but not really worth searching for. Skip it unless you’re bored and there’s nothing else to watch.

Here is the link to the Hallmark web page for this film.

Johnson Production Group, Nomadic Pictures,

Shelley Long, George Wendt, Kassia Warshawski, Lucas Bryant

Alex (Kassia Warshawski) has a son. She has met the nicest guy and is very happy. But Peter (Lucas Bryant) is really into the Christmas thing, and Alex’s family, especially her father, is very anti-Christmas. They’re planning to marry, but Alex really wants to meet Peter’s parents, and they’re very busy with their toy business up north like in Alaska or something. Finally they decide to come down and visit until Christmas Eve, but then the sparks start to fly as the secrets behind the family toy business drives everyone crazy!

This Lifetime Christmas movie is very similar to many others. The thing that makes this one stand out is the fact that Santa and Mrs. Claus are played by George Wendt and Shelley Long. They make one of the best Claus’ that I have ever seen. George is really getting good at playing Santa. The little boy is very charming, and the relationship between Alex and Peter is very well done. Basically, the actors in this film are very good, so the fact that it’s so similar is not so important when it’s very well done. This film is very cute, and a very heartwarming movie, and really brings the Christmas spirit home. I can recommend this now for 2012 Christmas movie premiering in 2012 on Lifetime!

Here is the home page for this Christmas movie at Lifetime.