Ed's Review Dot Com

ABC Family, Insight Film Studios, Madacy Entertainment

This modern take on the Christmas Carol story is a bit loony. The ghosts are normal people, and not at all like the traditional story goes. And things get all screwed up and twisted around in weird way. Since it’s Tom Arnold, it’s a bit silly. Ok, not a bit, it’s a lot silly. This is good, maybe for a single viewing, but it’s not something you’re going to watch again and again. As much as I love the Christmas Carol story, I just can’t get into this version. It was a nice try to freshen it and make it new again, but it’s just so stupid that it doesn’t cut it. I don’t recommend this, unless you’ve never seen it, and you’re a Tom Arnold fan.

This is a short segment showing the opening titles and the very beginning of the film:

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Insight Film Studios, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC), Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC

Lacey Chabert, Tygh Runyan, Brandon Quinn, Mercedes McNab

Two couples are stranded deep in the desert when thier truck rolls down a ravine. They are far from anywhere and short on supplies. As the days pass, they have no water, and suffer dearly in the sun and heat, and fight wild animals and cold at night. With no one to help, is it possible that any of them can survive?

This film was released to video in 2010, and is often available for rent, or on TV. I caught it on “Watch Instantly” on what is left of NetFlix. This is a fairly clever survival movie. It has it’s problems. Some of the decisions they make are pretty stupid decisions. At one point, deeply lost in the desert, there are electrical wires in the distance. Oops.

This is sometimes billed as a horror film. It’s not. It’s a suspenseful survival film though. Not a well known film, but it’s got a “made for TV” feel to it, even though it’s not, really. But all that aside, it’s a story that has its moments and will drag you in and keep you interested. It could be much worse. Give it a shot if you’re in the mood for a suspenseful story.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Insight Film Studios, Cinamour Entertainmnet, BDS Productions

Lea Thompson, Andrew Airlie, Rachel Hayward, Doug Abrahams, Christina Jastrzembska, Rick Ravanello, Richard Ian Cox, Fiona Martinelli, Jill Morrison, Cashel Satchwell

Sophie (Lea Thompson) is a working mother.  She’s a lawyer and stressed out.  It’s just too much trying to do it all.  So she makes (and gets) a Christmas wish that she had concentrated on her career and not married and had children.  Of course, very “It’s a Wonderful Life” style, she finds that getting your wish is not always what you expected.  So she goes into overdrive trying how to undo the wish.  But it’s not that easy.  She only has until Christmas Eve to return her “gift”.

This is a familiar story, and I like “The Family Man” or “Comfort and Joy” more than this one, but that being said, this is still a cute movie.  Lea Thompson is good, as usual, but her character is a bit high strung and she runs around like a chicken with her head cut off through most of the movie.  Still, it’s not that bad, and it’s nice to see a different take on the same old story.   It’s a simple diversion, and at least your life is probably better than hers anyway, so it makes things seem not so bad and might lift your spirits a bit.  Just be careful before you wish half of your life away!

Insight Film Studios, Regent Entertainment, Shavick Entertainment

George Hamilton, Brooke Nevin, Donna Mills, Adrienne Carter, Michael Gelbart, Barclay Hope, Ryan McDonell, Adam Harrington, Ingrid Torrance

Lindsay Dearborn (Brooke Nevin) is sixteen and so bored with the whole Christmas with the family thing.  She wants to go on a skiing trip for the holidays where a very cute guy she’s into is going to be.  Her parents refuse and insist she is going to be home for Christmas so Lindsay has decided to go anyway without her dad’s permission.  But something her mother says about how she has never done anything for anyone but herself makes her feel bad, so she visits the mall Santa that she insulted earlier to make it up and finds out things aren’t going so well with Mrs. Claus.  So she decides to give Santa a makeover.  A haircut and a shave makes him suddenly leatherly tanned.  In fact, Santa looks a lot like George Hamilton.  She takes him to the store to buy a new suit and to the gym to get in shape.

This is one of the worst Christmas films I’ve seen all year.  It wasn’t even cool in 2004!   Santa and Lindsay fly house to house in a red convertible, while he tries to win over Lindsay.   And as time passes, the movie gets more and move silly and move and more predictable.  The mall guards are psychopaths and ought to be locked up.   All in all, Santa running around in a dress suit with dyed hair and refusing cookies is pretty silly, but the flying car and the “I can speak perfect Japanese if I just pull my left ear 4 times” is REALLY silly.