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Tag Archives: Seasonal
New Year’s Movies To Watch Out For!
When the holidays are over, and affordable, indoor entertainment is called for, watch out for these winter warmer movies, coming your way next month.
If horror is your thing, in the first week of January, The Devil Inside, in theaters from January 6, tells the tales of a woman inItaly who becomes involved in a string of unauthorized exorcisms, as she attempts to find out what happened to her mom, alleged to have killed three people during her own exorcism.
More of a drama fan? The Roadie, which has a limited release on the same day, is the story of musician Jimmy Testagros, who returns to his hometown after two decades on the road with Blue Oyster Cult to care for his sick mother. Things get complicated when he falls in love with an old friend, now married to his long-time nemesis.
There’s another thriller in store with Beneath the Darkness, starring Dennis Quaid, in which a group of teenagers works to expose a local man as the vicious killer of their best friend, and avoid becoming his next victims.
Action drama Contraband, starring Kate Beckinsale and Mark Wahlberg, opens the following week. It takes a look at the underground, cutthroat world of global smuggling, and is a story of desperate criminals, corrupt officials, big payoffs and high stakes.
For something a little lighter, Joyful Noise also has a January 13 release, and is a musical comedy starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton as two choir members with different views on how to grab the top prize in a nationwide choir competition.
With Beauty and the Beast, a 3-D re-release of the Disney classic, and Meryl Streep’s much hyped The Iron Lady also to look forward to, January looks set to be a great month for movie lovers!
Photo © Andres Rodrigo Gonza – Fotolia.com
Celluloid Santas: Which Is Your Favorite?
Santa Claus features in so many motion pictures that it’s almost as if Santa movies are their own sub-genre of cinema. In fact, these films go way back to 1897, when, in a short called Santa Claus Filling Stockings, the bearded one is just doing that. Nothing else is happeningjust Santa filling stockings! There were other Santa pictures in the three subsequent years after that. And there were further interpretations of the fat guy in the red costume in the 1920s, 1940s and 1960s. Some films even explored the origins of the mythical figure.
More recently, notable Saint Nicks include Dan Ackroyd in the 1983 picture Trading Places, which portrayed the world’s most famous gift-giver as a down and out. David Huddleston took on the role in 1985’s: Santa Claus: The Movie.
In 1994, legendary British actor and director Richard Attenborough donned the red suit in Miracle on 34th Street, though perhaps his beard needed a little work. The films centers on the disbelief of young Susan, whose mother employs a kindly old man to play Santa Claus at Macy’s; he later persuades Susan that he really is Santa
In the same year, Tim Allen committed the ultimate Yuletide crime in The Santa Clause by accidentally causing the man himself to fall off his roof. Allen dons Santa robes to do the job of Father Christmas himself, eventually falling in love with the role. The movie spawned two sequels.
Other pictures, such as The Nightmare before Christmas (1993) by Tim Burton and 2003’s Bad Santa feature impostors. In the latter, Billy Bob Thornton plays a miserable conman.
Finally, this year’s Arthur Christmas is an animated movie about the Claus dynasty, with Santa passing on the title, workshop and responsibilities to his son, down the generations.
These are just some of the celluloid incarnations of the great onewhich one is your favorite?
Photo © Sandra Cunningham – Fotolia.com
Tagged Christmas, family, Santa Claus, Seasonal
Irreverent Christmas Movies
Don’t like all the warm fuzziness of Christmas? These films bring new meaning to the term “naughty or nice.”
Bad Santa (2003)—Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) plays Santa every year at the mall, and dwarf friend Marcus (Tony Cox) is always his elf. Each year the duo steal from the mall after hours and have yet to be caught. This all changes when Willie befriends a lonely boy he calls The Kid (Brett Kelly) and attempts to give him fatherly advice and guidance. Lauren Graham plays his bartender love interest Sue, and Bernie Mac is the corrupt Security Chief who wants in on the next heist.
Black Christmas (2006)—In this remake of the 1974 film of the same name, Billy (Robert Mann) and his daughter Agnes (Dean Friss) snap because of their horrific upbringings and begin a killing spree on Christmas Eve. After killing a man in a Santa suit, Billy dons the costume, and Agnes begins murdering sorority sisters who—to outsiders—mysteriously go missing. This film also stars Michelle Trachtenberg in a minor role.
Santa’s Slay (2005)—Santa (Bill Goldberg) is not who everyone thought it was. It turns out he was the product of an immaculate birth from Satan and has been forced to hand out presents for the past 100 years. Only now, the 100 years are up and he is free to continue his killing spree. Santa kills everyone in his path in a plethora of horrific ways until the holiday ends and he returns to the North Pole until next year.
Photo © davorr – Fotolia.com
Five Classic Christmas Movies
Which of these iconic Christmas films have you seen?
1. Miracle on 34th Street (1947, 1994) Kris Kringle reluctantly becomes Macys’ Santa Clause after their other employee is fired for intoxication. Kris is such a convincing Santa Clause that people begin to wonder whether he could in fact be the real thing.
2. A Christmas Carol (1938, 1951, 1971, 2001, 2009) Ebenezer Scrooge is a miser who hates Christmas and refuses to participate in the holiday. He is visited by three spirits: the Ghost Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and all three teach him the true meaning of the holiday.
3. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Perhaps the most iconic Christmas film, depressed George Bailey (James Stewart) is visited by an angel trying to get his wings (Henry Travers). The angel shows him how important his life has been, and what his town of Bedford Falls would be like if he were never born.
4. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) Charlie Brown is frustrated by the over-commercialization of Christmas. He buys a sad little Christmas tree and helps his friends remember the importance of the holiday by putting on a Nativity play.
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966, 2002) The Grinch lives on Mt. Crumpit and swoops down in a Santa costume in an attempt to steal Christmas from innocent and merry Whoville. However, Whoville continues on with their joyous spirits, much to the dismay of the grumpy loner.
Photo © Jon Le-Bon – Fotolia.com
Tagged Christmas movies, classics, cult classics, drama, family, Seasonal
ABC Family Christmas Movies
Holiday in Handcuffs (2007) Gertrude “Trudie”Chandler (Melissa Joan Hart) has just been dumped by her short-term boyfriend right before the two were supposed to meet her family for the holidays. Trudie, who is notoriously unlucky in love, desperately kidnaps a patron at the restaurant where she waitresses and forces him to accompany her to the secluded cabin her parents have rented for the weekend. David Martin (Mario Lopez) at first protests, but after growing to appreciate and respect her family he goes along with it for Trudie’s sake. Only know Trudie is faced with a different dilemma—what if her family loves David more than they love her? And what will happen when the weekend’s over?
Snowglobe (2007) Angela Moreno (Christina Milian) is a working-class girl who is disappointed that her family doesn’t celebrate Christmas traditionally but instead feasts on green-colored noodles. She receives a mysterious snow globe in the mail from an unknown sender, and once she falls asleep she finds herself inside the magical wonderland. At first she becomes mesmerized by the seemingly-perfect little village, until that perfection finds its way out of the snow globe and into her 21st Century life. Suddenly Angela realizes that perfection may come in many different forms.
Christmas Cupid (2010) Sloan Spencer (Christina Milian) is competing for the VP spot at her PR firm when one of her top clients accidentally chokes on an olive and dies. The client, Caitlinn Quinn (Ashley Benson), returns as a ghost sent to help Sloan improve her shallow life and discover what really matters. She is visited by three ghosts of “boyfriends past” and realizes how much she hurt her college boyfriend Patrick (Chad Michael Murray) and how unsatisfactory her current relationship is.
Photo © kjolak – Fotolia.com
Tagged Christmas, drama, made for tv, Seasonal
Movies With New Years Scenes
In anticipation of the new movie New Year’s Eve coming to theaters on December 9th, here are three films with memorable New Years Eve scenes that make viewers feel warm and fuzzy.
1. Alfie (2004) Perpetual player and bachelor Alfie (Jude Law) meets Nikki (Sienna Miller) while on duty as a chauffeur in New York City during the holidays. Alfie feels he has finally met someone he can see himself spending the rest of his life with, and this feeling culminates at a swanky and hip New Year’s Eve party where the two enjoy being young, beautiful and restless together.
2. When Harry Met Sally (1989) Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) have a love-hate friendship over a matter of years following their college graduation. They see each other through breakups, heartache and dissatisfaction, and ultimately develop feelings for each other. When a one night stand changes everything, they try to go on without each other, until New Year’s Eve where Sally leaves a party early and Harry sprints through town in order to tell her how he feels about her before the ball drops.
3. Sex and the City (2008) Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mr. Big (Chris Noth) continue their tumultuous relationship in this blockbuster movie. When Carrie and Mr. Big seem to end things for good, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) separates from her husband after his infidelity, both women find themselves alone on New Year’s Eve. Despite both of their initial desires to spend the holiday alone in their respective residences, Carrie runs to Miranda and the two count down the minutes together.
Photo © TheSupe87 – Fotolia.com
Tagged cult classics, holiday, New Years, Seasonal