Love Actually (2003)
DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis
CAST:
Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney,Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Kris Marshall, Heike Makatsch, Martin Freeman, Joanna Page,Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Martine McCutcheon, Thomas Sangster, Lúcia Moniz, Rodrigo Santoro, Rowan Atkinson, Billy Bob Thornton
REVIEW:
Love Actually is taglined as ‘the ultimate romantic comedy’, and while I wouldn’t go that far, it might be the most ambitious. Continue reading
One Magic Christmas (1985)
DIRECTOR: Philip Borsos
CAST: Mary Steenburgen, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Basaraba, Elisabeth Harnois, Robbie Magwood, Arthur Hill, Elias Koteas, Wayne Robson, Jan Rubes
REVIEW:
If a mix of down-to-earth drama about a hard-done-by family struggling during Christmastime and a supernatural fantasy involving Christmas angels and Santa Claus feels a trifle schizophrenic, One Magic Christmas manages to traverse its uncertain terrain about as smoothly as one could reasonably expect. The result is a trifle schmaltzy—what Christmas movie isn’t, unless one’s counting Die Hard—but the screenplay has a level of intelligence, it’s well-acted, and it blends modern problems with an unabashedly old-fashioned feeling.
Continue readingIt’s a Wonderful Life (1947)
DIRECTOR: Frank Capra
CAST: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Ward Bond, Frank Faylen, Gloria Grahame
REVIEW:
Contrary to popular belief, It’s a Wonderful Life took a while to achieve its beloved status and was not an immediate hit. In fact, it received mixed critical reviews and despite being nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, it won none of them and barely made back its budget costs at the box office. But after its copyright was allowed to expire in 1974 and the film entered the public domain, the previously relatively forgotten movie became a mainstay re-running on television during the Christmas season and enraptured new generations of viewers, in both the original black-and-white version and subsequent colorizations, until 1994 when NBC obtained exclusive rights to its television broadcasts. Today, It’s a Wonderful Life is held up as such a timelessly popular Christmas movie (though only the climax actually takes place at Christmastime) that it’s strange to think it was once received lukewarmly. There’s reasons why It’s a Wonderful Life holds a timeless appeal. It’s a “feel good” movie through and through, but a well-constructed “feel good” movie that isn’t so saccharine as to avoid some darker moments (the central premise, after all, involves a man believing the world would be better off if he’d never existed and contemplating suicide) and holds some themes about the importance of the individual and the triumph of human values over penny-pinching bottom lines that feel just as timely and relevant today. Continue reading