Thursday 31 March 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – OFF SEASON

 

10-year-old, Jackson Mayhew (Rory Culkin) moves in with his Aunt (Sherilyn Fenn) after the death of his parents.

Aunt Patty works the bar at the Coconut Grotto hotel in Florida and its at the Hotel where Jackson befriends an elderly man Sam Clausner (Hum Cronyn) and he begins to suspect that the old man is actually Santa Claus,

The wonderful Hume Cronyn's is brilliant and plays his role with panache and will be remembered as a holiday classic.

His flawless performance was given despite the fact he was almost 90 years old.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS TREE FARM

 

Molly Logan (Lacey Chabert) and Lucas Bishop (Corey Sevier) were childhood friends and high school sweethearts in Danbury Falls, Vermont, where Molly's family founded the town two hundred years earlier, and with her immediately family still living on the same property, where her parents, Gordon and Betty Logan (Eric Keenleyside and Lini Evans), have continued the family business of operating a Christmas tree farm.

Since they were children, Molly knew she wanted to become a writer, a dream which her parents supported while Lucas knew he wanted to become a photographer, something his banker father, Elliot Bishop (James Kidnie) vehemently opposed him pursuing as a career, he believed only in careers like his own, and making money by any and all means.

When he would not follow her to New York, where they would have pursued their professional dreams together, Molly and Lucas broke up and had not seen each other since.

After getting an MBA, Lucas returned to Danbury Falls to work at the bank for his father.

Molly works at a publishing house, where she is treated more as a 24/7 PA by her recently widowed boss, Walter Dunlap (Jim Thorburn) at the expense of her writing career.

When Molly hears from her brother Ryan (Matthew Kevin Anderson) that the bank is foreclosing on a mortgage for the tree farm property they both head back to Danbury Falls to help their parents save the farm from being turned into a golf resort.

On her return, Molly runs into Lucas, who is heading the search for investors for the development proposal and then Christmas begins to work its magic.

Friday 25 March 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (1988)

 

As World War 2 rages on in Europe the Bundy family are making plans for a Christmas reunion in the small town of Rockport.

The matriarch Martha (Eva Marie Saint) cashes in all of her ration-stamps to purchase the best Christmas dinner she can with everyone expected round the table.

Rockport is a small town where everyone knows everyone else and the tough times bring them even closer.
But the one person no one wants to see at their door is the Western Union man, because most of the news he delivers are telegrams from the War Department, reporting the death of a loved one and sadly he makes his rounds far too often.
This is a wonderful Christmas movies with happiness and sadness in equal measure and some strong performances, Hal Holbrook as head of the family, Joseph, Courteney Cox as expectant daughter in law Nora, and the strongest of all Nancy Travis as young widow Leah.

 

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – 12 DATES OF CHRISTMAS

 

This is very much a case of Groundhog Day meeting Christmas but is an absolute delight.

12 Dates of Christmas is a romantic comedy that follows Kate (Amy Smart) who is forced to relive the same first date on Christmas Eve with Miles (Mark-Paul Gosselaar).

Initially she focuses on trying to win back her ex-boyfriend.

But Kate actually ends up pursuing Miles in an effort to not keep ruining there blind date.

Kate finally sees the light and learns to take risks in her life as there are no consequences when the the slate is wiped clean at midnight.

Everything comes good in the end and Kate finds happiness with the handsome guy she's been set up with.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS COOKIES

 

Aunt Sally's Christmas Cookie Company is sold to a large conglomerate and executive Hannah Harper (Jill Wagner) must seal the deal and shut down the factory in the small town of Cookie Jar, which is the lifeblood of the town.

What was supposed to be a simple assignment for Hannah becomes complicated when she meets Jake Carter (Wes Brown), the factory owner, who is determined to keep the factory in the town.

Despite Jill not being a fan of the holiday, the Christmas spirit in this small town is infectious and she gets swept up in the joy of the season while also falling in love.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS HEART

 

A teenage boy collapses during a high school basketball game after suffering from a heart problem.

As his condition deteriorates it becomes clear that the only thing that will save him is a heart transplant.

After a near fatal set back the family are told that he will die if a doner heart doesn’t become available by Christmas Eve.

the quaint street where the family live have a forty-year old tradition of lining it with Christmas luminaries but the lighting of them is put on hold until they get news of a doner heart.

And when on a stormy Christmas Eve when the heart is being flown through a violent snow storm the luminaries are lit and perform an unexpected purpose.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – SCROOGE (1970)

 

Albert Finney stars as miser Ebenezer Scrooge in this musical retelling of Charles Dickens' “A Christmas Carol”.

The classic tale in which he is taught the true meaning of Christmas by three Spirits who visit him, revealing to him the truth about his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current catalogue of cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways.

Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold, death or redemption.

The Spirits are played by Edith Evans (Past), Kenneth More (Present) and Paddy Stone (Future)

The other key characters and portrayed by Alec Guinness (Marley), Suzanne Neve (Belle), David Collings and Frances Cuka (The Cratchit’s), Richard Beaumont (Tiny Tim), Laurence Naismith and Kay Walsh (The Fezziwig’s), Michael Medwin (Fred) and Anton Rodgers (Tom Jenkins).