ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[memento]

Plot: This is a delightful musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol. Cold-souled Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart after spirit visitations on Christmas Eve. Folks might not have had much to sing about in England in 1860, but this musical will make you believe otherwise. Kenneth More's musical number as the Ghost of Christmas Present is especially entertaining.

[oilgun]

Plot:   This is the story of a solidly middle-class African-American family that reunites for Christmas for the first time in seveal years. Ma'dere (Loretta Devine) is the Matriarch who's Los Angeles home is where the vast majority of the story takes place. As with any family gathering there are topics that are best not discussed. When they are discussed here they end up in fights -verbal or physical (an excellent sister-on sister catfight stands out here). One sister is encouraging the siblings to sell the family dry cleaning business and split the profits. One bother is running from loan sharks. One brother is AWOL from the Marine Corps and One sister has brought along the man she's dating at a historically Black college. Despite what the trailers and TV commercials may lead you to think this is not a warm syurpy comedy. There are dramatic moments, violence and course language. It is however very much a slice-of-life that not enough hollywood features present. This family, warts and all, is definitely not a hollywood feel-good film with blackfaces. It is authentic in it's portrayal of themes facing African-Americans in particular but Americans in general.

==ASIDE -Paul==
You like Jason Behr, right?  Well, run, don't walk, to your nearest Blockbuster's and rent THE TATTOOIST.  It reminded me of STIR OF ECHOES, another excellent occult thriller.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  For the most part, "Universal Signs" works when it sticks to the world of the deaf characters and how they deal with the world, including such mundane tasks as being awoken by an alarm clock -- the alarm is silent, but a light flashes -- to how they deal with panhandlers who pretend to be deaf, something any major city dweller has come across more than once.

Where this film fails is when it abandons those bits and attempts to force a melodramatic plot point onto the story in some misguided hope that an audience's familiarity with the cliché will translate into a better understanding of the soundless world of the deaf. This is naïve on writer/director Ann Calamia's part and nearly ruins her wonderful film.

I am not deaf or hearing impaired, nor is anyone in my family, so, for me, watching our handsome leading man negotiate his normal workaday was the fascinating part. How does a deaf person handle it when a hearing person continues talking to him without realizing they are speaking to a deaf person; when do you spring that information on the person? How does a deaf person deal with other people thinking they are rude because they don't answer when spoken to or ever acknowledge a door knocking or the phone ringing? What do deaf people sign about when us hearing people aren't looking? This is the interesting stuff and early on, "Universal Signs" delves into that world with a bravery and gusto that could have made this film a breakthrough, like an "Annie Hall" for the deaf.

Consider the pluses:  we have a charming leading lady in Mary, played by Sabrina Lloyd, who, while not exactly copying Diane Keaton, has the kind of loopy intelligence and humor that shines right through her shy, awkward smile. The hero, Andrew, is played by a very charismatic actor named Anthony Natale, who reminds me of a pre-Sundance Kid Robert Redford, right down to the blond hair and broad shoulders. This guy is good and can express more intelligent thought with his eyes than most actors can with a two-page soliloquy.

[snip]

There is a wonderfully dysfunctional Easter dinner with Mary's family where individual tempers flare but it's all done with sign language. Margot Kidder steals this section of the film in a much-too-short cameo role as Mary's mother -- who is a sassy, signing, drunkard who cops a feel of Andrew's butt after admiring his muscles -- that just brought the house down.

[southendmd]

IMDb user:  ...Sally Kellerman is timeless and so sadly sexy and subtly miserable. William Hurt is just dreamy. Apparently his first film, and yet he shows here all the charisma of later films with a brand of boyish charm that should be bottled and sold over the counter.

Keywords:  WWII, Christmas


=aside= Gil
I'm so there! Thanks for the heads' up.

[memento]

From IMDB: This was one of the least recognized horror films of the year, which disgusts me. Wind Chill is a more than descent horror movie, which is rare these days. It's about two college students who are going home for the Christmas holiday. But as they're driving along a deserted back road known as "Scenic 606", they crash into a snow bank and become stranded in the bitter cold, far away from civilization. At first they think that the cold weather is all they have to deal with... they're wrong! Strange things begin to happen as they discover that vengeful ghosts are out to get them. Now it's not the most original story, and it was rather predictable, but Wind Chill in my mind is one of the years best horror movies - hands down! And it was a pretty bad year in the horror industry, but even by general standards this was at least an average horror flick. The problem these days is that everybody spends they're time bashing all the awful horror movies that are coming in huge waves. Because of this, nobody takes the time to acknowledge some of the good ones that make their way on to the scene. I think "Wind Chill" is a prime sufferer of this. Really good movie though. It is most definitely worth your time.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  It is the Christmas season in northern Indiana, and Ralphie desperately wants a genuine Red Rider BB gun under the tree. The movie revolves around this pursuit and how Ralphie tries to overcome the obstacles in obtaining this gift, mainly in the form of adults who bleat, "You'll shoot your eye out!"

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvMLfSQrHKE[/youtube]

Trailer 2:15

[Fran]

IMDb plot keywords include "Christmas."

Helen Twelvetrees, who played Allie Smith, was born
on Christmas Day, 1908, in Brooklyn, New York.

From allmovie.com:  Based on "Veneer," a 1929 Broadway flop by Hugh Stange, this sentimental domestic drama came to the screens in early 1932, first as "Love Starved," then under the less inflammatory title of "Young Bride." The love-starved young bride is Allie Smith (Helen Twelvetrees), who, after a whirlwind romance, marries handsome but weak-willed Charlie Riggs (Eric Linden). Presenting himself as a wheeler-dealer, Charlie is in reality a mere runner in a Wall Street brokerage firm and, if that isn't bad enough, is cheating on his new wife with Maizie (Arline Judge), a brassy taxi dancer. When a pregnant Allie threatens to leave him, Charlie attempts to win her back with money earned in a dance contest with Maizie, but the taxi dancer absconds with the winnings and a distraught Allie contemplates suicide. After a final confrontation with Maizie, a chagrined Charlie returns to home and hearth begging forgiveness. Convinced of her husband's reformation, Allie accepts the apology and the couple embrace.

[Lynne]

From an IMDb Summary:

Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, really a commercial spy. He unmasks her but lets her go, which gets him fired. They end up on a date, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, but delights her son Timmy, who doesn't want Carl for a step-dad. Standard (if sweet) romantic complications follow.

[memento]

The Cooking and/or Eating Round

[memento]

Plot: A Classic heroine's journey, Chef Barbara Lynch's exemplary toughness, combined with her openness to the bigger things--even in the midst of early life's pain and confusion in a South Boston housing project--allowed her to utilize all her senses, aesthetic and beyond, to discover redemption through her own generosity of spirit. Through sheer determination and tenacity, this young woman rose through the ranks of the culinary world, demonstrating what true grit is all about.