Posted on December 22, 2008 at 4:00 pm
The Beatles used to send out special Christmas greetings to their fan club members:
And they released “Christmas Time (Is Here Again)” in 1968:
Former Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon each created Christmas songs that have become seasonal favorites.
Posted on December 22, 2008 at 1:51 pm
We’re No Angels
“The Holly and the Ivy” isn’t available on DVD yet but I have hopes, maybe by next Christmas. It occasionally turns up on Turner Classic Movies. It is a quietly powerful story about an English clergyman (Sir Ralph Richardson) who gets together with his adult children for the holidays, leading to some accusations and reconciliation as he realizes that he has been more thoughtful and sensitive to his parishioners than he has been to his family.
Posted on December 20, 2008 at 4:00 pm
December is a long month for Jewish parents. From the day after Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve, America is completely saturated with Christmas and it can be very difficult to explain to small children why Santa seems to come to every house but theirs. Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick has a thoughtful essay on the fine distinctions drawn by some Jewish parents when it comes to cultural touchstones like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The semiotic lines parents draw between “The Grinch” (universally allowed) and “The Night Before Christmas” (not so much) are as much a reflection of the complex balance between making sure children do not feel like outcasts and preserving their cultural and religious identity as it is a reflection on the differences in the programs. Lithwick finds that the controlling principle seems to come down in favor of the programs watched by the parents when they were children, back when their own parents were faced with the same difficult choices.
Posted on December 20, 2008 at 8:00 am
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for comic sexual content and some violence |
| Profanity: | Very strong language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking, smoking, drug use |
| Violence/ Scariness: | Some violence and peril, domestic abuse portrayed as empowering and quasi-comic |
| Diversity Issues: | A theme of the movie, a strength of the movie is loving acceptance of an inter-racial romance |
| Date Released to Theaters: | November 21, 2007 |
| Date Released to DVD: | November 11, 2008 |
| Amazon.com ASIN: | B000YAF4Q6 |
As much a tradition as indigestible fruitcake and the dogs barking “Jingle Bells,” every Christmas season brings us at least one new family holiday angst-fest, stuffed with secrets, accusations, forgiveness, food, and laughter. The best of them give us the dual pleasures of identification with the frustrations deep connections of family life and a little distance, too.
This version adheres just enough to the usual traditions to satisfy, with most of its appeal in its top-notch ensemble performances and the freshness of its setting in the home of a middle-class black family. Loretta Devine plays the mother, known to her family as “Ma Dear.” Only her youngest child is still living at home (pop star Chris Brown as Michael, known to his siblings as “Baby”). Coming back for Christmas are the rest of the siblings, each with some secret to hide or spring on the family — or both. College student Melanie (Lauren London) has a new boyfriend (Keith Robinson as Devean). Successful model Kelli (Sharon Leal) is not as confident as she would like everyone to think. Married Lisa (Regina King) is not as happy as she would like everyone to think. Marine Claude (Columbus Short) is not as single as everyone thinks. And oldest brother Quentin (Idris Elba) owes money to some people who are not exactly on Santa’s “nice” list. Even Mom has a secret. She does not want her children to know that she has been living with Joseph (Delroy Lindo).
The movie nicely captures the rhythm and volatility of adult sibling interactions, a mash-up of in-jokes, old and new and often-shifting alliances, the need for acceptance and approval, and affectionate teasing that sometimes flares up to reveal or aggravate old wounds. Director Preston A. Whitmore has a sure hand in balancing half a dozen different storylines and multiple switches of tone from light-hearted romance to lacerating confrontations and gritty drama. The plots may be predicable but the individual cast members are all superb and completely believable as family, the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Brown has a nice screen presence and delivers an outstanding rendition of “Try a Little Tenderness” as well as the title tune. The delightful closing credit sequence is one of the movie’s highlights, for its own pleasures and also for what it reveals about the strength of the cast’s connection. This movie is a pure holiday pleasure that is likely to become a standard for watching while trimming the tree for many years to come.
Posted on December 14, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I love Kris Rasmussen’s list of favorite holiday movie moments from Idol Chatter. Some of my favorites are included and I was especially happy to see one most people overlook, the Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn movie “Holiday:” Made by the same team behind the classic “The Philadelphia Story,” it is a rare chance to see Grant show off his acrobatic skills.
