Music :
Been sampling a few new things and The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse stands out.Also want to give a shout out to Christmas A Go-Go for spotlighting Joli-Bois which set me off on a whole francophone holiday music jag including Laurence Jalbert, Annie Villeneuve and Marie-Elaine Thibert.
Returned to the audiobook for The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories, picking up where I left off last year and highly recomend it for fans of vintage mysteries.
Just stared reading the antholgy An Irish Christmas Feast: The Best of John B. Keane. So far so good.
Movies and TV:
Christmas A La Mode (2019)
A Promising premise goes nowhere, says nothing new or interesting and does it poorly.
One Fine Christmas (2019)
Opens with a quick narrated montage that saves us the drudgery of 15 minutes of dull exposition. Thank you.
The dialogue is both more realistic and way snappier than usual. Thank You.
Most of the actors are awake, unlike the typical Hallmark sleepwalkers. Thank You.
Now, it’s not all good news, One Fine Christmas is as tropey and low budget as they come and full of emotional manipulation (which occasionally works). And the Christmas aspect is lower key than I prefer.
Is it Hallmark? Nope, OWN
Any guest stars? Marla Gibbs!
Directed by? Fred Olen Ray? I wasn’t expecting that.
Does it look like Christmas? Warm weather locale doesn’t help.
Does it sound like Christmas? Occasionally
Does it feel like Christmas? It’s okay.
Did it make me cry? I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Did I finish it? Yep
Is it a good movie? Meh
Is it a good Christmas Movie? Its better than average.
The Monster’s Christmas (1981)
Trippy, cheesy eighties kid’s Christmas fantasy is an acquired taste. I’ve watched it a few times over the years and I still can’t decide if it’s cool or cringe. It’s certainly different, alternately cute and creepy, sweet and slightly disturbing. It occasionally reminded me of Japanese kid’s kaiju tv shows, though with far less spandex-clad fighting.
A monster, basically Sigmund the Sea Monster with a floppy forehead weiner, enlists the help of a young girl to defeat a witch who’s stolen the voices of all monsterkind to stop their singing Christmas carols. I imagine the expanding decriminalization of wacky tobaccy can only help this become a beloved holiday tradition eventually.
Hollywood Palace - Bing Crosby with Glen Campbell (1968)
Classic holiday variety. They don’t make them like this anymore, they can’t, the culture has changed too much.
Not even song or joke is solid gold but I could still watch this over the current crop of holiday hustlers any day.
Youngsters be forewarned, a basic knowledge of mid-century pop culture will be necessary to get all the jokes and references.
Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue (1996)
Decently made, and featuring the great Robert Urich, this depression-era period piece isn’t my cup of tea but I appreciate the effort. Those with a higher tolerance for the maudlin might enjoy it more.
Christmas at Pemberley Manor (2018)
Pride and Prejudice is like meth for a certain type of reader / viewer. I am not that type. That said I would have expected a screenplay based on a piece of classic literature would have made a modicum of effort to be at least a tad higher quality than literally every other movie in the genre. But no. The Austen pandering just exposes the lack of basic creativity. I assume there are sequels.
Is it Hallmark? With bells on
From the director of? Banshee!!!
Does it look like Christmas? A bit
Does it sound like Christmas? Meh
Does it feel like Christmas? A cynical public domain exploiting Christmas.
Did I finish it? No.
Is it a good movie? No.
Is it a good Christmas Movie? Just another clone.
Car 54 Where Are You? Christmas at the 53rd (1961)
Christmas party episode, essentially a showcase for the cast’s various talents from operetta to magic to stand up comedy to crooning.There’s not a lot of Christmas here beyond the framing device but it’s still a great episode.
