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2009 | 2008

8 articles from 2009

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All-Time Favourite Christmas Film – ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’

8 hours ago | Gossipvita | See recent Gossipvita news »

The 1946 feel-good family movie – which stars James Stewart as a man who commits suicide on Christmas Eve and meets his guardian angel who shows him what life would have been like if he'd never existed – won 17 per cent of the vote in a poll of over 3,000 people. Despite being nominated for five Oscars, 'It's A Wonderful Life' didn't win any, but the film has since been recognised by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made. Coming a close second with 16 per cent of the vote was 'Home Alone', the movie which catapulted Macaulay Culkin to stardom when he played eight-year-old Kevin, who is accidentally left behind when his family headed to France for Christmas. Kathryn Jacob, chief executive of Pearl and Dean, who commissioned the poll, said: “Christmas is renowned as a time when families come together and enjoy watching films- old and new. »

- Alice

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Christmas and new year TV films

18 December 2009 5:30 AM, PST | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

Not sure what to watch? We can help with our comprehensive guide to the best films on TV this Christmas and new year

Choose a date

Saturday 19 December | Sunday 20 December | Monday 21 December | Tuesday 22 December | Wednesday 23 December |Christmas Eve | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Sunday 27 December | Monday 28 December | Tuesday 29 December | Wednesday 30 December | New Year's Eve | New Year's Day

Saturday 19 December

Yes Man (Peyton Reed, 2008)

10am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere

Remember Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, where he forces himself to tell the truth for 24 hours? Well, here Jim Carrey forces himself to answer yes to any request, for a year. Which is upping the ante somewhat, but doesn't make it a better film. This is a return to the manic, gurning, not-very-funny Carrey, as if The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine etc hadn't happened. Just say no.

The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)

11.40am, 8pm, Sky Movies Family

What with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lemony Snicket and all, »

- Paul Howlett

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Christmas and new year TV films

18 December 2009 5:30 AM, PST | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

Not sure what to watch? We can help with our comprehensive guide to the best films on TV this Christmas and new year

Choose a date

Saturday 19 December | Sunday 20 December | Monday 21 December | Tuesday 22 December | Wednesday 23 December |Christmas Eve | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Sunday 27 December | Monday 28 December | Tuesday 29 December | Wednesday 30 December | New Year's Eve | New Year's Day

Saturday 19 December

Yes Man (Peyton Reed, 2008)

10am, 8pm, Sky Movies Premiere

Remember Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar, where he forces himself to tell the truth for 24 hours? Well, here Jim Carrey forces himself to answer yes to any request, for a year. Which is upping the ante somewhat, but doesn't make it a better film. This is a return to the manic, gurning, not-very-funny Carrey, as if The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine etc hadn't happened. Just say no.

The Golden Compass (Chris Weitz, 2007)

11.40am, 8pm, Sky Movies Family

What with Harry Potter, Narnia, Lemony Snicket and all, »

- Paul Howlett

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Christmas TV movies have lost their special glitter | Jason Solomons

5 December 2009 4:09 PM, PST | The Guardian - TV News | See recent The Guardian - TV News news »

A festive treat has become tired repeats or cartoons. Jason Solomons suggests it should now be a season for Fellini or Renoir

Forget about Christmas movies with snow and tinsel and grumpy fathers learning lessons. Those have their place, and no doubt we'll have our fill of them, good and bad, over the coming month, from Elf to Scrooged, from The Muppet Christmas Carol to Miracle on 34th Street.

What worries me is the lack of new classics. Growing up, my favourite Christmas movies were never the ones actually about Christmas. Rather, it was the season of Billy Wilder and Fred Astaire, a time for The Great Escape and The Towering Inferno, for The Poseidon Adventure and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In short, Christmas was when you learned about film, its rich history and capacity to thrill and unite. 

It was when I watched films with my dad »

- Jason Solomons

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Culture Warrior: Towards a More Thanksgiving-Friendly Cinema

26 November 2009 12:35 AM, PST | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »

I don’t know about your family, but in mine Thanksgiving is viewed largely as a warm-up drill for the Christmas season, a Christmas prequel if you will. At Thanksgiving I see, for the most part, the same extended family I end up seeing at Christmas, but for a far shorter duration of time. Whatever conversation I don’t have time to catch up on with my family over Thanksgiving I promise to continue over Christmas. Thanksgiving is when Christmas decorations are put up, when holiday shopping begins in full force, and when Christmas wish-lists are collected. Thanksgiving used to be the time when the first Christmas-themed movies of the year were released, but now movies like A Christmas Carol are released the first weekend in November in hopes of capitalizing over two months of manufactured Christmas spirit. Department stores and retail outlets have begun moving in unison with the trends of Christmas-themed Hollywood fare, putting »

- Landon Palmer

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Review: Disney’s A Christmas Carol

6 November 2009 10:07 AM, PST | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »

My feelings towards Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol have always been of two minds. I love the tale from the wit and greed-filled banter to the ghostly apparitions to the grand redemption at the end. The same goes for the multiple film and TV versions of the story. I'm partial to the George C. Scott version from the eighties, but Scrooged and The Muppet Christmas Carol tie for a close second. The problem I have with the story though is that very same magnificent redemption I mentioned as loving not three sentences ago. I've just never been convinced that Scrooge honestly changes for any reason other than selfish self-preservation. Sure he seems concerned about Tiny Tim's imminent demise, but it's his own untended gravestone that really pushes him towards turning over a new leaf isn't it? Now thanks to Robert Zemeckis' continuing desire to avoid telling original stories in favor of digitally manipulated versions of »

- Rob Hunter

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Top Ten Tuesday: Classic Stories That Should Not Be Adapted Again

3 November 2009 10:17 AM, PST | WeAreMovieGeeks.com | See recent WeAreMovieGeeks.com news »

While the idea of ceasing the overall usage of adapting stories, classic or otherwise, into feature films is laughable, there are those stories that just should not be touched again.  Whether they have been done so many times that it seems trivial to adapt onto the silver screen or an adaptation has come along that so definitely captures the essence of the story, there are those classic stories that should simply be left alone.  Certainly, there are those stories that we will have left off this list, and some of you may think some of these classic stories deserve another go in the feature film realm.  For now, and in honor of Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of A Christmas Carol, we give you our 10 classic stories that should Not be adapted ever again.

10. Macbeth

Adapted Roughly 35 Times

MacBeth is perhaps one of the best Shakespeare stories and also one of the most difficult to adapt successfully, »

- Movie Geeks

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Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

1 May 2009 1:35 AM, PDT | The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news »

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Directed by: Mark Waters

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas

Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: May 1, 2009

Plot: A successful photographer (McConaughey) who scrooges women for a hobby is visited by three … Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Who’s It For? The dating crowd - particularly those who share the on-screen ages of Garner and McConaughey. Of course, this really just means anyone not seeing X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Expectations: The Matthew McConaughey + romantic comedy formula was recently cracked by a popular humor blog that offered some frighteningly plausible ideas. Considering McConaughey’s track record, it was expected for him to play some slimy and smiley womanizer who gets “put in his place” by a female (Garner) aware of his smooth-talking … but not idiotic enough to fully lose against it.

Scorecard (0-10)

Actors:

Matthew McConaughey as Connor Mead: To this character, being a man requires using women. »

- Nick Allen

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2009 | 2008

8 articles from 2009

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