The Ref

Caroline and Lloyd are a bickering married couple of 15 years who have been trying to get their marriage back on track by going to therapy, though lately it doesn't seem to be working. They're up to their necks in debt to Lloyd's mother, their son - who is in military school - has been blackmailing other cadets over personal indiscretions, and Lloyd's extended family is a bunch of dysfunctional people who frequently attempt to get into their (and everyone else's) business. On one such occasion around Christmas Eve, when everything seems to be going especially wrong, Lloyd and Caroline are kidnapped by a burglar trying to get out of the area before he is apprehended by the authorities. Hilarity ensues as the couple try to act as if everything's fine so no one gets suspicious about their new guest during Christmas.

The Ref is a hilarious, and well done comedy with Kevin Spacey, Denis Leary, and Judy Davis as Lloyd, Gus the burglar, and Caroline, respectively. It does get a bit raunchy at times, so I wouldn't recommend it to the younger crowd, but for the more adult audience it's well worth watching. I'd say The Ref is probably one of my favorite performances by both Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary, each of them had me almost literally doubled over laughing with some of the best jokes. It's a comedy I can easily see myself watching over and over and not get tired of it. If you haven't seen it you should check it out for yourself.

Christmas with the Kranks

Every year, Luther and Nora Krank go all out with their Christmas celebrations. They always get the biggest tree, put up a Frosty the Snowman, and throw a huge party for the neighbors. Not to mention, they always make several donations to charities. This year, however, their daughter Blair joined the Peace Corps, so Luther has the bright idea go on a 10-day cruise to the Caribbean, and in doing so skip their annual Christmas celebrations. This riles up the town, and they try to get Luther and Nora to change their minds and stay home. The Kranks resist until they get a phone call from Blair saying she's coming home for a surprise Christmas visit. Nothing could possibly go wrong...right?

Christmas with the Kranks is a pretty funny comedy with some solid performances from both Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis as Luther and Nora Krank. It's also got some sweet messages about the Christmas spirit and spending the holidays with your loved ones. It's not my favorite holiday comedy, but I still enjoy watching it whenever it shows up on TV, or watching it with friends and/or family. That being said, I'm glad that it didn't really do that well to warrant a sequel. In today's day and age where practically every movie gets a sequel - or, so it feels like it anyways - I'm happy that this one's been left alone. If you haven't seen this one yet, fans of both Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis will assuredly enjoy this holiday comedy. It's no classic, but enjoyable.

Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Ah, winter can be a magical time - just ask Karen. You see, she and the other children were playing out in the first snow of the season (which just happened to fall on the day before Christmas) and so they soon decided to build a snowman. As they built it, they used a corncob pipe, a button nose, and two eyes made out of coal. They then used a hat from Professor Hinkle, a professor moonlighting as a (very bad) magician to place on his head. When they did..well, something magical happened.

Normally, as an adult, when it comes to movies I would prefer something with a little more substance and depth to it. However, there's just something about this Christmas classic that manages to me into the Christmas spirit every time. I've always loved the Christmas season to begin with, and watching this classic every year has become somewhat of a tradition. I always try to catch it when it's on TV during this time of year. I wish there were more like this one that I could consider classic, but these days there's not really anything that quite captures the feeling that Frosty does. If you haven't seen Frosty the Snowman (1969), well then you're missing out on a truly wonderful - and simply magical - classic.

Love Actually

It's been said how love is hard to find these days. At the same time, it's also no secret how Christmas can be considered as a prime time to find love in even the most awkward and random of places. Set against the backdrop of an old, washed up rocker looking to make a comeback with a holiday re-imagining of his hit song from years ago, nine peoples' stories of love are intertwined. Each person, in the course of four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, experiences love and romance in a variety of ways.

Love Actually is another one of those films that presents a conundrum for me. On the one hand, I loved the story. It felt genuine without being too much of a gushy, uncomfortably sweet romantic film which would feel more at home on the Hallmark channel rather than a theatrical release. Not to mention, it was surprisingly actually very funny for an R-rated comedy. I haven't seen too many of those lately. On the other hand, there were quite a few scenes where, though partially expected since it is rated R, I felt like the film overall could have been so much better and funnier had it toned down some of the content and had been PG13. For example, one of the characters whose story we watch unfold meets their lover on the set of a porn film. I could think of countless situations that would have been better than that one. I get that the point of Love Actually was how love can be found in the most unexpected places, but as I mentioned, there are a ton of other scenarios which would have been better.

Still, despite these misgivings, I really did enjoy Love Actually overall. I don't know if I will ever watch it again, but I thought it was good seeing it this once. However, I'm still on the fence on whether or not to recommend it.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Jake Wilkinson is a selfish, spoiled college kid who would rather spend time with his girlfriend Allie rather than his own family. Not only that, he's developed a reputation at school for finding ways to cheat and "help" the jocks keep up their grades. Even though Jake already made plans for Christmas to spend it with Allie on the beach, Jake's father calls him and makes him a deal: if he can make it home before 6 pm on Christmas Eve, Jake will get his father's Porsche as a gift. Jake makes every effort to make it home before 6, but a series of unfortunate events keep getting in the way. Along the trip, Jake meets different people who help him to understand the true meaning of Christmas and gain a better respect and love for those around him.

I'll Be Home for Christmas isn't the greatest comedy I've ever seen - heck, I wouldn't even put it on my top 20. It's got one of the most basic plots of a road trip where things go horribly wrong that has been done more times than I can count. I also found the acting to be a bit wooden as well, though Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Jessica Biel were good. To be honest though, what it lacks in story and acting, it made up for in the *ahem* Christmas spirit. There were times I had to roll my eyes at the obvious moments of emotional awkwardness, but thankfully it was never too much to make me hate it as a whole. I hadn't seen it before, but I've heard quite a bit from others who had seen it, and I'm glad I watched it. It's one of those I probably won't watch every chance I get, but I would still see it multiple times. It's not a Christmas classic, but it is pretty fun.

Home Alone

At some point, every kid entertains the idea of being out on their own. No parents to bother them, they don't have to do chores like making the bed, and they can do/eat/say whatever the heck they want. Few people get the chance to actually live out that fantasy as a kid. Kevin McCallister feels that way about his family. The youngest in a large family, he often feels left out and ignored. After a particularly rough Christmas as the family is preparing for a trip to Paris, Kevin makes that fateful wish that his family was out of his life. Unbeknownst to him, in a rush to get to the airport his family leaves him behind as he sleeps in the attic. Kevin sees this as a golden opportunity, until he comes across two bumbling idiot crooks trying to break into houses around the neighborhood, including Kevin's. Kevin tries to fend off the crooks as his family in Paris realizes he's back home alone and they attempt to make their way back.

Unlike practically every other person my age, I never grew up watching Home Alone. To be honest, it never really looked that good to me, so I never sought it out to watch it. 25 years later I finally sat down to watch it, and I can't see why people like it so much, let alone consider it a holiday classic. To me it was one of the most overrated and over-hyped movies I've ever seen - and that's saying a lot. The initial story was good, but poorly executed. About 20 minutes in I found myself frequently looking at the time wondering when it was going to end. For a comedy, I laughed at most a total of 2-3 times. It just felt like a over-hyped piece of junk. I'll admit, my opinion might have been different if I had seen it as a kid growing up like everyone else I know. However, as it stands, seeing it as an adult felt like a waste of two hours.

Fantastic Four

All his life, Reed Richards has wanted nothing but to do something great for humanity. It doesn't matter much what that thing is, just that it be something to help. Because of this drive, he - along with his best friend Ben Grimm - have worked on a project to come up with the working technology to make matter travel from one place to another without stepping on a train, airplane, or other vehicle (i.e. the mode of transportation used in Star Trek). For years, Reed's figured out how to get matter to one place, but he's never been able to bring that matter back to it's original position. That all changes during their high school senior science fair when Reed and Ben meet Dr. Franklin Storm and his daughter Sue. Dr. Franklin and Sue have been working on the same project for years, but have never gotten as far as Reed and Ben have. Dr. Franklin offers a a chance to work for an organization called the Baxter Foundation to fulfill Reed's lifelong dream of accomplishing something great for humanity. What none of the team realizes is how Reed's invention not only opened up a new way of transportation, but he also opened up a portal into another dimension.

I didn't see Fantastic Four until it was at the local dollar theater, primarily because of all the bad reviews it received almost universally. I wasn't really all that excited to begin with, I thought the previous two Fantastic Four movies were ok, but I was honestly hoping the rights would revert back to Marvel Studios. Yet again, I'm in the minority with this opinion, but I really didn't think the reboot was that bad. It was nowhere near a great movie like I was hoping, but neither was it boring or hard to follow like some reviews have made it out to  be. Story wise, it was pretty easy to follow, even into the convoluted plot by Dr. Doom in the second half of the film. Character wise, I thought - for the most part, anyways - each of the actors/actresses played their parts well enough. Sure, there were some points where it felt like they were just phoning in their performances so they weren't very convincing, but I thought each of them did well with the material they were given. I really don't understand the hate Fantastic Four received. I even thought Micael B. Jordan did well as the Human Torch/Johnny Storm. I used to be a purist when it came to casting beloved characters so well known, but over the years I've come to the belief that even though I may disagree with who was chosen to play a specific part, if the actor/actress did a good job with the part they were given it shouldn't matter too much whether or not they completely look/sound/act like their comic book/novel counterpart. The movie should be seen as its own stand alone story, rather than constantly viewed through the lens of what the original story was like.

If you haven't seen Fantastic Four yet, I honestly am not sure what to say. I liked it for what it was - an entertaining, but very flawed comic book movie. As evidenced by other reviews, I'm in the minority with that opinion. I do think you should go ahead and see it for yourself, but go in with low expectations.