TinsHeadline Touches You

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

vincentlynch-moonoi This film is about as far from my favorite "Black cast" film as you can get. The biggest reason is that -- and this was mostly before we saw the dark side of him -- Chris Brown can't talk well, can't eat normally, and definitely cannot act worth...well, you know what. However, his performance of "This Christmas" is stunning, but today it's sort of in the shadow of someone like Chris Brown singing "Try A Little Tenderness"! And then there's the problem of Idris Elba. His character was so unlikable in most of this film that I pretty much avoided any film he was in for the last 10 years, although recently I've begun to respect his acting more.The rest of the cast is likable and does fine, and I remain convinced that Loretta Devine is a terribly underrated actress. She excels in so many films.As to the story...well, for a while I was thinking how many families are this messed up...and then I thought of my own family when I was growing up, and I put that whole criticism of the film to rest. However, there's an awfully lot of family dysfunction packed into one film. But, it has some interesting story lines and is reasonably entertaining.Again, not one of my favorites, but well worth watching...except for the Chris Brown segments.

dbborroughs Family drama of a(black) family coming together for the holidays. I mention the color aspect only because there is a moment where color plays a role, however color and race are really irrelevant since this is an excellent little family drama about the things that make us family-what ever our color. A strong cast that includes Delroy Lindo makes what is occasionally a clichéd story into something more universal. Frankly these are real people up on the screen and any cliché's reflect that life is something like that. Huge bonus points for the fact that there aren't really movie of the week problems or histrionics. Things happen, but the family takes it all in stride with out a great deal of gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes. I really like this movie a great deal and look forward to seeing the film again down the road. 8 out of 10 for making a truly universal family drama that is just good time with good people.(This is very much deserving of a longer better review but I haven't figured out how to explain the tapestry of the film with out making it sound petty or less than it is.)

raysond "O Come All Ye Faithful!" It's that time of the year. Time to make the pilgrimage back home to the folks. Everyone has family and being home for the holidays is near universal comfort--or dilemma. This is one of the reasons why a film like this was released during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday comes early before the rush of the Christmas movie madness,and righteously so. Director/Writer Preston A. Whitmore II,taps into this common thread with verve as frothy as spiked eggnog. Whitmore's previous films were a formulatic sports movie Crossover(a disaster with the casting and the movie debut of Britney Spears)and the poorly conceived war film The Walking Dead. This time around and for good measure he's eschewed genre films for a family comedy/drama/romance that not only recalls his own experiences,but experiences from any and every family member that we come to know and love in the most joyous time of the year.The result is a tumultanous holiday fete with a very personal feel and beguiling flair that will carry audiences over some arrhythmatic pacing. For the first time in four years,the Whitfeld family flocks to its Los Angeles home that has more bedrooms than the White House. The family matriarch,Ma' Dere (Loretta Devine) still resides here,thanks to a family dry-cleaning business that's on its last leg. She has put her kids through college and continues to give her youngest son Baby (Chris Brown)a roof over his head. Lisa(Regina King)arrives with her two kids and two-timing,domineering husband Malcolm(Laz Alonzo),who pressures Lisa to convince the family to sell their dry cleaning business to used the family's money for a financial scheme. Malcolm's the moral enemy of Lisa's feisty-independent sister Kelli(Sharon Leal). Claude(Columbus Short)surprises everyone;he's on leave from the Marine Corps. Mel(Lauren London),a perpetual college student,brings her latest boyfriend Devan(Keith Robinson). And Ma'Dere's lover man,Joe(Delroy Lindo),is the gentleman of the house;although he's living there on the down low. Presents are wrappedd. Dinner plans are made. Barbs exchanged. Love is in the air. Jealously and envy too. In between the holiday greetings,family drama and tangled relationships emerge. This is when the film goes from family-friendly perspective into a black soap opera. Its changes too when the family goes from season's greetings to season's ghetto.Characters get bitten by the love bug in which Kelli falls for the Gerald,the firemen(Mekhi Phifer). While the eldest brother Quentin (Idris Elba),makes a guest appearance,this gives the house one more alpha male too many. Tempers flare. Words are said. Feelings are hurt. Thugs show up,unexpected. The police arrive. Half of the family members are arrested and thrown in jail. Merry Christmas! This a movie that has its sexy moments,but there is no nudity or offensive language. There is only a wisp of blood. Tangy enough to please an adult,but it is safe enough for the kids. With this many characters,and accompanying conflicts happening just around every corner,the excessive subplots weigh the film down especially with the cast the live-wires such as Loretta Devine,Regina King,Sharon Leal and Delroy Lindo. The only saving grace here that prevented this film from going into a fiasco was the acting debut of R&B sensation Chris Brown--who steals the show with his breathtaking rendition of a R&B Otis Redding classic. With other music from Aaron Neville,James Brown and Kool and the Gang,its worth watching.

piwojcik this Christmas is a very very poor movie. It is very lame and the dialogues are pathetic and predictable. There is nothing amazing in this movie, nothing that would make me not regret $8.5 spent on the ticket. The cast was OK i guess but they did not do a great job. Basically it is another movie that will be forgotten in a couple of weeks. It is not funny and I do not know why someone would say it is a comedy. There is nothing interesting in it, the issues of the main characters are kind of forced upon them and seem just too general. We have all already seen it somewhere. If you set out to see the movie do not expect anything great from it. It is boring, dull and has a very poor happy-ending when everybody realizes their faults and says "I' sorry". If you are a fan of well done movies that make you think about them and reflex upon the ideas presented... do not see this Christmas.