obsession boyfriend i'm psyched girl crush i'm dreading enemy

(need an explanation?)

advertisements




Buy movie tickets online now!



This Christmas (review)

When a “heartwarming” holiday movie is this hamfisted, the best response is to slap some pineapple slices on it, throw it in the oven, and serve it for Christmas dinner. It’s the only way to make it palatable. Oh, the Whitfield clan is gathering for the first time in years, bringing all their tedious personal baggage with them, most of which revolves around keeping secrets from one another about simple, ordinary things that no one will care the least about... we certainly don’t, at any rate. There’s not enough genuine drama to fill out its optimistic two-hour runtime, and yet too much is crammed into the few days the family nonsense plays out over: could one cheating husband, say, manage two transcontinental flights, with an evening of illicit nookie in between, in a mere 24 hours? Cripes, it takes my family a week just to get the damn tree up and decorated, and these folks -- who are, we’re meant to believe, so upset and agitated with one another that they can barely speak, never mind coordinating revelry -- manage that and more in the space of a day or two.

(more below the ad... scroll down...)

[buy at Amazon (Region 1)]     [buy at Amazon (Region 2)]

viewed at a private screening with an audience of critics
rated PG-13 for comic sexual content and some violencerated PG-13 for comic sexual content and some violence
official site | IMDB
(more below the ad... scroll down...)



post a comment

who I am


I'm MaryAnn Johanson: writer and ponderer in New York City who drinks too much wine and thinks way too much about such inconsequences as movies, TV, books, and the meaning of life.
[email me]
[become a Facebook fan]
[visit my personal Facebook page]
[follow me on Twitter]
[friend me on MySpace]

• contributor, Film.com
• member, Online Film Critics Society
• member, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
• visit my scratchpad blog, MaryAnnJohanson.com
• read my Doctor Who fan fiction

photo by David Speranza

(postings feed)


top critic on Movie Review Query Engine


as seen on Rotten Tomatoes


member, Alliance of Women Film Journalists

Add to Technorati Favorites

monthly archives

recent screenings and hot movies

just opened (U.S.)
green for go Public Enemies
yellow for maybe Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
just opened (U.K.)
green for go Public Enemies
yellow for maybe Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
box office top 5 (U.S.)
red for no Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
red for no The Proposal
yellow for maybe The Hangover
green for go Up
yellow for maybe My Sister's Keeper
top limited releases (U.S.)
green for go Away We Go [trailer]
New York
yellow for maybe Cheri [trailer]
green for go Whatever Works [trailer]
yellow for maybe Food, Inc.
box office top 5 (U.K.)
red for no Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
yellow for maybe The Hangover
red for no Year One
yellow for maybe My Sister's Keeper
red for no Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
top limited releases (U.K.)
New York
green for go Sunshine Cleaning
Looking for Eric
Rudo & Cursi
Telstar
coming soon (U.S./U.K.)
green for go In the Loop
yellow for maybe Shrink
green for go Cold Souls [trailer]
green for go Humpday [trailer]
green for go Bruno [trailer]
red for no Blood: The Last Vampire
yellow for maybe Lovely by Surprise
other current flicks (U.S./U.K.)
green for go Adoration
green for go Angels & Demons
green for go The Brothers Bloom
green for go Coraline
green for go Drag Me to Hell
green for go Easy Virtue
red for no Fired Up!
red for no Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
red for no A Girl Cut in Two
green for go The Hurt Locker [trailer]
red for no Imagine That
green for go Is Anybody There? [trailer]
yellow for maybe Last Chance Harvey [trailer]
red for no The Last House on the Left
yellow for maybe The Limits of Control
yellow for maybe Little Ashes
red for no Land of the Lost
red for no Miss March
green for go Moon [trailer]
red for no My Life in Ruins
green for go Outrage
yellow for maybe Paris 36
green for go Pontypool
green for go Shall We Kiss?
green for go Sita Sings the Blues
green for go Sleep Dealer [trailer]
green for go Star Trek
green for go The Stoning of Soraya M. [trailer]
green for go Summer Hours
yellow for maybe Surveillance [trailer]
green for go Synecdoche, New York
green for go The Taking of Pelham 123
red for no Terminator Salvation
green for go Tokyo!
red for no 12 Rounds
yellow for maybe Tyson
green for go Under the Sea 3D

2009 screening log

new on dvd

06.30 (Region 1)
green for go Two Lovers [buy]
green for go Tokyo! [buy]
red for no 12 Rounds [buy]
green for go Eureka: Season 3.0 [buy]
green for go Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Fifth Season [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.S.)

06.29 (Region 2)
green for go Revolutionary Road [buy]
green for go Che [buy]
green for go Rachel Getting Married [buy]
green for go Wendy and Lucy [buy]
green for go American Teen[buy]
yellow for maybe Surveillance [buy]
red for no Gran Torino [buy]
red for no Push [buy]
red for no New in Town [buy]
green for go Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.K.)

06.23 (Region 1)
green for go Inkheart [buy]
green for go Waltz with Bashir [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.S.)

06.22 (Region 2)
green for go Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist [buy]
yellow for maybe Vicky Cristina Barcelona [buy]
red for no Notorious [buy]
red for no The Unborn [buy]
green for go Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannerman [buy]
green for go Moonlighting: Series 4 [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.K.)

06.16 (Region 1)
green for go What Goes Up [buy]
green for go Burn Notice: Season 2 [buy]
green for go Saving Grace: Season 2 [buy]
(complete list of this week's new releases at Amazon U.S.)

06.15 (Region 2)
green for go Bolt [buy]
green for go Anvil! The Story of Anvil [buy]
green for go Chandni Chowk to China [buy]
green for go Medium: Series 4 [buy]
green for go Blackadder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition [buy]

my book (Amazon U.S.)

my book (Amazon U.K.)

advertisements

search

Google
flickfilosopher.com
web