— Another Christmas movie, this one very Australian. Christmas with the ungrateful, dysfunctional family in a hot, unspecific Australian suburb. A father of three beats up one of the in-laws and goes to prison where he finally faces the demons of the past that messed him up, psychologically speaking. It’s a dreadful, anticlimactic film that I couldn’t recommend any less.
(2024) Director: Nick Waterman. Screenplay: Nick Waterman, Meg Washington. Cast: Daniel Henshall, Hugo Weaving.
— The manager of a big New York department store channels the spirit of Christmas and sales go through the roof. In the end she gets the guy and a big bonus. She can finally afford that big house in the Hamptons where they all live happily ever after. It’s most American of Christmas movies.
(1994) Director: Les Mayfield. Screenplay: John Hughes, George Seaton. Cast: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, Mara Wilson.
