My Week In Movies - November Wrap Up

Love At The Christmas Table (2012) There seems to be no less than 30 new Christmas movies debuting on television this season, this is one of them. What brought me to this picture was Danica McKeller (Winnie from The Wonder Years) and one of my all-time faves Lea Thompson. I intended to turn the movie off after 5 minutes but I was intrigued by the very first opening frames of the movie. This sappy holiday romcom, which is debuting on Lifetime, was produced by independent film company The Asylum. I've seen some of The Asylum's other work which is all gory horror movies and raunchy sex comedies, so I was surprised to see them producing a movie for Lifetime Television. The Asylum's films are always low budget affairs, with actors who can't act and stories that don't make a whole lot of sense but their scripts always show a flare for creativity and I've enjoyed what I've seen from them, especially the Netflix Classic "Barely Legal". The Christmas flick follows a couple who fall in love over the course of 30 years meeting one night a year at the kids table of their father's company Christmas dinner. Sappy, corny, predictable, confusing, and boring in parts...in the end, it worked for me. It's a cute little Christmas package with some higher than usual production values for The Asylum. It's no "Barely Legal"...or "Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies", but it's fun!

Soul Surfer (2011) Second time seeing this feel good surfing movie, it holds up. Good performances from the cast and a script that knows it's treading on familiar cinematic territory - the story of Bethany Hamilton, a young surfer who lost her arm to a shark attack yet learned to surf again, is an awe inspiring journey.


November Movie Count: 17
Best New Movie: Wreck-It Ralph
Worst New Movie: Vamps
Best Rewatch: Tangled
2012 Movie Count: 218