Almost Christmas to Release November 11th

Jeff Westover Christmas Features, Christmas Movies April 17, 20162016, Almost Christmas, Christmas movie 0 Comment

Universal Pictures announced this week the new movie previously known as A Meyers Christmas has been renamed to Almost Christmas and will be released in theaters on November 11th of this upcoming season. Danny Glover stars as the recently widowed family patriarch who invites his family home for five days of Christmas, begging them to get along. Evidently, if they can honor that Christmas wish without killing each other, it will be a miracle. Here’s the official trailer: While Almost Christmas looks almost funny we remind movie fans we have seen this tired plot before. We’re not sure why HollywoodRead more

Why The Homecoming is One of the Most Important Christmas Movies Ever

Jeff Westover Christmas Features, Christmas Movies, Christmas Television March 26, 2016March 26, 2016Christmas movie, Earl Hamner Jr., The Homecoming, The Waltons 1 Comment

Earl Hamner Jr. passed away this week at the age of 92 and the world hardly noticed. Hamner was a prolific writer whose contributions were more noted on television than anywhere else. While he is no Dickens his Christmas story titled The Homecoming was more than just a TV movie that launched a successful, long-running television series known as The Waltons. The Homecoming should be considered one of the most important Christmas movies ever made. The movie is based on Hamner’s true story of Christmas 1933. He was just ten years old when this event took place. The story tellsRead more

Great Debates: Is Nightmare Before Christmas a Christmas Movie?

Jeff Westover Christmas Debates, Christmas Features October 5, 2015October 4, 2015Christmas movie, Halloween 2 Comments

It is one of those Christmas debates that just did not exist a generation ago: is the 1993 stop motion animated classic Nightmare Before Christmas a Christmas movie…or a Halloween movie? The clever movie does little to settle the question by itself. The movie tells the story of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. In that role, Jack organizes Halloween year after year to the great delight of the residents who just love the holiday of Halloween. But one year Jack tires of the routine and while on a walk in the woods he slips into a portalRead more

The World’s First Christmas Movie

Jeff Westover Christmas Countdown, Christmas Features, Christmas History, Christmas Movies, Christmas Video August 13, 2015August 8, 2015Christmas history, Christmas movie, first Christmas movie ever, Santa Claus 1 Comment

The world’s first Christmas movie dates back to 1898, an age well before even popular silent films shown in movie houses. Directed by George Albert Smith, a British pioneer of film making, this wonderful bit of film was considered a technological wonder of the time and to this day remains a cherished look back at Christmas in time: While it is a first among Christmas films it is also a first in special effects. Smith links the shots in terms of both space and time, by placing the new image over the space previously occupied by a fireplace, and continuingRead more

Bad Santa 2 to Begin Filming Soon

Jeff Westover Christmas Features, Christmas Movies, Christmas News May 20, 2015May 20, 2015Bad Santa, Billy Bob Thornton, Christmas movie 0 Comment

According to multiple sources Bad Santa is getting a sequel and Billy Bob Thornton will be back to play the most pathetic figure of Santa Claus ever put on film. Entourage director Doug Ellin told Collider that his plans following the work on his latest release this summer will be to begin filming Bad Santa 2 in September. “I’m supposed to do Bad Santa 2 in September,” the director explained, discussing his upcoming slate. When asked to specify, he was wary of giving details but said, “We’re working on the script right now and if we get it right, we’llRead more

Movie Review: White Christmas

Jeff Westover Christmas Features, Christmas Movies November 17, 2014November 16, 2014Christmas movie, White Christmas 0 Comment

By Danny Gould Writing movie reviews 65-years after a movie has been released and become a classic isn’t fair. How do you diss a classic? But let’s be honest. White Christmas might today be considered a classic and it might be beloved and re-watched season after season but let’s just agree upfront that it does not go to the head of the line for movie-making. It is what it is. Fun. Schmaltzy. Hopelessly romantic. Even Christmasy. BUT…. …it’s thin on plot, hastily put together, not really well acted and, as far as musicals of the era go, it does notRead more

Jimmy Stewart Remembers It’s a Wonderful Life

Jeff Westover Christmas Features, Christmas Movies October 4, 2014October 7, 2014Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life 2 Comments

By Jimmy Stewart (1977) A friend told me recently that seeing a movie I made in 1946 is a holiday tradition in his family, “like putting up the Christmas tree”. That movie is It’s a Wonderful Life, and out of all the 80 films I’ve made, it’s my favorite. But it has an odd history. When the war was over in 1945, I came back home to California from three years’ service in the Air Force. I had been away from the film business, my MGM contract had run out, and frankly, not knowing how to get started again. IRead more