slanoue Reviews

A Season for Miracles (1999 TV Movie)

Heart-warming fantasy for Christmas

[8/10 · 7 December 2008]

I love this movie. It was very entertaining and heart-warming. It stars some of my favorite actors.

The leads are Carla Gugino, who had done many wonderful things, and David Conrad of "Ghost Whisperer". They both do great jobs here. Conrad is gorgeous as well as a good actor who seems like such a nice guy.

Besides the leads, many favorite stars play small parts, including Laura Dern, Lynn Redgrave, Faith Prince and Kathy Baker! What an amazing cast. And then to top it off, Patty Duke is the angel.

Even if you don't believe in angels, which I don't, this is a nice Christmas movie with a few fantasy elements. It starts out a little slow and depressing, but like most Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, it gets much better as it goes along.

Of course, a small town like the one in this movie doesn't exist anywhere except in movies and TV shows...but it's part of the nice fantasy of this movie.

I enjoyed the movie and these people so much, I wish it were a regular weekly show so I could see more of their adventures.

Suzanne Lanoue

http://tvmegasite.net

[e-mail]

A Christmas Visitor (2002 TV Movie)

Good movie but ending a bit vague

[7 December 2008]

I thought it was a good, heartwarming Christmas movie, with fine performances by everyone. It was better than a lot of the overly-sentimental movies on the Hallmark channel.

There were a few minor things I had problem with:

It did bother me that they never really explained at the end whether he was a ghost, or an angel, St. Christopher, or what.

It also bothered me that the sister just "knew" her test results and never actually bothered to listen to the doctor tell her that she was OK.

The part where the guy is talking to himself about the war struck me as gratuitous (who is he talking to?), but otherwise it was good.

Casting William Devane and Meredith Baxter was great, but the daughter and the Christopher guy were both really bland.

A romance for the sister would have perked this up some.

Suzanne Lanoue

http://tvmegasite.net

[e-mail]

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992 TV Short)

Much better than the original

[9/10 · 25 October 2008]

I like this one better than the one we all grew up with. I know, that is a strange thing to say. They only had 6 months to throw together the original. Coca-Cola asked CBS to make a Christmas special so that they could advertise their product. So much for the "commercialization of Christmas"! LOL! So the people who made the special, as well as the network people, did not like what they produced. They were very shocked that it was a hit. I think it would have been a hit regardless because Peanuts was very popular already, and there were only three networks back then. There were not as many Christmas specials back then, either. I'm not saying it was bad, but it could have been better if they had more time on it. Obviously it has a lot of charm and also was the first Peanuts special so that makes it unique.

This one is more like the comic strip (short vignettes strung together), and it looks like they took more time with it. It moves faster than the original, is funnier, is not as religious, and has better music. Even though I am not a kid, I liked it a lot.

The original was very slow-moving, and it is heavy with Christian sentiment. The music was good, but this newer one uses a lot of classical music as well, which I enjoyed. This is an "instant classic", at least to me. Any kid should like it.

Age of Treason (1993 TV Movie)

Bad film but entertaining

[23 June 2000]

Entertaining movie but many unintentionally funny moments. Reminiscent of Hercules and Xena tv series. Bryan Brown's accent is distracting, especially in the narration. Hunky kickboxer Matthias Hues is fun to watch as Justus. Suspenseful plot. "Gladiator" is much better.