Holiday & Seasonal Featured Lists
Christmas
Anti-Valentine's Day Movies
In this thriller, Ashley Judd plays Elizabeth Parsons, who is convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to a long stretch in prison. After Elizabeth has spent six years behind bars, it turns out that her husband is still alive: he faked his own death as part of an insurance scam, and Elizabeth is soon released. However, Elizabeth's feelings for her husband can hardly be described as warm, and she wants custody of her son. Elizabeth's parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones) wonders if she might try to make his murder a real thing after all, especially since the law states a person cannot be convicted of the same crime twice. Double Jeopardy was directed by Bruce Beresford, from a screenplay by Douglas S. Cook and David Weisberg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A once-loving Chicago couple whose happily-ever-after quickly turned into a never-again finds their crumbling romance complicated when both parties refuse to move out of the pair's recently purchased condo. The Break-Up is a romantic comedy that starts where all the others end. The future once looked promising for thirtysomething couple Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) and Gary (Vince Vaughn), but lately it seems like a series of increasingly petty and intolerable squabbles have snuffed any semblance of romance in their relationship. Their confrontation endlessly fueled by mean-spirited suggestions of revenge tactics from friends and family and their stubborn refusal to budge resulting in an excruciating stalemate, Brooke and Gary ultimately decide to spitefully stick it out as hostile roommates until the weaker party eventually admits defeat. As the competition to drive one another out grows increasingly intense and outrageous, however, Brooke eventually comes to the realization that she's not fighting for possession of the condominium as much as she is fighting to salvage her relationship with the man she once viewed as the love of her life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A middle-aged man finds a callow twentysomething usurping his professional life and worming his way into his family in this alternately funny and poignant comedy drama. Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is a middle-aged man who has spent 20 years as the head of advertising sales for Sports America, a leading athletics magazine. Dan is happily married to Ann (Marg Helgenberger) and has a college-age daughter, Alex (Scarlett Johansson), whom he dotes on, but Dan's comfortable life is given a major shake-up when a large multimedia firm buys the magazine. Seen as a bit long in the tooth to be truly competitive, Dan is demoted to second in command of advertising, and his position is handed over to Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), a 26-year-old who talks a good game about sales but has no practical experience in the field. Dan's wounded ego makes working with the arrogant Carter an uphill battle, but when he learns that Ann is expecting another baby, Dan is in no position to quit. Before long, Dan becomes aware of Carter's intense insecurities about his new job as the younger man reaches out to him for guidance, but this doesn't make Dan any less angry when Carter begins a romance with Alex after his marriage to Kimberley (Selma Blair) crashes and burns. In Good Company marked the solo directorial debut of Paul Weitz; he previously worked in collaboration with his brother Chris Weitz, who serves as producer on this film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Thanksgiving
A dysfunctional family from rural Virginia contends with conflict, ritual, and communication as the grown-up son who has moved away and kept his distance returns home to spend Thanksgiving weekend with the parents and siblings he once left behind in director Zackary Adler's offbeat comedy. When Brian Worthington (Shawn Hatosy) left home some years ago, he and his father, Frank (Tom Bower), weren't exactly on the best of terms. Time doesn't necessarily heal all wounds, and when Frank lost the ability to connect with his maturing children, he began replacing them with pets that would never "grow up" and always remain loyal. Now that Brian has returned, it doesn't take him long to realize not much has changed: his mother, Dottie (Ann Dowd), is still the glue that holds them together, his twentysomething brother, Kenny (DJ Qualls), still hasn't struck out on his own, and his sister, Erin (Cameron Richardson), is struggling to recover from a messy divorce while raising her young daughter, Maddy (Georgia Mae Lively), who seems to possess an unusual wisdom for her age. As the big donkey basketball game draws near, Brian reconnects with pretty family friend Allison (Nikki Reed) and gets pressured into killing the one member of the family that his father seems to love more than his own flesh and blood -- the family dog Argus. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Were it not for its profanity-laden opening scenes, John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles might have been suitable family entertainment: certainly it's heaps less violent and mean-spirited than Hughes' Home Alone. En route to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his family, easily annoyed businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin) finds his first-class plane ticket has been demoted to coach, and he must share his flight with obnoxious salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). A sudden snowstorm in Chicago forces the plane to land in Wichita. Unable to find a room in any of the four-star hotels, Neal is compelled to accept Del's invitation to share his accommodations in a cheapo-sleazo motel. Driven to distraction by Del's annoying personal habits, the ungrateful Neal lets forth with a stream of verbal abuse. That's when Del delivers the anticipated (but always welcome) "I don't judge, why should you?"-type speech so common to John Hughes flicks. The shamefaced Neal tries to make up to Del, but there's a bumpy time ahead as the mismatched pair make their way back to Chicago, first in a balky train, then by way of a refrigerator truck. We know from the outset that the oil-and-water Neal and Del will be bosom companions by the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but it's still a fun ride. The best bit: a half-asleep Del thinking that he's got his hand tucked between two pillows -- until his bedmate, Neal, bellows "Those aren't pillows!" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
