Must see holiday movies...

I guess I should have done this one earlier. That way you could have watched them all.

White Christmas

This is a good old-fashioned corny musical with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney an some other lady. Bing and Clooney were the singers. Kaye and the other lady were the dancers.

Bing and Danny were in the army in WWII and Danny saved Bing's life. Bing was a big star and Danny parlayed his injury sustained while saving Bing into forming a duet with Bing. They were a huge hit. They started to produce and became even bigger.

While in Florida, they went to see the sister act of an army buddy. Clooney and the other dame. After a mixup with their landlord and a warrant from the sheriff, the girls were perfectly innocent, the girls took the guys train tickets and headed off to Vermont where there next gig was. To stall the sheriff, Bing and Danny did the girls act lip-synching their song. Bing breaks character by laughing so much at Danny's antics but it is one of the highlights of the movie.

They all decide to go to Vermont and it turns out the owner of the Inn is Bing and Danny's old General. Well, no snow in Vermont made for a sparse guest list so the boys decide to bring up the whole show to practice in Vermont.

All the while there is an on-again off-again love thingy between Clooney and Bing. He thinks everyone has an angle. Doing something to get what they want. Clooney thinks he's cynical. They fall in love anyway. Until there is a miscommunication about why Bing wants to go on his buddies TV show. Bing wants all of the Generals old soldiers to come up to Vermont for the General. His buddy suggests bringing cameras up to film it all; a great human interest story. Bing says no way. All he wants to do is ask the guys to come up on the show. Well, Clooney only hears about all the cameras and doesn't hear the rejection and thinks Bing is doing it for the publicity.

Mayhem ensues.

Clooney leaves. Bing pleads. Danny leads.

The guys come up to surprise the General. Clooney realizes her mistake and surprises Bing on stage. It starts to snow.

All is right with the world.

Family Man

This movie tugs at my heart.

It's about a rich guy, Nicloas Cage, who 13 years prior had left his girlfriend, Tea Leoni, at the airport promising her he would be back then they could start their lives together. He didn't. They didn't. He is now very rich and successful.

But apparently he doesn't have everything he needs. Don Cheadle plays an angel who puts him in a life where he came back from London and they did start a life together. They live in Jersey with two kids.

His journey from rich single guy to family man is funny and insightful. All along his daughter knows he's not really her dad and helps him along the way. She thinks he's an alien but they did a good job making him look like her dad.

One morning he and his daughter are playing outside and she looks at Cage for a second and says "I knew you'd come back." Very heart-warming moment. He has grown into the role of father and she recognizes him know as such.

Earlier in the movie Cheadle gave Cage a bike bell. We never knew what it was for. He is in the garage and hears the bell. It is Annie, his daughter, she is ringing the bell for fun. Whew! Crisis averted!

Cage goes down to the local store to pick up some rock salt and there is Cheadle behind the counter. D'OH! Cage is adamant about staying n his new life but Cheadle reminds him the new life was just a glimpse until he figured out what he needed.

Cage falls asleep after saying goodbye to his family. Unimaginable. He wakes up in his old rich life. Miserable.

He tracks down Leoni. She is moving to Paris. He rushes to the airport to stop her. She assures him she has closure form 13 years ago and he can go. He begins to describe Josh and Annie, their kids, and their life together.

He asks for one cup of coffee. The movie credits start to roll with them drinking coffee.

Two more to come...