An Old Fashioned Christmas (2010)

That was an excellent one.

Let's be realistic.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

December 1870, and we pick up on the adventures of Mathilda "Tilly" Bassett and her rich grandmother Isabella, having toured some of Europe's cultural centers and are now arriving in Dublin for a month-long stay. Tilly's inner struggle is between being a society woman in-the-making and the Yankee farm girl that are her roots.Isabella's mission is to expose Tilly to the world of letters; that's why she's bringing her to Dublin, to meet Ireland's poet laureate, the Earl of Shannon. But there's a saying throughout Ireland: "If you want to make God laugh, try making plans."This film is very good. You should watch it but without distractions. It will be slow for someone that expects "Vampires and Hobbits". This is a gentle film that lets an audience take in the surroundings and environment. It also a film about the "old country vs the new country". It also makes you think at what "really matters". It questions what is most important. The questions include Whats Important 1) What people expect from you 2) what do you expect of yourself 3)Should you always follow your heart? Watch and enjoy

I'll watch any old rubbish with Christmas in the title at this time of year and given that terrestrial TV here in the UK clogs up the afternoon schedules with wall-to-wall Christmas-themed movies, there's no shortage of choice.To be sure, the Christmas connection seemed somewhat contrived in this TV movie, the story could certainly have been played without the Yuletide reference, although other than having the characters sitting down to Christmas dinner singing carols to each other and a snow scene over the end titles, I didn't much get the spirit of the season anyway.The story was really just Mills and Boon set in old Ireland, the contrived plot revolving around a young American would-be writer, chaperoned around Ireland, by her stuffy, moneybags grandmother. The granddaughter wants to get back to her roots and track down her paternal Irish grandfather but along the way has to choose between her staid Stateside fiancé and the drunken but roguish native son pushed forward by the scheming Irish Lady of the manor, with whom they're both staying, the Lady hoping to trade a title for new money.The actors perform adequately as they wade through the schmaltz, but really this was a story better read than watched, if you like that kind of sub-Barbara Cartland thing.

Okay, I'm generally a sucker for Christmas movies. I also enjoy the Merchant-Ivory style films about the prim and proper Victorian age. This should have both, right? Wrong.The acting from some of the principles is bad. The story is pretty lame. The ending is predictable. Having the Bissett character show affection for a character she loathes (and who despises her) is out of character and doesn't fit in with the movie.The local romantic figure is such a loser that we wonder what Tillie ever saw in him or why she would even question her relationship with Gideon/Gad.Yawn is a good description. "Lame" would work just as well.

I know it's always hard to make a sequel - the fans of the first will be harsh critics - but it can be done fairly well. Sadly, this wasn't one of those times. They tried too hard to emphasize Isabella's being American. They should have left her accent alone (it was slight enough in the first that it was just assumed it was higher society). No offense to the woman who played Tilly this time but I much preferred the actress from the first. A shame they couldn't get her back. There was far too little Gad for my liking. And his competition? What competition? He was a jerk. They tried to play him off as a passionate alternative to Gad but trust me, if you saw the kiss in the first one you know Gad has plenty of passion when it comes to Tilly. The story they gave us could have worked but the final script just didn't cut it. The only redeeming quality of this film was Gad. He's the only reason I didn't give this film a rating of 1 for being awful. He seemed to be the only character who's development didn't get a complete reboot from the first. It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen but I think I may stick with the first and pretend this one never happened. I'll write my own sequel for my amusement.EDIT: After writing this I went and watched the first one again. And just as I remember, it was wonderful. Checked and discovered this one had a different writer and director. I'm not saying they have no talent, I've never seen their other work, but they dropped the ball on this one.