The Mistle-Tones

During the Holiday Season there seems to be non stop 24/7 Christmas on every cable channel. Most of them are bland however "The Mistle- tones" is not a bland film. It is an excellent movie that proves "Christmas Movies Can Be Great". The "Mistle-Tones" is the best example I can think of that shows great films can be made about Christmas. It also nice to see a Christmas movie that is not a "Spin" on "A Christmas Carol" or "It's a Wonderful Life". This is not a rip off of "Freaky Friday" or "Groundhog Day". This is not about a poor widow about lose her home, or business. Its not about mending fences. All this is about is a singing contest.

The plot is simple. Holly gets cheated out winning a spot on the "Snow-belles". This is a local singing group the performs every year at the mall on Christmas Eve. Holly ends up getting the mall to hold auditions for the "Deck the Mall Spectacular" and now the "Snow- belles" have to compete with Holly's group that she just formed with fellow co-workers.

This all sounds like it would be "Stupid". Trust me I thought it would be. However I had the time of my life watching this. Iended up buying the CD on I-TUNES.

If you love Christmas & Christmas Music then watch this. Its a perfect night of entertainment for everyone.

If you want to see a great movie track this down. It is a miracle that a film this great was made for television. For having a limited budget the director works wonders with camera movements and fancy editing. There is not one false note in this movie.

I know many people for some reason do not like Tori Spelling but she plays a mega frigid bitch here and she is great. The nastier her character gets the nicer Holy gets. (I HIGHLY DOUBT THEY USED TORI'S REAL SINGING VOICE)

The plot is not very complex which fine. This is just about a singing contest at Christmas time! The vocal arrangements are exciting and full of energy. For a movie with a very limited budget the director made the most with camera set-ups and locations. It shows there is true talent in front and behind the camera. There is 2 singing numbers that take place in a warehouse but the director used that environment to his advantage. The whole movie however is never boring. .

Now why there has not been a DVD release is shocking. The film almost sings "Repeated Viewing is a Must".

I hope in the future Tia Mowrey, Andy Gala, Jonathan Patrick Moore, Jason Rogel, and Megan Kathleen Duffy get cast in more projects. They made a great ensemble.

This is a great film. It is just about a singing contest. No major drama here. The film is about family and trying to stay connected to your family's traditions.

In this film the local Christmas Carolers (The Bells) Singing group has an opening. When Holly auditions she is clearly the best performer but she doesn't make the group, The Groups leader (Marci) is clearly jealous of Holly's talent and allows lesser talent join in. What huts Holly is the fact her own mother started "The Bells" but she can't get in.

Upon the news that she can't join she ends up starting a rival group. Now "The Bells" have to compete with "The Mistle-tones" ti sing at the annual "Deck the Mall" Christmas Eve Spectacular.

Very family safe. If you want to watch a great film puts this on any time of the year.

Tia is great in this. The story line is "cute". The music is wonderful. Would buy the soundtrack, if I could find it. The "relationship" between Holly and Nick is believable. They have great chemistry. And that works. It is a little funny, that there are so many people with costumes, and choreography, who want to sing at a mall on Christmas Eve. They just happened to have sequin clothes at home, waiting for a chance to sing somewhere? LOL The thumbs down part? Tori Spelling. The girl cannot act. And, it's obvious that SHE isn't actually singing. It would have been much better, with someone else in that part. If you can get past that, you will love the movie.

I have bashed musicals a few times, so i guess i need to come clean and prop up this one. The emphasis in this movie is on singing, LOTs of singing, good sounding voices doing solos and blending with each other.

Of course since it is christmasy it has traditional themes and characters. But the singing is what this movie is about. The characters are very likable (well mostly), and even the villainess group have beautiful voices.

I tried doing some research on this movie to find out if it was either dubbed or not dubbed, and the little I found indicated that the actors were doing the singing, which makes me a happy camper.

I look for this kind of stuff, i am surprised it took me this long to 'discover' it.

Clean enjoyable Christmas singing movie for groups who look for this kind of thing