TomClarie

I'm very confused--a friend told me this movie has had horrible reviews, and I see a 7 out of 10 on IMDb ratings--yet every review I read on IMDb says "excellent." And this movie was indeed excellent--saw it 2 days ago with a friend. I was so immediately excited by the movie that it combined with my Coke to start giving me my first anxiety attack in 20 years. What a movie beginning!! I put the Coke and my popcorn down on the floor and didn't touch them the entire movie. Other reviewers say the film repeats itself 5 or 8 times--actually it seems like 500 times. But you start WANTING to see the repetitions so you can help the Secret Service solve the bizarre happenings. And in the process of the repetitions, a tremendous, wildly exciting film unfolds and evolves. I also heard groans from the audience as the "repeats" kept coming, so, if you are not an intelligent person, if you like everything spoon-fed to you nicely like some calm video game, or if you are a childish person, you will not like this movie. This film is only for those who love to be blown away by non-stop action and constantly twisting plot. Might have been the sound system, but I have never heard explosions this loud in my life--loved the sound. And after seeing this movie, I have a new respect for what cellphones can do, I have new respect for what our troops face abroad, and I'm going to be extra-careful whom I TRUST! My advice? Forget the ratings and reviews and go see this film--but you won't have time to eat popcorn or drink Coke.

This movie is not available on DVD unless one cuts it himself off a taped-from-TV videotape. It is an "old-fashioned" Christmas tale--others have summarized the setting about the young boy's being stuck with a very grumpy old grandpa. Its plot is very unusual and very sensitive, because it deals with harsh realities of LOSS that we all face. The characters in this extended family help each other, sometimes without meaning to help, find meaning in their lives and help lift heavy BURDENS and family secrets that have haunted them for years. I taped this movie off TV in 1993, and have NOT seen it on TV since, which is a shame--they should wipe that BB-gun-boy Christmas movie permanently off television and substitute this REAL Christmas movie for it and play it EVERY Christmas so that people who don't remember how to feel and love rediscover these cozy sentiments.

Tom Clarie