Going to a movie on Christmas is a tradition in my family. Since I'm usually in the snowy hinterlands of the Great Lakes region, we'd bundle up after a day of visiting (and eating!), and head to the multiplex to watch the latest blockbuster release.
We saw "Sherlock Holmes," Guy Ritchie's action-packed take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's literary detective. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Holmes and Jude Law is the devoted Dr. Watson. Downey is as charming as ever, but his talent and charisma are wasted in a second-rate film. Downey can generate on-screen chemistry with anyone, and he and Law snap and crackle with fun repartee and lots of homoerotic tension, but they can't save this bloated dud.
Don't worry, though, I have an alternative suggestion that couldn't be more different in tone, story and style. And, it doesn't require leaving the house. Last year's "A Christmas Tale" ("Un conte de Noël") by French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin, is currently available "On Demand" on Sundance.
Now before you roll your eyes in honor of my pretension (Seriously? a French film about a dying woman gathering her brood for a family drama on Christmas????), give "A Christmas Tale" a chance. Mathieu Amalric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") also stars as the family black sheep and he's mesmerizing. The movie is funny, touching, sad, very French, longish (but held my attention), and free of the cheap sentimentalism that usually accompanies movies about families gathering around the holidays.
If that's not your thing and you really want a blockbuster, go see "Avatar." I liked it more than Beth, our film KPBS film critic, though I agree with her that the story and dialogue are gratingly bad. But the visuals! The 3-D! The plant life and floating mountains! It's gorgeous. Check out the interesting discussion in the comments section on Beth's blog.