waynesavage-909-12906 Reviews

The Christmas Tree (1996 TV Movie)

The Christmas Tree named Tree

[9/10 · 27 December 2014]

This movie was a very pleasant surprise that we stumbled across on YouTube. Although this film was eighteen years old as we saw it for the first time today, it was new to us. The Christmas Tree starred Julia Harris from The Christmas Wife along with Andrew McCarthy. It was directed by Sally Field who was not in the movie.

Sister Anthony came to an orphanage as a little girl and every day throughout her life she found solace underneath this very special tree that she named 'Tree.' It had become a place of prayer and comfort. One day Richard Reilly, the man in charge of finding the annual Christmas Tree for Rockefeller Center (played by McCarthy) came along wanting Tree. No spoilers here but this is a must see Christmas movie, my new favorite, great story telling and brilliant directing from Sally Field. This is a truly touching Christmas movie and the first movie I've rated on IMDb giving as many as nine stars.

Stellina Blue (2009)

Thought Provoking Movie...

[7/10 · 26 December 2014]

A bad guy with a gun attempts to rob a grocery store owned by Stellina's friend. Stellina takes a bullet in the belly and ends up hospitalized in a coma for the next month.

When she awakens from her coma her doctor tells her that hospital staff gave her the nickname of 'Stellina Blue' because she broke the hospital record for surviving Code Blue's, the previous record was three, Stellina survived nine Code Blues while comatose. She awoke with a special gift, no spoilers here.

The acting and writing in Stellina Blue is pretty good. It wasn't a 'great' movie but I can't say anything bad about it. I reserve the higher ratings of 9 and 10 for masterpieces. This was a good solid thought provoking movie that will leave you in discussions about our purpose in life.

Samuel Bleak (2013)

Samuel Bleak wasn't

[8/10 · 26 December 2014]

Wow, what an interesting movie!

The title role of 'Samuel Bleak' was played by Dustin Dugas Shuetter who not only starred in the movie but he also wrote and directed it, masterfully. Shuetter plays Samuel, a young man in his early twenties, who is discovered living in a makeshift hut in the woods with little more than an old typewriter given to him by his mother. Samuel was discovered living only a stones throw away from where he went missing as an eight year old boy. Samuel was found dirty, hungry, scared and seemingly mute, discovered by the local sheriff who seems to be a good guy along with his wife who works at a mental health facility. Samuel's father and mother work into the storyline and add intrigue and mystery into this provocative film.

Two other reviewers gave this movie poor ratings, one absolutely hated the score (soundtrack) which I found to be perfectly appropriate and one reviewer hated the Shuetter casting himself as Samuel saying he looked too much like a model; opinions vary and I am of the opinion that this is a very interesting, quite good film. I also think that Shuetter's acting was quite good, it's not easy to play a mute. Pretty darn good movie!