Les toiles de Noël

We watched this movie in on TV and thought it was a good family film. Many of the reviews shown here were written by people who wrote the criticisms of the movie before seeing it. Many wrote awful reviews before the movie even came out. Doesn't seem too smart. It seems a lot of reviewers didn't like the movie because it was just too "nice." (No sex, violence or cussing) Again, I have to wonder about these reviewers intelligence when they know it is a movie about Christmas. What did they expect? Sure, it may have been a little corny in places but that's OK, it's designed as light entertainment, not a major Hollywood production. If it had been written to win awards in Hollywood then it would have had the sex, violence and lots of cussing. Kind of nice this movie didn't.

This is a movie which is sure to divide people. It is based on the early life of Thomas Kinkade, "the painter of light". It is a story of the sources of his inspiration: his mentor,and how the difficulties faced by his mother provided a motivation through which he began to find himself.Its weakness is that it isn't sure of its own purpose.It is certainly not a biography or a Christmas movie in the ordinary sense and its comedic moments often miss the mark.In many ways it is like a Kinkade picture: a little sugary and sentimental yet with a warmth and humanity that can touch our hopes for a world where we all have a place and where everything comes out alright in the end However,it it isn't grounded in the reality of the world as we know it. The script is very uneven,occasionally very hammy,yet produces some fine moments. Peter o' Toole's performance as Tom's mentor, rapidly approaching dotage and a loss of his powers is a fine one and justifies a viewing.I also enjoyed the background music.Not for anyone who shrinks from sentimentality.

Review Date 6/20/2019

I Have Reviewed OVER 500 "Christmas Films and Specials". Please BEWARE Of films and specials with just one review! For instance When "It's a POSITIVE" chances are that the reviewer was involved with the production. "If its Negative" then they may have a grudge against the film for whatever reason. I am fare about these films.

This film has "Christmas Spirit" to spare. It is a well made star filled story that you can't help but to overlook that it does rip-off of "It's a Wonderful Life". In this film Christmas Cottage tells the semi-autobiographical tale of how a young boy is propelled to launch a career as an artist after he learns that his mother is in danger of losing the family home.

The film works and that is all that matters. Watch it with your family!

Thomas Kinkade (Jared Padalecki) is struggling to paint his art. He goes home for Christmas with his brother Pat Kinkade (Aaron Ashmore). Their mother Maryanne Kinkade (Marcia Gay Harden) has fallen behind on the mortgage payments and is about to lose the family cottage. Their neighbor and Thomas' mentor Glen (Peter O'Toole) is slowly deteriorating.

It's the late great Peter O'Toole in one of his last films. The man is deteriorating right there in front of our eyes, but his screen presence is still overpowering. The glint in his eyes is ever sparkling. It's a small supporting role and he's doing a completely different movie than everybody else. His performance could win awards while the rest are doing Hallmark adjacent work. It's too bad that it's all in the service of this bland Christmas biopic TV movie.

Thomas Kinkade's Home for Christmas is an old fashioned film, yes. It fits very well with Kinkade's art; indeed, the film is a wise nod to his magical paintings. Much like his work it can draw cynics and negative, self-proclaimed pundits like a magnet draws iron filings. The story is essentially the inspiration behind Kinkade's central work and his raison d'être…how it all came to be. For many of us, especially those puzzled by the scribbling and bizarre compositions that pass for abstract art…work that must come while the artist has his tongue deeply embedded into his cheek, and further, work that can be analyzed and described in 1,000 different ways, each a product of the imagination… the charm of the alternative Kinkade depictions of the dream-like reality of a place where the heart wants to be is a respite and a place for us to rest in this weary, war-torn world of endless crime and violence.

As a filmmaker and writer of some note I found the production a bit uneven but then there were moments that were spot-on and in the balance the film succeeds very well. The cast is fine, the production values are very acceptable and the story, which could have used a bit more imagination and forward thrust, ends well and succeeds to give the film its reason for being.

The story of how Thomas Kinkade obtained his gift is fine but there's a far more salient, exciting and bigger story to be told because the man happens to be one of the most successful creative commercial artists ever produced by Americana. We look forward to that story on film, perhaps with a bigger budget, more exciting production values and a stronger script. There is nothing that pleases the American (and perhaps to a greater degree today) world audiences… like the story of success up from the bottom rung of the ladder.