Coming up on Saturday at the Described Movies: Last Train to Christmas, Scrooged, and Father Christmas.
Only on Mushroom escape:
http://www.mushroomfm.com/escape
From this Saturday at 12am Eastern, that’s 6pm Saturday in NZ, 4pm in Sydney and 5am in the UK, and repeated every four hours throughout the day, it’s the described movies Last Train to Christmas, from 2021, Scrooged from 1988, and Father Christmas from 1991.
Any questions, comments, or ideas for future described movies: e-mail me: anthony at mushroomfm dot com (e-mail address written that way to cut down on
spam)
Enjoy the movies and see the movie information below.
Movie 1
Last Train to Christmas is a 2021 Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film written and directed by Julian Kemp.
The film was released on 18 December 2021 in the United Kingdom via Sky Cinema and Now.
Tony Towers is a local celebrity, a successful nightclub manager and he is engaged to a younger woman, Sue.
Things get a little strange when he embarks upon the 3:17 to Nottingham for a Christmas family reunion.
Directed by: Julian Kemp.
Written by: Julian Kemp.
Produced by: Matt Williams, and Matthew James Wilkinson.
Starring: Michael Sheen.
Music by: Anne Nikitin.
Production Companies: Sky Studios, Future Artists Entertainment, and Stigma Films.
Distributed by: Sky Cinema.
Release date: 18 December 2021 (United Kingdom).
File Length: 109 minutes.
Country: United Kingdom.
Language: English.
Movie 2
Scrooged is a 1988 American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Richard Donner and written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue.
Based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooged is a modern retelling that follows Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a cynical and selfish television executive who is visited by a succession of ghosts on Christmas Eve intent on helping him regain his Christmas spirit.
Scrooged was filmed on a $32 million budget over three months in New York City and Hollywood from December 1987 to March 1988.
Murray returned to acting for the film after taking a four-year hiatus following the success of Ghostbusters, which he found overwhelming, although he had a minor role in Little Shop of Horrors.
Murray worked with Glazer and O'Donoghue on reworking the script before agreeing to join the project.
The production was tumultuous, as Murray and Donner had different visions for the film.
Murray described his time on the film as "misery", while Donner called Murray "superbly creative but occasionally difficult".
Along with Murray's three brothers, Brian, John and Joel, Scrooged features numerous celebrity cameos.
The film's marketing capitalized on Murray's Ghostbusters role, referring to his encounters with ghosts in both films.
Scrooged was released on 23 November 1988 and grossed over $100 million worldwide.
The film received a positive response from test audiences but was met with a mixed response upon its release from critics who found the film either too mean-spirited or too sentimental.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup but lost to the fantasy-comedy film Beetlejuice.
Since its release, Scrooged has become a regular television Christmastime feature, with some critics calling it an alternative to traditional Christmas films, and others arguing that Scrooged was ahead of its time, making it relevant in the modern day.
It has appeared on various lists of the best Christmas films.
Directed by: Richard Donner.
Screenplay by: Mitch Glazer, and Michael O'Donoghue.
Based on: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Produced by: Richard Donner, and Art Linson.
Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, Robert Mitchum, Michael J. Pollard, and Alfre Woodard.
Cinematography: Michael Chapman.
Edited by: Fredric Steinkamp, and William Steinkamp.
Music by: Danny Elfman.
Production Company: Mirage Productions.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures.
Release date: 23 November 1988.
File Length: 93 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $32 million.
Box office: $100.3 million.
Movie 3
Father Christmas is a 1991 British animated short film which adapts two books written by Raymond Briggs – Father Christmas and Father Christmas Goes on Holiday.
Produced by Blooming Productions Ltd. at TVC London for Channel 4 Television Company Ltd., in association with Palace Video and GAGA Communications, the film premiered on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve 1991 in Britain and was the second animated adaptation of Briggs' work made for the channel, following the 1982 animated short The Snowman.
The film stars Mel Smith as Father Christmas and was dedicated to the late animator John McGuire.
The story focuses on a stereotypical vision of Father Christmas with a down-to-earth twist, living in contemporary Britain with his pets and reindeer, coping with everyday domestic chores, who recounts to the viewers about a holiday he took before preparing for another Christmas.
Directed by: Dave Unwin.
Written by: Raymond Briggs (books).
Produced by: John Coates.
Starring: Mel Smith (UK), and William Dennis Hunt (US).
Music by: Mike Hewer.
Production Companies: Blooming Productions Ltd., and TVC London.
Distributed by: Channel 4.
Release date: 24 December 1991 (UK).
File Length: 26 minutes (British runtime).
Country: United Kingdom.
Language: English.