6.4

A Boyfriend for Christmas

2004, USA

• Actors: Kelli Williams, Patrick Muldoon, Charles Durning, Bruce Thomas, Shannon Wilcox, Martin Mull, Bridget White, David Starzyk, Jordan Del Spina, Shane Baumel, Erica Gimpel, Maeve Quinlan, John Dybdahl, Kenneth Danziger, Rodger Bumpass, Mary Margaret Robinson, Laura Kirk, Kimberlee Preish, Cindy-Lee Marsh, Kelli King, Kaleigh Sack, Cameron McCutchan, Marki Ann Meyer, Jean Pierre Bergeron, Alan Shearman, Beans Morocco, Ken Howard, Lee Ann Powers, Patty Onagan, David Rasner
• Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Family
• Director(s): Kevin Connor
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Holly is not looking forward to Xmas. Her brother has a wife and kids to bring to their parents' house. She hasn't had a boyfriend since Ted. Holly loved Ted but he broke her heart when he chose to break up with her when he was transferred to an out of town newspaper owned by his family's publishing empire. Oh, and work is unrewarding--today the woman Holly was helping failed to regain custody of her kids when pro bono lawyer Ryan Hughes never showed up at the hearing. Knowing she will never meet Hughes, Holly has to settle for dictating a nasty letter to him. Holly's friend Diane tries to perk her up by promising to send her a great Xmas present. So when a handsome man with a Xmas tree knocks at her door, she realizes Douglas Firwood is her present and she can take him home to her parents for the day as a boyfriend she is serious about. Holly thinks the day is going perfectly--she and Doug are hitting it off, her family likes Doug, and her family believes every fact about Doug that she dreams up on the spur of the moment. There are three truths she doesn't realize: her brother's wife foresees great professional advancement if she can get his new boss Ted married to Holly so Ted is coming over, Diane's gift to Holly was a great bottle of booze, and how unbelievably coincidental it is that the man showing up at her door carrying a Douglas fir should claim to be named Douglas Firwood.

  7.5

Bigger Than Life

1955, USA

• Actors: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Robert F. Simon, Christopher Olsen, Roland Winters, Rusty Lane, Rachel Stephens, Kipp Hamilton, Dee Aaker, David Bedell, Harold Bostwick, Virginia Carroll, Mary Carver, Betty Caulfield, Lewis Charles, George Chester, Richard Collier, Fred Dale, Nan Dolan, Alex Frazer, Bill Jones, Colin Kenny, Thomas Martin, Portland Mason, Natalie Masters, Jerry Mathers, Mary McAdoo, Renny McEvoy, Joseph Mell
• Genre: Drama
• Director(s): Nicholas Ray
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Schoolteacher and family man Ed Avery, who's been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with what's diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live, Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone cortisone. Ed makes a remarkable recovery, and returns home to his wife, Lou, and their son, Richie. He must keep taking cortisone tablets regularly to prevent a recurrence of his illness. But the "miracle" cure turns into its own nightmare as Ed starts to abuse the tablets, causing him to experience increasingly wild mood swings.