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Not many shows have holiday specials anymore which is a shame. Christmas specials can often lead to episodes that are rewatched every year by the fans. DC fans may have the DC Animated Universe actually featured three Christmas specials across several shows.

Related: Every Doctor Who Christmas Episode, Ranked

Christmas With The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series, Holiday Knights from The New Batman Adventures, and finally Comfort And Joy from Justice League. All three provide not only superhero/supervillain antics but also heartwarming and joyful moments that can bring out tears. How can a show about heroes in spandex and capes hit someone right in the feels?...

Frank Rosso's Babylon (1980) is showing February 25 – March 26, 2019 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.Impressions of Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980) extend past the boundaries of its 95-minute running time. Like the dub remixes its London characters’ lives revolve around, the movie plays with re-establishing identity and our experience of time. A narrative document of young, working class male Jamaican-British Londoners, Babylon doles out atmospheric city scenes of their place in the community: sons, brothers, boyfriends, small-time crooks, laborers, music lovers and producers. Privileging viewers with immersion into an insulated, under-documented immigrant community, the film provides a window into their daily lives. We are thrown into conversations and situations, intimately experiencing their patois their interactions with friends, their constant victimization by a dominantly racist white society, and the massive sound system parties they congregate to. A corrective to the British ignorance and fear of Jamaican immigrants, the film’s emphasis is on...

Dev Patel directs Armie Hammer in a stylish dark comedy. Don Hertzfeldt delivers a second installment of his award-winning animated saga. And Dime Davis documents artist Mark Bradford’s creativity in action. These are just a few of the treats to be found among the 69 live action, animated, and documentary shorts playing the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

The Sundance programmers whittled the 69 official selections from 8,740 submissions (down 245 from the previous year). Making the cut were several shorts with recognizable talent in front of the lens: Simon Helberg and Brett Gelman suffer through an unbalanced relationship in Jessica Sander’s two-hander “End of the Line,” Lakeith Stanfield plays himself in Shaka King’s “Lazercism,” and Armie Hammer undertakes a supporting role as a television huckster in Dev Patel’s “Home Shopper.”

Read More:Sundance 2018: 21 Must-See Films At This Year’s Festival, From ‘Wildlife’ to ‘Sorry to Bother You’

IndieWire previewed 47 films available...

Welcome to another edition of Over/Under Movies, the podcast in which we choose one overrated film and one underrated film – similar in tone, style, genre, or however we may see fit – and discuss them.

On this episode, my co-host Oktay Ege Kozak and I are joined by Robert Ham (Paste Magazine, Portland Mercury, XRay.fm) t0 tackle two whimsical, melancholic comedies about moving on when you’re stuck. We turn things around and start with the underrated pick on this episode, which is Bill Forsyth‘s underseen 1984 gem “Comfort and Joy” (not to be confused with the 2003 Lifetime movie of the same name).

Continue reading Dissecting The Whimsical Melancholy Of ‘Garden State’ & ‘Comfort And Joy’ [Over/Under Movies Podcast] at The Playlist.

You never heard of the Great Glasgow Ice Cream Wars? They weren’t exactly Armageddon, and the gentle director Bill Forsyth makes a radio personality’s involvement with two competing ice cream companies more of a plunge into amiable drollery. If you like Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero you’ll understand the odd, unhurried attitude of this oddball show from 1984.

Comfort and Joy

Region B Blu-ray

Studiocanal

1984 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date February 29, 2016 / At Amazon UK / £ 9.99

Starring: Bill Patterson, C.P. Grogan, Eleanor David, Alex Norton, Patrick Malahide.

Cinematography: Chris Menges

Film Editor: Michael Ellis

Original Music: Mark Knopfler

Produced by Davina Belling, Clive Parsons

Written and Directed by Bill Forsyth

Quick, name some great filmmakers before the 1990s that hail from Scotland. Actually, there are plenty, it’s just that most made their careers and reputations in London, and some later in Hollywood. The home-grown talent Bill Forsyth...

We've got your first look at "Brad Pitt" on TV Land's Hot in Cleveland. In the season premiere of the hit sitcom, Victoria Chase (Wendie Malick) films a new movie with "Brad Pitt" in New York. As you can imagine, it's not Brad Pitt, but instead it's a CGI disaster for the former soap star character. Hot in Cleveland's season premiere, titled "Comfort and Joy," also sees Joy (Jane Leeves) deciding whether to marry Mitch (Tim Daly), Simon (Craig Ferguson) or Bob (Dave Foley). Meanwhile, Elka (Betty White) tries to bring more film jobs to Cleveland. Last season ended with Joy getting proposed to by her three suitors, but before she could decide, she ended up in the hospital. Meanwhile,...

There are two upcoming movie musicals that, for a long time, I've wanted to make into motion pictures, should someone with money be willing to give me the funds to make them -- Into The Woods and The Last 5 Years. I'm both nervous and excited to see how directors Rob Marshall and Richard Lagravenese, respectfully, have interpreted the material I hold so close to my heart. I am especially nervous for Into The Woods, given Marshall's less than impressive track record. If someone is going to screw up something I cherish, it should be me. Of course, there are far more than two musicals I have a deep connection to. Some have already been made into films, like Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Les Miserables, but there is a vast collection of musicals I have thought could make fantastic films, but have never been made.

God Help the Girl

Written and directed by Stuart Murdoch

UK, 2014

In 2009, Belle and Sebastian mastermind Stuart Murdoch released a concept album under the guise of God Help the Girl, the name of both the album and the collective of musicians behind it. It was a break away from his Scottish band’s usual stylings in that it was primarily penned for female vocalists known and unknown, though male singers like The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon and Murdoch himself made memorable appearances on a few tracks. Additionally, while Belle and Sebastian’s most beloved songs can often be taken as their own singular, compelling tales, the God Help the Girl album was a larger narrative project, with the songs tracking protagonist Eve through various woes and successes. Five years later, a long-gestating film adaptation of the album has arrived, courtesy of producer Barry Mendel (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) and some support through Kickstarter,...

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

because you missed it

Welcome to the Punch: stylish Brit crime drama with a killer cast; stars James McAvoy and Mark Strong are even more engaging than usual [at Netflix]

new to stream

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen: Terry Gilliam’s weird and funny tall tale about the legendary teller of tall tales [at Netflix] Ruthless People: the modern classic black comedy of kidnapping and revenge, with outrageous performances by Danny DeVito and Bette Midler [at Netflix]

streaming now, before dvd

Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen’s latest is a striking portrait of a woman on the edge; Cate Blanchett is amazing [at blinkbox] Prince Avalanche: quirky arthouse buddy dramedy with fantastic performances by Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch [at blinkbox] Ain’t Them Bodies Saints: oddly dreamy romance among criminals; like if Terrence Malick made Bonnie and Clyde [at blinkbox] The Fifth Estate...

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are offering up a few gems this year in terms of marathons or specials. You've got everything from "Doctor Who" to a winter-themed marathon of Syfy monster movies to more Christmas movie marathons than you can shake a stick at. Plus, the Hub is offering four hours of the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" yule log on Christmas morning, which we're intrigued by.

Don't forget to set your DVRs if you aren't able to watch live. All times Eastern.

Tuesday, Dec. 24

ABC: "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" animation, 8 p.m., Jim Carrey movie, 8:30 p.m.

ABC Family: Christmas movie marathon, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. ("Deck the Halls," "Prancer," "The Polar Express," "The Santa Clause," "The Santa Clause 2," "The Santa Clause 3") 

BBC America: "Doctor Who" marathon, 8 a.m. to 6 a.m. the next day

Bet: "Roots" marathon, 8 a.

Director Jamie Chambers wants his film, screening at this year's Edinburgh film festival, to be more than an elegy for the nation's oral tradition of singing and storytelling

Home advantages don't come much stronger than the one the new Scottish film Blackbird will have when it screens this week at the Edinburgh film festival. It isn't just that the picture's writer-director, Jamie Chambers, was born and raised in the city, or that he is artistic director of Transgressive North, a community of Scottish artists that has collaborated with the likes of Irvine Welsh, Jarvis Cocker, Alexander McCall Smith and Four Tet. Nor is it merely that this movie, inspired partly by Powell and Pressburger's Hebridean romance I Know Where I'm Going!, will be vying for the prestigious Michael Powell award. The very subject of Blackbird is Scotland – specifically, the oral tradition of singing and storytelling. Despite initiatives to keep that tradition alive,...

Cbj's Top 5 Comic Book Cartoon Holiday Specials, Epic Video Review Spectacular! So are you ready for it? Its Comic Book Jerk's very first holiday special! In my top 5 animated comic book cartoon holiday specials, I try to point out the obviously ridiculous moments as well as searching for the true meaning of the holidays. Be aware there are plenty of spoilers, and don't take these reviews too seriously. If you're offended by coarse language and adult subject matter, then you should avoid these reviews! Feel free to boost it to 1080 for better quality! So let's kick it off! 5. Justice League "Comfort and Joy" My biggest surprise with this holiday special was that it existed! I don't know how many times I overlooked this episode on the DVD's. I was very upset to notice that Batman was completely missing in this episode and it left me wondering...

Throughout the month of December, TV Editor Kate Kulzick and Film Editor Ricky D will review classic Christmas adaptions, posting a total of 13 each, one a day, until the 25th of December.

The catch: They will swap roles as Rick will take on reviews of classic television Christmas specials and Kate will take on Christmas movies. Today is day 10.

Comfort and Joy (1984)

Written and Directed by Bill Forsyth

What’s it about?

After his girlfriend unexpectedly leaves him, Allan “Dicky” Bird, a DJ in Glasgow, is headed towards a lonely Christmas when he gets wrapped up in an odd, escalating war between rival ice cream vendors.

Review

Many holiday films approach the season by embracing its scope and potential for grandeur. Comfort and Joy distinguishes itself by breaking from this tradition and embracing a smaller, more intimate take. Though it may be too slow for some, this character piece gives...

Justice League Season Two Coming to Blu-Ray (Finally!)

Street Date: 7/26/11

Synopsis:  Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl - they have all used their unique powers to fight evil across the galaxy. These 7 super heroes unite to become the Justice League. Dangers across the galaxy threaten Deep-rooted feelings of mistrust and insecurity surface and plauge the Justice League, causing internal strife and leaving them vulnerable to attacks from their enemies. But when one of their own commits the ultimate betrayal, it could be the end of the Justice League and Earth forever. Don't' miss one second of suspense or one iota of excitement with this 26 episode collection.

Episodes:Twilight Part 1

Twilight Part 2

Tabula Rasa Part 1

Tabula Rasa Part 2

Only a Dream Part 1

Only a Dream Part 2

Maid of Honor Part 1

Maid of Honor Part 2

Hearts and Minds Part 1

Hearts and Minds Part 2

A Better World Part...

When he was asked to be guest director for a festival dedicated to films based on books, Jonathan Coe set out to disprove the adage that great literature makes terrible movies

In the course of their famous book-length interview, François Truffaut once asked Alfred Hitchcock about his approach to literary adaptation, and Hitch's response was as magisterial, worldly and mischievous as one would expect: "What I do is to read a story only once, and if I like the basic idea, I just forget all about the book and start to create cinema. Today I would be unable to tell you the story of Daphne du Maurier's The Birds. I read it only once, and very quickly at that."

Hitchcock's comment was the first thing that occurred to me when, towards the end of last year, I was approached with an interesting proposition. "From Page to Screen" is the...

After the presents are opened, the halls are decked and the roast beast is carved, a lot of folks are looking to hit the movie theater or settle in front of their favorite holiday movies or TV show marathons. Zap2it's got you covered for all your Christmas weekend TV programming.

Friday, Dec. 24

A&E: "Criminal Minds" marathon

ABC Family: 25 Days of Christmas ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys," "Mickey's Christmas Special," "Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too," "Jack Frost," "Frosty's Winter Wonderland," "'Tas the Night Before Christmas," "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," "The Year Without Santa Claus" and "Rudolph's Shiny New Year.")

 

AMC: "Miracle on 34th Street," "White Christmas" marathon

Animal Planet: "Planet Earth" marathon

BBC America: "Doctor Who" marathon

Cartoon Network: Various cartoon holiday episodes

Cmt: "A Smoky Mountain Christmas," "Larry the Cable Guy's Star-studded Christmas Extravaganza," "Larry the Cable Guy...

Time for our weekly look at the new podcasts available at our new “partners in podcast crime” the GeekCast Radio Network. Each week we’ll be bringing you the highlights from Gcrn, with descriptions and links to each and every episode.

The Secret Origins Podcast Episode 10

In the 10th episode of Tsop Lupis is deathly sick. Don’t believe that TFG1Mike is forcing him to do this episode. In this one we cover some awesome episodes Secret Society, Hereafter, Wild Cards, and Comfort and Joy. So join them as they cover these great episodes of Justice League Season 2. Listen Now.

ToonCast Episode 57 – Berenstain Bears

In the 57th episode of ToonCast Mike and Kevin talk about the bears from Bear Country. Not only do they reminisce on the 1985 television cartoon, but the books as well. Listen Now.

Mwire Episode 44 – Bicentennial Man

In the 44th episode of Mwire Robin Williams is a robot.

At 8, CBS has A Home For The Holidays with Faith Hill. TNT has the Patrick Stewart A Christmas Carol at 8. TCM has To Have and Have Not at 8, then The Big Sleep. Lifetime Movie Network has Comfort and Joy at 8, followed by Recipe For a Perfect Christmas. At 9, PBS has a new Great Performances. A&E has a new Dog The Bounty Hunter at 9, followed by a new Steven Seagal: Lawman. Also at 9: Showtime has a new Inside The NFL. At 10, NBC has a new Jay Leno Show. Tlc has the premiere of Accidental Fortune at 10. Bravo has a new Launch My Line at 10. At 10:30, TBS has a new Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Continue reading What's On Tonight: Faith Hill, Great Performances, Meet The Browns

 

Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities,...

Bill Forsyth, 1984

Whenever I contemplate the career of Bill Forsyth, I realise I'm getting old. It's more than a quarter of a century since he was considered one of the great new hopes of British cinema, but to me, the sudden flowering of his oblique, wilful talent still seems like one of the more recent miracles of film history.

After the cult success of his Glaswegian caper comedy That Sinking Feeling (just issued on DVD in an insulting format – with a dubbed soundtrack for American audiences), Forsyth hit the big time with his second feature, Gregory's Girl. I watch this film whenever it comes on TV – every two or three years, I suppose – and it never disappoints. The bittersweet experience of adolescent love is expertly captured, but more than that there is an unstoppable flow of comic invention: even the smallest characterisations are quirkily memorable, every scene crackles with good lines.