This Christmas (Blu-ray)

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Finally there's Michael called "Baby," who still lives at home and has secret dreams of becoming a singer, but of course he can't. He's the "baby" and besides, it would kill Ma'Dere if he left the way his no-account father did and the way that no-account Quentin did.

I think this is probably the first holiday movie I've seen where the characters go clubbing in the wee hours of the morning, and I know it's the only one I've seen in which somebody is whipped senseless with a belt as he comes out of the shower. I guess nothing says Christmas like a good ass-whoopin'. But this is a subject-matter complaint, and that will always be a matter of taste. What's more unfortunate is the soap opera construction and formulaic plot. And for all the contrived melodrama, things sure do resolve themselves with relative ease, quickness, and painlessness.

Sorry, but I'll stick with my current Christmas line-up of "Holiday Inn," "It's a Wonderful Life," "Elf," "A Christmas Story," and "The Preacher's Wife." "This Christmas" is rated PG for "comic sexual content and some violence." For me, though, whatever good feelings you get come at too high of a price.

Video:
I can't give you any information on the codec, but I can say that "This Christmas" looks very good in 1080p, with natural skin-tones and plenty of detail, even in dark scenes. There were no compression artifacts that I could tell, and while the grain was minimal "This Christmas" nonetheless manages to avoid that over-processed look.

Audio:
The featured audio is an English, French, or Portuguese Dolby TrueHD 5.1, with additional options in Spanish and Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 and subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), Korean, and Thai. The sound, especially when the music kicks in--some of which, by the way, really stands out rather than blending in with the film--is clear as a silver bell, with a rich timbre and nice high-low coverage. The rear speakers get involved, too.

Extras:
The bonus feature worth watching is the cast commentary with King, Leal, and London, who give us just the right blend of insights, anecdotes, and behind-the-scenes moviemaking to make it interesting. There's some dead air, but by and large these three have a good time and bring us along for the ride. The only other bonus features are a handful of deleted/extended scenes that ought to have been cut, a "This Christmas" music video featuring Chris Brown, and a pretty standard making-of featurette.

Bottom Line:
A little too soapy for my tastes, "This Christmas" still features some warm and winning performances and a few surprising moments that I guarantee you'll never see in another Christmas movie. And some people will say that's a good thing.

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