Tag Archives: Ed Oxenbould

Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A wild story of a family that will probably be recognisable to you even in this crazy situation.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan service that viewed this film.

Chaos in the Stools family.

Nugget is Dead Review –

Many things foreshadow that the end of the year is near, the temperatures rise, the rains come in, people care about turkey for some reason, there is tinsel everywhere, and Stan will release their Christmas film. Back in 2023, we got the fascinating Jones Family Christmas. In 2022, we got a Christmas Ransom. And all the way back in the past of 2021, we got the film that started it all: A Sunburnt Christmas. They have all been fun, charming events, and the question is: can that follow that trend in 2024?

So, to set the scene, back in Christmas 2010, the Stools family introduced a new member of the family, the puppy Nugget. Many years later, as the family has grown up and moved out of home, it is once again three days before Christmas. However, as their eldest, Steph (Vic Zerbst), has made the decision not to come home for Christmas, one problem is that she didn’t tell her family. They don’t seem like the listening type anyway, and also Nugget (Reuben) is sick. So, now Steph is going down to visit her family, who does not know she is not staying, and they are A LOT. She just needs to deal with them for 24 hours and escape … if everything goes to plan.

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Christmas Ransom – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A thoroughly charming film when it is working and a bit overwrought when it is not.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan service that viewed this film.

emerging from a ball pit

Christmas Ransom Review –

It is the time of year when Christmas films are a plenty. Indeed 5 Christmas films got added to a streaming service just today. But if I am to dive into what can be a mess of sentimentality, I want to spend some time with a local production. Well, it is good timing because the Stan Christmas film just dropped, and it is time to find some joy in the world.
 
So to set the scene, at Harrington & Sons toy store run by Clarence Harrington (Cleave Williams) and famous all through the country and the place to visit for toys. But as time marches on, Clarence’s son Derrick (Matt Okine) now runs the store. Christmas does not hold the joy it once was after doing it alone for so long, and even Gladys (Miranda Tapsell), the store’s security guard, can see something missing from Derrick’s life. Even more so given the store is about to close because of a lack of finance. But once the store is closed for the evening, we discover that not everyone has left. Two members of the naughty list, Wombat (Evan Stanhope) and Brady (Tahlia Sturzaker), are here. But before Gladys can finish integrating the little brats, two actual crooks, Nan (Geneviève Lemon) and Shez (Bridie McKim), come into the store with guns. Soon all the staff are tied up with tinsel, a ransom call has been made, and the question is, who can save them?

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