blanche-2 In need of some Christmas spirit, I decided to watch "Noel" from 2004. All I saw was the name Susan Sarandon, so I didn't realize that the late Paul Walker and the late Robin Williams, who died within nine months of each other, were also in this film. Reason enough to cry right there.Noel is the story of several people on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Walker is Mike, a police officer, engaged to Nina (Penelope Cruz). His jealousy is tearing apart their relationship. He has another problem. Artie (Alan Arkin) who runs a coffee shop is extra-attentive and shows up at Mike's house with a wild story.Sarandon's character, Rose, is a successful book editor who is divorced. She is caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer's and doesn't talk. In the next room there is a man who seems to be in a coma. He's always alone, so Rose, as she's decorating her mother's room, goes into his room and puts an angel on his window. In the corner of the room, behind the door, sits Charlie (Robin Williams), who startles her.Rose meets Nina after she leaves Mike and goes to her family's Christmas Eve dinner. And she runs into Williams again; he has a bizarre story as well.Then there's Marcus who has someone to break his hand so he can be in the hospital on Christmas. As a child, it was his best Christmas ever. We can assume from that he didn't have a very happy upbringing. Mike, Dennis, and Artie all end up at the hospital at the same time.This is a really lovely film about miracles and angels who walk the earth whom we don't recognize as such, and how we can touch each other's lives without knowing it. It was very sweet and uplifting and, as I said, a massive tearjerker given the presence of the two late stars. One chose death; one had death thrust upon him. Either way, it's tragic.

JaynaB You expect nuanced, heart-wringing performances from the likes of Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Penelope Cruz, and Alan Arkin. They've got the acting chops for almost any role, and they are a director's dream cast for an ensemble piece with the sweet sadness of this quiet Christmas film. They deliver. Sarandon has seldom been so luminous, Cruz so vulnerable.But Paul Walker? It starts off as a familiar role - the cop, the blue-eyed good guy - and rapidly moves beyond that stereotype into territory and emotional range I honestly never though he could traverse. No car chases, no punch-ups, no us-versus-them and emerging triumphant over evil. This role, in this movie, shows where he could have gone, to become one of this generation's great character actors. In that stellar company of actors, he was not outmatched.Oh, yes, and the script is pitch-perfect. Each separate plot is internally credible and consistent, each looped through at least one other like garland around the holiday tree, all gleaming gently in the glow of many heart-warming lights.Prepare your hankie. You'll need it.

2karl- Five New Yorkers come together on Christmas Eve, seeking a miracle.and in this film there is key attraction of 2main characters among this a list of ensemble Xmas stories so in new york on Xmas eve Christmas Eve in New York, and the lonely divorced publisher, Rose goes on a date with a younger worker but her head is not there so with a lot of intertwining stories of helping one another like as rose and her mother as her mother , needs a miracle to improve the health of her mother, interned in a hospital with Alzheimers. She feels sorry for another patient and meets this visitor. Meanwhile, Nina Vasquez breaks her engagement with her beloved fiancé Mike due to his suffocating jealousy, but misses him. Mike is stalked by a stranger, bartender Artie Venzuela. The poor Jules arranges to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital, where he spent the best Christmas of his life when he was a teenager. The lives of some of these characters cross with others along the night.Susan suarandon character rose is losing her mind and is tempting other things until mystery person who is right next door helps her see the ways she can help her mother unkowngly not known who the man was . Paul walker character mike has this jealousy which is ruining his relationships Penelope Cruz character Nina is sultry but strong headed but the two supporting characters bring the meaning of being close this is a subplot to the main story The central characters are touched by oddballs, played by Robin Williams and Allan Arkin, .they bring a certain man love to their roles like "Prelude to a Kiss," and similarly help them reach important epiphanies at dawn. they bring closer on peoples lives who they cross this reminds us that no one is ever truly alone this Xmas this is my

Steve Pulaski Chazz Palminteri has been involved with some great dramas in his lifetime. It seems like just yesterday I watched/reviewed his film A Bronx Tale for the first time. Directed by Robert De Niro and based off Palminteri's stageplay of the same name, the drama followed the life of a young man named Cologero, who was taught honor and to utilize his potential in life. When he got older, he learned "nobody really cares" from Palminteri's Sonny, a slick and skillful mobster who monopolized his block in the Bronx.I saw the film, kind of loved it, wrote a four star review, hailed its thematic use of a moral compass and family values as a rarity, and cite it as one of my favorite dramas. Now I'm faced with Palminteri's directorial debut Noel, a yuletide anthology film, blanketed in snow, gift-wrapped in Christmas warmness, and given a bow of cloying festive sentiment to top it off. The film follows five lonely souls during the holidays, each one coming to terms with their lovelives when a special someone enters their lives.Here's where I'd explain each story, but really, why bother? I guess I'm stuck wondering what value and benefit Palminteri saw making Noel, a film that had such a miniscule effect on me it's almost hard to cordially illustrate my opinion on the film. Did Chazz Palminteri really want to make a film like this? Was he approached with the idea, check his bank account balance, and say, "this will have to do?" Would the man who has been involved with high-caliber dramas and beautifully entertaining films really want to make a cheap, frustratingly surface-level film about five lost souls during Christmastime? This is one of those films that subjects some pretty likable screen-presences to the contrived sentimental drivel of the screenplay. Those subjected to the screenplay's obligations are Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Penélope Cruz, Paul Walker, and Alan Arkin, all of whom are capable performers reduced to their bare-wits on how to make a redundant film bearable.There are two problems that always arise from anthology films, especially season ones. One of which is that everyone feels captivated by the gooey holiday spirit (think contemporary Gary Marshall films like New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day) making all their actions feel like cloyingly impulsive decisions. Second thing is often characters don't feel humanized enough and their conflicts only seem like mere, spur-of-the-moment circumstances that are unfortunate but nothing more.Noel is the prime example of an anthology film that feels artificial and caught up in the "tis the season" mentality of the holidays, along with housing caricatures instead of characters and mistaking false sentimentality for true emotional impact. After something like A Bronx Tale, this is the absolute last thing I'd expect from Chazz Palminteri, a man whose time should be spent on better films with a bigger, more significant impact.Starring: Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Penélope Cruz, Paul Walker, and Alan Arkin. Directed by: Chazz Palminteri.