
Celluloid Christmas: Holy Hollywood! "A Christmas Story"
For my fifth movie selection for the 12 Films of Christmas, I’m showcasing “A Christmas Story.” It debuted in 1983, but didn’t enjoy box-office success. Feel-good family films about Christmas were not in favor at this time, so the movie languished in theaters. Its reviews were a mixed bag, where the American critics hailed the narration by Jean Shepherd, but then pooh-poohed the rest of the cast as adequate or sitcom standard at best. The New York Times particularly savaged t