Watch 'R Xmas For Free

Sadly Over-hyped

Memorable, crazy movie

Fantastic!

Excellent but underrated film

Our Christmas (2001) was a highly underrated film from street level director Abel Ferrara. Instead of making a sell-out movie like all of the other directors do, Ferrara sticks to his guns and makes the kind of films that he wants to do. Loosely based upon a true story, Ferrara takes this simple tale about a innocent family living a double life and makes it into a compelling urban character driven drama that's filled with flesh and bone people instead of paper cut-outs.An young family that lives the good life has a shameful secret. They like to deal dope on the side to support their high class living. The movie takes place during the late 80's to the early 90's. Police corruption in New York City was at a all time high. So many of the cops were on the take. One group of cops didn't like the couple and their crew squeezing them out of the heroin business. Ice-T co-stars as an officer who tries to convince the wife (Drea Matteo) to leave the drug trade and do whatever it takes to keep Hubby away from it as well. Not convinced, they kidnap him and the wife has 24 hours to come up with a large sum of money to obtain his release.After receiving a reality check from Ice-T, Drea must come face with the fact that she has wasted her life and is better than the typical dope slinger. When Hubby is released retribution is in order. The crooked cops are all apprehended and the loser responsible for the entire mess is done away with. But really, are their any lessons to be learned by all of the main characters? Abel Ferrara leaves all of the questions open ended. He makes you think about what happened to everyone. This is not a violent soap opera filled with nonsensical gun play. It's a street level drama that pulls no punches and not everyone will appreciate it.Highly recommended.

An un-named upscale New York couple (BRONX TALE's Lillo Brancato and SOPRANOS regular Drea de Matteo) are loving parents, who by day, go Christmas shopping for their beloved little girl, Lisa (Lisa Valens). At night, they don street clothes, head for the unfriendly reaches of the Bronx to deal in heroine with dangerous co-workers and drug rivals. The wife learns from a kidnapper (Ice-T) that her husband has been taken. The ransom is due within an almost impossible time limit. ‘R XMAS is free of the drug-movie cliches. Gunplay is at a bare minimum (The only bullet recipient in 'R XMAS is a basketball!) There are no expected car chases (When the wife drives across town for ransom money, she isn't running red lights and knocking over fruit stands, like every rescuer in most other genre film) ‘R XMAS is filled with insight, a peek into the inner workings of drug neighborhoods highlighted with wall graffiti.

'R Xmas is one of the only films I've seen where I can almost say that simply nothing happens.I felt as though I watched a drug dealing middle- class couple,with child,walk around,eat,smoke,converse(excuse me,swear)through most of the film.And I don't believe I'm missing the point.I think this film was well directed,well acted(although the husband's performance was rather wooden),and the constant feeling of impending doom around every corner certainly kept the viewer involved.But when the dust clears,your left with zero(just a boat-load of fade outs).I didn't want car chases,gun violence,beatings,etc.In fact,I'm sick of violence.But my goodness,let's at least get a bit deeper into all these characters(let's get to know each of these corrupt officers a little better-not just show glancing shots of them as street thugs).Why was the dialogue so juvenile? Everyone spoke as if they were in junior high.I believe even this side of our human race can say something other than fu_ _,sh_ _,etc.The pacing and the storyline of 'R Xmas I found quite interesting,but the execution was plain and simple-empty.4/10

Ferrara does not know how to make an uninteresting movie. Whatever you think of the content of his films, everything he does is a stylish, riveting exercise in visual story telling. This movie is no exception. There's surprisingly little dialogue, but what there is sings with a sense of modern city life. The aural and visual atmosphere of New York City, both upscale and downscale, is rich and multi-layered, and the characters seem like people you've seen on the street, or in stores, or in clubs, many many times. I don't know how "real" the action of this movie might be, but it seems as real and believable to me as anything I've seen on screen in a good long while. This is the perfect holiday movie for 21st century America, and a near-ideal expression of the meaning of modern Christmas.