Being Eddie 2025 * * Stars

ED TV

2025's Being Eddie is like a vitalizing conch to pump Eddie Murphy up. I mean it's akin to all Ed's buds and cronies being life coaches to a dude that was once the box office, cream of the crop via the 1980s. In "Being", Murphy gives interviews from his lux mansion as he chills, spouting cuss words and projecting his always-in-character shtick. "I've done so many different types of things." Well Murph, add a 103-minute documentary to that almighty list. 

So yeah, let's get back to this thing as a whole shall we. Being Eddie is similar to a tribute video except Eddie is actually there to happily defend himself as opposed to the latter (I'm talking to you Richard Linklater). A film career archive here, an account from Murphy's acting colleagues there, Ed doing ventriloquist stuff a la Richard Pryor and the "Cos" from his kick-arse abode. Yeah "Being" is laid-back as all get out, sort of related to a Jerry Maguire paean except we're praising SNL's favorite son and not good old "TC". 

Now do I plan on recommending Being Eddie with its diverting way of showing us the walk of life of a screen legend that we already knew existed? I mean it's decent stuff but nah, not quite, nada. There's a hint of vanity going on here, a smidgen of intentional swagger (even though the Murph man was not a producer or any help behind the scenes). Um, I was a huge fan of Eddie Murphy back in the "Decade of Greed". I've seen Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop II so many times it would make your head spin. I don't really need something pasted together over a bromantic weekend with Ed's crew to tell me what I already could register. Mixed state of "being". 

Written by Jesse Burleson

My Top 10 Holiday Movies of All Time (2025 Reissue)

1. Scrooge 1951 * * * * Stars
    Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
    Rated G
    Cast: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner,
    Kathleen Harrison

The Alpha and Omega of holiday films with Alastair Sim fitting the role of grumpy miser Scrooge like a smooth Isotoner glove. This is the purest and most nostalgic entry of Dicken's classic tale that I can remember. This timeless story was remade countless times but never reached the emotional heights that director Brian Desmond Hurst's 1951 classic did.

2. Catch Me If You Can 2002 * * * * Stars
    Director: Steven Spielberg
    Rated PG-13
    Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks

Not necessarily a movie made about Christmas but its key scenes take place during that yule tide holiday. Leonardo DiCaprio, as bank forger Frank Abagnale, is in top form. Spielberg's direction is perfect. Overall, this is compulsively watchable stuff.

3. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
    1987 * * * 1/2 Stars
    Director: John Hughes
    Rated R
    Cast: John Candy, Steve Martin

Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, it doesn't matter. This is still top notch holiday fare with two brilliant comedic actors giving the performances of their lives. Part dramedy, part road trip movie, and totally quotable, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles will make you laugh throughout. It will also leave you with a lump in your throat at the end.

4. Nothing Like the Holidays 2008 * * * Stars
    Director: Alfredo De Villa
    Rated PG-13
    Cast: Debra Messing, Freddy Rodriguez,
    Jay Hernandez

Ever since 2009, I make it a habit to watch this film at least three to four times in the month of December. It was shot about 10 miles from where I live, and it's a fine mixture of ensemble comedy and dramatic grievances involving a tight knit Puerto Rican family. They all get together for a bitingly cold Christmas break in Chicago's Humboldt park neighborhood. Very likable cast with every character having their own feasible back story. It's one of those flicks where if you live in Chicago, you say "oh yeah I've been there, I've driven down that street." Very authentic take on the Windy City locales.

5. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 1989
    * * * Stars
    Director: Jeremiah Chechik
    Rated PG-13
    Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo

Chevy Chase as bumbling family man Clark W. Griswold, gave his last credible performance in National Lampoon's take on nutty holiday cheer. A lot of gags are taken to the extreme and the scene where he puts Christmas lights on every single inch of his house, is something only his character would ever think of doing. Revolting cousin Eddie (Randy Quiad) shows up halfway in to add to the silliness. All and all, a sloppily made comedy that I initially thought had worn out its welcome. With every subsequent viewing, I changed my mind. A classic!

6. Scrooged 1988 * * * Stars
    Director: Richard Donner
    Rated PG-13
    Cast: Bill Murray, Karen Allen

Highly dark and satirical take on Charles Dicken's legendary tale. This time it's set in the 1980s with funnyman Bill Murray giving a quintessential "Bill Murray" type performance. Funny, cynical, with great one liners. Certain scenes however, might be too intense for younger viewers to take. Overall, if you like Murray's smarmy style of delivering dialogue, Scrooged will not disappoint.

7. A Christmas Story 1983 * * * Stars
    Director: Bob Clark
    Rated PG
    Cast: Peter Billingsly, Darren McGavin,
    Melinda Dillon

This is a silly, little comedy that turned into a Christmas cult classic. Peter Billingsly plays Ralphie, a impressionable young boy who only wants a BB gun for his under-the-tree present. A Christmas Story is told from his point of view. With memorable lines and some quirky characters, it's an addictive film you can watch relentlessly. Case in point: on TBS, this thing is shown 24 hours a day on the 24th and 25th of December.


8. A Christmas Carol 1938 * * * Stars
    Director: Edwin L. Marin
    Rating: Not Rated
    Cast: Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart

Came before the Alastair Sim version but for some reason, is not as credible in terms of acting, directing, and conviction of the story. Still, it's entertaining enough in a lightweight sort of way. There is actually a color version of this film that is sometimes shown on network television. Overall, good fluff but the ending is short and by the book. It's not as invigorating as 1951's  masterpiece.


9. Just the Way You Are 1984 * * * Stars
    Director: Edouard Molinaro
    Rated PG
    Cast: Kristy McNichol, Kaki Hunter

The main reason why I put this film on the list is that it just reminds me of Christmas in general. It doesn't really involve the holidays, but it was on cable in the 80s and I must have watched it with my parents about a million times. Yes, it involves snow and skiing (in the French Alps), but mainly it's a love story about a woman with a handicapped leg who goes overseas to hide it and find Mr. Right. Honestly, nothing much goes on in this thing. However, it now reminds me of a certain time and place (December of 1985) so I'll just throw it in.


10. Prancer 1989 * * * Stars
      Director: John D. Hancock
      Rated G
      Cast: Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman

Prancer was filmed about 20 minutes from where I grew up. It's mildly entertaining and it's significant because every time I pass through Three Oaks, MI, I wonder how many of the townspeople own a DVD copy of it. Made over 35 years ago, the small Midwest town just mentioned, hasn't changed a bit. And even if you know that Santa Claus is a hoax, you'll still go along with this fable about a young girl's fascination with a wounded reindeer.

List compiled by Jesse Burleson

The Carmen Family Deaths 2025 * * * Stars

MENAGE PLAN

The Carmen Family Deaths has to do with a boy with autism and killings and family conflicts and inherited wealth oh my! It's sort of an enigma wrapped inside a riddle which is wrapped inside a poser, with main, mythical antagonist Nathan Carman appearing like a rather neutered, Keyser Soze squib. "The lack of things that were done raised questions." Are you sure about that boss? Are ya really? 

Anyway The Carmen Family Deaths is directed by Yon Montskin, a feature rookie who knows how to haunt his audience through overhead shots, archives, grainy interviews, ominous music, and effective, headlong editing. His film is a docu yet plays out like a Dateline episode with tons of panache. Josh Mankiewicz isn't hosting, Lester Holt isn't leading, this isn't TV swipe and well, that just makes it more efficacious, more Dateline-ish on the Netflix tip.

So OK, what is "Family Deaths" about? Well it has to do with a wealthy New England kid (Nathan Carman mentioned earlier) who just happens to be the prime murder suspect in the disappearance of his mom and the brutal shooting of his real estate developer grandfather. Now did Nate do these heinous crimes? And why is his fam so house divided? And um, why is he so darn stoic? Uh, we'll never know because Carman eventually offed himself in prison, awaiting his forlorn trial. 

The Carmen Family Deaths, yeah it comes off like pure fiction, shot so cleanly with such an unsullied print that every scene almost feels like a reenactment and/or something English helmer Paul Greengrass would have done back in the mid-2000s. As a documentary it's reality legal show smoke with a silver screen oddity. As a film of factual prose and bedeviled plotting it comes on like gangbusters in the Greek tragedy department. ""Deaths gripped". 

Written by Jesse Burleson