Balladeer’s Blog’s Sixteenth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this 2019 review of an adaptation of the Dickens tale.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2019) – Directed and co-written by Steven Salgado, this adaptation of the 1843 novel sets the story in present-day Miami. Though some may try to pigeon-hole this indy film as “a Hispanic-American Christmas Carol” that would not be quite accurate.
Yes, the movie gives us Roberto instead of Bob Cratchit and Scrooge & Hernandez instead of Scrooge & Marley (Marley is Hernandez’s FIRST name) as well as a nearly all-Hispanic cast, but viewers are not hit over the head with it. There is no attempt to drag present-day politics into the story and ethnicity is not used as a gimmick. It is not even commented upon that the characters are all Hispanic-American, a refreshing change in a 2019 film.
This movie looks absolutely gorgeous. There are probably Miami Tourism videos that don’t make the city look this sunny and appealing. I’m not exaggerating. The cinematography in this flick makes everything look good enough to eat.
Kate Katzman portrays Ellen Scrooge, CEO of Scrooge & Hernandez Pharmaceuticals. Marley Hernandez died just one year earlier instead of the usual seven years. The astonishing youth of nearly all the cast members seems to be the reason for this. Ellen looks like she would have still been in High School seven years earlier, not already a partner in Scrooge & Hernandez. Continue reading
ROUND TWO: GAME ONE – The BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS played host to the CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY TIGERS. The Ravens led 7-0 in the 1st Quarter but Campbellsville U. was on top 17-7 by Halftime. From there, Benedictine College shut out the Tigers while adding a Touchdown in the 3rd and 4th Quarters each. The Ravens won 21-17.
ROUND TWO: GAME TWO – In this game the MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS entertained the DORDT UNIVERSITY DEFENDERS. A 6-0 opening Quarter edge for the Knights became 14-0 at the Half. After the break, the Defenders outscored Marian University 18-12 but that still left them short as the Knights logged a 26-18 triumph. 
ROUND TWO: GAME THREE – The MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS took the field against the visiting CARROLL (MT) COLLEGE FIGHTING SAINTS. The Orediggers had it all their own way at first and took a 17-0 advantage into the locker room. The Fighting Saints rallied in the 3rd Quarter, pulling to within 24-21 of Montana Tech, but the Orediggers won out 31-21 in the 4th. 
FROM NOVEMBER 9th, 2013. Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama are the two presidents I despise the most, but nobody is surprised at what garbage Bush was. Obama loons like to ignore the criticism he received in office. Even when language like “war criminal” and “dictator’s dream” were used to describe Obama, it never approached the hysteria seen in the Trump years. 
SPIDER-WOMAN Vol 1 #17 (Aug 1979) 
Our heroine slips away from Eric to try getting back her costume without exposing her secret identity. At one point, the drunken woman dressed as Spider-Woman falls off the deck of the mountaintop disco. Jessica uses her powers to save the woman and recover her costume before the drunk knows what’s what. 
If it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving, then regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know it’s the day when I kick off my annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon in which I review several versions of A Christmas Carol. I look at movies, television shows, radio shows and books which adapt the Dickens classic. Every year I present new reviews with a few old classics mixed in since newer readers will have missed them. 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000) – Christmas Carol-A-Thon 2025 begins with a new review. This ITV production from British television which presented the Scrooge figure as a loan shark coincidentally came out the same year as the Brazilian version which featured Scrooge as a drug dealer. 
Neither one was a comedy, but this UK adaptation adds lighter moments here and there. A Christmas Carol runs just under 75 minutes and was made by a creative team that genuinely understands the Carol. You can tell not just from their insertion of some of the more obscure lines from the Dickens novel but by the way that even their necessary departures from Dickens to stay true to their loan shark gimmick still perfectly reflect the novel’s themes. 
Another current events roundup courtesy of 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Enjoy this holiday and the hope for peaceful coexistence represented by the possibly mythic meal that it commemorates. The kind of self-righteous killjoys who bash Thanksgiving are the type of sanctimonious idiots that are fun to laugh at since they have no identity outside of their ephemeral political concerns. 
This wraps up my look at three of Tom Selleck’s early starring roles in turkeys. 
THE WASHINGTON AFFAIR (1977) – Also released as A Very Intimate Washington Affair, and for all I know as A Very Brady Washington Affair, this movie was a remake of director Victor Stoloff’s own 1966 film Intimacy. Neither version was very successful, but trivia buffs remember the original and the remake for Barry Sullivan playing the exact same character in both. 
By ’77 even the production’s attempt to cash in on Watergate and other government scandals was a bit too late and the sexual angle would barely disturb a contemporary grandma. Add the facts that the script sucks, there are literally only two sets for the entire film, and the central camera gimmick is absurd. 
THE GYPSY WARRIORS (1978) – Yesterday I reviewed the godawful 
This 1978 tv-movie starts out by turning “show, don’t tell” on its ear. As bad as the opening of The Chinese Typewriter was, the opening to this World War Two snoozer is even worse. The beginning devotes FOURTEEN entire minutes of the 76-minute runtime to a portentous announcer merely narrating as we see mismatched footage of hands, arms and the backs of heads plus second unit film of buildings, airplanes and vehicles.
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