ABSOLUTELY MUST GO!!

“People will believe anything if you are properly dressed.”
Having the characters of the story appear on screen and interact with the writer is a terrific way to explain how the creative mind works.
Dan Stevens (Beauty and the Beast and Downton Abby) plays the timeless writer Charles Dickens. He conveys very well the different moods that Dickens went through at a time when he was experiencing financial difficulty, relationship problems, and the renovation of his home. It should surprise no one that Christopher Plummer steals each of his scenes as Ebenezer Scrooge. What a delight to behold the talented octogenarian as he leaves us wishing for even more of the grumpy and miserly old former partner of Jacob Marley. Jonathan Pryce also excels as Charles’ father John, a charming man who has never quite figured out the economics of life … and whose long-ago debt sent young Charles to a work house mixing shoe black. Even as an adult, Charles had recurring nightmares of his time in child labor, and fortunately he was able to use those memories to create many long-lasting stories, each oblivious to generational change.
In 1843 London, the renowned Dickens is coming off three straight flops and experiencing financial woes that are exacerbated by his insistence on the finest materials for the large home he and wife Kate (Morfydd Clark, LOVE & FRIENDSHIP) are renovating. Dickens is in the midst of severe writer’s block, and only the quiet strength of his wife and never-wavering loyalty of friend/agent John Forster (Justin Edwards) are able to keep him from sinking to even lower emotional depths. Screen veteran Miriam Margolyes plays the housekeeper, and Anna Murphy is Tara, the Irish nanny who serves as a muse for Dickens.
All ages will get a merry kick out of Mr. Plummer’s Scrooge!
Best Christmas movie ever.