"People who like this sort of thing...
... will find this the sort of thing they like." I attended a showing of Violent Night yesterday at the Majestic 10 Cinemas in Williston, VT (after a nice, quick meal at Bliss Bee). The movie is, well, not for everyone. If you feel a solemn reverence for Christmas, you're not likely to enjoy it. From the early moment in which a woman marveling at a flying, reindeer-drawn sleigh is splattered by a downpour of drunk-Santa vomit, it is clear that this not a traditional holiday flick. There are some heartwarming, sensitive moments - plenty of them (mostly involving John McClane-like walkie-talkie communication between Santa and young Trudy Lightstone) - but the movie is basically a comedy bloodbath (set to an up-beat holiday soundtrack). A disillusioned Santa regains his holiday spirit as he dispenses brutal, gory justice upon a gang of very naughty home-invading thieves and saves a not-entirely-nice (except for certain members) family from an apparently deserved punishment. Th...