December 20, 2015

Christmas Land

Jules Cooper is a successful New York businesswoman who seemingly has everything: a rapidly growing career in marketing and a handsome boyfriend named Mitchell. Jules soon learns her beloved late Grandmother Glinda has left her ‘Christmas Land,’ a magical Christmas-themed village and Christmas tree farm in the countryside. Much of Jules’s favorite childhood memories revolve around Christmas Land and the holiday’s her family spent there in her youth. Upon arriving in Christmas Land to claim the property, she meets handsome and charming Tucker Barnes, the lawyer handling the estate. Christmas Land has seen better days since Glinda’s tragic passing and Jules is forced to make many complicated decisions. Should she sell Christmas Land to real estate tycoon Mason Richards and get back to her busy city life? Or should she stay and bring Christmas Land back to its former glory? With decisions to be made in both life and love, this Christmas for Jules is sure to be both interesting...and magical.

Our Two Cents:
#EpicFail... not for the movie, but for US. We recorded this movie last Christmas and never got around to watching it. Big mistake! Huge! Seriously, this was such a good movie with a solid story line! ...Or maybe we were just blinded chemistry between the highly attractive Luke McFarlane and lovely Nikki Deloach. Doesn't matter. We MISTLETOTALLY think you should check this one out.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★  •   Acting ★★★  •   Chemistry   •  Overall ★★

Links:
IMDB  •  Official Site



Have you seen Christmas Land? Tell us what you thought of it!

December 19, 2015

The Spirit of Christmas

Attorney Kate Jordan is sent to broker the sale of Hollygrove Inn, but she is told that her appraiser has left because of a ghost. Sure enough, it's not long before she meets Daniel Forsythe...a man who mysteriously died 95 years ago. The two strike a deal if she can help him discover the truth behind his death and why he is cursed to return to the inn for Christmas each year, he will leave and allow Kate to finish her job. As they work together, Kate can t help but fall for this dashing Christmas spirit, and a romance develops that will alter the course of both their lives.

Our Two Cents:
A little more of a drama, but it doesn't take it's self too seriously. It still has some comedic moments. too Overall this was a pretty good movie. We like this one especially because it's a bit different from the typical Christmas movies.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★  •   Acting ★★★  •   Chemistry ★★  •  Overall ★★★



Links:
IMDB  •  Buy DVD on Amazon

Have you seen A Christmas Detour? Tell us what you thought of it!

December 18, 2015

A Christmas Melody

A Christmas Melody revolves around Kristin (Lacey Chabert), a beautiful, stylish divorcee who is a talented clothing designer and her young daughter. Kristin has just had to close her small Manhattan boutique to return to her Ohio home town and live in her parents’ former home. It’s an adjustment for Kristin and Emily – especially when she runs into her former high school rival Melissa (Mariah Carey). Melissa is president of the PTA and tries to make Kristen feel as unwelcome as possible. Kristen and Emily struggle to find their new normal with the help of the music teacher Danny (Brennan Elliott) and Kristin’s Aunt Sarah (Kathy Najimy), the local coffee shop owner. With a little holiday magic and music, Kristin and Emily find that home is where the heart is.

Our Two Cents:
This was one of those movies that we recorded last year but neither of us could bring ourselves to watch it because, well, frankly, Mariah Carey. We aren't fans. Compounded with our disappointment with the recent batch of Lacey Chabert Christmas movies, this movie was on the chopping block. A little insomnia on Thanksgiving Eve required a boring movie to induce sleep. Maybe it was sleep deprived delirium but, despite the lackluster chemistry between Kristin and Danny and the predictable story, Kristen's daughter Emily was too cute and she had a pretty good singing voice.  While it won't ever be on our list of favorites, we'd would watch it again. 

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★  •   Acting ★★★  •   Chemistry   •  Overall ★★

Links:
IMDB  •  Official Site



Have you seen A Christmas Melody ? Tell us what you thought of it!

December 13, 2015

Dashing Through the Snow

Stranded at an airport at Christmastime, Ashley Harrison accepts a ride from Dash Sutherland, who has just rented the last car in town. As the pair heads north, their adventures include car trouble, adopting a puppy and being secretly tailed by federal agents, who believe Ashley is up to no good. With a hint of romance gradually filling the air will these two fall in love or will their journey bring about an unexpected road bump to romance? 

Our Two Cents:
Our 10 year old niece perfectly summed up one of our biggest problems with this one in three words: She was weird. 

We feel like the writers kind of stretched to make some things work in this one that could have easily worked out better with minor changes in the story. 

She used a brown scarf to try to bribe her way onto a flight. I get that it's pure angora wool, but it was brown. At least try to bribe the lady with a better color. Thankfully as the movie progresses she tones down a bit because her over the top enthusiasm and weirdness was a bit much.

The movie does have some cute moments. Enough to make up for the stuff that didn't work so well we think. Love the references to It Happened One Night. Great movie. The original source of many movie cliches especially including the stuck traveling with someone I hate and have to fake being married/in a relationship so we can share the last hotel room and get a good night sleep and then oops we fall in love for realsies bit.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★★★  •   Acting ★★★★★  •   Chemistry ★★★★  •  Overall ★★★★★

Links:
IMDB  •  Official Site



Have you seen Dashing Through the Snow? Tell us what you thought of it!

December 06, 2015

Last Chance for Christmas

When Prancer injures his hoof, Santa's stable hand John must find a fill in to ensure Christmas deliveries go off without a hitch. His mission gets complicated when he discovers that Frankie, the perfect substitute reindeer, belongs to a precocious 8-year-old girl and her mother Annie. As he races to get Frankie up to the North Pole, he realizes that he's actually falling in love with Annie and has to find a way to win her over and save Christmas at the same time.

Our Two Cents:
Usually movies with Santa and the North Pole and elves are… well, we don’t typically like them. Santa and Mrs. Claus usually get under our skin. There are exceptions to it, and this is definitely one of those exceptions. Mrs. Claus was sharp and sassy, and we kinda loved her! 

We like pretty much all of Hilarie Burton’s Christmas movies. The girl that plays her daughter was adorably precocious. And John’s awkwardness was pretty adorable too. Flowers and chocolates…

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★  •   Acting ★★★  •   Chemistry ★★★★  •  Overall ★★★

Links:
IMDB  •  Official Site
 
Have you seen Last Chance for Christmas? Tell us what you thought of it!

December 05, 2015

Just In Time for Christmas

Lindsay has to make a tough decision: stay in her small hometown and marry longtime beau Jason, or accept a once-in-a-lifetime job teaching at an Ivy League college thousands of miles away. Fortunately, a magical messenger gives her a priceless Christmastime gift: Lindsay is instantly transported three years into the future, so she’ll be able to make the decision today that will be best for her future.

Our Two Cents:
It seemed like this one had a lot of hype last year leading up to the premiere, and sometimes that leads to high expectations and disappointment. But we felt it totally lived up to the hype. The basic concept of the plot is one of the main repeated plots in Made for TV Christmas Movie land, but for some reason, this made an old standard feel new and different.

There were two big cameo roles, Christopher Lloyd and William Shatner. The former was more delightful than the latter, though it might just be our reaction to the bizarre beard Captain Kirk donned.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★  •   Acting ★★★  •   Chemistry ★★★★  •  Overall ★★★



Links:
IMDB  •  Buy DVD on Amazon  •  Official Site

Have you seen Just In Time for Christmas? Tell us what you thought of it!

December 01, 2015

The Flight Before Christmas

Stephanie is excited to take the next step in her relationship and move in with her boyfriend, but is then crushed when he drops the bombshell that he wants to break up. Faced with spending the holidays heartbroken and homeless, she decides to fly home to Connecticut. On a red-eye the day before Christmas, Stephanie finds herself seated next to Michael, who is planning to propose to his college girlfriend. The two get off to a rocky start but things get even worse when the pilot announces that a huge, unexpected snowstorm is crossing the country. Their flight is diverted to a small town in Montana where Stephanie snags the last available room at the town’s bed and breakfast. Despite their differences, she offers to share the room with Michael and try their best to get along.

Our Two Cents:
First, we have to say love the casting of Mayim Bialik. She's not the typical leading lady, i.e. she's not a supermodel. She gets an unfair wrap in the Hollywood scene about being "unattractive". Truth be told this causes a little blood boiling because she's not unattractive, she is just an ordinary looking girl and there's nothing wrong with that. But that isn't the thing that we love about her casting. It's that it wasn't part of the story. She wasn't cast to play the unattractive girl that the hot guy gets to know and realizes there's a heart of gold inside. Her looks weren't an issue--as they shouldn't be. So this movie gets props for that.

When first writing this review, we were thinking the ending fell a little flat but in after writing, we thought, we haven't actually watched this in a while. After watching it again, we'll say that the ending is cute and understated in a good way. Two thumbs up.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★★★  •   Acting ★★★  •   Chemistry ★★  •  Overall ★★★★★

Links:
IMDB

Have you seen The Flight Before Christmas? Tell us what you thought of it!