Holiday movies fill our hearts with joy. Between Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas, It's a Wonderful Lifetime (or Fa La La La Lifetime, if you prefer) and ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas, there are so many movies and so little time.
To help you, our friends, we have sacrificed by watching as many of these movies as possible and will give you our two cent review. Hopefully this will help you know what you do or do not want to watch.
Interior designer Laura returns to Utah to spearhead the renovation of
an old hotel in time for the annual Christmas Eve show run by Ricardo,
her ex-boyfriend and dance partner. When Laura steps in to dance in the
finale with Ricardo, she is pulled between her job, her family, and her
reawakened feelings for Ricardo.
Our Two Cents:
You
know we love the dancing movies! The chemistry in this movie better be
good because it stars real life husband and wife Carlos PenaVega and
Alexa PenaVega. Of course it's predictable, but aren't they all?
After meeting a woman named Ginny and telling her the story of her
failed engagement, Ali wakes up to find herself transported back to that
Christmas before her planned wedding. While she sets out to avoid the
mistakes of her past, she learns that changing the course of history is
no easy task.
Our Two Cents:
You
can find this on Netflix as Back to Christmas, though it's also known
as Correcting Christmas. We've seen the time traveling Christmas movies
before, but other than the basic formula of meeting an unconventional
"Christmas Angel", it doesn't follow quite the same formula as it's
movie siblings. By the way, you may recognize the "Christmas Angel",
named Ginny in this movie. She played Jan Brady in The Brady Bunch
Movie, and frankly, she's hilarious, one of the best parts of the movie.
Anyway, hopefully this will be on TV for those of you without Netflix.
Find it! It was a good one.
Hailee Anderson, the famous talk show host, is
preparing for the holiday season by working; she's planning her very
important TV show, her Christmas special. Already a scrooge, Hailee is
even more miserable when she finds out on live TV that her real-estate fiancée Jason is cheating on her! To clear her head, she goes on
a drive and ends up in Carver Bend, Connecticut, and unfortunately crashes
through a local judge's fence. When is sentenced to community service, witness and rescuer Logan recommends she work with him at the local art center where they are building a float to win the contest at the annual Christmas Parade.
While Hailee bonds with the locals, the art center kids, and grows
closer to Logan, she begins to learn the magic and joy of Christmas.
Our Two Cents:
Shamelessly stealing Winona Ryder’s line from Reality Bites: this movie is so cheesy you can’t watch it without crackers. Full of christmas cliches including the Scroogy saboteur, a classic Grinch transformation, and sappy romance, it’s a perfect candidate for a Christmas guilty pleasure.
At a Christmastime event, Jenna shares an impromptu, unforgettable kiss
with the dashing and wealthy, Cooper Montgomery. Unaware of his
intentions and fearful of getting hurt in another relationship, Jenna
vows to resist his charms, but begins to realize his affection is real
as the two spend more time together.
Our Two Cents:
This is a sequel of sorts to A Christmas Kiss where two strangers share a passionate kiss when their elevators seems like it's going to plummet to the bottom floor of the high rise.
So, this movie... We don't even know what to say about this one. It's not bad, but it is bad. The elevator kiss in this one is a little more forced as far writing into the story. Maybe they didn't want to repeat the same circumstances where their lives seemed to be in jeopardy, but it would have been better if they had. After you get over that, it's just your typical guilty pleasure--shameless product placement included.
(Quick tangent, you may have noticed the trend, especially but not limited to Hallmark, for shameless product placements. Usually they're for Walmart, Folgers and Kay Jewelers. I'd say see if you can find it in this one, but if you miss it, it's probably because you fell asleep. It's none too subtle.)
Small-time con man Nick DeMarco (Barry Watson) is ordered by his parole
officer to take a minimum-wage job as a department store Santa during
the holidays...and he hates it. Near the end of his first shift, he
hastily promises a young boy, Billy (Tucker Meeks), that Santa will
bring his estranged parents back together by Christmas. When his sister
Rosemary (Melissa Joan Hart) hears this, she is livid and can't believe
he would break a little boy's heart with an empty promise. After a long
night of soul searching--and with the help of an insightful female
pastor (Wendy Williams)--Nick decides to make good on his promise to the
child, somehow.
Our Two Cents:
This movie surprised us. We actually found ourselves not quite sure how the movie was going to end, and for these TV movies, that is rare. Usually, with in the first 15 minutes, you can make a pretty accurate guess on the plot of the entire movie. But as a whole, we enjoyed this one, especially the little nod to Ocean's Eleven (in which Barry Watson played himself) in the opening scenes.
Side Note: Hate that this is the only poster for the movie--featuring minor supporting cast rather than main characters.
With the holiday season at hand, single mom Nicky Talbot is unemployed
and struggling to afford a nice Christmas with her 8-year-old daughter.
Hearing that Cartwright’s Department Store is hiring temporary holiday
help, Nicky rushes in to apply, but is rejected by Senior VP Fiona
Aldrich, who considers Nicky a threat to the relationship she hopes to
have with Bill, a charming and handsome store manager. In a whimsical
turn of events, Harry Osbourne, claiming to be a consultant from
corporate headquarters, encourages Nicky to dress up and begin working
as Cartwright’s store Santa Claus. With the magical help of Harry, Nicky
keeps the job, but nobody knows Cartwright’s Santa Claus is a woman.
Will she be able to keep her job if her secret gets out?
Our Two Cents:
Our only real complaint with this one, because it was pretty darn cute, is that we wished the main character had a little more backbone and didn't wilt under pressure from Fiona (who obviously has a vendetta against her) quite so easily. But otherwise it was a fun movie, and we recommend it!
After meeting a woman named Ginny and telling her the story of her
failed engagement, Ali wakes up to find herself transported back to that
Christmas before her planned wedding. While she sets out to avoid the
mistakes of her past, she learns that changing the course of history is
no easy task.
Hailee Anderson, the famous talk show host, is
preparing for the holiday season by working; she's planning her very
important TV show, her Christmas special. Already a scrooge, Hailee is
even more miserable when she finds out on live TV that her real-estate fiancée Jason is cheating on her! To clear her head, she goes on
a drive and ends up in Carver Bend, Connecticut, and unfortunately crashes
through a local judge's fence. When is sentenced to community service, witness and rescuer Logan recommends she work with him at the local art center where they are building a float to win the contest at the annual Christmas Parade.
While Hailee bonds with the locals, the art center kids, and grows
closer to Logan, she begins to learn the magic and joy of Christmas.
Small-time con man Nick DeMarco (Barry Watson) is ordered by his parole
officer to take a minimum-wage job as a department store Santa during
the holidays...and he hates it. Near the end of his first shift, he
hastily promises a young boy, Billy (Tucker Meeks), that Santa will
bring his estranged parents back together by Christmas. When his sister
Rosemary (Melissa Joan Hart) hears this, she is livid and can't believe
he would break a little boy's heart with an empty promise. After a long
night of soul searching--and with the help of an insightful female
pastor (Wendy Williams)--Nick decides to make good on his promise to the
child, somehow.
