Christmas Movie

12 Dates of Christmas (2011)

12 Dates of Christmas

12 Dates of Christmas (2011)

Director:

James Hayman

Starring:

Mark-Paul Gosselaar

Laura Miyata

Vijay Mehta

Amy Smart

Plot:

Starring Amy Smart and Mark-Paul Gosselaar, 12 Dates of Christmas is a romantic comedy that follows Kate, a young woman who re-lives the same first date on Christmas Eve over and over again. In an attempt to win back her ex-boyfriend on Christmas Eve, Kate ends up ruining her blind date with Miles, a handsome guy she’s been set up with. In a strange twist of fate, Kate is given the chance to re-live Christmas Eve twelve times! Kate decides to embrace what Christmas Eve has given her — a loving family, great friends and Miles, who turns out to be a great guy! However, just as she seems to think she has gotten it right, the clock strikes midnight and Kate must live Christmas Eve once again. Under these weird new circumstances, Kate learns to take risks and enjoy what she’s been given. Thanks to the gift of Christmas Eve, Kate finds happiness by finally trusting fate.

Review:

So this is Groundhogs Day following someone without much of an imagination. For some reason she follows her ex-boyfriend around the first four days. She doesn’t really try to get back with him after the second day, but she still follows him, it’s weird. She ends up moving past him but then goes back to stalking him for some reason. The whole ex-boyfriend storyline is stupid and she should have gotten past it faster.

Honestly Kate was really stupid. Like super stupid, it was amazing how dense she was. I know if I found myself in a groundhog’s day situation I wouldn’t waste my time like she did. Her emotional ups and downs were ridiculous.

I didn’t count, I didn’t feel like rewinding either, but I think there were more than 12 repeats. It certainly seemed that way.

By the end of the movie she was almost a completely different person, which was the point, but I always wonder, with this set up, just how long it would last.

2/5

A Christmas Kiss (2011)

A Christmas Kiss

A Christmas Kiss (2011)

Director:

John Stimpson

Starring:

Elisabeth Rohm

Laura Breckenridge

Brendan Fehr

Plot:

After a spontaneous kiss, a struggling designer ends up falling in love with her demanding boss’s boyfriend as she decorates his home for a Christmas party.

Review:

So this is one of the better ranked Christmas movies available on Netflix right now. I’m trying to broaden my horizons and watch Christmas movies I’ve never seen before, but I’m still interested in watching. That really narrows down my options, so here goes.

Brendan Fehr has the appropriate level of hotness for a romantic Christmas movie but his character doesn’t warm up well. He seems distant and aloof, which is understandable since he’s about to get engaged to another woman, but it doesn’t help with the romance side of the movie.

The ending is kind of contrived, the handyman was never included on some of the conversations, yet somehow figured out that the Adam the girls were talking about was the same one. There is evidently only one Adam in Boston. The running into the nutcracker was silly and that emotional scene in the elevator was pretty bad.

I liked the movie, for the most part, but it definitely ended on a low note.

3/5

Side Note:

That was a ridiculously large elevator.

and

Oh to be rich and have peons to do the boring/dirty work.

Classic Christmas Movie: Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

Mickeys Christmas Carol

Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

Director:

Burny Mattinson

Starring:

Alan Young

Wayne Allwine

Hal Smith

Plot:

The classic Disney animated characters play the roles in this animated retelling of the Charles Dickens masterpiece.

Review:

Mickey’s Christmas Carol was a movie I use to watch every Christmas, it was recorded on a VHS tape along with several other TV specials. Re-watching it with my daughter was so much fun.

It’s a lot shorter than I remember at only 26 minutes for the actual Christmas Carol. Filling up the rest of the Blu Ray are a few Disney shorts, none of which are anything remarkable.

All in all, the Christmas Carol is the best part, and even though it isn’t as faithful to the source material as The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, it’s a much easier introduction to the classic Dickens’s story.

4/5

Classic Christmas Movie: Die Hard (1988)

Die Hard

Die Hard (1988)

Director:

John McTiernan

Starring:

Bruce Willis

Alan Rickman

Bonnie Bedelia

Plot:

John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save wife Holly Gennaro and several others, taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Review:

“You don’t like flying do you?”

“What gave you that idea?”

“Do you want to know the secret to surviving air travel?”

Seriously can you beat that intro? They talk about toes! There’s a giant bear and John McClane smokes in the airport!

The good old days when a NY cop could travel to LA and still keep his gun with him, then light up in the terminal. Memories…

Anyway… It’s one of our Christmas traditions to watch this movie, though we watch it throughout the year as well. Die Hard hits all the notes of a Christmas movie but it doesn’t beat you over the head with the holiday so there’s no issue watching it the rest of the year.

I really love this film. It’s pretty much everything I want in an action movie and it’s a little spice in the sometimes overly sweetness of the Christmas season.

5/5

Holidaze (2013)

holidaze

Director:

Jerry Ciccoritti

Starring:

Jennie Garth

Cameron Mathison

Plot:

A corporate workaholic wakes up in an alternate universe, married to her childhood sweetheart.

Review:

This movie had alternate realities and possible amnesia. Really what more could you want in a Christmas movie? It was a bit predictable, but that’s what you (I) want in a Christmas movie. In the end she realized that she didn’t need a high powered career a smaller one, that is just as fulfilling, will allow her to have time for a family too. I say that in a slightly sarcastic tone. Not all Christmas movies are empowering, but oh well sometimes I don’t want a feminist message. I want happy endings where everyone is happy.

3/5