Christmas

Christmas Kiss II (2014)

Christmas Kiss II (2014)

Director:

Kevin Connor

Starring:

Elisabeth Harnois

Adam Mayfield

Jonathan Bennett

Plot:

At a Christmastime event, Jenna shares an impromptu, unforgettable kiss with the dashing billionaire, 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.

Review:

This movie sold me until the ending. I’m sorry but a Leo Diamond from Kay Jewelers isn’t going to make up for the fact that they’ve known each other for like two weeks and she’s spent most of that time barely tolerating him. Literally a couple days before she accepted his proposal he was taking his old fling out to dinner.

Forgetting about the ending, I liked the movie. Cooper, Adam Mayfield, plays a trope that I’m not fond of, the male that is forceful and knows that he and the female lead will be perfect together. It’s past confidence and in the obnoxious cocky area. It’s a popular trope that I usually hate, but that can sometimes be alright. In this case I didn’t mind it because Jenna, Elisabeth Harnois, called him out on it. She kept pushing back and called him like she saw him. I liked that a lot.

Magical kiss, check.

Billionaire that gives a cheap diamond and lives in a split level apartment, check.

Christmas tree shopping, check.

I’m going to watch this one again. I think it’s safe to say I liked it better than Christmas Kiss I, but the ending was pretty poor.

4/5

Home Alone (1990)

Home Alone (1990)

Director:

Chris Columbus

Starring:

Macaulay Culkin

Joe Pesci

Daniel Stern

Plot:

An eight-year-old troublemaker must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.

Review:

This is a classic Christmas movie that I watch every year. As I’ve gotten older it’s taken on a new light. I still marvel at the ingenuity that Kevin, Macaulay Culkin, is able to manage in protecting his home, but I’m also amazed his parents didn’t beat him. The fact that he didn’t kill the Wet Bandits, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, is remarkable and something that never even occurred to me when I was young. The language is a bit crude and now I worry that my daughter will pick up bad words, but I honestly can’t not watch this every year.

The music is, well, it’s John Fucking Williams, so it’s amazing.

As a child I wondered if I would be able to pull off something so amazing. As a parent I know I would go to the same extremes as his mother, Catherine O’Hara, if not more if I somehow managed to do the unthinkable.

If you have somehow managed not to see this definitely check it out. I hope you enjoy!

5/5

Christmas in the City (2013)

Christmas in the City (2013)

Director:

Marita Grabiak

Starring:

Ashley Williams

Ashanti

Jon Prescott

Plot:

With the threat of having to close her father’s candy store, Wendy and her six-year-old daughter Grace travel to the big city in hopes of making extra holiday cash to save their family store. When she’s offered a job in the toy department of Wolman’s, the city’s biggest department store, Wendy can’t wait! Her excitement doesn’t last long when the store’s new corporate fixer, Teanna, progressively destroys the Christmas spirit throughout the store, replacing Santa with hunky male underwear models surrounded by elfin “babes.” What no one is aware of is that Teanna has in fact sacked the real Santa. Wendy reaches out to the old man, but it seems even he is giving up hope. With her daughter losing faith in the holiday, Wendy realizes the true meaning of Christmas needs to return to Wolman’s before it is too late.

Review:

Wendy, Ashley Williams, is about as good girl as you can get. She’s doing everything she can to keep her parents business open including heading to the big bad city to work in retail which apparently will save a small business. I thought the department store was actually pretty cool, they did Christmas bonuses for everyone and had daycare free for employees and shoppers. Honestly, that right there is a Christmas miracle.

Tom, Jon Prescott, was as handsome as you want in your Christmas movies, he could also sing and play the piano. That combined with a family business makes him the perfect Christmas male lead. The only thing he was missing was a royal title.

Wendy had a daughter that was completely unbelievable, there is no child that cute and perfect. They also kept showing flashes of her mother looking distraught while working with an accountant which was supposed to show how dire the situation was, but I thought that could have been better done through phone calls.

Wendy and Tom worked well together, though, like usual their romance progressed superfast. However, things didn’t end with a proposal, more like a promise of actual dates.

The movie was cute, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it. I think, and I know this is hard to believe, but I think I’m all sweet Christmas movied out. There was a lot of implied religious overtones, even though there was lots of Santa, and that didn’t help either.

3/5

 

Christmas Inheritance (2017)

Christmas Inheritance (2017)

Director:

Ernie Barbarash

Starring:

Eliza Taylor

Jake Lacy

Andie MacDowell

Plot:

Before ambitious heiress Ellen Langford can inherit her father’s gift business, she must deliver a special Christmas card to her dad’s former partner in Snow Falls, the hometown she never knew. When a snowstorm strands her at the town inn, she’s forced to work for her keep, and in the process, finds romance and discovers the true gift of Christmas.

Review:

Christmas Inheritance started off with Ellie, Eliza Taylor, performing a cartwheel and flashing her underwear to everyone. Not exactly a glowing start. It wasn’t necessarily downhill from there, but it definitely didn’t improve.

The acting and premise were both great for a Christmas movie but the writing was pretty bad. The dialog specifically was very groan worthy. I was really disappointed because the production value was clearly more than most Christmas movies, but they really dropped the ball with relationship development.

Ellie is a good person, but she’s been spoiled. She’s given a task to prove to her father that she’s capable, it’s silly and doesn’t really prove anything and if all you had to do was deliver a letter to become CEO everyone would be doing it, but this is a Christmas movie turn off your brain.

What bothers me is the “romance” that was supposed to develop. There was no chemistry between the two leads. I did appreciate the fact that she stopped him from kissing her since she was engaged and the fiancé didn’t seem that bad just from first impressions. He of course showed up and revealed himself to be a true “city person,” but I don’t fault him for his actions. He was engaged to someone who acted a certain way and then completely changed once exposed to a different world. Whatever, their relationship ended quickly and she ran back to the new guy.

Dead parent, check.

Discovering the true meaning of Christmas, check.

Carolers, check.

Horrible past relationship, check.

Honestly, I was tempted not to give this movie the extra Christmas movie star because it annoyed me so much, but whatever, maybe I wasn’t in the right mood.

3/5

Marry Us For Christmas (2014)

Marry Us For Christmas (2014)

Director:

Drew Powell

Starring:

Malinda Williams

Victoria Rowell

Karon Riley

Plot:

In the sequel to the popular UP Original Movie Marry Me For Christmas, it’s a year after Marci and Blair declared their love for each other and decided to tie the knot. But as the big day approaches, Marci is so consumed with work that she hasn’t had time to plan her wedding. To make matters worse, she may have to team up with former assistant/fake fiancé Adam to win a project she’s been vying for – a little tidbit she hasn’t shared with Blair. But Blair, as it turns out, has a secret of his own. Thanks to years of doing pro bono work for financially-strapped clients, he quickly is running out of cash and might have to accept an offer to work for his longtime nemesis, Marci’s manipulative cousin Preston. Meanwhile, Marci’s mother Stephanie is making some rather bold moves of her own with her sexy salsa teacher, Antonio, who’s more than a little smitten with her – and about 20 years her junior. Will there be a wedding for Christmas? Better yet – whose wedding will it be?

Review:

This one was not as good as the first, but then I expect a dip with sequels, especially made for TV ones. The only really glaring mistake was that in the last movie she said she worked in Chicago but in this one it was New York. Everything else, character wise, and history wise was the same.

The big issue in this movie was a lack of communication. It’s one of my least favorite tropes because literally all the problems in the story can be solved if the two main characters talk to each other. It’s lazy writing. At least we had the mother’s side plot dating a younger man. That was interesting and unexpected, too bad it ended in the predictable manner.

I was kind of annoyed with the depiction of women and the male female relationship. However, I did like that the Uncle didn’t tell Blair what to do, just pointed out his options. The aunt did the same thing with Marcie which I liked.

Even with the dip in quality I’m interested to see how this is going to develop and I’m going to watch the next one.

3/5