Content | Halloween 2026

I know that I have been gone a long time. Well, we’re moved into the new house and things are back to normal…mostly. Before we get into the very merry holiday season, I’m going to give you some scary movies to get into the Halloween spirit. But they won’t be just any scary movies. They probably won’t even be good movies. I am vowing to watch 31 days of scary movies on Tubi. And we’re going to start off with a Tubi original - Content.

Nia (Hailey Kilgore) is a true crime podcaster who is taking some time off in a Palm Springs Airbnb. Before she can even go to sleep for the night, she finds herself being stalked by a serial killer wearing a smiley face emoji mask. Will Nia survive the night or will the killer take another life?

Yeah, this is a bad movie. The acting isn’t completely terrible but the script and the cinematography are awful. There are these long, drawn out scenes where Nia stares out a window while slowly drinking wine, or slowly walking down a hallway, or just sitting in a bubble bath. I believe the movie is a little over an hour long and I swear that it could have been an easy 45 minutes if they just took out these boring, pointless scenes. They could have easily brought it back up to an hour by having Nia actually do anything to save her life. Sure, she calls the police but doesn’t give them any useful information. Her ex-boyfriend calls to beg her to come back but she blows him off instead of asking him to come help her. Yes, I know that she’s trying to fully break up with him but, girl, your life is in danger. Any help is good help. Instead, she calls the property agent - a complete stranger - to help her. Oh, I guess she does go live on Instagram a couple of times, though I’m not really sure what she expected her fans to do.

I will be surprised if I recommend any Tubi movies to anyone. This is definitely one to stay away from…unless you need to take a nap.

Rating: Why is it an emoji mask? It’s just a smiley face.

Christmas Isn't Cancelled But The Movie Reviews Are

I haven’t written a Christmas movie review in a long time and I apologize for that. I have been putting this off for as long as I can but you deserve an explanation.

I will not be reviewing any more Christmas movies this year because we are moving. I thought that I would be able to juggle watching movies, writing reviews, finding a new house, and packing up the house we have lived in for the past 20 years. Alas, I cannot. Selling this house and finding a new one took up way more time than I had expected. Now that we are in December and our closing dates are right around Christmas Day, we have to go into overdrive to empty this place out. Unfortunately, that means the movies have to go for this season.

On the bright side, our new house has much more space and I will be able to have a dedicated writing space that will allow me to focus on this blog. I would really like to get back to my “blog roots” of reviewing TV shows and music. More than just Hallmark or Christmas movies. I hope that you will wait for me just a little longer. I’ll try to make it worth the wait.

Christmas Above The Clouds | 2025 Christmas Movies

There have been a wide variety of adaptations of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Back in 2020, Hallmark gave us A Nashville Christmas Carol. Then in 2021, they had Boyfriends of Christmas Past. And this year it’s Christmas Above The Clouds. At least they gave us a break in between adaptations this year?

Ella Neezer (Erin Krakow) is the CEO of a travel company. She demands her employees work just as hard as she does. Unfortunately, that means she makes them choose between their families and their work, just as she did when she broke off her engagement to Jake (Tyler Hynes) when she started moving up the corporate ladder. It wasn’t until now, on a flight to Australia with her assistant Bobbi Cratchet (Emily Tennant) and, surprisingly, Jake, that her mentor, Marlene Jacobson (Gabrielle Rose), visits her from beyond the grave to inform her about the impending visits from three Christmas spirits. Will they be able to bring empathy and love back to Ella?

Could it be? Is it possible that we have THREE decent Christmas movies this early in the movie season? Maybe my expectations were low because, this story is told so many times that it feels rare to find a good adaptation of it. But, yes, Christmas Above The Clouds gave us an interesting take. Sure, it’s not anything new and Jake does feel a little tacked on but Krakow makes a very good Scrooge character and I found myself enjoying the three spirits. It might not make the best movie list but I didn’t regret watching it either!

Rating: 4 Christmas Spirits out of 5 - OK, there aren’t five Christmas spirits but the rating still stands!

A Newport Christmas | 2025 Christmas Movies

So we’ve got another period Christmas movie starring Ginna Claire Mason - A Newport Christmas. If she had a nickel for every time she starred in a period Christmas movie on Hallmark, she’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. Right?

Ella (Mason), a socialite living in 1905 Newport, wants to start a charitable foundation instead of getting married as her father wishes. While on an evening ride in her sailboat, Ella wishes on a comet for a different life where she can find love. Suddenly, she is transported to 2025, where Nick (Wes Brown) appears on her boat mysteriously. When they get back to town, they realize that Ella has somehow time traveled to the present day. Now they must figure out how to get her back to 1905 before all of her past charitable work is undone.

I’m not quite sure how they managed to do it but this movie is both interesting and boring at the same time. There will be scenes where Ella shines as a character - for example, when she is giving the tour of her former home - but then the movie will just drag as Nick shows her how Newport has changed over the years. He really is the worst part of the movie. I kinda wish that this wasn’t a romance movie and that it was just Ella and historian Christine (Talia Robinson) learning how each other lived their lives in their respective times. That was much more interesting than anything Nick did. Except for maybe the twist ending. I guess that part made him interesting.

Rating: 3 lessons in fan language out of 5 - I want to know more fan signs!

Christmas On Duty | 2025 Christmas Movies

Every year, we get some sort of military-themed Christmas movie. Usually they are about missing family members that can’t come home for the holidays or helping veterans or something like that. Christmas On Duty has chosen a different route.

Blair (Janel Parrish) and Josh (Parker Young) have been bitter rivals ever since basic training. Three years after they went their separate ways, Josh takes a job at Quantico, where Blair is stationed. When a snowstorm shuts down all deliveries to the base, the pair gets assigned to save Christmas by playing Santa themselves.

I’m not going to lie. I almost always find the military-themed movies boring. The writers try to go for sentimental but they always end up preachy instead. This one isn’t any different. There is zero chemistry between Parrish and Young, watching them drive around picking up Christmas presents is dull at best (even when they have to puzzle their way out of things), and the USAA in-movie advertisements are cringy. I want to like these movies, I really do. Isn’t there someone out there that can write a good one?

Rating: 1.5 climbing jumpropes out of 5 - Yeah, that still won’t hold your weight

Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! | 2025 Christmas Movies

Sorry I was gone last week. Craziness happened in my household. But I was able to watch some movies. The first one - Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! The exclamation point is probably very important.

Ted Cooper (Robert Buckley) is an optimistic weatherman who loves Christmas, even though Christmas hasn’t been particularly nice to him. When he goes home for the holiday to help his sister raise money for the local hopital, he ends up making a few trips there himself. Thankfully, he has his former classmate and crush, Dr. Hope Miller (Kimberley Sustad), to fix him up. Maybe together they can turn Ted’s Christmas luck around.

I actually really liked this movie. Buckley brings this goofy charm to Ted that makes him very likeable. And I’m usually a little lukewarm on Sustad but she manages to play off of Buckley really well. For the first time this season, I don’t want to talk about a movie too much because I want you to go watch it. I hope you will find it just as charming as I did.

Rating: 5 Christmas accidents out of 5 - Where even getting injured is charming

A Christmas Angel Match | 2025 Christmas Movies

While there are usually a few religious Christmas movies released every year, they aren’t usually on Hallmark and they don’t usually involve angels. Needless to say, that made A Christmas Angel Match sound very interesting. Now to figure out what a Christmas angel match is…

Monica (Meghan Ory) is an angel that brings together human soulmates during the Christmas season. She has been doing this for hundreds of years and is the most successful Christmas angel. But recently, a new angel, Michael (Benjamin Ayres), has been matching many more soulmates. With a rumor of their department being downsized, Monica is forced to work with Michael to complete their new assignment: to get humans Daisy (Lindura) and Patrick (Francesco Filice) together before the end of the year.

I actually enjoyed A Christmas Angel Match, for the most part. While I easily figured out what the big twist would be early on (I won’t spoil it here), I found that twist to be boring. I would have loved to have seen Monica and Michael working on different couples together because that is when the angels were at their best. But this is a Hallmark romance movie, emphasis on the romance.

It also would have have been interesting to see the Valentine’s angels. There’s a reference that the Christmas angel department would be merged with the Valentine angel department but we never actually see a Valentine angel. We just see the Christmas angels outwardly cringing at the idea, which doesn’t feel very angelic.

A Christmas Angel Match may not be a perfect Hallmark Christmas movie. But it does come pretty darn close.

Rating: 4 hot chocolates out of 5 - I want to do cloud yoga

A Royal Montana Christmas | 2025 Christmas Movies

It’s our very first Christmas movie of the 2025 season and it’s a royalty movie! Thanks, Hallmark, for starting us out….strong? Let’s see if A Royal Montana Christmas lives up to our royal expectations.

Princess Victoria (Fiona Gubelmann) of Zelarnia is about to take over her mother’s royal duties. However, before she steps into her mother’s shoes, she decides to take a vacation to Peaceful Pines Ranch, a ranch in Montana that she visited as a child with her father. Upon her arrival in town, she meets Huntley Blaylock (Warren Christie), the son of the owners who are about to retire. As the pair works to bring back the ranch’s Christmas Holly-Day Dance, they begin to fall in love. But Victoria must go back to her royal duties and Huntley must stay in Montana to run the family business, right?

I’m not going to lie, this movie was so boring. There wasn’t anything interesting that happened. We don’t learn anything about Victoria’s family or country. We barely learn anything about the ranch or Huntley. This was two people walking around together and petting some horses. Oh, I guess they did argue about what type of tree they should cut down for the dance. Otherwise, I’m really not sure what they saw in each other.

Well, this isn’t the best start to the season. I hope that they can sprinkle in some really good movies in between the boring stuff. I need something to look forward to.

Rating: 2 wooden horses out of 5 - maybe someone should be surprised when the guest is revealed to be royalty

Christmas Is Coming!

Hello again! I was planning on getting some Halloween reviews out this year but I was having problems motivating myself to write anything. But you know what does motivate me? Christmas movies reviews! That’s right. I love watching terrible movies and talking about them. So get ready for this year’s batch of Christmas movies. Here is the rundown on what I’ll be watching:

• movies on the Hallmark channels, Lifetime, Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon will all definitely be reviewed

• Great American Family (AKA Great American Christmas) has been removed from the lineup, UPTV remains on the banned list

• I will make every effort possible to watch theatrical releases as well as movies on OWN, BET, Hulu, Roku…and whatever other Christmas movies I come across

There may not be enough movies to cover all of November and December but I will do my best. Let’s make the 2025 Christmas movie review season the best one ever!

Hello Kitty Island Adventure | Video Game Review

Back in 2022, I told you about Disney Dreamlight Valley, a game that I highly enjoy. Almost three years later, I still enjoy it - even though a bit of the shine has worn off. I used to blaze my way through all of the quests but now some of the newer quests are difficult, meaning I have to look up a walkthrough to finish it, or tedious, meaning I grow bored of trying to find x number of gemstones. Thankfully, Hello Kitty has arrived to help quell my boredom.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure started out as an Apple Arcade game in 2023. This year, it has been released for the Nintendo Switch and Windows computers via Steam. (Playstation 4 and 5 versions are supposed to come out later this year.) I currently have 64 hours of playtime logged so it is about time I tell you my thoughts.

To start off, I would like to inform you that this is not Hello Kitty’s game. She may be the face of the Sanrio brand but this is My Melody’s game. The entire reason the Sanrio gang drags us to this island is so My Melody can open a shop in a theme park. She is, in fact, the main character. I’m OK with this. Someone besides Hello Kitty deserves the spotlight. If only the game was named after My Melody.

With that said, I do thoroughly enjoy this game. Each of the Sanrio characters has a distinct personality and usefulness on the island. Chococat is a scientist that can help you with puzzle rooms. (More on puzzle rooms later.) Hangyodon is a fish character that runs the underwater comedy club. Cinnamoroll flies around the islands, helpfully delivering you to various locations as a fast travel feature. And so on. These characters have their own quests and storylines. You give them daily gifts to level them your friendship with them. Higher friendship levels results in more quests and their assistance in various tasks.

As for the gameplay, there is a ton of stuff to do. The basics include gathering materials (sticks, pineapples, iron ore, etc.) that will be used to craft items. These items can be gifts that you give to the characters, furniture to decorate houses, or clothing for characters to wear. When you get certain houses decorated properly, friends and family of the main group of characters will come to visit. After a certain number of visits, those characters will also become island residents. Currently, four of these characters have moved to my island. There are so many more I have to convince to live here.

But gathering materials and crafting isn’t the only thing you can do. Each of the locations on the island has a number of puzzle rooms. These are special rooms where you have a solve a puzzle in order to obtain a treasure chest. The chests can contain special furniture, crafting blueprints, or materials. While some of the puzzles can be frustrating, it’s exhilarating when you get that chest. And the doors to the rooms light up when you finish them. It’s pretty cool to see a bunch of glowing doors around the island.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is pretty comparable to Dreamlight Valley, with the exception that the quests aren’t usually as time consuming. If you enjoy Dreamlight Valley or games like Animal Crossing, this would be right up your alley. You can spend as much or as little time on this game as you want with no consequences. Be careful, though, it can be addicting!