Next Stop, Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Last year, Hallmark remade The Wizard of Oz into a Christmas movie. This year, they took the basics of Back to the Future and turned it into Next Stop, Christmas. They even got Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd as basically the same roles.

Angie (Lyndsy Fonseca) is a doctor who is unable to come home for Christmas, despite her family’s pleas. Her normal train commute ends up taking her back in time 10 years to 2011. Now she has to figure out what she needs to fix in the past in order to get back to the future.

Yeah, see? It’s basically Back to the Future. She even has to get her parents, Evelyn (Lea Thompson) and George (Matt Walton), back together. And Christopher Lloyd plays the train conductor that takes her to the past. Hallmark is trying to play on our nostalgia.

One of the things that annoyed me the most about this movie is Angie’s family. First, they are begging her to come home for Christmas. She is some sort of surgeon (we see her performing surgery) and she is on-call. Her mother blatantly says that this is the second Christmas that she hasn’t come home. Do they think hospitals stop because there’s a holiday? Not to mention that she is probably the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to surgeons at that hospital. We learn that 10 years ago she was in med school. We don’t know how long she has been in med school but let’s say almost finished. So another year there plus up to 7 years in residency. She may have only been a “real” surgeon for a year or two. She doesn’t get a say on when she can and can’t work. Her family needs to learn that. Fast.

When Angie is in the past - meaning that she has never missed a Christmas at home - her family is whining that she doesn’t communicate with them enough. Her sister wants her to call or visit or text or whatever. Which is understandable but YOUR GIRL IS IN MED SCHOOL. Cut her some slack. Maybe instead of waiting by the phone for her, pick up the phone yourself and text her to see if she is surviving.

I get the overall message of the movie. Relationships of all types take work and the people that really love you will always be there for you no matter what. But, man, these people suck a lot. Poor Ben (Chandler Massey) keeps getting passed over romantically for self-centered Tyler (Eric Freeman) and I don’t understand what Angie sees in Tyler. They have nothing in common. I’m not even sure they like each other all that much. It’s also annoying.

I guess if you are looking for the True Love Conquers All type of movie, this is definitely one of those. I’m not sure that I enjoyed the movie but I did like seeing Lea Thompson again. Even if her character was a sad sack.

Love Hard | 2021 Christmas Movies

Love Hard is the first Netflix Christmas movie I watched this year. Let’s jump right into the review to see how it holds up against the Hallmark juggernaut.

Natalie (Nina Dobrev) has terrible luck in love. She has been able to turn her awful dates into an online column. When her friend, Kerry (Heather McMahan), opens Natalie’s dating app to look for men all over the country, Natalie matches with Tag (Darren Barnet). Unfortunately, Tag lives on the other side of the country. Throwing caution to the wind, Natalie flies across the country to surprise her new beau for Christmas. But all is not what it seems

I haven’t watched Nina Dobrev in anything since The Vampire Diaries in the early 2000s. I can’t say that I was a big fan of her acting there but she seems to do OK here. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t have to do as much emoting. If she’s not angry, she’s flirty. It’s not a big stretch.

Instead, my favorite character was Josh, played by Jimmy O. Yang. He had this adorable nerdy air around him that worked well. He was able to pull off the self-hatred that comes when you don’t belong with the popular group and no one sees you romantically. I think the only other person that pulled off their character perfectly was Althea Kaye as Josh’s grandmother.

Once again, this is a decent movie that is fine for an evening watch but it’s nothing amazing. On the contrary, Tag is very annoying and Natalie is heading into annoying territory too. The best way to watch Love Hard is a relaxing evening where you want something on the TV in the background while you play your favorite game on your cell phone. I’m not sure the movie deserves much more attention than that.

Christmas Sail | 2021 Christmas Movies

When I turned on Christmas Sail, the first thing my husband said was “Did Hallmark corrupt Katee Sackhoff now?” I don’t blame him for the sentiment. Sometimes Hallmark books these fabulous big name actors and puts them in a terrible movie. Let’s see if Katee made a good decision to work with Hallmark.

Liz (Sackhoff) has been estranged from her father, Dennis (Terry O’Quinn), since her mother died. When a Christmas tree falls on Dennis, Liz gets a call to come home to help him recover.

So the answer to the big question - Yes, Katee made a good decision to work on this movie. It’s easy to see how a less talented actress could have upped the cheese factor on the role but Katee managed to give the role the right amount of cheesiness. (I mean, Liz likes boat-related puns. She is a cheese-filled lady.) And, thankfully, she doesn’t have to carry the movie by herself. Emma Oliver as Liz’s daughter, Hannah, is an absolute delight. Of course, Terry O’Quinn has mastered the grumpy old man trope but he’s also mastered the grandfather with a heart of gold. Finally, Patrick Sabongui as Luke the love interest. He is probably the weakest of the main characters but he does manage to keep Luke from being forgettable or annoying.

While Christmas Sail was a very good movie, it’s not a must-watch-every-year movie. And that is OK. A movie can be perfectly good without being epic. I’m glad that there are a few of those already this season.

Christmas in My Heart | 2021 Christmas Movies

I always expect the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel to show movies with mysteries. Sometimes they do. Most of the time they don’t. Christmas in My Heart is another example of that movies without mysteries.

Beth (Heather Hemmens) is a professional violinist who comes home for the holidays after the recent death of her mother, the local music teacher. She ends up tutoring new violinist Katie (Maria Nash), the daughter of the reclusive country singer, Sean Grant (Luke Macfarlane). The power of music heals all of their broken hearts.

For once, this is a movie with musicians that actually contains music. We see Beth playing the violin and auditioning for the local orchestra. In addition, Katie plays her violin, Sean writes a song and sings it to Beth, and even Sean’s mother-in-law, Ruthie (Sheryl Lee Ralph) directs the local church choir and even sings a bit herself. So much music!

Another great thing about this movie is the message of being yourself. There are quite a few interracial couples in Heart. Both Ruthie and Katie are black so we have to assume Ruthie’s daughter/Katie’s mother was also black. Unfortunately, we don’t see a lot of her to get to know her. On a similar note, Beth is black and her father is white so we have to assume that her mother was black.

At first it seemed weird to have all of these interracial couples in a Hallmark movie but there were a couple of scenes that made the reasoning clear. The first scene is when Ruthie comes over to do Katie’s hair. Katie makes a comment about how her hair needs to be slicked back because that is how it looks “good.” Eventually the girl confesses that she only said that because she saw it on social media. The second scene is after Katie and Sean watch Beth play in a professional quartet. Katie notes how she has never seen anyone that looks like her playing the violin professionally. Representation matters but good representation matters even more.

But where there is a positive, there must always be a negative. To offset the amount of amazing music and black representation in the movie, we’re given a lot of death. Not only do we contend with the death of Beth’s mother but we also learn that Katie’s mother/Sean’s wife/Ruthie’s daughter died three years prior as well. Everyone seems to be coping well except Sean. The reason he’s a recluse is because he moved to the town where his wife grew up. He also keeps putting off decorating for Christmas. I suppose using death as a reason to “come home” is natural but they really could have used a different reason. We didn’t need a slew of dead moms.

Every other Hallmark movie will have some big boots to fill after Christmas in My Heart. It was a really good movie and I might have enjoyed it more than I should have. I definitely think people should watch this one. I’m not sure it’s good enough for an annual watching but definitely every other year.

Coyote Creek Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Aaaaand we’re back to the “A simple conversation would have fixed all of this” trope. Why are adults in Hallmark movies so afraid to talk to each other?

Paige (Janel Parrish) is an event planner in Denver. Every year, her parents throw a big themed Christmas party at the inn they own. However, they decided to skip the party this year. Paige insists on planning it anyway. Then she finds out the real reason her parents were downplaying the holidays. They are thinking about selling the hotel to Dylan (Ryan Paevey) and his brother. Will Paige truly be happy returning to her job in the city?

I’ll start off with the good -Coyote Creek Christmas is pretty cute. Azriel Dalman as Dylan’s son, Noah is one of the better parts of the cast. He’s also the only one that gets a pass from having an actual serious conversation with anyone. Which is funny because he talks more like an adult than any of the actual adults. That is, if any of the adults even wanted to talk to each other.

Here’s a list of the conversations that should have happened but didn’t: Rick (Cameron Bancroft) and Linda (Linda Minard) should have asked their daughter if she wanted to take over the inn that has been in their family for generations. If she said she didn’t want to run the inn, then they should have told her they wanted to sell it. Quinn (Naomi King) should have come out and told Mia (Adriana Ravalli) that she liked her in the beginning instead of making awkward googly eyes at her. And maybe Dylan should have told Paige that he was there to evaluate the inn for purchase but it shouldn’t have been on him to tell her that her parents were selling it in the first place.

Sadly, I didn’t hate Coyote Creek. The characters were annoying but there was just enough in the plot to make it bearable. This is the type of movie you watch when there is nothing on television but you need something that doesn’t require a lot of brainpower. Snack on some peppermint fudge while you watch it. I think it will make it a little better.

The Christmas Promise | 2021 Christmas Movies

Is this based on a book? This movie feels like it was based on a book.

Nicole (Torrey DeVitto) lost the love of her life, Alan (Matthew James Dowden), in a snowy car accident. A year later, she is arranging to sell the house and business they owned together. She hires Joe (Dylan Bruce) to finish the renovations on the house so it can be put on the market. With the help of her grandfather (Patrick Duffy), Nicole learns how to deal with her grief.

One of the reasons I asked if this is based on a book is that the title makes no sense. As far as I can tell, there was no promise in The Christmas Promise. It’s even a stretch to say that she’s promising to live her life instead of wallowing in grief. There is just no promising going on here.

Despite the lack of promises, it is a cute movie. It would have been nice to actually see a little more of Nicole’s grief. She will frequently say she is sad but she doesn’t look very sad. They could have easily done a voiceover of sorts where she maybe cries herself to sleep or if she got lost in thought looking at his spot on the bed or something. The way her grief is played works, it just doesn’t work very well.

I did like that Joe backed off when he realized how he was kind of manipulating her emotionally. There’s a section where Nicole is texting a mysterious person who now owns Alan’s phone number. She doesn’t realize that it’s Joe and when Joe realizes that he’s been texting Nicole, he removes himself from the situation. This is probably the one and only time I won’t chide a movie for avoiding a simple conversation. Joe was right - Nicole might have thought he was playing with her emotions.

Promise is going to be a difficult one to recommend. Mostly because it is heavily dependent on death and grief. If something like that isn’t going to make you feel bad, then go ahead and watch this. But if a movie about grief is going to make you feel miserable, skip it. It’s good but not that good.

Christmas in Harmony | 2021 Christmas Movies

I really wish Hallmark (and all of the other channels) would pick better names for their movies. And don’t tell me that Hallmark has no say in the titles. They have renamed movies before. Christmas in Harmony sounds nice until you realize that there was a 2018 Lifetime movie called Christmas Harmony and that the female lead in this movie is named Harmony. This is less the title of a Hallmark movie and more the title of an X-rated film.

Harmony (Ashleigh Murray) was just fired from her job at a music publishing company. When she goes home for Christmas, she runs into her ex-boyfriend, Kyle (Luke James). The exes get talked into co-directing the local church choir for the annual Christmas fundraising concert. Harmony’s big name client, Melo D (Michelle Williams), is having trouble getting to their small town to help save the church. Kyle tricks Harmony into singing the big solo herself, giving her the self-confidence she needs to become a singer on her own.

While this is yet another movie that doesn’t really have anything to say, Harmony at least offers some nice music. If anything, the problem with the movie is that there isn’t enough music. With a title like Christmas in Harmony and promo graphics with music notes all over, you should be begging them to stop singing. Instead, the chorus sings a few times, Kyle performs part of a song, Melo D (which is a dumb name) tries a piece of a song, and there’s the finale where Harmony sings a song then everyone sings a song together. That may sound like a lot of music but it’s really not. We see more about the crappy world of music publishing than we do hearing music.

With all of that said, it is a pretty decent movie. Just pretend it’s called something else. Harmony of Christmas would have been better and sounded less pornographic. Or maybe The Harmony in Christmas. Just be sure to leave me a comment with your name for the movie.

The Santa Stakeout | 2021 Christmas Movies

Before I even start talking about The Santa Stakeout, can we address how dirty someone did Tamera Mowry-Housley in this pic? Her face does not look like that. She is a very pretty woman. She does not need to be photoshopped like this.

Tanya (Mowry-Housley) is a police detective that recently moved to Denver. After a string of thefts from high-profile holiday parties, she goes undercover with her new partner, Ryan (Paul Campbell), to catch the crook.

I don’t think that I have seen a police-themed Christmas movie recently. I can understand why it isn’t done more often. There isn’t a lot of police work going on here. As a matter of fact, when the partners go to set up their stakeout house, Tanya begins decorating it for Christmas the minute she sets foot in the door. It makes sense when they are forced to play the parts of a newlywed couple but before that? They were supposed to be hidden. Christmas decorations aren’t exactly what you use when you want to hide.

Stakeout isn’t a particularly interesting movie, to be honest. It felt like Campbell wanted to portray his character like a discount Joel McHale but the snark that is in every McHale character just wasn’t there with Ryan. It just made him look like a jerk.

Eh, this is another one of those movies that is fine. Just fine. It’s not boring per se but I found myself playing games on my phone a lot. Everything felt very forced. Even the big romance at the end. There wasn’t anything in the rest of the movie that showed me these two were about to fall in love. There wasn’t a lot that showed me they even liked each other! Sure, they came to an understanding but that isn’t the same as enjoying someone’s company. Give it a watch if you are a fan of Tamera. Otherwise, it’s probably best as background noise as you do chores.

Boyfriends of Christmas Past | 2021 Christmas Movies

Last year, Hallmark gave us the very terrible A Nashville Christmas Carol. This year they gave us another twist with Boyfriends of Christmas Past. I hope this one is better than last year’s.

Lauren (Catherine Haena Kim) and Nate (Raymond Ablack) have been best friends since college. No matter what Lauren has gone through, Nate has been by her side. Unfortunately, Lauren is afraid of long-term commitment. As Nate gets ready to reveal his true feelings to her, Lauren is visited by the memories of three past boyfriends who show her how she pushes away anyone that wants to be close to her. Can she overcome her fears before it is too late?

While Boyfriends does share some similarities with Nashville, this year’s foray into A Christmas Carol does it better. Both movies let go of the ghosts of Christmas Present and Christmas Future to focus on Christmas Past. However, that is entirely the point of Boyfriends. Lauren is blind to the fact that every time a boyfriend wants to move their relationship to the next level, she bails. The boyfriend spirits/memories even keep pointing out how she runs to Nate every time she breaks up with someone and Nate is always there to help her pick up the pieces.

To be honest, my only real gripe about the movie is how Nate has been basically throwing himself at Lauren the entire time they have known each other and he hasn’t given up yet. The movie doesn’t tell us how many years have passed since college. There’s only vague references like “so many years ago” or “after all these years.” I’m pretty sure they have known each other for at least eight years. There were three boyfriends - the first she dated during her junior year of college for at least a year, we do get that much information; the second was after college and asked her to move in with him, so that had to be a couple of years at least; and the third was asking her to marry him, so that had to be another couple of years. Why wouldn’t Nate try to confess his feelings earlier? Why would he stick around for so long pining after her? It’s pretty obvious that he isn’t happy with the current status of their relationship.

Since this is a Hallmark movie, that one issue is pretty small. The characters are fleshed out a little more than most Hallmark movies so it’s easy to overlook. It’s a safe bet that this will be one of the better Hallmark Christmas movies this year. Give it a watch. At the very least, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is always entertaining.

You, Me, and the Christmas Trees | 2021 Christmas Movies

Hallmark begins their Countdown to Christmas with a bit of a sad note. You, Me, and the Christmas Trees is Danica McKellar’s last Hallmark movie for awhile. She has signed a deal with the new GAC Family channel, which runs through 2023. I believe her first GAC Family movie will premiere in January 2022.

Jack (Benjamin Ayres) runs his family’s Christmas tree business. When the needles start falling off the trees within hours of being cut, he turns to famous evergreen arborist Olivia (Danica McKellar). Can she save his trees before the Christmas deadline?

On one hand, this was an interesting take on the Christmas tree romance trope. Usually the tree salesperson (usually a man but not always) is big into the Christmas spirit and deems it necessary to school the romantic interest about “what Christmas is really about.” On the other hand, the movie was still fairly boring. Let me elaborate.

Olivia is a scientist and she does sciency things in the movie. However, science takes time. So there are way too many times where Olivia has to say “Now we wait 10 hours.” or “We can do a test! But it will take two weeks…” I don’t think the traditional Hallmark viewer would want to see the science behind solving tree problems but I think it would be more interesting than watching Olivia and Jack build gingerbread trees or use science to come up with the best Christmas drink.

Even though You, Me, and the Christmas Trees wasn’t the best Christmas movie ever, it was quite watchable. I enjoy watching McKellar on the screen. She didn’t seem to have a ton of on-screen chemistry with Ayres so the movie does rely on her heavily. He’s a bit…bland, to say the least. I don’t think there was ever a point where he actually showed an emotion.

I know there is a group of people that really don’t like Danica McKellar. Those people probably shouldn’t watch this. But if you enjoy her acting, this is for you. Don’t expect a whole lot from the rest of the cast though.