A Timeless Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Sometimes you fall in love with the boy next door. Sometimes you fall in love with a man 117 years older than you that happens to be your professional obsession. No biggie, right?

Ryan Paevey plays Charles Whitley, a 1903 businessman/inventor. As he tries to fix a clock he purchased for his fiancée, he accidentally time travels to 2020. Megan Turner (Erin Cahill) is a historian who is giving Christmas tours at the Whitley mansion when Charles arrives. It is up to Megan to teach him about the 21st century and try to get him back to his proper time.

This isn’t a new plot device. It is still a little weird. Charles isn’t a very nice man. While he is polite, he frequently talks down to people he thinks are lesser. He gets over that….eventually. It seems that the only reason people like him is because he is rich and somewhat famous. That is a terrible reason to like anyone.

I can see why people would like movies like this. The female lead gets to take care of the hapless male and teach him about the ways of their world. I find it creepy. Can you imagine having to explain almost everything to your significant other? He might be familiar with the concept of a car but definitely not a 2020 version. Television, cell phones, computers, the internet….air conditioners, refrigerators, radio (these things may have been invented in the late 1890s but they probably weren’t in most households in 1903)…even the food we eat is different. It would almost be like dating a child. Gross.

With that said, if you look beyond the ickyness of dating someone from another time period, A Timeless Christmas is kinda cute. I don’t know that I could recommend watching it. But you aren’t going to want to gouge your eyes out or anything. There are probably better time travel romance movies out there. They just aren’t Christmas themed.

Christmas on Wheels | 2020 Christmas Movies

This movie takes place in Washington state and they are going to drive a convertible around with the top down on Christmas Eve? Wouldn’t that be kinda cold?

Ashley (Tiya Sircar) has a love for all things vintage. When she finds out that her uncle sold her mom’s vintage car - the one they used to deliver gifts in - she turns to her uncle’s attorney/antique appraiser, Duncan (Michael Xavier), for help.

I generally enjoy Tiya Sircar’s acting. She is adorable in pretty much everything. This isn’t an exception. Granted, Ashley’s obsession with everything vintage and antique is a little weird but I guess there are people out there that only want to buy vintage items. It is sweet that she says she only likes the antiques for their story and not only because they are old.

To be honest, the whole middle part of Christmas on Wheels could be cut out. (Is this a new trend for 2020?) There’s this…thing…about the town mayor changing the look of the Main Street decorations but we never really meet the mayor. We see her once during a charity auction, where she bids on an item, and that is it. No one talks to her to find out why she’s making the changes. Ashley just makes Duncan help her change the decorations back to the old ones in the middle of the night. It is weird.

And there’s a subplot about the car not running properly. It doesn’t start and no one can figure out why. It seems that the car has the ghost of Ashley’s mom so it only runs when Duncan is with her? Yeeeah. People in these movies are too invested in other people’s love lives.

Lifetime has given us yet another movie that is just OK. There isn’t anything particularly stand-out about it. If you like magical cars or if you also think Tiya Sircar is adorable, it’s a perfectly fine way to spend an evening.

Meet Me At Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Meet Me at Christmas is such a frustrating movie. Get ready for a long-winded rant.

When they were freshmen in college, Joan (Catherine Bell) and Beau (Mark Deklin) spent one fun-filled, flirty day during a Christmas stay at a hotel. Years later, they reconnect when Joan’s son, Liam (Luke Bilyk), and Beau’s niece, Katie (Sage Kitchen), are about to get married at the same hotel.

I am so annoyed at this movie. There are so many times when the “conflict” could have been resolved but weren’t because they needed the movie to be longer than thirty minutes. We start off with Joan and Beau not introducing themselves when they originally met. They were doing this stupid flirty game of “I don’t give my name to people I’ve only known for six hours.” YES. They spent the entire day together and didn’t know each other’s names. We saw them compete in a snowman building contest and ride a ferris wheel together and they still refused to just tell the other person their name. WHO IS THAT STUPID.

Then…later that night, they were supposed to meet up at a big tree lighting ceremony. But, of course, they don’t know each other’s names still. Beau doesn’t show up and Joan ends up hanging out with her future husband and his friends. Now. Joan told this guy (I’m not sure they ever say the dad’s name….they keep referring to him as “your father”) that she was meeting someone else and he said she could wait with his group. No big deal. HOWEVER….

During the wedding planning, Liam asks Joan if she knew Beau before. Joan straight up lies to her son and says no. Because Joan didn’t want to ruin Liam’s story of how she met his father? (Oh, by the way, the dad is dead so he’s only ever spoken about in past tense.) Why would knowing that you met Beau and spent one whole day with him ruin anything? WHO IS THAT STUPID.

In addition to that, Beau tried multiple times to tell Joan why he didn’t show up to the tree lighting ceremony that night. But Joan wouldn’t let him. It isn’t until Katie’s dad (Beau’s younger brother) is giving his wedding speech, where he tells the story of how Beau saved him from getting run over by a car and they spent months in the hospital. If Joan had just let him talk earlier, this would have all been resolved.

WHY ARE THEY SO STUPID?

Absolutely do not watch Meet Me at Christmas. It is dumb and frustrating. I keep waiting for something to happen..for there to be a real reason that Joan was being stupid…but there wasn’t. Nothing happens. This movie wasted so much of my time. ARGH.

A Welcome Home Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Recently, I’ve complained about how military life has been shoehorned into a bunch of Christmas movies this year. There always seems to be a “My distant relative is in the military” or a random “I was a military brat” that has no bearing on the actual plot of the movie. A Welcome Home Christmas is different. And I’m happy about that.

Chloe (Jana Kramer) is an Army counselor that helps returning soldiers adapt to civilian life. Michael (Brandon Quinn) is one of her assignments. When she over-commits to volunteering for charities, she puts Michael in charge of Operation Santa Claus - a charity to give military children the best Christmas possible.

On one hand, the characters are actual military members. Chloe was in the Army before she became a counselor, Michael recently left active duty, Chloe’s sister is still in the Army. On the other hand, I’m not sure how realistic the Army is in this. I’m not familiar with Army life but they all seem to be civilians that occasionally wear uniforms. We literally never see Chloe’s sister in uniform but she claims that General O’Toole (Tim Reid) is her commanding officer. We don’t even see her ‘snap to attention’ or anything when he approaches the family. If you’re in a military family, could you please let me know if this is something that happens or is this Lifetime taking liberties?

A Welcome Home Christmas is one of those movies that isn’t good but it isn’t bad either. It isn’t particularly boring, like most of the Christmas fare thrust upon us. There is just something about it that makes it watchable. I’m not sure exactly what that is. Maybe it’s LondonRose Sellars as Savannah. She isn’t the main character but she is a darn good actress. I hope to see good things from her in the future.

Anyway, if you like Christmas movies or movies about the military or movies about charity, you might enjoy this one. It’s at least good enough for one sit-through.

The Christmas Bow | 2020 Christmas Movies

It’s a Christmas bow. A violin bow…not a bow you put on presents. Get it?

Kate (Lucia Micarelli) is a concert violinist. When she injures her hand shortly after auditioning for the philharmonic, she turns to her childhood friend, Patrick (Michael Rady), to help her get her hand back in shape for her Christmas performance.

We have another musician movie. And her family owns a music shop too! The difference between The Christmas Bow and the other Christmas musician movies this year is that Kate hasn’t lost her passion for her art. Instead, her art was taken from her. She is desperately trying to get her hand to function like it did before the accident but it’s taking longer than she would like. It does make a huge difference in the mood of the movie. We see her trying and failing and getting frustrated and I love that. The arts isn’t always passion and want. Sometimes you want to do something and you physically can’t and it sucks. I’m glad that there is finally a movie showing that side.

I quite liked that there are a lot of Asian actors cast in the major roles. We don’t see a lot of non-white actors in Christmas movies. Especially not as the starring characters. Also, Micarelli is actually a violinist and that helped bring a dose of reality.

Overall, the movie wasn’t amazing. Patrick’s character was unrealistic. While I understand that the movie wanted him to be indecisive about his Big Decision so we would want him to stay in town with Kate, he kinda came off more wishy-washy than just indecisive. It was a bit of a turn-off, to be honest. However, I would recommend watching it, if only for Micarelli’s violin performances. She may not be a wonderful actress but she is an amazing musician.

Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater | 2020 Christmas Movies

Just when you thought that Christmas movie titles couldn’t get any stupider, Hallmark throws this at us. Is there a longer title than Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater? I don’t think so.

Maggie (Ashley Williams) is a single mom who will spending Christmas alone. Until she accidentally injures Lucas (Niall Matter) and invites him to stay in her art studio until he heals.

Yes, Lucas is actually wearing an ugly Christmas sweater the first time Maggie meets him. Of course, that’s about as far as the title relating to the plot goes. The rest of the movie is about Maggie and Lucas volunteering at a holiday camp for children of military parents. And….that’s about it.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot to say about the movie. The acting is subpar. (My husband actually commented about the delivery of one of Williams’ lines: “She doesn’t sound like she believes that.” ) The story is dull. Everything is just bland. Though I suppose one positive point is that no one has a weird obsession with hot chocolate. They straight up say they drink coffee. (Yes, I’m getting tired of everyone raving about hot chocolate or cocoa.)

I would say to skip this one. Or turn it on in the background while you’re running the vacuum. Sadly, this is another movie not worth watching.

Candy Cane Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Once again, Lifetime is letting me down. Can’t they at least come up with a good title? Or change the script to make the title a little more relevant? It’s getting ridiculous.

As a child, Phoebe (Beverley Mitchell) and her best friend, Laurie (Benedicte Belizaire), went to Candy Cane Lane - a Christmas light display put on by people in their neighborhood. This year, the neighbors have decided to skip the display. Disappointed, Phoebe tries to find new traditions to fill her Christmas season.

For the record, this movie has nothing to do with candy canes. I don’t even know why they named the light display Candy Cane Lane. From what I could tell, it was mostly a drive-through thing with Santa at the end. There wasn’t anything particularly special or magical that would make a child swear to visit every year for the rest of their life.

That brings us to Phoebe, who spends most of the movie whining about the loss of the display. When she agrees to try to find new things to fill her boring Christmas life, her big things are: a toy drive for foster children and teaching senior citizens how to make wreaths. Neither of those are really traditions, nor do they take up a ton of time. Then again, I’m not sure how much time she spent helping with the light display because we never see her working on it, only talking about how much she loves it. She talks a lot.

The love interest, Eric (Mark Ghanimé), isn’t any better. He says “I didn’t think about that” a lot. It’s like his entire personality revolves around him and his aunt. Anything beyond that doesn’t occur to him. Considering this guy is supposed to be a veterinarian, you would think that he would be a little more thoughtful of the people around him.

I tried really hard to like Candy Cane Christmas. I spent way too much time trying to figure out why characters were doing what they were doing. The payoff wasn’t worth it. Skip this movie. Go to a drive-through Christmas light display instead. Maybe that will give you some Christmas cheer. Because this won’t.

Cranberry Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

When I first read the title Cranberry Christmas, I thought it was going to be yet another movie about a baker. But this time she loves cranberry cookies! Well, I was wrong.

Dawn (Nikki DeLoach) and Gabe (Benjamin Ayres) own a lifestyle company called Cranberry Lane. While the company has always been run as a “husband and wife” company, their marriage is on the rocks. In order to keep their business and the town’s Christmas festival running, Dawn lies on national television about the state of their marriage. But when TV host Pamela (Marci T. House) brings the show to their small Maine town, the couple is forced to cancel their time apart and focus on their relationship.

I admit that I usually go into these movies expecting them to be boring at best. Cranberry Christmas, however, was a cute movie about problems that marriages can have when a couple is trying to grow a business. Dawn kept secrets from Gabe and Gabe kept secrets from Dawn, all in an attempt to not hurt the other or let the other have their dream. At the same time, Pamela is trying to pressure Dawn (even though she claims she’s not pressuring her) into making a major decision extremely quickly. These are things that felt real. More real than any holiday movie I have watched.

Should you watch it? Yes. Yes, you should. It probably won’t be an annual favorite but it is a 2020 Hallmark movie favorite. What more could we ask for this year?

One Royal Holiday | 2020 Christmas Movies

Do you like royal families? Does anyone like royal families? The people that write Christmas movies must think that people adore royalty. Why else would we have so many of royalty-related movies?

Anna (Laura Osnes) is a nurse in Boston. As she is getting ready to drive home for the holidays, she comes across a mother and son stranded due to an impending blizzard. She offers to let them stay at her family’s bed and breakfast in Connecticut. Only after they get to the B&B does she find out that they are the royal family of Galwick. Anna shows Queen Gabriella (Victoria Clark) and Prince James (Aaron Tveit) how they celebrate Christmas in her hometown.

Is there a way they could make these movies a little different? It’s always a foreign prince and a common American girl. The prince is cold and unwilling to change while the girl has to figure out how to warm his heart with Christmas spirit. The big difference here is that the royals fall in love with the little town and don’t want to return to their country. They have to return, of course, because the prince has to give an annual speech.

Of the prince-related Christmas movies I have watched, this one is pretty darn boring. You could watch the Netflix series A Christmas Prince…that wasn’t too bad. The Princess Switch is still royalty-related, even though it doesn’t have a prince. There’s just better Christmas movies featuring royalty, if you really need that royal fix. It’s OK to skip this one. You aren’t missing much.

A Crafty Christmas Romance | 2020 Christmas Movies

I used to think that Hallmark Channel had the worst Christmas romance movies. In the past, that was true. This year, however, it’s Lifetime that is letting me down.

Mandy (Nicola Posener) owns a hobby/craft shop. Inside an old book that someone put in their toy/book drive box, Mandy finds an old letter with a rare coin. With the help from a local contractor, Jonah (Brad Johnson), she sets out to return the items to their original owner.

I was quick to call Christmas with the Darlings the best movie of the season. Well, A Crafty Christmas Romance may be the worst. I guess it’s a good thing I watched them back-to-back. There are so many problems with this one that I’m not sure where to start….

The title of the movie has nothing to do with the plot. I think that this may not have been the original title of it. The movie’s IMDB page has a graphic calling it “Crafting Christmas,” which also has nothing to do with the plot. Sure, Mandy owns a shop where people can craft things and Mandy and Jonah craft an ugly sweater together but that is it. They don’t use the crafts to do anything to find the coin’s owner.

Talking about Mandy and Jonah, they are such boring people. They are dull, their romance is dull, even their jobs are dull. There’s not a drop of chemistry between them and this is another movie where they shoehorn the Big Kiss in with zero reason for it. Apparently Jonah wished that Mandy would fall in love with him after knowing her for a whole day. Maybe he should get to know the woman before asking her to be head over heels with him.

So, the whole premise of the movie is Mandy and Jonah searching for the author of this letter. Of course, no one has any information about it. The two of them spend the whole freaking movie reading old high school yearbooks in an attempt to maybe find someone with the same name as the author. Sounds fascinating, right? Wouldn’t you want to watch a movie of people reading books?

Please don’t watch A Crafty Christmas. I’m sorry if you’ve already sat through it. No one should be tortured like that.