The Christmas Edition | 2020 Christmas Movies

Lifetime finally gives us a movie that is a little more realistic. At least in the romance department.

Jackie (Carly Hughes) is a newspaper reporter in San Diego. When her newspaper is bought by Melanie (Marie Osmond), Jackie takes an opportunity to run a small local newspaper in Alaska. The owner of the newspaper, Finn (Rob Mayes), and the town embrace Jackie, showing her what Christmas is really about.

Yes, the newspaper part of the movie is rather thin. Jackie wants to be an editor-in-chief but her only experience is writing mostly fluff articles and having a dad that was a successful reporter? While I understand why she is upset that Melanie wants to bump her back down to Staff Reporter, she should have known it was going to happen. Especially since Melanie’s company is digital-only. They can use a few editors-in-chief to cover all of their brands instead of one for each paper.

As for the newspaper in Alaska, I’m not sure how that was running at all. When Jackie arrives, the only staff are Dolores (Emily Alabi) the photographer and Edna (Aloma Wright) who runs the printing press. Who writes the articles? Finn’s dad wrote for it before he died but that was awhile ago. The paper should have shut down long before Jackie got there.

The only part of the movie that I liked was how the relationship between Jackie and Finn progressed. Instead of suddenly falling in love, the couple spends a lot of time together at the various Christmas events in town. It was a nice change from the slew of Christmas movies where the leads hate each other until the very end when they kiss. The Christmas Edition had quite a few almost kisses that got interrupted, making their relationship a little more believable.

If you are watching these Christmas movies for the romance, this is a good movie to watch. However, if you are looking for something more, this might not be the movie for you.

Christmas On The Menu | 2020 Christmas Movies

I always thought that chefs and bakers were separate, at least professionally. Do a lot of chefs also do the baking for their restaurant? I thought they hired someone to do that for them.

Josie (Kim Shaw) is a chef in Los Angeles. She heads home for the holidays to help her mother, Shannon (Cynthia Gibb), open a bistro at the family bed & breakfast. Tanner (Clayton James) is a food critic who Josie blames for the failure of her bakery. He decides to spend the holidays at the Shannon’s B&B, which causes Josie a lot of stress.

While Christmas on the Menu isn’t completely confusing, I spent a lot of time wondering why characters did certain things. There is the chef vs baker issue. Josie talks about how one reviewer said her chicken skins were delicious…meaning she’s a chef…but then she talks about how she owned a bakery that failed and she’s in charge of the desserts at her mother’s bistro…means she’s a baker. Granted, I don’t know a whole lot about the world of bakeries and restaurants but I didn’t think that the restaurant’s chef was also doing the baking. That seems like a lot of work for one person.

In addition, there’s the choice of food reviewers. Shannon invites a couple of food reviewers to sample the new menu. One of the people she invites is kosher but then she proceeds to serve a bunch of non-kosher food. They did end up making a special kosher meal for that reviewer. It is just a little weird to invite someone for a particular meal and a particular reason then offer them food they don’t eat. Maybe it was supposed to highlight that the bistro is willing to offer specialized meals for people but literally no one else was there besides the reviewers.

Once again, Lifetime gave us a movie that is simply OK. This movie does have an actual villain, which makes it slightly more interesting. Josie and Tanner do have a bit of banter that makes their relationship a little more believable. You can go ahead and watch Christmas on the Menu. You’ll at least learn not to take whatever food you want out of a B&B’s refrigerator. You should ask permission first.

Cross Country Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

What would happen if you took the comedy classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles and made it a Christmas romance movie? Yep, you get Cross Country Christmas.

Lina (Rachael Leigh Cook) and Max (Greyston Holt) are both heading from from New York to Colorado for the holidays. Due to inclement weather, their flight is forced to land in Ohio. The pair do everything they can to make it back to Colorado in time for Christmas.

Of course there is a lot going on with this movie. It’s pretty much built into the premise. All of Lina’s plans go wrong and Max is awfully stand-offish throughout the beginning of the movie. Max’s personality does soften as they travel but Lina never does get her plans to work. Which is interesting since she’s supposed to be a professional problem solver or something. If that’s true, she must be terrible at her job.

While this premise does make a great buddy comedy, I don’t know that it makes a good romantic comedy. It doesn’t work as a Hallmark romantic comedy. There should be more “accidentally bumping into each other” or “forced to stand way too close to each other” type of tropes to show us that this couple is falling in love. As it stands, it seems like Lina only loves Max because his dad died recently. That isn’t a reason for a romantic relationship.

As much as I want to tell you to watch this, I can’t. I love Rachael Leigh Cook as an actress but the movie just doesn’t work. And, even though it isn’t Christmas themed, go watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles instead. It is so funny. You can’t go wrong with Steve Martin and John Candy. Just pretend that it’s Christmas, even though it’s a Thanksgiving movie.

Christmas On Ice | 2020 Christmas Movies

There’s a lot of ice skating in Christmas movies. This one is actually about ice skating!

Courtney (Abigail Klein) is a former ice skater who currently runs a local ice skating rink. Noah (Ryan Cooper) is a former hockey player who is opening an indoor skating rink. When the mayor announces that he is closing Courtney’s rink, Courtney tries her best to save the rink and its Christmas Carnival.

While the concept of saving a business from closing isn’t new, there are a few new twists on it in Christmas On Ice. From what I can tell, Courtney doesn’t actually own the ice skating rink. The city pays for everything via the parks and recreation department but she acts like she’s not a city employee. She acts like this is her business and the city is trying to shut her down. But I do give her props for working so hard to keep the rink open. Especially since it offers free classes and cheap entertainment for people who can’t afford to go to the fancy indoor rink.

Overall, Christmas On Ice is a pretty good movie. The acting is decent, the plot is pretty good. But it is missing that certain something to kick it over the edge into a can’t miss movie. Maybe it’s because everyone seems so apathetic about everything. Yes, Courtney is working hard to keep the rink open but she doesn’t really put any emotion behind it. Even in the scene where she is getting emotional about Noah’s Christmas traditions with his daughter, Grace (Meara Mahoney-Gross), it doesn’t really feel like she’s actually moved by it.

One part that disturbed me was the book idea for Courtney’s roommate, Beth (Caroline Portu). Beth works at the local Santa station, taking pictures of kids with Santa. Courtney recommends that Beth make a book with the pictures of kids crying on Santa’s lap. The book happens but we never see Beth asking parents for permission to put their kids’ pictures in the book or getting them to sign photography agreements. There is a scene where Courtney, Noah, and Grace go to Santa so they could have easily showed Beth asking parents to sign some paperwork. It came off as a little creepy to me.

Even with all of this, is it worth watching? Yes, if you can look beyond the few shortcomings. There are a few good moments in there. Particularly the scene with the kids performing at the Christmas Carnival. That was cute.

A New York Christmas Wedding | 2020 Christmas Movies

Frequently, I am bored by Christmas romance movies. Sometimes I am moved. I don’t think I have ever been so thoroughly confused as I have been by A New York Christmas Wedding.

Jennifer (Nia Fairweather) is about to get married to David (Otoja Abit). However, David’s mother, Alison (Tyra Ferrell), is pushing for a Christmas Eve wedding. Unfortunately, Jennifer has had a lot of personal trauma around the Christmas season. When she takes a late night run to clear her mind, Jennifer runs into Azrael (Cooper Koch), an angel who transports her to an alternate universe where her life is very different.

When I started watching this movie, I thought it was going to be an updated version of It’s A Wonderful Life. Instead, Jennifer is given this alternate life where almost everyone she had lost in her current life is alive again. Her father (David Anzuelo) and her former best friend, Gabrielle (Adriana DeMeo), are back but her mother is not. I’m not sure why the writer (Otoja Abit wrote and directed this, as well as played David) was so selective about who got to come back. I guess because it wasn’t about bringing back dead people, it was about putting Jennifer and Gabrielle into a romantic relationship. Mothers aren’t needed for those.

Ah, the Jennifer/Gabrielle relationship. In the beginning of the movie, we see the friends get into a big fight. Later in the movie, Jennifer says that she was hurt because she was going to confess her love but Gabrielle blew off their plans to hang out a boy. Before this moment, we don’t see anything that shows that Jennifer loved Gabrielle. She says she is sad that Gabrielle died but that is it. You can be sad about a former friend dying without being in love with them. It would have been nice to see some sort of hint about her feelings before having the women suddenly thrust into bed.

Then there is this angel Azrael. He kinda pops up whenever it’s convenient to...well, not really explain anything. He just pops Jennifer around in time without telling her anything. When it comes time for him to bring her back to her actual life, he reveals that he is Gabrielle’s dead baby. Apparently, Gabrielle had gotten pregnant the night she ditched Jennifer and the baby died. And he has been watching over Jennifer ever since. Um, what?

I can’t recommend watching this confusing mess. It is on Netflix so, if you do decide to turn it on, could you please let me know what you think the point is? Because it makes no sense to me.

Lonestar Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Well, that was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I don’t think I understand how Lifetime chooses what movies to air. Do they just pick the ones that sound the most Christmassy?

Erin (Stephanie Bennett) is a widow with two young daughters. When her mother goes on a Christmas cruise, she decides to spend the holidays with her estranged father, Gary (Brent Stait). There she meets a local Mexican restaurant owner, Mateo (Marco Grazzini).

Lonestar Christmas isn’t really a romance Christmas movie. Yes, there is romance in it but it’s really about a woman that is emotionally broken. She has a lot of anger towards her father from him not being around when she was a child. Granted, it sounds like maybe he was going to college or something. They don’t really explain why or how he wasn’t around. Everyone just says he wasn’t around. In addition, I’m not sure she has truly grieved her dead husband. Since she has two young children, she admitted that she focused on raising them instead of dealing with her emotions. Erin needs to go see a therapist immediately.

I don’t have anything against a movie about a woman working through her emotional trauma. That might actually make a good Christmas movie since a lot of people have troubles around the holidays. If they took out Erin’s patient, Tessa (BJ Harrison), and replaced her with an actual therapist, it would have changed the mood of the movie. Erin (who is an occupational therapist) already uses Tessa as a sort of therapist, which is a terrible idea since she is one of Erin’s PATIENTS. She is not a friend, she is not a confidant, she is a patient. They should have had Erin talking to a professional to deal with her problems.

Should you watch Lonestar Christmas? I would say skip it unless you want to watch a woman devolve into self-pity. I really wish they had treated this differently so I could recommend it.

A Recipe for Seduction | 2020 Christmas Movies

Kentucky Fried Chicken has now gotten into the romance Christmas game. Who needs a 30 second commercial when you can have a 15 minute show?

When Jessica’s (Justene Alpert) boyfriend, Billy (Chad Doreck), proposes to her at dinner, she refuses to answer. Even though she isn’t sure if she truly loves Billy, her mother, Bunny (Tessa Munro), wants her to marry Billy for his money. Instead, Jessica falls in love with the new family cook, Harland Sanders (Mario Lopez). Jessica’s life is torn apart when she can’t decide between love and money.

A Recipe for Seduction is set up as an English-language telenovela - a soap opera with extreme situations and reactions. Mario Lopez plays a hunky version of the KFC man himself, Colonel Sanders. While in this version he isn’t a famous chicken man yet, there are frequent references to his secret recipe and how it will change everything. And, yes, there is some chicken eating going on. But the crazy conflicts come from Bunny and Billy, who team up to get Jessica to marry him instead of Harland. In 15 minutes, there is a kidnapping, an attempted murder, a sort of incestuous relationship, and a huge bribe. Oh, and a wedding. Let’s just say there’s a lot.

Needless to say, this movie was never set up to be serious. You need to go into the movie knowing that it’s going to be ridiculous and kinda stupid. It is poking fun at telenovelas, Christmas movies, and KFC itself. If you can go into it knowing that it will be “so bad that it’s good,” I think you’ll enjoy it. This was the funny break I needed from all of the cheesy Christmas movies this year.

A Sugar & Spice Holiday | 2020 Christmas Movies

As I’ve said before, 2020 is the year of diverse Christmas movies. We have had gay couples, black couples, and Jewish couples. Now Lifetime has given us an Asian-led movie.

Suzy (Jacky Lai) is an architect trying to win a promotion at work. When she comes home for the holiday, she finds herself participating in a Gingerlicious Baking Competition with a classmate from high school, Billy (Tony Giroux). Can she overcome her feelings of inadequacies to accomplish her dreams?

I love that there are so many diverse movies this year. Everyone deserves to see themselves in a cheesy Christmas movie. They may not be great movies but representation is never a bad thing.

With that said, A Sugar & Spice Holiday is another movie that tries to put too much into it. The whole movie is named and themed after Suzy baking with her grandmother. Then they try to force in this work promotion with a looming deadline that keeps getting pushed up. If they had only focused on the baking, this could have been a pretty good movie. The work stuff felt completely irrelevant.

Beyond that, the movie isn’t too terrible. The acting is decent. (With the exception of the baking competition judges.) If you can ignore the work-related stuff, the plot isn’t particularly bad. Is it worth watching? Yeah, give it a try. But don’t eat the stinky tofu!

Operation Christmas Drop | 2020 Christmas Movies

After binging so many Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies, I took a break and switched over to Netflix. One of their first releases for 2020 is Operation Christmas Drop.

When Congresswoman Bradford (Virginia Madsen) sees an article about an Air Force base’s humanitarian mission called Operation Christmas Drop, along with a picture of a shirtless airman with a ukulele, she sends her aide, Erica (Kat Graham), to the Guam base for a budgetary analysis. Captain Andrew Jantz (Alexander Ludwig) is assigned to show Erica the ins and outs of the operation.

There is a lot to unpack with this movie. I know that there needs to be a heartless villain that wants to ruin The Good Thing but I’m pretty sure one of the purposes of US military bases is to provide support to locals. In this case, it would be local islands that don’t have access to necessities. So I don’t think that a congressperson would make a decision to close a base based solely on one annual supply drop. It is a good backdrop for a movie, however, and it does shine light on the good things the US military does.

In case you weren’t aware, Operation Christmas Drop is an actual Air Force tradition that began in 1952. (If you stay tuned after the movie, there are some real life facts about the mission.) And while Erica and Andrew are fictional characters, we do get to see Brother Bruce played by himself. I appreciated seeing someone who participates in the annual event in the movie.

Is Operation Christmas Drop worth watching? Well, it’s not as cheesy as the Hallmark/Lifetime fare. And there are some really pretty locations. But there isn’t a lot of substance. It’s OK, just not great.

Unlocking Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel gives us another mysterious Christmas movie. This time it’s a riddle-based adventure around town.

Kate (Taylor Cole) is a doctor working on her fellowship. Kevin (Steve Lund) is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life now that he has returned from the Air Force. Each of them find a mysterious key and riddle on their front door, leading them on an adventure through town.

Unlocking Christmas is an interesting movie. The idea of a sort of riddle-based scavenger hunt isn’t a new one. Giving the pair two envelopes - one to open now and one to open after they completed their task - is a strange twist. It relies on them being honest enough to not open that second envelope immediately. Considering the riddle-makers (yes, we do find out who is behind all of this) don’t really know Kate, it was awfully trusting of them to be like “Don’t open this!!” It would have been better if they just gave them the second envelope after completing the first.

Despite that, it isn’t a terrible movie. Some of the solutions to the puzzles are a bit of a stretch but it isn’t anything that ruins the movie. If anything, I would have liked for the ‘scavenger hunt’ to last longer. I think the movie takes place over a week or so. It would have been nice to have it last a couple of weeks so Kate and Kevin could get to know each other better. As it is, the Big Kiss at the end feels forced. I didn’t see anything in the movie that looked like they were falling in love.

Go ahead and watch Unlocking Christmas. Maybe you’ll get some ideas for new Christmas traditions for your family.