A California Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

A California Christmas is barely a Christmas movie. It takes place around Christmastime but there are few references to Christmas until the party at the end. But it’s got Christmas in the title and it’s on the Christmas movie list so I watched it.

Joseph (Josh Swickard) is a businessman tasked with talking Callie (Lauren Swickard) into selling the land her family’s dairy farm is on. When he arrives at the ranch, Callie mistakes him for the new ranch hand. While he takes on the farm’s daily tasks, he finds himself falling in love with Callie.

This is not a comedy. No matter what Netflix or IMDb wants to tell you. This is not a comedy. It is a straight up drama, which is fine. Just don’t sell it as a comedy. Especially when Callie’s life is so sad.

Much like Christmas by Starlight, the lead actress, Lauren Swickard, wrote the script. In addition, the two leads are married to each other in real life. This does give their characters a little more chemistry than most Christmas movies but, to be honest, I wasn’t particularly concerned about their relationship. With all of the suffering in Callie’s life, I was more interested in how she was handling all of the emotional trauma.

Normally, this wouldn’t be the type of movie I would watch. However, if you enjoy watching dramatic movies, you might enjoy this. Be warned - there is a lot of death and sadness. Don’t watch it if things like that bother you.

Spotlight on Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

We’re getting close to Christmas but there are still so many Christmas movies to get through. I think Lifetime is beating out Hallmark for the sheer number of Christmas movies they are airing this season. Spotlight on Christmas is another one of their offerings.

Olivia O’Hara (Tori Anderson) is a famous Hollywood actress. When her boyfriend, country singer Ryan Wrangler (Matthew James Dowden), breaks up with her right before Christmas, Olivia goes back home to get her life back together.

Usually, when a Christmas movie character is an actress, she’s a stuck up bitch, expecting the world to stop for her. Olivia, however, is a down-to-earth person that just wants to escape the paparazzi. She’s a little heartbroken and needs her family around her.

Early on, she meets Casey (Victor Zinck Jr), a high school classmate that is now teaching at their alma mater. It brings up another interesting twist that we don’t normally see in these movies. The high school needs a drama teacher so the kids can put on their annual Christmas Eve play. Olivia steps up to help the kids. I loved that they gave Olivia something to do beyond hanging out at home or wandering around town.

Spotlight on Christmas was pretty good. You can go ahead and watch this one. Then make sure you grab a chocolate mint milkshake. They sound amazing!

Midnight at the Magnolia | 2020 Christmas Movies

I am stunned. I may have found a good Christmas romance movie. Let’s get into it.

Maggie (Natalie Hall) and Jack (Evan Williams) have been best friends since high school. Now they co-host a relationship radio show. When they get an offer to syndicate their show, they agree to a New Year’s Eve event where they will introduce their significant others to their parents. Things take a turn for the worse when their partners break up with them. They decide to pretend to be a couple in order to continue with the event.

For the first time, I enjoyed a Christmas romance movie. Midnight at the Magnolia on Netflix has a good blend of best-friendship and romance. Since Maggie and Jack have been friends forever, we get to see both their serious and their goofy sides. In the real world, this is how a lot of long-lasting relationships start. As friends.

To be honest, there isn’t much more to the movie. There is little time dedicated to their jobs, which is actually a good thing. The movie isn’t about their jobs or their troubles. It’s about their changing relationship. And Midnight at the Magnolia handles it well.

This is definitely a movie I can recommend. Especially if you are looking for a good romance movie. There isn’t a ton of Christmas, there isn’t a ton of fluff. It’s just a good romantic story.

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.