A Castle for Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Ooh! Brooke Shields AND Cary Elwes? This should be a good one!

Sophie (Brooke Shields), a best-selling author, is having a bit of a slump. Her most recent romance story was severely disliked by her fan base. As a result, she goes to Scotland to visit the castle where her grandfather used to work. Duke Myles (Cary Elwes), who lives at the castle, needs to sell the castle in order to settle some debts his father left him. Sophie wants to buy the castle, much to the dismay of Myles.

I think Netflix did right when they cast Shields and Elwes in A Castle for Christmas. The two of them definitely have the acting chops to pull off their respective characters. And they aren’t the only ones. The rest of the cast are completely adorable. Especially the knitting group. I think I could watch an entire series based around Rhona (Eilidh Loan).

Sure, there are some sections of the movie that are a little cringe-worthy. The third act conflict seems to come out absolutely nowhere. I understand why the writers put it there - they needed Sophie and Myles to argue about something so they could have the big romantic reconciliation at the end. But it felt unnecessary and unwarranted.

Despite the few short-comings in the story, I do recommend watching A Castle for Christmas. it may not be an annual classic but it is one of the better movies that has been released this year. Also, there’s this really cute yet reckless dog….

An Unexpected Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

An Unexpected Christmas could describe almost any of the Christmas movies released by Hallmark or Lifetime, right? Something unexpected happens and then, bam!, it’s Christmas. It’s a dumb title. Let’s move on.

Jamie (Tyler Hynes) broke up with Emily (Bethany Joy Lenz) six months ago but he never told his family. The plan was to tell them after they had a nice Christmas together. But the family accidentally runs into Emily at the train station. It turns out that she is in town for a work assignment. Now Emily has to pretend that she is still dating Jamie in order to keep the peace.

While I dislike the title of the movie, An Unexpected Christmas was actually a decent flick. Unlike a lot of lead actors, Lenz and Hynes seem to enjoy being in the same room with each other. It makes their love/hate relationship easier to enjoy. A different set of actors could have royally screwed this up. I’m glad they didn’t.

There isn’t a lot that I didn’t like about the movie. Her job was a little annoying but I don’t think any of the Christmas movie script writers put a lot of thought into the jobs of the lead characters. They just want careers that absolutely INSIST that work be done on Christmas Eve or have projects that are so important their bosses call them literally every single day so they KNOW how important the project is and it NEEDS to be finished right now. Yes, there are jobs that have deadlines around Christmas but I don’t think any of them are quite as harsh as they are in the Hallmark/Lifetime movies.

So An Unexpected Christmas isn’t a must-see movie. But, if you are looking for something to waste some time on, it won’t make you hate yourself for watching it. There are some cute parts and there are some cringey parts. That is the life of a Hallmark movie.

The Christmas Contest | 2021 Christmas Movies

It’s finally that time of year! Time for Candace Cameron Bure’s Hallmark Christmas movie! You know you were waiting for this one…The Christmas Contest!

Lara (Candace Cameron Bure) has been unhappy with her life since she broke up with Ben (John Brotherton). When they both sign up for a Christmas-themed contest in order to win money for their respective charities, emotions run wild. Maybe this contest will remind them how much they truly love each other.

For the most part, this is a pretty typical Cameron Bure Hallmark movie. A bit of schmaltz, a bit of family reconciliations, and a bit of former lovers getting back together. But the best part, in my opinion, is when she actually makes fun of Hallmark movie plots. I was dying! It happens pretty early in the movie so it isn’t a scene that would make or break the whole show but it was pretty funny.

As for the rest of it, it’s fine. Cameron Bure and Brotherton also star in Fuller House together. It’s not like Hallmark threw two strangers together on this one. And that has actually been a big part of the marketing for The Christmas Contest. While I’m not sure the characters make a great couple, the two actors have enough chemistry together that their playful banter is fun to watch.

This one will be another tough call. If you’re a big fan of traditional Hallmark movies, this will be right up your alley. If you’re looking for something more, this is more like a movie you’d put on the background while you bake some cookies or something. On the plus side, it is much better than last year’s pile of crap that Cameron Bure starred in.

Christmas In Tahoe | 2021 Christmas Movies

I get that Christmas in Tahoe is, for some reason, based on the 2015 album by Train. But did we really need to cast the lead singer of the band as a secondary character? Executive producer powers in play!

Claire (Laura Osnes) is an event planner at her family’s hotel. However, live acts prefer to go to Reno or Las Vegas over Tahoe. As a result, Claire is trying to get a job at a hotel in Las Vegas booking acts. The big Christmas show at her family’s hotel is her big chance to impress the Las Vegas bigwigs. When her main act is forced to cancel and the rest of the acts cancel with her, Claire and her rock star ex-boyfriend, Ryan (Kyle Selig), have to figure out a new roster of acts to save the show.

Honestly, the movie would have been perfectly fine without Pat Monahan, lead singer of Train. He overemotes everything. When I heard he was going to be in it, I thought that it couldn’t be that bad. After all, there are plenty of singers that also have an acting career. Boy, was I wrong. He ruins every scene that he is in. I wish he could have put his ego aside long enough to cast someone else in the role. If he wanted to be in it that badly, he could have just been one of the “saving” acts. I mean, they did put him in the show (because, duh) but as the character, not as himself.

But speaking of the “saving” acts, one of the acts that Claire wants to book but runs into some trouble is an acapella group similar to Pentatonix. Except that the movie group (I don’t even remember their name) only had three people instead of four and they sounded terrible. Their harmonies were not together and the poor guy in the group was relegated to beat boxer, which he was not good at.

The sad thing is that I actually liked the parts of Christmas in Tahoe that didn’t have cringey acting or awful singing. While Osnes and Selig didn’t have a ton of romantic chemistry, I kinda liked them as the long-time friends that poked fun at each other. I think they would have been better as best friends instead of a romantic couple.

So. Should you watch this? I want to say no but also maybe? If you are a big fan of Train, you might be able to look past Monahan’s terrible acting. But, to be honest, there is too much of him to really save the movie. Go watch One December Night instead.

Christmas At Castle Hart | 2021 Christmas Movies

Lacey Chabert is back this year with Hallmark’s Christmas At Castle Hart. She has had her ups and downs with holiday movies. Let’s find out if this is one of the good ones.

Brooke (Lacey Chabert) and her sister, Margot (Ali Hardiman), got fired from their catering jobs. Since they have some money saved from an inheritance, they decide to go to Ireland to track down their late father’s family. As they chat to locals about tracking down the family, they meet Aidan Hart (Stuart Townsend), the Earl of Glaslough. Aidan and his sister, Siobhan (Aoife Spratt), mistake her for an elite event planner and hire her to plan the annual Christmas party for the castle.

I was so bored by this movie. It would have been awesome if they dug deep into the genealogy plotline but they didn’t. They decided to focus on the event planning part, which is the least interesting part of the movie. How cool would the movie have been if Aidan used his wealth and power to help the girls travel around Ireland to find their father’s family? There is a scene where Margot gets some help from the Duchess of Abercorn (Kate O'Toole) but we don’t get to see the Duchess doing any of the work. It’s basically Margot saying “My dad had a thing that said Freedom….” then the Duchess off-screen doing the detective work. It would have been so much better if we saw how she figured it out.

Otherwise, Christmas At Castle Hart is just like every other terrible Hallmark movie except with slightly better acting. I suppose it’s watchable if you are in it for the Irish accents. A lot of the cast is actually Irish so the accents are one of the best parts of the movie. But if you are looking for an interesting plot, go somewhere else.

Robin Robin | 2021 Christmas Movies

OK, so Robin Robin isn’t really a movie. It’s a 32-minute short. But I wanted to watch it, which means you’re going to read about it.

When Robin (Bronte Carmichael) was an egg, she rolled into a den of mice. After she hatched, she was raised by the family of mice. While Robin was taught how to be a sneaky mouse, she was never good at it. Will she learn how to be a bird?

Robin Robin is definitely aimed at smaller children. The story is basically figuring out who you are and learning how to be yourself. And it is absolutely adorable! It is done in stop motion animation with, I believe, felt dolls. I loved the look of the characters. The felt somehow gave them a slightly more realistic look than animation would but, at the same time, you could tell that they weren’t real. It was a nice change to traditional children’s shows.

If you have small children, they would definitely enjoy Robin Robin. I’m not sure that older children would appreciate the story. I think they might think they are too cool for it. And those adults that are children at heart? You should watch it and aww over how adorable everything is. Oh, and try to keep yourself from wanting a robin of your own. I hear they aren’t quite as cute as the one in the show.

Christmas CEO | 2021 Christmas Movies

I’m sorry but Christmas CEO is a terrible title. Who would want to watch a movie about a stuffy CEO? I hope the movie is better than the title.

Chris (Marisol Nichols) is the CEO of a small toy company. She gets an offer to merge her company with a mega toy company but she needs her former business partner, Joe (Paul Greene), to sign off. Joe thinks Chris is money-hungry and Chris thinks Joe didn’t care about growing their business. Can Chris convince him to sign off on the merger in time?

Ugh. Christmas CEO is just as bad as the title. As Joe thought, Chris did turn the fun little toy company into a wanna-be soulless corporation. Their toys don’t take into consideration what kids want. They only think about the newest, flashiest stuff, whether kids would actually want to play with them or not. It isn’t until Chris’s niece, Emma (Veronica Marin-Estrada), tells her that her new toys are boring that Chris realizes her toys suck.

All of the interesting parts of the story are completely glossed over. There’s a sub-plot about Emma trying to become a singer/songwriter. She does get to play the Christmas song she wrote but, beyond that, we only see her playing the guitar once. (And, really, she’s not playing it. She’s sitting on a bed holding it.) It would have been nice if she had some more musical scenes. Emma is supposedly auditioning for a solo. Why don’t we see her practicing for it? Instead, we get tossed back into corporate drama. Kathleen (Barbara Eve Harris), the outgoing CEO of the mega toy company, keeps pressing Chris to get Joe’s signature. That is almost ALL that Kathleen talks about. SHUT UP, KATHLEEN.

In case you can’t tell, I don’t think you should watch Christmas CEO. It’s dumb. Why did anyone think this was a good idea?

Merry Liddle Christmas Baby | 2021 Christmas Movies

In 2019, we had a Merry Liddle Christmas. Last year, we had a Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding. This year, we’re having a Merry Liddle Christmas Baby. This is a very active Christmas family!

Jacquie (Kelly Rowland) and Tyler (Thomas Cadrot) got married, had their honeymoon, and bought a new house. Now they are expecting a baby! The rest of the Liddle family is back to celebrate the soon-to-be new member of the family and, of course, Christmas. Nothing can go wrong this time, right?

The first movie in the series was terrible. Somehow, they managed to make the characters more likeable and turn everything around for the second movie. Thankfully, they keep the family love going for the third installment. As usual, the carefully laid plans all get messed up but the family comes together to fix the problems. I’m glad they ditched the bratty kids and selfish sisters. The Liddle family is better when they are looking out for each other instead of themselves.

If you enjoyed Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding, you will enjoy Merry Liddle Christmas Baby. I’m glad that this series with an almost entirely black cast has found its footing. There is a setup for a fourth movie and I’m actually looking forward to it. As long as they don’t go back to the first movie, I will gladly continue to watch the series.

Time For Them To Come Home For Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Apparently, Time For Them To Come Home For Christmas is the FOURTH movie in this series! They already did Time For Me, Time For You, and Time For Us. I guess the next few years will have Time For Him and Time For Her before they run out of pronouns.

Paul (Brendan Penny) is a nurse at a hospital in Maine. Shortly before Christmas, a woman (Jessy Schram) is almost hit by a car. When she wakes up, they find that she can’t remember anything about her life. Paul, who is planning on driving to Columbia, South Carolina, to visit family, agrees to take Jane Doe with him in the hopes that her memory will return when she meets up with…someone…at the Christmas Tree lighting.

I don’t understand the appeal of Jessy Schram. She was in last year’s dud, A Nashville Christmas Carol, and she isn’t any better in this year’s Christmas movie. While she is a beautiful woman, her acting is wooden and I’m not sure she has control over her facial movements. Looking over her IMDb listing, she does have recurring roles in some big television series. That means that she does have acting talent in there somewhere. Maybe she wasn’t meant for Hallmark Christmas movies. Not everyone can achieve the right amount of cheesiness without overshooting into awfulness.

The story begins on a good note. She has amnesia and they are trying to figure out who she is. The only clue they have is a newspaper clipping about a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony with a man’s name written on the back. So she decides to just take off to South Carolina, which is about an 18-hour drive with no stops. And the police sheriff (Lochlyn Munro) lets her go? Even if she’s traveling with a nurse, it’s a terrible idea. Especially since they have no idea who she would be meeting there. Once they leave the hospital, everything falls apart.

Much like last year’s installment, this one isn’t particularly worth watching. I’ll actually reiterate my suggestion from last year: “Watch beginning and the last 30 minutes. Skip the rest.”

A Boy Called Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

A Boy Called Christmas has intrigued me since it was announced that Netflix was releasing it. With some pretty big names attached to it, I knew this movie would either be amazing or awful. Which is it?

Three children - Andrea (Isabella O’Sullivan), Patrick (Eden Lawrence), and Moppet (Ayomide Garrick) - complain because their Aunt Ruth (Maggie Smith) is coming to watch them while their father (Joel Fry) goes to work. Little did they know that Aunt Ruth tells the best stories. Tonight’s story is about a boy named Nikolas (Henry Lawfull) and his adventures in the Far North.

Man, I want Maggie Smith to tell me bedtime stories. How awesome would that be?

Anyway, A Boy Called Christmas was such a good movie. Sure, it’s a Santa Claus/Christmas origin story, which is nothing new. However, the casting people made all the right decisions. From the aforementioned Maggie Smith (who will never be a terrible actor) down to Steven Fry as the voice for Mika the mouse. Every person is absolutely perfect for their role.

If I wanted to compare this movie to anything, I would compare it to The Princess Bride. They both begin as an older family member telling stories to the younger generation. They both have sections where you think the main character is going to fail at their mission. Yet, at the end, they both triumph and make their respective worlds better. There is no big romance story in A Boy Called Christmas. Nikolas is wide-eyed and open-hearted. He doesn’t even wish ill on the people that want to hurt him. Where The Princess Bride wants to kill the antagonist, A Boy Called Christmas wants to win them over with love and kindness.

This is definitely a movie that everyone should watch. I can easily see this becoming a new Christmas classic. Or at least a movie that you show to your children every year, until they are too old for the story of Santa. But even then they will secretly want to watch it. It is just that good.