Maps and Mistletoe | 2021 Christmas Movies

Movies like Maps and Mistletoe make me think that there is no way real people have jobs like this. I know that cartographers exist. I mean, that is how we have actual maps. But they make the job feel very fake.

Cartographer Emilia (Humberly González) is tasked with making an interactive map of the North Pole for her company’s website. In order to make it more educational, her boss teams her up with world explorer, Drew (Ronnie Rowe). With her strict scheduling and his laid-back approach, will the two of them be able to get the map finished before Christmas?

I think I know why Maps and Mistletoes makes me think Emilia’s job is fake. When she’s making a map of New Zealand for her nephew, she is doing everything. The amazing artwork, the actual latitude and longitude of the map, the facts about each location. I don’t believe that one person could do all of that. At least not at the scale that she made the map. This whole project makes her seem a little too perfect. Well, except for the fact that she seems to know nothing about the North Pole.

As for Drew…I know that they are trying to make him seem like a fearless explorer. However, he’s doing dumb things for a small town. He’s laying in the middle of the street (I’m assuming without a spotter since people were calling the cops on him) and climbing buildings. I’m all for getting into weird positions in order to get the best photography shot but maybe you should figure out what you should and shouldn’t do in a small town. Or at least get yourself a spotter that can alert you when danger is nearby or if the police are coming. You know, basic safety stuff.

I don’t know that I would say Maps and Mistletoe is worth watching. Like most movies this year, there isn’t a lot of substance there. No one gets a big epiphany and the romantic leads have terrible chemistry. It is yet another “turn on for background noise” movie. I’m getting very tired of those.

The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls | 2021 Christmas Movies

Last year, Hallmark gave us an amazingly good movie called The Christmas House. They followed it up this year with the sequel, The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls. As a general rule, sequels suck. Let’s see if this one lived up to last year’s greatness.

Now that Mike (Robert Buckley) owns The Christmas House, that makes him the King of Christmas, right? Not if his brother, Brandon (Jonathan Bennett), has anything to say about it. The brothers take part in a TV competition show to find out who has the best Christmas House. Hopefully they don’t destroy everything in the meantime.

Hallmark did it! Deck Those Halls is just as good as last year’s iteration. They did up the emotional stakes a little bit by adding Andi’s (Ana Ayora) ex-husband - and Noah’s (Mattia Castrillo) dad - into the mix. Mike wants to propose to Andi so he feels the need to be fatherly and bond with Noah but Zane (Matthew James Dowden) keeps showing up at the worst moments. Not only does this expand on Mike’s character, it also adds to the stress of being a television star competing on a television show with his brother. He feels the need to be the absolute best.

On the other side, Brandon has his own issues. Now that he has kids with his husband, Jake (Brad Harder), he feels like he has to provide the best Christmas for his family. (Even though the kids are still babies.) Plus he feels like he is missing out on important moments in the kids’ lives since Jake can work from home and be with the more while he has to go to his bakery every day. Plus he has the stress of being the older brother to a handsome television star that everyone loves.

I love that Hallmark added depth to these characters. Usually, we get cardboard cutout characters that have one thing in life…usually their job…and everything else has to get shoved aside or they have to quit their current life in order to “have it all.” These people have full lives with work and family. Sure, there are complications but that is what happens in real life. Giving the characters all of this makes them feel more real. I think that is why this series is so successful.

If you couldn’t tell, I absolutely think you should watch Deck Those Halls. As a matter of fact, you should watch The Christmas House then immediately follow it up with this one. Then tell everyone you know to watch it too. We need Hallmark to know that we want them to continue to make these good movies and stop making the terrible stuff.

Blending Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

I am so confused about who the target audience for Blending Christmas was. We have The Brady Bunch kids, one of the dads from My Two Dads, one of the aunts from Sabrina The Teenage Witch, and the aunt from Family Matters. It was a gathering of stars from sitcoms from the 70s through the 90s. Very strange.

Liam (Aaron O’Connell) wants to propose to his girlfriend, Emma (Haylie Duff). Her favorite place to spend the holidays, The Hacienda da la Sierra, will be going out of business soon. So Liam invites both of their families to come spend one last holiday with them at the resort. Will Liam be able to propose to Emma with the chaos of both families surrounding them?

I fully admit that I had a very difficult time watching this movie. Instead of seeing the characters, I kept seeing all of the actors’ old roles. Tell me that you can look at Barry Williams, Mike Lookinland, Christopher Knight, and Susan Olson together and not think of The Brady Bunch. They even added Jennifer Elise Cox who played Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch movies from the late 90s. Literally, only Marsha was missing.

The sad part is that the premise of Blending Christmas wasn’t that bad. They could have even doubled down on the Brady references by putting all of the men on Liam’s side of the family and the women on Emma’s. I think the writers didn’t do it because it would have made the families seem uneven. Cox only showed up via Facetime/Zoom calls and Olson was the only other Brady girl there. It also would have made it easier to tell who was in which family. As it is, I kept getting everyone mixed up.

Is it a movie worth watching? Sure, for the nostalgia factor. Unless you are able to divorce the actors from their iconic roles, I can’t see how this would be a good movie to watch for the movie’s sake. All of the good parts get lost in the chaos. I wish that the writers had toned down the craziness of the family to focus a little more on the couple at the center of everything. And I don’t think I say that very often.

Sugar Plum Twist | 2021 Christmas Movies

A movie about dance that actually has dancing in it? Sugar Plum Twist must be some sort of weird Twilight Zone thing.

Natalia (Jamie Gray Hyder) is a professional ballerina who has returned home to Richmond after an injury. She is working with a local ballet company in the hopes of becoming a choreographer. While auditioning dancers for the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the upcoming production of The Nutcracker, Natalia meets Viviana (Laura Rosguer). Vivi specializes in Salsa but dreams of ballet dancing. Together, Natalia and Vivi try to revolutionize the Christmas classic by adding a bit of Latin flare.

As someone familiar with dance and theater, there were some technical issues with Sugar Plum Twist. However, these wouldn’t be noticeable to people who don’t know the inner workings of putting on a production. Even with my background knowledge, the technical issues were small gripes. Nothing that took away from my enjoyment of the movie.

And, yes, I did enjoy the movie. While I’m not sure that all of the actors were, in fact, dancers, Twist was able to make me believe the characters were amazing dancers. I even enjoyed the big Latin dance at the end.

So, should you watch it? I would recommend Twist to anyone who enjoys watching dance. I will note that a lot of the dancing in the movie is Latin so if you are looking for tons of ballet, this isn’t where you will find it. However, the mix of ballet and Latin dancing is interesting and I do think it’s worth a watch even if you only enjoy ballet.

Sister Swap: Christmas In The City | 2021 Christmas Movies

Christmas is almost here but there are still a ton of Christmas movies to watch. This is the time of year when I get beat down by watching so many of these movies but I am going to try my hardest to get as many of these reviewed as possible! So let’s get going with the second half of A Hometown Holiday titled Christmas In The City.

While her sister, Jennifer (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is in their hometown of Hazelwood, Meg (Ashley Williams) stays in Salt Lake City to help Jennifer’s restaurant prepare for a local Christmas competition. Will Meg’s big ideas help or ruin Jennifer’s restaurant?

A Hometown Holiday was an adorable movie. Christmas In The City has a similar energy but doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor. I think the problem, as usual, stems from the conflicts in each movie. In Hometown, Jennifer had to deal with all of the issues that come up when trying to renovate an old building. In City, everything was pretty much done for Meg. She was only coming up with ideas to make the restaurant more festive. There was only one real issue she had to deal with and it was easily solved. The rest of the movie felt unnecessary.

I understand what Hallmark was going for when they made these two movies. Having two completely different perspectives shown at once. There are multiple times that we see the sisters cross over into the other’s movie. That was so cool and original. However, you can’t have one sister doing something interesting while the other wanders around thinking about what she’s going to do in the future. It would have been a little more interesting if Meg was doing her own thing in Salt Lake City instead of doing something that was already pretty finished.

I do recommend watching A Hometown Holiday. But I would say skip Christmas In The City unless you are very invested in seeing the other side of the story. You won’t lose anything by watching only one of the movies. I really wish the second one was better. It would have been so cool.

A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love | 2021 Christmas Movies

The Godwink Christmas series has been going on for awhile at Hallmark. For those that don’t remember, a “godwink” is a coincidence where God is trying to nudge you in a certain direction. Last year we had Second Chance, First Love. This year we are given Miracle of Love.

Joy (Katherine Barrell) just graduated with her masters in nursing. Not knowing what to do with her life, she signs up to volunteer at a week-long community service event called Advent in Oshkosh. There she meets Eric (Alberto Frezza), who is trying to become a writer. They spend the week helping a family rebuild their home while falling in love.

The Godwink movies are a perfect blend of religion and secular. They don’t bash you over the head with God but they also don’t discount God’s hand in every day life. I think it’s a nice way to try to bring both Christians and non-Christians together.

As for Miracle of Love, specifically, there is nothing groundbreaking here. The acting is fine. The story is fine. Everything is just fine. Like the other movies, there aren’t any real conflicts. Supposedly, these are based on true stories so there is never a villain or big obstacle to overcome. (Well, OK. Eric does get injured toward the end of the movie. That is the Big Godwink.) It’s just people trying to make good decisions in life. I do like that there is no manufactured conflict. However, it can turn the movie toward the boring side. Since there is little to nothing to overcome and you already know they are going to end up together (what Christmas movie ends where they don’t get together?), there isn’t a lot to get invested in while watching.

Much like last year’s movie, if you are into the “God has a plan for us” mindset, you’ll probably enjoy these movies. For everyone else, there isn’t a lot to keep your interest unless you really want to watch two people dance around whether or not they should date. These movies are basically the equivalent of people watching in the mall except you get to follow them home when they are done shopping.

A Royal Queens Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

It is a little annoying how uninteresting these movies are. Writers are trying so hard to churn out as many of these as possible that no one cares about whether these movies should exist. It is mentally exhausting.

Colin (Julian Morris) is a prince who wants to make some decisions for himself. Dee Dee (Megan Park) is an Army veteran who isn’t sure what she wants to do next in life. The two accidentally meet while Dee Dee is delivering some pastries to the New York hotel where Colin is staying. She shows him around New York City while he helps her with a children’s Christmas show.

Why are New York accents so terrible? Why did they have to have a dinner scene where Dee Dee’s Italian-American family ask Colin if he wanted “gravy” on his pasta in order to have Dee Dee explain that “Italians call sauce gravy!”? Why is a prince from a foreign country so skilled at jazz piano? Why is Dee Dee’s cousin the only one working at her bakery and how did she make 1500 pastries all by herself?

Yeah, there’s a lot of A Royal Queens Christmas that makes no sense. I can see how it ticks all of the right boxes: a prince, a military veteran with a dog, a tight-knit family, children singing. Somehow these things don’t come together to form anything interesting. Everyone seems to float through each scene with no real purpose. It would be nice if anyone cared about anything they were doing. Even when Dee Dee gets offered a job doing something she’s supposed to like, she doesn’t seem like she actually wants it. It’s like the director told everyone that the movie’s motto is “Yeah, OK.”

I would recommend skipping this one. The number of boring movies this year is starting to drive me crazy. Give me one really great thing about a movie so I can be like “watch it for this!” I don’t think it’s asking a lot to have one good thing. Christmas shouldn’t be so dull.

P.S. It’s actually really annoying that Dee Dee’s cousin is named Zoe and everyone pronounces it Zo when it should be Zo-ey. Skip the entire movie for that reason alone.

The Holiday Fix Up | 2021 Christmas Movies

What? Women can do home renovations too? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

Sam (Jana Kramer) is a designer on a home renovation show. When she doesn’t nab the coveted Christmas special spot on the network, she goes back home to renovate an inn that was damaged in a recent storm. Jack (Steve Vinovich), the owner of the inn, pairs her up with her ex-boyfriend, Coop (Ryan McPartlin), to get the work done before the Christmas Eve Harborfest.

The Holiday Fix Up is yet another movie that is perfectly fine. Neither of the lead actors are amazing. They aren’t terrible though Kramer is dull and McPartlin is a bit wooden. I wish that there was some sort of magic that happened between them…but there isn’t. They aren’t quite the most unlikely couple in this year’s Christmas haul. But they are close.

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything in the movie that saves. it. There is a weird slow-motion snowball fight that maybe somebody somewhere likes. Personally, I don’t understand it. They could have just let the actors go and filmed that. It might have made it more interesting.

Should you watch it? Probably not. But you aren’t going to be mad if you do. You might wonder what exactly happened in the 90 minutes it took to watch (assuming you don’t count commercials) but I doubt you’ll get mad about the lost time. It’s a good procrastination movie. You know - “Oh, I should do the dishes but this movie is on….”

A Dickens of a Holiday! | 2021 Christmas Movies

Interesting. Apparently, A Dickens of a Holiday! used to be called The Christmas Stand-In. I’m not sure which is the better title.

When her Scrooge comes down with laryngitis, Cassie (Brooke D’Orsay) turns to her former classmate, Jake (Kristoffer Polaha), to take over the role. With Jake’s movie-star status, the play is bound to be a success!

The only real thing I can about about A Dickens of a Holiday! is that it is so bland. In the beginning, they try to make Jake look like a stuck up diva but that lasts about a half hour into the movie. Then they decided he was more of an everyman shoved into an action actor role. Either one of those tropes would have been fine. They just needed to pick one. It would have been fine if he was an egotistical maniac that Cassie had to talk down at every moment to remind him that the play is not about HIM. Or it would have been fine if he was a shy introvert who only pretends to be the big action man when a camera is rolling. He can’t be both.

Sadly, I have to file this movie into the Boring pile. There isn’t anything particularly interesting about it. The big conflict comes when Jake has to attend a Christmas party in order to win the movie role he wants. But the party is on Christmas Eve, the same night as the play. It’s confusing because he supposedly got the chance at the role because his assistant sent a video of him rehearsing to be Scrooge. If the movie director liked his rehearsal footage so much, why would he insist that he back out on the play at the last minute? It makes no sense. It also makes for a terrible conflict.

Like the other boring movies, flip this on while you’re doing chores. You can easily pop in and out of the plot without losing track of the plot. Maybe that will make it slightly more interesting.

Holiday In Santa Fe | 2021 Christmas Movies

It’s that time of year again! Mario Lopez Christmas movie time! I know you have all been waiting with bated breath for Holiday In Santa Fe.

Tony (Mario Lopez) runs a Christmas-themed décor shop with his father: Jose (Efrain Figueroa), and his sister: Maggie (Aimee Garcia). A greeting card company is thinking of purchasing the company so they send their executive, Belinda (Emeraude Toubia), to Santa Fe to check out the store.

Like most Mario Lopez movies, Holiday In Santa Fe is unoffensive. There are a few groan-worthy references to his previous Christmas film, Feliz NaviDAD, but the rest of the movie is perfectly fine. My favorite part of the movie is Aimee Garcia as Tony’s sister, Maggie. I loved Garcia as Ella in Lucifer and it’s nice to see her bring a similar sort of energy here. In my opinion, she carries the movie.

Like Feliz NaviDAD, unless you are a big Mario Lopez fan, there isn’t much here for you. He’s not a great leading man and Toubia is boring as a leading lady. I wish the movie featured the family members more. We didn’t get nearly enough of Jose’s crazy antics or Maggie goofing off with her daughter, Frankie (Gia Lopez). I would vote to keep this one in your back pocket for a boring night where there is literally nothing left to watch. You might be a little sad you wasted your time on it otherwise.