Christmas Is Coming!

Hello again! I was planning on getting some Halloween reviews out this year but I was having problems motivating myself to write anything. But you know what does motivate me? Christmas movies reviews! That’s right. I love watching terrible movies and talking about them. So get ready for this year’s batch of Christmas movies. Here is the rundown on what I’ll be watching:

• movies on the Hallmark channels, Lifetime, Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon will all definitely be reviewed

• Great American Family (AKA Great American Christmas) has been removed from the lineup, UPTV remains on the banned list

• I will make every effort possible to watch theatrical releases as well as movies on OWN, BET, Hulu, Roku…and whatever other Christmas movies I come across

There may not be enough movies to cover all of November and December but I will do my best. Let’s make the 2025 Christmas movie review season the best one ever!

'Twas The Date Before Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Ah, the first Christmas movie of the 2024 season. Hallmark’s ‘Twas The Date Before Christmas. It better be a good one!

Jessie Chamberlain (Amy Groening) has been rather unlucky in love recently. When her mother tells her that they are cancelling the annual Chamberlain Family Christmas Olympics this year, Jessie quickly tells her that she is bringing someone and they will miss out on meeting him. The festivities are reinstated but now Jessie needs to find herself a date at the last minute.

Supposedly this is based on a true story. If that is actually true, this is a crazy story. Jessie meets a man, Bryan (Robert Buckley), on a dating app and their first date is her family’s wacky holiday traditions. And she doesn’t tell her family that this is a first date for quite awhile. That is a perfect story for a movie, not so much for real life.

As for the movie itself, it wasn’t bad. The acting was somewhat decent, except for maybe the kids which I forgive because they are kids. I think the only real problem I had with it is that the story does progress kinda slowly. I wanted Jessie and Bryan to have more fun interactions during the events. Or for the events to be a little longer or something. It was missing that little “oomph” to make it a better movie. Especially for a movie about Christmas competitions. Those are almost always good movies.

Rating: A sad backstory that should make you sad but doesn’t really.

Boyfriends of Christmas Past | 2021 Christmas Movies

Last year, Hallmark gave us the very terrible A Nashville Christmas Carol. This year they gave us another twist with Boyfriends of Christmas Past. I hope this one is better than last year’s.

Lauren (Catherine Haena Kim) and Nate (Raymond Ablack) have been best friends since college. No matter what Lauren has gone through, Nate has been by her side. Unfortunately, Lauren is afraid of long-term commitment. As Nate gets ready to reveal his true feelings to her, Lauren is visited by the memories of three past boyfriends who show her how she pushes away anyone that wants to be close to her. Can she overcome her fears before it is too late?

While Boyfriends does share some similarities with Nashville, this year’s foray into A Christmas Carol does it better. Both movies let go of the ghosts of Christmas Present and Christmas Future to focus on Christmas Past. However, that is entirely the point of Boyfriends. Lauren is blind to the fact that every time a boyfriend wants to move their relationship to the next level, she bails. The boyfriend spirits/memories even keep pointing out how she runs to Nate every time she breaks up with someone and Nate is always there to help her pick up the pieces.

To be honest, my only real gripe about the movie is how Nate has been basically throwing himself at Lauren the entire time they have known each other and he hasn’t given up yet. The movie doesn’t tell us how many years have passed since college. There’s only vague references like “so many years ago” or “after all these years.” I’m pretty sure they have known each other for at least eight years. There were three boyfriends - the first she dated during her junior year of college for at least a year, we do get that much information; the second was after college and asked her to move in with him, so that had to be a couple of years at least; and the third was asking her to marry him, so that had to be another couple of years. Why wouldn’t Nate try to confess his feelings earlier? Why would he stick around for so long pining after her? It’s pretty obvious that he isn’t happy with the current status of their relationship.

Since this is a Hallmark movie, that one issue is pretty small. The characters are fleshed out a little more than most Hallmark movies so it’s easy to overlook. It’s a safe bet that this will be one of the better Hallmark Christmas movies this year. Give it a watch. At the very least, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is always entertaining.

Top 10 Christmas Movies | 2020 Christmas Movies

I watched something like 86 Christmas movies this year. There are another 4 movies that I haven’t watched yet. That means there were ninety Christmas movies released between Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime, Hulu, and Netflix. That is absolutely bonkers, isn’t it? So here are my top 10 Christmas movies released in 2020.

Honorary Mention: Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker - Since this isn’t really a Christmas movie, I didn’t want to put it in the top 10. However, it is definitely worth watching.

10. Spotlight on Christmas - A very cute actress-comes-home story
9. The Angel Tree - How to give back to your community without making it about yourself
8. Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding - When the sequel is better than the original
7. Cranberry Christmas - Proof that marriage is work and sometimes people don’t really want what they think they want
6. Love, Lights & Hanukkah! - Family is family, even if you’ve never met them before and they were raised in a different religion
5. Just Another Christmas - Foreign Christmas films can be better than American Christmas films
4. The Christmas Setup - The best movie from Lifetime, where the main couple is gay
3. The Christmas House - The movie with the gay secondary couple that broke Hallmark
2. Jingle Jangle - A Christmas musical extravaganza
1. Holly & Ivy - The best movie from Hallmark that shows a community stepping up to care for two children

There you have it. My top 10 Christmas movies of 2020. Let me know if you loved or hated any of the movies on my list. Keep an eye out later this week for my 10 worst list. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to it.

It's That Time Of Year Again!

I know this blog is sorely neglected. Usually I’m way too busy with life to find time to write about things. After all, 2020 was the year my daughter graduated high school, competed in her last dance competition, performed in her last dance recital, and went off to college. Well, they would have been things she would have done if the world wasn’t ravaged by a pandemic. (Thankfully, she was able to live on-campus at college for awhile. The school did shut down in-person classes early though.) So instead of work and hobbies and life and everything, it was depression that got me. I was very sad thinking of all of the things that everyone lost this year - both lives lost and milestones missed. 2020 has been awful.

So that brings me to this year’s Christmas movies. I usually review one movie per day from December 1 through December 25. An advent calendar, if you will. Well, this year, I’m going to challenge myself to tackle all 71 new Christmas movies brought to us by Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (why do they need 2 channels?!), Lifetime, Netflix, and Hulu. Yes, Hulu has joined the fray this year.

What does this mean for you? It means that the movie reviews will extend past Christmas Day this year and some days will have multiple reviews. If I start tomorrow, I will have 43 days to watch 71 movies. That will end this challenge on New Year’s Eve. If, for some reason, I can’t get all of the reviews in by New Year’s Eve, they’ll just have to start out 2021. I am absolutely determined to watch all 71 of these movies. No matter how terrible they are.

Please join me on this Jolly Journey of Christmas Joy - Pandemic Edition. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised and some of these will actually be good this year.