Christmas Above The Clouds | 2025 Christmas Movies

There have been a wide variety of adaptations of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Back in 2020, Hallmark gave us A Nashville Christmas Carol. Then in 2021, they had Boyfriends of Christmas Past. And this year it’s Christmas Above The Clouds. At least they gave us a break in between adaptations this year?

Ella Neezer (Erin Krakow) is the CEO of a travel company. She demands her employees work just as hard as she does. Unfortunately, that means she makes them choose between their families and their work, just as she did when she broke off her engagement to Jake (Tyler Hynes) when she started moving up the corporate ladder. It wasn’t until now, on a flight to Australia with her assistant Bobbi Cratchet (Emily Tennant) and, surprisingly, Jake, that her mentor, Marlene Jacobson (Gabrielle Rose), visits her from beyond the grave to inform her about the impending visits from three Christmas spirits. Will they be able to bring empathy and love back to Ella?

Could it be? Is it possible that we have THREE decent Christmas movies this early in the movie season? Maybe my expectations were low because, this story is told so many times that it feels rare to find a good adaptation of it. But, yes, Christmas Above The Clouds gave us an interesting take. Sure, it’s not anything new and Jake does feel a little tacked on but Krakow makes a very good Scrooge character and I found myself enjoying the three spirits. It might not make the best movie list but I didn’t regret watching it either!

Rating: 4 Christmas Spirits out of 5 - OK, there aren’t five Christmas spirits but the rating still stands!

A Newport Christmas | 2025 Christmas Movies

So we’ve got another period Christmas movie starring Ginna Claire Mason - A Newport Christmas. If she had a nickel for every time she starred in a period Christmas movie on Hallmark, she’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice. Right?

Ella (Mason), a socialite living in 1905 Newport, wants to start a charitable foundation instead of getting married as her father wishes. While on an evening ride in her sailboat, Ella wishes on a comet for a different life where she can find love. Suddenly, she is transported to 2025, where Nick (Wes Brown) appears on her boat mysteriously. When they get back to town, they realize that Ella has somehow time traveled to the present day. Now they must figure out how to get her back to 1905 before all of her past charitable work is undone.

I’m not quite sure how they managed to do it but this movie is both interesting and boring at the same time. There will be scenes where Ella shines as a character - for example, when she is giving the tour of her former home - but then the movie will just drag as Nick shows her how Newport has changed over the years. He really is the worst part of the movie. I kinda wish that this wasn’t a romance movie and that it was just Ella and historian Christine (Talia Robinson) learning how each other lived their lives in their respective times. That was much more interesting than anything Nick did. Except for maybe the twist ending. I guess that part made him interesting.

Rating: 3 lessons in fan language out of 5 - I want to know more fan signs!

Christmas On Duty | 2025 Christmas Movies

Every year, we get some sort of military-themed Christmas movie. Usually they are about missing family members that can’t come home for the holidays or helping veterans or something like that. Christmas On Duty has chosen a different route.

Blair (Janel Parrish) and Josh (Parker Young) have been bitter rivals ever since basic training. Three years after they went their separate ways, Josh takes a job at Quantico, where Blair is stationed. When a snowstorm shuts down all deliveries to the base, the pair gets assigned to save Christmas by playing Santa themselves.

I’m not going to lie. I almost always find the military-themed movies boring. The writers try to go for sentimental but they always end up preachy instead. This one isn’t any different. There is zero chemistry between Parrish and Young, watching them drive around picking up Christmas presents is dull at best (even when they have to puzzle their way out of things), and the USAA in-movie advertisements are cringy. I want to like these movies, I really do. Isn’t there someone out there that can write a good one?

Rating: 1.5 climbing jumpropes out of 5 - Yeah, that still won’t hold your weight

Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! | 2025 Christmas Movies

Sorry I was gone last week. Craziness happened in my household. But I was able to watch some movies. The first one - Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! The exclamation point is probably very important.

Ted Cooper (Robert Buckley) is an optimistic weatherman who loves Christmas, even though Christmas hasn’t been particularly nice to him. When he goes home for the holiday to help his sister raise money for the local hopital, he ends up making a few trips there himself. Thankfully, he has his former classmate and crush, Dr. Hope Miller (Kimberley Sustad), to fix him up. Maybe together they can turn Ted’s Christmas luck around.

I actually really liked this movie. Buckley brings this goofy charm to Ted that makes him very likeable. And I’m usually a little lukewarm on Sustad but she manages to play off of Buckley really well. For the first time this season, I don’t want to talk about a movie too much because I want you to go watch it. I hope you will find it just as charming as I did.

Rating: 5 Christmas accidents out of 5 - Where even getting injured is charming

A Christmas Angel Match | 2025 Christmas Movies

While there are usually a few religious Christmas movies released every year, they aren’t usually on Hallmark and they don’t usually involve angels. Needless to say, that made A Christmas Angel Match sound very interesting. Now to figure out what a Christmas angel match is…

Monica (Meghan Ory) is an angel that brings together human soulmates during the Christmas season. She has been doing this for hundreds of years and is the most successful Christmas angel. But recently, a new angel, Michael (Benjamin Ayres), has been matching many more soulmates. With a rumor of their department being downsized, Monica is forced to work with Michael to complete their new assignment: to get humans Daisy (Lindura) and Patrick (Francesco Filice) together before the end of the year.

I actually enjoyed A Christmas Angel Match, for the most part. While I easily figured out what the big twist would be early on (I won’t spoil it here), I found that twist to be boring. I would have loved to have seen Monica and Michael working on different couples together because that is when the angels were at their best. But this is a Hallmark romance movie, emphasis on the romance.

It also would have have been interesting to see the Valentine’s angels. There’s a reference that the Christmas angel department would be merged with the Valentine angel department but we never actually see a Valentine angel. We just see the Christmas angels outwardly cringing at the idea, which doesn’t feel very angelic.

A Christmas Angel Match may not be a perfect Hallmark Christmas movie. But it does come pretty darn close.

Rating: 4 hot chocolates out of 5 - I want to do cloud yoga

A Royal Montana Christmas | 2025 Christmas Movies

It’s our very first Christmas movie of the 2025 season and it’s a royalty movie! Thanks, Hallmark, for starting us out….strong? Let’s see if A Royal Montana Christmas lives up to our royal expectations.

Princess Victoria (Fiona Gubelmann) of Zelarnia is about to take over her mother’s royal duties. However, before she steps into her mother’s shoes, she decides to take a vacation to Peaceful Pines Ranch, a ranch in Montana that she visited as a child with her father. Upon her arrival in town, she meets Huntley Blaylock (Warren Christie), the son of the owners who are about to retire. As the pair works to bring back the ranch’s Christmas Holly-Day Dance, they begin to fall in love. But Victoria must go back to her royal duties and Huntley must stay in Montana to run the family business, right?

I’m not going to lie, this movie was so boring. There wasn’t anything interesting that happened. We don’t learn anything about Victoria’s family or country. We barely learn anything about the ranch or Huntley. This was two people walking around together and petting some horses. Oh, I guess they did argue about what type of tree they should cut down for the dance. Otherwise, I’m really not sure what they saw in each other.

Well, this isn’t the best start to the season. I hope that they can sprinkle in some really good movies in between the boring stuff. I need something to look forward to.

Rating: 2 wooden horses out of 5 - maybe someone should be surprised when the guest is revealed to be royalty

Love of the Irish (2025)

Love of the Irish was supposed to be the finale for the February Valentine’s reviews. Thankfully, it was not a Loveuary release because I had a very difficult time getting through this one. I rolled my eyes so hard I was afraid they might stay that way!

Fiona (Shenae Grimes-Beech) is a ballet dancer having trouble landing a role. In an attempt to fix her bad luck, she goes on a trip to Ireland with her mother, Helen (Moira Kelly). Helen’s goal on the trip is to reunite with her birth mother, who she believes lives in Ireland. Thanks to some helpful locals, and a single dad named Liam (Stephen Hagan), the women may just find what they are looking for.

I have a few problems with this movie. Just to get this out of the way: Fiona is supposed to be a dancer yet we never actually see her dance. No, the fancy turn when she’s playing darts doesn’t count. And no, “teaching” children how to hold their arms doesn’t count either. They could have given her any career in the world. Why did they choose ballet if they weren’t going to do any actual ballet?

Next, the writers really needed to pick one storyline to stick with. Every time a scene started to get interesting with Helen and her mother, they switch over to Fiona and Liam. WHO ARE BORING. They are boring people. They do nothing. This movie would have been a lot more interesting if they made it more of a mystery-type movie where they spend more time tracking down Helen’s mother with a big happy reunion party at the end. Liam could have been their guide around Ireland that Fiona falls in love with. His daughter is completely unnecessary, Fiona’s ballet is completely unnecessary, the rest of the movie is completely unnecessary.

I’m sorry that this review didn’t make it into February. On the plus side, an Irish movie fits in with a March St. Patrick’s Day theme, right? Well, either way, stay away from this one. It’s dull.

Rating: 2 out of 5 hearts or clovers

Sisterhood Inc | 2025 Valentine's Day Movies

Strangely, the final movie of Hallmark Channel’s Loveuary releases, Sisterhood Inc., is not about romance. Depending who you talk to, it isn’t really about love at all. A weird choice to end your month of love.

Megan (Rachel Leigh Cook) is a successful corporate executive who just got fired from the company she founded. Her sister, Izzy (Daniella Monet), is a bit of a mess. When Izzy begs Megan to help her get her life together, Megan decides to run Izzy’s life like a business. She forms a board of directors with successful people from Izzy’s life to make all of Izzy’s important decisions for her. Since the board needs an impartial third party, psychology professor Dominic (Leonidas Gulaptis) steps up to the plate. The board can make Izzy successful but can they make her happy?

As I said before, this movie isn’t about romance. It’s about the broken relationship between Megan, Izzy, and their mother Lois (Judy Kain). Megan seems to have the perfect life, except that she pushes everyone who cares about her away. Izzy has a chaotic irresponsible life but she makes Lois happy by giving her someone to care for. Lois is a helicopter mother to Izzy, who is about to turn 30 and really shouldn’t need a parent hovering over her. While turning Izzy’s life into a business wasn’t the best idea, it did serve it’s purpose. After the Big Conflict, the women are able to begin to repair their broken relationship. Oh, and Dominic exists as a sort of love interest for Megan, even though he really isn’t necessary.

I found Sisterhood Inc. rather sweet and endearing but that is mostly because Monet is perfect at playing a woman living in chaos and Cook is a good offset to that. Sure, there should have been a little more meat to the story - the Dominic and Megan relationship appears out of nowhere and is never really built on, we don’t get to spend a lot of time with any of the board members teaching their specialty to Izzy, and Megan spends a lot of time trying to sell an app that would never really be successful. But it is still cute and it’s a decent break from cheesy romance movies. And I could always use more Daniella Monet in my life.

Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts

My Argentine Heart | 2025 Valentine's Day Movies

My Argentine Heart isn’t one of the Loveuary releases but that is only because it was released in January. So let’s see if it would have been a worthy addition to the Valentine’s Day releases.

Abril (Julie Gonzalo) is a half-Argentinian woman living in Boston. When her family’s ranch in Argentina is in danger of being sold to her ex, Diego (Juan Pablo Di Pace), she quickly flies in to save it. However, there was an old loan taken out on the farm and now it may be sold to a local banker instead. Abril and Diego must team up to really save the farm.

This was probably one of the most boring movies I have ever watched. Abril makes awful decisions and, instead of fighting for what he wants, Diego is a pushover. I’m not sure how either of them get anything accomplished. And, while I can understand Abril being reluctant to sell the ranch, she hasn’t been there in fifteen years. She doesn’t even talk to her cousin, Belinda (Valentina Frione), who lives there. To top it off, Abril has been having a difficult time getting a new job thanks to a failed deal at her last job…which she doesn’t really want to talk about.

As for Diego, he didn’t like his job in the big city so he came back to the ranch to work. His family has been working on the ranch for generations so coming back wasn’t a problem. But Abril, who is a part owner of the ranch, didn’t even know he was there. Yes, no one told one of the owners who is working on the ranch and, since she wasn’t talking to Belinda, she didn’t ask. This movie feels like the definition of “failing upwards.” Everyone is terrible at business but they are very successful.

Rating: 2 out of 5 hearts

Return To Office | 2025 Valentine's Day Movies

Winter is, honestly, a terrible season. Recent storms have completely messed up my planned viewing schedule, which is why I missed a review last week. But thankfully, I didn’t miss any of the Loveuary movies. The next one up is Return To Office. Because that is all what we really wanted, right? To go back to our corporate offices instead of working from home.

Liv (Janel Parrish) is an executive at a tech company that has just acquired an artistic social media company owned by Tom (Scott Michael Foster). When the head of the tech company forces everyone to go back to the office, Liv points out that there are not enough desks for everyone. The solution is to have all of the employees share desks. One group of people will use the desks on Mondays and Wednesdays, while the other will be in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Liv and Tom, unknowingly, end up sharing a desk. They leave each other messages via post-it notes. Eventually, they end up falling in love.

Return To Office had it’s cute moments. But most of these are solely when Liv and Tom are talking via post-it note/text app. When they are actually in the room together, they are a little annoying. Granted, this is the trope. People who hate each other in real life unknowingly fall in love. I think the problem is that Parrish and Foster don’t really have any chemistry. They are perfectly fine as separate characters but they should not be in a relationship.

Rating: 3 out of 5 hearts