The Cases Of Mystery Lane: Death Is Listening (2024)

I can’t get away from Hallmark. As I was scrolling through Peacock to find something interesting to watch, I came across The Cases of Mystery Lane: Death is Listening. I liked Aimee Garcia in Lucifer so I turned it on. Immediately, I was met with a Hallmark Media production logo. Goddammit.

Birdie (Garcia) and Alden Case (Paul Campbell) are a married couple who love true crime. They have just completed classes in order to become private investigators. When their favorite true crime writer/podcaster, Laurel St. James (Samantha Ferris), gets murdered, officer Ted Newton (Matt Hamilton) brings them in to help find the culprit.

Yeah, this is definitely a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel movie. Unfortunately, when I turned it on, I didn’t realize that this is the second movie in a series. As a result, I was a little confused about some things. Birdie is a lawyer that works for her mom…but she doesn’t seem to actually do any lawyering work. I have no idea what Alden does for a job. We only see him work on robots, which I think they called a hobby? They also seem to talk about relationship problems a lot but we never actually see any relationship problems. It makes no sense.

As for the story…it’s fine. Like a lot of Hallmark movies, things magically fall into place and there are no consequences when they accuse the wrong person of the murder. But it’s kitschy and cute, right? Eh, sorta. The acting is fine but the characters are weird. Alden finds a mouse in the house, which freaks him out A LOT. But instead of letting the exterminator that Birdie hired in to take care of the problem, he elects to try to build robots to take care of it? Birdie goes into her lawyer office and talks to her lawyer mother but then spends all of her time learning how to pick locks? I really don’t understand what world these two live in.

I think I am going to try to track down the first movie in the series to see if it explains anything. It was only released last year so I’m not sure how successful I will be in finding it. Sometimes Hallmark likes to hide their older movies. Until then, I can only recommend this movie as a decent turn-your-brain-off movie. Garcia is cute as Birdie and Campbell is…well…slightly annoying as Alden. But together they somehow manage to get the job done.

Rating: C

Christmas With You | 2022 Christmas Movies

We’re heading back to Netflix to check out Christmas With You starring Freddie Prinze Jr and Aimee Garcia. Who can resist Freddie Prinze Jr? And I have loved Aimee Garcia since I first saw her on Lucifer. I will be disappointed if this is bad.

Angelina (Aimee Garcia) is a pop star who is being pushed out of the spotlight by a new up and coming singer, Cheri (Nicolette Stephanie Templier). Told by her record label that she has to come out with a new Christmas song in order to stay relevant, Angelina flees New York to the home of a fan, Cristina (Deja Monique Cruz), she saw on social media. She finds out that Cristina’s father, Miguel (Freddie Prinze Jr), is a music teacher who used to be in a band. Together, Angelina and Miguel write a new Christmas song, which is sure to top the charts.

Every year, we get a slew of Christmas movies dedicated to one profession. One year (I think maybe 2019?), everyone seemed to be bakers. Another year, we had a bunch of realtors leading our Christmas movies. This year, it seems to be singers. Particularly, aging women singers. Women who are being told that they are too old to be popular any more. While I love having movies about music, I hate having movies where women are being told they have to be “young and beautiful” to be worth something. It’s gross.

If we can look past the “you’re too old” trope, there are some good things in Christmas With You. As I’ve said, Prinze Jr and Garcia are a delight. Newcomer Cruz is adorable as 15 year old Cristina. I love how excited she gets for everything and watching her dance at her quinceañera is everything. I think I would watch a whole movie about Cristina and her aunts getting ready for the party. Oh, and Zenzi Williams as Angelina’s personal assistant, Monique? Chef’s kiss. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone been more tired of all the BS going on around her. Between Angelina’s whining and the record label’s antics, we’re lucky Monique didn’t slap someone silly.

In truth, I would say to watch it but carefully. Besides the aging stuff, there are some “I need to lose weight” things that happen here. Granted, we do end up seeing Angelina eat some real food but the first half-ish of the movie does contain weight comments. I would love to see a movie about a star that doesn’t have to do with her age or weight but, c’mon, that will never happen. This may be the best that we get.

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.