Santa Tell Me | 2024 Christmas Movies

I was a little weirded out when Santa Tell Me began with actual children talking about finding their true love. If they were teenagers making a silly Christmas wish, that would be one thing. But the movie jumps TWENTY FIVE years after this scene. So we’re talking about a kid around 7 years old asking Santa for the name of their true love. I find it creepy.

Olivia (Erin Krakow) is an interior designer about to embark on a live televised Christmas special where she redesigns an entire house for the holiday season. Her boss brings in TV show host Chris (Daniel Lissing) to help her. Chris decides to change all of the previous plans so they can redecorate Olivia’s childhood home, which happens to be up for sale. As they work, Olivia finds her old letter to Santa, setting off a number of magical letters from Santa trying to lead Olivia to her true love.

If we leave the children out of the equation, this is a really cute premise for a movie. Olivia is told her true love’s name is Nick so she dates a bunch of guys named Nick. Of course, none of them were the right guy but it does make the movie a little more fun. The twist at the end was predictable but it was also cute. My favorite scene was the very last scene of the movie. It was perfect.

I think my only real complaint about the movie is that the interior designer part was absolutely unnecessary. They were on a rather strict deadline and supposedly they didn’t have the budget for a big staff yet we don’t really see Olivia working. Just going on dates. It make it feel a little unrealistic. But I guess realism isn’t what we look for in Hallmark movies.

Rating: Can they come decorate my house?

A Vintage Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Great American Family has really called us out with A Vintage Christmas. The “vintage” year they are talking about here? 1992. I graduated high school in 1994. It really takes some guts to call your core demographic old. It better be a damn good movie.

Tessa Findlay (Merritt Peterson) is the town historian of Oak Creek. Noah (Christopher Russell) is a real estate developer who is planning on tearing down the old post office to build a modern office complex. Knowing that the town is against the demolition of the landmark, Noah, with the help of Tessa, decides to grant the Christmas wishes he found in a mailbox from 1992.

So…this movie was very extremely boring. I found Tessa’s arguments about saving a dilapidated building annoying. I live in a small town with a lot of history. However, sometimes those historic buildings or landmarks aren’t taken care of and we are currently left with a building that is no longer safe to use. And, yes, people here are protesting when those landmarks are torn down but no one wants to spend the million dollars it would take to renovate it and make it safe again. This is the entire plot of A Vintage Christmas. Tessa wants to save a dangerous building simply for the memories. She even scoffs when Noah tries to offer a compromise. I hate it.

In addition, there’s nothing charming here. We don’t get to spend enough time with the townspeople to care about their childhood Christmas wishes coming true. Then there is no chemistry between Tessa and Noah. Even the secondary couple - Darla (Kate Jenkinson) and Greg (Joey Vieira) - are boring. Granted, they are more interesting than our main couple but still boring.

I wish the movie had something to keep my attention. Unfortunately, the most interesting thing I found was a movie poster in the background that had some of the crew member’s names listed. That was cute. I wish the rest of the movie was too.

Rating: Two people got good presents, the rest got junk.

Operation Nutcracker | 2024 Christmas Movies

Next up, we have Hallmark Channel’s Operation Nutcracker. On one hand, this sounds like a military movie to me. On the other hand, Hallmark usually puts those movies over on the Mysteries channel. Well, let’s find out what’s it’s all about.

Lottie (Ashley Newbrough) is an event planner who gets sent to Boston to interview for an elite Christmas Nutcracker-themed fundraising event. On the way, she literally runs into Tristan (Christopher Russell) and they come close to switching luggage. With the luggage crisis averted, they both head to Boston, where Lottie finds out that Tristan is the son of the woman running the fundraiser. He has brought an antique Nutcracker that they will auction at the event. Unfortunately, his luggage got mixed up with another passenger’s at the airport. Together, Lottie and Tristan try to find the luggage and the missing Nutcracker before the event begins.

While Operation Nutcracker was mostly a cute movie, it was a little annoying at how pessimistic Lottie was. OK, she claimed she was being a realist and Tristan was a little bit of an idealist but she could have been better about it. I would have loved to have seen her change over the course of the movie. There were a lot of ‘near misses’ with the other passenger that could have been used to bring Lottie around to the magic of the season. Instead, Lottie and Tristan don’t have any idea of how close they really are to their prize until the very end. Not very magical.

The same goes for Lottie and her dad. They have definitely grown apart and the movie wants them to reconnect but leaves no room for that to happen. Sure, they are both very busy but if Lottie really wanted to reconnect, she could have gone to his diner for lunch or dinner or whatever to maybe hang out with him during a break. Neither of them made any effort to include the other in their lives. In my opinion, that made their happy ending feel very hollow. Will they actually make time for each other or will they go back to their old ways?

To sum it up, it was a cute movie with some meh characters. I wouldn’t call them selfish but I wouldn’t call them particular caring either. Just meh.

Rating: They really could have gotten away with the fake if they tried harder.

The Secret Gift Of Christmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

I think The Secret Gift Of Christmas is the only personal shopper Christmas movie this year. There were a few last year and it makes me wonder if this is going to be an ongoing job trope for Christmas movies or if they will run out of steam.

Bonnie (Meghan Ory) is a professional personal shopper. She gets hired by Patrick (Christopher Russell) to handle all of his Christmas shopping this year. As she learns more about his friends and family, Bonnie gets closer to Patrick himself.

At first, I wasn’t sure what to think of this movie. While Bonnie was a great personal shopper, she did seem a little too into outward appearances. Which is weird because she was able to pick the perfect gifts for her various clients’ recipients and they were all very thoughtful gifts. Once Bonnie got over things like how Patrick dresses, the movie got a lot better. I found myself hoping that Bonnie and Patrick would get together, even though they were definitely going to get together. It wouldn’t be a Hallmark movie if they didn’t.

Rating: I’ll take the Music On Ice tickets!

Peppermints and Postcards | 2023 Christmas Movies

Great American Family isn’t known for great movies. Peppermints and Postcards may be their one saving grace this year.

Cara (Ella Cannon) is a divorced mother without a boyfriend, unlike her ex-husband. Her 9-year old daughter, Megan (Amelia Harrison), writes a letter to Santa asking for her mom to find love. When the letter gets uploaded to social media, it goes viral. Chet Williams (Christopher Russell), a local television reporter, picks up her story and broadcasts it to the country. Will Chet be able to help Cara find love for Christmas?

As I said, Great American Family doesn’t usually put out great movies. And this movie isn’t great but it is rather good. It’s much better than the stuff they usually put out. Russell is charming as Chet and Cannon is sweet as Cara. The dates that Cara goes on are pretty realistic, especially for a Christmas movie. This isn’t something I would watch more than once but I enjoyed the time I did spend on it.

Rating: But where are the peppermints?

A Dash of Christmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

Sometimes I wonder what writers are thinking of when they write these scripts. A Dash of Christmas is one of those times.

Megan (Laura Osnes) is a marketing executive who has recently lost her job. Luckily, another job prospect pops up but she needs to film a video of her baking in order to land it. Aaron (Christopher Russell), a local bakery owner, helps her learn how to bake so she can land her dream job.

So. Megan is in marketing. Why do these movies think that marketing people need to be able to do the thing they are trying to market? They don’t. They need to know how to get people to click on the link or get into the shop or read the article or whatever. They don’t have to actually DO the thing. This movie should have gone with Megan being sad because she lost her job so she takes a baking class to try to make herself feel better. In the class, she meets Aaron and they find out that, with her marketing skills, they can take his bakery to the next level and find love along the way. That is so much more interesting.

Rating: Leave the fruitcake alone

The Most Colorful Time Of The Year | 2022 Christmas Movies

Do you remember those EnChroma glasses that went viral like five years ago? The ones that allowed color blind people to see color? Well, Hallmark made an entire movie about them. And, yes, they called it The Most Colorful Time Of The Year.

Michelle (Katrina Bowden) is an optometrist. Ryan (Christopher Russell) is an elementary school science teacher, who happens to teach Michelle’s daughter, Bailey (Ava Weiss). When Michelle finds out that Ryan is color blind, she enrolls him in a study to test glasses that will fix color blindness.

This movie is so ridiculous. When they show Ryan in his color blind state, he literally sees zero color. Everything is in black, white, and grey. That can happen but it is very rare. From Color Blind Awareness: “Achromatopsia is extremely rare, occuring only in approximately 1 person in 33,000 and its symptoms can make life very difficult. Usually someone with achromatopsia will need to wear dark glasses inside in normal light conditions.” So even if he did have this, he probably would be wearing sunglasses a lot. And I don’t think the EnChroma glasses would help him a whole lot.

I also hated that Michelle keeps getting harassed by her ex-boyfriend, Mark (R Austin Ball), throughout the entire movie. When he finally convinces her to talk to him, he asks to go to her kid’s elementary school chorus concert? I’m sorry but that is creepy. For some reason, Michelle relents and let him attend instead of throwing him out of her house. At the concert, Mark asks Ryan how much money he makes? What the hell is wrong with this guy? He really didn’t need to be a part of this movie. There could have been a better misunderstanding than forcing a woman to try to rekindle a terrible relationship.

Despite having a silly plot, The Most Colorful Time Of The Year wasn’t a bad movie. The acting wasn’t terrible, though Russell was a bit of a wet blanket. I know his character is supposed to be a bit Grinchy in the beginning but he never gets any better. Overall, it’s fine to watch if you are interested to see how they handle Ryan’s color blindness. Just be ready to shake your head a lot.

Forever Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Forever Christmas is another one of those weird problematic movies. While Lifetime calls it Forever Christmas and has it listed as one of it’s 2020 Christmas movies, it was originally titled Mr 365 and it was filmed in 2018. Judging by the quality of the movie, this was definitely filmed in 2018. Considering there are problematic elements in it, I can see why they sat on it for so long.

Sophia (Chelsea Hobbs) is a reality TV producer looking for a subject for an extreme Christmas episode. Will (Christopher Russell) has the inside of his house decorated for Christmas every day of the year. (Due to an injunction from his crabby neighbor, Fred (Ken Camroux-Taylor), he can’t decorate the outside until after November 1.) When Sophia and Will begin dating, it throws a wrench into the production of the show.

This isn’t one of those ‘will-they-won’t-they’ movies. Sophia and Will start getting it on early in the movie. I know that this movies are rarely realistic but this is the least realistic thing I have ever seen in a Christmas movie. A professional TV producer wouldn’t start heavily making out with the subject of their show after the second meeting. This might be something that happens on long-term shows where the cast and crew spend a lot of time together. Instead, they start groping each other after the first day of shooting.

The only conflict in this movie is how the reality show is portraying Will. Will then blames Sophia for not being able to take total creative control over the project. You would think there would be some sort of “Damn The Man” type thought here but no. I guess the writers needed a reason for the couple to break up so they could have the big reconciliation at the end.

Please don’t watch Forever Christmas. It is overall bad. The only redeeming quality is Romeo the dog. And they don’t even show him all that much!