A Carol For Two | 2024 Christmas Movies

Hallmark is sending us back to New York with A Carol For Two starring Jordan Litz and Ginna Claire Mason. Both of them have been involved in Wicked The Musical on Broadway. Litz is currently playing Fiyero and Mason previously played Glinda. They don’t have a lot of film credits - this is Litz’s first movie while Mason has starred in two earlier Hallmark Christmas movies (2022’s A Holiday Spectacular and 2023 A Heidelberg Holiday). I do know there is singing in this one so, with two Broadway stars, it should be good!

Violette (Mason) has moved to New York City to be in a Broadway play. Unfortunately, when she shows up for the audition, she finds that the play has been cancelled due to lack of funding. She turns to her aunt’s best friend, Hazel (Charlotte d’Amboise), who gives her a job as a singing waitress. Hazel gives the task of training Violette to Alex (Litz). She also tells them that they need to sing a duet at the restaurant’s Christmas show.

On top of this singing waitress who can’t get a job on Broadway plot, there’s a sub-plot about Violette dating Alex’s cousin, Brad (Gino Anania). But Brad is a terrible person so he gets Alex to tell him what to do and say. It’s basically Cyrano de Bergerac but less interesting. Brad sucks as a person and Alex should just tell him to get lost. He does nothing for the plot and it would have been a better movie without him.

Thankfully, Litz and Mason are pretty good here. There is a lot of singing, which they are both wonderful singers. To be honest, any of my problems with A Carol For Two lies with the writing. Violette doesn’t tell her father that the Broadway job fell through. She straight up lies to him through most of the movie. But there was no reason for her to lie to him. He supported her in everything she did. There was no pressure for her to be a big Broadway star. He let her follow her dreams. She said she didn’t tell him the truth because she didn’t want to let him down. I could understand that for a little while but once she started singing successfully at the restaurant, she could have come clean. Having a job in New York City where you are doing the thing you love, even if it’s part time or a side hustle, is success.

If you can pretend Brad doesn’t exist, which is very difficult to do since his storyline takes over for awhile, this movie is pretty watchable. Maybe just mute him every time he comes on screen.

Rating: More musical Christmas movies please!

A Heidelberg Holiday | 2023 Christmas Movies

Hallmark might have outdone themselves with A Heidelberg Holiday. A movie that takes place in Germany featuring actual German actors and mostly filmed in Germany? It may be too much.

Heidi (Ginna Claire Mason) handmakes glass ornaments. Her dream is to sell them at the Christmas market in Heidelberg, Germany, where her family is from. She manages to get a spot at the last minute thanks to her grandmother, Oma (Nela Bartsch), who also arranges her to stay with some friends. In Heidelberg, Heidi meets Lukas (Frédéric Brossier), a local artisan who happens to be the son of Oma’s friends. Lukas helps Heidi navigate the town as well as selling at the market.

This was actually a really cute movie. Instead of focusing on the romance, it spent more time showing the sights of Heidelberg, various Christmas traditions, and highlighting Heidi’s family. The romance builds slowly, giving us a nice pay-off in the end. I think that this should be the template for Christmas romance movies. A little bit of Christmas, a lot of character development, and a slow burning romance that builds throughout the movie. Writers should take notes.

Rating: How do you say ‘watch this’ in German?

A Holiday Spectacular | 2022 Christmas Movies

It’s a Christmas movie with The Rockettes!! What more can a dancer want from the holidays?

Lucy (Elle Graper) is nervous about her final audition for the role of Clara with The Rockettes. Her grandmother, Margret (Ann-Margret), tells her the story of how she once danced with The Rockettes and how she found love along the way to finding herself.

A Holiday Spectacular had everything I could have wanted from a Hallmark Christmas film. There was drama of a child wanting to do something different from what their parents had originally planned. There was a blossoming love that was also offered a little drama of its own. And there was the beautiful dancing from the famous Rockettes in New York City. It’s almost like this movie was written specifically for me.

I loved that, even though Margret (called Maggie by her friends) had romantic relationships, the main focus of the movie was on the sisterhood in the dance team. We frequently see the women in their boarding house or eating and chatting at a diner or at rehearsals. The men, both John (Derek Klena) and Maxwell (Torsten Johnson), are relegated to relationships outside of her normal life in New York. John’s scenes are mostly outside walking around town. Maxwell’s scenes take place either on the telephone or in a restaurant. They don’t impede on the lives inside the Rockette boarding house. It’s nice that the movie gives us that separation.

While A Holiday Spectacular is spectacular for dancers or fans of dance, I think that this movie would be relatable to anyone. Not wanting to disappoint your parents is a fairly universal emotion. Definitely check this one out. And if you get the chance, go check out The Rockettes in person. If you can’t make the trip, this should help satisfy that itch to see them.