A Hollywood Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

HBO has taken the Christmas movie trope and turned it into it’s very own Christmas movie - A Hollywood Christmas. I’m not sure about making a movie about a movie trope is any good though…

Jessica (Jessika Van) is a successful movie director who specializes in Christmas movies. When the network decides to get rid of their Christmas movie department altogether, they bring in Christopher (Josh Swickard) to look over the finances of the movie Jessica is currently filming. Jessica’s assistant, Reena (Anissa Borrego), relies on good old Christmas movie tropes to help Jessica get through these troubling times.

There isn’t a lot for me to say about A Hollywood Christmas. While the acting is decent, the rest of the movie is…well, expected. We all know what the Christmas movie tropes are. There is no need for us to be walked through them. Yet that is exactly what this movie does. Reena literally explains each and every trope either right before or right after it happens, which kinda ruins the humor of a Christmas movie having Christmas movie tropes during filming. This movie should be funny. It’s not.

To be honest, A Hollywood Christmas isn’t worth sitting through. I kept waiting for something new to happen or for something funny to happen. Then the movie ended. You might as well watch any Christmas movie and get the same result. Except that there are some good Christmas movies out there! Though it’s getting more and more difficult to find them.

A California Christmas: City Lights | 2021 Christmas Movies

I have been both looking forward to and dreading A California Christmas: City Lights. If you will remember, 2020 gave us the most depressing Christmas romance movie ever - A California Christmas. Well, the Swickards are back to give us another dose of….whatever this is.

A year has passed since Callie (Lauren Swickard) and Joseph (Josh Swickard) starting dating. Joseph’s mother has decided to leave the family business, meaning it’s up to Joseph to officially take over. He takes Callie with him to San Francisco so they can save the company.

This series is so utterly confusing. I didn’t mention it in the review of the 2020 movie but a majority of it revolved around death. Callie’s mom was dying of cancer, her father and her then-fiancé died in a car accident…it was just a mess of sad emotions. This time around, things are a bit happier. Callie’s vineyard is doing well and they seem to be selling quite a bit of wine. Her sister, Hannah (Natalia Mann), also seems to be doing well, though we don’t see a ton of her. In short, the Petaluma section of the movie is kinda OK. It’s the San Francisco portion that is a train wreck.

Joseph is surrounded by all of his super-rich friends and family, who don’t really care about Callie. Callie straight up forgets about her sister entirely while she’s gone. Victoria (Laura James), who is Joseph’s ex and I guess is supposed to be taking care of the business, is all over the place. I think she’s supposed to come off as a conniving ex that wants to get back together with Joseph but she just doesn’t. She randomly appears in scenes to throw around a few snarky words then leaves. It’s frustrating.

While I didn’t want to label the first movie as bad, this one does take the terribleness a step further. None of the characters really make rational decisions about anything. Important things happen off-camera, making some of the conflicts very confusing. And I think Lauren Swickard (who wrote this movie) might think Callie is stupid or incompetent. I’m not sure.

Well, if you actually liked the original A California Christmas, you might find some sort of enjoyment out of City Lights. Personally, I recommend staying away. This movie hints at an upcoming third one. Let’s hope that one doesn’t happen. I don’t need to see these two as parents.

A California Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

A California Christmas is barely a Christmas movie. It takes place around Christmastime but there are few references to Christmas until the party at the end. But it’s got Christmas in the title and it’s on the Christmas movie list so I watched it.

Joseph (Josh Swickard) is a businessman tasked with talking Callie (Lauren Swickard) into selling the land her family’s dairy farm is on. When he arrives at the ranch, Callie mistakes him for the new ranch hand. While he takes on the farm’s daily tasks, he finds himself falling in love with Callie.

This is not a comedy. No matter what Netflix or IMDb wants to tell you. This is not a comedy. It is a straight up drama, which is fine. Just don’t sell it as a comedy. Especially when Callie’s life is so sad.

Much like Christmas by Starlight, the lead actress, Lauren Swickard, wrote the script. In addition, the two leads are married to each other in real life. This does give their characters a little more chemistry than most Christmas movies but, to be honest, I wasn’t particularly concerned about their relationship. With all of the suffering in Callie’s life, I was more interested in how she was handling all of the emotional trauma.

Normally, this wouldn’t be the type of movie I would watch. However, if you enjoy watching dramatic movies, you might enjoy this. Be warned - there is a lot of death and sadness. Don’t watch it if things like that bother you.