Magic In Mistletoe | 2023 Christmas Movies

Magic In Mistletoe, eh? How much magic do we think will be in this movie? I’m betting none.

Harrington (Paul Campbell) writes a series of books titled “Magic In Mistletoe.” When he goes on social media to say Christmas is only about money, his fans start to revolt. It’s up to April (Lyndie Greenwood), a publicist for his publisher, to save his reputation and get his fans to buy his newest book.

Most of the time, this was a pretty cute movie. I liked the way they integrated events involving the book - a costume dance, a lot of Q&As, etc. I wish the movie focused on that more than Harrington being an idiot. The movie goes with the usual trope of dead parents but, if I understood the timeline correctly, his parents have been dead for 9 years (his father) and 5 years (his mother). Yet the movie acts like they died recently. He literally throws a fit because April gets him a (decorated!) Christmas tree. This movie really should have been just about the book.

Rating: I wish this movie was more magical

Christmas At The Chalet | 2023 Christmas Movies

It’s time for the second Teri Hatcher movie of the season. This time it is Christmas At The Chalet from Lifetime.

Lex Riley (Teri Hatcher) is a former journalist who has recently gotten divorced. She decides to spend Christmas at a chalet in Aspen with her son, her ex-husband, and his new girlfriend. However, when she arrives, her room reservation did not go through. So Lex agrees to be a “Chalet Girl” in exchange for a room. She spends her days doing the chores required to keep the chalet in order while vlogging the entire experience.

I wish more things happened in these movies. It’s difficult to have a good opinion when nothing occurs. Lex seems to have fun doing all of the chalet chores - making beds, settings tables, helping cook, etc. And it seems like her followers are loving the things she’s vlogging about. So why is anyone upset that she’s doing it? (I mean, it’s because they think it’s beneath them but, c’mon, that is a tired reason. Think of something interesting.) That is the big problem with the movie. There is supposed to be conflict. The only conflicts are her husband and son being grossed out by her working and the usual miscommunication between Lex and love-interest Eric (William deVry). Neither of these conflicts are interesting. It would have been more interesting if Eric was against her vlogging her entire job or if Lex got hurt skiing or something. Like most of this year’s Christmas movies, it’s just dull.

Rating: Are you sure there’s not another hotel nearby?

Christmas At The Golden Dragon | 2022 Christmas Movies

When I saw the title Christmas At The Golden Dragon on Hallmark’s Christmas movie list, I wasn’t sure what to think. Hallmark isn’t known for its diversity. I was a little worried about a movie about Asian people with a title like that. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded.

Jim (Vincent Cheng) and Sue (Sharon Crandall) Chen have run The Golden Dragon for as long as anyone can remember. Now that their children have grown, they have decided to close the restaurant to allow them to live their own lives instead of spending every Christmas working at the restaurant. Prompted by the news of the closure, their regular customers start to reexamine their own relationships and what they want from life.

Christmas At The Golden Dragon isn’t just one story. It’s five different stories that are all related. Not all of the stories are great but a couple of them are actually good. Romy (Kara Wang), the Chen’s daughter, has a great story about going home for Christmas with her boyfriend, Blake (Markian Tarasiuk). She imagines the Christmas that she sees in the movies with perfect caroling, a childhood bedroom that hasn’t changed in decades, and the family gathering around to open presents on Christmas morning. When she doesn’t get that, she starts to understand how her version of Christmas (working at the restaurant every year) effects the other people in her community. She really comes to appreciate the restaurant that she resented growing up.

While I don’t think every story in here is a home run, I do think The Golden Dragon is worth watching. At the very least, you will get to see how “helping your community” can have a different meaning from volunteer or charity work. Keep an eye on Miguel (Jason Fernandes). He is someone we should all strive to be.

The Picture of Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

We are a little over halfway through November and The Picture Of Christmas is the 34th Christmas movie I have watched this season. At this point last year, I had only watched 17 movies. No wonder this year feels insane!

Ember (Chelsea Hobbs) is a graphic designer in New York. She returns to Willow Hill in order to sell her late grandmother’s Christmas tree farm. While there, she finds her old storybook illustrations, rekindling her love for illustrating instead of just graphic design.

There seem to be a lot of inherited farms in this year’s Christmas movies. I would love to know why the ladies are always so surprised to find out their grandparents hired people to help them on the farm. Since these grandparents all die, I assume they are older people. Do they really think one or two elderly people can run an entire farm by themselves? Even if a grandparent didn’t tell me about their hired help, I would assume there was some sort of hired help. Especially if the farm is an actual working farm with an actual working business like a Christmas tree farm!

The Picture Of Christmas is a fine movie. There is nothing particularly stand-out about it. Ember’s drawing are nice. Emily (Mila Jones), the daughter of love-interest Brandon (Giles Panton), is adorable. She’s probably the best part of the entire movie. Otherwise, everything is bland. Ember tells Brandon that she’s selling the farm and potential buys come to see the place. Brandon wants to buy the farm but doesn’t want to tell Ember. It’s the same stupid conflict that could be solved if everyone was just honest with each other.

If you have nothing else to watch on television, The Picture Of Christmas would be all right to turn on and tune out to. If you are looking for something engaging, you won’t find it here. I would say to watch it for Emily and ignore all of the adults. They are boring anyway.