Category Archives: Live Action Movie Reviews

It Happened on 5th Avenue Review

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You know the old saying about how more money just means more problems? Well, in this case the money does end up giving Mike a lot of problems only he doesn’t know it. He is so rich that people actually stay at his mansion when he isn’t around which is a pretty interesting premise. The film’s definitely fun and while Mike may end up putting up with way more than he should, there’s a good amount of humor here.

The movie starts out by introducing us to McKeever. He’s an older man who has given up on working and just ends up taking refuge in abandoned houses. He has a pretty tight system where he visits Mike’s mansion when the guy is away at his other base. See, Mike is the second richest person in the world at the moment so he has a lot of mansions to upkeep. McKeever has kept this system up for 3 years but a complication comes up when he encounters Jim, a veteran who is out of luck at the moment. He isn’t able to afford a place to stay because all of the houses have been bought up.

McKeever allows Jim to stay with him but then a girl named Trudy shows up. McKeever isn’t thrilled about expanding the ranks further but he allows her to stay. Little does he know that she is Mike’s daughter and Trudy doesn’t intend to tell them. Still, her silence will be put to the test as Mike shows up and slowly Jim invites other veteran families to stay with them. The house is getting busier and busier which is something to consider.

You know, there’s actually quite a lot of plot to think about here. In addition to all of that, Mike also goes into the house undercover. He works as a servant while he is trying to look after Trudy and find out more about Jim. Then you’ve also got his ex-wife Mary who joins in on the fray. Effectively everyone is undercover leading to a lot of mix-ups and comedic shenanigans. It’s a pretty fun dynamic on the whole and the characters are all pretty reasonable.

As mentioned, I do think that Mike puts up with a lot more than he needed to though. McKeever drives him really hard next to the other characters perhaps in part because he wasn’t totally on board with Mike joining the house as well. Then having to see this guy wear all of his clothes and smoke his cigars is pretty tough. I suppose McKeever has enough restraint where he doesn’t use too many since nobody’s ever noticed before but that’s a lot to have to just endure. The broken bed is really just being extra. It’s all done in fun of course but after a point you feel like Mike was well within his rights to break up the whole thing. Technically he wouldn’t have been in the wrong to do it from the start since they were using his house without permission.

Mike’s a tough guy but I do think he was a good man even from the beginning. He drives a hard business and buys up as much as he can but we never are given any indication that he is doing anything illegal or unethical. One of the main dilemmas of the film is how it is tougher for people to live anywhere since the houses are going up in price though. I suppose you could make the case that Mike is directly responsible for this but I would argue that as CEO of the company he wouldn’t be as knowledgeable on the day to day stuff. He knows that he is buying everything up but I doubt he intends to put everyone on the street either. Regardless, Mike definitely has a lot of character development through the film and worked really well as the lead.

His ex-wife Mary also gets a sizable role once we’re around halfway through the movie and she joins in on the fun. She definitely helps Mike get through a whole lot of this. The film doesn’t dwell too much on why they divorced in the first place but there’s enough material for you to draw your own conclusions. This is one case where again I’m probably on Mike’s side since it seems like the idea was that he was too involved with his work. Sometimes that can be too extreme but at the same time he is a super rich CEO with a lot of responsibilities so I would have to see more to really determine if it was unreasonable.

Then we have Trudy who is the real main character here. She’s a solid character and definitely has fun trolling Jim and McKeever. I thought it was pretty entertaining how easily she messed with them. She definitely became good friends with Jim right away although I would understand why the other characters may be a bit skeptical since they didn’t know each other for very long before getting serious. Mike even issues a challenge, one that I would say Jim failed in the end. He ultimately put money first and while the decision isn’t as black and white as all that, I don’t think it was the correct decision. Effectively he would have left Trudy there and I don’t see how you can reconcile that.

I ended up liking Trudy a lot more than Jim for that reason as she stayed strong throughout all of this. Additionally she was just a fun character with a lot of good dialogue. Jim did handle himself well for most of the movie aside from the challenge though. He was always willing to help the others out and his business idea wasn’t bad. It’s a pretty decent plan so maybe he will find some success with it in the future. Just knowing that you have someone you can count on is always pretty big.

Finally you have McKeever. He’s definitely the most experienced member of the group and offers up a lot of good advice. The whole bidding above your paygrade bit is probably the only bit that doesn’t really fly but otherwise he’s a charismatic character. He may not be heroic as he does illegal things like living in other people’s houses all the time but he tries not to do any harm as he mentioned. His dog is also a lot of fun so it’s always cool to see him around.

At the end of the day I’d say that what really makes this film is the strong writing. At its core the film is really thriving on its solid humor and good character interactions. The cast are all pretty likable and the idea of someone being undercover is always pretty fun. It’s a nice way to really put yourself in someone else’s shoes and all told, Mike did pretty well. Considering how rich he is I doubt he would have had a chance to do many of the activities he had to complete before now.

Overall, It Happened On 5th Avenue is a film I would definitely recommend checking out. The pacing is nice and tight and the most important factor here is that there isn’t anything bad to say about the film. It’s just a very pleasant ride from start to finish. Whether you’re here for the comedy or the drama you’ll be satisfied. Mike certainly gave up a whole lot in order to help the characters by the end so you certainly hope it works out for them. Of course, he’s so rich that he’ll be fine even if this operation were to go belly up.

Overall 7/10

Christmas Waltz Review

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Time for the last of the big Hallmark Christmas titles. The Christmas Waltz is a fun title although I would say that it has more weaknesses than some of the others. In particular both the main heroine and the main guy aren’t great. They allow themselves to be manipulated really easily and buy into rumors too fast. If they don’t trust each other much that doesn’t bode well. Still, it’s got the usual positive themes going which is always good and it’s a wholesome film to check out.

The movie starts with Avery getting ready for her upcoming wedding. She has been engaged to David for a long time and knows that he’s about to pop the question. Unfortunately he does not and instead says that he has accepted a job abroad. The exact thing he had agreed not to do earlier even after they had discussed it. Well, Avery breaks up with him and decides to pursue her old hobby of dancing. Unfortunately she falls for her instructor Roman pretty quickly and is on the rebound course. Complicating things is the fact that David is back and wants Avery to come back to him.

So the romance angle is unsurprisingly the weakest angle here. It just really stands out this time because of how indecisive Avery is the whole time. So, she breaks up with David at the beginning which is the right move because the guy wasn’t being serious at all. The issue is that after that when he arrives again she actually thinks about giving him another chance. If he hadn’t mentioned that he went over to threaten Roman then she may have actually gone with him. Even if she had said no later on, the fact that she entertained the idea after starting an affair with Roman is pretty bad. You definitely can’t have this kind of thing both ways.

Meanwhile Roman is just as bad here. He is very quick to believe David when the guy shows up saying that he and Avery are back together. Why would you believe what the Ex has to say so easily? At the very least he should have quickly asked Avery about it directly when they met up again instead of giving her the cold shoulder and ignoring her altogether. You can’t just go from 0-100 instantly like that. It shows that Roman is incredibly gullible. even in real life you see people accepting one side of the story very quickly without getting all of the facts and it always ends up being a bad idea. So right away both characters looked pretty bad here.

The cast is fairly self contained. Avery and Roman both have a best friend who gives them advice during the movie and the advice is pretty sound. At least those two were pretty reasonable which is good because if they were as impulsive then that would not have been a good dynamic for sure. The writing as a whole is still solid though. The script is good and if you take away the romance drama the movie’s pretty upbeat as expected. Hallmark has always done a good job with that so you can expect some Christmas songs, dances, and even slight cooking although not the usual desserts but Avery does make a burnt breakfast.

Whether this one can keep up with the other Hallmark titles for you will perhaps depend on how much you enjoy dancing. Dancing is the primary focus here as that’s how the two of them meet and begin their friendship. A subplot here is that Avery is a super busy executive who rarely has time for herself but she has decided to take up dancing. Her parents are a little skeptical at first but ultimately take it well. I’m glad they weren’t exaggerated or something like that. Being a little surprised is understandable since she hadn’t shown any interest in 20+ years.

One thing you can blame Avery on though is not having effective time management. She actually ends up forgetting about a task project that was due. Fortunately she did manage to submit it in the end but that definitely wasn’t fair to the job. She really left them in the lurch there so that does reinforce that the main characters here weren’t the best. It’s definitely a chance of pace though since you’re used to the main characters here being fairly exceptional at everything they do.

Overall, Christmas Waltz is a solid film. While it doesn’t quite match the average Hallmark film that I am used to watching, I would still give it passing marks here. It’s got a good story and at the end of the day the characters are nice even if they are a little gullible. The writing is solid and while dancing may not quite be my thing, I’m sure the choreography was good. Now if they can incorporate some dance dance revolution in one of these films that would definitely be pretty neat. Now that’s competitive dancing that I can get into. It could be a while before my next Hallmark experience so we’ll see how those stack up. It’s always a pleasure watching Hallmark movies so I’m sure they will bring their A game.

Overall 6/10

Wonder Woman 1984 Review

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It’s certainly been a while but time to take a look at the latest comic book movie to come out. It’s the first in the new streaming age although it has a simultaneous release in theaters so it’s pretty unique. Personally I’m all for it, you get to have your custom theater meal all set, good lounge chair and at least if it’s provided on HBO Max, totally free. It’s a pretty slamming deal but we’ll see if this actually continues past COVID or if it’s a very temporary deal. This review goes fairly in depth so while I wouldn’t say there are any true spoilers, the less you know about a film the better if you want the complete experience. If you haven’t seen the film yet then you may want to before continuing.

The movie starts by showing us some more of Diana’s home in Themyscira. She participates in an event and does really well but ultimately grows overconfident and ends up throwing away her victory. It’s a fun opening and Diana showed that at a young age she was already surpassing all of the warriors there. It definitely pays to be part god. We then go to the present where Diana stops a crime and we get introduced to the main plot here. An interesting wishing stone has turned up and the FBI want her co-worker Barbara to look at it. Meanwhile a rich man by the name of Maxwell Lord needs the wishing stone to turn his life around so he’ll need to quickly manipulate her in order to get to it. Can Diana get this stone out of here before damage is done and does this explain why Steve has seemingly returned?

There’s definitely quite a bit going on here. First I’ll just say that Maxwell makes for a pretty fun villain. The idea of a wishing stone is certainly tempting to all and naturally it’s what he would need to turn his empire around. The fact that he can control the consequences of the wish is also pretty handy. He’s definitely trying to prove to himself and everyone else that he’s a great man which puts him in a lot of tough situations. The guy has a lot of charisma though and always stands out.

Barbara is one of the main focuses here though. She gets a big character arc as she starts off as the awkward scientist who gets a taste of true power and wants to keep it. I’d definitely have to say that she’s a pretty poor character for most of it but once she gets some abilities then she’s more of an interesting villain. Barbara’s able to fight now and while the power/adoration goes to her head almost immediately she finally gains some confidence. I don’t think there’s a question of who would win between her and Wonder Woman at peak strength but she is strong enough where we can get some fun action scenes there.

For a good chunk of the film Diana is in a depowered state so we don’t get a whole lot of fight scenes. Aside from humans and such the first fight we get is in the White House and that probably is the most interesting one. It’s just a shame that the fight couldn’t have been longer due to the circumstances but I like seeing super powers used in a location like that. It’s just a lot of fun to watch. I don’t think there would have been a way to stop Barbara there but at least Diana gave it a good try and Steve had a pretty good fight with the guards.

At times the physics in the film felt a bit odd though. For example in most of Wonder Woman’s fights she is sliding across the ground like it’s made of ice. I’m thinking maybe the film was trying to just use a unique way of showing super speed here. Maybe in a way where her super strength allows her to defy gravity to an extent which is how she moves so fast. I wouldn’t say the execution is great as it just doesn’t feel as natural but it’s still fun to see her beating up on the crooks as expected. We also know she would have been able to handle the guns and such a lot better if she was at full power.

Her armor also gets to appear a bit as it was used frequently in the promotional materials. You may be surprised that it really doesn’t look very good at all but I was actually a big fan of this. I’ve always maintained that heroes or villains of Wonder Woman’s caliber have no need of such armaments. If anything they slow you down. It would have to be some kind of super haxes equipment to justify its use. Whenever she takes out a sword in the animated movies for example I just wonder why do it? (Doomsday breaking the sword with a single punch in Death of Superman just reinforces that point as she did better without the sword) You can see how her fighting style gets very sloppy when she puts on the armor maybe because it limits her agility so as soon as she gets rid of it then she does well again. I don’t expect she would try using it again.

Wonder Woman’s character is always a pretty complex one. She’s definitely a hero through and through but mixes tactics from Batman and Superman while adding her own spin in. I see her as being more willing to be a vigilante like Batman which she utilizes in this film as she spies through cameras and keeps a secret identity. However, as Wonder Woman she also tries to be a symbol for humanity like Superman although interestingly between this film and the first it seems that she is trying to keep her identity hidden now. Maybe she doesn’t want people to know that she’s immortal? Honestly if I were her I’d really want to stand out then because figuring out her secret identity would be tougher. She probably needs a wig though because most characters would connect the dots pretty quickly especially with how she stands out at parties.

I don’t think she would have qualms about murdering people the way the other two would though with her more warrior like backstory. That said, I was glad the film didn’t go down a certain way here with two different scenarios as it would have certainly raised a lot of intriguing points. It would be a lot easier to defend her though than with the infamous snap or random people getting shot down during the BVS rampage with the second instance since there isn’t much of a clean out. The first one involving a water battle though would have had no real defense. Particularly as she consistently had the upper hand here. Would have reminded me of Phoenix’s big moment in Dark Phoenix where I wondered what was going on since she had the upper hand by far. This wasn’t quite that drastic with the power gap but it was there.

That said, with the film’s ending you just know that it didn’t wrap up quite so neatly. Not everyone will make a selfless move here and some may not have had a drawback big enough to actually make the move. I expect a lot of people ended up in different circumstances than they were in. It also doesn’t seem like this rolls back time in any way to things that happened as a result of your new circumstance are probably still there. It raises a lot of interesting potential plots for other films since you can introduce almost anything as a result of that.

Now for some issues with the film. As with the first one I wasn’t very impressed with the dialogue. We no longer have all of the romance dialogue with Steve and Diana as he corrupts her with the views of the world and their forced dialogue on the boat. That said, we’re shown a world that is pretty desperate here. Any scene with Diana in public has everyone throwing themselves at her. You have Barbara getting harassed by everyone outside and it’s like people can’t help but constantly make comments about her and Diana. You could get it if it was just the one drunk guy showing up twice so they could make an example out of him but almost every guy in the film? It starts to get a little overboard. It also just has a hard time making conversations interesting like any Barbara conversation pre change.

Outside of Steve (Who is with Diana anyway) and the guy whose identity is currently gone it’s hard to think of any guy who looked all that sensible here. Maxwell wasn’t authentic in his adoration as it was all part of his plan to sucker Barbara but of course he took advantage of this as well. The scenes just felt pretty forced. Then you’ve also got the whole plot of Steve returning. Lets just say there is quite the cost for this but Diana seems perfectly content with this price. Now down the road we can assume that maybe, perhaps she would try to correct this but I’m not so sure. Particularly given the amount of resistance she had to ending things at all, if there were no super villain on the loose it seems like she would have been okay with this which is morally dubious at best.

I suppose all heroes have something they can be selfish about at times but this would have been a pretty huge skeleton in her hero closet so to speak. As for Steve, he’s pretty solid. I’d say he’s better than in the first film. He does what he can to help out in the movie. He may just be a normal guy in a world that’s getting crazier and crazier but he actually contributes quite a bit like when he ended up taking down some guards and even piloting a plane. It’s definitely really handy to have a pilot on your side.

As mentioned, the film is a bit of a slow burner so you shouldn’t expect things to turn up for a while. At first we mainly get a lot of introductions with the characters and slowly exploring the world as we see Diana is perfectly content while Maxwell and Barbara are having a terrible time. This eventually leads us to their flipping things around and then we eventually get to the hype White House battle. While there are some action scenes earlier, since it’s Wonder Woman beating up on normal humans it’s not going to be particularly exciting. It’d be like seeing Superman flying in to beat up some bank robbers. That said, I’ll never say no to an action scene of course. It would have been great if we could have gotten a longer climax battle with Barbara though.

The after credits scene for the film is pretty fun. Now, I’m thinking it’s just a fun little cameo for the fans as well as closure for one character so I wouldn’t expect anything to come of it, but if something did there’s a lot of possibilities for this character. Is this character actually going down a villainous path? A future ally to help out the heroes? I think adding this character into a future movie would be an excellent move particularly if for Wonder Woman 3 we get a plot like the planet enders from Supergirl only this time it’s a few people from Themyscira coming over to cause trouble. This character could be quite valuable assistance and I’m assuming the Themyscira fighters would get buffed by some aliens or a deal with the gods to balance things out.

Naturally the soundtrack is solid here. We’ve got the classic Wonder Woman theme from BVS as well as a remixed version at the ready. It’s always a pretty grand theme that starts you off on the right track. The other themes are also pretty solid and get you ready for a good time. Music is always a pretty important factor and this film definitely didn’t disappoint. I also already spoke about the graphics but in particular I like the lasso’s glow. It always looks very strong and the fact that it can latch onto anything and extend/retract at will makes it a very versatile weapon.

Low key I’d say Wonder Woman’s best feat here is when she is able to lasso a bullet after it has already whizzed past her. Keep in mind that she noticed the bullet after it was already past her and close to hitting Steve. So in that time she threw her lasso and tossed the bullet away while it was already close to his face. Definitely a pretty great speed feat for sure and so the movies can definitely give her a big opponent for film 3. At the moment I would say from her portrayal she seems to be the 4th most powerful DC hero in the universe. I would still take Superman, Flash, and Shazam over her. Superman is obvious. For Shazam it’s close but I do think the movie showed him to have better speed and strength. For Flash it’s really just the speed difference as it would be hard to hit him. Of course I expect her abilities will keep on improving the way that Thor’s has over the years. Once she masters her god abilities it may be time for a rematch with Superman or maybe have her fight with Black Adam in one of the upcoming titles.

Of course after the first Wonder Woman film we were all wondering what happened to cause her to go from being a symbol of justice to vanishing entirely since in BVS she hadn’t been seen in years and didn’t even want to get involved. Well, this film closes the gap a bit since she does seem to want to defeat opponents without them knowing she was even there. It explains her disappearance but I think we need a little more to show why she has abandoned helping people entirely. If that’s never explained it’s not a big deal since you can maybe assume she just grew tired of it but I do think there’s still a lot you could do with that premise. Maybe have Steve return a third time but this time it’s a shape shifter or something which disillusions her with everything.

Overall, Wonder Woman 1984 is pretty good. I do consider it to be a considerable improvement over the first film. Wonder Woman is a solid lead as always and the soundtrack is pretty good. The visuals are all on point and while the fights can be a little slippery against the human fighters, I feel like the film was intentionally testing out a new style here so I’ll give them points for the experimentation. Ideally in the third film we’ll be able to see Wonder Woman be able to fight more super villains with her full abilities on display and a current setting certainly wouldn’t hurt matters either. It’s a bit of a slow burner and so there wouldn’t be a lot of replay value here but if you haven’t seen this film yet you should definitely do so. Also worth knowing that if you have Verizon Fios you may be eligible for HBO Max for free so keep that in mind. I’m ready to see what DC has in store for us next.

Overall 7/10

Mr. Soft Touch Review

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Mr. Soft Touch is a film about a guy deciding to get revenge on some gangsters for taking over his shop. It’s a different spin than usual though as he just wants his money back and isn’t going around shooting them all down. While the film has some pretty good writing humor, I ultimately wouldn’t give it a thumbs up because of some suspect characters and the main character just not being all that likable even by the end.

The movie starts by introducing us to Joe. He has stolen a ton of money and is trying to escape the country but unfortunately his friends were unable to find a boat that leaves before Christmas. He needs to survive for a night somewhere but that won’t be easy since the Mob is everywhere. Joe is able to masquerade as a criminal and get taken to a settlement home where a social worker named Jenny will look after him. Joe figures this will be a decent safehouse as a last resort since there is literally no alternative but when he sees how much help these people need, will he really be able to leave? Some tough choices will have to be made.

Soft Touch has some fun moments and good bits of humor throughout. One nice moment was when the tough guys at the home try to scam Joe out of some money with the dice. He takes them down and clearly has some kind of experience with these games from a while back. He knows a scam when he sees one but does a good job of playing dumb the whole time. This lets him claim the upper hand. It was a nice subversion where usually the main character would have gotten suckered. The main tough guy also reminded me a lot of Spider-Man from the recent movies so it was interesting to see him in more of a villainous role.

You can tell that the people at tis place all meant well. It was a nice cast of characters here. At first they weren’t all happy to see Joe and it was hard to blame them since he wasn’t playing ball but eventually they all formed a pretty good group. In particular I liked Rickle. He had a tendency to go off on long rants about everything but that’s the kind of character who is always good to add levity to the equation. It’ll help keep everyone’s spirits up there which is really important.

Then you have Jenny who is a solid heroine. She does a whole lot for her community and really tried to help Joe out when she thought he was someone else. I would make the case that she is far too lenient though. Her job is about mercy and it’s an important function but since the guy who was charged was an abusive drunk then it seems like he was already too far gone for any of this to help. Jenny also had a traumatic backstory as a kid which makes it all the more impressive that she is putting herself out on the front lines and helping out a bit. She may be a little extreme but I would definitely say that she is a good person.

Then we get to Joe. I just couldn’t find myself being able to root for him. I understand him taking the money back after the mobsters stole it. That makes perfect sense since it was his and the whole thing seems unfair. Why does he not help Clara get away from Victor though? That seems like a pretty toxic relationship that he just looks the other way with. The film would have been a lot better without those two characters since they just hurt Joe a whole lot by extension. Then you’ve got the fact that Joe doesn’t do anything to help out the people in the settlement house before it’s too late. Byrd offered him a rather decent deal at the time but Joe wouldn’t hear of it.

Joe tries to make things right by the end but it is far too late for that. Even the scene where he gives his jacket and the money to the little girl comes off as rather suspect. At first it seems like a nice gesture but then Jenny points out that it was also a way to take the risk off and it’s hard to see it any other way at that point. The girl’s life was in serious jeopardy with the mobsters finding that kind of cash on her. Joe just puts too many people in harm’s way. He has some good plans but they all end up putting people in more danger while he escapes. It’s not a very heroic approach at all.

As for Byrd, I thought he was a pretty solid reporter. The guy put the pieces together a lot quicker than you would have initially expected. He clearly has some bad history with Joe but the guy did make a good offer to call the cops in. He just wanted some intel. I wasn’t really sure why Joe wouldn’t tell him at this point since his partner is dead and the mobsters are everywhere. Maybe it was a pride thing or just because Byrd was partially responsible for his partner dying since he didn’t do anything. Byrd did save Joe’s life a few scenes earlier though which is hard to forget. Byrd surprisingly doesn’t take this all that personal later on when they meet up again.

At times the movie seems to move really fast with characters sort of going through a character arc off screen. One example is the romance between Jenny and Joe. It goes from nowhere to suddenly she’s begging him to stay and some of the big speeches you would expect if they had been together for a long time. It doesn’t always flow as organically as you would expect. I suppose the film just wanted to move straight on ahead to the next moment but some scenes would just happen really suddenly like that.

Overall, Mr. Soft Touch would have been better with a better main character. Someone who was actually standing up for justice to stop the mobsters, not just because they crossed him. I would have liked better reasons for why he didn’t accept Byrd’s help or also a scene of him helping Clara out of just confirming Victor’s innocence. From what we saw of Victor he just seems like a very bad guy and Joe not doing anything about it doesn’t help in the slightest. The film’s pretty light hearted for the most part I’d say and has a nice Christmas theme going. It mainly just gets serious at the end with the ending being a little surprising. Definitely not the smartest move on both Joe and Jenny’s part. I think they could have handled the whole thing a lot better. Either way you can do better than this if you’re looking for a good Christmas film to watch this year.

Overall 5/10

The Thomas Crown Affair Review

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Whenever you get romantically involved with the person you’re supposed to bust on a case then you know that you’ve done your job wrong. This film involves a few heists and as soon as the investigator meets up with the crook you know that things are not going to go well. If anything you’ll just feel bad for the cops here. On one hand they wouldn’t have even been close to cracking the case without the heroine, on the other hand maybe it’s better not to crack the case then to have someone weaken you from the inside.

The movie starts off by showing us the first bank heist. It’s a pretty impressive piece of work as a bunch of strangers are brought together to do the gig. Each one has a different job and only needs to know his part. As a result they don’t actually meet up and this ends up being a pretty big event. Nobody is able to stop Thomas so he escapes to the money and goes back to his wealthy life. The cops are unable to handle this so much to detective Eddie’s horror they call in a specialist. Her name is Vicki and she is not opposed to using less than legal methods to ensure Thomas’ capture. She quickly tightens the net around him but ends up liking him as well. Will she be able to pull the trigger or will she end up defecting to his side?

Now with any heist film you will probably have to suspend a little disbelief at some scenes. The more they show you the more you will have some questions. For example, I feel like the whole thing went way too smoothly at the end. None of the cops get off a single shot as the villains flee and the car is able to easily drive across the many streets with nobody catching up. Too bad none of the cops are good drivers in this film eh? Would have made a pretty big difference if you ask me. The second time around is arguably even worse since the villains use the same plan and it works once again. This time there is more of a shootout though so at least the heroes put up more of a fight.

When you have this as your context it’s also incredibly hard to buy into Vicki falling for Thomas. How could she possibly do this when he was willingly getting involved in such crimes. It’s not like the film ever even tries to paint him as a sympathetic character either. He’s just doing this for the thrills which makes him as villainous as possible. The whole affair with him is just pretty terrible the whole time. There’s one chess game in particular which the film manages to mess up because of this.

Usually in a heist or a mystery film like this you get a good chess game between the hero and villain where they explain their plans and how they one upped the other character. You get a lot of solid moves back and forth which mirror the actual moments. In this case we get none of that. If anything they’re playing in rather sloppy fashion since Thomas gets really distracted during the match. It’s a big shame since Chess is usually pretty hype. It almost goes without saying that the romance is just really bad from start to finish.

The movie also uses an editing style that’s not very good. Basically everything shrinks into tiny boxes along the screen that start to show the same image half the time. So instead of watching a scene normally you’re seeing over 10 versions of it. This might be a decent novelty the first few times but that quickly wears thin before you know it. In the end you’ll just be shaking your head. The writing’s not great either. I would say it’s okay at best but without likable characters there just isn’t a whole lot that you can do. There are no memorable lines here or even fun comedic moments. The film is serious but in a rather dull way where nothing seems to happen for large periods of time.

Thomas is just a petty villain with no master goals. There’s really no depth to him and no reason to like him. It’s also worth noting that Vicki figured him out almost immediately. Then you have Vicki herself and I can’t give her a thumbs up either. She let her personal feelings cloud her judgment. The fact that she even asked the cops if they could have a truce with Thomas was terrible. You can’t negotiate with someone that just robbed a bank and put tons of people in harm’s way. Then you have Detective Eddie who’s okay but never seems to make any headway in the case. He was more reasonable than the other characters at least but I wouldn’t say that it made him a good character either. It was just an added bonus. In the end he was so ineffective you might feel bad for him rather than actively rooting for him. Technically I was hoping he would be the one to crack the case though even if you never thought there was a true chance of that.

Overall, This isn’t a film that would have much replay value at all. It gets worse the more you think about it. The romance is no good and since the heist is only a very small portion of the film, it means that there’s not a lot here to keep your interest. In theory the best part about a film like this should be the back and forth banter between Vicki and Thomas but we don’t get a whole lot of that here because they are interested in each other almost from the start. There’s no true cat and mouse game here because they aren’t 100% serious about getting away from the other. It’s a game, but one with low stakes. It’s like making a Tom and Jerry film where they’re actually friends. It wouldn’t have the same impact unless they’re teaming up against a common enemy but that’s a completely different ball game. If you want a good heist film, watch Ocean’s 11 instead for a vastly superior product.

Overall 3/10

Christmas Town Review

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It’s time for the Hallmark marathon to conclude for now. It’s definitely been a pretty good run I would say. When you see a title like Christmas Town you know things are about to get hype. It’s one of those small towns where everyone is pretty friendly and you could see yourself having a pretty good time there. How can it go wrong right? There’s a lot of cookies shown in this film as well so you may get hungry while watching.

Lauren has not been having a good time with her boyfriend who has prioritized work over her. He doesn’t even write or call anymore. So she decides to take up a teaching job in another city. Unfortunately her train is forced to make a detour due to the weather. This causes her to hitch a ride with Travis after mistaking the guy for one of the employees. He helps her find a place to stay in the meantime and she quickly grows close to the owner of the bakery (Betty) and Travis’ foster kid Dylan. Now she is unsure if she even really wants to leave this town and decides to help them with a fundraising drive first.

Lauren’s a pretty reasonable character right from the jump. She gave Eric a pretty fair chance but the guy blew it each time. If anything I don’t think she needed to give him quite so much time at the end. The instant that the letter didn’t come I would have said that was game over. You have to be able to deliver on something like that, especially when it was promised and agreed to. There’s no backing out of the deal just like that. His reasoning of not being a very good writer definitely didn’t work either. I do appreciate Eric not being portrayed as totally crazy of being a huge jerk. He’s just absent minded and clearly didn’t have her as a priority so this wasn’t going to work. They could possibly be good friends but that’s about it.

Meanwhile Lauren’s just a perfect fit for the town because she is always willing to lend a hand in just about any area. She is quick to support the bakery and then to get the fundraising at the ready. She’s definitely a quality character. I also liked Betty and Gloria a lot. Betty just seems like a great owner who really cares about her customers. Her cooking is also apparently quite good and based on how those cookies were looking I definitely believe it. Meanwhile Gloria’s role isn’t quite as large but she does enter the fray later on with some really critical scenes. She’s certainly got an incredible amount of influence over the school and makes the transition a lot easier on Lauren.

Then we’ve got Dylan. I’m still never a big fan of seeing kids get a big role in films. They tend to be pretty cheesy and Dylan’s no different. He also guilt trips Lauren quite a bit into not leaving although I expect she was going to stick around anyway. He certainly gets a lot of screen time. I’ll give him credit for being a nice kid in the end though. He does donate his coats to help others and is a very generous guy. As for Travis, he’s a pretty solid character even if he doubted Lauren quite a bit. I can’t really blame him there because he does have a point that she has only known Dylan for a week or 2 and is moving awfully fast. If you replace the scenario with someone other than the main character then you can definitely see why he was concerned. Still, he’s definitely someone that you can count on.

The writing and pacing as on point as expected of course and the scenery is definitely really good. There’s a lot of snow of course and the town is quite charming. It’s also a pretty generous town as everyone was able to chip in a lot of money to help the group who lost everything in a fire. Ultimately this town’s definitely built up a lot of goodwill and with a whole new generation here as well you expect that it will stay like that.

There’s also a subplot the film slowly builds up involving a statue of an Angel. Lauren got it from her father back when she was a kid but then it broke with the wing falling off. Her father sent it to be fixed but ended up forgetting to include the wing so Lauren kept it. Since he died shortly afterwards nobody was ever able to pick it up. Fortunately this was the town where it got sent to. So throughout the film you see the statute changing hands until it finally makes its way back at the end. It’s a nice plot to have around for sure. Her father definitely seemed to be quite wise based on the letters he sent.

Overall, Christmas Town was definitely a really fun movie. We also got some good depth with Lauren’s backstory as she read through letters her father gave her. The movie definitely has a lot of emotional scenes going for it to contrast all the happy moments eating cookies. It’s just a very wholesome film that makes for a satisfying watch. You really can’t go wrong here and by the end of the film you will be ready for your own Christmas adventures coming up. I would definitely recommend watching this film so you can add it to your collection. It’s quite solid without a doubt.

Overall 7/10

A Shoe Addict’s Christmas Review

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Time for another Hallmark adventure for the ages. The whole shoe theme here was definitely pretty unique. I don’t believe it’s been done before. I know some people are really into shoes while others collect sneakers but I can’t say I’ve ever been into that. Just get me a pair of sneakers and I’ll wear them for the next 5-10 years no problem. Of course in this film it’s fortunate that Noelle enjoys her shoes since they are quite central to the story. Without them she definitely could have been in trouble.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Noelle. She’s pretty content as she has a nice job, good coworkers, and just loves Christmas. It’s a pretty fun time of the year for her. She is even put in charge of helping direct the annual charity party that co-operates with the Firefighters. Their liason here is a guy named Jake. They don’t initially get off on the right foot as Jake tries to make a good impression with some jokes while Noelle is fairly serious. Still, they’ll have to put aside their differences if this is going to be a big success.

There is something supernatural afoot here as well. A lady named Charlie appears and claims that she is Noelle’s guardian angel. Whenever Noelle puts on a pair of shoes from her past she is transported to that point in time to relive the memories and see what she could have done differently. Charlie is trying to make the point that Noelle has pushed her friends and family away while also turning down opportunities that could have helped her in the present. Noelle tries to point out that living in the past is dangerous but Charlie insists that she take a look at some of these alternate routes. Should Noelle listen to Charlie and try to hang out with people more or is she okay as is?

As always Hallmark’s got a pretty solid film here. There’s also just a whole lot of story developments and plot to sift through here so it’s a little busier than the average title. You’ve got time travel, angels, the firefighter plot, and even some family drama with Noelle and her father. The writing is on point as always and the film really flies by. The scenery is also good. There are no real weaknesses to speak of. At most maybe the boss gets a very rushed character arc at the end but it does help to wrap things up nicely for a quality ending. From all of the plots I feel like the Gala itself got the shaft for the most part since there just wasn’t enough time to grab everything. It’s why things had to move quickly at the end.

If anything I just didn’t agree with Charlie that Noelle made all of the wrong moves. For starters, she was perfectly content at her new job even if everyone was trying to guilt trip her into leaving. Put it this way, she makes a solid salary here and has quickly moved up the chains. Everyone seems to like her at this job so she seems to have a positive future. The pay is good as well while working for herself is a lot riskier even if it may end up paying well. Then Charlie says she wasn’t all that close to her father but they did seem pretty good to me from the opening scene. They had some banter and were even joking around with each other.

So I felt like Charlie was making this sound a lot more serious than it really was. It’s not like Noelle’s current life was really that bad at all. Still, Charlie herself was pretty nice even if she didn’t have a lot of experience in the gig yet. Noelle’s best friend Lorna was also really good here. She was always encouraging Noelle and had the heroine’s back from day 1. No matter what timeline Noelle went to, she certainly owes Lorna a lot for always being there. It’s been a little while since the main character had a solid friend like this so that was nice to see.

As for the main guy Jake, he’s pretty solid. He wants to move up the ranks even if it means no longer being a firefighter. He’s a bit worried since this means leaving his late father’s shadow but he does feel like it’s the right move. He does his best to make the firefighter gala a success. The ending is pretty tough on him since he effectively wasted a lot of time but ultimately at least Noelle helped him out a bit. It’s understandable that he wouldn’t have been a happy camper at that point. The romance is pretty rushed with him and Noelle though. I feel like they could have gone with the just friends angle and that would have worked out quite nicely.

Finally with Noelle, she’s a solid main character. It’s nice to have a character who’s super into Christmas for a change instead of coming around later. By all accounts she’s always been a nice person and has made a lot of good moves. She probably could have handled the situation of not telling Jake about the changes a little better but all in all I definitely can say that she was a fun lead. The cast is fairly small so each character really counts here.

Early on in the film Noelle gets stuck at work when due to everyone forgetting she was there and locking up for the night. She handled it pretty well as she really made herself at home and began eating the snacks. That would definitely be a nice perk of being stuck in a store like that. I always thought it could be pretty fun depending on the store. Spending a night trapped in there would almost be like a vacation of sorts with unlimited food. It’s fun to think about of course but so I’m glad she wasn’t panicking or anything. Taking it in stride is definitely how you should handle it.

Overall, Hallmark never ceases to churn out solid Christmas films and this one was no different. It’s been a little while since I saw one where they had a big supernatural angle from the start so that was a lot of fun. The Guardian Angel made for a fun character even if she wasn’t always helpful with how she likes to keep secrets and answer cryptically instead of just saying what she’s thinking. If you’re looking for a fun film to check out with quality characters then I would definitely say to watch this one. There’s really nothing bad to say about it and it consistently delivers with solid moments.

Overall 7/10

Switched for Christmas Review

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It’s been a while since I saw a film where the main characters decide to trade places. It’s always a pretty fun concept though using the whole premise of how the grass always looks greener. It makes sense that both of the characters would think that the other one has the easier job. I would make the case that the VP of the huge company probably has it tougher because she really had to rise up the ranks but naturally both of them have tough jobs. At the end of the day nobody’s got it super easy. Everyone has something that they’re going through and trials to overcome.

The main characters are Kate and Chris. They are both twin sisters who have grown rather distant ever since their Mom died. They used to be close but that was a long time ago. Their father tricks them into having dinner together and after a spirited argument they agree to do the body swap. They figure nobody will notice the difference and each person’s life is so much easier that it’ll be like having a vacation. In a lot of ways the swap itself is easy but the tough part is that each of the main characters falls in love with a guy while in disguise. This is naturally not good for a lot of reasons. The main one being that this will cause a lot of drama when they return to their own lives. They have to find a way out of this predicament but can they do it?

In a lot of ways Chris really shined the brightest here. She got to show off her artistic talents, knowledge of children, and was just a great team player. She was really acing every part of her day and really fulfilled her end of the bargain. From the two characters she also just seemed like the nicer member. Her eating habits may not have been as healthy as Kate’s, but Chris still gets the job done in the end which is what counts. Naturally that isn’t to say that Kate’s a bad character. She does a reasonable job at making the edits to the school play. The main difference is that she was showing a lot of resistance at first which almost put the job in jeopardy. Keep in mind that a large donor has asked to change things up and yet Kate still tries to block this at first. She comes around later on but seemed slower on the uptake.

Both of them were shaky with allowing romances to develop during the swap though. That’s definitely the last thing you need to be doing at this point. It all ends up working out pretty nicely for the characters but it could have easily gone very wrong. Definitely a high risk play if you ask me. The core plot can be a bit weaker than some of the other Hallmark titles. I’d say from all the ones we saw recently this one just felt the least focused on Christmas. It was more accidental than being a core/focused part of the story. Not to overstate that, we still do have two Christmas parties and a lot of lights everywhere of course but it still didn’t feel quite as big here. Maybe that’s just because the main part of the story was really about the swap and because of that the rest feels like background elements.

This movie did go for a bit of a different kind of story from the norm though so I appreciate that. Usually you have the girl who ditches her fiancée or gets dumped by him and then meets someone else. They hit it off and the lead learns to have a little more fun on Christmas. This time around none of that happens as both characters do like Christmas, Kate just tends to be too busy to really celebrate it all that much. By the end of the film she has learned to make time though.

The two guys Tom and Greg are decent enough I suppose. They aren’t great at knowing which twin is which though as it probably takes a long time to really master that. In a lot of ways their personalities are super similar. Tom is a rich guy who enjoys spending time with his family and wants to make sure that the school year starts off well for his kid. Then you’ve got Greg who just enjoys helping out with the party decorating. Both of them seem like pretty decent guys so that’s always good. Then you’ve got Chris’ kids who fortunately don’t appear all that much so they don’t hold the film back or anything like that.

Overall, this is another solid installment. As always the writing here is pretty solid. The characters are good and you’ve got a pretty well rounded movie experience. There’s perhaps a little less going on for this film compared to a lot of Hallmark’s other titles but I still wouldn’t say that there’s anything here to really hold it back either. It’s got a unique premise and that’s always good since it shows that Hallmark is still trying new things. With two main characters to follow that means there is a little less screen time for each one but still enough to tell a full story. If you want to watch a good Christmas film then this is a solid option to check out although I would sooner recommend other Hallmark films at the ready. With this title complete, Hallmark continues its streak of always delivering quality experiences.

Overall 7/10

A Christmas Detour Review

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Whenever you’re planning to go somewhere and your ride ends up getting delayed it definitely makes you hope that you’ll at least be able to grab some food. Some may really enjoy the detour while others will just eagerly await the moment where they can just get to where they were planning to go. This film deals with the main character having an exceptionally long detour but will this time allow her to avoid a potential mistake with her future? Right now there’s definitely a whole lot for her to think about.

Paige arrives to her plane with a decent amount of time to spare. This is fortunate because in the end she has to barter with the staff a while as she tries to bring more luggage on board than what the plane allows. She makes it onto the plane but then gets involved in a debate with Dylan on true love. Paige believes in this 100% as everyone has a soul mate and that’s the one true partner for them. Dylan doesn’t think that makes sense and thinks the odds aren’t in its favor. Well, they’re going to have a lot of time to be able to debate this with each other because as it turns out the weather is really bad so nobody will be getting to New York anytime soon.

For Paige this is troubling news because she had been heading to her fiancé Jack’s house so she could finally meet his parents. They are about to get married so this was a pretty big deal for her. Jack also warns her that if she doesn’t make it by Christmas day then they will have to put the marriage off for another year. The stakes are high. Meanwhile Dylan wasn’t thrilled about going home for Christmas anyway so he is thrilled whenever these occurrences happen. He has a lot of fun teasing Paige throughout the movie since she is very easy to trigger. There’s also a married couple of 20-30 years tagging along. They fall in the middle of the main 2 on emotions. They’re ready for a nice Christmas but are enjoying the detours as best they can.

This film has one of the better dynamics with Paige and Dylan. Certainly Dylan’s teasing can go a bit far at times but he’s just determined to have a lot of fun the whole time. Nothing is about to get him down and it makes him a pretty interesting character to follow. Of course you know the film is ultimately going to set him and Paige up but at least he has a lot of personality before that. He does have the right attitude about their situation. The heroes can’t exactly control when the storm will end so the least you can do is make the most of it in the meantime.

Paige definitely isn’t able to see the bright side here because she is very stressed out about her plans not going through. There’s also the added pressure of the marriage going back but that should have just been a red flag. When we meet up with Jack and his parents it’s hard to see how she ever liked him. Now, of course she would not have met the parents before so we can’t take that into consideration. They are portrayed to be comically antagonistic the whole time as they insult Paige to her face many times. Jack never actually defends her on this either so he loses more points right off the bat there.

The thing is, Jack isn’t really any better. He takes shots at Paige as well and is all too willing to have her lose out on her wedding plans. He just lets the Mom choose everything and expects Paige to follow suit. He doesn’t seem to care about her at all. I guess Paige was just a little oblivious at the time but there just didn’t seem to be much of a friendship between them at the bare minimum. It makes the whole soulmate thing look even more suspect as a result since this clearly didn’t end up working out. In theory you should go into a relationship as if it’s the only love you’ll have but the problem is in a film like this there are always constant rebounds so you can’t even take the premise seriously.

Unfortunately this whole plot ends up hurting Paige quite a lot though. She started the film off on a relatively strong note but started to really decline after that. She lies to Jack quite a few times and even by the very end of the film she continues to deceive him. She is basically forced to come clean once the photo is brought to light and Dylan himself appears. That already seems like a rocky start to her sticking through this next relationship. Keep in mind that she was already engaged prior to the film starting so no matter how she justifies it, she wasn’t exactly holding strong up to this point.

Additionally, Paige allowed herself to get steamrolled by the Mom during the whole second half of the film. She put up 0 resistance as all of her wedding plans were dashed. She would just shoot everyone astonished looks the whole time but wouldn’t say anything in her defense. That’s just not a good look. It shows that she’s not going to stand up for herself no matter what happens. Allowing everyone to walk all over you is never a good thing.

I ended up liking Dylan a lot more than Paige as a result. At least he always has a lot of good one liners at the ready and quick retorts. That said, Maxine and Frank were probably the more interesting characters here. They’re a very jaded married couple as mentioned, but they’ve still got a pretty strong bond going on. The end of the film actually gives them more of a serious plot than I expected. I kind of figured they were already doing well and the sarcasm was something they had fun with. Either way by the end of the film they’re pretty tight again. Without them Dylan and Paige definitely would not have been in a great spot. It’s been a while since I saw a Hallmark film with a supporting couple like this who get a big role. In fact, it may be the first time and I enjoyed it. It was a nice angle to have included.

Overall, Christmas Detour started out a lot better than it ended. The ending was just a bit weak with a lot of the decisions Paige ended up making. Still, I do like the premise quite a bit and so of course the best scenes of the film are before they actually get back onto the main path. There was a lot of good humor here and as always a lot of good writing as well so there’s nothing to really dislike in the slightest. You can expect a very balanced film here and I would definitely recommend checking it out if you want to see a good Christmas movie.

Overall 7/10

Christmas Under Wraps Review

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Time for our next stop on the Hallmark channel express. They’ve always done a tremendous job with their Christmas lineup and unsurprisingly that is true of this film as well. Christmas Under Wraps is another solid entry in the franchise and is a very solid all around title. There are no real issues to be had with the film. It’s just a nice adventure where we get to enjoy some time at a local town where they have a fun time celebrating Christmas. Definitely gets you excited since that’s coming up pretty close now.

The movie starts by introducing us to Lauren who is a doctor getting ready to get promoted into the Fellowship where she will be able to finally have completed her life’s plans. She’s always lived by her plan and prepares to get married which will check another box. Unfortunately things don’t go quite so smoothly. Her boyfriend dumps her during dinner and then she loses out on the program. Lauren’s only available option is a small town in Alaska where they need a doctor. It’s not exactly what she signed up for but she lost out on the position in part because she didn’t have out of the box experiences so this is her chance to change all of that. It’s definitely a very different atmosphere. Can Lauren get with the program or is she doomed here?

Lauren starts off as a fairly reasonable character though compared to the last Hallmark adventure where the lead came in with a bad attitude from the start. Lauren’s not perfect and does show some clear disdain for the small town environment at first but the townsfolk do a good job of ignoring her slights and continually trying to get her on board. Eventually she does realize that the town’s actually pretty great and that’s when she can really start having some fun here. It’s no surprise that she would eventually get used to the town. All the people there are really nice and the town has all of the essentials on hand. As long as you keep an open mind you’re bound to have some fun. I didn’t see any pizza places though so I’m hoping they’ve got at least one.

Naturally there is a romance plot in this film as handyman Andy shows up to have a good time. I can’t give the romance here a thumbs up since Lauren literally went from being ready to marry someone else to dating this guy within a few days. Perhaps if we’re being generous you could say there were massive time skips and Lauren was at the town for months but I have my doubts. So that falls into the rebound territory. Otherwise Andy’s a pretty good guy though. He really helps out around the town doing whatever he can to help the others. He’s portrayed as just a very decent guy and he never really lets things get him down. It’s hard to find a more balanced character.

Although my favorite character would be Hattie. She was great at memorizing the coffee orders real quick and seemed to have a solid knowledge of the town as a whole. She was always around and ready to step in when Lauren was having trouble. She’s the kind of character who will always have your back. The rest of the town members are solid as well of course but she really stood out. Then you’ve got Billie who is the head nurse and also a good friend to Lauren. I’ll give her props for not beating around the bush and just asking the guy out. I do feel that if you like someone you should just go ahead and make the move as opposed to waiting to be asked out. Of course, when you make a game of it like in Love is War that can make for incredible dynamics but that’s more the exception to the rule.

Henry and Maggie are also portrayed as pretty nice parents to Lauren. Finally we have a more reasonable group here as her father is glad that Lauren will be following in his footsteps but doesn’t put any extra pressure on her. When she makes her decision to enjoy the town he’s quite supportive of it. Meanwhile Maggie was especially happy since she was hoping Lauren would slow down a bit to enjoy her time while it was around. After all, a career’s important but you do always need to make sure to leave time for everything else too.

Then we’ve got a subplot with Frank, a man who looks like Santa Clause. Throughout the film Lauren keeps noticing things that don’t add up like Elves running around and the fact that Frank even owns a Reindeer. The official story is that he’s part of a little parade the town throws on Christmas but is that really the whole story? He’s quite secretive about his shipping business to the point where he doesn’t tell anyone outside of the town about it. The whole town seems to be involved in some kind of conspiracy. Frank’s definitely a great character though and he certainly enjoys his cookies. Of course, why wouldn’t he right? Christmas is the perfect time to snack on a bunch of cookies. Chocolate Chip will always be my favorite but naturally sugar cookies are a lot of fun too.

Frank may not take great care of his health but he’s definitely a good guy doing his best during the busy season. He probably could have been more receptive to Andy taking over parts of the business but I do agree with him that they shouldn’t be so quick to tell Lauren the truth about the business particularly if she was still thinking about going home. That’s the kind of secret you have to wait until both characters are fully committed. Based on Lauren’s final decisions she clearly hadn’t been 100% committed at that point. In the end the big twist of what the whole town is involved in with the business is pretty fun. It helped add a subtle mystery element to the movie.

Overall, as always Hallmark delivered another great adventure here. The writing is really good and the cast of characters are solid as well. You just can’t go wrong with that combination. It makes for a really solid Christmas adventure and shows you the appeal of small town environments. Personally I’m still more of a NYC kind of guy since I just like having all kinds of stores around and the ability to go anywhere on a whim but I wouldn’t mind some of that weather. It feels like a while since we got a decent helping of snow and over in Alaska that definitely would not be a problem in the winter. If you want to see a nice uplifting film that gets you into a festive mood then this is definitely a good movie to check out.

Overall 7/10