Tag Archives: Christmas

A California Christmas Review

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It’s time for one of those romance films that is so filled with twists, betrayals, and general drama that you know the romance could never work. There would just be no chance of building trust or anything like that…right? Well that is what holds the film back at least because every romance scene just doesn’t work here. California was not ready for Christmas.

The movie starts off with introducing us to the mega wealthy Joseph who is incredibly immature and irresponsible because everything has been handed to him on a silver platter. Well, his mother says that it’s time for him to use his select talents in their next global operation. The company wants to take over a piece of property that belongs to a lady named Callie. She refuses to give up the land so Joseph is told to go over there and seduce her. He realizes that this won’t be so easy if he shows up as a rich guy so he impersonates the ranch-hand named Manny and shows up to work for his first day. He quickly gets close to Callie but can he accomplish his mission of getting her to sell before he is exposed?

Now this is all one huge deception so naturally we can’t root for Joseph here. The whole time he is manipulating her after all so the romance is under false pretenses. He also has numerous opportunities to come clean about this and chooses not to. So at the end of the day he only has himself to blame here for what comes next. There’s no way he should be rewarded with a proper romance by the end of it. Too many bridges were burned here.

Meanwhile Manny ends up being a super annoying character as he is quick to blackmail Joseph and Leo. The guy gets spoiled right away and is basically another antagonist by the end of the film. They probably should have just kidnapped him early on or something instead of having him order them around. It’s the kind of subplot that makes everyone look bad. Leo at least seemed rather decent the whole time but since he is going along with the plan I can’t really give him any kudos either.

Then we have Callie who may not be the most practical character in keeping a land that is generating a loss every day but at least she is staying true to her convictions. Never thinking to sell her wine wasn’t a great look either. I’d say her main flaw is just being too forgiving. Even if you put the whole Joseph thing aside, we have the childhood friend who makes several rather aggressive advances on her. He tries to force them into being a thing and has to be physically separated by Joseph. Callie doesn’t take this nearly as hard as she should have and continues to treat him normally. If someone pulls that kind of stunt, drunk or not then you have to cut ties completely. That should have been it for that guy.

So when you’ve got a romance film where the main romance is this doomed, it is going to affect the whole film. It means all of their scenes together will make you cringe because you see just how underhanded and deceptive they are. Additionally it’s all moving way too fast. Joseph just moved there and he works for Callie so there are a ton of conflicts of interest here. Perhaps he’s trying to get close to her in order to get easier shifts or not work as hard. That is something that should come up right away and Callie should be putting a lot of distance for a long while before letting him in.

I could go on, but you get the idea here. This is a textbook example of howe to write a bad romance. I was actually rooting for the mother here because she showed up and within minutes had way better results than Joseph. She showed why selling the land would be a good idea and even made a very generous offer. This wasn’t a case of corporate being evil except for the initial plan but trying to make money without being unfair about it. I’d have taken the deal in a heartbeat because again, the whole land was working on a net loss.

Before Joseph came over, Callie had to work on the whole farm by herself in addition to taking care of her sick mother. It was not practical and then Callie had to work a night job? There’s absolutely no way there are enough hours in the day for her to pull this off even if her mother was healthy. Things would only get worse and worse over time so yeah sometimes you do have to forget the sentimental value and just be prepared to move out of a place. It’s not fun or anything but it’s just the reality of the situation.

Overall, This film was really held back by the main pairing. A romance film needs to at least try and make a case for why it works. You could maybe have a solid rebound romance that I still take shots at but doesn’t tank the film. This isn’t one of those cases because the whole thing feels fake. We already know that Joseph is constantly moving on so it’s hard to see this one lasting even after they get married. The movie has its share of fun but the banter disappears early on as they get together and so then all that’s left is the weak romance which isn’t a good idea. The film absolutely needed to keep the dynamic aggressive between the characters for a while longer and instead of him trying to seduce her, it could be about sabotaging the farm or constantly giving reasons to sell it. That would have absolutely made for a more engaging film. Definitely skip this one in favor of another Christmas title that is a little more wholesome.

Overall 4/10

A Christmas Blessing Review

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It’s time for a more classic kind of Great American Family title and this one is definitely up for the task. Sometimes when it’s Christmas time you can’t just be stuffing your face. Instead it’s time to make a difference in the world and that’s exactly what Mandy aims to do by bringing back a food pantry. It’s a movie that definitely stays fun all the way through.

The movie starts out with Mandy retiring from her food show which had been a global sensation. She is now going to travel the world and try all kinds of new food dishes but first she has to stop by her aunt’s home. Her aunt passed away and so this passed onto Mandy but apparently the place used to be a big food pantry. Mandy is convinced by one of her aunt’s old friends Otto that she should give the food pantry one last Christmas. She will have to work fast to get volunteers since the year is almost up though and will the new owner Adam be patient about this?

It can always be tough when you have a deal ready to go and one side backs out at the last second. So I can cut Adam some slack here because that’s rough no matter what the context is. That said, he is also pretty agreeable about it the whole time. He is even quick to help out with getting the food ready. He does end up getting a romance set up with Mandy so you could say he’s not being completely objective here but for the most part he does seem like a good guy so I don’t think it’s very far from the norm or anything like that.

I was also glad that he looked into the mysterious Otto to make sure that Mandy wasn’t going to be in any danger. That actually makes a lot of sense to me. Even if Otto wasn’t too mysterious, there is never anything wrong with doing a background check. Adam was a very realistic guy and so he did good in his role. Meanwhile Mandy was a solid main character. She was really able to put her food skills to good use here. Additionally, she was not too quick to give up or anything like that.

She is perhaps a bit trusting at times but I won’t fault her hard for that. Without her the whole food pantry wouldn’t have had a chance and in the end it turned out really well. Most characters wouldn’t be able to say they pulled this off. Of course the big MVP here was Otto. He showed up out of the blue and really played the sentimental card which got Mandy to go through with keeping the pantry up. Without him, she would have just closed it and gone off to eat at a restaurant.

He may be cryptic the whole film but he is definitely a good person. He does act very unnaturally though so you understand why the other characters doubt him. He makes sure to always answer every question very carefully so you can almost see him choosing his words. For that reason you know what he is saying is accurate but at the same time it could also be very misleading. Those are often the trickiest fellows to keep track of.

There is also a backup romance going on here with Adam’s brother (Or cousin, I forget exactly) and one of the volunteers but it feels very tacked on the whole time. It didn’t really need to be around and for the most part he was a jerk the whole time so I don’t see why she would fall for him. At one point he basically parks right in the street and isn’t very apologetic about the whole thing. Throw in the fact that he made a huge slip-up in the contract in the beginning and he was a very weak character here. You can’t be making mistakes like that when a huge part of your job is setting up these contracts.

The movie balanced out all the fun with realistic factors pretty well. For example at first we see everyone rejecting the pantry and the reasons are valid. One character explains that her company has to put everything in writing before the end of the fiscal year end so that way it all balances out perfectly. She’s not trying to rain on the parade or anything like that but it’s just the way the company policy is and she can’t go against it. I imagine that would be the case for most people, particularly since Mandy was trying to amass pounds and pounds of food. It’s not like pledging a sandwich for a party coming up or anything like that.

Then as the film goes on things begin to work out and it even takes some supernatural abilities. That helps take care of the realism part of it. Ultimately there was no way to do this without Otto pulling some strings and then the whole thing clicked. The movie’s romance is a bit on the weak side but beyond that, this is a quality movie the whole way through. The pacing is good and the writing is on point so I can’t really ask for anything more than that. This film could also have potential for a sequel. We know the pantry will keep going now but if they can squeeze in a plot of Mandy travelling the world, maybe the gimmick can be that she helps someone at every stop.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. One of those movies that is just easy viewing for any time, but particularly during Christmas. The food looked good even if some of the fancier restaurant dishes were a bit pretentious for my liking. Seriously food never needs to be fancy, as long as it is tasty then that is good enough for me. A Christmas Blessing reminds you that at the end of the day you can always find a way to help people out. Mandy and her team put in the effort and helped quite a lot of people out. It’s a very heart warming kind of story.

Overall 7/10

Christmas in Conway Review

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It’s time for one of those really emotional kind of Christmas titles. Naturally, there’s nothing wrong with being more on the emotional side but it can be hard to compete with the more upbeat adventures. This one has its moments but on the whole I would say it’s definitely going too far on the tragic side and ends up potentially being Hallmark’s weakest title. It definitely needed more pop!

The movie starts off by introducing us to Suzy who is terminally ill and will be dead soon. Her husband Duncan has been taking it pretty hard of course and is hoping to at least spend their final days together. Unfortunately for him she now has a live in nurse named Natalie who Duncan seems to consider to be an intruder the whole time. He makes it very clear that she is not wanted here and then he gets the idea to make a Ferris wheel for Suzy. This will be a way to recreate their first date but he will have to work really quickly and in the meantime one of his neighbors wants to shut him down. Will he have to rely on the ex-convict Tommy?

Now you have to give the film credit for having a fairly large cast here. One of the big supporting characters is Tommy who made some huge mistakes in his past and the film slowly goes over this. For those reasons Duncan doesn’t trust him at all, the guy never even forgave him in the first place. So there is a lot of tension there the whole time and then the film seems to potentially be setting up a romance with him and Natalie. After we learn the truth of what happened, I can definitely see why Duncan is upset. It would be really hard to trust Tommy again after that.

In the present he seems nice enough although I do think it is irresponsible of him to try and get Natalie on dates when she needs to be available for Suzy. Being gone for 20 minutes can be the difference between life or death here. As for Natalie, I would say she takes her job very seriously. She is good at it and continues to work even as Duncan doesn’t make things easy for her. That’s certainly commendable on her part and in the end Natalie really does help free up time for the others to get things ready. She was also a good friend to Suzy.

Suzy is a solid heroine here who tries to get Duncan under control the whole time. Considering that she is facing her own demise, Suzy stays strong for the most part. Duncan tends to look bad for most of the film as he takes everything out on the others. He’s upset about Suzy dying and of course that can make it tempting to vent but he really needed to control himself more. It takes pretty much the whole film for him to finally turn the corner and handle his feelings properly. I would have liked that to have happened a bit sooner.

Meanwhile, the neighbor is about as petty as you can be. She wants to win the front yard contest and so that’s the main reason why she tries to sabotage the Ferris wheel. It’s all for a contest and she doesn’t even seem to care that someone is dying. The film lets her off rather easy without even getting a proper talking to. I would have liked her to have seen the neighborhood turn against her or something.

At least everyone supported Duncan when it counted at the end. Even the guy with a gun who was rather stand-offish the whole time finally came through. That was definitely a good moment and made for a fun climax. If the whole film had that energy then I think it would have been a lot better. At the end of the day the main problem here is just that most of the film is rather dreary.

For example Suzy needs to drink some tough medicine in order to stay strong and it apparently tastes horrible and is hard to get down. So we get some moments there and just general reminders that she’s not going to make it. So even the ending can only be so happy because it doesn’t actually extend her ending. The film isn’t allowed many moments to be happy so it has 0 replay value. This isn’t the kind of film you will be watching a second time so automatically that means it wouldn’t be considered as a good film.

Then even on the initial watch, it just isn’t as good as any of its rivals. You want the fun Christmas celebrations, food, and all kinds of cheer. Sad films can work but they are extremely rare and ultimately I wouldn’t say this is one of them. At the end of the day it’s just not an enjoyable watch and that is ultimately the #1 purpose of any film. Maybe if the whole film was about Duncan trying to get the Ferris wheel working then it could have been different. I appreciated him having to stand up to someone with a gun in order to get the ball rolling and the verbal fight with the main police officer was intense. They ended up being good distractions at least but in this case it never took away from the main plot which was the problem. You needed to flip it so that was the main plot and focus.

Overall, Christmas in Conway is definitely a very different kind of title and that just didn’t work. I can always appreciate the attempt to shake things up even if it didn’t work out though. If you are looking for a very gloomy movie where things won’t work out then this could be for you though. As long as you like that kind of atmosphere then it’s safe to say that this one pulls that off. It’s just not what I’m really looking for and so the premise already doomed the film right out of the gate. There’s not much you can do at that point.

Overall 4/10

Nutcracker Fantasy Review

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It’s time for a classic tale although this Nutcracker story takes quite a few liberties from the usual formula. It’s almost always a good idea to do that as it keeps the story fresh and this is no exception. While I wish we had gotten to see more of the infamous Ragman, the main story will keep you entertained the whole time. There’s a whole lot going on here.

The movie begins with the Ragman turning a poor kid into a rat because he stayed up past his bedtime. The unfortunate thing is that every kid knows about the Ragman but he is so well known that he is considered to be a superstition now. We then cut to Clara who was planning to stay up late even while her aunt tried to warn her not to. Fortunately Drosselmeyer shows up and gives her a Nutcracker doll. He’s not too pleased with how it looks but she insists on keeping it. That night, some mice try to kidnap him but the Nutcracker fights back once Clara is in danger. When she wakes up, they’re all gone though. She must navigate a dangerous world of twin headed monsters and a kingdom on the brink of ruin. Is Clara up for this?

Lets get the elephant out of the room right away which is that this film is stop motion. Yeah I know that’s not ideal but look at the end of the day that’s going to happen. As far as that style goes I would say this movie does a pretty good job with it. I liked the fight scenes and this style does make for some pretty fun facial expressions. The characters tend to look shocked quite often and everyone appears to be very suspicious so you really can’t trust them. Meanwhile the backgrounds are all sinister which really drops the hammer on the fact that this is a brand new world.

Keeping all that in mind, Clara handles things really well. She doesn’t waste a lot of time wanting to go back home or complaining about the state of affairs. Instead she gets right to work on finding the Nutcracker and it isn’t easy since nobody is particularly helpful. It also turned out that she looks just like the princess who is currently in a coma so Clara will work with the Nutcracker on saving her. Little does she know the princess would end up being one of the worst characters in the film. Ah well, it’s actually a pretty nice change of pace to have a member of royalty just be unashamedly petty and arrogant the whole time. More often than not that would actually be pretty realistic.

So I give Clara a lot of points throughout the film. Meanwhile the Nutcracker was also good. He was quick to put his life on the line in order to help Clara out and he is very skilled in combat. Even if it means turning back into a doll afterwards, he is not someone who will just give up halfway. It was nice for Clara to have at least one dependable ally.

That’s where I take points away from Drosselmeyer. Now it depends just how aware of things he is because the guy vanishes for most of the film but it’s hinted throughout that he at least know the basis of what’s going to happen. Sure he steps in at the very end but I wanted him to do more. Maybe at the beginning warn Clara that she is about to be facing the fight of her life and giving her some tips.

The Nutcracker’s ending tends to be a little different each time but there is always that moment where you wonder what is real and what isn’t. Well, at least in this case I think it’s clear that it was all real and Drosselmeyer is the key to the whole thing. It’s why the Princess Tutu was a fun TV show because it really went deep into the lore for all of this. It’s probably the best adaption even if some would probably say that it isn’t technically a Nutcracker adaption. I’d say it is at any rate….

Now while there is a ton happening and a whole lot of characters showing up, for that reason is can also be a bit overwhelming at times. Clara is constantly thrown into different situations with more and more characters that it can be tough to keep track of them all. Typically you just have the rats and the rat king but this time there are characters everywhere. At one point Clara basically stumbles into Alice and Wonderland as there are these two guys in the middle of the forest who are just cryptic. They didn’t have much to do with anything although I’m sure there would be some lore videos about them depending on how popular this movie is.

I get the feeling that Nutcracker Fantasy probably has tons of themes and hidden messages beyond most of the scenes and plots. Even the whole Ragman intro that didn’t go anywhere probably has some kind of hidden meaning but in the meantime it’s up to you to grab the meaning. The main thing is to just make sure you are helping out because you want to and not for the satisfaction. After all Clara would have probably been crushed if she had been doing all this to save the princess as opposed to doing the right thing since the princess had no gratitude. The King also looks bad for allowing himself to be dragged on so easily. He at least should have done more for the heroes.

Then again the King couldn’t even take control of a whole room of mad spellcasters who all had crazy schemes on how to wake up the princess. It’s no wonder that the kingdom was losing to the rats. Meanwhile Morphia was a fun main villain. Her rat army definitely could do a lot of damage and so she should take most of the credit there as their leader. Without her they would definitely be a lot more aimless. I would have liked her to have gotten to fight herself more because fighting styles with two heads can be really solid but the film already does have more action than I would have expected so it’s not a negative or anything like that.

Overall, Nutcracker Fantasy is a pretty good film. One of its strengths is absolutely in how wild and unpredictable it is. Even the most seasoned of movie viewers will probably be unable to predict every twist and turn in here. I’d definitely recommend checking it out. The stop motion visuals may be a little hard to get into at first but once you have gotten past that then you will be all set. I’d definitely be up for a sequel to this some day.

Overall 7/10

A Christmas Carol (1984) Review

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The Christmas Carol is one of those classic stories that has been told many times over the years. It’s a story that will continue to be retold for generations because the whole thing is easy to understand and has a good moral at the end. You can’t ask for much more than that right? This one is a pretty solid adaption, I won’t say it’s the best or anything like that but I didn’t have any issues with it.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Scrooge who runs a really tight ship. He has earned a lot of money over the years and has decided that he won’t see any of it be squandered! No, he will work in a cold office if needed but the money will remain his. Everyone around him tells Scrooge to lighten up but he refuses. He heads home one night only to be visited by the ghost of his old partner. This ghost named Marley is trapped in chains and laments how his fate is already doomed but perhaps Scrooge can still be saved. He threatens Scrooge with visits from 3 supernatural creatures and then fades away. Scrooge aims to stay strong but these ghosts will use every trick in the book in order to get at him. Can Scrooge properly resist such an onslaught??

Now this version of Marley was a bit confusing. In the film they act as though he was a fairly nice guy and even in his speech it sounds as though he did use his money to help people out. So why is he trapped in chains and about to be doomed for all eternity? That part just didn’t seem particularly clear here. In a way they should have mentioned more about him being just as bad as Scrooge and not paying heed to the lessons which is why he’s in chains now.

Well after that the ball is in Scrooge’s court. Of course we all know the story by this point so the fun is in seeing how strong this Scrooge can be. Some of them break down almost immediately and side with the light while others make it to the end. I would say this was one of the tougher Scrooges. He made it midway through the second ghost before really breaking down. This version of the second ghost was also one of the most aggressive ones as he actively threatened Scrooge so you have to keep that in mind as well. Often times the ghosts try to be a little more subtle than that.

Scrooge was basically someone who took things a little too far. Nothing wrong with deciding to live a quiet life of not spending any money if that’s what you want to do. It really just starts to get dicey with how he treats his partner. The reason why Scrooge is a character that still works though is because he’s not too exaggerated. You could argue that the way he treats his partner is the only thing that is objectively bad. He does other things that may not be socially popular but he’s not breaking any rules or actively murdering people. And as he points out during the movie, he was ultimately able to achieve these riches in part due to his lifestyle.

He sacrificed a lot to get to the top such as his relationships and family. He basically became a loner and at the end of the day he doesn’t really have anything important in his life other than money. He’ll end up having a lonely existence and that’ll be that. It is still a little surprising to see how Scrooge is surprised by this outcome though. Surely that was just part of the choices he made right? I’d have expected him to realize that he would be all alone in death since he actively did his best to make sure he had no friends in life.

Meanwhile the families may have all been upset at Scrooge even to the end but it makes sense. From their point of view this change of heart is incredibly sudden. His nephew was really glad at Scrooge’s presence the whole time since he had always held out hope for this but the others will take some time. Ultimately Scrooge is in a good place in the present and now it’ll just be a question of where he draws the line. He has a fortune large enough to completely change many lives but of course he won’t be able to do that for everyone. Then he would run out of money and things would get dicey. For now we can at least be reassured of the fact that he will have a support network and friends to talk to.

As for the ghosts, they were all fun enough. Like I said the second ghost was a lot tougher this time around. He seemed to be the most sinister out of the 3 because he tries to have a nice facade the whole time until it breaks. That makes him incredibly suspicious. Then you’ve got the first ghost who could be a bit sarcastic at times but was trying to get through to Scrooge. Finally the third one is just hear to put some fear into him as normal. This may be a ghost of few words but he gets the job done. Considering how many people in the town are now saved, maybe Marley did deserve to break the chain and get a happy ending too.

Overall, A Christmas Carol is one of those films where you know all of the story beats so the critical factor is really in how well they are executed. I would say the film was handled pretty well overall. I didn’t really have any issues with it here. The whole story plays out well and it’s a classic uplifting kind of tale. I think the next really influential adaption will be another one to have a little fun with the format like Scrooged though. You gotta throw a wild card in there and yes it will be risky but sometimes you really have to take a risk in order to pull something like this off. Without that, the film is limited a bit by just how predictable it is. Still, check this one out and see where you stack it up among all the versions.

Overall 6/10

A Visit to Santa Review

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So blurry!!! That’s what you’ll be thinking right away but even 4K visuals would not have been able to save this short film. All films should have some kind of point. Even if we’re talking 10 minutes, there should be some reason that you want to watch the product right? I mean if there isn’t, why would you be watching this at all right? Unfortunately it didn’t seem like this movie actually knew what it wanted to do at all and that’s absolutely disgraceful.

The film starts with two kids whining about Santa. The parents quickly get them off to bed so they can get out of there but Santa learns that the kids want to see him thanks to their message. So he has his elf bring them in and the kids get to see all about how Santa’s workshop works. It’s an intense experience but someone forgot to tell the kids that as they are visibly bored the whole time and want to go home. Here we have Santa being a nice guy and showing them things that almost nobody has seen before and they are bored??? It was such a mean thing for these kids to do.

I’m not saying they had to be yelling up and down but these are rather fantastic events. They are moving at high speeds and seeing such big secrets. At least a bunch of “thank you” responses and general excitement would be good. Unfortunately while I say this would be big for the kids, it’s not so entertaining for the adults though. The effects haven’t aged extremely well at the end of the day and even the costumes are really weak. They could learn something or two from how we have the Macy’s Santa costumes lined up.

Like I said earlier, it’s also hard to find any point to this. What lesson is the film teaching us? How do they want the audience to react and feel? It’s all just aimed so low that anyone over the age of 2 will be bored and anyone under that age will just fall asleep. This film isn’t effectively targeting anyone and so in the end it will just blend in with the background. That is definitely not a good thing at all. It’s only around 10 minutes or so, so at least it doesn’t drag on for as long as it would have otherwise.

Still, there isn’t really much to defend about the film at all. In fact I would say there is a lot to attack instead. Giving us a quick antagonist would have been good even if it was the parents. Like maybe they tracked the kids down and are looking for them so Santa says they will have to move quickly or something like that. At least then you will have a sense of urgency that could push the whole thing forward. Perhaps I am asking for too much but that would have been a nice way to make it all more exciting if you ask me.

Overall, A Visit to Santa is definitely a film to stay away from. It doesn’t do anything particularly bad or offensive but the problem is that it doesn’t really do anything period. I wanted something to excite me but this film just didn’t pull that off. At the end of the day it’s one of those film that has lost its way. I can see why it has been lost to time since nobody would have cared enough about it to preserve this piece of history. It’s best left in your memories so for that reason I would say to give it the boot. Watch Jingle All The Way instead.

Overall 3/10

I Heard the Bells

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It’s time for a film based on a true story. I’m actually not super familiar with the poem or the guy that the film is centered around. Like I’ve said in the past though, that can actually be a good thing sometimes. It means that the whole adventure will be really fresh and I don’t know what’s going to happen. I wouldn’t say the film ever manages to capture your interest but if you really like the war time environment then you can appreciate the film’s attention to detail.

Okay so the film starts off with a normal family like for Henry and his family. You know the general premise of the film involves tragedy and so the whole time you’re sort of waiting for that to happen. Well, finally it does. His wife ends up burning to death after a tragic accident and then one of Henry’s sons goes off into war and gets badly injured. Henry decides not to write poems anymore as he no longer sees the joy in life. The film is about him learning to experience fun things again and move on.

It can be tough to move on after something bad happens though and for that reason I wouldn’t have blamed him if he never made a poem again. You can never really tell someone when the right time to move on is because that time table will change for everybody. It’s also particularly tough when we’re talking about a close death like what happened to his wife. It’s also just such a tough way to go, there was nothing peaceful about her passing after all.

It’s a reminder to me of why I never liked all the sophistication of old style dresses and garments. The fact that they were so tight that you often needed someone else to help you take them off is crazy. Clothes should be practical in addition to be stylish. Anything that is a potential fire hazard in the sense that you can’t take it off is a bad idea. This was a crazy accident and not the norm but I would say that the point still stands.

As for the son who went off into war, I thought his decision wasn’t bad. He tried communicating with his father first but the guy completely shut down after his wife died. There was no talking to him and the kid wanted to serve his country so he went over to do that. I would never fault that kind of behavior. If he had stormed off without even trying to talk then that would be bad of course but here he exhausted all of his previous options so there really wasn’t a whole lot more that he could do. At least that’s the way I see it.

Henry went through a lot but it is definitely fair to say that he didn’t handle the situation well. He still had 3 kids to take care of and wasn’t there for them emotionally for a very long time. It will come across as harsh but once you have a family to take care of then you can’t afford to shut down like that. It’s just one of the many prices you have to pay when you have kids. You have to continue taking care of them no matter what happens.

Usually I’d try to explain how the film could have been more interesting for me but it’s difficult to think of what it could do. A wild soundtrack would probably feel out of place here even if I would welcome it. There’s not a whole lot you can do about the boring scenery since this takes place back in the olden days. I suppose being less historically accurate would help things but that would hardly be something you could spin to the writers.

The only tangible thing I would mention would be to severely trim down the opening act. We don’t need to see the peaceful life early on, lets just jump right to the tragedy. Have some opening narration about how Henry was married once and now he is married a second time and then the wife dies. From there we jump on the path back to his enjoying life again. You can do this in an easy 80 minute adventure that doesn’t take too long and then we reach the climax. The longer it drags on, the more the film exposes the lack of a big cast and your just not being very interested in what’s going on. It’s easily one of the most boring films I’ve seen in a minute and usually when that happens it’s just a mix of a whole lot of things. The setting is the primary component but it also means nothing else was able to salvage the experience.

At least with the war we got a little action I suppose but even there everybody was being annoying. The kid tries to get into the fights but his commander mentions that he’s being given fake secure jobs at the behest of his father so that he stays safe. The commander can’t be bothered to say this in a nice way either. I forgot what reason they said for why a poet would have such sway but apparently Henry had enough pull to make massive requests like this. The kid still got injured anyway but Henry did his best. Maybe seeing some more of the tension at the army base could work and it did get a reasonable amount of screen time. Just keep it going, it was more interesting than the tales back home.

Overall, The film’s not really my cup of tea but I assume it was probably a pretty close picture of what happened back in the day. When you’re based on a true story, it’s not like you can change the source material or anything like that so I don’t go too hard on the film. At the end of the day it’s meant to be an uplifting story and you’re glad that Henry was able to get it together. Either the story is something that interests you or it isn’t. I’ve never been one for poetry myself. My idea of a poem is that every other sentence has to rhyme and any other structure doesn’t feel like a poem to me. I also don’t find that poems really move me, so in effect the film was starting off on a rocky basis from the jump. If you are really interested in poetry…well that’s actually not a huge part of the film either so you just need to be really engaged with the characters I suppose.

The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree Review

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The Berenstain Bears is a series that I grew up with but you don’t really see it much anymore. It didn’t really survive the test of time as well as some other titles. That said, it still has a good amount of quality to it and I was eager to see what their Christmas special looks like. It’s definitely really crazy and I would also say that it plays out more like a Dr. Seuss story with all of the rhyming throughout the dialogue. It’s very different from the usual adventure.

The basic plot is that Christmas is nearly here and the bears don’t have a Christmas tree yet! Mama Bear says they should buy one from Gus but Papa Bear scoffs at the idea. He will get a tree the old fashioned way and quickly gets Brother and Sister Bear to go along with him. The problem is that every tree is already spoken for with different animals living in them. Time is ticking and the heroes are no closer to their goal. What can they do?

It should be noted that most of the problems here are directly a result of Papa Bear’s actions. The guy really cannot be reasoned with and in this special he also doesn’t seem to be very smart. At one point he forgets what his name is and he basically ignores the rest of the characters when they are talking. It’s his way or the highway at all times which is not really what you want to hear from the guy since he has no plan. I appreciate wanting to cut down the tree yourself but then you should probably have done that well in advance. It is nice that he stops once the animals are in trouble but it’s definitely more of a hollow victory at times.

I do think the animals were pretty mean to the guy though. He actively stopped in his efforts to cut down the tree so the animals should probably be grateful. Instead they go after Papa and try to murder him but if he fought back they would be the ones to lose. They were not really thinking with their heads on that one. I was glad that generally speaking the kids weren’t too upset with Papa though. They were sad about the circumstances but didn’t try to put all of the blame on his feet or anything like that. It would have still been valid but I was glad they didn’t kick him while he was down.

In a way Papa Bear is the main character and the only one to constantly be doing something so having him in the center of the action the whole time did help keep things entertaining. They did a good job with the animation of showing just how psycho his eyes would get the whole time. Even right to the end with the fish, Sister Bear brings up a good point and then he immediately goes into psycho mode. That was definitely pretty crazy and a super intense way to end the special. He may be crazy but that’s exactly why you want him on your side.

It’s also a good thing that the special was short because if it was too long then I think it would have ended up having a serious pacing issue. As it stands, I would say it was balanced well. Papa Bear keeps it just interesting enough where you aren’t waiting for it to end or anything. It’s not really my kind of style of special generally with the dialogue being a bit too slow but the novelty factor really helps it out. If you like the Berenstain Bears then you’ll probably appreciate this take on them.

Once again I’d give a shoutout to the animation here because it really matches the chaotic energy of the special well. In fact you could argue that without the animation, the rest of the story wouldn’t work so well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the story was based around the animation as opposed to the other way around. It can be a little rarer to see animation this chaotic outside of anime nowadays so you definitely need to savor it while you can.

Overall, The Christmas Tree made for a pretty fun adventure as you watched the heroes do their best and everything got really chaotic. It’s certainly really out there and by the end you don’t really know if this was a super cheerful adventure or not. What you do know is that it was generally entertaining. I think it’s a tricky recommendation though, I would only suggest it if you are really familiar with the franchise. Otherwise as a general viewing I would definitely say to check some other titles out first. This definitely feels like a very hit or miss kind of special.

Overall 6/10

Mr. Miracle Review

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It’s time for me to look at a film where something extremely rare happens. Hallmark actually missed the mark on this one. They just leaned a little too hard on Mr. Miracle not knowing anything to the point where it is actively distracting and also makes no sense with the storyline. I couldn’t ultimately escape this and so the film couldn’t be as good as it should have been.

The film started off with Harry getting super excited because he has been chosen to finally go to Earth and help somebody out. He has been waiting a long time for this chance because if he does well then he gets to stick around on Earth permanently as he helps more and more people. His mission is to help out a girl named Addie who has strayed off the path and isn’t super fulfilled at school Is Harry up to the task or is he about to fail?

The first big problem I have here is that for some reason Harry doesn’t know anything about anything. When he is told to “take a seat” he literally grabs it to walk off with. He takes everything literally and doesn’t know basic concepts like humor. They act like he’s an alien but at some point he had to have been a human before being an angel. Maybe he died as a baby but he’s been waiting years for his turn so it sounds like he should have picked some things up. Ultimately it just makes it so that you are shaking your head whenever he appears. The guy is wayyyyy too overdone.

It actively goes against the storyline of the movie since we never saw that problem with any other angel. I would have to attribute this to be a writing problem because the film could have easily portrayed him as naive or gullible without going this far. The film ends up being illy but not in a particularly funny way. If it was really funny then naturally the issues wouldn’t matter at all. You’re rooting against Harry here because you know that if he succeeds then he will get to stick around.

Fortunately Celeste is around to try and help. The problem is that Harry naturally doesn’t want her help. That is what makes him even worse to be honest. So not only is he terrible at his job but then he is also not willing to accept help. You can’t have a giant ego when you’re this bad. Sure, eventually he accepts the help but it took way too long to get to that point. Celeste probably should have taken a stronger stand against him as well. I’d even recommend reporting him to the other angels for making a mess of things.

As for Addie, the film is mainly supposed to be about her so she is a big character. I thought she was fairly reasonable the whole time. She’s not particularly outgoing and doesn’t like to stand out. I wouldn’t call those objectively negative qualities. I can also see why she didn’t want to help the local bully since they never got along particularly well before. Naturally a romance does bloom out of this which was hard to buy into. I was fine with them finally making amends and getting along though. No sense in holding grudges forever and it seems like things were never too personal.

It’s just hard to take this guy seriously because apparently he was a player for a long while. Sure, no girls are seeing him now that he’s broken his leg but once he is better then that could all change. Addie is doing well to look after him while his mother is out and about but she doesn’t owe him anything more than that. She also has to deal with Harry constantly embarrassing her at school and everything which isn’t easy.

The fact that things go so well for Harry will also have you shaking your head each time. The plot has to bend over backwards to try and make things work out for him and it’s just so forced. They really needed to do something to make this more of a learning experience. If you are going to write Harry like this, then it should be a movie about humility as things get worse and worse until he begs Celeste for help. Another part of the problem here is that he never really does that and she just volunteers help. Right through to the end he just never feels particularly apologetic even though it’s all his fault.

Take Harry out of the film and the whole thing gets way better. After all, it still has the nice Hallmark vibes. It’s generally a pleasant movie to watch and the pacing is fine. You have some fun characters here and it’s the kind of film that you know will have a happy ending. Without Harry I have no doubt that it would hold its own with the average Hallmark experience. So this is a good example of how a film can completely change directions all on account of a single character.

I’ll start wrapping up by saying that it is still an interesting idea to have a main character with powers like this. It’s certainly not the only time we’ve seen this happen and usually it’s a lot of fun. So the takeaway shouldn’t be to remove the supernatural element. In fact, if Harry knew how to use his powers then that would have at least made him look a little competent and could have helped his character.

Overall, Mr. Miracle is one of those films where there is nothing terribly wrong for it but it can be a bit of a hard watch. Harry is just that over the top and I haven’t seen a character that grating in a minute. Side characters sure, but the main character? The film definitely had a serious misstep there and couldn’t course correct in time. If you want to watch a Christmas movie then you should watch just about any other Hallmark movie instead. This one isn’t really going to wow you but if you have no other options left or have already seen all of the Hallmark movies then I guess you should watch this one.

Overall 5/10

Looks like Christmas Review

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It’s time for a Christmas battle as two parents and their ideologies clash. I like it when the two main characters are going up against each other like this because it often makes for really good banter. At the same time it will also usually mean that the romance will end up being rather cheesy. It just doesn’t make sense to get together with someone that you’ve been fighting with right? Well that’s the dilemma that this film has to deal with.

The film starts off with Terry and his daughter moving yet again and so it’s time for her to make friends. She isn’t thrilled about this so Terry decides to be a good sport and try being more involved with the school this time. So he joins the board and plans to help with the Christmas ceremony. Apparently it’s been a massive succeed every year and so Terry decides that they should switch things up. He announces that a new approach is in order which really rubs the lead of the festivities, Carol, the wrong way. She will have to stop this.

Now that clearly wasn’t the film’s intent but it’s definitely how I took it. Carol is a hardcore traditionalist who likes doing things the old way. If she has a system then that will absolutely remain as the system for many years to come. She is well loved by the whole community though and we are told numerous times that everyone loves the Christmas party. So it’s not a negative and a lot of this is exposition. Terry only knows on a very basic level that she is loved and likes her traditions.

So when he shows up at the meeting and immediately says that they should try something new, it makes no real sense. The film should have had someone tell him that the party was boring or the kids didn’t like it. That would have given him reason to blow it all up but instead he comes off like he’s picking a fight. Then the principal is also on board with it right away which is a bit iffy. You’d think he wouldn’t want to risk anything here and making Terry the co-chair with Carol was a bold move.

You could say he was just trying to help Terry fit in but I would say that it was all a bit much. Carol was mainly a jerk to Terry for the rest of the movie and clearly in the wrong in most instances but at least you can say that Terry started the fight. Terry does well with the ideas and participating though. I don’t really have any issues with him as a character. There is a dilemma in the film later on where his daughter gets mad at him for not being around more but the way I see it, there wasn’t much more he could do. He was really trying his best and that should be good enough. Terry is under a lot of pressure in a rather high stress environment after all.

The film stacks the deck a bit here as he is also in charge of shutting down the library that Carol is fighting for. He comes through with a pretty good solution at least but once again it brings you to the main challenge which is why Carol would fall for him at all. There’s just too much bad blood for most of the film in order for this to work out. So like most Hallmark films you do have to get past the romance but then the rest of the film is really solid.

As expected, the kids are the weak links here. The daughter comes off as rather annoying with how she blames her father for everything. He does make promises too easily which is something she could call him out for but otherwise she made the whole thing too dramatic. Carol’s son was more reasonable although his study group was rather bad. They clearly weren’t focused much at all and it seems like the kind of place to go if you don’t mind dropping a few points on your next exam. Otherwise there isn’t much reason to go through with it all.

I spoke a lot about Terry but not so much on Carol so lets get to her. For starters I would say she is a solid character. While she is an antagonist for most of the film with Terry, we do see that she is kind to everybody else and has long been known as an upstanding individual. Generally speaking if you have someone like this, then I will still consider them to be a good character. If she had an attitude with everybody then it would be different but that was not the case.

When there is just friction with one person you can cut a whole lot of slack for her. If anything I think it would have been nice to have seen some more support for her from different townsfolk. Maybe have the principal and a few others find out about Terry’s big library mission and defend her or call him out. I’m thinking the film wanted to be careful about totally burning any bridges or making thing too personal but I do think it would have been nice for her to have had some characters in her corner. Instead she was practically gaslit at times into thinking she was the problem. There’s one scene where Terry buys her a Christmas tree and I totally get why she would be upset there. That’s the kind of thing you want to do on your own and she was completely in the right about getting rid of it. At least that’s how I see it.

Overall, Looks like Christmas is a pretty good film. The banter and conflict for most of the film definitely helped to elevate it. I always find that it makes the film a lot more energetic and this title was certainly no exception. It goes by quickly and the film is able to solve the dilemmas without it being too cheesy. The Christmas party also looked pretty fun so that was nice. The romance tends to be a bit more on the eye rolling side but hey that’s just how it goes sometimes. I would definitely recommend checking this film out. It’s a good film for the Christmas season.

Overall 7/10