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Trading Christmas Review

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It’s time for one of those films about house swapping and I’ve never been crazy about the idea. I just don’t trust people at all so I feel like the instant I do one of these, I would lose some things. Things would mysteriously disappear and I would never see them again. That’s a really scary prospect so I would just be too emotional to go along with it. For the people who Air B&B they’re probably thinking I’m crazy though. It is what it is.

The dual main characters are Emily and Charles here. For Emily, she was looking forward to spending Christmas with Heather but her ungrateful daughter has decided to go on a date with Jason instead and will be spending the holidays with him. Emily figures that she can fly over to surprise Heather and dashes over only to find out that Heather snuck away to another state without telling her. Not a very nice thing to do here and now what is Emily supposed to do with herself. She’s alone at Christmas?? The horror of it all. That’s when she bumps into Ray, a good friend of the guy she is borrowing the apartment from and a fast romance starts.

From the 3 plots this is probably the one where you are the most sympathetic to the lead. Emily is just trying to spend quality time with her daughter and the whole surprise visit seems like a fun idea. What are the odds Heather would just switch states right? It’s also rough to lose traditions so suddenly and without warning like this. It’s just tough and that’s why you can’t really buy into the romance here because it seems like Ray caught her at a very vulnerable time. Additionally the 180 to Emily suddenly not being interested in traditions and such was pretty rough. It was all so sudden and I guess in the end it’s like nobody wins.

Ray is nice enough but again the romance is all just so fast and contrived. He should have stayed in his lane and not made a pass at someone who is just renting the apartment for a few days. In theory once she left he would never see her again unless they got really serious about each other really quickly which doesn’t seem like such a good idea. You don’t really know the other person at that point.

Then we have the plot with Heather and Jason which is the weakest one. The whole time it seemed to be building up to a choice of regret where Jason just wasn’t a great guy and they were going to break up as she realized that traditions are good. He lets his friends crash in on their date and kept making the worst decisions possible. He wasn’t even interested in watching her old wonderful place movie. Well eventually they head back and it turns out that he’s a decent dude but the whole plot felt like a bit of a wash. It just didn’t have much of a purpose here. I’d say Heather had a purpose, but not so much Jason except to be a red herring here.

Finally we have the plot with Charles and Faith which was easily the most entertaining. So Charles is an author who writes a ton of books and he is trying to have a quiet place to focus. So that kind of works and he has a spot now except that Faith shows up because she was actually trying to surprise Emily which didn’t work out. The problem is that she terrifies Charles so he runs around crying the whole time about how she is distracting him and being a big baby about the whole thing.

There’s a lot of banter here throughout as a result and Faith really does good on her end like with keeping the neighbors out and even making food. I was on her side the whole time because Charles was often panicking about nothing and was also way too defensive about his books. The guy could stand to learn how to accept some constructive criticism. He eventually does but the plot takes a bit longer than it should have. Once again you have a hard time seeing just why the romance would start here. Maybe if Charles had been a bit nicer from the start there could have been a chance.

Of course then there would be less witty banter so I suppose I would miss that part. Charles just thinks too highly of himself and generalizes everyone which Faith calls him out on. At least now his next books will end up being better. The movie did a good job of balancing these 3 films the whole time. It felt like there was way more of a story here than I would have expected otherwise. The movie isn’t even that long and yet it paces everything well so it gets full kudos for that. You don’t feel like any plot got the short end of the stick.

Heather’s certainly has the least amount of screentime but that makes sense because it’s not like her house was one of the ones that was swapped. At most you could say that with more screentime they could have set things up a bit better to establish that she was trying to have it both ways a bit too much with ditching traditions while still following others and that would help her realize that she really wasn’t nice to her mother at all. A good redemption arc would be nice since she was so petty the whole time.

Overall, Trading Christmas definitely doesn’t change my mind on why I wouldn’t want to ever trade houses/apartments even just for a week or so. I would have real security issues but naturally it does make for a very good movie plot. This movie is charming and fun throughout the whole adventure with good writing and pacing the whole time. Often times you can expect maybe 2 main plots at most but 3 in this Christmas adventure was really taking things to the next level and I was really impressed to see it. The bar was set high here without a doubt. If you’re up for a fun Christmas title then you definitely won’t want to miss out on this.

Overall 7/10

Fallen Angel Review

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It’s time for one of those really dramatic Christmas titles. This time around I can safely say that the romance is super weak though to the point of taking a star away. It just doesn’t make sense and it takes so long for the two leads to really get to the same page that the credits start rolling as they make up. Ehhhhh it’s one of those cases where they should have stayed as friends.

The movie introduces us to Terry who had a rough time growing up since his father was super busy and never really had a lot of time for him. Terry had a lot of resentment about this and swore not to make the same mistake when he grew up. That’s not quite how it went though as he is now working in a big company without much downtime and hasn’t even met a girl yet. Well, he is called down to his old home to shut the place down since his father died but his dad had already promised the place to a lady named Katherine who was renting out the place to show her daughter Olivia.

It might be tough going back down memory lane but Terry is ready for this. Then he finds out that Katherine is actually the little girl who visited the place a long time ago when her father struck someone with a car who died and then he wandered off into the forest and died shortly afterwards. The whole thing was so long ago and tragic that she just doesn’t remember and when Terry finds out that her father is still alive, he forbids Terry from mentioning this. Terry is keeping a whole lot of secrets now and then he falls for Katherine. Can he keep up this relationship in the midst of all these secrets?

The obvious answer here should be no. Also, since he is renting out the house I would imagine that having a relationship with a client is a really bad idea. Not really something you should be doing if you have a clear head on your shoulders. Katherine gets really upset at him later on for this and it’s for really good reason. I don’t see how you could keep on going after this because it’s such a big deal. The fact that she was here before isn’t as big a deal to be honest but the dead father thing is massive.

I get why it would be hard to show up out of nowhere after so long but the Dad should have appeared and if not, Terry should have still mentioned this. If he wasn’t interested in Katherine romantically then sure he could have decided not to say anything but I would say that by this point it was definitely his obligation. It’s just too serious and personal not to say anything. Then the fact that Terry was about to dash off and everything until at the last second turning around…not his best moment.

As for Katherine, I thought she was okay but also moving too fast on everything. I feel like I would definitely cancel my appointment at the hut if the guy in charge died. I don’t know the new owner enough to trust him so why take the risk? That would be a full refund and I’d just check out another spot. She also got really emotional by the end and I get that the betrayal was rough but it still felt like she could have handled things a little better.

The hospital subplot about the father leaving gifts every year to try and make things better was nice though. There was a common element here about the father of both main characters caring a lot but having a hard time showing it. For Terry it was too late since he died but at least for Katherine she will be able to mend the relationship now and get the family going again. So definitely a happier ending there but again it could have worked better without the romance here.

I gotta give the film credit for trying to give us a true life or death moment in the film though. At one point Terry has to go into the water in order to rescue the boat and we get the serious music as the water rages on. Katherine’s daughter Olivia is blind so she has to try and keep her daughter safe while saving Terry and getting the boat going. It was maybe trying a bit too hard on the film’s part to really get the blood pumping and all but it was a scene I wasn’t really expecting so I give it some credit for that.

Even the whole “Father faking his death” angle was a pretty solid mystery on the film’s part. You may figure it out by the time of the reveal but maybe not, I thought the movie showed good restraint in keeping it from being too obvious. Naturally I will say that faking your death is almost never a good idea and this is another example of that. It may be really hard to show yourself but you’ve really got to take that leap and just get it over with. Once you have a family, it’s selfish to just ditch them like that. Feel free to fake your own death if you’re on your own but otherwise it’s definitely a no go.

Overall, Fallen Angel is a good movie but it needed a little something more to the plot to really make it memorable. Maybe more supporting characters or something back with Terry’s plot like the company calling for him back. That could have added some drama on him being in a rush to get back. The film isn’t super long or anything but even then it felt like there wasn’t a whole lot of story for the film to get through. It’s a good title but doesn’t hold up with most of the other Christmas titles. Check it out if you want some solid drama though.

Overall 6/10

A Season for Miracles Review

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It’s time for one of those Christmas stories that has a wholesome ending but things get rocky for the characters at first. It’s a pretty fun film and it held my attention the whole time. The romance angle may be a bit on the weak side but when you’ve got a quality story at the ready then you can often get past such things. This film also isn’t afraid to tap into the supernatural angle a bit.

The film starts off by showing us that Emilie’s sister has taken another massive L and is being arrested again for drug issues. Emilie prepares to take care of her two nephews as usual but child custody agents show up and demand the kids. They can’t confirm that they can keep the two together either so Emilie decides to flee with them. She shows up to a small town where she is mistaken as the daughter of a rich lady who owns a mansion. Emilie feels uneasy about continuing the deception but the nephews are tired of moving so she stays for a while. The police captain Nathan quickly falls in love with her but also suspects that she isn’t telling him something. What will win out, his mind…or his heart?

Now Emilie isn’t a career criminal like her sister but she definitely does tend to mess up a bit here which is how Nathan gets so suspicious in the first place. When they’re looking through the attic she quickly starts to panic and says she doesn’t want to look at anything. Then not letting her kids buy any food at the market or enrolling them into school. She should at least do these things as a good cover before moving out. If anything she would have probably raised no suspicions had she done this and everything would have been set. Instead, she set off the alarms here.

I’d also say she should have forced the issue and taken her kids out sooner. That would have made more sense because without some supernatural intervention she was doomed here. It wouldn’t be easy to always be living on the run but in theory she just needs to evade the cops one or two more times in different states and they would eventually give up. It would be very difficult to track her down in such a non digital age. The nephews would be upset at first but in a few years they would understand.

While Emilie does have a hard time staying undercover, she is a good character through and through. Part of why she has such a difficult time is because this stuff is not second nature to her. She’s not used to breaking the law or anything like that and is just going this far to protect her family. So I’ve definitely got no issues with her as a character and I also agree with her move of running away because the custody agents clearly didn’t have the kids’ best interests at heart. Yeah they’re just doing their jobs but that’s not really much of a consolation for the kids.

Meanwhile Nathan is a solid character. He had his suspicions and kept at it until he got his answer. He would have solved things much quicker if not for Emilie’s guardian angel watching out for her. You could argue that Nathan overreacted a bit once he finds out the truth and I would agree with that. It’s a rough deception but the circumstances are immediately understandable even if it took him a little while to get to that point. The romance feels a bit rushed and hard to buy as a result but compared to some of the other big Christmas romances it holds up well enough.

As for the guardian angel, she was a nice enough character. She was constantly helping out in small ways and flexing her powers like when she would appear and disappear just to mess with everyone. Without her Emilie would have been doomed so she deserves the MVP role. Perhaps she could have solved the situation a bit easier but I imagine she wanted to eventually get things out in the open so that the humans could solve things themselves. That does make a lot of sense.

The film also squeezes in a courtroom scene which was a really nice touch. I can’t say I was expecting that and while it may not have been particularly long, it got the situation across well. Mix that in with a solid climax and we’re all set. Not every character gets a happy ending as Emilie’s sister is still in jail but it does seem like she wasn’t about to turn over a new leaf. In this case she was too far gone with the drugs but maybe in a sequel she could make a comeback. I’ll at least give her credits for not betraying her kids or sister when the cops tried to interrogate her. I mean it wasn’t much of an interrogation but she confirmed that she wouldn’t play ball.

Overall, A Season for Miracles is a pretty fun film. It’s got a good story and the characters are fun. I would also say that the supporting cast was better than expected. I liked the neighbors and the lawyer in training also did a good job in helping her out. It was nice to see the whole community side with the heroine even after only knowing her for a little while. Shows what a tightknit community they had there and everybody was just generally pleasant. That’s one thing I always appreciate about these Christmas titles which is that the communities are really strong and wholesome. Helps maintain that really friendly atmosphere. Mix in the usual good writing and pacing and I definitely have no complaints with the film and would recommend checking it out. At most the kids might annoy you a bit but that’ll happen in any film where they are present.

Overall 7/10

Ringing Bell Review

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It’s time for Ringing Bell, a film that wasn’t really on my radar so that always makes for an interesting watch. The story itself is very direct and the cast is small but at the end of the day it’s all about how you use them. Will the characters take the film to new heights or will they be average at best? Well in this film I can say that the characters are reasonable but the movie does make a few mistakes that keeps it from going further.

First up we have Chirin as a little lamb being watched over by his mother and the rest of the flock. Chirin isn’t very strong or fast but makes up for this with pure optimism. He is always believing in a better tomorrow and doesn’t back down. Well, one day his mother is murdered by a wolf and he laments how unfair life is. He decides to follow the wolf and learn how to become one. Then once he is strong enough, Chirin will destroy the Wolf. Will things really go to plan though?

I have a hard time with this plot in general because deciding to follow the one who murdered your mother is just a bit crazy. Sure this is a plot that has happened with other characters as well but it has to be handled super delicately in order to work out. I didn’t think this one was convincing enough. Chirin’s mother was destroyed so suddenly and without mercy that I wouldn’t imagine any mercy. Additionally, she had always been kind to him so this was a really good relationship that was taken away. Chirin should instead be feeling endless anger and craving for revenge the whole time. That would make a lot more sense.

Now I can acknowledge that this might be the quickest way to attaining strength so Chirin deciding to use the Wolf could work slightly under that mindset. It should still be ultra reluctant though and so in the end when Chirin actually seemed torn on this, it doesn’t work. No matter what time they spent together later on, the Wolf should be his ultimate antagonist. There should be no true bond here. If the film was going to go down this route, they should have made Chirin’s mother meaner so that would explain why he was a bit more mixed. Like on one hand she is still his mother and on the other hand he could have been getting bullied so part of him would appreciate the wolf. Would still have to be handled carefully of course but it could work.

Instead Chirin really started to become like the Wolf which was a shame. I did enjoy the fact that he got more confident and had a really good character design though. The film just needed to focus on his not losing his humanity, or lambity as it were. The final scene where the other lambs are afraid of him made for a pretty solid ending though. It made sense even if it does fall into the slightly annoying trope of the characters being saved but somehow not knowing how to distinguish the good guy from the villain.

As for the Wolf, no complaints here. He made for a really good villain. The guy was a strong fighter and while he couldn’t bring himself to destroy a cub, he was merciless in taking down his prey. As a wolf that’s just what he does, it’s the circle of life and all. So I bear no grudges with that guy and he lasted pretty long into the film. You could even make the case that he could have won in the climax but held back a bit which would make sense.

So we’ve got a solid story here but of course there is a decent amount of animal violence like with Chirin’s mom and the bear that gets taken down. It doesn’t help that the animation is really quite solid and has aged very well. The colors are very dramatic and you feel the intensity in all of the actions. The animation is really quite impressive and makes up for the soundtrack being more on the generic side. It may not have worked well due to the main characters being animals but otherwise any action film would be glad to have this level of animation. It really supports the fights quite well.

The opening half also takes a big longer than you would have expected in a pacing sense. The mom doesn’t get bumped off for quite a while even though you know that is the main purpose of the title. It’s a key point of the plot so in that sense the film would have been better off to have shortened that portion of the film to extend the time with the wolf. Perhaps if we saw less of Chirin’s bond with his mother then the film would have flowed a bit better or at least made it less difficult to believe.

If the film had all been like the first half and it was just a very wholesome kind of movie then I think that actually could have worked out better as well. It’s not like we have a whole lot of films about lambs in general and Chirin learning about the cruel outside world while still being protected could have been really good. At the very least I would have had no problems with that, it would have certainly avoided the animal violence parts.

Overall, Ringing Bell would have done well to replace the characters with robots. At the end of the day there was just too much damage here and it ends up suffering the same fate that most animal films do. You just can’t have as great a time as possible when the characters are all animals and you don’t want to see them get hurt. It puts you in a rough spot as the viewer and so I wouldn’t be able to recommend this film. You’re better off watching something a little more wholesome like Air Bud.

Overall 4/10

Lucky Christmas Review

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Lucky Christmas is one of those really wholesome movies that is definitely fun to watch and has pretty good writing. The only weakness is the romance as a whole and at this point it’s probably safe to say that this isn’t super surprising. That’s just how it goes sometimes. I’d say the movie still succeeds despite this, the humor is on point and the plot is interesting. It’s also the kind of scenario you could picture happening in real life.

The movie starts with Holly buying her lottery ticket as always and at this point it’s really just a habit. She doesn’t actually think she’s going to win or anything like that. So she goes about her day and doesn’t properly lock up her ticket in a safe or anything like that. She just leaves it in her car. Meanwhile Mike and his irresponsible friend are hanging out and Mike gets super drunk so his friend drives him home. The friend isn’t the smartest guy in the batch so he ends up stealing a nearby car to drive Mike home and that happens to be Holly’s. So he finds the winning lottery ticket and figures he could be rich but of course the ticket is in Holly’s name. Is there a way to trick her into giving up some of the money? Meanwhile Mike wants to make things right and give her back the ticket but he isn’t sure how to do that without looking suspicious. In the meantime he may as well romance her up a bit.

Right away you can see how we’re rooting against Mike and his friend. Mike does take a whole lot of the blame here since he should have come clean right from the jump. There were many opportunities to give the ticket back if he was being serious about this like sneaking it into her house, leaving it in an envelope addressed to her, etc. He just made excuse after excuse and then it’s doubly bad since he is trying to have a relationship with her as well. That means the whole thing is deceitful from the jump and so the romance really shouldn’t hold. Surely being betrayed on such a personal level would completely doom any chances of being together right?

Well, in a fair and just world that would certainly be the case but unfortunately it’s just not so simple in this film. Holly ultimately doesn’t mind and after a fight they’re back together but it’s ultra cheesy so the romance plot is the part that you will have to endure if you are to still enjoy the movie. It just doesn’t make any sense at all and neither does Mike’s still being friends with the guy. You can have an acquaintance who is annoying like if you work with them or something but a close friend who is this bad just shouldn’t be in your circles. It makes you look bad as well.

Just look at the first scene of the film where Mike’s friend causes them to burn down a house. Mike is also to blame since he wasn’t exactly stopping things and when the boss gets mad, Mike has the audacity to actually be defensive about the whole situation. That was another moment where I couldn’t be on his side. Not only could people have been seriously hurt but the whole thing was meaningless. There was no point to his actions and so he comes off as being completely immature which I would say is fully accurate here. He is not a mature person in the slightest and should have gotten told off along with his friend.

As for Holly, aside from being way too forgiving she is a decent character. I understand not paying attention to every lottery ticket after a while as you probably just start to assume that you will lose by default. I’d make the case that then you shouldn’t be wasting the money to buy tickets though. Even though most are only a dollar or so, it really adds up over time. Imagine putting that towards stocks or something instead. That would be a much better use of your time without a doubt.

Now this is a comedy so you don’t want to go too hard on the characters but I do think that at least Mike’s friend should have faced some jail time in the end. He stole a car, stole the lotto ticket, then he also handled Holly’s things carelessly like when he tosses all of her stuff into the ground without a second thought. He just didn’t seem like a good person at all especially with how insistent he was on keeping the money. You feel like he needed to learn some kind of lesson even after things worked out. It all felt a little too easy in the grand scheme of things.

Ah well, obviously this is more of a feel good movie and so things are looked at through an optimistic lens. It’s not a bad thing per say but it can be a bit annoying. On the plus side, the writing and pacing as pretty good as you’d expect for a film like this. It does maintain a cheery atmosphere and it’s always fun to daydream about winning the lottery. The vibes are good all the way through and I don’t really have any other complaints with the film. Now the ending is quite hilarious though and not in the way the film thought it would be.

The characters have until midnight in order to cash in the ticket so they dash over to the place but then when the clock hits 11:59, they decide to start making out instead of going into the store. Rookie mistake!!! I was dying inside because I knew they didn’t make it in time and so the money went to waste. You could argue that it’s probably the most tragic ending to a film that you will ever see in your life.

Overall, Lucky Christmas is a pretty good film. I will always remember it for the ending because no matter what the writers may say afterwards, it’s clear that the heroes were too late. They fumbled the bag right up until the end and there was no way out of their predicament. The movie may not have always been realistic but it was definitely a fun ride and so I would recommend this title. Who wouldn’t want to have a lucky Christmas right? 2025 may just be starting up now but it’s never too late to watch a good Christmas flick.

Overall 7/10

The Hobbit Review

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It’s time to finally look at the original Hobbit movie. This one definitely came out a very long time ago so it would be interesting to see how it has held up. Well, in some ways it definitely beats the originals since I like how much more fast paced it is. At the same time I still wouldn’t say it’s all that good and the movie still can’t totally beat the “boring” allegations. The story doesn’t have a ton of pop and Bilbo Baggins just isn’t a great lead.

The movie starts off with Bilbo enjoying his peaceful life until the legendary mage known as Gandalf shows up. Gandalf confirms that Bilbo will be needed for a huge mission and he really ought to say yes to this. Then Gandalf’s friends show up and there are sure a lot of them. They inform Bilbo that they need a thief for their mission to get some treasure and strongarm him into this. They will have to get past many creatures including the powerful Smaug himself. Can Bilbo really handle this or will he be destroyed in all the chaos? Only time will tell and time is not on his side.

It would be easy for Bilbo to resent everyone here to be honest. Here he was just enjoying a normal day without any issues or drama and now he is being caught up in this massive adventure? He absolutely did not sign up for this. Bilbo nearly dies on several occasions as well and that’s when he realizes that not only are his new allies really pushy but they’re also super weak. They get crushed in pretty much every encounter so it’s not like Bilbo is under great protection either.

The biggest annoyance has to be Gandalf though. Because unlike the others he is actually a really strong fighter and could save them if he needed to. Yet the guy is constantly warping back and forth only showing up when it’s convenient and often times that would have simply been too late. It would have been nice if they could have relied on him but that’s just not the case. So yeah if I was Bilbo I would have gone home right away. No reason to have a grand adventure if it’s going to be so dangerous.

I am still impressed at how much ground the film covered here when it took a whole trilogy for the live action to do the same. As a result the pacing is rather good although like I said it can still be a bit on the boring side. I’ve never really been into dwarves, elves, or anything like that. Just give me a more modern environment. Honestly this kind of world backdrop makes the average Isekai lore look like a master piece. There just isn’t anything here to really capture your interest.

Now there are a bunch of songs but unfortunately none of them ever get to be any good. They really do have the old language down pat and feel authentic but they’re the kinds of songs that you endure for 15 seconds before the ad ends, not the kind of song that you actively listen to. They aren’t very catchy or anything and so it just feels like the film is trying to buy itself some time. The film definitely didn’t need the songs at any rate.

If I had to name a positive here, I did like the riddles with Gollum. It could be rather hard to understand what he was saying the whole time but Bilbo actually looked good with how crafty and talented he was. The average character would have probably cracked. That said, Bilbo did have a sword so perhaps he should have used that a bit more? He would wave it around to make Gollum step away but then he’d just put it in the pocket again. In a fight Bilbo could probably win since Gollum isn’t very tough at all.

Additionally it’s also fair to say that a lot happens here. Whether it is being chased by giant spider, orcs, and other creatures, Bilbo gets his steps in. It feels like the heroes are constantly getting tied up and chased around the world. Gandalf leaves for 5 seconds and 3 trolls take down the whole party. It’s a wonder that any of them are still alive with how they are so outclassed by all of the enemy fighters here. It’s like the heroes just didn’t really put up a fight at all or even know how to do so. They couldn’t even read the ancient language on the weapons they picked up. (Wellll okay that may be a stretch in terms of it being a bad thing)

Until a Hobbit adaption gives me a good reason to actually root for Gandalf in bringing Bilbo on this mission then I don’t see the score changing all that much for future versions. If you’re going to basically threaten/force someone into a mission then you should have it carefully prepared so you’re not putting him in any undue danger. It didn’t seem like Bilbo’s safety was properly accounted for here which is definitely disrespectful. Also, no disrespect to Smaug but you need a more imposing main villain. A dark Gandalf who can give us some great magic battles would be a great start and really reinforce the whole supernatural themes here.

Overall. The Hobbit is one of those titles where the plot probably ensures that it will never be all that great. Still, this is probably the best way you will see it packaged. The movie goes through everything as quickly as possible and leaves you to pick up the pieces from there. I don’t know how it’s possible for a film with 5 armies to make the climax relatively uneventful but the Hobbit finds a way. A nicely choreographed fight scene could have gone a long way to saving the film but at the end of the day this is still more of an adventure than an action title. You’d best keep that in mind the whole time here.

Overall 5/10

All Mine to Give Review

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It’s time for another emotional film that takes place around Christmas. The film doesn’t hold back with the body count and everything going on here. At the end of the day it takes a little too long to get going and the kids aren’t the most interesting characters out there. This one won’t be reaching the top of your bucket list to be sure but it is a fairly unique film.

The film starts off with Robert and Mamie arriving in America where they aim to start their new lives together. They are really on their own right now but aim to have a big family. Everything starts out pretty well as they have a lot of kids but they also start to get sick. Back then there were less medicines and antidotes so things are not looking good. Will they be able to recover from this or is their big America trip about to turn tragic? Time is not on their side so they really need to watch out here!

One thing you’ll notice right away is that the intro takes a really long time here. The film is mainly supposed to be centered around the kids but I dare say you get around halfway into the film before that actually ends up being the case. A lot of time is spent on Robert and Mamie getting used to the area which isn’t necessarily bad but since you know it won’t last, the film feels like it misplaced where the focus should be. If you ask me, they should have bumped off the parents a lot easier to really get into the heart of the story. At the same time, the first half is definitely better than the second so maybe it would have hurt things anyway.

Aside from how they get upset at each other a little too easily, Robert and Mamie were solid main characters. They did their best in a tough situation and kept on working. It’s definitely not easy to take care of a family and build a house from scratch but with the help of some nice neighbors, they did all right for themselves. The old setting may not really be my thing but it’s all written fairly well. The characters are good as well so I don’t have any big issues there.

That said, the reason the second half doesn’t work is the film gets a little too dreary. So now you’ve got a bunch of kids who are going to be taken to an orphanage where they will all be split up unless the oldest son Robbie can find a place for them. It’s definitely not an easy mission as he is also pretty young but he does his best to find a bunch of homes. It’s really fortunate that he knew a lot of the neighbors and friends over the years. It’s not something that would really be possible nowadays since people don’t know each other nearly as well except in a few areas that may still be close knit like this.

With the exception of one old lady who was constantly mean to Mamie, everyone else basically ended up being suitable candidates for the kids. Robbie may have overlooked the doctor for his age when that would have been a good pick, but otherwise he handled the situation well. The fact that the town was tempted to split them all up right before Christmas definitely made them seem very unreasonable though. How would that even be considered as a possibility? The adults would surely be able to supervise and help make sure they don’t freeze to death in the cabin without taking such a drastic step.

They made the right decision in the end which is what counts though. Just would have been nice if they were more supportive and could have helped Robbie, even discreetly. The ones who each took up a kid to stay in their residences were there when it counted though so they get some credit. Meanwhile from all of the kids, Robbie was easily the most mature and the others would have been in trouble without him. He did a really good job and if anything you wish the ending had been happier for him.

The film ends really suddenly so it’s hard to say exactly how happy or sad the ending is but I took it in more of a sad way. He basically took the martyr approach of helping everyone else out and making sure they were okay while not really doing anything for himself. So that last climb through the snow just feels like more of a defeated moment instead of a triumphant ending. That would have been a good time to show someone from the town arriving to help him out. A little more cheer in general would have been good to make this more of a fun watch. There’s no getting around all of the tragedies here based on the story but you absolutely could still try to deliver the story in a more optimistic point of view.

Overall, All Mine to Give is a film about staying strong no matter how tough the circumstances get. It makes for a good message but not a really fun film. At the end of the day you have to try and accomplish both goals and this one was unable to do so. The kids mean well but they’re just not all that interesting and so you aren’t as invested in the film as you would be if the adults were the main characters the whole time. More scenes like Robert beating up his boss would help make the film more compelling because it shows just how much effort he had to put in for the family to be accepted. Robert was a strong man who wasn’t about to be pushed around and he gave every task his best right up until the end.

Overall 4/10

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