Holiday Road | 2023 Christmas Movies

Because this film is titled Holiday Road, I had no choice but to sing the Lindsey Buckingham song “Holiday Road” every time I said the title. Thanks a lot, National Lampoon’s Vacation. This will be the season of the “Holiday Road” song.

Nine strangers get stranded at an airport due to bad weather. Since all of them are trying to get to Denver, they decide to rent a van and share driving responsibilities instead.

I don’t think there are a lot of road movies that I like. They either end up boring or too over the top. This one had just the right amount of roadtrip fun and wacky hijinks. I wasn’t particularly fond of Dana (Sara Canning) always chiding Clay (Warren Christie) for not taking risks and always being safe. Not everyone is cut out to randomly drive across the country during a snowstorm with people they literally don’t know. And she keeps that attitude up the entire trip. When the van (inevitably) breaks down, instead of being upset like the others, she does the “Well, now we can participate in the local town celebration!” thing. I understand looking on the bright side of things. Sometimes it’s annoying though.

Rating: I’ll drive the night shift

My Christmas Hero | 2023 Christmas Movies

It’s time for this year’s Candace Cameron Bure movie, My Christmas Hero. And it is entirely about the military. Which branch? Eh, that doesn’t really matter, does it?

Nicole (Candace Cameron Bure) is an orthopedic surgeon at the local Veteran’s Health Administration hospital. Captain Mark Jennings (Robin Dunne) meets her when he comes in to check on a knee injury. The two spend the holiday falling in love while researching what happened to Nicole’s grandfather in World War II.

I don’t hate the United States military. However, I don’t particularly understand worshipping the military. Yes, we can thank soldiers for their service and honor the memories of those lost but movies like this go a bit farther than that. For example, Nicole’s grandfather died in 1944. As far as I can tell, this movie takes place in 2023. While I’m not saying “just get over it” or something, it feels a little obsessive to make every Christmas revolve around a man who died almost 80 years ago. They can honor him without worshipping him. Also, I would really like it if movies stopped acting like World War II happened recently and that the soldiers wouldn’t be closer to 100 years old.

As for the rest of the movie, it’s fine. Since it is a Bure movie, there is a healthy sprinkling of God to be expected. It’s schmalzty and borders on eye-rolling but it’s not awful. If you have the stomach for stuff like this, you probably won’t hate it.

Rating: Ignore that transfer order!

Letters To Santa | 2023 Christmas Movies

One of my least favorite things about Hallmark movies is the generic, difficult to Google movie titles. Go ahead, try to find Letters To Santa without having to add “2023” or “Hallmark” or something. They really need to come up with fresh new titles. This could have easily been called The Magic Pen. And that isn’t even creative!

Children’s writer Rebecca (Katie Leclerc) is currently separated from her husband Enrique (Rafael de la Fuente). During a visit to Santa, their children, Sam (Kellen Raffaelo) and Izzy (Taylor Pezza), ask to make them happy together again. Santa gives them a magic pen to use when writing letters to him. If they are truly heartfelt wishes, they will come true.

This is yet another movie that could have been so good but they decided to pad the script with things that make Rebecca look insane. Rebecca is mad because Enrique is spending most of his time managing his family’s restaurant instead of writing songs and helping her write her books. Oh, did I mention that his father died and that is why he is helping at the restaurant so much? Right. That part doesn’t matter.

There are things in their relationship that are logical to be upset about. Enrique gave his parents a lot of money without telling Rebecca why. He seems to let his overbearing mother take over his family instead of telling her to back off. Rebecca shuts everyone out whenever there is an issue instead of talking about it. However, these things get glossed over in favor of “I liked when Enrique wrote songs.” Get over it. Life changes.

Rating: More puppy, fewer people, please!

Catch Me If You Claus | 2023 Christmas Movies

Since I work from home, I frequently watch these Christmas movies when my husband is at work. For Catch Me If You Claus, he happened to be home. He dislikes the title. Mostly because they kept saying “Santa Crook” throughout the movie. If only Christmas movie titles worked that way.

Avery Quinn (Italia Ricci) is an aspiring news anchor. The night before her big break, she is awoken by Chris (Luke Macfarlane), the son of Santa Claus on his first Christmas mission. She thinks he is the Santa Crook, a local burglar breaking into houses in the area. The two spend the night unraveling the real story of the Santa Crook.

Catch Me If You Claus was a pretty cute movie. There were a lot of Santa references and they meet a lot of wacky locals. And there was a bit of a backstory of both Avery and Chris having to overcome their famous parents. Claus wasn’t quite as good as Dashing Through The Snow but it is difficult to beat the giant that is Disney. Thankfully, it is still watchable.

Review: Mistletoe and Whistles, Candy Canes and Thistles

A Season For Family | 2023 Christmas Movies

Thanks to the commercials, I knew that A Season For Family was about adoption. But I didn’t know who was the adopted one and what that meant to the plot of the movie. In short, Hallmark commercials kinda suck.

Maddy (Stacey Farber) and her adopted son, Wesley (Benjamin Jacobson), come back to their hometown in Utah. While shopping for ski rentals, they meet Paul (Brendan Penny) and his adopted son, Cody (Azriel Dalman). Little did Maddy and Paul know that Wesley and Cody are actually brothers.

For once, the kids take center stage in a Hallmark movie. Sure, there is a little bit of romance between Maddy and Paul but that is secondary to the needs of Wesley and Cody. Granted, I think Paul makes way too big of a deal regarding telling Cody that he’s adopted and that Wesley is his brother. Especially since the boys get along so well. But I guess they had to pad the script somehow. In the end, this is a sweet movie for someone looking for more than just straight up romance.

Rating: No fighting from these brothers

EXmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

I recently found out that Amazon has a free streaming service called Freevee. The first 2023 Christmas movie I found on it is EXmas. Do we think this will be better than the stuff on cable?

Ali (Leighton Meester) broke up with Graham (Robbie Amell). However, she did not break up with his family. Thinking that he is not coming home for Christmas, Graham’s parents invite Ali to celebrate with them. But they were wrong. Can Ali and Graham live under the same roof without killing each other?

There were parts of the movie that I enjoyed. Unfortunately, a lot of the fun scenes were ruined by the ruthlessness between Ali and Graham. They aren’t just mean to each other. They are downright evil. I don’t understand how they were able to forgive each other so easily in order to give us the Happy Ever After. In short, this is a movie you could enjoy if you like watching people tear each other apart. Otherwise, you can skip it.

Rating: Tiny food truck or loving relationship - you can only choose one

A Paris Christmas Waltz | 2023 Christmas Movies

It’s going to be difficult for me to get through A Paris Christmas Waltz. I really don’t like Matthew Morrison as an actor. He plays all of his characters with this brash egotistical slant. I’m hoping this is different.

Professional ballroom dancer Leo (Matthew Morrison) is looking for a new dance partner for an upcoming competition. He chooses Emma (Jen Lilley), an accountant that recently left her job. As the pair trains in Paris, they find a romance blooming between them.

Yeah, I didn’t like this movie all that much. Morrison is his usual annoying cardboardy self in this. Lilley, who I usually don’t mind, gets completely lost trying to act against him. The dancing is mediocre at best and there is an awful song sung by the pair tossed in. There are a lot of dance-related Christmas movies out there. Skip this one entirely.

Rating: A complete misstep

Dashing Through The Snow | 2023 Christmas Movies

Taking a bit of a break from Hallmark and Great American Family and Lifetime, I’m going to check out one of Disney’s new movies this year - Dashing Through The Snow. We will have more titles from Disney coming up but let’s see how they are starting off this season.

Eddie Garrick (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) doesn’t particularly like Christmas, thanks to some childhood trauma. However, he does want to make the holiday special for his daughter, Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum). When the two happen to meet someone calling themselves Nick Claus (Lil Rel Howery), the trio spends the evening running around town trying to avoid a corrupt politician and his lackeys.

I had to admit that it was the participation of Ludacris that made me want to watch this movie. And I am so glad that I did! Dashing Through The Snow has a great balance between the realism of life and plain old Santa Magic. There are some updates to the Santa we know and love. But not in a bad way. I found myself smiling a lot while watching this. It’s fun and well acted and I loved it. I might add this one to the Annual Movie list.

Rating: It’s on the Nice List, of course!

Holiday Hotline | 2023 Christmas Movies

When I’m going through my list of Christmas movies, I try really hard to not learn a lot about the movies before I watch them. All I knew about Holiday Hotline was only what was shown in the commercials. I didn’t even know who the male lead was until I saw the opening credits. I’m glad I was able to keep this surprise for myself.

Abby (Emily Tennant) is a chef in London. When her chef-boyfriend takes the credit for her work, Abby quits her job and her relationship and goes to Chicago for a break. She falls into a job in Chicago answering phone calls from people needing help cooking their turkeys properly. Using an American accent and the name Peggy, she connects with single father John (Niall Matter). Soon the two become more than friends.

I was surprised to find that Holiday Hotline is a really good movie. Tennant and Matter work so well together. This may be the first couple of the season that actually shows some chemistry. Not only that, the story was interesting! I don’t think we’ve ever had a hotline worker as a career trope. For once, we were able to see Abby/Peggy and the other workers actually doing their jobs. We almost never see anyone actually working! And I really loved the way they showed the calls. This is a movie I wouldn’t mind watching again. A very pleasant surprise from Hallmark.

Rating: Let’s Talk Turkey

Planes, Trains and Christmas Trees | 2023 Christmas Movies

Planes, Trains and Christmas Trees is the second movie of the season for Lifetime. I spent a lot of the movie thinking about how much the lead actor, Olivier Renaud, looks like Zac Efron. Like, I have watched other movies featuring this dude. I don’t know why this particular movie makes him look like that. Anyway….

Kayley (Kathryn Davis) is an event planner flying home to New York City. Brett (Olivier Renaud) is a sports agent also flying home to New York City. Thanks to a terrible snowstorm, all flights are cancelled. The pair team up to try to get home but end up stranded in Brett’s hometown of Redwood, Ohio. Since they are unable to leave, Kayley and Brett help his uncle plan a local Christmas festival.

Sigh. So. A lot of the movies I watch are just boring. The acting is fine, the plot is fine. It’s just fine. I want to say this movie is fine but….is there something more boring than boring? Like, nothing happens in this movie. Nothing. Kayley is ignoring her boyfriend’s phone calls but we never really find out why they are not getting along. (I can’t even say they are fighting! They don’t talk!) Cardboard man Brett doesn’t want to talk about anything. There are parts where Kayley acts weirdly around Brett’s family for no reason at all because then she’s all buddy-buddy with them. I really don’t understand this movie. I think they wanted to do a thing where Kayley has traumatic Christmas memories so she doesn’t like being around Brett’s family at Christmas but that never appears. And the awful thing is the acting and the story aren’t awful. There was so much potential here that was just wasted.

Rating: Can I live in the candy castle…by myself…no, seriously. Get out of my candy castle.