Ten Worst Christmas Movies of 2020 | 2020 Christmas Movies

Finally, the time has come. The time that everyone has been looking forward to. My list of the worst Christmas movies of 2020.

10. A Nashville Christmas Carol - Just when you thought that no one could ruin Charles Dickens’ classic, Hallmark said “hold my beer.”
9. Christmas Comes Twice - Poor Tamera. She needs a better manager.
8. The Christmas Listing - Who thought real estate was exciting enough for a Christmas movie?
7. Christmas at the Castle - I wonder how many Scotsmen were offended by this movie.
6. Heart of the Holidays - Your leading lady can’t be both a genius and incompetent. Pick one.
5. The Christmas Aunt - The movie with the dumbest plot of the season.
4. My Sweet Holiday - NO MORE MONTAGES!
3. A Taste of Christmas - There should be at least one likeable character in your Christmas romance movie.
2. A California Christmas - Death everywhere.
1. A New York Christmas Wedding - I still don’t know what the plot of this movie was.

There you have it: the ten worst Christmas movies of the season. The other 66 movies I watched were fairly middle of the road. They were either boring or just OK. I think that the channels should focus less on the number of movies they show each year and pay more attention to airing good movies instead. The Hallmark Channel aired 24 Christmas movies, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries aired 16, Netflix had 11 (plus 4 I haven’t watched), Hulu had 1, and Lifetime outdid everyone with a whopping 34 Christmas movies! Imagine if they took all of the money spent on all of these and put out a handful of really awesome movies. They can still air their back catalog, like they do now, but I think everyone would be so much happier if the holiday movies they offered were amazing instead of intolerable.

Top 10 Christmas Movies | 2020 Christmas Movies

I watched something like 86 Christmas movies this year. There are another 4 movies that I haven’t watched yet. That means there were ninety Christmas movies released between Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime, Hulu, and Netflix. That is absolutely bonkers, isn’t it? So here are my top 10 Christmas movies released in 2020.

Honorary Mention: Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker - Since this isn’t really a Christmas movie, I didn’t want to put it in the top 10. However, it is definitely worth watching.

10. Spotlight on Christmas - A very cute actress-comes-home story
9. The Angel Tree - How to give back to your community without making it about yourself
8. Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding - When the sequel is better than the original
7. Cranberry Christmas - Proof that marriage is work and sometimes people don’t really want what they think they want
6. Love, Lights & Hanukkah! - Family is family, even if you’ve never met them before and they were raised in a different religion
5. Just Another Christmas - Foreign Christmas films can be better than American Christmas films
4. The Christmas Setup - The best movie from Lifetime, where the main couple is gay
3. The Christmas House - The movie with the gay secondary couple that broke Hallmark
2. Jingle Jangle - A Christmas musical extravaganza
1. Holly & Ivy - The best movie from Hallmark that shows a community stepping up to care for two children

There you have it. My top 10 Christmas movies of 2020. Let me know if you loved or hated any of the movies on my list. Keep an eye out later this week for my 10 worst list. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to it.

The Christmas Chronicles 2 | 2020 Christmas Movies

Back in 2018, Netflix gave us The Christmas Chronicles. The movie was such a hit that we got a part 2 this year. Not only do we get more of Santa and his elves, we also finally get to see Mrs. Claus!

Kate (Darby Camp) is spending Christmas on the beach with her family. Her mother, Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), has started dating a new man, Bob (Tyrese Gibson). Kate is unhappy about the whole situation so she decides to run away. She, along with Bob’s son Jack (Jahzir Bruno), get kidnapped by a former elf, Belsnickel (Julian Dennison), in order to try to get into the North Pole. The kids are saved by Santa but now Belsnickel is attacking Santa’s Village. It’s up to Kate, Jack, Santa, and Mrs. Claus to save Santa’s Village from Belsnickel’s evil-doings.

Sadly, all of the things I enjoyed about the original movie are missing here. The elves, who were really cool in the first movie, spend a lot of this movie doing bad things, thanks to Belsnickel covering them with a potion. Kate is now a teenager and she’s kinda unbearable. She whines a lot and, even though she’s supposed to be a True Believer, she is terrible to everyone who isn’t Santa Claus.

Is it worth watching? Eh, Mrs. Claus is pretty awesome. Santa has another big musical number that is fun. I honestly think The Christmas Chronicles 2 would have been better with different kids or if Kate was teaching Jack how to be a True Believer. Instead, we get a lot of Santa fighting - both with Belsnickel and with the Yulecat.

The movie isn’t completely terrible but it’s not great either. If you really loved the first movie, I would recommend you skip the second. But if your curiosity wins out, it isn’t a completely terrible 2 hours. I just hope there isn’t a third movie in the works.

Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker | 2020 Christmas Movies

OK so Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker isn’t really a Christmas movie. It’s a dance documentary. But it is about a production of the Nutcracker so I’m counting it in my Christmas movie reviews.

The Debbie Allen Dance Academy (DADA) teaches anyone who wants to learn dance, no matter their financial situation. Seventy-five percent of their students are on scholarship. DADA’s biggest fundraiser is their annual production of Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. Dance Dreams goes behind the scenes as the academy prepares for the annual production.

Debbie Allen is an amazing person. Even at 70 years old, she is still teaching and choreographing and, well, just being a badass. While she does have other teachers and choreographers that work with her, she is very hands-on with her students. She is there pushing them to make them better dancers, as well as better people.

If you are a dancer or a fan of dance, you should definitely watch this. Strike that, EVERYONE should watch this. Debbie Allen is such a ray of light and a source of inspiration that everyone could use her words of wisdom, even if you aren’t a dancer.

Happiest Season | 2020 Christmas Movies

Now that I finished all of the Christmas movies form Hallmark and Lifetime, I can dive into the movies from Netflix and Hulu. Hulu gave us just one movie this year, Happiest Season, but it’s better to have one really good movie over 100 terrible ones.

Harper (Mackenzie Davis) has invited her girlfriend, Abby (Kristen Stewart), to her family’s house for Christmas. Unfortunately, Harper has not come out to her parents. Abby spends the next five days with Harper’s crazy family pretending that she is only Harper’s roommate.

Happiest Season has a lot of big names attached to it. It was written and directed by Clea DuVall. The cast has bigwigs like Kristen Stewart, Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, Alison Brie, Mary Steenburgen, and Victor Garber. It would have been difficult to make a bad movie with this sort of talent attached.

Thankfully, this was a wonderful movie. I don’t think I could have stood another bad movie. There are a few weird moments but these were true to life. Life isn’t always easy and sometimes there are moments you have to traverse that are weird. I think the characters handled it better than I would have.

This is definitely a movie you should watch. Actually, this might be a good annual movie as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My Sweet Holiday | 2020 Christmas Movies

This review was supposed to be posted yesterday. However, every time I tried to sit down and watch My Sweet Holiday (also known as Chocolate Covered Christmas), I wanted to rip my eyeballs out. It’s a movie that starts out bad and keeps getting worse as it goes on.

Sadie (Malone Thomas) is a marketing associate who returns home for Christmas when her boyfriend decides to stay in Europe for the season. Alex (Jason Burkey) is buying the chocolate store owned by Sadie’s parents. It’s up to Sadie to teach him the business before he takes over on January first.

There is a lot wrong with this movie. The script is terrible, the acting is cringeworthy, and the overall look of the film is awful. Every time there is a scene change, there is a weird montage of the location of the next scene. Going to a coffee shop? A montage of making coffee. Is the scene inside the chocolate shop? A montage of making chocolate. Instead of adding something to the movie, it makes it drag a lot.

On one hand, I’m glad that this is the last of the Lifetime/Hallmark movies for the 2020 season. On the other hand, I’m angry that Lifetime aired it at all. It is a terrible movie with a terrible script and a terrible cast and a terrible director. Don’t watch it. Don’t let any of your friends watch it. Let’s try to eradicate it from the world.

Christmas at the Castle | 2020 Christmas Movies

I hate when I get bamboozled by a movie. Christmas in the Castle is actually titled Christmas in the Highlands. Also, this is a movie from 2019 that Lifetime is marketing as a new 2020 movie. Bad form, Lifetime.

Blair (Brooke Burfitt) is a perfume sales manager who gets sent to Scotland to acquire a very special perfume blend. Alistair (Dan Jeannotte) is the Scottish Earl who made the rare perfume. When Alistair says he won’t sell his perfume, Blair disguises herself as a documentarian to steal the formula.

First off, it annoys me to no end that this movie takes place in Scotland and no one has a Scottish accent. Alistair and his family have English accents, Kirsten (Ellen Patterson) and her mother (Geraldine Somerville) also have English accents, and a random car rental guy has an Irish accent. I know that Scottish accents can be difficult to understand but c’mon. You could have put this movie anywhere in the world. Why would you pick a country with a unique accent then not use it?

Next, the acting sucks. A lot. I might give Blair’s boss, AKA “The Dragon Lady,” (Caprice Bourret) a pass because she is supposed to suck but she is so over the top that I can’t excuse it. As much as I wanted to like the characters, the weird acting wouldn’t let me.

Skip Christmas in the Castle. Even better, just pretend it doesn’t exist.

The Christmas High Note | 2020 Christmas Movies

There are only a few more Lifetime Christmas movies left. They seem to be getting worse as time goes on.

After being stood up by her boyfriend, Brad (William McNamara), on their anniversary, Rachel (Jamie Luner) meets Michael (Johnny Messner) and his daughter, Sophia (Madeline Grace). Sophia is having trouble reaching the high note in “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing.” Rachel offers to give her voice lessons to help.

The Christmas High Note has a lot going on. Rachel is stuck in a love triangle with Brad, who she doesn’t want to be with, and Michael, who doesn’t want to date someone for his daughter’s sake. Add to that, Rachel’s dad, Dennis (William Katt) keeps trying to date Brad’s mom, Donna (Marcie Barkin). And there’s a sub-plot about Dennis trying to sell his veterinarian business so he can travel the world. Oh, and don’t forget about the Christmas pageant. There’s so much going on that nothing actually gets addressed.

As for the relationships, they also suck. Both Brad and his mom are terrible people. I’m not sure why anyone would even want to date them. Rachel should have broken up with Brad long before the 4th anniversary stand up. While it isn’t overly obvious, Michael is definitely controlling. There’s a scene where Rachel asks him to dance and he refuses simply because he wants to ask her instead. Dude, it’s OK for a woman to ask you to dance. It doesn’t make you less of a man to let her initiate things.

Don’t watch The Christmas High Note. It may not be the most terrible movie of the season but it’s up there. There have been a ton of music-related movies this year. Go watch one of those instead.

Project Christmas Wish | 2020 Christmas Movies

Christmastime means granting Christmas wishes, right? At least that is what Hallmark thinks.

Every year, Lucy (Amanda Schull) collects and grants Christmas wishes from her community. This year, Max (Averie Peters) wishes to have a Christmas like she did before her mother passed away. As Lucy tries to fulfill this wish, Max changes her wish to helping her father, Lucas (Travis Van Winkle), find love again.

The main plotline of Project Christmas Wish is granting Christmas wishes. Unlike The Angel Tree, we don’t actually see Lucy granting any wishes. She talks about it. She talks about it a LOT. But we don’t actually see any wish granting going on. It is a little disappointing.

Another annoying part is Lucas’ parenting style. In the beginning of the movie, he is the worst helicopter parent. He chides his parents for bringing donuts without asking him first. Whenever he goes into public with Max, he always tells her to stay within his sight. While I understand being careful, in the world of Hallmark movies, this is overbearing.

As is the norm for this season, I can’t recommend watching Project Christmas Wish. It is the worst kind of boring. The kind where nothing actually happens. If you want to watch a movie where they grant Christmas wishes, The Angel Tree does it much better. And they are both on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel.

A Christmas Break | 2020 Christmas Movies

I had hope that the movies released closer to Christmas would be better. It doesn’t seem to be going that way.

Addison (Cindy Sampson) is a middle school principal. Her school is slated to close after the Christmas break. She turns to Dylan Davidson (Steve Byers), an old school friend who is now a somewhat famous actor. Addison convinces Dylan to direct the school’s Christmas play, which they will use as a fundraiser to keep the school open.

Are there school districts that actually close schools in the middle of the school year? My school district has recently closed a couple of their buildings but it was always done after the school year is over. Why would they close it in the middle of the year? That makes no sense to me. And that isn’t the only weak link.

Unlike Olivia in Spotlight on Christmas, Dylan isn’t a super famous actor. As a matter of fact, he’s having trouble landing jobs. So why is his manager (or whatever Garth (Arnold Pinnock) is supposed to be) following him around everywhere? I’m sure he has other clients that are making him more money. The same goes for the paparazzi. I can’t imagine that anyone would be that interested in his love life.

Beyond the troubles with the plot, the acting is also bland. It doesn’t feel like Addison really wants to save her school. Instead of trying a variety of plans, she hinges everything on Dylan directing the school play. Dylan doesn’t even seem all that interested in his own life. When his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Monique (Samantha Helt), shows up, he just kinda lets her walk all over him and the kids. Grow a set, dude.

If you want to watch an actor-comes-home movie, go watch Spotlight on Christmas. It is a much better movie. A Christmas Break isn’t worth your time or attention.