How I Decompress From Christmas

While I love reviewing Christmas movies every year, it does get a little overwhelming by the time the new year rolls around. That is usually why the blog ends up falling to the wayside most of the year. I get overwhelmed, don’t know what to write after the Christmas season, get stuck in my head about what to write, then by the time I know what to write, it’s October and spooky movie season. In an attempt to avoid it this year, I have spent a little more time decompressing from Christmas movies. Here is how I have been spending my days:

Playing Dreamlight Valley. Yes, I am still playing Disney’s Dreamlight Valley. I don’t get a lot of time to play it during the Christmas season so I have been spending the past few weeks catching up on everything going on in my own personal Disney world. There have been two new DLCs since I last wrote about the game. That means I got to spend some time unlocking Gaston, Rapunzel, EVE, Oswald, and Jafar from A Rift In Time, the first DLC. The Storybook Vale, the second DLC, gave us Merida, Flynn Rider, and Hades. On top of that, the main game added Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (A list of all the currently available characters can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Dreamlight_Valley#Characters) I still have a ton of fun playing the game, even though it takes over my life sometimes.

Watching documentaries. What better way to get out of the Christmas romcom funk then a few tales from real life. Yes, I do watch a lot of true crime documentaries but I also watch ones that are just about interesting stuff. Recently I watched Jailbreak: Love On The Run, Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter, and Biggest Heist Ever. I thought about writing reviews on them, then I decided that I needed some media that was just for me.

Listening to music/podcasts. When I play Dreamlight Valley, I turn off the in-game sound and listen to music or podcasts instead. (A lot of in-game noise bugs me so I rarely play video games with the sound on.) I’ll pop on some Green Day or a random ‘90s playlist on Spotify. I’ve also been listening to the 60 Songs That Explain The ‘90s podcast. (Spoiler alert: They have covered more than 60 songs. And I think they’re currently covering 2000s songs.)

Journaling. That’s right. Sometimes I write for myself. I have a list of journal prompts that I try to do daily, except on weekends. It lets me think a little more about what goes on in my head instead of what is going on on a screen. Journaling may not be for everyone but I find that it does help me get over the romcom hump. Also, I write with fountain pens so I get extra enjoyment from picking out what type and color ink I feel like using. I particularly like shimmer inks, even though they are a pain in the butt. They are awfully pretty.

And that mostly covers it. I am going to try to get back to a regular posting schedule this week. Though I think I might do Tuesdays & Thursdays instead of Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Maybe putting a little less pressure on myself will help me keep going.

Christmas 2024 Wrap-Up

And now it is time to wrap up the 2024 Christmas season. It felt both hectic and laid back at the same time. I’m not sure how that happened!

This year I watched 74 Christmas movies. That is probably why this season felt more laid back. This was the the lowest number of movies I have watched since I moved from my advent calendar format. 2023 was 92 movies, 2022 was 127, 2021 was 78, and 2020 was 86. I think this is because Hallmark moved some of their new releases to their Hallmark+ streaming service, which I did not subscribe to this year. That cut at least seven movies from the schedule. It was also frustratingly difficult to find new movies this time around. Great American Family continues to change their movies after they have released their schedule. Movies they have announced to air on one date will be replaced by a different movie and air on a different date. It was so frustrating.

Speaking of Great American Family, I am going to cut them from the list of movies next year. While I wanted to continue to watch Candace Cameron-Bure and Danica McKellar, almost all of the movies on the channel are so boring and difficult to sit through. I hope that their 2025 movies don’t turn political but it feels like that is the way the channel is heading.

Since I am going to cut out GAF, I am going to spend more energy trying to find movies on other streaming channels. I didn’t watch anything on Roku, Disney+ (though I did watch one Hulu movie), or Peacock. There was also a locally-made movie released in theaters that I was hoping to go see but I couldn’t make it in time. And, who knows, maybe I will sign up for Hallmark+ this year. We’ll have to wait and see what their streaming-only releases are.

As always, please feel free to let me know if there is a streaming channel that you’d like me to cover. I know there are a million of them out there now. There has to be a channel with some great Christmas movies that I don’t know about.

Carry-On | 2024 Christmas Movies

Taking a short break from the romance and family friendly fare, we’re turning to Netflix’s newest thriller, Carry-On. It’s only rated PG-13 so it shouldn’t be too scary.

Ethan (Taron Egerton) is a TSA agent at LAX. When he asks his supervisor about a possible promotion, he gets moved to the carry on luggage scanner as a test. Unfortunately, this puts him directly in the path of an unknown traveler (Jason Bateman) who wants him to pass through a carry on no matter what the scanner says or else Ethan’s pregnant girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson), will die. Ethan, unwilling to put his girlfriend or everyone on the target airplane in danger, does everything he can to avoid disaster.

Carry-On is a pretty typical terrorist type of action movie. Something along the lines of Die Hard, which also takes place during the Christmas season. Much like Die Hard, this was quite enjoyable. As with most movies like this, there were a few parts where I wondered how many bullets a certain gun could hold or why an officer didn’t respond to someone acting weird in an airport. But none of that took anything away from the movie itself. If you are looking for something beyond Christmas romance, this should fit the bill.

Rating: I will never look at carry on luggage the same

That Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

There hasn’t been a ton of new Christmas movies for kids this year. Thankfully, Netflix has released That Christmas, an animated story that kids will probably love. The plot is a little difficult to describe so hold on tight!

A huge blizzard is about to hit the town of Wellington-On-Sea. As Christmas Eve approaches, Sam (Zazie Hayhurst) worries that her naughty twin, Charlie (Sienna Sayer), won’t receive any presents from Santa. Meanwhile, Sam’s friend, Danny (Jack Wisniewski), who happens to have a crush on Sam, is having trouble with loneliness since his single mother has been very busy with work and his father is unable to reach him due to the snow. Then there is another group of children who have been left home under the care of Bernadette (India Brown), the eldest of the children, as their parents attend a family wedding. Will they all be able to have a happy Christmas?

While this is a strange movie, it was really cute. From an American perspective, it does seem that most of the parents are awfully neglectful but I think things are very different in the United Kingdom. Also, maybe they should learn to check the weather report before they leave their children home alone. But it’s this loneliness that brings them all together and shows them that community is very important. Especially around the holidays.

Rating: I would also like to celebrate Kids Christmas

Our Little Secret | 2024 Christmas Movies

Our Little Secret is the third movie from Lindsay Lohan’s partnership with Netflix. Her Christmas movies have been doing a little bit better than her non-Christmas movies so I guess we have some hope here.

Avery (Lohan) and Logan (Ian Harding) have known each other forever. They were childhood friends who eventually became a couple. But when Avery took a job in England, Logan freaked out a little bit and proposed to her at her surprise going away party. Avery declined and broke up with him. Ten years later, Avery is going to spend Christmas at her boyfriend, Cameron’s (Jon Rudnitsky), family home. Little does she know that Logan is dating Cam’s sister, Cassie (Katie Baker), and will also be spending Christmas at their family home. Avery and Logan decide not to tell anyone that they know each other. How long can that be kept secret though?

On the plus side, Our Little Secret is a pretty decent movie. The plot is kinda terrible but, otherwise, I found the movie fairly enjoyable. Kristin Chenoweth is awesome as the evil Erica, mother to Cam, Cassie, and Callum. Lohan and Harding have this nice chemistry where you can see that they don’t really hate each other but they don’t want to like each other either. That can be difficult to pull off.

However, on the negative side, I don’t understand why they felt the need to keep their previous relationship secret. Even if they didn’t want to say that they dated, they could have said they were childhood friends. I can’t believe that anyone in that family would have been upset to find out that people they are dating know each other. The whole plot of the movie should have been about them trying to get Erica to accept them. Sure, part of the plot was trying to get Erica to accept Avery but there’s no reason that couldn’t have been the main plot. There are plenty of movies about trying to impress the in-laws and comedically failing. Here, the big secret feels unnecessary.

Thankfully, the terrible plot doesn’t keep the movie from being watchable. There is still enough to enjoy that you can kinda overlook the big secret. Oh, and the dog should have totally been named Cookie.

Rating: Celebrate good time. Come on!

The Merry Gentlemen | 2024 Christmas Movies

Netflix is very thirsty this year. First we had Hot Frosty with the muscular snowman coming to life. Now we have The Merry Gentlemen, a movie featuring shirtless male dancers. I’m afraid for the rest of this season.

Ashley (Britt Robertson) just got let go from her job as a dancer with the Jingle Belles. When she comes home to Sycamore Creek, she finds that the club her parents, Lily (Beth Broderick) and Stan (Michael Gross), own is very past due on the rent. If they don’t come up with $30,000 by Christmas, they will lose the space. To raise the money, Ashley decides to put on an all-male revue starring handyman Luke (Chad Michael Murray), bartender Troy (Colt Prattes), taxi driver Ricky (Hector David Jr.), and her brother-in-law Rodger (Marc Anthony Samuel).

As a dancer, this movie annoyed me. The Jingle Belles are supposed to be the Rockettes, complete with kickline. However, it’s painfully obvious that Robertson has zero dance experience and the director does absolutely nothing to try to hide it. Instead, she is put dead center of every dance, making the whole thing look amateurish.

This bleeds over into The Merry Gentlemen. Thankfully, Prattes has dance experience (he’s currently on Broadway in Aladdin) and David has martial arts experience (he was a Power Ranger). Those two are the saviors of the male revue. The other two move like it physically hurts them. I guess it’s a good thing they all work out so they have nice abs?

Sadly, even if you try to ignore the bad dancing, which is difficult since it’s the entire plot, the rest of the movie isn’t much better. The romance feels unearned. Ashley likes Luke because he is pretty and Luke likes Ashley because she taught him choreography? I really wish Netflix went in a different way with this. Hire some more actual dancers. I know this may sound stunning but there are dancers who can act. This would have been so much better if Ashley was a really good dancer and was able to take the “country bumpkins” and turn them into good dancers. But you have to cast people that can dance for that to happen. I am very disappointed.

Rating: The Rockettes would never

Hot Frosty | 2024 Christmas Movies

I think someone at Netflix hired some Gen Zs to run their Christmas movie slate this year. You can’t tell me that a Gen Xer or Millennial came up with Hot Frosty. And there are two more Netflix movies coming up with additional weird plots. We are in for some craziness this Christmas.

After losing her husband to cancer, Kathy’s (Lacey Chabert) life began to fall apart. She manages to keep her diner going but her house is in major need of repairs. And she can’t even think of dating again. Thrift store owners Mel (Sherry Miller) and Theo (Dan Lett) give Kathy the red scarf that led them to fall in love with each other. Disbelieving in the magic charm, Kathy puts the scarf on a muscular snowman entered in the town’s snow sculpture competition. That night, the snowman, Jack (Dustin Milligan), comes to life, bringing more than just muscles to the town.

There are people out there that did not like this movie. I am not one of them. And to say I’m skeptical about Christmas movies is an understatement. Sure, Hot Frosty has a ridiculous plot but so do many of the best Christmas movies. As a matter of fact, I think this movie had similar vibes to Elf, which is one of the most popular Christmas movies out there. It probably won’t make it to the same cult movie status that Elf has but I don’t think it should be written off as terrible either.

I think maybe my only complaint about this movie is that they were given comedic heavy hitters in Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio and they are both severely underused. Robinson’s cop character is supposed to be one of those “so serious about their job it’s funny” and Lo Truglio is supposed to be his dim-witted deputy. However, neither of them are playing it straight. It’s not funny if the actors are playing it funny. Sadly, the funniest part they get is the song they sing over the ending credits, which is a callback to the song they sing in the cop car. I would have loved to see them play both of the roles more seriously. They would have stolen the movie.

Despite that minor setback, I do recommend watching it. Keep an eye out for a couple of Mean Girls references!

Rating: How much does snowman home repair cost?

Meet Me Next Christmas | 2024 Christmas Movies

Netflix has suckered me into watching yet another Pentatonix Christmas movie. They aren’t the main characters of Meet Me Next Christmas but they are a very large part of the plot. Like, unavoidably large part of the plot.

Layla (Christina Milian) gets stuck in an airport on Christmas Eve, forcing her to miss the annual Pentatonix concert in New York City that she attends with her boyfriend. As she waits in the airport lounge, she meets two men - Teddy (Devale Ellis), who gives her some culinary advice, and James (Kofi Siriboe), who connects with Layla deeply after a long conversation. However, since Layla is currently in a relationship, they decide to not pursue this connection further. Instead, James makes Layla promise that, if her relationship should fail in the next year, she will meet him at the next Christmas Eve Pentatonix concert to see if there is more between them. A year later, Layla has broken up with her boyfriend but the tickets to the Pentatonix concert are sold out and she didn’t have a ticket. She unknowingly hires Teddy, now working as a concierge, to help her obtain the elusive concert ticket in order to make her dreams come true.

Let me start this off by saying I don’t hate Pentatonix. I used to listen to them in the 2010s but then they started feeling over marketed. Their faces and music was just everywhere. So having a whole movie dedicated to the group and their music makes me have those over marketed feelings again. And this movie feels even more so. There are so many times a character says “Oh my god! You love Pentatonix too!” or “Who doesn’t know Pentatonix?!” or “Hey, listen to this Pentatonix song!” If I drank a shot of alcohol every time the group name was spoken, I would have been way over the limit in the first half hour of the movie. It, honestly, was a little grating.

The sad thing is that the rest of the movie is really cute. I love the way Layla and Teddy were running around the city trying to find tickets. There were scammers and scalpers and even a weird couple that just wanted them to run an errand for them in exchange for a ticket. Unfortunately, all of the cute things were cut with kinda annoying scenes of Pentatonix in their hotel suite following the pair on social media. We really didn’t need their commentary on what was going on. I, honestly, would have liked the movie better if there was a little less backstage Pentatonix and a little more of Layla/Teddy running around New York City. NYC is an amazing backdrop for a movie and there is so much you could do with it. Instead, we’re interrupted with random harmonies in the middle of a conversation. Thanks, I hate it.

Rating: Can they go to a different concert next year?

It's What's Inside (2024)

The first Netflix horror movie I watched this season is It’s What’s Inside. To be honest, I forgot that it released on October 4. I just happened to be scrolling through Netflix and thought it looked interesting. But was it?

Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) has been trying to get her boyfriend, Cyrus (James Morosini), interested in her. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be working. She wants to skip the party for their friend Reuben (Devon Terrell), who is getting married, but Cyrus insists they go. At the party, they meet up with all their friends - Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood), Maya (Nina Bloomgarden), Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), and Brooke (Reina Hardesty). Surprisingly, their estranged friend from college, Forbes (David Thompson), also shows up. Forbes has brought a mysterious suitcase containing a strange machine. He hooks everyone up to the machine and turns it on, immediately making everyone swap bodies with each other. Chaos ensues as the group plays a game where they try to guess who is actually inside everyone’s bodies.

This was such an interesting premise. And I really wish the writers had done more with it. Sure, there were some people who were only interested in hooking up with people while they were in their friends’ bodies but there could have been so much more going on. Even the Big Problem that happens doesn’t really cause much drama on-screen. People should be more scared or angry or something but we only see a fraction of how they should feel.

One of my other problems was keeping track of who everyone was. Granted, this is the plot of the movie. You are supposed to lose track of who is who. It make the twist ending better. But since I barely knew the characters’ names to begin with, it was really hard for me to remember who was who. I would have liked maybe a subtitle instead of showing who was inside with a red filter scene. I can’t know who is who when I didn’t know who they were to begin with!

With all of this is mind, It’s What’s Inside wasn’t a terrible movie. I might actually watch it again to see if I can get more out of it. If you like movies that are a little confusing, this one could be for you.

Rating: B

The Deliverance (2024)

Since Shudder let me down, I moved over to Netflix to check out The Deliverance. Somehow, I missed hearing much of anything about this one. So let’s check it out.

Ebony Jackson (Andra Day), her mother - Alberta (Glenn Close), and her three children - Nate (Caleb McLaughlin), Shante (Demi Singleton), and Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins) have just moved into a new home. Sadly, they are plagued by a number of personal problems. Alberta has cancer and her insurance stopped covering her treatment. Ebony has a history of alcohol abuse and physically abusing her children. As a result, Child Protective Services caseworker Cynthia (Mo’Nique) has to check up on the family frequently. However, since they have moved to the new house, the children have been exhibiting a variety of strange behaviors. It isn’t until Bernice (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), a Pentecostal pastor, tells Ebony that a demon is after her children that things start to come together.

Normally, I’m not a big fan of demon possession movies. A lot of them come off as hokey or over the top. This one was actually pretty good. While it is based on a true story, there were so many holes in that story that it needed a movie to make it make sense. Thankfully, The Deliverance did a good job of bringing the story together in an interesting way that kept my attention the entire time. Every time I thought I would pick up my phone to scroll through social media, something else happened to drag me back in.

Rating: B