Christmas 2022 Wrap-Up | 2022 Christmas Movies

It is finally time to officially wrap up the 2022 Christmas Movie season. I watched 127 movies this year. A giant change from the 78 I watched in 2021. Even adding in the 13 movies I watched this past August to finish the 2021 season, that is still 36 more movies for 2022. While I didn’t have a difficult time fitting all of those movies into my schedule (Don’t ask me how I did it. I don’t know.), I am going to need to make some changes for the 2023 Christmas season.

In 2022, I added two new channels to my lineup. Great American Family and UPtv. I am going to drop UPtv from the 2023 lineup completely. I don’t think there was a single good movie on the channel this year. All of their movies were so boring that it was difficult for me to finish watching a lot of them. Also, I’m tired of seeing commercials for Gilmore Girls.

As for Great American Family, my current plans are to drop the channel with the possibility of watching the Candace Cameron Bure movie and the Danica McKellar movie. I firmly disagree with the politics of the channel and I can’t, in good conscience, keep watching it. There were a few good movies but I was also bombarded by commercials from Mike Lindell, aka the My Pillow guy. This tells me that GAF supports the stolen election lie. In addition, Bure has straight up said that they will not be airing any LGBTQ+ movies. She can spin it all she wants but I will not support a channel that is so intolerant.

Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime, Netflix, Hulu, and Roku Channel will all be staying. If HBO Max survives the merger with Discovery, I will also keep them on my list. I would love to add Discovery+ and Oprah Winfrey Network (which is streamed on Discovery+) to the lineup but, again, we will need to see what 2023 brings for the app before I can make that call.

My goal for 2023 is to get back to the 90ish movies that I watched in 2021. I want to make sure that I have a good selection of movies to talk about but not so many that it makes my mental health spiral out of control. If you have any suggestions or ideas, you can leave a comment below or shoot me an email. Thank you for sticking with me through this crazy Christmas season. I have so many plans for the rest of this year and I hope that you will come along with me.

Top 10 Best Christmas Movies of 2022 | 2022 Christmas Movies

While my Worst Movie list is always difficult to write (it is just boring or is it BAD?), the Best Movie list is usually much easier. We don’t get nearly as many amazing movies as we should. Here is the list of my favorites.

10. Well Suited For Christmas
9. Santa Bootcamp
8. Hanukkah On Rye
7. Holiday Heritage
6. The Holiday Sitter
5. Ghosts of Christmas Always
4. Three Wise Men and a Baby
3. The Royal Nanny
2. Spirited
1. Violent Night

Honorable Mentions: A Christmas Mystery, The Hip Hop Nutcracker, Santa’s Got Style, Kirk Franklin’s The Night Before Christmas, The Holiday Stocking, Haul Out The Holly

I’m surprised at the number of movies I enjoyed this year. It probably had something to do with the sheer number of movies I watched but I’m glad I was able to find 17 movies that kept me going. I hope you enjoyed these movies as much as I did. Let me know what your favorite movies were this season in the comments.

Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies of 2022 | 2022 Christmas Movies

I watched a LOT of movies this season. Between November and December, I watched 127 Christmas movies. A majority of them fell into the “Wow, that’s boring” category. But there were some terribly awful movies as well. Here is my list of the Top 10 Worst Christmas Movies of 2022.

10. Long Lost Christmas
9. A Show-Stopping Christmas
8. A Maple Valley Christmas
7. The Holiday Dating Guide
6. My Favorite Christmas Tree
5. Another Christmas
4. Christmas Lucky Charm
3. A Tale Of Two Christmases
2. The Noel Diary
1. Christmas In Pine Valley

Dishonorable Mentions: The Holiday Swap, Sweet Navidad, A Christmas Masquerade, Aisle Be Home For Christmas, Scentsational Christmas, Christmas On The Rocks, Christmas In The Wilds

There we go. My 10 Worst Christmas Movie list. And Candace Cameron Bure’s piece of crap didn’t even make the list! Join me again tomorrow for my 10 Best Christmas Movies list.

A Merry Single Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

For my final Christmas movie review of 2022, I headed over to the Roku Channel to check out A Merry Single Christmas. I can’t tell you how happy I am that this season is over.

Morgan (Chelsea Gilson) and Liam (Andrew Rogers) have been dating for five years. When he doesn’t propose on their anniversary, as she was expecting, Morgan breaks off the relationship. Sad and depressed, Morgan signs up to attend a Christmas Lonely Hearts Club retreat. Also sad and depressed, Liam signs up for the same retreat. They try to pretend that they don’t know each other but their feelings get the better of them.

It’s movies like this that make me dread the Christmas romcom movie season. The premise sounds like it could be a ton of fun. Morgan saying things like “I’m sorry but what is your name again?” or Liam ‘accidentally’ getting facts about her wrong. They could have had this sort of passive-aggressive flirtation going on. But no. The movie did not do that. Instead of something fun, the movie gave us the usual boring fare, complete with Juliet (Sarah Armstrong), the retreat’s organizer, kicking out any couples that dared to begin a relationship. This retreat is for singles and those singles are forbidden from falling in love with each other.

I wanted to end the 2022 season on a positive note but that isn’t happening. Don’t bother with A Merry Single Christmas. All it will do is make you wish it was a better movie.

Something From Tiffany's | 2022 Christmas Movies

As much as I enjoy writing these reviews every year, I will be very happy when I post the last review. Alas, today is not that day. Today I’ll be taking a look at Something From Tiffany’s on Amazon Prime Video.

Rachel (Zoey Deutch) is a baker whose boyfriend, Gary (Ray Nicholson), was hit by a car after buying her Christmas/Hanukkah gift at Tiffany’s. Ethan (Kendrick Sampson) is a writer who also happened to be shopping at Tiffany’s and saw Gary’s accident. When Ethan went to help Gary, their Tiffany bags got mixed up. Ethan ended up giving his girlfriend, Vanessa (Shay Mitchell), a pair of diamond earrings that were intended for Rachel. Gary accidentally proposed to Rachel with the engagement ring that was intended for Vanessa. Not wanting to hurt Rachel’s feelings, Ethan tries to figure out a way to get the ring back without directly asking for it.

I’m a little torn on this movie. It wasn’t bad. It was even a promising premise. However, it was still rather bland and boring. Even when each of the couples has their inevitable argument, there isn’t any drama. While that is the real life ideal, it doesn’t make a great movie. You want the couple to be screaming or throwing things. Something that would make the fight worthwhile to watch. No one wants to watch two adults calmly discuss why their relationship isn’t working.

My other problem is that we don’t really see the relationship between Rachel and Ethan blossom. Sure, they walk around New York a bit together and they visit a park that Ethan claims no one knows about…but c’mon, Ethan, there are a ton of people there. Everyone knows about it. Oh, and they do have dinner together once. I didn’t see anything that would make me think they were falling in love.

Sadly, I’m going to say skip Something From Tiffany’s. It doesn’t have enough oomph to make it an interesting movie. This is something I would turn on if I was having trouble falling asleep. I would love to see this redone in a more dramatic way. Or even more comedic. For a rom-com, it’s barely rom with zero com.

A Not So Merry Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

A lot of the movies left on Netflix are foreign films, which I usually enjoy. Next up is the Mexican flick, A Not So Merry Christmas.

Chuy (Mauricio Ochmann) doesn’t like Christmas. Partially because his birthday is on Christmas Eve so it gets overlooked every year. But also because he sees his family as freeloaders. As he is out and about finishing his Christmas Eve chores, he meets his Christmas Fairy Godmother, who places a spell on him that makes him only remember Christmas Eve until he learns how to appreciate Christmas properly.

This movie has the same premise as the 2020 Brazilian movie, Just Another Christmas. A man who hates Christmas is doomed to only remember Christmas, even though he lives his regular life the rest of the year. However, Just Another Christmas was a lot more entertaining than A Not So Merry Christmas. Both are supposed to be comedies but the only funny thing about Not So Merry is the Fairy Godmother. And even she isn’t that funny.

A Not So Merry Christmas is a decent enough movie. But I would recommend watching Just Another Christmas instead. You’ll have a much better time.

Christmas Love | 2022 Christmas Movies

Christmas Love is a short film but I’m counting it in my Christmas movie list. It’s only about 30 minutes long, though I wish it was a little longer.

Sam (Abel Mutua) is a widowed single father struggling to raise his daughter while juggling his job. Can he figure out how to put his daughter first in his life?

I am so sad at how short Christmas Love is. We get the story of how Sam is struggling to fit everything into his schedule and how much he misses his late wife but we don’t get much of a resolution. He, once again, doesn’t show up on time for his daughter and he receives a message that Christ Was Love during her school play. However, we don’t get to see if he has really changed his ways or if she will always play second fiddle to his demanding job. It would have been nice to have another half hour to give us a better resolution to the problems or maybe show us Sam quitting his job in order to focus on his daughter more. Just something that shows us he has changed.

On one hand, I want to recommend this movie because it is another foreign film released by Netflix. On the other hand, it doesn’t have a real ending. That makes it difficult to recommend. Maybe turn it on in the background while you are doing something else. That way Netflix counts it as a view but you don’t waste your 30 minutes watching something unsatisfying.

I Believe In Santa | 2022 Christmas Movies

Now that I have finished all of the usual network Christmas movies, I’ll finish out the year with some from Netflix (and maybe other streaming channels) that I didn’t get to. I’m starting off with I Believe In Santa.

Lisa (Christina Moore) is a writer who hates Christmas. Tom (John Ducey) is a lawyer who loves Christmas so much that he still believes in Santa Claus. After five months of dating, Lisa just found out about Tom’s beliefs. Will they be able to find a way to compromise or is this the end of their relationship?

I want to start off with noting that this is definitely an allegory for Catholicism vs atheism. Yes, they do talk about religion in the movie but the only specific religion they mention is Muslim. Santa is definitely supposed to be a stand-in for big-g God.

With that in mind, I still found it to be a charming movie. There were the usual discussions about faith - how do you prove it if you can’t see it - but it didn’t come off as preachy, the way most faith movies do. I think it’s because there is no “Santa has a plan” type reasonings here. Instead, it’s basically “It’s real if you believe it is real.” Which is a much better reasoning for faith.

While I do think this I Believe In Santa is a movie worth watching, it isn’t the best movie out there. There are a ton of unnecessary montages and the production is a little lacking. But for a movie about religion, I thought it was well handled. And Lisa’s daughter, Ella (Violet McGraw), is a great reason to watch, if you still need one.

Christmas In Wolf Creek | 2022 Christmas Movies

Christmas In Wolf Creek is the last of the Hallmark/Lifetime/UPtv/Great American Family Christmas movies. And I’m not going to lie. I didn’t finish it. Let me tell you why.

Samantha (Nola Martin) and Austin (Tim Rozon) are trying to figure out how they can still be together. Samantha lives in Wolf Creek, where she rescues animals, while Austin is a rancher. He doesn’t want to move into town and she doesn’t want to live on the ranch. Can they come to an agreement?

As I said, I didn’t finish this one. This is a direct sequel from Love In Wolf Creek, which came out in either October or November 2022. Since I didn’t watch that one, I didn’t understand a lot of the references they made in the Christmas one. People kept talking about how Samantha and Austin fell in love rescuing a wolf and rescuing animals in the wild in what they do. Yet they argued through the entire first half of this movie, which is where I stopped watching.

If you watched Love In Wolf Creek, you might like Christmas In Wolf Creek. But if, like me, you didn’t watch the first one, you might not enjoy the second one either. Starting with a sequel instead of the original isn’t bad, unless the second movie makes so many references to the first that you get lost. It sucks.

The Snowball Effect | 2022 Christmas Movies

Once again, we have a movie about weather forecasters. This time it’s UPtv’s The Snowball Effect. Let’s check it out.

Tara (Anjali Khurana) and Sam (Landon Moss) are both weather forecasters at competing networks. When a position opens up at a larger network, both of them apply for it. However, as they are traveling to their interviews, they get stuck in the town of Mistletoe thanks to an incoming snowstorm. In order to continue their interview, they each must submit a weather report to the network. While researching more about the town, they find out that the town no longer celebrates Christmas. They decide to find a way to bring the Christmas spirit back to Mistletoe.

So much of this movie is based on two people doing things, mostly without permission, to try to get the mayor to say yes to Christmas. For example, Tara arranges a group of carolers to sing outside the mayor’s house for what seems like hours while Sam plans a Christmas party without any actual venue or food or anything. Somehow Sam’s plan comes together and, while Tara’s plan seems like a failure at first, it also works out. The magic of movies.

While this wasn’t a completely awful movie, I don’t think it was good enough to recommend. Cloudy With A Chance Of Christmas was a much better movie. Go watch that instead.