Round And Round | 2023 Christmas Movies

Every year, Hallmark releases one Hanukkah movie. This year it is Round And Round.

It is night seven of Hanukkah. Rachel (Vic Michaelis) is going to her parents’ Hanukkah/anniversary party. At the party, her grandmother gives her a dreidel to use in the cousins game. After spinning the toy, Rachel gets stuck in a time loop, reliving day seven over and over.

Frequently, Hallmark’s Hanukkah movies are my favorite of the season. And this year is no different. We’ve seen a lot of time loop movies that use the same tired old tropes. The big difference in Round And Round is that Rachel doesn’t rely on herself to figure out how to end the loop. Not only does she use love interest, Zach (Bryan Greenberg), she also uses his friend, Seth (Amitai Marmorstein). As the nerdy characters, they bring forth all of their pop culture knowledge to figure out which time loop story will solve her problem. It brings a different sort of camaraderie that we don’t see too often. I thought it made the movie quite enjoyable.

Rating: I would live in that time loop. More donuts please!

Christmas On Cherry Lane | 2023 Christmas Movies

I think that Hallmark Channel has a couple of movies featuring LGTBQ+ couples in lead roles. And I believe Christmas On Cherry Lane is the first of the season.

In 1973, 1999, and 2023, three very different couples are getting ready to celebrate Christmas in the same house on Cherry Lane.

I didn’t really want to give away the fact that they are all in the same house but the movie does tell you that pretty quickly. Not immediately but within the first 15 minutes or so.

Anyway, I really loved this movie a lot. Every little twist and turn had me smiling. This may actually be the first Hallmark Christmas movie that brought tears to my eyes. Christmas On Cherry Lane isn’t about finding love or wooing the girl. It’s about family and connections. How things that happen to us in our life can affect other people’s lives in the future that we may never even think about. Cherry Lane really is the sweetest Christmas movie I have ever seen. A must watch, especially if you can watch it with family.

Rating: Can I buy the house on Cherry Lane?

Magic In Mistletoe | 2023 Christmas Movies

Magic In Mistletoe, eh? How much magic do we think will be in this movie? I’m betting none.

Harrington (Paul Campbell) writes a series of books titled “Magic In Mistletoe.” When he goes on social media to say Christmas is only about money, his fans start to revolt. It’s up to April (Lyndie Greenwood), a publicist for his publisher, to save his reputation and get his fans to buy his newest book.

Most of the time, this was a pretty cute movie. I liked the way they integrated events involving the book - a costume dance, a lot of Q&As, etc. I wish the movie focused on that more than Harrington being an idiot. The movie goes with the usual trope of dead parents but, if I understood the timeline correctly, his parents have been dead for 9 years (his father) and 5 years (his mother). Yet the movie acts like they died recently. He literally throws a fit because April gets him a (decorated!) Christmas tree. This movie really should have been just about the book.

Rating: I wish this movie was more magical

Christmas With A Kiss | 2023 Christmas Movies

Christmas With A Kiss is from Hallmark’s Mahogany line of movies. While I am not the target audience for the Mahogany line, sometimes they are my favorite movies of the season.

Mona (Mishael Morgan) is a social media influencer living in New York City. She comes home for Christmas to help her family run their annual Christmas Carnival. During the 10-day festival, she reconnects with her high school boyfriend, Fletcher (Jaime M. Callica), and meets Dez (Ronnie Rowe), a journalist writing an article about the Carnival.

I had some mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, the romance was a nice, slow burn. I like when the romantic feelings take awhile to settle in because when they fall in love immediately, it is a little creepy. On the other hand, those of us that watch Hallmark romance movies know that Dez was set up as The One - either despite the fact that they didn’t get along or as a result of it, I’m not sure. And, to be honest, Dez kinda sucks. Sure, he had some nice “family guy” things going on but he also insulted everything that he didn’t agree with. He needed a good kick in the butt before getting into a relationship with anyone. Granted, Fletcher didn’t deserve to be with her either. I wish there was a third, better option for Mona.

Rating: Not as fun as a carnival

A Not So Royal Christmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

I…don’t really have an introduction for this one. Onto the review for A Not So Royal Christmas!

Charlotte (Brooke D’Orsay) currently works for a royal gossip website. In an attempt to get herself a raise, she plans to get an interview with the reclusive Count. To ward her off, the royal family convinces one of their groundskeepers, Adam (Will Kemp), pretend to be the Count.

There were things I liked about this movie and things I hated about it. Kemp was charming and delightful. Meanwhile, D’Orsay has this tendency to play annoying characters and this one isn’t any different. I liked the idea of a gossip tabloid chasing the royal but A Christmas Prince did it better. And why is everyone mad at the other person lying to them when they also lied?

This isn’t the worst movie I’ve watched. It’s not even the worst Brooke D’Orsay movie I’ve watched. But I guess if you like royal movies, you might like it.

Rating: So anyone can be Count?

My Norwegian Holiday | 2023 Christmas Movies

Hallmark really is traveling the world this year. We had A Heidelberg Holiday in Germany, A Merry Scottish Christmas in Scotland, and Christmas In Notting Hill in England. Now Hallmark takes us to Norway with My Norwegian Holiday.

While grading papers in a coffeehouse, JJ (Rhiannon Fish) happens to overhear a breakup between a woman who shares her name - Jessica Johnson - and a Norwegian man named Henrik (David Elsendoorn), leaving the man with an extra plane ticket back home to Norway. He offers JJ the ticket, who eventually agrees, so she can find out more about her recently deceased grandmother. What JJ finds in Bergen is more than she expected.

Yay! We finally have another sweet movie from Hallmark. I love that they didn’t press the romance too much. Instead, the story is driven by JJ trying to find where her grandmother got this handmade troll figure and Henrik’s family teaching her what life is like in Norway. Sure, there are a few scenes that are stupidly played up for the conflict but those are easily overlooked. Instead, we can enjoy time with a fun and loving family in a new country.

Rating: I’ll stay in grandmother’s extra room!

A Biltmore Christmas | 2023 Christmas Movies

For those of you that don’t know, even though Hallmark has been screaming it all over the place, A Biltmore Christmas was actually filmed at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. The estate itself is a lovely addition to the movie.

Lucy (Bethany Joy Lenz) is writing a remake of a classic holiday movie, His Merry Wife! When she has trouble giving the movie the feel good ending the studio wants, her boss sends her to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, where the original movie was filmed. After an accident with an hourglass, Lucy finds herself transported back to 1946. Stuck in 1946, she watches the filming of His Merry Wife! and finds herself falling in love with the movie’s star, Jack Huston (Kristoffer Polaha). But she has to go back to her time, right?

This is another movie I wasn’t expecting to enjoy. Especially since these type of time travel movies often suck. Maybe it was the majesticness of the Biltmore or maybe the movie actually was good. I just know that I found myself liking it way more than I thought I would. It’s not a movie I’m adding to my Annual list but it’s not one I would turn off if it happened to be on the screen.

Rating: Stay at the Biltmore! It’s beautiful!

Our Christmas Mural | 2023 Christmas Movies

The commercials for Our Christmas Mural made this movie look really bad. I’m not sure why Hallmark has such a problem making good commercials for their shows. Do any of these actually make people want to watch it?

Olivia (Alex Paxton-Beesley) is a single mom working in a New York art gallery. After her husband passed away, she lost all inspiration to paint. And now she may be losing her job. So Olivia and her son, Parker (Viggo Hanvelt), go back to her hometown of Wellington for the holidays. When she wins an art contest her mother secretly entered her in, Olivia turns to art teacher Will (Dan Jeannotte) for help with the Christmas mural.

Hmmm. I didn’t hate this movie but I didn’t like it either. It wanted to be a movie about grief but it didn’t want to be too heavy so they just lightly touched on all their discussions about death. It also wanted to be arty but not really show anyone doing any art. We get a couple of scenes where it looks like they may be sketching or painting but it’s not particularly realistic. It’s not boring but it also doesn’t go anywhere. It just is. And that is weird.

Rating: Just as bland as the mural itself

Haul Out The Holly: Lit Up | 2023 Christmas Movies

Teri Hatcher isn’t the only one with two movies this season. Lacey Chabert also has two Christmas movies! We already watched A Merry Scottish Christmas. Now it’s time for the sequel to last year’s Haul Out The Holly, Haul Out The Holly: Lit Up.

A year has passed since Emily (Lacey Chabert) took over both her parents’ house and the annual Christmas festivities. This time there are some new neighbors: Jane (Jennifer Aspen), Joe (Seth Morris), and Jimmy (Kenneth Cummings) Johnson. They are better known as the Jolly Johnsons, winners of a Christmas reality show. Can Emily and Jared (Wes Brown) keep the neighborhood traditions or will the Johnsons take over?

I really enjoyed the first movie from last year. Lit Up is a perfect sequel to it. Adding the Johnsons gave it the conflict that it really needed. Last year, Emily wasn’t super keen on taking part in all of the Christmas cheer. This year, her festiveness is threatened by the absolute insanity of the new neighbors. And of course, the secondary characters, the same comedy geniuses from last year, are still over the top and hysterical. I don’t know if they will be able to kick out a third movie but I would love to see more of this gang.

Rating: The perfect Christmas storm

Christmas In Notting Hill | 2023 Christmas Movies

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Christmas movie about a British football (soccer) player. Thanks to being a fan of John Green and watching Welcome to Wrexham, I was fully prepared for Christmas In Notting Hill.

Graham Savoy (William Moseley) is a British football star who recently suffered a knee injury. Georgia (Sarah Ramos) is a special education teacher from the United States. She travels to London to visit her sister, Lizzie (Joelle Rae), for Christmas. Graham and Georgia’s worlds collide when they realize that Graham’s brother, Henry (Peter Rothwell), is planning on proposing to Georgia’s sister.

I was surprised when I found myself enjoying this movie. It was pretty cute, even though the conflicts were extremely stupid. People got mad at each other for literally no reason. The movie tried to make Graham’s injury seem serious but we didn’t see that. He limped around sometimes but most of the time he seemed to walk around normally. It would have been better if he had to use a cane or would stumble occasionally. I overlooked it, even though I’m not really sure the movie deserved it. Still, it was cute.

Rating: Not quite a goal but close!