Sealed With A List | 2023 Christmas Movies

Sealed With A List is another Hallmark movie that I couldn’t tell what it was about from the commercials. They really are bad at trying to convey the plot in a 30 second clip. Well, let’s see what we got.

Carley (Katie Findlay) has settled into a life that she isn’t very happy with. She makes a pact with her best friend, Jamie (Kelcey Mawema), that she will change her life in the next year. However, next December rolls around and she has done nothing. On a whim, she gets fired from her job - thanks to taking the blame for a problem caused by her inept boss, Wyatt (Evan Roderick). That is when she makes a list of things she wants to accomplish by the end of the year. And she makes Wyatt help her achieve them.

I thought this was a rather cute movie. Instead of focusing on a blossoming romance, the story focused on trying to make both Carley and Wyatt better people. Carley needed to get out of her comfort zone and Wyatt needed to stop relying on his father’s money to do everything for him. Sealed With A List could have easily gone the wrong way but I think Findlay’s portrayal of Carley was just what the movie needed. She was able to pull off competent yet shy but still outgoing when the situation needed. She was easily my favorite part of the whole thing.

Rating: I don’t run but that Christmas 5K looked like fun

Must Love Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

While I was waiting for this weekend’s group of movies to air, I popped back over to CBS to watch Must Love Christmas. I think this is the first year I have ever watched a network television Christmas movie. They are very similar to the Hallmark stuff.

Natalie (Liza Lapira) is a Christmas romance novelist. She is also a recluse currently suffering from writer’s block. In order to help her finish her newest book, her editor, Gloria (Lossen Chambers), teams up with her publicist, Ryan (Adam Beauchesne), to force her into a book reading at the bookstore that first sold her books. Unfortunately, Natalie and Ryan get caught in a snowstorm that strands them in Cranberry Falls, where Natalie ends up in a love triangle between her high school crush, Caleb (Nathan Witte), and a journalist writing an article about her, Nick (Neal Bledsoe).

This was a decent enough movie. It seemed like they tried to throw a little bit everything into the plot, which makes it a little chaotic. As a result, I found myself going between paying attention to the movie and playing games on my phone. The acting and the writing and everything was fine. There was just a lot going on.

So, I don’t know how to rank this movie. It was perfectly fine but a little overwhelming to me. I guess give it a watch, just make sure you keep your phone nearby in case you find yourself overwhelmed as well.

Serving Up The Holidays | 2022 Christmas Movies

I don’t have an intro for Serving Up The Holidays. Pretend that I wrote something witty about restaurants and menus and Christmas.

Scarlett (Britt Irvin) is the co-owner and chef for an upscale restaurant. When she has to come up with a new holiday menu in order to keep their investor from leaving, her friend and co-owner, Claire (Bethany Brown), signs her up for a Christmas-themed cooking getaway. Only the getaway is hosted by Scarlett’s rival from cooking school, James (Zach Roerig). Will Scarlett be able to get her menu together in time?

This movie was so boring. I mean, it was so boring that I don’t even know what to say about it. It’s a movie where literally nothing happens. The whole thing is supposed to be about cooking but we don’t see any cooking. We see some preparations. Some flour is thrown around. We see a couple of finished plates but nothing is actually made on camera. I hate it.

No. No. No. Don’t watch Serving Up The Holidays. It’s not worth spending any time on. We’re already spending too much time on it with this review. Onto the next movie!

The Christmas Contest | 2021 Christmas Movies

It’s finally that time of year! Time for Candace Cameron Bure’s Hallmark Christmas movie! You know you were waiting for this one…The Christmas Contest!

Lara (Candace Cameron Bure) has been unhappy with her life since she broke up with Ben (John Brotherton). When they both sign up for a Christmas-themed contest in order to win money for their respective charities, emotions run wild. Maybe this contest will remind them how much they truly love each other.

For the most part, this is a pretty typical Cameron Bure Hallmark movie. A bit of schmaltz, a bit of family reconciliations, and a bit of former lovers getting back together. But the best part, in my opinion, is when she actually makes fun of Hallmark movie plots. I was dying! It happens pretty early in the movie so it isn’t a scene that would make or break the whole show but it was pretty funny.

As for the rest of it, it’s fine. Cameron Bure and Brotherton also star in Fuller House together. It’s not like Hallmark threw two strangers together on this one. And that has actually been a big part of the marketing for The Christmas Contest. While I’m not sure the characters make a great couple, the two actors have enough chemistry together that their playful banter is fun to watch.

This one will be another tough call. If you’re a big fan of traditional Hallmark movies, this will be right up your alley. If you’re looking for something more, this is more like a movie you’d put on the background while you bake some cookies or something. On the plus side, it is much better than last year’s pile of crap that Cameron Bure starred in.

Lonestar Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

Well, that was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I don’t think I understand how Lifetime chooses what movies to air. Do they just pick the ones that sound the most Christmassy?

Erin (Stephanie Bennett) is a widow with two young daughters. When her mother goes on a Christmas cruise, she decides to spend the holidays with her estranged father, Gary (Brent Stait). There she meets a local Mexican restaurant owner, Mateo (Marco Grazzini).

Lonestar Christmas isn’t really a romance Christmas movie. Yes, there is romance in it but it’s really about a woman that is emotionally broken. She has a lot of anger towards her father from him not being around when she was a child. Granted, it sounds like maybe he was going to college or something. They don’t really explain why or how he wasn’t around. Everyone just says he wasn’t around. In addition, I’m not sure she has truly grieved her dead husband. Since she has two young children, she admitted that she focused on raising them instead of dealing with her emotions. Erin needs to go see a therapist immediately.

I don’t have anything against a movie about a woman working through her emotional trauma. That might actually make a good Christmas movie since a lot of people have troubles around the holidays. If they took out Erin’s patient, Tessa (BJ Harrison), and replaced her with an actual therapist, it would have changed the mood of the movie. Erin (who is an occupational therapist) already uses Tessa as a sort of therapist, which is a terrible idea since she is one of Erin’s PATIENTS. She is not a friend, she is not a confidant, she is a patient. They should have had Erin talking to a professional to deal with her problems.

Should you watch Lonestar Christmas? I would say skip it unless you want to watch a woman devolve into self-pity. I really wish they had treated this differently so I could recommend it.

Jingle Bell Bride | 2020 Christmas Movies

Christmas weddings aren’t a new thing, especially in movies. Jingle Bell Bride isn’t actually about a bride though. It’s about her wedding planner.

Jessica (Julie Gonzalo) is a wedding planner for a famous singer, Renee (Donna Benedicto), who is a bit of a Bridezilla. Two weeks before her wedding, Renee insists that Jessica find the rare jingle bell flower for her. The only place that currently has this flower is a remote town in Alaska. Can Jessica make it back to New York City before Renee’s wedding?

While Jingle Bell Bride has a very stupid premise, the movie itself isn’t that bad. I wish there was a different reason for Jessica to go to Alaska. The best parts of the movie were when Jessica was spending time with the townsfolk. Everything else felt crammed in, including the parts with her sister (Alison Araya) and niece (Pietra Castro). I think I would have liked it more if Jessica was simply visiting the town. She could still step in to help when the town’s festival ball loses their venue at the last minute but she wouldn’t be held back by her event planning boss.

They could also give the jingle bell flower more meaning. That way Matt (Ronnie Rowe) would have a reason to spend more time with Jessica. Sure, he spends time with her now but the reasons feel forced. He only spends time with her because she’s stuck staying at his family’s house since there is no hotel in town. I think I would have liked it more if Matt had a little more passion for the flowers that could have shown through.

If you have the ability to look past all of the stupid wedding planning parts in the movie (there aren’t that many really), then this is definitely worth a watch. And if you watched The Christmas Yule Blog, you’ll recognize Alison Araya as Caroline’s boss. It’s the circle of Christmas movies.