Now that I'm caught up with all of the movies I have some observations.
1. As I scroll through the comments and read the names of the movies I realize that most of the time I can't remember which movies are which. I know that there must be some Hallmark movie rule that says that during the holidays the words Christmas and Holiday in the title are more important than having a meaningful title, but titles like Chateau Christmas, Heart of the Holidays, Meet Me at Christmas, or Deliver at Christmas aren't going to help me remember the plot next year when I see the title in a listing.
2. When I first started watching the current crop of movies I was hoping for escapism. I consider myself a holiday movie afficiendado and that's how I normally see these movies but this year I thought I needed it even more. But it's actually backfired. I just want to go back to a time when we can walk into stores and hug each other. I want to go to restaurants and get on airplanes. These movies made me miss those times even more. I'm not trying to say anything politically -- I just want want all of us to be healthy and for this to be over. Speaking of which, I hope everyone is safe and healthy.
3. I know that this is a Hallmark group, but just like two years ago when Lifetime's Christmas Contract was my favorite movie of the season, my favorite movie of this season was a Lifetime movie - A Christmas Exchange. My favorite Hallmark movie was A Glenbrooke Christmas, not because it was a great movie but because it was wonderful seeing Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo together again. I really wish that there had been more sparks (pun intended) between them but this has been such a strange year that I'm going easy on on my judgment.
4. I have very mixed feelings about Love, Lights, Hanukkah. First of all, I speak only for myself and not for any other Jewish person. It was much better than any of the other previous Chanukah (that's how I've always spelled it) movies. It wasn't insulting like another one. But there were things that could have used some tweaking. I'll leave it at that.
5. I'm curious to know what people thought about the diversity this year. Did it seem to be honest or gratuitous to you? I'm wondering if it seemed almost formulaic, like every movie had to have one biracial couple, one gay couple, etc. or if that was a sincerely appreciated. I used to work in public health and we tried to be inclusive and we frequently were accused of pandering so I'm never sure of where the line is drawn. That actually ties in with #4 above in which case I think that Hallmark was well meaning.