Holiday TV Movies & (Non-Rankin Bass) Holiday Specials - General Discussion

[NYGirl]

None of us can judge since it seems like we are all the same. Last night I put on a Candace Cameron movie to fall asleep with and her dad was played by Alan Thicke. Fell asleep in 10 mins tops. Boring.

Edited December 5, 2014 by NYGirl

[Unraveled]

So I love watching all of the Christmas TV movies on Hallmark and Lifetime.

 

Christmas Under Wraps: Candace Cameron Bure is a doctor and stuck in a small Alaskan town. (Maybe her residency? I was never sure.) She was an idiot to apply to only one program. I didn't see any chemistry between her and the owner's son. Also, why was there implication that the shipping company owner was Santa Claus but it never actually revealed anything?

 

One Christmas Eve: Anne Heche is a newly divorced mom and spends Christmas with her children, but there are mishaps. This is a bizarre movie. And I haven't even finished it. Also aren't "Hallmark Hall of Fame" movies better and usually more tragic than the regular ones? Also I have an irrational hate for Anne Heche, and this horrible plot isn't helping any.

[stonehaven]

I have two guilty pleasure Christmas movies..One speaks to the John Denver fan in me.."The Christmas Gift"(now out on DVD!!!)..if he weren't in it, I would say it is hokey and WAY to predictable..but I get The Rocky Mountains and John Denver to stare at for two hours..I can live with myself for that..besides, it a smidge better than SOME of the more recent Christmas movies...

The second one is "Borrowed Hearts" with Roma Downey and Eric Mcmormick...I should detest that one..as it's predictable..but something about Eric's performance(or mullet) and Hector Elizando's character really makes me enjoy it. I would never buy Roma Downey as a blue collar worker but the overall movie makes me smile...

[Mountainair]

I've now seen Matchmaker Santa twice (nothing else on, I swear!) and it's not a bad movie until the end. It bugs how easily both couples are just like, "ok, you like him, I like her, lets break up, Merry Christmas!"

 

Went through most of my ABC Family onDemand movies the other day. Christmas in Handcuffs is one I always watch, love that movie. Then the one with Mark Paul Gosselar 12 Dates of Christmas (?) I like that one too! Another one I like is Christmas Bounty with Mike "the Miz" from the Real World/Road Rules shows. I just get a kick out of seeing him in a movie. 

 

One movie I always watch but haven't seen on yet is Last Holiday with LL Cool J and Queen Latifah. I love me some LL Cool J so I hope that one comes on soon! 

[Athena]

I really enjoyed the Toy Story special, but then again, I love all those movies. It made me excited for the idea of Toy Story 4. It won't be a holiday classic, but it was a nice half an hour of tv.

[StaceyNotStacie]

 

I've now seen Matchmaker Santa twice (nothing else on, I swear!) and it's not a bad movie until the end. It bugs how easily both couples are just like, "ok, you like him, I like her, lets break up, Merry Christmas!"

 

That ending was strange.  It just seemed too easy that the two couples broke up without any questions and accepted the their partner's new relationship.

[Unraveled]

I'm enjoying the Toy Story shorts too. It made me go back and search for the other ones. Bonnie is such a great kid! She is definitely as good at playtime as Andy. I'm looking forward to the fourth one too.

[glowlights]

Mr. Cameron is very, very busy hyping his latest persecution complex project oh sorry I mean Christmas movie... it backfired spectacularly on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

I'm sad to hear the Charlie Brown Christmas special has been edited like that. :(

 

Lifetime has A Christmas Wish available on demand. Debbie Reynolds, Neil Patrick Harris and Naomi Watts, classin' up the Lifetime joint! This would never win any awards but it's got a lovely story to it with a message, albeit shmaltzy and melodramatic. But what's Christmas without shmaltz? (Katherine Chancellor's widower makes an appearance, for any Y&R fans.)

[WendyCR72]

Mr. Cameron is very, very busy hyping his latest persecution complex project oh sorry I mean Christmas movie... it backfired spectacularly on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

Peter Travers, the movie critic for Rolling Stone, also skewered it on the RS website.

[ABitOFluff]

Considering how many versions of A Christmas Carol/Scrooge are shown on TV this time of year i thought this might go here.

 

For me, the holidays aren't complete without seeing some version of A Christmas Carol. I've read the story, seen a half dozen live versions and make it a point to see every movie/tv version of it on TV this time of year. So I'm wondering what is everyone's favorite version of Scrooge/A Christmas Carol?

 

For me, it's the 1951 version with Alistair Sim. It comes closest to the tone of the original Dickens story with the loneliness people can feel during the holidays. Most of all, I can really feel the redemption with Sim's Scrooge. He didn't start out as a heartless miser. He had dreams and goals and love. But life was cruel and he adapted the best way he knew how. After his night with the spirits, he again feels that childlike wonder of Christmas spirit and good will. I love scene where he goes to his nephew Fred's house for dinner while they sing, Barbara Allen. It just totally captures the feel of a Victorian Christmas.

 

I also love George C Scott's version with Patrick Stewart's as my third favorite.

Edited December 6, 2014 by ABitOFluff

[Beach Party]

A cranky deli owner is forced to fill in for Santa at Christmas and does a weirdly wonderful job.

[Shanna Marie]

Then the one with Mark Paul Gosselar 12 Dates of Christmas (?) I like that one too!

That's one of my favorites. I'm glad it's back on OnDemand because it's kind of become a tradition for me to watch it between Christmas Eve services. I'm in the choir, so I have to be at both services, and there's just enough time between getting home from the 7 p.m. service and the time I have to leave for the 11 p.m. service to watch that movie. My other favorite is The Christmas List. In both cases, they don't do the "if you don't have a real tree, you're probably going to hell" thing, there's no loving Christmas vs. hating Christmas, no career vs. marriage, no small town vs. big city, no adults being forced to believe in Santa Claus, and the story is really about the heroines getting their lives together, with romance as a bonus.

 

I can't really deal with the tragic movies with the down and out single mothers and lonely people and all that. I like the romantic comedies that just happen to be set at Christmas. I also like the ones with a touch of magic or fantasy element (like the two above) but really dislike anything where Santa Claus is an actual character.

 

I thought the Toy Story special was cute, but it didn't really feel like "Christmas" to me. It could have come at any time.

[Crucial]

I love the Candace Cameron Christmas movies (3 of them) Let It Snow, Moonlight & Mistletoe, and Christmas Under Wraps.  My least favorite was the "under wraps". Some of the cast was ok (the nurse and the lady at the diner) but everyone else didn't work well with each other.  I know Candace was yet again a snob only to be turned around but I just love the actress somehow. Maybe it's the whole 2014 Christmas movies on Hallmark.  I think almost all of them weren't that good, definitely not like years past.  I normally watch these movies more than once.  Now trying to watching them for the first time is hard.

 

My complaints for this years Hallmark Christmas Movies -

1) I'm sorry but Hallmark doing the male version of Mrs. Miracle - just not good for the plot line I read.  Why change it up and why Rob Morrow.  What a shame.

2) Another princess movie.  You had a good premise with A Princess for Christmas.  Why use Jane Seymour and Lacy (whatever her last name).  Horrible acting and just plain awful for a movie.

3) Cookie Cutter Christmas - Awful and not worth mentioning more.

4) North Pole - Selling the DVD while Hallmark is still showing the movie on their station.    Sure pay $20 for the movie even though it's being shown about 10 more times on cable.  It's not even pay per view.

 

Maybe the movies I liked were lame but somehow I think the previous movies were so much better than this year's crop.  Santa Suit, Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Naughty Or Nice, A Princess for Christmas, Let It Snow, Moonlight & Mistletoe, Moonlight Over Manhattan, to name a few.  I must be just a scrooge....

[glowlights]

We read this and Santa Claustrophobia every Xmas eve. It's loopy and irreverent. I hope they don't cutesy it up.

[NYGirl]

God I love Mrs. Miracle so much!!I can watch this move every single day.  I'm now watching Call Me Mrs. Miracle.  I wish there were more of them.

[Irlandesa]

1) I'm sorry but Hallmark doing the male version of Mrs. Miracle - just not good for the plot line I read.  Why change it up and why Rob Morrow.  What a shame.

They're switching it up because it's a backdoor pilot.

[twoods]

Damn, now I want to watch Mrs Miracle again (along with Call me Mrs Miracle). Both were really good stories and great chemistry with the leads.

I watched Christmas Magic yesterday where this girl helped out a guy and his restaurant while she was an angel- not bad but no chemistry with the leads. She was also in "Christmas in Boston" which I love but hasn't come on this year yet. Tried watching "Angels and Ornaments" but couldn't get past the first 10 minutes after her Christmas wish was "finding true love."

"The Tree that Saved Christmas" was decent. I liked that they didn't go the clichéd route of her boss falling in love with the main girl so there was a love triangle.

Thanks to you guys I gave "Help for the Holidays" and "Holidaze" a chance and really liked both of them. The movies flew by and weren't boring. I tried watching "Mr Miracle" but turned it off after a few minutes because Rob Morrow's character was annoying. And judging from the comments below, I didn't miss out on much.

Edited December 7, 2014 by twoods

[arrowhead]

Mr Miracle - what the heck was this movie about? For all the talking, talking, talking, blah, blah, blah I didn't get any plot, was there one?? The "good" characters were very annoying and really bad actors. Well, all actors were bad actually and strange looking - bad hair, wardrobe, etc. Mr. Miracle does this really strange thing with his eyes and forehead and sakes his head weirdly - that does NOT count as acting. The commercials were better than the movie. Blech

[Irlandesa]

"The Tree that Saved Christmas" was decent. I liked that they didn't go the clichéd route of her boss falling in love with the main girl so there was a love triangle.

I am glad they didn't do a triangle considering how things turn out. Although, I do wish they had gone the cliched route of her falling in love with her boss over the cliched route of her falling back in love with her small town ex from high school.  Neither character was super well acted but I thought the boss was a little more interesting at least and seemed to have better chemistry with Lacy. 

 

I think that's my biggest complaint about some of these movies.  I can handle lesser quality if the leads have chemistry but I don't think they cast for chemistry.

 

Mr. Miracle was bizarre.  I get that Rob Morrow was going for "alien" with his angel but it was just weird. I did like the story about the person/couple he was helping.  It would have been a better movie had it been about them rather than trying to launch a new series. 

 

Pet Peeve: Why do all these movies have  people excited to have some big shindig on Christmas Eve?  If one of my professors had invited me to a tree lighting ceremony at his house on Christmas Eve, the last thing I'd do is fist bump the student next to me. 

[Shanna Marie]

Pet Peeve: Why do all these movies have  people excited to have some big shindig on Christmas Eve?

Yeah, that has baffled me. There are always these big business events, company parties, fundraising galas, etc., on Christmas Eve night. To to mention the weddings. My church is booked solid from 3 in the afternoon to midnight on Christmas Eve for services. There's no way you'd be able to schedule a wedding.

 

I watched what I think was one of last year's ION movies, All I Want for Christmas, this afternoon, and it was cute -- the one where the magic pin allows the hard-charging exec to hear what people are thinking, and at first she uses it to get ahead in business until she learns A Valuable Lesson -- and did avoid the "caring about your career means you're evil" theme, but it did show that the general Scrooge type story in which someone is reformed from jerk to nice person doesn't work so well in a romance. The person can't be really reformed until the happy ending, but then they need to get with their true love at the happy ending, and that leaves you wondering what the true love sees in them before the reform. Maybe that's why so many of those are reunion stories that get into the small town vs. big city thing -- the old boyfriend can love the person she used to be and be glad when she discovers that part of herself again. In this movie, the heroine was a class A bitch until almost the end, and yet the guy was into her the whole time while she didn't notice him. I kept wondering why he was bothering because she was awful and particularly awful to him.

[bmoore4026]

Mr. Cameron is very, very busy hyping his latest persecution complex project oh sorry I mean Christmas movie... it backfired spectacularly on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

Maybe there's a God after all :Evilsmile:

[arrowhead]

I like Kirk Cameron, liked his acting since he was young. What has he done to stir such contempt?

[Rick Kitchen]

I like Kirk Cameron, liked his acting since he was young. What has he done to stir such contempt?

 

Shown his contempt to everybody who doesn't follow his own particular brand of religion.

[SilverShadow]

IIRC Candace Cameron is Kirk's cousin not his sister. As for Kirk, basically during the last few seasons of Growing Pains he had a big religious conversion and became some hardcore brand of Evangelical/Born Again. He got the actress playing his love interest fired because she'd once appeared in Playboy. Just watch for Mike going from a scamp to...not. Then some years later he seemed to have calmed down a little, at least enough to do two Growing Pains reunion films, a Disney Channel movie, and possibly a couple of other things. But he seems to have gone back to being very very fervent, advocating for Creationism, etc.  So yeah.

 

I love "A Princess For Christmas" far more than I should because I will watch Katie McGrath in anything. Amusingly her prince is now the male lead on Outlander.

[Rick Kitchen]

No, Candace is Kirk's sister.

[arrowhead]

Shown his contempt to everybody who doesn't follow

I did some research and don't find any examples - got any details?

 

being very very fervent, advocating for Creationism

Interesting. Where does he advocate, sounds like something to check-out.

 

Christmas at Cartwright's wasn't great but was sweet enough. Liked the little girl, refreshing to see a good kid as most children in these movies tend to be on the bratty side. So far this season is underwhelming, I think last year may have been better over all.

Edited December 8, 2014 by arrowhead

[twoods]

I also thought Christmas at Cartwrights was cute, and liked the new premise of the female lead being the store Santa. It was a little romantic but more about her and her relationship with her daughter which was nice.

[Rick Kitchen]

I did some research and don't find any examples - got any details?

 

 

Linking atheism and Nazism to Darwin, and handing out a doctored version of Darwin in order to "prove" his claims.

 

Saying "I think that [homosexuality is] unnatural. I think that it's detrimental, and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization."

 

Demanded that his fiancee on "Growing Pains" be fired because she once appeared in Playboy.

 

Had Matthew Perry fired from "Growing Pains" because he believed Perry was "an agent of Satan."

 

When starring in the film "Listen to Me", he wrote his own debate speech arguing pro-life because he claimed abortion causes breast cancer and premature aging.

 

Believes that the United Nations is behind a New World Order and that the Washington Monument represents the “reproductive organ of Baal or Satan.”

 

Will not kiss any other actress in any movie or TV series he is in, his wife has to act as a body double during kissing scenes.

 

Believes the banana proves evolution is false.

[beadgirl]

 

When starring in the film "Listen to Me", he wrote his own debate speech arguing pro-life because he claimed abortion causes breast cancer and premature aging.

That's his reason for opposing abortion? And here I am, opposing it because I think it kills a human life.

 

 

but really dislike anything where Santa Claus is an actual character

Ooh, me too.  Or rather, I'm fine with Santa appearing in kids' movies because duh, but in grown-up movies it just throws me out of the story, because I start nitpicking all the real-world problems with a Santa creature (logistics, the meanness of neglecting kids who don't believe in Santa or aren't Christian, the disparity in gifts for rich kids and poor kids, etc.)

 

ABitofFluff, I also like watching all sorts of Christmas Carol variations; in fact, last year I set out to watch as many as I possibly could.  I like the Sims version, and Patrick Stewart's and Kelsey Grammer's, but I confess my absolute favorite is A Muppet Christmas Carol.  I also like "modern" versions -- Scrooged being the best, but A Diva's Christmas Carol is up there.  There are also some awful ones, though.  I remember one I watched (can't remember the name) where the Scrooge character was a young ad exec who was horrible and selfish and petty, but the script forcused entirely on how mean she was to her ex-boyfriend and how she had to reform to get him back -- no thought was paid to all the non-boyfriend people she treated like crap.  Scrooge had to learn to be charitable and kind to his fellow man lest he end up in hell; this chick had to learn to be a good girlfriend lest she end up lonely.  Quite the devolution in message, there.

[ShelleySue]

but really dislike anything where Santa Claus is an actual character

 

Ooh, me too.  Or rather, I'm fine with Santa appearing in kids' movies because duh, but in grown-up movies it just throws me out of the story, because I start nitpicking all the real-world problems with a Santa creature (logistics, the meanness of neglecting kids who don't believe in Santa or aren't Christian, the disparity in gifts for rich kids and poor kids, etc.)

 

 

I don't mind so much when Santa is more benevolent character who moves the plot forward.  For example, I liked Santa in Matchmaker Santa (but don't ask me why he wasn't at the North Pole overseeing last minute details).  However, I hate Santa-centric movies like the Steve Guttenberg ones or the one in which Santa goes to Las Vegas to find his wife.  Ugh!  I also don't know why Santa was even in the latest Christmas Under Wraps.  Why did they have to throw that in to the already not so great plot?

[Shanna Marie]

Or rather, I'm fine with Santa appearing in kids' movies because duh, but in grown-up movies it just throws me out of the story

Even aside from the real-world issues, I just can't deal with adults being considered bad people if they don't believe Santa Claus is absolutely real or with adults who still do believe Santa is real and use that as an excuse to hate Christmas, since they told a mall Santa what they wanted when they were a kid and didn't get it, and they're still pissed off.

 

There was a whole movie with that plot (I think it was called A Boyfriend for Christmas) where the reason the heroine hated Christmas was that when she was twelve or so (a little old to be believing in Santa), she'd asked the mall Santa for a boyfriend for Christmas and didn't get one. That was her proof that Santa wasn't real and therefore everything about Christmas was bogus.

 

I really can't deal with the ones where Santa is the romantic hero, looking for a woman to be Mrs. Claus. Santa isn't exactly my romantic fantasy.

[StaceyNotStacie]

I watched The Christmas Secret, which was on the Hallmark Movie Channel this past Sunday.  It starred Bethany Joy Lenz (from One Tree Hill).  I really enjoyed the story, although the ending was a bit soap opera-y in the sense of everyone being related.  One of my favorites from this year's batch of movies.  

[Shanna Marie]

I watched Angels Sing on Hallmark last night because it has people I like in it and because some friends in Austin mentioned it being set there, and since I went to college in Austin I thought it would be fun nostalgia. I nearly turned it off when it had perhaps my main dealbreaker holiday movie trope: the person who hates everything about Christmas because of one bad thing that happened on Christmas ages ago. Yeah, this was a bad thing that might have created some negative associations with Christmas, but it had nothing to do with Christmas itself in a way that would ruin the whole season for life and make you cynical about how people celebrate (not to mention that I didn't get throwing an ice skating accident on a frozen lake into the backstory of people from Texas). The rest of his family had the same bad thing happen to them, and they managed to celebrate. And it really didn't excuse him being an utter jackass to his kid to ruin his kid's enjoyment of Christmas because of the one bad thing. But I found myself drawn into it because the production values were surprisingly decent. I'm pretty sure it was filmed on location because it really did feel like Austin (and there were so many Austin people in it), and it even seemed seasonally appropriate instead of being obviously July (it helps that even in winter Austin isn't very wintery, December still looks more like fall than winter, and they've been having a drought, so things are a little brown even in July). The acting was surprisingly good, for a cast of people more known for their music. It didn't seem obviously like "acting." They seemed like real people I was eavesdropping on. Then they threw in more tropes I don't like, like the "throw the kid and/or old person under the bus to bring about a change of heart" and the "mysterious and wise older person who may or may not be Santa" (most of the imagery around Willie Nelson pointed to him being Santa, but then there were the angel wings on the back of his jacket at the end). And yet I still got caught up in it, though some of my hanging on until the end was about Chekhov's Piano -- if you've got a movie starring Harry Connick Jr. and someone gives his character a grand piano, that piano is going to be played before the end, right? Unfortunately, no.

 

I normally prefer the romantic comedies to the family dramas, but I still enjoyed watching this one. There was a bit of hate watching mixed in (oh, the advice I offered the main character), and a lot of my enjoyment came from personal nostalgia associated with the location.

[NYGirl]

I watched The Night before the Night before and I wasn't crazy about it.  First of all I'm sick of the same old parents only care about work and not Christmas storyline.  It's like in every movie I saw this holiday season.

 

Second, Jennifer Beale's acting sucks and so does the guy who played her husband's acting.  They were very blah.

 

The plot itself wasn't bad.  Santa landed on their roof and got amnesia.  His head elf found him and together with the family they saved Christmas.  So Santa himself was one of the main stars.

 

I dunno..maybe I'm watching too many of these movies.  I'm not really enjoying them like Mrs. Miracle.  I LOVE Mrs. Miracle

 

As far as Mr. Miracle..ugh..I hated it.  I don't understand what he was doing with his face.  I didn't like any of the characters and I can't believe they'd make another one let alone a series of shows about him. 

[ennui]

ABitOFluff, I like the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol, just because I like him as an actor. I try to watch every year. I did see the Alastair Simm version in the listings, but didn't watch, so I hope it's run again. 

 

I don't care for the comedy versions -- Scrooged, I think it's called. I want my ghosts of past, present and future to be serious. 

[captain1]

I don't think I've ever seen the Alistair Sims or George C. Scott versions somehow (don't hate) but I love, love, love Patrick Stewart's version of "A Christmas Carol"!

[NYGirl]

Did anybody see Wishing and Hoping the other night?  It was in the vein of A Christmas Story with the narrator. I plowed through it even though it didn't really hold my interest.  The hero was Annette Funnicello's cousin.

[Irlandesa]

Did anybody see Wishing and Hoping the other night?  It was in the vein of A Christmas Story with the narrator. I plowed through it even though it didn't really hold my interest.  The hero was Annette Funnicello's cousin.

I watched it.  Even though I thought it was well put together, it didn't hold my interest either.

I have such a backlog of Christmas movies and I think I need to focus on romcoms.  After all, I don't watch them because they're Christmas movies but rather because a lot of the Christmas movies are just a method for delivering the romcom.

[babyhouseman]

Did anybody see Wishing and Hoping the other night?  It was in the vein of A Christmas Story with the narrator. I plowed through it even though it didn't really hold my interest.  The hero was Annette Funnicello's cousin.

I saw it. I thought it was cute. There were some funny lines. I am a sucker for anything set in the 60s.

[twoods]

At least we aren't the only ones sucked into the Christmas movies. Hallmark's ratings for Mr Miracle and Christmas at Cartwrights (8 mil viewers after DVR numbers) are insane. No wonder they cut the quality and cranked out 12 new ones this year.

[EllieH]

 

There was a whole movie with that plot (I think it was called A Boyfriend for Christmas) where the reason the heroine hated Christmas was that when she was twelve or so (a little old to be believing in Santa), she'd asked the mall Santa for a boyfriend for Christmas and didn't get one. That was her proof that Santa wasn't real and therefore everything about Christmas was bogus.

 

Ahh, I love A Boyfriend for Christmas!  Too bad you don't like it, its one of those awesome cheesy ones you really need to watch a few times to truly appreciate it.

 

I'm a cable "cord cutter" so I haven't been able to watch any of these new Lifetime Christmas movies this year... any suggestions of good ones available on Netflix?

[emjohnson03]

One of my favorites is Mistletoe Over Manhattan! It's the one with 2 kids, the couple is splitting up and Mrs. Claus comes down to reunite them. What a cute film! Mrs. Claus is adorable and I like the chemistry alot between the two leads. As always it's a very cliche storyline but it does make sense in some ways with the couple disconnecting and realizing the things that they thought were deal breakers, weren't at all. I like the ones where the couples are believable and there is chemistry between them. Sometimes it's so hard to get into a film when the lead couple is unlikable or the couple doesn't make much sense because you know they wouldn't actually get together.

 

Another random one I like is Dear Santa. That's the one with the rich girl who finds a letter and hunts down the father so the daughter can have a mom. The leads were cute and the girl was adorable.  

 

I love the Mrs Miracle series (the first one with James Van Der Beek was very enjoyable). I'm glad to know the Mr. isn't that good because I was anticipating it. I still want to see The Christmas Secret. I heard that was a good one. I haven't really gotten into the new ones this year. They do share the same ones over and over. You would think with all the movies, they would switch it up but they do seem to do the same ones in a 4 day period.

 

And I know there's not much you can do about it, but my biggest pet peeve is how obvious it is that it's summer and they are filming. It takes away from the story when they are clearly sweating and the birds are chirping. I like the films where at least looks like they tried to bring winter in.

 

Ahhh Christmas movies! If only I could fall in love over 4 days and live happily ever after!! :)

Edited December 10, 2014 by emjohnson03

[Darian]

One of my favorites is Mistletoe Over Manhattan! It's the one with 2 kids, the couple is splitting up and Mrs. Claus comes down to reunite them. What a cute film! Mrs. Claus is adorable and I like the chemistry alot between the two leads.  

And Mrs. Claus is the actor who played the teacher in A Christmas Story!  I recognized her right away (she looks great) but looked it up to be sure. 

 

I had All I Want for Christmas  on this weekend and even got my husband laughing about how over the top smarmy and awful one of the men was,sure he was the stock "wrong guy" she would not end up with. I don't want to go into too much detail, lest someone get spoiled, if it's possible to spoil one of these holiday movies (I love them, formulaic and predictable as they are). 

[zivadanielle]

Re: a Christmas Carol, I enjoy the Alistair Sims version most of all but do enjoy the others.  Years ago I saw Patrick Stewart's live reading/performance on Broadway which was pretty great. 

 

Last night I got sucked into the vortex until midnight again.  I saw the end of "The Christmas Ornament" which was almost somber in mood/palette etc.  and Kellie Martin is a highlight.  Then, "The Christmas Spirit" - sort of interesting plotline involving two characters in a coma whose spirits bicker over saving a small town.  Olympia Dukakis is in it as well as Nicollette Sheridan which seemed like strange casting. 

 

 

 

As far as Mr. Miracle..ugh..I hated it.  I don't understand what he was doing with his face. 

 

I didn't get what he was doing with his hands/arms unless that was something that was part of the exposition during the first half-hour or so since I missed the beginning.

 

Did anybody see Wishing and Hoping the other night?  It was in the vein of A Christmas Story with the narrator. I plowed through it even though it didn't really hold my interest.  The hero was Annette Funnicello's cousin.

Was that the Molly Ringwald one?  If so the previews looked OK, will need to look for a re-air or what not. 

[NYGirl]

And another thing about Mr. Miracle!  TMI!!!  With Mrs. Miracle there was mystery.  Is she an angel?  Is she an elf?  Did Santa send her?  Did she REALLY make that happen?  But with Mr. Miracle it was all spelled out..he's an angel, he had a job to do, what the job was,  he had a helper, if he failed he'd be sent back, etc.

 

At one point he was meeting the girl at the park and was walking with a limp..very strange.  I had to rewind to see if that's how he walked or not.

[Mountainair]

I hate all versions of A Christmas Carol. Seriously, one of the dullest stories ever! Husband likes A Muppet Christmas Carol so I sat through that once for him but never again.

Edit: by dullest I mean the message is good but the movies just tend to drag on and on and on and it's feels so long and I just lose interest.

I think I'm finally at the point where there are no more Christmas movies left to watch that I haven't seen this season or that I have a desire to watch. Like a poster upthread mentioned, I stick to mostly rom coms (no sick, dying, lonely children for me please )Although, I'm still waiting for White Christmas to air. That one is my favorite!

I watched one on UP the other day, "Guess Who's Coming to Diner" with one of the Lachey brothers as a washed up, drunk singer who needs to get his life back on track so ends up spending the Holidays with a preacher and his family. Not too bad, not the typical rom com.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Mountainair

[beadgirl]

I lasted all of ten minutes with Mr. Miracle -- what the heck was Morrow doing?  Or was it the director's fault?  His character was so odd and creepy I had to delete the movie.

 

I keep trying to see the 12 Dates of Christmas, but my on demand function isn't working; maybe they'll air it on regular tv and I can watch it that way.

[ennui]

AMC is showing White Christmas tomorrow night. One of my favorites. I like the story, I like the songs. LOVE the costumes at the end, Rosemary Clooney looks so pretty.

[absnow54]

I love "A Princess For Christmas" far more than I should because I will watch Katie McGrath in anything. Amusingly her prince is now the male lead on Outlander.

The movie is terrible! But Katie McGrath is so charming, I can't help it. I can't believe that the Prince in that movie and Jamie Fraser are the same person. It's amazing what 30 pounds of muscle and red hair dye can do to a guy.

 

My favorite Christmas movie is 12 Dates of Christmas, and while I'll be a Mark Paul fan girl for life, it's actually Amy Smart that makes me love the movie so much. She's so likeable in that movie.

[Aliconehead]

One that I love year after year is All She Wants For Christmas with Monica Keena.  A like it because it skips a lot of the tropes, both like Christmas, are happy with their lives, she is sad to leave her small home town but does not hate it.  And SHE solves the problem with intelligence while getting to advance her career.