Thursday, December 30, 2021

Twenty Five Days of Holiday Shows

• The Gathering
• Holiday Affair - Janet Leigh and Bob Mitchum were a handsome couple and it was nice to see an oldie that's new to me.
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• One December Night - A Hallmark movie with two of my faves - Bruce Campbell and Peter Gallagher!
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• Christmas on the Vine - A Lifetime flick I watched on Hoopla. It was actually really cute! I only watched it because Meredith Baxter had a small role and she's just spectacular.
• A Castle for Christmas - If it weren't for the shots of the Scottish countryside, Cary Elwes, Brooke Shields, and her wardrobe this Netflix holiday movie would have been forgettable.
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-bonus: Happy Endings “No Ho Ho”
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• Cash On Demand - Technically not a Christmas movie except for the fact that it took place on Christmas Eve-Eve, this Peter Cushing bank theft flick wasn't bad.
• The Happiest Season - I had such high hopes for this Clea DuVall film. The cast was littered with talent and it all fell flat. Plot: a young lesbian couple goes home for the holidays and it turns out that she isn't out to her family and they have to keep their relationship in the closet when they get there. Ugh. I would have preferred a version of a gay rom-com set at Christmas where shame is not a subject matter. Everyone in the family seemed completely fine with their other daughter's interracial relationship, and I don't even recall them drawing any attention to race, but the filmmaker's choice to continue to place a dark aura of shame, fear, and hatred around homosexuality was a huge disappointment. I get that this is someone else's story but it would have been so refreshing for the chaos and uptight family to be crazy but 100% free from caring about their children's gender, sexuality, and choice of partner. 
• A Dennis the Menace Christmas - As someone who loved the John Hughes film I went in to this follow up with low expectations. Oh it was adorable! RJ was fantastic as grumpy old Mr. Wilson and Louise Fletcher as his wife was excellent casting. Oh and George Newbern was Dennis' Dad! The best scene was when RJ said "Oh no...the S word. He said the S word..." I was in stitches.

• Hart to Hart “Tis the Season to Be Murdered” - The Hart's toy company has a mole who is stealing their ideas for toys. The love-birds go undercover to catch the blackguard and live to spend another holiday in wedded bliss.
(photo kidnapped from sparklyprettybriiiight - image c/o jeffco.ca)

• The Spirit of Christmas - Mum recommended this Lifetime movie because she found the lead fella to be quite hunky. It wasn’t bad, but I doubt I’ll ever see it again. 
• Lethal Weapon - Sadly this film wasn't as good as I remembered. Danny Glover was good but Mel Gibson was far too over the top and the daughter was an annoying little weakling. Blah. 
• Christmas at Castle Hart - A cute Lacey Chabert holiday Hallmark film. Not as good as A Christmas Waltz, though. 
• Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas - This is one of three similar titles in the Hallmark catalog and was a decent show. Gal gets hit by a car and wakes up with amnesia and the nurse on duty helps her track down her life. 
• Gremlins - I had only seen this movie once a few years ago and decided it was time to give it another look. It's cute and very 80s and after it was over I re-played it with the cast commentary. 
• It’s a Wonderful Life - Quite possibly the best Christmas film ever made. A top-notch cast beautifully performs every moment. Has me crying my eyeballs out from start to finish. 
• Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas - A great documentary that tells of all the great Christmas songs that were written by Jewish singers and songwriters. (Did you know that Mel Tormé was Jewish? AND that he was a composer who wrote the music for The Christmas Song?? I didn't.)
• Christmas, Again - This was an independent film about a lonely Christmas tree salesman in New York. (He was handsome as all get out, sort of a mix between Matthias Schoenaerts and Charlie Day - two of my favourite faces.)
• Ted Lasso “Carol of the Bells” - Season two of Lasso started out strong but went quickly downhill after this episode. My fave part was Higgins' family hosting all the fellas who weren't able to go home for Christmas. 
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