In the past, December was a month when Ted and I would sit together and watch sappy Christmas movies. Most of the time he watched westerns, and I was totally not interested. But in December we had an agreement and we watched heartwarming love stories together.
Watching movies this year is kind of like being with Ted again. I miss him so much! So I’m gonna watch all the sappy Christmas movies I can and post reviews here and on my Facebook page. If you have a recommendation, please leave me a comment!
Here’s what I’ve watched so far, along with my informal and totally subjective rating:
A Biltmore Christmas – A script writer is hired to write a remake of a famous Christmas movie filmed in the mid 1940’s. She visits the Biltmore, where the film was originally recorded. She bumps into a prop from the film, an hourglass, and is transported back in time to the original movie set.
I adore time travel stories, and this one was a lot of fun! The acting was great, and the sub-plots and secondary characters were engaging and supported the main story. Even though I saw the final resolution coming, I was captivated and not a bit disappointed to watch it play out. A 10 out of 10!
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Five Star Christmas – A family comes home for Christmas to discover that their father has turned the family home into a B&B. When a couple of actual guests show up, they help their dad out by pretending to be guests themselves – with comical results.
I’m especially partial to B&B stories (hence my series, “Tales from the Goose Creek B&B“!), and this one didn’t disappoint. I loved the relationships between the family members, and the budding romance between Daughter #1 and her Hunky Hero. My rating: 9 out of 10.
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Christmas at the Amish Bakery – I was eager to see this one because it was filmed in Somerset Kentucky. I was also a little bit hesitant because I’ve written Amish books and my brother-in-law was raised Amish. I was afraid Hollywood might’ve taken liberties on, the Amish way of life. But that fear was unfounded. They stayed true to what I know of the Amish.
However, the story was mildly enjoyable, if predictable. There were some entertaining moments. But all in all, I have to say it was only okay and I found myself reaching for my phone to check Facebook in the middle of it. And this is going to sound really stupid but the main character and her sister smile too much. I know that sounds ridiculous but it just didn’t look natural. Plus the male lead’s acting ability left something to be desired. My rating: 4 out of 10.
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12 Days of Giving – I totally loved it and highly recommend it. A young guy wins a bunch of money, and despite his self focused fiancé decides to spend it making people happy at Christmas. He develops a relationship with a single mom and her little boy who really, really wants hockey gear for Christmas so he can play. This is a really good movie well acted and I loved it. 9 out of 10. (It loses a point only because it wasn’t quite as good as “A Biltmore Christmas” IMO. No time travel. LOL!)
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Christmas Under Wraps – A totally sappy Christmas movie about a doctor looking for a residency in a big giant hospital and ends up taking a gig in a small Alaska town. Enter hunky local dude. And local dude’s dad who looks a lot like Santa and is overworking himself for the holidays, and turns out to be… well if you guessed it, you totally don’t have to watch the movie because it was entirely predictable.
Still, a heartwarming sappy Christmas movie. These days a sappy Christmas movie has one goal, and that is to keep me entertained for an hour and a half or so. And keep my mind engaged. And it did. My rating: 6 out of 10.
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Holiday Road – A group of strangers are stranded in an airport when they’re trying to get to Denver for Christmas. They end up renting a van. Throughout the story we get to know each of them, and we come to care about them as they grow to care about each other. I actually know someone who experienced this exact situation. Those folks have stayed in touch with each other because they became family. I recommend this movie, because I know it’s based in reality and it’s so good! I give it an 8 out of 10.
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Christmas at Castle Hart – A pair of sisters go to Ireland for Christmas. Through a series of events they end up posing as famous event planners and are hired to plan and host a Christmas gala for an Irish duchess at Castle Hart. Enter hunky hero, the earl of the castle. He and our reluctantly deceptive heroine work together to put together an elaborate event and in the process fall for each other. The problem? She’s lying about who she is. Naturally it all comes out at… well, you’ll just have to watch it and see for yourself.
Though predictable at times (name one sappy Christmas movie that isn’t!) I thoroughly enjoyed this show. The acting was good. The pacing was just right. The sister was a delightful character and a lot of fun. And there was a charming twist at the end that I didn’t expect. I give this one an 8 out of 10.
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I intend to keep watching sappy Christmas movies. ‘Tis the season, right?
