Continuing my review of Christmas movies.

The Christmas Secret The struggling single mother of two adorable kids saves a stranger’s life, and is therefore late for work. She then loses her job, and her ex-husband threatens to take the kids away from her. Sounds like a real downer doesn’t it? The acting is really good, so her struggles are vivid. But there’s also a thread of hope that run throughout the story. There’s a hunky hero (of course!) and he has problems of his own. There’s also a physical item that winds its way through all of the subplots and finally brings them all together in a wonderful way.

I loved it and highly recommend this movie. Even though there is no time travel, I give it a 10 out of 10!

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A Royal Christmas Match This one is about a princess, a real one, who is sent on a diplomatic mission by her father, the crown prince, and she has an ulterior motive. The university she attended back in her home country of Morgana is in danger of closing its doors. So she goes to visit a similar private university in the states and sets about trying to convince them that an exchange program for not just students but also professors would benefit both of them and give a boost to their finances.

The acting was good, but the story felt a little contrived. I know you’re all laughing because what Hallmark movie isn’t contrived?! But for some reason, this one just didn’t appeal to me – not until the last 20 minutes or so. I didn’t hate it, but I kept pausing it to go run around and do errands and so on.
There is a hunky guy, a professor at the American university, who teaches diplomacy, and the princess kind of sidetracks his class, and that has some amusing interplay between the two of them. But in the last 20 minutes something happened that caught my attention. I love stories that have elements that reach into the past, and I’ve recently begun to love stories that have to do with translating ancient documents. so this one ticked those boxes.

The ending was satisfactorily sappy and happy. Gonna give this one, a 7 out of 10

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A Fabled Holiday is about a young woman who has always dreamed of being a writer but never made it. Alone for Christmas, at the last minute she books a room at an inn in a small town, where she meets a handful of other guests, each with troubles of their own. Turns out the Inn is the perfect place for …
I can’t say too much because I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but I *LOVED* this movie. I thought it was clever and unusual and well acted. And it’s about an aspiring writer, for goodness sake! 10 out of 10,

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A Journey to Christmas was really a great movie with a time travel element! The star was the lady that was on full house and can’t remember her name but she was really great in this role. So this woman from during the war gets transported to the future. So it was an interesting twist on a time travel. She gets transported to the future where she’s sees but not necessarily recognizes, the decades after the people she has impacted in the past.

Super sweet movie and I loved it. I would give it a 8.5 out of 10.

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Sealed With a List I’m really sorry to say I did not at all connect with this movie. Really, I hated it. And it might be because of my frame of mind tonight when I tried to watch it, or it could be that it was just too Flippin sappy and formulate to catch my attention. But really, I didn’t love it.
I’m giving this one a 1 out of 10 because I couldn’t even watch it to the end.

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Picture a Perfect Christmas – I did not expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did. Because the title just sounded a little too cliché. But I was wrong. It’s a really good story about a successful photographer, who goes to visit her grandmother for Christmas because the grandmother has hurt her foot. next-door to grandma is a very successful tech business owner, who has custody of his young nephew because the boys parents died in a car wreck.

All the elements of a satisfying sappy Christmas movie. The guy is handsome and successful and cares very much for his nephew. the girl is sweet and beautiful and is taken by the little boy. Grandma is trying to match the two up but there’s only one problem. Girl is already dating somebody else, another successful photographer.

Everything comes together to the expected happy ending, and there were even a few unexpected lines thrown in there. The biggest drawback, in my opinion, is grandma’s acting. it was pretty terrible several times throughout the show.

Still, I enjoyed the show a lot. I give this one 8 out of 10.

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Magic in Mistletoe The story follows a publicist who is sent by her employer to do damage control for one of their star authors, a disgruntled children’s book writer who wrote a snarky social media post that went viral. Naturally I was interested in this one, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The story was engaging and the acting was great. The author’s hometown – the setting for his bestselling book series – set the stage for a confrontation with his memories, both good and sad. The conflict between the publicist and the author was on-again-off-again, and showed real character growth for both of them.

No time travel in this one, but I still give it a 10 out of 10.

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Christmas on Cherry Lane I was fascinated and delighted to discover that this story tied in three different families living in the same house on Cherry Lane, spanning 60 years . Absolutely fascinating to see how the stories tied together. Each story fed into the next one, but you didn’t see that at first. In fact, at first, I thought it was about three different families on the same street at the same time.

I have to say, I wasn’t totally engaged in any of the individual family dramas, but as the movie progressed, I was totally drawn into the interconnections between the three families. The overall plot was fascinating and unique, as far as I know. And as such I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And there were a lot of relationship complications and family drama, which I think is realistic for Christmas in real life. At least it is in most families I’m aware of.

One of the primary subplots involved a gay couple, which some viewers might not be able to relate to. But that’s realistic in today’s world and in our society. I was more engaged in that plot line than the other two, and fascinated to see how those characters tied in to the other families’ stories.

I do think that connection could’ve been more developed and given more focus. It turned out to be super important to one of the main characters, but that subplot (which to me was one of the most fascinating of all) wasn’t even revealed until the last few “wrap-up” minutes in the show. I guess they’re limited to what they can do in two hours.

All in all, I give this movie high marks for ingenuity and uniqueness. But I have to say it’s not one of my favorites, which I know will disappoint those who have recommended it. Still, it’s worth reviewing. And so much better than last night’s movie it isn’t even worth comparing. I give this one a 6 out of 10.

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A Christmas Karen is truly the most terrible Christmas takeoff I’ve ever seen. It’s about totally (excuse my language) bitch of a woman who is a Scrooge character and encounters three ghosts who transform her. I am not kidding. This is a totally inappropriate farce. And yet I kept wanting to see it all the way to the end.

I’m really not even sure how I found this movie, except when I turned on my fire stick, it popped up and I watched it. I am not kidding. It’s truly awful and yet weirdly engaging.

I can’t recommend it. It would offend many people. And yet I actually laughed out loud several times.
I give this one a 2 out of 10 and I have totally got my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.

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The Ghost of Christmas Always Oh my goodness. I know I said before that I am a fan of time travel movies, and although this one is not necessarily a time travel movie, it totally is! It’s a modern takeoff on a Christmas Carol, with the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future but modern. And oh my goodness! It was original, well acted, endearing, and I absolutely love the story. I think this one rates right up there at the top of my pics this year along with “a Biltmore Christmas.“ Highly recommended and this one is a 10 out of 10 in my books.