War of the Worlds, the Musical

This was the first installment of The Shows Must Go On that I caught since the fall 2020 series started. War of the Worlds, the Musical looked interesting. In my head, they took the radio play by Orson Welles and wrote music and songs to add to the story. As the YouTube video started, the camera panned over the stage showing an orchestra and what looked like a single chair by a microphone, which almost confirmed my prediction. As the production began, I learned that was the conductor's stand, and from the costumes I realiezed, that we had gone back in time further than Welles' 1938 broadcast. We went back to 1898, for H.G. Wells' original story. Then the music started and we were flung forward nearly 100 years into the 1980s (Late 70s, really).

Movie: The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) ***

In the Peanut Butter Falcon, Tyler and Zack are two very different guys who runaway from their lives for two very different reasons: One misdirected his anger and pissed off a very violent man, the other wants to get out of the nursing home he's been dumped in and learn how to wrestle. They manage to find each other and form a bond. A third party, Eleanor, who was searching for Zack in order to return him to the nursing home is cajoled into joining them and their bond grows stronger. It is a heartfelt friendship story that dives just deep enough into each player's history to reveal skeletons, but to not bog you down with cobwebs.
Shia LaBeouf and Dakota Johnson act alongside first time actor, Zack Gottsagen, with appearances by Bruce Dern, John Hawkes, and Thomas Haden Church. Nothing fancy here, just good movie stuff.
I would recommend it and re-watch it, so I'll give it three stars ***.
I checked the DVD out from the library and have kept it hostage during the closure of March 2020. I watched the movie back then, but I just watched it again so I can write my review.

Movie: The Photograph (2020) ****

Afro bubble gum romance at its best. A reporter stumbles upon the lost story of a photographer and in writing about her finds a love interest. They struggle with honesty and being there and their struggles parallel the life of the photographer. This is one of those romances you can watch over and over. The writing takes romance in a different direction by doing a study in honest dating. The acting was authentic. I liked all the characters. I wanted to hang out with them, sip a good rum and listen to music. The soundtrack was unobtrusive, but mood-perfect.
It was so comfortable and comforting and I would recommend this to so many people. I’ll give The Photograph four stars****

Movie: In the Aisles (2018)***

In the Aisles is a German film I watched with English subtitles.
A young man, Christian, who has a rough past gets a job at a warehouse store. He forms relationships with his shift mates, especially his supervisor in Beverages, Bruno. And he falls in love with Marion who works in Sweet Goods, who is unhappily married.
This arthouse film was a respite from the very saccarine-Hallmark-type and studio-typical stories I've been watching lately. This story is refreshingly different, It takes some dark turns, but isn't a sad story, it isn't a love story, and it isn't a story of redemption. It's just an artsy snapshot of Christian's life and the two new people who come into it through his work.
The production is authentic. The music supervisor had a good ol' time: She soundtracks the beginning of the worker's shifts with the waltz, The Blue Danube. There's a random rap instrumental inserted in a longer forklift driving scene that was fun. And I don't know how a Son House song got inserted into this film, but there it was and it somehow fit.

The idea of the ocean and beach was a running theme throughout the story that was unobtrusively woven through so that you had to try to notice.
I enjoyed this film, I could very easily watch this again, and although I find subtitles hard to recommend to other people, I would recommend this to a few adventurous movie watchers. It was on the fun side of the Nitpix scale and I give it three stars***.
I'm glad I took a chance on this DVD I checked out from the library.

Movie: Greta (2018)**

Spoilers follow, but you might as well read this because if you watched the trailer then you know what happens in the movie, anyway. 

I watched Greta before the COVID-19 shutdown and at the time, I thought this movie required a lot of suspension of believe to watch. Why in the world is the young woman in this movie so trusting and naïve? How did she end up the prey of this unimaginative stalker woman with a fabulous bohemian gem of an apartment in New York City? 

I am in this mid-COVID-19 world now, skimming through Greta so I can write this review and I can now clearly see that there are people who think differently than I do. I was just having a conversation with my best friend about how people think: Some people only think out a few steps past their action, some people think out many steps past their action and some people don't consider the consequences of their actions at all. All those people who went to the Trump rally in Tulsa. All those young folks who partied after the summer 2020 re-opening. All those people who had COVID parties so they can get it and get it over with. They would all, after some chain of events, find themselves locked in the room behind Greta’s piano if they were the protagonist in this movie.  

Back to the movie:  At nearly 20 minutes into the movie Frances, the protagonist, discovers that Greta does this regularly: Sets it up so that nice, honest and usually vulnerable people find her purse on the subway and then try to return it, possibly getting caught in Greta’s trap.  After discovering this fact, Frances does the smart thing and tries to get away from Greta. But then, for some stupid, bad-writing, terrible logic reason, Frances decides to dig into Greta’s life. It's like she can’t even let go. To add to the funky odd story, Greta doesn’t even bother to hide. It's like the opposite of other obsession movies, this obsessor isn’t even trying to hide her crazy behavior.  

This movie was a bad. It needed more better writing and filmmaking techniques to pull off a dark obsession story. There are too many good obsession movies that put this to shame. Greta gets two stars** because I watched it, but I would never recommend it, I don’t want to watch it again and I would delete the catalog record from the library if I had control over such things.  

Greta brought to mind an old movie about obsession that I’d like to revisit. Have you ever seen Mark Wahlberg’s 1996 obsessive bad-boy in Fear? I used to love that movie.  

I checked the Greta DVD out from the library. Burn it. 

Movie: Not Cinderella's Type (2018) **

I thought Not Cinderella's Type was going to be a gentle romantic cheesy movie, but it turned out be an after-school-special-like-film about emotional abuse with a storyline that went all over the place. Let me tell you how it went:

Girl's mom dies when she is little and her uncle and aunt, who already have two daughters, take her in.

Flash forward to 16: A boy runs over the cat her deceased mother gave her (That's the only thing left of her mother).

Boy tries to apologize, but she refused to hear him, so he kind of stalks her at school and beyond.

Boy asks her out, she considers.

When talking about boy to her bestie, she discovers that her male best friend thought they were boyfriend-girlfriend.

Seeing both boys at the same time.

Weird neighbor who never says anything all of a sudden calls her aunt to tattle that the girl is making out with male best friend on the soccer field.

She finally gets fed up with the mean uncle and aunt who treat her like a maid and she speeches at them about how mean they are to her.

Boy comes over and picks her up and takes her back to his house because his dad is certified to host foster kids.

After her uncle and aunt are investigated, she ends up living with boy and his family.

Male best friend failed to be there when she needed him, now he's in the friend zone.

Boy and her go to prom and start dating. Yes, she still lives in his house, but moved out to the pool house.

The end.

• Cheesy or sentimental: The production was cheap, but not cheesy. Its like they used the producer's house and maybe the director's parents' house for locations.
  
• Production value: Low
  
• Suspension of belief: High
  
• Trope: Cinderella-like story
  
• Diversity: Nope. Nada.
  
• Paranormal: None.
  
• Clownish character: None.

Rating: Not Fun; Two stars because I made it to the end **

I wasted on of my Hoopla credits to watch this. 

Movie: Love On the Rise (2019) *

Nineteen minutes in and not only am I bored, but I’ve come upon a storyline much like True Love Blooms. A local baker is working hard to make a name for herself when she meets a cute “waiter” at a wedding she created a cake for. Turns out the “waiter” is really a developer who was in the wrong place at the right time to meet her. It also turns out his development company is planning to bulldoze the building where her shop is so they can build condos. Her and her bestie plan a protest. This is where I pressed stop.
Love on the Rise is a Mar Vista production, meaning that it has a 85% chance of being a good quality b-level romance movie. This one was not. The writing was boring. The production looked and felt thrown together and I just didn’t like it.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Cheesy 
• Production value: Bad Mar Vista production 
• Suspension of belief: high 
• Trope: Enemies-become-lovers 
• Diversity: I didn't see any in the 19 minutes I watched. 
• Paranormal: None 
• Clownish character: None

Rating: Not Fun; One star*
I watched this on Hoopla.

Movie: Falling Inn Love (2019) **

Falling Inn Love It is about a woman who suddenly looses her job, then wins an inn in close order. The inn is in New Zealand and when she gets there she finds its in terrible disrepair and has way too much pride to hire the local, handsome contractor to help her to restore it. 

I've had this movie saved on my Netflix watchlist for a while as a potential movie for my spring romance movie marathon. When I finally watched it it was a slapstick silly mess with people rolling off beds, dropping things down stairs, an intrusive goat, and of course the standard shelf that falls when someone leans in it. The story was interesting and I was getting into the characters, but the silliness was way too distracting. I was supposed to be amused, but I was just greatly annoyed.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Cheesy
• Production value: Good Mar Vista production 
• Suspension of belief: high
• Trope: Enemies-become-lovers-ish. Like I said, the story was interesting and I haven't been able to identify a trope that fits this movie well. 
• Diversity: Afro-Latina lead, interracial gay couple. They represented!
• Paranormal: there was a mention of a ghost, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out if it played into the story. Although I suspect if i waited long enough the antagonist character would somehow fake a ghost so as to scare the main character away only to be foiled by the pesky goat. 
• Clownish character: About half the cast was silly and clumsy.

Rating: Not fun; Two stars **

I watched this movie on Netflix. 

Movie: True Love Blooms (2019) *

True Love Blooms is a Hallmark production about a happy woman named Vikki who loves plants and community. She runs a community garden and soon finds out the owner of the land has sold it to a developer who plans to build condos on the site. She meets the developer, Chase, played by Jordan Bridges, and clearly they are going to fall in love. She decides to get the other gardeners together to protest.
Boring acting, bad pacing, transitions between scenes were milder than jolting. The lines that are supposed to be kickers are so bad:

Vikki George: When I put my mind to something it usually happens.

Chace Devine: Well when I set my mind to something it happens as well.

Vikki: Well good! We have one thing in common.

Chace: Yes, but that means we have an impasse, too.

Vikki: But there a way over any impasse (she says with a confident smile as she walks out the door. He watches her leave with a smitten and impressed chuckle.)

At 27 minutes in I didn’t see any way this movie could improve so I pressed stop. I was sad it didn’t work out because I am a fan of Jordan Bridges.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Cheesy 
• Production value: Low-ball Hallmark 
• Suspension of belief: high 
• Trope: Enemies to Lovers 
• Diversity: colorful supporting characters 
• Paranormal: None 
• Clownish character: None 

Rating scale: Not Fun; One star*

I checked this DVD out from the library. 

TV: Yellowstone Season 2 (2019)***

John Dutton: If you find anything call the sheriff. We want everything by the book.
Kayce: I don’t know the book.
John Dutton: That’s why you call the sheriffs. It’s their book.

Despite this hilarious exchange, Yellowstone season 2 is not a comedy. At some points this show is as cheesy as I imagine a Hallmark-style drama would be, but especially, in this season, Yellowstone showed its good bones with good storytelling.
In season 2, the enemies that formed in season 1 have to come together to defeat a common foe. Plotting, assault, murder, militias, an armed posse, masked mercenaries and kidnapping abound.
Kevin Costner plays, John Dutton, the patriarch of the Dutton family, who at times struggles with being a good parent and ruthlessly keeping control of the ranch and land his family has owned in Montana for many years.
Cole Hauser plays Rip, the Dutton's ranch manager, and his scenes are the best. I've seen him on TV and in movies here and there, but in my mind his most memorable role is in Dazed and Confused, that is until Yellowstone. Hauser is impressive in this role as he has to go from cutthroat right-hand man in ranch-related matters to an orphan-born-of-a-violent-past longing for a father, then to a man standing by the woman he loves despite not being able to love her openly. Hauser carries this season.
Jaime Dutton, the sniveling and brooding son of John Dutton, is played by Wes Bentley. His scenes are the cheesiest and his storyline is almost detracting from the rest of the story. He is trying to be serious, but in TV reality, he's just a hot mess with several big secrets that are haunting him.
I finished watching Yellowstone season 2 and I was pleased. Season 1 was okay, but I'm invested and excited to see what happens next. I give it three stars*** because I want to continue watching and I wouldn't mind rewatching episodes of season 2. Read my review of season 1 here.
I checked DVDs of Yellowstone season 2 out from the library.

Movie: Judy (2019)**

Judy is a based on actual events film that focuses on the final months of Judy Garland's life.

I really didn't like the movie as a whole, but I was very impressed with Rene Zelwegger's performance. She was able to melt away with the help of makeup and styling, but all that was left on the screen was Judy Garland at her messiest. Well done, Rene. To my surprise, Jessie Buckley popped onto the screen, which is funny because I watched the last half of Wild Rose starring Buckley right before Judy.

Judy makes an odd-couple double feature with Wild Rose actually. One movie about a female performer with two kids finding herself another is about a female performer with two kids losing herself.

The writing and editing could have been done better. Some scenes came across to me as if the director/editor let them go on too long. I found the flashback scenes to be weird. Flashbacks should fill you in on unexplained details, but just they left me with more questions.  

I watched this review by Be Kind Rewind and I have to agree with certain points: 1. The movie misses the opportunity to show why Judy was important and not just a sad old out-of-work star of days gone by. 2. The film sandpapers over the drug and alcohol abuse, all the way to her death. 

I don't need to see this movie ever again, but I would recommend it to the right person. And I will make an effort to watch the movies that were recommended in the Be Kind Rewind review because I actually do want to know more about Judy Garland. I give this movie two stars**.

Movie: Wild Rose (2018)***

Wild Rose is a film about a woman, who just released from prison returns to her wild ways, including her reckless pursuit to be a country singer in Nashville, until she finds herself at the mental crossroads of being a good parent and pursuing her dreams.

This movie is a woman finding herself story. One of the things that makes this story different is that it is set in Glasgow, when most woman finding herself stories are about Americans. Of course, I do watch mostly American movies. Another thing that sets this one apart, is that Rose makes a ton of mistakes, which is kind of annoying, but the story is written so well, that she gets out of those situations or they resolve in logical ways so I can't get mad about it. What makes Wild Rose like other typical woman-finding-herself stories is that it all works out in the end. She really was a hot mess who saw no fault in her own and didn't apologize for much throughout most of the movie, but she somehow found herself surrounded by good, supportive people. Lucky Rose.

I really enjoy how this movie was styled. The camera captured rich coloring and high contrasts in most of the scenes, which gives the film a sense of depth. Personal styling looked authentic. Even Rose in her white cowboy boots, which must have been comfortable because she was always running. There is one really beautiful and simply styled scene when she comes back from London and is standing in the kitchen with her daughter. Lovely.

I thought, but didn't realize until I read about the movie later that Jessie Buckley, the actress who plays Rose, is fully and totally singing the songs. She manages to be an amazing singer and an impressive actress. Julie Walters plays her mother and you have seen her a hundred times in a hundred other films. She was perfect in this one. I will probably download this soundtrack as soon as I'm done posting this.

This was a good movie. I will watch it again, and would recommend it as a double feature with Gloria or Brittney Runs a Marathon. Three Stars***
I watched this movie on a DVD I checked out from the library. 

TV: Game of Thrones Season 9 Conversation (So full of spoilers)

I was talking to someone about movies/TV shows and they asked me to give the a recap of Game of Thrones season 9. She plans on watching it when the DVDs were released, but the anticipation and dodging was killing her. She wanted to hear the story and she wanted it from me. How flattering! The following is my recollection of the conversation and it is so full of spoilers and errors.

Her: What happened in the end?

Me: Jon Snow assassinated the Dragon Queen. They formed a council of sorts and put Bran in charge. The end.

Her: They killed the Dragon Queen?!

Me: Yes.

Her: JON killed the Dragon Queen?!!

Me: Yes.

Her: Wha?!!!

Me: He realized she was heading down the road to madness just like her father and rather than risk any more lives and property, he stabbed her. She died. Since he killed the queen he was banished back to the Night’s Watch.

Her: So he didn’t become king? Wasn’t he supposed to be king?

Me: Yes.

Her: They were related. Nasty! How, again? 

[This results in a longer than necessary discussion of Jon Snow’s family tree, then me Googling it.]

Me: She was his aunt.

Her: His aunt?!

Me: Yes.

[And then we sidetracked into a discussion of Targaryen madness.]

Her: I can’t believe it no wonder people are mad. Wait! What happened to those things?

Me: Uhhh....

Her: The zombie things.

Me: White Walkers?

Her: Yeah.

Me: There was a huge battle. It was fantastic television. Oh my goodness! I remember watching it and being so on edge!

Her: What happens to them?!

Me: Oh. Uh. I can’t remember. Hmm...
[At this point she takes a bathroom break to give me some time to recall. I couldn’t for the life of me, so I consulted a co-worker.]

[She comes back from the bathroom.]

Me: I got it. Arya killed the main guy and they all went down. 

Her: What main guy?

Me: You know the main White Walker guy? He rode the horse?

Her: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Arya? That girl is something, isn’t she? Good. What happened to the red lady?

Me: Oh that was good. She sacrificed herself to help defeat the White Walkers. She started a massive bonfire.

Her: You know she foresaw that. Wow sacrifice. And what about that one guy, the one without a penis?

Me: Ha! Which one?!

Her: The eunuch? The big guy?

Me: Oh yeah, him. Pretty sure he died can’t remember how, though.

Her: She predicted his death, too. Okay, what about those other incestuous people?

Me: Jaime and the really mean one? The Lannisters. Pretty sure they were buried alive after dragon lady destroyed that whole town.

Her: Serves them. He was evil from the beginning when he pushed that boy and I though he was the devil himself because he had such a smooth voice and worked it for some sympathy. Uh hmm. What about that guy without a penis?

Me: Ha!

Her: The one who had it cut off. And do you remember that scene when it happened and they guy who did it was eating sausage? Do you think...

Me: Theon! Theon died! It was right before Arya killed the White Walker guy. He was protecting Bran who was standing out in the woods by the tree, then Arya came out of nowhere. Stab!

Her: Oh yeah, he liked them woods. That’s too bad. He was growing on me. The big guy?

Me: The book guy? Pretty sure he lived.

Her: Did he make an honest woman of that girl?

Me: I can’t remember, but I don’t think they got married.

Her: That poor baby. What happened to Greyworm?

Me: You mean the other guy without a penis?!

Her: Ha!

Me: He went in a rage after... wait, maybe you should sit for this: They killed Missandei.

Her:  That's Greyworm's girlfriend, right? What?!! She’s dead?!!!

Me: Yep. The Lannisters.

Her: But she didn’t do anything!

Me: I think that was the point. She was insignificant to everyone, but Dragon Queen and Greyworm and the audience. It was a good plot point.

I can’t believe it! Not Sandy!

Me: Missandei. So, Greyworm and Dragon Queen tore up Queen’s Landing after that. Who else?

Her: The other Stark girl?

Me: Lived. So Bran’s head of the council, Jon’s on the Night’s Watch. Arya's is still on her own and Sansa is on the council, I think.

Her: Al the Lannisters are dead?

Me: Yep. Wait! Except Tyrion.

Her: Who's that? 

Me: The short one.

Her: Yeah. And the penis guy’s sister?

Me: Theon’s sister lived, I think.

Her: Okay. I feel better.

Me: Glad to help.

TV: Unforgotten Series 1 - 3****

Not another crime show with a brooding detective or wreckless-lucky one, Unforgotten is a three season series (I just heard another season is in production) about a special unit that works on unsolved over-10-year-old murder cases and features the unit’s two two lead detectives, Cassie Stuart and Sunny Khan. Each season we get to see the beginning to end of one investigation. Writing is tight on short-season British shows, but especially on this one that intricately manages to peel away the onion layers to a whodunnit within the short series while managing to be jam packed with plot twists and very complicated persons-of-interest eliminations. Lots of twists and turns in the crime solving game are padded with the interesting and not distracting personal lives of Detectives Stuart and Khan, which overlap at times. The acting is superb, Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaksarv give the roles such depth and bring an emotional range that I’m not sure has been matched on any American show, in my humble opinion. This show was strong for three seasons and ended on a good note, so I'm apprehensive, but hopeful about the future.

If you can't tell, I really like Unforgotten, the stories, acting and overall atmosphere is thoroughly engaging. The music is notably good, too. I'm giving Unforgotten Series 1 - 3 four stars****. I will have no problem watching this again or recommending it to others. It could eventually find itself on my favorites list. 

I first watched Unforgotten on live PBS, but eventually caught up on Amazon. 

Theme song

Soundtrack from Series 2 (Beautiful and haunting!)

Movie: Knives Out (2019)***

Knives Out is a classic whodunit story (A mansion house, a gaggle of devious characters/suspects, an unsolved murder, plot twists and a detective who puts it all together). What makes this this film stand out is:

a) It is set in modern day. Go ahead and throw out your period costumes. We have on-screen texting, cell phones and laptops. 

b) There is a main character in this ensemble cast and it is not the detective.

Overall, I love a whodunit. It brought back all those Mystery! episodes (Before it became Masterpiece Mystery) with Poirot and Ms. Marple that I used to watch on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. The soundtrack really hit the mark with mystery and twisting plots and sounds great on its own as well. 

The overacting that is specific to whodunit mysteries is well done with an excellent cast, except for one bit: Benoit LeBlanc was miscast. I don’t think Daniel Craig properly carried the character of the detective. As written, LeBlanc seemed to be a cross between the Southern-charming, but perceptive Matlock and the confidence and tenacity of  Poirot. Unfortunately, Craig couldn’t smooth out the icing that brought the layers of the LeBlanc cake together. In certain scenes, I feel like he pulls you out of the moment, but thank goodness the rest of the production is so good, you get pulled right back in. Even if the writers hadn’t even consciously thought of it, LeBlanc was written for Kevin Spacey.

I give this movie three stars***. I hope to watch it again, it was fun and a great movie to look at, but I am disappointed with the detective. 

Movie: Ford v Ferrari (2019)***

This was a movie movie. I don't have a term for it right now, but its the kind of movie that reminds me the movies in the 80s and 90s. They were all-around good, with good acting, production and writing. You're drawn into the movie and lose the actors in their characters. Ford vs Ferrari was one of those.

Apparently in the 60s Ford cars were doing terrible, so they decided to try to include race cars in their image. They employed Damon's character to help usher in the vroom vroom. He hires Bale's character as a race driver to compete in the Le Mans 24-hour race. Ford's new second-in-charge throws money wrenches in along the way.

Damon and Bale were fantastic. The action sequences were enthralling. The story left me with a good feeling.

This gets three stars***. Its a good and quality film, but its not a favorite and I'm not sure how often I'll have the urge to watch it, again.

I watched this movie in theater.

Movie: Ad Astra (2019)***

Totally illogical story: If this is the future and humans have been in space for a while, why were so many things fraught with human technical error?

• Why would you try to pass through a war zone in an unarmored vehicle?
• Why was the captain of the Mars ship so panicky? Was that his first official flight?
• Why did they continue to go deeper into the distress-call ship if no one was responding?
• Can anyone explain the baboons?
• Why did they send Brad Pitt's character all the way to Mars to essentially send out voicemails to his father?
• Why did they send a son to contact the father he hadn't seen for over 30 years and expect the son not to have an emotional reaction?
• Why did the nuclear warhead crew freak out and try to fight Brad Pitt's character and essentially kill themselves?
• Why did Brad Pitt's character not predict his dad was going to try to get away?
• Why were the tablets and personal devices made of clear glass? So easy to lose!

Once you get past the illogical errors in story and set-up, you can see a beautifully shot movie that was well acted. Brad Pitt carried the story so much that those illogicalities were bits of dust on an otherwise clean floor. His character is known for being able to control his reactions so that he remains calm, and able to make clear decisions even in the many high-stress situations that come up during the film. Tommy Lee Jones plays the mentally-fraught-and-obsessive-to the-point-of-murder father, and is impressive even in the few on-screen minutes we get to see him. I would argue that the soundtrack was also amazing in getting across the emotions and emotional control of Brad Pitt's character as well as setting up those high-stress and anxiety situations. Well done.

I give this movie three stars*** on the masterpiece end of the scale. Its good in many ways, but I was lost and all-too focused on the illogicalities. It was fun, but I don't have to watch it again.

I streamed this movie from Amazon.

Holiday Romance Movie Marathon Part II: I forgot some

So, there's now a part II because I remembered two other movies I watched that were notable! I'm getting old, people.

Same Time, Next Christmas (ABC, 2019)- A great title that is indicative of an engaging and definitely fun holiday romance movie. While on annual Christmas vacations to the same Hawaiian resort, a boy and a girl fall in love. They grow up and find themselves in other relationships, in other cities and with conflicting obligations, but they also find themselves back at the resort for family Christmas vacations, year after intermittent year. Can the love of childhood sweethearts grow up? Of course it can! This movie spans decades and locations across the country. All of the side stories add to an overall sense of family, love and dedication. The writing and acting were both top notch. Star power includes Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Brian Greenberg of How to Make It in America. The lead actors I somewhat recognized, but I don't think I've seen them in TV or movies before. I caught this movie when it premiered on live TV,  December 5, 9 pm on KABC.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Sentimental
• Production value: High quality ABC production
• Suspension of belief: low
• Trope: Destined-to-Be-Together + Second-Chance-at-Love + Belated Epiphany
• Diversity: A virtual rainbow
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Yes.

Christmas In Evergreen: Letters to Santa (Hallmark DVD, 2018)- For Christmas, a retail designer returns to the town and place where she had the most memorable times of her childhood. She puts her skills to work to help stage and sell the former general store, enlisting the help of a handyman who is also equal in his search for a sense of home. This could have been an amazing movie if the writers would have taken a different path and allowed the characters to communicate instead of jumping to conclusions in order to cause unnecessary conflict. There's also the super obvious solutions to problems, such as the main character wanting to own her own store and the store of her childhood memories being up for sale. Hmmm, I wonder what's going to happen in the end of this Hallmark movie? Just focus on the romance and people and stop trying to set up a semi-complex plot. Star power includes Holly Robinson-Peete from 21 Jump Street and weight-loss supplement commercials. 

• Cheesy or sentimental: Sentimental with some cheese because of the B-level writing. 
• Production value: High quality Hallmark production
• Suspension of belief: Medium. Again, the writing. 
• Trope: Returns to hometown 
• Diversity:  a good amount of color
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No. 

Holiday Breakup (Amazon, 2016)- This is the story of a couple that met when their cars and hearts collided at a stop sign in Los Angeles. They come from different backgrounds – Los Angeles and Orange County. He's goal-oriented and business-minded... with the pressure of family expectations. She is free-spirited and passionate... with commitment phobia. They break up. They get back together. The end. This is definitely a cheesy movie: Cheesy music, cheesy acting, silly storyline and silly flashback segments. But I enjoyed it. Its cute and shot well-enough to make you appreciate good cheese.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Definitely cheesy
• Production value: Medium. They seemed to use actual locations in the LA area, so nothing looked staged. And the actors might as well have been wearing their own clothes and doing their own styling.
• Suspension of belief: Medium. The cheese.
• Trope: Opposites Attract + Fake Relationship + Belated Love Epiphany
• Diversity: They miss the mark. This is Los Angeles and only a few background colorful people make it in the frame.
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: The movie opens up with the female lead literally jumping up and down wearing a clown nose. That should say it all.
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Maybe!

Holiday Romance Movie Marathon 2019

'Twas the season and I, yet again, watched a ton of holiday romance movies (HRMs) from Thanksgiving all the way to a little past midnight December 26th. This year, I managed to see all six new holiday movies that Ion Channel featured. I also started another list: Annual holiday movie playlists, with movies I really enjoyed and want to watch every year. I also did research on romantic story tropes because I enjoy identifying tropes!
Thanks to Ion, I could watch marathons of holiday movies while puttering about the house, but with the many options available to stream or checkout DVDs from the library, I had to be more discerning and I stopped the bad ones instead of trying to watch them through. I found a cache of non-Hallmark, but well-made movies this year. Finally, I'm applying my new Romance Movie Checklist to each movie I watched this year.

Holiday Rush (Netflix, 2019)- A morning radio show host is out of a job after the station he works for is acquired by a bigger company. He realizes he is broke and has to move his four kids from their posh home and neighborhood to their old house on the other side of town. The DJ and his producer are also planning a way to get back on the air and be true to their roots. Cute story, good production, appropriate acting and a bit of star power with Romany Malco (Weeds) and Darlene Love (20 Feet From Stardom). I only had one issue: bad grammar. The screen text was counting down the days and it said “x day till...” Wrong! I watched it, I can easily watch it again and will happily recommend others watch it too. I like the direction of diversity the HRMs are heading in.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Lightly cheesy, but mostly sentimental
• Production value: This is a high quality Netflix production
• Suspension of belief: low
• Trope: Friends to Lovers
• Diversity: almost entire black cast
• Paranormal: None
• Clownish character: None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Maybe next year. 

Holiday Road Trip (Netflix, 2013)- A marketing executive is forced to take the company mascot, a dog, on a holiday road tour with the boss’ son. I didn’t finish this one. Patrick Muldoon is possibly on par with Tommy Wiseau from The Room. He is terrible and brought Ashley Scott, who was cute in Christmas Mail, down. It’s too bad because it looked like I was in store for an all-star supporting cast including George Hamilton, Shelley Long, Donna Pescow and Mindy Cohn. Oh well!

Christmas Calendar (Hoopla, 2017)- A woman returns to her small town after going away to school to become a lawyer. She takes over her grandma’s bakery, but soon learns the business is in financial trouble especially with a new, chain store that has its own bakery and cute a French baker just across the street. Oh yeah, it’s called Christmas Calendar because the woman mysteriously receives a Christmas calendar. Soon news spreads that she has a secret admirer that will be revealed when she opens the last calendar door on Christmas Eve. there was a basic story here that was muddied by lots of unnecessary plot vectors that never got flushed out. The story itself didn’t know where it was going. At one point the two bakers were getting ready for a bake-off, but then for no reason the editor skipped past that event and the main characters went bowling instead! The acting was b-level at best and therefore appropriate. I finished it, but there’s no reason to make watching this HRM an annual tradition. There is another movie called The Holiday Calendar on Netflix. This movie should have been called A Christmas Baked Fresh and a Warm.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Unequivocally cheesy. 
• Production value: Okay
• Suspension of belief: high
• Trope: muddled version of enemies-to-lovers
• Diversity? There are some colorful extras
• Paranormal element: none
• Clown character: they were all acting silly
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? NO.

2nd Chance for Christmas (Hoopla, 2019)- A stuck up pop-star is acting like a horrible brat to everyone and is visited by the ghost of her grandfather, played by Mark McGrath, telling her to clean up get her act together before she ends up like him, referencing an uncomfortable afterlife. This was heading into a version of A Christmas Carol that was off to a lousy start, so I stopped it. Mark McGrath as a deceased grandfather of a twenty-something?! Too bad because this one also boasted an all-star supporting cast including Tara Reid, Vivica Fox and Mark Christopher Lawrence.


Christmas Contract (Hoopla, 2018)- A winner from Hoopla, finally! This is a familiar story of a single woman who returns to her hometown for Christmas with a fake boyfriend in tow. This time the fake boyfriend is really her best friend’s brother and they signed a contract that if he acts as her boyfriend over Christmas, she will create an author feature website for him. He’s a writer. She’s a web programmer. This started down a rocky road, but soon smoothed out. The writing was surprisingly good and most of the story was believable. Acting and production value were good, too. Star power includes Jason London of Dazed & Confused fame.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Light cheese because of the trope, but nicely sentimental
• Production value? Good. Originally produced by Lifetime. 
• Suspension of belief required? Medium
• Trope(s): Enemies-to-Lovers + Fake Relationship
• Diversity? 1 colorful person
• Paranormal/science fiction element? none
• Clownish character(s)? none
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Yes. Easily enjoyable. 

Christmas Homecoming (Hallmark DVD, 2017)- I haven’t seen many HRMs that include the military, so at least for me, this was a unique film. Starting Julie Benz from Dexter and Michael Shanks who looks almost exactly like Erik Thomson the actor from the Australian show 800 Words. The story is about a widowed army wife who rents out her ADU to an injured Army sergeant. They manage to fall in love but along the way, they both have tackle loss and deciding to move on from the past. Acting is well done, there is little need for suspension of reality. Some side stories are handled better than others and for some reason the cheese is ramped up leaving the ending a soggy gooey mess, kind of like Florida Project. I shudder at the thought. I don’t have to see this again, but I wouldn’t turn the channel if it came on.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Mostly sentimental, but ends cheesily. 
• Production value? Good
• Suspension of belief required? Low until the end. 
• Trope(s): Combo of modified Second-Chance-at-Love and Belated Love Epiphany with a military theme
• Diversity? Supporting characters are authentic and colorful
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No
• Paranormal/sci-fi: no

Christmas at the Palace (Hallmark DVD, 2018)- This was a cute little predictable tale about two ice skaters who are asked to stay in the fictional country of San Segovia in order to plan and execute a skating show for the country’s founder's day. Yes, both lady ice skaters respectively fall in love with the king and his assistant and are smitten with the young princess. The conflict between the main character and the king is that they think they are too different and want different things, but lo and behold, they really want the same thing: each other, the palace and the princess.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Light cheese
• Production value? Good. Hallmark makes pretty movies. 
• Suspension of belief required? Medium. 
• Trope(s): Royalty + Invisible Barrier
• Diversity? Not really
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None. 
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No. 

The Knight Before Christmas (Netflix, 2019)- Trying to find a different kind of stories this year, I decided to watch this film about a 14th century knight who time travels to modern day 2019 to fulfill his life’s quest where he meets a modern day school teacher and of course, falls in love. Let's face it, with star power like Vanessa Hudgens, who was in 2018's Holiday Calendar (also Netflix) and Josh Whitehouse from Poldark fame, this was a can't miss movie for holiday romance movie buffs like myself. Time travel, British knights, Netflix productions.... a winning combination!

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheesy, but touching
• Production value? Good. Netflix brings the A game.
• Suspension of belief required? High. The 14th century knight takes traveling into the future surprisingly well! He learns how to use a remote without assistance the first night there. And only after a day or two, she lets him drive her car by himself. 
• Trope(s): Fish-out-of-water + time travel + Cowboy (namely a knight)
• Diversity? Yes. That's the good thing about Netflix productions. Color abounds.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Time travel, a magic medallion and a crone, aka witch
• Clownish character(s)? None. 
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Maybe. 

12 Pups of Christmas (Ion, 2019)- A recently broken up canine therapist leaves her practice in NYC to Move to Silicon Valley to take up a job at a failing doggy-tech firm. A combination of acting and writing led the two main characters to be fraught with mood swings and uneven personalities. It felt like the actors didn't have time to develop their characters. Story became muddled with weird and unnecessary plot vectors.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheesy!
• Production value? Good. Great choices of locations. 
• Suspension of belief required? Medium-high. There were some weird situations that i found hard to swallow. 
• Trope(s): Enemies-to-lovers 
• Diversity? Sprinkling of color. 
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Nono
• Clownish character(s)? None. 
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No 

A Christmas Crush- (Ion, 2019)- A woman makes a wish to have her neighbor fall in love with her. The wish comes true, unfortunately she didn’t specify which neighbor and the magic hits the wrong neighbor. So while she fights off the neighbor under the spell, she’s still trying to get to know the neighbor she likes. It was too goofy and it went on for too long. I was praying for the ending. Can’t complain about the acting.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheese.
• Production value? Good.
• Suspension of belief required? Medium-high. The whole wish thing. 
• Trope(s): Love spell
• Diversity? Nah. 
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Yes! Wish magic.
• Clownish character(s)? The neighbor under the wish spell
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No 

Holly Star (Netflix, 2018)- A failed puppeteer returns to her home town for Christmas and has to get a job at the Christmas tree lot to make ends meet. During a near death experience, a memory of seeing her grandpa bury a treasure comes up and she and her close friend become obsessed with finding it. At the same time she begins remembering the friendship she had with the tree lot attendant and has to sort out her feelings for him. Started rough, but quickly became fun, with interesting characters, and fun side stories. This felt very authentic as if the actors really live in this town, went to that bar and were wearing their own clothes. This can easily spin off a sequel. I’d watch this over and over again. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental with a sprinkling of cheese
• Production value? Authentic
• Suspension of belief required? Medium
• Trope(s): Buried treasure mystery + friends-to-lovers romance
• Diversity? N! But it was authentic to this town, pretty sure
• Paranormal/science fiction element? No. 
• Clownish character(s)? The main character's best friend was a clown, but there were many goofy characters
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? Absolutely

Holiday In the Wild (Netflix, 2019)- A recently separated wife and mother takes a safari vacation by herself to an African resort where she meets a rugged pilot and animal rescuer. A former veterinarian, She decides to stay past her return date and contribute to the elephant rescue efforts. Starring Kristin Davis of Sex In the City fame and Rob Lowe. Acting and story were well done.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental
• Production value? on-location authentic
• Suspension of belief required? low
• Trope(s): Scars + modified stranded
• Diversity? Yes. This film is set in Africa, so it would be mighty sad if I said no.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No

Christmas Love Story: Love at the Christmas Table (Hoopla, 2012)- Super cute story of childhood friends who grew up and apart as adults but came together each year at the kids table of a Christmas Eve party. Despite years of joking and fighting, love and truth won them over in the end. This film included a fun dance sequence. This was amazing! I can’t even call this cheesy because it was an excellent story with great dialogue, fun elements that weren’t distracting and great original holiday music. I would call this an overall good movie and I was surprised to learn that this is the same production company that brought the world the Sharknado series as well as a slew of rip offs and cheesy action/horror flicks. They put their foot into this one, though.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental
• Production value? Excellent. Authentic sets and personal styling. I really enjoyed the camera work and film techniques used and you would think this was a production on par with Home Alone.
• Suspension of belief required? Low
• Trope(s): Star-crossed/ soul mates
• Diversity? No
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? For sure!

Christmas at Graceland (Hallmark DVD, 2018)- A Memphis native who moved to Chicago for her career is sent back home to seal a business deal. While there she reconnects... with everything! Friends, music, love, and hometown values. It all works out in the end, but in a nice smooth, entertaining Hallmark kind of way. Not to cheesy and not too sweet. Acting was on par, but the voice dubbing in the music scenes was slightly jarring.

• Cheesy or sentimental? Sentimental
• Production value? Good. It’s a Hallmark.
• Suspension of belief required? Low
• Trope(s): Return to hometown + reunion + flame never went out
• Diversity? Key characters are colorful and I think Memphis folks was represented well.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? None
• Clownish character(s)? None
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No

A Christmas Movie Christmas (Hoopla, 2019)- The story of two sisters facing another unfulfilling Christmas when they make a wish for something more on Christmas Eve. Santa makes that wish come true by transporting them into their own Christmas movie! Cheesy plot and you can see all the standard storylines coming a mile away, but it still doesn’t work out as the sisters might have expected. Can they ruin Christmas in a Christmas movie?

• Cheesy or sentimental? Cheesy, but sentimental
• Production value? Mar Vista Productions are 50/50,  but this one was quality with authentic sets, lovely personal styling and wardrobe.
• Suspension of belief required? High, based on wish magic and the fact that they were transported into a Christmas movie, that’s understandable
• Trope(s): Be-careful-what-you-wish-for + love triangle + self-realization
• Diversity? Key characters are colorful and I think Memphis folks was represented well.
• Paranormal/science fiction element? Yes! Another wish magic movie
• Clownish character(s)? Kind of. Paul the baker has amazing supply of red envelopes and talks to his cookies
• Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist? No

Movie: A Royal Winter (2017)***

A Recent law school graduate goes on vacation to the fictional country of Calpurnia.  After an accidental meeting she starts getting to know a native Calpurnian guy, whom she later finds out is the soon-to-be king of Calpurnia. They both have to decide to continue going along with the life their families have planned for them or forge their own path made somewhat easier with white and class privilege. This was a cute, simple romantic tale with a small very surmountable conflict.

Romance Movie Checklist

• Cheesy or sentimental: Definitely cheesy with its predictable and simplistic story. 
• Production value: Mid-level on the Hallmark production spectrum. Costumes and personal styling was good. the sound on the disc was subpar; editing was amateur, and the indoor and outdoor locations were lovely.
• Suspension of belief: High. Royalty running around in this day and age without security?! Yeah right. 
• Trope: Secret-Royal turns Invisible Barrier of prescribed obligations 
• Diversity: A bit. The best friend who invites her along to Calpurnia is black. 
• Paranormal/ sci-fi: none
• Clownish character: none

Rating Scale: Fun; Three stars***
I checked this DVD out from the library.

Romance Movie Checklist

I'm a librarian. Making lists, charts and putting them in order if I can is what I do. So here's a new list since I've become such an fanatic about romance films, but first, some thoughts.

I have written that cheesy holiday romance movies "have a low production value, usually subpar acting and the storylines have a ton of holes and therefore require viewers to suspend some of their realistic expectations," but the past couple of years I've seen that many Hallmark and Netflix productions have been allowed to spare no expense on their films. Also, I've found several films that I have a hard time considering cheesy. It's come to the point where I am removing the adjective "cheesy" and going to call all these films "romance movies," and properly labeling the cheesy ones. 

I've Googled "What's cheesy?" to see if anyone else has tried to digest this and lo, I've found some good discussions on Urban Dictionary and Reddit. Basically, cheesy often includes poorly written dialogue that is unsubtle and in authentic, predictable and simplistic stories that are cliche ridden, and cheap production and effects. I especially want to note this comparison from Urban Dictionary:

The word cheesy is often defined simply as "sentimental", but there is a key distinction between the two. A situation is cheesy when the characters, their motives, and/or their emotions are not believable. It is a sentimental moment (it could be extremely sad or happy), but there is a weak connection to the characters or their situation, thus making it cheesy.
Many people confuse the two, and it is a matter of opinion to a certain degree, but things can be sentimental, emotional, or dramatic without being cheesy. 

All this means is that I'm going to have to go back and relabel some posts "romance movies" instead of cheesy.
Another element on the checklist is determining the tropes the films fit into.  I was interested in getting to know romance genre tropes so I can give a name to many of the similar storylines. So I looked up some trope compilations and added a couple of my own trope descriptions when necessary. That was fun!

Romance Movie Checklist
Cheesy or sentimental?
Production value?
Writing?
Acting?
Suspension of belief required? Low/medium/high
Trope(s):
Diversity?
Paranormal/science fiction element? Y/N
Clownish character(s)? Y/N
Added to the annual holiday romance movie playlist?

Movie: Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019)

Brittany Runs a Marathon was basically an after school special about a late-twenty-something who is too fat and behind on her adulting game. She decides to get her stuff together, and ultimately run a marathon. Along the way she exposes herself and her lifestyle to the garish light of day. Her one friend is terribly unsupportive and Brittany herself did not take things seriously making for some painful to watch scenes. Then she starts to meet some better people, when those good people start to get close she effectively pushes them away. Things really turn around only after she has a turn-your-life-around-on-a-dime pep talk by a wise and insightful black person.

I'll give costuming and styling a round of applause. They made her skin looked terrible and I can’t tell if actress, Jillian Bell was padded or not so she looked genuine and I mean that in a non-insulty way. After about 15 minutes, I wanted to stop it and watch something else. I didn't like it, but something about miserable people is engaging so I trudged on. Certain aspects of Brittany's life hit home with me and I was so entertained by the scenes that included Utkarsh Ambudkar. Damn movie got me in the end. I got caught up in the motivational build-up and shed a tear or two when she falters during the marathon.

Mini rant: I'm upset and should start a hunger strike at the lack of notoriety allowed for Utkarsh Ambudkar. I remember how awesome and cute he was in Pitch Perfect and that his brief, but spectacular appearance in Blindspotting made for a great flashback sequence. I was sad when after watching Brittany Runs a Marathon on Amazon, I looked at the information page to learn more about the cast, and neither his name nor picture showed up. Same thing on the Pitch Perfect Amazon information page. How disappointing. Enjoy this Brief But Spectacular video of him being him. 

I'll give Brittany Runs a Marathon three stars*** on the fun end of the scale. It was okay. I don't necessarily need or want to watch it again, but it wasn't all bad.