What it’s about: How a strip club in a small, impoverished Mississippi town and each of the people who work there find themselves having to overcome hardships both man-made and results of natural disaster. A casino-resort is threatening the club. One dancer is trying to get off the pole, but keeps being pulled back on. Another is dealing with an abusive partner. Another is falling in secret love. And so much more! Fast-paced • Atmospheric • Bawdy • Emotionally-intense • Strong sense of place
I’m enthralled with this show! The writing is excellent. The characters are full and emotionally complex. The plot is intriguing. Here’s my $30… I’m in, Diamond! Chips left at home! Favorite Uncle Clifford outfit: Green asymmetrical blouse, pirate-style head scarf and thigh-high red boots. Truest quote of 2024: “[N-words] don’t vote. [Salty crispy snacks] vote for the wrong [salty crispy snacks].” Favorite scenes:
Introducing Uncle Clifford – Chat with the Sheriff
Mercedes first dance- Dancing on the ceiling
Mercedes morning jog through the neighborhood
Lil’ Murda and DJ Neva Scared under the bridge
Lil’ Murda and Keyshawn performing Fallin'
Dumbest decisions on the show and in real life:
Unlocking your laptop for a stranger.
Letting someone “hold” $20,000 of your money. Nope.
Judging someone for doing the thing you said they should do.
Last time I had a subscription to Starz, I got somewhat obsessed with Outlander. Starz has the draws! Ha! Get it?!
I streamed P-Valley Season 1 because it was available as a sample on Amazon Prime. Gotta decide if I'm going to subscribe to Starz to watch season 2, or wait for another Prime sample!
What these two movies share: Images of the beautiful English countryside, farms, farm animals, rain, two people who don't communicate well and don't know how to deal with their emotions in a healthy way. They are two very different movies though. Dark River being a sad drama and Wild Mountain Thyme a funny romance.
Dark River, 2018 ***
A sad story about a woman who returns to her family farm after running away from the man then the memories of her father‘s abuse. She struggles with her brother for control of the farm, but no one wins. Starring Ruth Wilson who I recognize from so many things, especially Luther and Jayne Eyre, and Mark Stanley from many things, too, especially Game of Thrones and Sanditon, and only in flashback scenes as the abusive father, is Sean Bean, also of Game of Thrones fame. Trigger warnings: Sexual abuse and sheep shearing, which can be scary to some. Don't judge. I watched this on Amazon Prime.
Wild Mountain Thyme (2020) **** kept popping up in different algorithms and lists because I clearly love romance movies and British shows. Yes, I do know this movie is set in Ireland. So there. I finally watched it and was so anxious with the characters acting out in such a lovely way the stereotypical act of hiding emotions of human connection while overly expressing emotions that cause or maintain rifts that is soooo associated with British (and Irish) people. But this was as much heartwarming as it was heart-wrenching. I can watch Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan over and over in this movie. Surprisingly, Christopher Walken and John Hamm show up as an excellent and entertaining supporting cast.
Reviewer Christie Lemire sums this movie up well:
"A slight from childhood, which we see in an early flashback, and the rights to a small piece of land connecting their families’ properties serve as insurmountable obstacles to the fact that they’re clearly meant for one another. Besides knowing everything about each other, sharing decades of history and enjoying a lively chemistry, they’re the only single, gorgeous people of their age around. And so we must wait 102 minutes for them to acknowledge they’ve secretly been in love with each other all this time."
Trigger warnings: Christopher Walken being himself while pretending to have an Irish accent.
This limited series was fantastic! I read Celeste Ng's well-written slow-peeled-onion story Everything You Never Told Me for a book club and was enthralled by her storytelling style and capability. I should have read Little Fires Everywhere, but I watched this first.
Watching Little Fires Everywhere during this this period of racial unrest, it was especially apparent how on the surface, the issues that the main characters face have much to do with white privilege and conscious and unconscious bias. The script is full of judgmental and downright racist statements. But the beauty of this story, which you learn as the onion peels, is that in this case, its not simply about racial issues. Its about the house of cards the two main characters built for themselves.
Ep 1-3 I spent trying to decide who was worse: Mia or Elena? At the end of ep 3, Mia was in the lead for being unnecessarily secretive and vindictive, whereas Elena was just being a self-focused elitist racist. Her hate-ability was passive. Mia was actively hurting people. By the end of ep 4, you get a sense that the composed Elena is coming unhinged, and there’s a feeling of familiarity to it: she’s done this before! What’s worse is that she has raised another little monster and propagated her self-focused elitist-ness! And while teenagers make dumb teenagery decisions, mini-Elena takes it to another level of threatening and de-valuing her so-called friends’ lives. At the end of ep 6, the flashback episode, you come away with a good foundation for both Mia and Elena. Their lives of struggle and unhappiness were of their own construction. They both set up their lives so that the cards would fall and they would have to hurt someone in their future, namely their children.
The last two episodes for me was about redemption.
I streamed this in September of 2020 with a limited pass to Hulu.
I found this movie as I scrolled through the offerings on Laemmle’s website at the beginning of October. I saw a familiar face on the poster, and after some quick research discovered it was the same director of Ash is Purest White, and the familiar face was that of the lead actress from that movie. I knew immediately that I had to watch this film and I invited Dante who I saw AIPW with.
The movie opens with a slow camera moving along and looking into the faces of the passengers on a river boat at the end of this long pan, we are introduced to the main character. For the first 30 – 45 minutes, Sanming gets into situations that make him seem like a pushover of a guy, but eventually you get the sense that he knows when and how to fight his own battles. He traveled from one part of China to Fengjie County to search for his ex-wife and daughter.
A few acts into the movie, we meet the actress’ character, who has also travelled from one place to Fengjie County. but she is in search of her husband.
I remember reading about this director after I watched AIPW and I remembered that he used his art to shine a light on what is happening in China. In this film, looming over all the characters and blocking the sunlight from the story is the backdrop of the flooding of this area and the ongoing eviction of its residents and demolition of their homes to make the area a more enticing tourist location.
At a certain point, the two main characters’ searches had proven fruitful, but not completely fulfilling, then the movie just stopped. Roll credits.
I get a sense that the director was trying to convey a sense of the unrequited life of the people from Fengjie County. How these two emigrants from another place landed there and immediately became overcome with the oppression of inevitable homelessness and the hopelessness of the situation. And all for what?
And then there were random speculative events that had nothing to do with the story, but added to the film another heaping spoonful of something to think about!
I enjoyed the film thoroughly. The acting was superb. The locations and landscaping were haunting and honest.
I streamed this during the pandemic, when Laemmle's had streaming options, 4/25/2021.
What I noticed about this year's new HolRom movies: Ion channel featured a few crime-themed movies this year. There are more movies are featuring characters that are in their 30s on up. I like that. Representin' the 30+ crowd!
These are the Good to Fave movies I discovered this year:
A Christmas Witness (2021) 🎄 🎄 🎄
A man with connections to the mafia gets placed in the witness protection program until he’s scheduled to testify at a trial the day after Christmas. A single, childless with a strained family dynamic (free for the holidays!) deputy US Marshal is assigned to protect him. The man turns out to be uncharacteristically Christmassy and the usually very focused deputy marshal starts to melt. This movie gets points for a storyline that strays away from the regular tropes. I haven’t seen a mafia-themed HolRom before this one. I knew it! I recognized this actress from somewhere and YES! She played one of Dwayne Johnson’s character’s love interests on Ballers.
Production: Authentic. Filmed in Chicago.
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers · Workplace Based Romance · Scars of the Past • Criminal-Law Enforcer
Diversity: One supporting POC
Production Co: Thriller Films • Chicago Media Angels
How'd you watch it: Ion Holiday Romance Marathon
A Castle for Christmas (2021) 🎄 🎄 🎄
The premise is similar to a book by one of my favorite authors (Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips). An American bestselling author has a fall-from-grace moment and decides to lick her wounds and find inspiration in the countryside of Scotland. When visiting a castle that her father told her about, she runs into a curmudgeonly aristocrat who is trying not to sell his ancestral estate, but failing. The author offers to buy, then ensues the push-an-pull of falling for each other while deciding the fate of the estate. This movie features Brook Shields and the guy from Princess Bride, Cary Elwes, and is another rom flick featuring mid-to-older adult characters. Albeit to long (The snow-playing scene should have been cut shorter and the post-fight-to-make-up events should have been tighter), this movie was still entertaining and fun.
Production: Ample budget. Filmed on location in Scotland at Tantallon Castle.
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers • Royalty/Nobility • Save the Business • Family History
Here it is! Better late than never! Another holiday season has come and gone and I managed to watch a few movies of the Holiday Romance (HolRom) variety. There's a mix of sincere, cheesy, and down-right awful in these three posts. This year, I'm using the 1-4 trees as my rating scale.
🎄🎄🎄🎄 Fave.
🎄🎄🎄 Good.
🎄🎄 Alright.
🎄👎Not good.
Let's start off with the alright and not good movies.
The Nine Lives of Christmas (2014) 🎄👎
A firefighter adopts a stray cat and of course, keeps on running into an overwhelmed veterinary student. Too predictable and uninteresting story. Actors didn’t own their roles. Bad music. Stopped 30 minutes in.
How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from the library.
New Lease on Christmas (2021) 🎄 🎄
A real estate agent who is having a tough time finding work gets a commission to sell the building where her favorite coffee shop is located and the shop is owned by the guy she has a crush on.
This movie is alright. I stopped paying full attention about halfway through and finished it only because I multitasked while it played. At a certain point the main character, played by Claire Coffee who also played Adalind on Grimm, breaks the fourth wall and I don’t know why that was necessary.
How'd you watch it: Ion Holiday Romance Marathon
Miss Christmas (2017) 🎄 🎄
Christmas event planner has to convince a semi-Grinch to donate a beloved family tree to be a city’s Christmas plaza centerpiece. Of course, her job is on the line to get this event planned, but there is a lot family rooted into that tree. Can she convince him? Will the branch be extended?!
Production: Ample budget. Authentic.
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers · Workplace Based Romance · Scars of the Past
Diversity: One supporting POC
Production Co: Hallmark Channel · Crown Media Productions
How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from the library.
A music-themed podcast host’s show is on the line due to low followers. Cut to a mechanic helping a young woman with her car, getting her number, then losing his phone. Cut to the podcast host having to guest host the love connections podcast when the mechanic calls in looking for his lost customer. Then the podcaster starts a relationship with her co-worker. Then the production company pressures the podcaster to take missed-connection-mechanic story to the next level. Then the mechanic and podcaster start to fall for each other. Then they find the missed-connections customer. You might be able to guess the end, but it doesn’t matter. I didn’t like this one bit. Story was all over the place. Dialogue stunk.
Boss: How do you expect people to continue to listen to Music Thread if you keep talking about obscure instruments and the details in the liner notes. People don’t need to think about music. They need to feel it. Podcaster: I like to think about music. I know everything there is to know about music. Boss: And I know everything there is to know about Microsoft Excel, but that doesn’t mean it makes a good podcast. You can’t be afraid to let your guard down. Maybe that’s why you won’t consider my suggestion. You’ve been here three years. That’s three years of Nacho Ordinary Thursday and not once have you brought a date.
Podcaster: How am I going to find the love of my life on a blind date? Boss: It could spark something! Podcaster: Sparks burn houses down, Greta.
Two stars. I watched, but, nah. **
Production: low-budget cheesy movie with an almost homemade banner as the lobby sign for the podcast company.
Suspension of belief: High
Tropes/sub-genres: Belated Love Epiphany, Woman experiencing career pressure
Diversity: Colorful.
Production Co: Film Rise
How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from my local library
The writers let this trope play out like normal, but it would have been a breath of fresh air if Caroline would have turned to Cook and explained the misunderstanding before she took Nathaniel aside to explain to him her feelings. This actually goes back to the beginning: Caroline should have just explained how she felt abandoned and wasn't interested in him anymore instead of avoiding and putting off Nathaniel. But yeah... I know that feeling of wanting to avoid hard conversations, so that's relatable.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable film. I like actress Cindy Busby (Heartland, Christmas In Royal Fashion). I like travel stories. I like women discovering and pursuing their happiness.
As much as I get fed up with brooding male law enforcement/detective characters, I end up getting hooked on their shows. The latest of which, is The Sinner, regularly on USA Network, but I’ve watched seasons 1-3 on Netflix. Season 1 was fantastic. It opens with a woman, Cora, played by Jessica Biel, with her family in a crowded summer beach scene, when she experiences a mental break, then attacks and kills a man, seemingly unprovoked. The lead investigator is Ambrose, played by Bill Pullman. The rest of the season tells a twisted tale that explores what lead Cora to the point of violent attack. The value of a woman and the definition of womanhood is a looming theme throughout.
I like to think of good storytelling as onion peeling. Have you ever cut into an onion and found that other baby onions were inside that one? That’s what The Sinner is like. Each episode peels back the onion, but then you find a whole other story that needs to be peeled…. And there are multiples of those. At a certain point, season 1 started to go down a True Detective vector, but then it totally distinguished itself. The casting and acting are statue-winning caliber. Biel, Pullman and the actor who plays her husband, Christopher Abbot, are phenomenal. In season 2, Ambrose assists a friend’s daughter, who is a budding local police department detective, with the investigation of a child who murdered the two people who kidnapped him from the cult-commune where he lived with his mother. That was a hard sentence to write! See all the potential baby onions? Motherhood and what constitutes nurturing a child seems to be the overall theme in this season. One baby onion is Ambrose’s personal story: Can’t have a brooding detective without a troubled past or current life. Ambrose’s personal stories, in my opinion, parallel the stories of who he is investigating. In season 1, he has a S&M relationship with a prostitute and at the same time, his relationship with his wife is crumbling as she becomes fed up with his increasing emotional distance. In season 2, the majority of the investigation takes place in the town where he grew up and experienced a traumatic early life and the death of his mother.
Uncorked is the story of a guy who has been groomed all his life to take over his family’s BBQ restaurant, but instead he passionately pursues becoming a sommelier. The story arc nicely covers the father-son dynamic of this tough situation where tradition is being broken and someone’s dream must go unfulfilled. There is a sweet little relationship that blooms, too. I love movies that have a strong sense of place and you can tell the director really loves and really wanted to represent black Memphis. Courtney B. Vance and Niecy Nash play his parents and I was impressed with Mamoudou Athie who played the main character and Sasha Compere. This was directed by Prentice Penny whose name I've recently seen associated with producer and writer credits on Insecure and whose dapper person I've seen on those Insecure Wine Down bits. It seems like Uncorked is his first feature film and I'm high-fiving him from my living room. Well done, sir! I'm giving this four stars, because its a good movie all around, I want to watch it again and I am happy to recommend it to folks. Watched on Netflix (The Netflix poster showing the main character standing in the foreground and wine bottles and firewood in the background is pretty dope, y'all!)
I definitely watched holiday movies with a different mindset during this past holiday season. It was 2020. No explanation needed. So, let's jump right in.
Patterns I noticed this year
I ended up watching a lot of the same tropes: Ambitious career persons, return to home town and lovable father figure characters. Multiples times these tropes crossed paths in the same movie. Also, I'm going to try and fit everything into three posts:
The Good and the Okay
The Bad and the Unfinished
The Not-Romantic
The Good and the Okay
Feast of the Seven Fishes (2019) **** Feast of Seven Fishes is a holiday comedy with feel-good moments along the same lines of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and The Family Stone. The basic plot follows a few days in the life of a young man, Tony, and a young woman, Beth, who stumble upon a little romance and spend a couple of life-changing days together. I fell in love, just like Beth does, with the very hilarious, loving, and Italian Olviera family. The casting was perfect and featured some Sopranos alum, which gave the family scenes an authentic, rather than stereotypical feel. I am smitten with Skyler Gisondo who I saw previously in Booksmart!
Production Co: Allegheny Image Factory, Witty Michaels Entertainment
How'd you watch it: Hoopla
Holiday Heist (2019) **** A family-owned jewelry store is being cased by a guy who needs to make some quick money to pay back the local crime boss. He gets hired on by the patriarch and ends up genuinely caring for the family and falling for one of its members. Cute colorful Christmas romance with just the right amount of cheese, just right production, even the music was enjoyable. If this movie was given a bigger marketing budget and maybe featured one big name actor, this might have been successful in theaters.
Tropes/sub-genres: Enemies to lovers; You're boyfriend ain't right for you
Diversity: Pretty much everyone was a person of color.
Production Co: Mar Vista
How'd you watch it: Hoopla
Christmas a la Mode (2019) **** This was a nice refreshing story about a dairy farm/creamery on the verge of going under until the two sisters/owners have a fire lit under them with the threat (or hope) of a sale. An agent representing a dairy conglomerate that is putting an offer on the farm turns out to be handsome, charming and rooting for the farmer sister to succeed in keeping the farm. The lead actor’s American accent started to fail and I’m proud to say I guessed he was Australian.
Production: There were definitely on location at a working farm. I'm sad to say there was no smell-o-vision during the creamery scenes, dammit.
Tropes/sub-genres: Family rivalry; Enemies to lovers; Save the business
Diversity: Nope.
Production Co: H9 Films, Moody Independent
How'd you watch it: Hoopla
Last Christmas (2019) *** Last Christmas Stars Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as a flawed and wreckless young woman named Kate who keeps on messing up and messing with the lives of her close friends and family. She bumps into odd, but nice guy, Tom, played by Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) and keeps on bumping into him, until it becomes a thing. There's romance, a little speculative fiction, sage advice, self-discovery and a Christmas paegent rounding out this holiday movie. Yes! Wham!'s song, Last Christmas, is featured throughout the movie, and the whole soundtrack was chock-full of George Michael inspiration. Last Christmas was entertaining.
Production: This came out of a major studio, and you can tell no expense was spared although the home scenes looked comfy and authentic.
Suspension of belief: Medium – unlikely premise
Tropes/Sub-Genres: Odd Couple; Supernatural Romantic Comedy; Flawed character reaches rock bottom; Self-actualization/realization
Diversity: Yes!
Production Co: Universal Pictures
How'd you watch it: Checked out the DVD from the library
Picture a Perfect Christmas (2019) *** Stars Hallmark regular, Merritt Patterson (Christmas at the Palace, A Royal Winter), as an ambitious photographer who returns to her home town for some needed time with her grandmother. She meets nana's neighbor, played by Jon Cor, and his nephew and you guessed it... sparks start to fly. Will the photographer be able to have a career and insta-family in the end? I was able to finish this pleasant film, but it didn't stand out in any way.
Production: It was Hallmark production that didn't require lavish sets or costumes, so it looked good.
Suspension of belief: Low, probably because it was so predictable
Tropes/Sub-Genres: Ambitious career person vs love; Return to home town; Father figure character standing in for a kid's real parent(s); Woman falls for loving father figure and child aka insta-family
Diversity: One supporting character of color
Production Co: Front Street Pictures, Hallmark Channel
How'd you watch it: Checked out the DVD from the library
Rent an Elf (2018) *** A Christmas-loving entrepreneur who runs a holiday event planning business is hired by a single dad to help create a special Christmas for his son who is going through a post-divorce rough patch. Want to see the whole movie? Watch the one minute and 48 seconds trailer: Same as a couple of the other three star *** films on this list, there was really nothing that hooked my heartstrings in this movie, but it wasn't bad. The cast did feature Sean Patrick Thomas from Save the Last Dance. Playing his mother was Debbi Morgan, a major soap star who is also well-known for Eve's Bayou.
Production: Visually this movie looked like a well-budgeted-basic Hallmark or Mar Vista, so it looked good.
Suspension of belief: Low, probably because it was so predictable
Tropes/Sub-Genres: Woman falls for loving father figure and child aka insta-family; Wreckless ex schemes to get ex back
Diversity: About half of the main characters are of color
Production Co: The Asylum
How'd you watch it: Amazon, but it was also on Ion Channel's Sunday marathons.
The Rooftop Christmas Tree (2016) *** Michelle Morgan (Heartland) plays a lawyer who returns to her hometown in hopes of scaling back her life from the big city, but instead, the first case she takes on is her neighbor vs the town. Tim Reid (WKRP In Cincinnati), the lawyer's hermit neighbor, is being cited for his mysterious practice of putting a Christmas tree on his roof. Will the lawyer be able to win her neighbor's case? Will the mystery of the rooftop tree be solved? For some reason, Michelle Morgan does a lot of over the shoulder talking (You know when you start talking about someone with your back to the door, then that person walks in and hears you talking about them?) as Lou on Heartland and surprisingly also in this movie, too. The biggest issue I had withThe Rooftop Christmas Tree is how quickly everything happened. I don't think this movie depicted a full week of life in this town, but the romantic leads were about ready to move in and get a Christmas tree together by the end. The story had surprising and heartfelt subplots and that was pleasing.
Production: It had an authentic small town feel to it.
Suspension of belief: High. Everything happened way too fast. Even the court and legal procedures went into warp speed. And, the main character's parents looked to be about her same age.
Tropes/sub-genres: Return to hometown; Enemies to lovers; Mysterious neighbor aka Boo Radley
Diversity: A bit. One central character and one subsequent character.
Production Co: Johnson Production Group
How'd you watch it: Amazon
A Majestic Christmas (2018) *** Another ambitious woman, an architect, is assigned a project to revamp her hometown's nostalgia-filled theater. The theater's new owner and her new client, comes off like your average gentrifying developer, but it turns out he has a heart. Sparks are flying! A Majestic Christmas features a colorful cast with interesting characters. Even with all those positives, the sparks didn't fly for me. There was something missing that I can't put my finger on. Maybe I'll like it better next year. Starring Jerrika Hinton (Grey's Anatomy, A Christmas Kiss). Christian Vincent, the actor who plays the developer, plays it really cheesy.
Production: Hallmark makes it rain on a set.
Suspension of belief: Medium
Tropes/sub-genres: Return to home town; Ambitious character struggling with career or following their heart; Gentrification
Tropes/sub-genres: Ambitious career person vs love; Investigator falls for subject of investigation
Diversity: The main characters are people of color and there are colorful people generously sprinkled throughout.
Production Co: Lifetime, Neshama Entertainment
How'd you watch it: Hoopla
Sweet Mountain Christmas (2019) *** A country-music star who has lost her way finds herself snowed in by a freak storm which stretches out for days what was meant to be a quick trip to visit her family. During her stay, she revisits the past, finds inspiration in her hometown, and maybe even love.
Production: Lifetime funds good productions, so overall it looked good, but I thought the sets and locations were a little too nice for a small one-road-in-and-out town.
Tropes/sub-genres: Return to hometown; Self-actualization/realization; Ambitious character struggling with career or following their heart; Gentrification;High school sweethearts/old flames reunite
Diversity: A drop or two.
Production Co: Lifetime, Lighthouse Pictures, Brightlight Pictures
How'd you watch it: Hoopla
Christmas In Mississippi (2017) *** An ambitious photographer (Another one?) returns to her hometown for the holidays in good ol' Mississippi. She ends up reluctantly rekindling the cut-too-soon relationship with her high school sweetheart, who is the project manager for the town's holiday light show and the caregiver of his nephew. Everything ties up neatly in the end, which I have criticized in some movies, but in Christmas in Mississippi it works because the love story starts long before the movie starts, which makes the expedited falling in love make sense. Also the plotline doesn't stray too far from the core story and they both share the same passions: Love of their home town and respective familes. Added bonus is that holiday romances don't often get a chance to feature a real place and tackle real issues, such as the Gulfport's post-Katrina recovery.
Production: Sets and styling were Gulfport authentic
Suspension of belief: Medium
Tropes/sub-genres: Father figure character standing in for a kid's real parent(s); Return to home town; Ambitious career person vs love; High school sweethearts reunite
Diversity: Color in the supporting cast
Paranormal: Is that Kris Kringle?
Clownish character: No
Production Co: Lifetime; Active Entertainment
How'd you watch it: Amazon
Christmas at the Plaza (2019) *** Christmas at the Plaza started off pretty exciting for me: A historian is hired to curate a historical installation about Christmas throughout the years at The Plaza Hotel. She is is teamed up with the very cute and personable professional Christmas decorator. Unfortunately, the writing forewent usage of any interesting plots/subplots. They missed the most the obvious, which was to have the historian show why studying history is important since one of her issues was that her profession is so under appreciated. Instead, they took the easy trope-route to the end.
Production: Location was set at The Plaza, so beautifully authentic.
Suspension of belief: Medium
Tropes/sub-genres: Modified enemies-to-lovers; You're boyfriend ain't right for you
Diversity: Just a sprinkling in the supporting cast
Production Co: Hallmark
How'd you watch it: DVD checked out from the library
A Christmas In Royal Fashion (2018) *** Rewatching this I noticed something: the audience is supposed to hate the evil boss, but if one of your employees impersonates you, wears your clothes and risks an important account, you’d fire them too.
Christmas Sitters (2020) *** An ambitious career woman (Ha!) is asked to babysit her old friends's kids while she is stuck in Europe. The career woman is doing an awkward job until the friend's brother-in-law makes a surprise appearance. He is the fun to her serious, but they both prove that they are skilled and flawed in their babysitting tasks.
Tropes/sub-genres: Opposites attract; Ambitious career woman; Rolling stone man; Family stuck somewhere due to unforeseen circumstances (Home-Alone-alike)
Diversity: Main characters are colorful
How'd you watch it: Ion Channel's holiday movie marathon
Christmas Together (2020) *** To get away and to figure out her life, an artist take a trip to a town called Tinsel, where she rents a house from a widowed father and his daughter. Vivica Fox shows up as the Christmasy-Cupid of a neighbor. Simple, but cute.
Tropes/sub-genres: You're boyfriend ain't right for you; Woman falls for loving father (figure) and child aka insta-family
Diversity: Main characters are colorful
How'd you watch it: Ion Channel's holiday movie marathon
Beaus of Holly (2020) *** I was expecting something different here, but I guess two men interested in one woman is enough for a 90-minute film. A control-freak plans the perfect romantic holiday getaway for her and her boyfriend, including a proposal. Instead of saying “yes,”he breaks up with her and leaves. She decides to stay and try to enjoy her plans, which didn't include falling for the concierge or having to figure out what she wants when the ex shows back up.
Tropes/sub-genres: You're boyfriend ain't right for you; Love triangle; Opposites attract; Control freak learns to relax
Diversity: Some of the main characters and supporting characters are colorful
How'd you watch it: Ion Channel's holiday movie marathon
Operation Christmas Drop (2020) *** A senator's aide is sent to a military base in the South Pacific to assess it for possible closure. Her escort turns out to be a philanthropic officer who cares about the indigenous people and his fellow soldiers. Cute story that exhibits the Christmas spirit on a tropical island, but no real chemistry builds between the main characters.
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).
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****
