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.
Christmas, Again (2014) *** I was certain before I hit play that I had watched this movie sometime in the past couple of years, but it isn't on any of my past holiday movie lists. A sad and lonely Christmas tree salesman is back another year at the same NYC tree lot, but this time with some emotional pain in tow. What I really like about this movie is how it presented the story arc of his heartbreak, the use of silence, expressions, and gestures to get emotion across. That's the result of good a acting-directing combo. By the way, this film is a rare positive result of the same writer and director. I have to also give props for the good use of Arabian Dance from The Nutcracker.It sets the perfect tone for this story.
Production: It was a low-budget indie as opposed to a low-budget cheesy movie.
Suspension of belief: Low
Tropes/sub-genres: Character living through sadness from a pre-movie incident
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.
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 **
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.
