So, this holiday season (which for me ran from the day after Thanksgiving through January 6th), I watched "a few" movies with a Christmas theme. I didn't plan to watch 23 different movies, but I guess it's no surprise that I did. I watched all of these, except for one, for the first time. Most of them were produced by Hallmark, but there were a few that were not. Here's the complete list:
Produced by Hallmark
"A Godwink Christmas"
"A Royal Christmas"
"A Timeless Christmas"
"A Veteran's Christmas"
"Christmas in Tahoe"
"Christmas Under Wraps"
"Christmas Waltz"
"Gingerbread Miracle"
"Let It Snow"
"Next Stop, Christmas"
"Northern Lights of Christmas"
"Sugar Plum Twist"
"The Christmas Contest"
The Christmas Note"
"The Christmas Promise"
"The Christmas Secret"
"The Christmas Train"
"The Nine Kittens of Christmas" (Read my review here.)
"The Nine Lives of Christmas" (Read my review here.)
"Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas"
"Gremlins"
"Little Women" (1994)
"Little Women" (2019)
"Little Women" (1994)
"Little Women" (2019)
My favorite of them all was the 2019 Greta Gerwig's "Little Women". My review is coming soon! The reason why I say I watched 23 DIFFERENT movies is because although I watched a total of 24 movies, I watched two versions of "Little Women".
What was I thinking when I watched "Gremlins" years ago and loved it?? I can't see myself watching it again. It was my least favorite this holiday season.
Candace Cameron Bure is supposedly the queen of Hallmark Christmas movies. I had never seen any of her movies until this past holiday season (though I've seen her in her t.v. show, "Full House"). Her Christmas movies I watched this holiday season were "A Christmas Contest", "Christmas Under Wraps", and "Let It Snow". "A Christmas Contest" is her most recent Christmas movie, which premiered this past holiday season. I did not have high hopes for it when I saw the previews, but I gave it a chance anyway. It turned out to be my least favorite Hallmark movies of all the ones I watched this holiday season. The other two were better, but still did not impress me as much as I had hoped they would. "Christmas Under Wraps" and "Let It Snow" aren't bad movies. They're just your typical Hallmark, very predictable, romance with no real surprises.
Lacey Chabert (who, bless her heart, sadly lost her sister just before Lacey's latest Christmas movie premiered in December) is another very popular and well-loved Hallmark star. I favor her acting over Candace Cameron Bure's. I first saw Lacey in "Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe" (read my brief review here) last year. This year, the movies she starred in that I watched were "A Royal Christmas", "Christmas Waltz" and "Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas". They were all pretty good, but my favorite of these was the latter. "Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas" was a bit of a mystery, which is what I enjoyed most about it.
One actress I discovered this holiday season and really like is Kimberley Sustad. She starred in "A Godwink Christmas", "The Nine Kittens of Christmas", and "The Nine Lives of Christmas". We all know I love the cat movies because they had cats in them, but Kimberley Sustad is also why I liked them so much. "A Godwink Christmas" was the first in a series of Godwink movies, which came out in 2018. It's really just another Hallmark movie with the same basic plot, but the acting was phenomenal by both leads. That's why I liked it so much.
"Sugar Plum Twist" and "The Christmas Train" were two more standouts from this list. I didn't have high expectations for "Sugar Plum Twist", but it surprised me. It has a sweet plot that didn't just focus on romance and the acting was believable. "The Christmas Train" is based on a book that I have not yet read, but Hallmark did a great job with this movie. The acting was great all around (Morgan Freeman in a Hallmark movie?!) and their was an unexpected plot twist at the end. I like when a movie is engaging throughout and then surprises me at the end. "The Christmas Train" did all of that for me.
I am going to continue watching Hallmark movies because I just love them so much. I'll list my reasons in a future blog post. I am especially looking forward to watching their mystery movies, starting with Crossword Mysteries starring Lacey Chabert! I thought this was a good series of movies to start with because January happens to be National Puzzle Month!
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