Thursday, December 7, 2017
#1445 ........................."Enchanted Christmas"
Movie #1445 "Enchanted Christmas" was a disappointment for me. I noticed it was centered around dancing, but by the time they got to that (at the end) , it was anticlimactic. The leads were overacting, the little girl was just okay, and all the scenes seemed to blend together. Didn't hold my interest. A mild 3 out of 5.
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Movie #1444 ........................."Angel of Christmas"
Movie #1444 "Angel of Christmas" -- had two stories going on --- present day couple and past. The way the past couple was woven in occurs when the present day girl journalist (who, wonder of wonders is nonplussed by Christmas) is looking for an interesting xmas story , and she decides to focus on her family heirloom, an angel that is always put on the tree. On her journey through the past and her great grandmother's love for a man named Owen who built her a house, she meets cute, free-thinking artist --- they are a cute couple and they have chemistry and lots of zingers back and forth (which I liked) , and of course the conflict is the deadline of the story and how important work is to the two of them, and the fact that he is an artist and she doesn't trust what she is feeling (she was dumped at Christmas time a few years earlier, so that makes her leery, too). The story keeps moving due to the two layered stories and the quick repartee between the cute couple. The ending is not as corny as many of them, and it mixes in a little bit of a surprise to make it better than others, too! I give this a 3.8 out of 5.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Movie #1443 ........................."Farewell Mr. Kringle
Movie #1443 "Farewell Mr. Kringle" -- this film mostly dealt with Grief and was a bit far fetched and corny, but I did like Christine (Ben Stiller's wife) Taylor in the lead role --- very competent and interesting to watch. But the film was pretty boring. It's kind of a rip-off of "Miracle on 34th Street" in that the journalist is trying to prove the guy who says he is Kris Kringle is a delusional old man. The rest of the townies aren't interesting enough to sustain interest, and the love interest is stuck in one note, as well. I would give this no more than a 3 and say it isn't a must to watch at all. There are a lot more films better. So this is a don't -waste- your -time- kind of movie.
Movie #1442 ........................."Miss Christmas"
Movie #1442 "Miss Christmas" was the Hallmark film tonight that i watched, and it was a bit thin on plot. But the two main lover-actors had some chemistry, so that kept it going for me. The whole story line is some Christmas lady who is in charge of the Christmas tree lighting in Chicago and who has to get the best tree --- and she knows her stuff because she grew up on a tree farm, and she's called "Miss Christmas" --- when a little boy offers his grandma's tree, his dad refuses -- his mom had died the year before, and he can't bear to give it up. He meanwhile falls in love with Miss Christmas, so that adds to his inner conflict. It becomes outer conflict because Miss C. has to have that tree asap and he's been putting her off. But that's it for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The rest of the film is built around a minor discussion he overhears and of course misinterprets, a short breakup (maybe one commercial) and then an ending not well explained how it came off --- but anyway, it was cute, just thin in plot. I'd give it a 3 out of 5.
Movie #1441 ........................."The Christmas Train"
Movie #1441 "The Christmas Train" was another Hallmark film the channel has been touting this season, so I finally got a chance to see it last night. There was a lot I liked......the characters were winsome (esp. Kim who was the bride to Steve Martin's Father of the Bride) and Dermot Mulroney and Danny Glover are always charming. I enjoyed that they were on the train, but the weather-related conflict was kind of dumb, and so was the problem solving of it. But I DID like the surprise ending and how all the details tied in. Pacing was a tad slow, and just like Murder on the orient express, you have this big train, but only follow a few people so the audience (at least I did) wondered what all the other people were doing because we never were in any other cars. Anyway, this one is watchable and a nice ride (excuse the pun), and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Movie #1440 ........................."Lady Bird"
Movie #1440 "Lady Bird" is NOT about Lady Bird Johnson, which is what I originally thought. Far from it. It is a very well done film on the subject of mothers and daughters and getting through that senior year of high school and all its complexities. One major one Christine (aka Lady Bird) wrangles with is what she is doing next year --- after graduation. Another is first love. But the main one is the effort to get more freedom --- to think, to dress, to speak, to be! The film has great acting, good balance between the two characters --- so good, that so often I would commend the thought process of one side and then the other....the film has a great script, great acting, and it's got a very universal theme. This is a must see --- one of the best this year ---- and it still has 100% on rottentomatoes, the last I checked. I give it a 5 out of 5.
"LADY BIRD" 2017 rated R
"LADY BIRD" 2017 rated R
In her senior year of high school in Sacramento, teenage Lady Bird is set on making her way east to attend college in New York City. With help from her adopted brother, Miguel, she begins putting together a plan for her great escape.
Movie #1439 ........................"Switched for Christmas"
Movie #1439 "Switched for Christmas" was one of the bigger new films featured on the Hallmark channel for this Christmas season, probably because Candace Cameron ("Full House") was starring it in, not once but twice (playing twins). It was interesting to me because I always like to see how well the editing is done to enable one person to play two. She is just an okay actress; that is, I couldn't tell the difference most of the time --- she didn't talk any differently, or wear her hair any differently, or even dress that much differently, so the audience had to guess at clues -- like use the people in the scene. But because they switch places, that got a little more difficult. But I got through it, and the film was okay. Two pat of an ending, but aren't they all --- I'd give this one 3.8 out of 5.
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