Ed's Review Dot Com

Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday December 8, 2015

• AntMan [Click Here for Ed’s Review]
• Knock Knock
• Minions [Click Here for Ed’s Review]
• The Square
• Transporter Refueled
• Walt Before Mickey

Hallmark Channel,

Paul Campbell, Briana Evigan, Greg Evigan, Casey Manderson, Jacqueline Samuda,

Click here for the Hallmark page for this film:

A princess (Briana Evigan) is in New York on a visit to perform her princess duties but has to be back home for their annual Christmas festival to preside over the celebration. But her real wish is to see the art museum. They tell her she has no time for that, so she takes the opportunity of sneaking off to try to see it on her own, but when she is robbed of her purse and cell phone, she is met by a handsome single guy (Paul Campbell) who has no idea who she really is, but sees her as a damsel in distress. With the help of his friends and a friendly magic shop owner, the make her wishes to be a regular person come true before she has to go back to her royal duties. But will the secrets she decides not to tell him stop their budding romance before it begins?

This is a 2015 Hallmark Christmas movie and is a romantic comedy (what else) featuring some pretty decent folks. It’s definitely not earth shaking or anything, but it’s a simple film to pass the time waiting for the holidays to get here. Greg Evigan plays George, a friend of the royal family, and he is one of the highlights of the film as his character has known Katie since she was a little girl and understands her wishes. Certainly not a great film, and very much like lots of others in the genre, but it was entertaining and with some fresh new faces, it was nice enough to keep me interested. If you are a sucker for romantic Christmas stories, then you’ll probably like this one. Otherwise, it is a bit sappy.

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Chesler/Perlmutter Productions,

Jessica Lowndes, Christopher Russell, Jennifer Gibson, Farrah Aviva, Anthony Ulc

Click here for the home page for Hallmark’s Merry Matrimony.

Seven years ago Brie (Jessica Lowndes) was madly in love with Eddie Chapman (Christopher Russell). But Eddie took off for an opportunity to study in Paris, and they have lost touch. Brie’s heart was broken, but she set her sights on moving forward in her career as a writer for a bridal magazine. She is given the chance to do a spread showing the perfect Christmas wedding and she’s excited to finally get a chance to show her skills. But when she shows up to the shoot, she finds the professional photographer assigned to her is Eddie Chapman. Determined to keep the relationship strictly business, one disaster after another looks to make her shoot a disaster, while Eddie just wants to know why she never contacted him again.

This is run of the mill Christmas story that left me pretty flat. The leads weren’t that impressive. Jessica did her best with what she was given, but she comes off as a bit of a whiny b**tch. Christopher on the other hand seems to be taking every opportunity to push his fake chin to the forefront. It appear he got the chin from Max Headroom, but it is off putting. Meanwhile the whole fake wedding photography bit didn’t resonate either. I truly think this is the least interesting of all the Hallmark Christmas films this year, and I’m sure most guys would agree. The young ladies, however, might find it enthralling. There are the group that loves to read the fashion magazines, and this may be their cup of tea, but it just didn’t seem to work for me. I’d say skip this one and look for one of the other ones that are a lot more interesting.

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Marvista Entertainment, Odyssey Media,

Kristy Swanson, Chris Potter, Carolyn Adair, Lizzie Boys, Colin Lawrence, Catherine Lough Haggquist, Amy Tucker, Nick Purcha, Alexandra Siouras, Kolton Stewart

Charles Montgomery (Chris Potter) is a hardworking husband who built a really fancy mountain cabin for his wife Judith (Kristy Swanson) and his children to spend the holidays. But things are not really going well for the Montgomerys. Judith really just wants a husband who is home and with the family, and he’s a workaholic of the nth degree. They constantly bicker and fight, and the children are not any better. Dad takes away all the cell phones from the rest of the family, but keeps his because he has important work to do. It looks like they’re not going to make it through the week, when in the middle of the night a loud knock on the door occurs. The Tuckers who are one their way to a nearby ski resort have crashed their car and need a place to stay out of the “storm or the century”. The Tuckers know how to love each other and how to spend the holidays as a real family, and their brief visit during the storm guides the Montgomerys to the hope of putting their broken family back together.

This heartwarming and borderline sappy holiday religious story is a perfect fit for UP TV. This is mostly about a troubled marriage where neither wants to end it, but neither one of them know how to fix it. The example of this God sent family helps them through it. But their own children, especially the youngest daughter who still holds out hope that her family can get along. This story does have a bit of a twist in the ending, that is highly expected, and it is a bit sappy. But it’s not extremely preachy. At least not in my experience. With everyone cooped up during the massive storm. We can learn to appreciate the important things as the family learns their lessons. All in all this is a very well cast and strikingly real story that benefits from good writing and a good cast. This is the kind of uplifting story that I’ve missed on TV. I was very touched by this story and I can highly recommend this one.

Here is the home page for this UP TV Holiday movie.

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The Jim Henson Company, Lifetime,

Mary Steenburgen, Jay Harrington, Genevieve Buechner, Graham Verchere, Reese Alexander, Ludacris

Ron Emmerson (Jay Harrington) and his two children (Genevieve Buechner, Graham Verchere) are off to visit Aunt Cly (Mary Steenburgen) in her home near the forest in Turkey Hollow. Much to the kid’s chagrin, there is no technology there, so their tablets and cell phones are basically useless, the children try to make the best of their visit. But when they hear the legend of the Howling Hoodoo, and how their Uncle believed in this monster, the kids decide to try to find it and prove their Uncle was correct. Unfortunately the children discover more than they bargained for.

This holiday story from Disney who now owns Jim Henson is full of odd looking characters like all Jim Henson stories. It is really a kids show, but it’s one that the whole family can enjoy together. There is action and suspense, a great villain, and some wicked but bumbling henchmen. It’s a great holiday story full of fun with action and suspense. But as in all great stories, especially holiday stories, good and truth triumph after all. This is a new movie for 2015 that is quite out of the ordinary. More of a fairy tale with magic and mystery, this is a lot like some of the great classic stories from bygone days. This is one you can watch with the kids, and so keep an eye out for it on Lifetime who brought it to us. Who would have thought that Jim Henson could bring us such a magical adventure this many years after he was gone. Disney has done a good job of keeping his vision alive. This is one of the must see films of the season.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog