Ed's Review Dot Com

UPTV,

April Bowlby, Jes Macallan, Lee Garlington, Adam Senn, Coby Ryan McLaughlin, James Eckhouse, Ryan Caltagirone, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Matt Clouston, Lauren Pritchard, Emma Fassler, Amanda Russell, Lindsey Apple, Stanislav Grabarev, Suzanne Sumner Ferry

Carrie Tate (Jes MaCallan) is dedicated to her work in the family business. Her sister has no interest in the business as she is a chef and not interested and Dad is getting tired of running the business. Carrie is perfect to step into his role, and when her sister announces a Christmas Eve wedding, everything looks great. But Mom and Dad hold a family meeting to let the girls in on a secret. Her Grandmother was the owner of the business, and she left it in her will so that their father could manage it until one of the girls gets married, but the ownership would pass immediately to the first one who gets hitched. He future brother-in-law is now interested in owning the business, so in order for Carrie to keep it she must get married before Christmas Eve any way she can, by hook or by crook.

This premier UP channel holiday movie for 2016 is now making its appearances on the channel. I was not overly impressed with this film. I felt like the story is a bit too contrived and the writing is relatively weak. There are so many easier ways to resolve this problem, and the grandmother’s will is a bit hokey. Furthermore, Jes plays one of the most annoying spoiled rich girls ever and it’s just plain annoying. I didn’t feel any sympathy for he situation and it seemed like I wanted her to fail just to teach her a lesson. Very little actual comedy here, and the romance was non-existent. All in all it was just too “run of the mill” for my taste, and it wasn’t one I’d like to watch over again. UP has a bunch more premiers this year, and in the past they’ve done a pretty good job, so I have more hope for some of the upcoming ones, but feel free to miss this one as it’s just not worth it.
I don’t have a preview of this film, but there are a number of looks on the web page from UP for this film.

DBM Films,

Francine Locke, Ken Arnold, Taylor Lyons, Stefannie Smith, Warren Watson, Allen Williamson, Karen O’Bryon, Angie Moore

Lizzy Evans (Taylor Lyons) is a rebellious teen. Her parents are very busy, working all the time, and she has gotten into some trouble. They decided to send her to her Grandmother’s (Mary Evans) farm for the holidays. While there, she meets her new pony and builds a relationship with the horse, but the problems grow as Liz has to learn to think of someone besides herself.

This is a very touching coming of age story about a selfish brat of a child who needs a kick in the seat to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around her. The troubles and tribulations are very realistically portrayed, and it’s painful to watch Liz and her Grandmother go through this. But it’s worth it in the end. The cast is not well known to me, so it feels really real and the performances are excellent. There is a lot to learn here, and this is a great film for young people, as they especially may relate to the lessons here. I feel this is a very worthwhile story, and it pained me to watch the troubles, but humans are really able to adapt and adjust to the situation and do heroic things. I highly recommend this holiday film. I streamed it on NetFlix.

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Johnson Production Group,

Jaime King, Luke Macfarlane, Lochlyn Munro, Sarah Smyth, Christie Laing, Ashley Ross

Elise Donner (Jaime King) is the owner of a travel agency that she built herself from the ground up. Trouble is that her ex-husband Dan (Lochlyn Munroe) is half owner of the company and torturing Elise with his hot new girlfriend Drew (Ashley Ross). She dreads Christmas and is really fighting this all alone. Nicholas Derr (Luke Macfarlane) is a never married divorce lawyer who really dislikes Christmas for a number of reasons. His problem is that he’s up for partner in the firm whose owner is a very family oriented guy. To impress him, he’s bragged about being in a relationship that doesn’t exist. Since he’s been invited to New York for the owner’s Christmas tree decorating party, he’s desperate to find a date. Since he and Elise see each other frequently in the Mall Food Court, both of them being tortured by the over excited Christmas Carolers, decide to make an agreement to help each other through the holidays without any strings attached.

This is a 2016 premier Hallmark Christmas film which is making the rounds this season. It’s nice to see Jaime King again. It’s been a while, and I have always been a fan of her work. I’ve seen her in some really good suspense and horror films along with a lot of other roles. This is not my favorite film of the new ones so far, but it’s not too bad. After all, it is a Hallmark Christmas movie after all. You can’t expect it to be too deep, now can you? The scenery of New York at Christmas is splendid, and the holiday theme is really good. The chemistry may be a little bit off between Elise and Nick, but there is a good deal of humor and it’s a pretty good story. This film is well worth watching. Thank goodness for these holiday films. Special kudos to Lochlyn Munroe who plays Dan, Elise’s ex-husband. He’s a master at playing the a**hole boyfriend/spouse/ex and he’s really a classic jerk in this one. He and Drew along with the co-worker Zoey (Erin Boyes) provide tons of comic material and give great performances.

Here is the web page from Hallmark Channel for this film.

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Sodona Entertainment Inc,

Lacey Chabert, Paul Greene, Andrea Brooks, Colleen Wheeler, Kendall Cross

Sara (Lacey Chabert) is an up and coming web designer for an advertising agency whose boss has been stealing her designs and claiming they are his own. She hates confrontation and lets him get away with it, but now it’s too much. At the company Christmas party, when he takes her latest idea, she can’t take it and leaves the party and plans to quit. But on the way out she bumps into Santa who gives her a special card with a gift, a free wish, which will last for 48 hours. Her wish is to be able to speak what is on her mind, and she returns to the party to call out the sleazeball who stole her idea. Before she knows it, she and her boss are on the way to a ski resort to meet the biggest client in company history, and she has to present the idea to the executive even though he’s a real jerk to her.

This is a new Hallmark Christmas Movie and is on their 2016 schedule of new films. Lacey Chabert is really good at these kind of movies. She has a Sandra Bullock kind of girl next door aura around her, and plays this role to a T. There are additional sub plots going on too. Among them, her boss really hates Christmas and is a real Scrooge. Meanwhile he is estranged from his family and a chance meeting with them brings out the “fixer” mode of Sara, and of course there’s a cute romance. This is a typical Hallmark holiday film, but a pretty good one, and a nice movie to wrap your presents by. See it all season on the Hallmark Channel.

Here is the Hallmark Channel webpage for this movie.

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Hemisphere Entertainment, Higher Purpose Entertainment, Power in Faith, Vertical Entertainment,

Joe Pacheco, Catherine Lidstone, Israel Matos, Olivia Rose Keegan, Kareem McGuire, Myron Emery Jr., Elijah Rock

Noah Davis (Joe Pacheco) is a minister who is grieving the death of his wife. He is raising two daughters by himself. When he receives a message from a good friend of his who has dedicated his life to a mission in the inner city on Salvation Street, he decides to uproot his daughters and move to the city to try to help people. When one of the elderly ladies takes ill, he tries to comfort her, but she is longing for him to find her older grandson who has left home is out in the streets. Noah sets his sights on bringing this boy home to where his younger brother who really looks up to him and really needs him. But life in the city is hard and it’s really dangerous messing with those criminal elements. Is it worth it to risk his daughter’s safety to do God’s work?

This Christian movie is not really Christmas, but it’s suitable for a holiday story. This is a Christian film though, and though it’s not really in your face, still it’s very unlikely that these things could work like this in real life. It lacks the edgy street feel and is about as “gangish” as West Side Story is. It’s got a great message and strong values, especially the need to respect and of home and family. But it gives me the feeling of someone who lives in a safe well off suburban tract trying to write what they would imagine the “streets” feels like. You might want to seek this out if you live in a Christian home and want to view a heartwarming story of life in the ghetto, but for the most part, I would expect most people would think this feels like an after-school drama and is going to hate it, so be warned. It’s got a lot of sweetener.

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