Ed's Review Dot Com

Front Street Pictures,

Dermot Mulroney, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Danny Glover, Holly Elissa, Joan Cusack, Kirsten Prout, Anthony Konechny

Reporter Tom Langon (Dermot Mulroney) has become very jaded. He’s kind of hit a slump, and decides the way to get out of it is to take a train ride across the country at Christmas time. During the four or five day trip from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, his hope is to find inspiration to write a book about the journey dedicated to his father. But to his surprise, Elenor Carter (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is also on the train writing a screenplay for master director Max Powers (Danny Glover) who are also sharing the ride. Tom and Elenor have a past, but even though they are bitter enemies at the start, it is clear to everyone on board that they still have a spark between them. During the long journey, they bond with a number of colorful characters on the train, each of which have a story of their own, but director Max is a sneaky guy and may have an ulterior motive for the team.

With the release of the remake of Murder on the Orient Express this holiday season, this Train movie fit right into the mood. The mystery on-board this train is almost as intense as the previously mentioned film. It was really interesting, and a good mystery in itself. As we get to know the various characters, all of them somehow fit together, and it is a very intriguing little film. Quite an unusual Christmas movie, the Hallmark Hall of Fame series has done an excellent job with this one, and it’s definitely part a highlight of their premiers in 2017. The eventual reveal came as a surprise to me and I must admit I didn’t see that coming. All in all this is an excellent story filled with great performances and really good mystery script that keeps us entertained. Kudos to Joan Cusack who is a master at playing quirky roles. This is one of her best, and she was very good in this movie. This is one I am going to have to watch over again!

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Lifetime, Active Entertainment,

Jana Kramer, Wes Brown, Faith Ford, Trace Masters

Holly Logan (Jana Kramer) is home for Christmas to her little town home in Gulfport, Mississippi. She’s a well known photographer and looking for a job with a premier magazine. She volunteers to assist in bringing back the town tradition of a holiday light show for the first time in five years since a terrible hurricane nearly destroyed the town. But she regrets her decision soon after when she finds out that the festival is being run by her High School sweetheart, Mike (Wes Brown) who completely broke her heart. But her mom, Caroline (Faith Ford) and Mr. Kriss (Barry Bostwick) who plays Santa for the festival put their heads together to try to turn Holly around and make her see how important home and family really is.

This Lifetime movie is very well put together. It is nice to see Lifetime getting back into the game. They were really on top of the Christmas Movie game a few years back, but seemed to have backed off a bit in recent years. Lifetime only does a few new films each season, but typically they are very good quality. This one is one is no exception. The story is simple, and straight forward, but it really touches the heart. A southern Christmas is a very special. Living in Southern California, I’ve learned to get used to warm weather Christmases, and it’s not as bad as I expected. This is a beautiful town filled with beautiful people, and a very touching experience. I really enjoyed the people and the story and was very happy while watching this film. It was very well acted, and quite moving. I enjoyed this movie.

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The Hallmark Channel,

Emilie Ullerup, Aaron O’Connell

Melanie Welch (Emille Ullerup) is an ad executive who is really into Christmas and the secret Santa in the office. She is assigned to work with a really introverted co-worked Donovan (Aaron O’Connell) on a new commercial for the newest cell phone. But he is also secret Santa for him and wants to get to know him to find the perfect gift. Not wanting to tip him off, she works hard at misdirecting him, and he’s sure someone else is his secret Santa, but Melanie starts really falling for him and finds herself getting really jealous after all.

This is a nice little holiday movie, but unfortunately nothing really special. At least they two leads are not those we see over and over again, and so they are a fresh pair, and they do seem to have a nice chemistry between them. It’s just that there’s no hook to this film to bring you in, and nothing really special happens. Mostly this is just a straight forward rom-com with no edge. It’s sweet enough, and fills 2 hours of TV time, but there’s no real reason to seek this film out. If you happen to run across it, go ahead and watch as it’s harmless fluff, but not worth the effort seeking on it’s own merit.

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4 Ever Christmas Productions,

Autumn Reeser, David Haydn-Jones, Liam Hughes, Teryl Rothery, Andrew Airlie, Bruce Dawson, Hilary Jardine, Julia Benson

Willa Fairchild (Autumn Reeser) is the nurse/caretaker of an very wealthy gentleman. When he died, he left his estate to her and her son, Scout (Liam Hughes) plus a vacation to The Bramble House, a wonderful lodge that he enjoyed himself. But his two grown children, Finn (David Haydn Jones, and Molly Conrad (Julia Benson) also read the will and have assumed that Willa played their father and swindled his father. Looking for evidence, Finn follows her to the Bramble House undercover to gather evidence to prove Willa is a fraud.(

This is a warm and fulfilling Christmas film with lots of mystery and surprises and lots of heart. The location is stupendous, and the story is very well told. Naturally there is holiday cheer and romance from end to end, with enough problems and issues to fill up the two hours. Some may think “Ebenezer” is redeemed a little too fast, but the point is that these two come to their senses in the end. With lots of heart and a good story to tell with excellent acting, this film has much to offer and is well worth seeking out this Christmas to enjoy.

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The Hallmark Channel,

Jodie Sweetin, Eric Winter, Laura Mitchell, Jay Brazeau, Karen Holness, Ava Telekm, Brenden Sunderland, Katey Hoffman, Karen Kruper, Dolores Drake

Grace Long (Jodie Sweetin) has taken over for her parents, managing their business and continuing their tradition of managing the town’s Christmas parade, but Tom White (Jay Brazeau) who always plays the role of Santa is laid up this year and unable to pull it off. Tom has been teaching a well known Santa school teaching others how to play the jolly old man. One of his top students was his son Ben (Eric Winter) who has moved to Los Angeles to get away from the family Christmas tradition. Tom had hoped Ben would be happy to take his place, but Ben wants nothing to do with it. But Grace is in a bad way, as this year’s parade is being covered by network TV. Ben and Grace lock horns with her trying to convince him to step up, and with him refusing to listen.

The real message of this Christmas tale is about putting your life on hold to follow someone else’s dreams. To that extent, it’s rather successful. I did enjoy Jodie Sweetin in her role, and I think she handled it pretty well. There’s no real suspense or danger here, and the problems are rather superficial, but this is entertainment, and it is a decent little story. It doesn’t have a lot of depth, but it light and festive, and a good enough movie for the holiday lineup. Personally, I think they are stretching themselves a little too thin tyring to bring out dozens of new films, and we might be better served with half as many with the best of the scripts, but as long as the market clamors for more, there’s no reason not to keep cranking them out. After all, Christmas in the U.S. has turned into a marathon starting at Veterans Day, so that’s the way it is. This is harmless and relatively brainless entertainment, and at that, it does it’s job./span>

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