Ed's Review Dot Com

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Erin Krakow, Niall Matter, Wendie Malick, Michael Kopsa, P. Lynn Johnson, Aliyah O’Brien, Nevis Unipan,

Last year’s premier of Finding Father Christmas [Click here for Ed’s Review] brought us the story of Miranda who lost her Mother at Christmas, and spent the last film looking for her father who turned out to be a famous actor. Miranda met his family, and spent last Christmas visiting with them. It was a lovely story. A year has passed, and Engaging Father Christmas brings us right back to where we left off with Miranda spending another holiday with her secret father’s family, but the man she met last year has decided to propose to her. But a sinister plot that might reveal the name of her famous father sending scandal to the family who took her in may ruin everything unless Miranda and her fiance Ian (Niall Matter) are able to figure out who is behind the reveal of her secret, and try to stop him to protect her new found family who have been so kind to her.

Last year’s film was one of the highlights of the season and a great Christmas movie. This year’s sequel is like a welcome friend since we know the background and the characters from the previous film, and they were so likeable. This is probably not as good as the first film, and it’s a little bit contrived, to be honest, but it is nice to visit the friends from last film. Nobody is quite that upset about a star having an affair in this day and age, but it is a small town in Vermont and he is revered there. Wendie Malik reprises her role as the widowed wife of James Whitcomb, Miranda’s famous father. She is excellent and certainly very charming as the lady of the house. all in all this is a pleasant continuation of the first film. I enjoyed it very much.

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Mission Pictures International, Gabriel Productions,

Alexa PenaVega, Carlos PenaVega, Randy Wayne, Chelsie Hightower, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, Steve Bond, Rene Rivera, Melanie Nelson, K. Danor Gerald

Laura (Alexa PenaVega) left her home in Utah leaving behind her Father, her love of dance, and the memory of heartbreak as her husband who has died. Now working for a property management company, her boss has purchased a new hotel and assigned her to manage the upgrade project and to have it finished before Christmas Eve. To her horror, the hotel is actually the Enchanted Hotel in her hometown where she used to dance in the Christmas Program every year. So now she’s home to make amends with her Father, try to manage an impossible task, and when they lose the lead dancer in the program a few days before the program, Laura has to fill in for her. To her surprise, her ex-boyfriend is her partner. The pressure is enormous as she tries to make everyone happy but it all falls on her shoulders. Worse, her feelings for the old partner Ricardo are coming back, and it seems like the Dec 24th deadline is impossible.

So far this year it seems Hallmark has been hitting it out of the park this year. Not one clunker so far. This is a really romantic tale, though it’s filled with the details of business and grown up things like that, the heart of the movie is the romance. It’s nicely done, really simple with only a few diversions. The script is well done, and the actors do a really good job. This is a worthwhile addition to the Hallmark Christmas Movie tradition. The ending is well put together, and brings it to a fun conclusion. Catch this one if you can.

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Darcy’s Gift Productions,

Ali Liebert, Peter Porte, Tina Lifford, Nicole Oliver, Juliana Wimbles, Brandi Alexander, Jennifer Koenig, Mark Milburn, Ricky He

Darcy (Ali Liebert) loves to read. She has the perfect job working in a little bookstore in Manhattan. One day on the way to work on her bicycle, she crashes into a man and a dog, knocking the man, Aiden (Peter Porte) unconscious. She has to take the dog, since there is no one to take care of him, but when she finally visits the man in the hospital she is disturbed to find out that he has amnesia and is not able to remember who he is or where he lives. So Darcy jumps into “mystery” mode and does some detective work to figure out who he is. Meanwhile, the owner of the bookstore is ready to retire after the holiday and will close down or sell the store unless he can find someone to run it for him.

This is a touching story. It reminded me a bit of Sandra Bullock’s film “While You Were Sleeping”. There are so many delightful surprises along the way of finding out what the truth really is. The performances were really good, and I found myself really invested in the characters. There is plenty of story to go around, and it was really enjoyable. The chemistry is strong between the leads and the movie strikes all the notes. This new 2017 Hallmark Christmas film is a winner. Be sure to catch it.

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The Hallmark Channel,

Lacey Chabert, Lane Edwards, Lea Coco

Kylie Watson (Lacey Chabert) is a pastry chef, but when her restaurant failed, she took a job with Alex (Lane Edwards) who she is expecting is about to propose to her. She finds out quite bluntly that he’s not feeling it, but when she finds out her entry to the American Gingerebread Competition was accepted and she’s in the finals, she figures that it is the route to her own cake Cafe, But her oven is broken and she doesn’t see any way to finish the competition when she runs into her old flame from culinary school, Nick (Lea Coco), she hatches the idea of borrowing an oven from his restaurant. Naturally her feeling for Nick get in the way.

Lacey Chabert is one of the queens of Christmas movies and Hallmark. She always turns in a nice performance. This is a nice story, that contains some really good actors and a strong story. Usually in these kind of romance stories there is a sweet new guy who sweeps our heroine off her feet, and a nasty creepy fiance that deserves to be dumped. This one is a little different as it’s not quite so black and white. There are a lot of levels to what’s happening here, and it’s not quite so shallow a film as you might expect. The story is pretty good, and though it is one of many similar stories of the girl with the wrong guy who needs to come to realize that, it’s a really decent film. One of the new films for 2017 and one that is well worth watching

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The Hallmark Channel,

Bonnie Somerville, Brennan Elliott, Madison Brydges, Precious Chong, Richard Waugh, Graham Scott Fleming, Sadie LeBlanc, Andre Richards, Miku Graham, Derek Scott

Maddie Duncan (Bonnie Somerville) is a high powered east coast executive who is afraid to fly. She is invited to her biggest client’s wedding in Colorado, but fortunately is able to get her brother’s classic car to make the drive to Colorado in time. But unfortunately the car breaks down in the little mid-west town of Christmas Valley which is the most Christmas loving town of the century, much to Maddie’s chagrin. But as the problems pile up, she meets a really kind family who work hard to change her disdain for the Holidays.

This is another Hallmark Christmas movie for 2017. This one appeared during their Christmas in July celebration last summer. This is a very derivative, but exceeding sweet Christmas story that has it all. The town is called Christmas Valley as the founder’s last name was Christmas, but the citizens of this little town really embrace the season. This has the semi-gruff marketing executive who doesn’t belive in Christmas with the broken down car, stranded in a town full of Christmas Spirit. It has the Christmas loving Boarding House lady and the eclectic boarders. Most of all there’s the lovely family with a single Dad, Kevin (Brennan Elliott) and his extremely cute daughter who pushes her Dad into finding her a new Mom. Yes, this is the most common Christmas story of all, but it’s very well done with really fabulous acting, and so it’s a nearly perfect holiday film. They are all true to the genre, and it moves along like frosted egg nog and a slice or two of pumpkin pie in front of a crackling fire. Fortunately for us, cars never break down in a dirty smoky city with people who hate the holidays. Of course I guess this would be a horrible movie. Anyway, there’s nothing new here, but it’s still perfectly delightful, so who cares?

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