Following Yonder Star: Movie Review

A Christmas and religious-themed romance.

John Brotherton, once again, lends his immense talent to a Hallmark Christmas romance with Following Yonder Star. For all of his good-looking charm that is on display, there is one thing missing: comedy. While the movie definitely fits the spirit of the season and the brand of the network, it’s much heavier on the drama and religion with a distinct lack of comedy as compared to other offerings in the Christmas countdown.		2024 Directed by: Jeff Beesley Screenplay by: John Eliot Jordan, Carlie Mantilla-Jordan Starring: Brooke D'Orsay, John Brotherton

Carry-On: Movie Review

Starts as a thriller, ends as an action movie, but lacking in interest and reality.

Carry-On is like Trap. But instead of a concert stadium, it’s an airport; and instead of a serial killer, it’s a professional network of criminals turning a whole bunch of everyday people into killers; and instead of Lady Raven’s music, it’s Christmas music. While I do think there is a rather large audience for action/thriller Christmas movies, that audience does not include me.		2024 Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra Screenplay by: T.J. Fixman, Michael Green Starring: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman

September 5: Movie Review

A riveting look when sports journalism and politics intersect.

I wasn’t expecting September 5 to be a companion piece to Civil War (in a good way), but it basically is. An examination of the role journalists play in the coverage of a terrorist attack. In this particular case, sports journalists and the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist attack. It is remarkable in how it’s able to keep its focus small but touch on so many relevant and important topics in both today’s world and in 1972.		2024 Directed by: Tim Fehlbaum Screenplay by: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David Starring: John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard

The Six Triple Eight: Movie Review

An important and interesting movie which spends a bit too long on everything.

The Six Triple Eight is a movie that knows its importance and occasionally gets a bit too hung up on that. By the time it’s over, it is clear how much this project means to writer-director Tyler Perry who has turned serious for his first big budget, awards-season movie. It also becomes clear why many narrative choices were made that might not resonate with all audiences.		2024 Directed by: Tyler Perry Screenplay by: Kevin Hymel, Tyler Perry Starring: Ebony Obsidian, Kerry Washington

Breakup Season: Movie Review

A sweetly earnest, genuine and emotional end of a relationship..

I wasn’t sure that a movie about breaking up over Christmas could work as a drama, but it really does. The emotion is all here, the realness and relatability are here. This is a well written movie that perfectly captures that moment when one person is ready to move on and the other person isn’t. It might not be anybody’s fault, but family can both perpetuate the problem and soften the blow.		2024 Directed by: H. Nelson Tracey Screenplay by: H. Nelson Tracey Starring: Chandler Riggs, Samantha Isler

Last ExMas: Movie Review

Uneven comedy gives way to a cute lesbian rom-com.

A story about lesbians and their exes. A joke about how all lesbians are exes partially forms the basis for this cute LGBTQ+ Christmas movie. Last ExMas starts 10 Christmases ago with Maggie (Elena Milo) and Jules (Shaeane Jimenez) in high school. It’s a New Years Eve party at Maggie’s house, she’s a social butterfly making sure she’s seen with all the popular kids, then sneaks Jules into the house and up to her room to make out.		2024 Directed by: Sarah Rotella Screenplay by: Adrianna DiLonardo Starring: Shaeane Jimenez, Elena Milo

The Christmas Quest: Movie Review

A nonsense adventure in Iceland.

There are a couple of Hallmark movies a year where they increase their production budget and shoot on location overseas. This year that’s The Finnish Line and The Christmas Quest. The Christmas Quest is a nonsense story about a supposedly famous treasure hunt loosely based on an Icelandic folklore tale. The level required to suspend your disbelief is not achievable. This is something akin to Outer Banks meets The Da Vinci Code but Hallmark style.		2024 Directed by: Dustin Rikert Screenplay by: Andrew Gerhard, Marcy Holland, Dustin Rikert Starring: Lacey Chabert, Kristoffer Polaha

The Finnish Line: Movie Review

A worthwhile trip to Finland.

Hallmark Christmas movies tend to be at their best when they’re out of their comfort zone. For The Finnish Line, we travel to Finland for an ultra competitive dog sled race. While the movie paints this as a big, life-defining competition which I’m not sure it’s quite that big, it is at least real. Dog sled racing plus Finnish Christmas traditions plus double the romance equates to an enjoyable Christmas movie.		2024 Directed by: Dustin Rikert Screenplay by: John Bellina, Nicole Drespel, Andrew Gernhard Starring: Kim Matula, Nichole Sakura, Benedikt Grondal, Beau Mirchoff

The Effects of Lying: Movie Review

A slow, quiet movie about secrets, lies, identity and moving on.

What starts as a slow moving movie with seemingly empty morals about almost nothing, slowly transforms itself into an aptly-titled story about multiple individuals grappling with lies that make up who they are and when their existence seems to shatter to the ground how they rebuild themselves. There are a lot of sharply written astute observations amongst all the lies and secrets that it’s worth watching to reveal them all.		2024 Directed by: Isher Sahota Screenplay by: James Hey Starring: Ace Bhatti, Lauren Patel

Deck the Walls: Movie Review

Don’t own a construction company if you don’t do any construction work.

Hallmark continually over does it with their flipping houses storylines. I don’t understand the appeal and I also don’t understand why they keep hiring writers who also don’t seem to understand the process at all. So much of what is supposed to be the main storyline doesn’t make much sense. The main storyline should actually be the romance, and as usual, they get that part mostly right.		2024 Directed by: Danny Pellegrino Screenplay by: Danny Pellegrino Starring: Ashley Greene, Wes Brown, and Danny Pellegrino

The Snow Sister: Movie Review

A beautiful, artistic production with depressing themes.

I wanted to watch this because it looked like it was going to be a very nicely photographed movie. And it is. Almost every scene of this looks like a postcard; from the frozen fjords, to the most elaborately decorated house you can imagine, to – my personal favourite imagery – the community pool with its glass windows sitting upon a hill and the snow-lined road leading down to the village with streetlights illuminating the snow. Norwegians know how to make winter beautiful.		2024 Directed by: Cecilie A. Moslie Screenplay by: Siv Rajendram Eliassen Based on the book by Maja Lunde and Lisa Aisato Starring: Mudit Gupta, Celina Meyer Hovland

The Holiday Club: Movie Review

A delightfully charming indie romance.

The Holiday Club is going to make you feel right at home whether you hate holidays or love holidays. Sam (Mak Shealy) hates holidays – she’s a bit of a loner, feels that something bad always happens to her on holidays, so she tends to keep to herself. Bailey (Alexandra Swarens) loves holidays – she owns her own bakery and every holiday big or small she decorates the store and sells themed cupcakes and cookies.		2024 Directed by: Alexandra Swarens Screenplay by: Alexandra Swarens Starring: Mak Shealy, Alexandra Swarens

Our Little Secret: Movie Review

Awkwardness masquerading as comedy.

Netflix is releasing a new Christmas rom-com each Wednesday in November. Things started out pretty good with the enjoyable Meet Me Next Christmas, and then got a little worse with the whimsical Hot Frosty, and then it got a little worse with the lazy but shirtless The Merry Gentlemen, and now it has gotten even worse with whatever Our Little Secret is - a romantic comedy that is light on the comedy and the romance, filled with annoying contrivances.		2024 Directed by: Stephen Herek Screenplay by: Hailey DeDominicis Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Ian Harding, Kristin Chenoweth

A Real Pain: Movie Review

Past tragedies, current pain.

Take a walk through Poland with cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they join a Holocaust tour group. While on the surface it may seem like A Real Pain is a reflection on a tragic past with the cousins and the other Jewish members of the tour group discussing what their ancestors went through as they visit museums, memorials and a concentration camp, it is actually a discussion on mental health in the present day.		2024 Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg Screenplay by: Jesse Eisenberg Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin

Trapped Inn: Movie Review

Trapped Inn will first lure you in with its ingenious setting, gorgeous photography and fantastic overall production. Then it will ensnare you with its mysterious hold as it sort of vacillates between relationship dynamics and science fiction thriller. Not too dissimilar to the mysterious mist moving from the mountains over the pool water keeping people trapped inside and killing the unlucky ones and stupid ones.		2024 Directed by: Leah Sturgis Screenplay by: Leah Sturgis Starring: Matt Rife, Robert Palmer Watkins, Brielle Grearson, Brian Gross

The Holiday List (AKA: It's Christmas!): Movie Review

A depressing, dysfunctional and downtrodden Christmas.

For anybody who wants a depressing Christmas movie without the cheer or holiday spirit, then The Holiday List is for you. For the title confusion, I think it was originally called The Holiday List in the UK, then North American distributors decided it should be called It’s Christmas for an unknown and probably pointless reason, and then at the last minute switched it back to The Holiday List upon release. You should be able to find it under both titles.		2024 Directed by: Jamie Adams Screenplay by: Jamie Adams Starring: Brittany Snow, Lucas Bravo

The Merry Gentlemen: Movie Review

Chad Michael Murray dances shirtless.

I think the entire point of this movie is an excuse to see Chad Michael Murray and other hot men, or merry gentlemen, to dance shirtless. Hey, there are far worse reasons for movies to be made. There is an argument that the movie should have leaned even further in and given us an hour and a half of the male dance revue, because instead after each quick dance number, we’re treated to the most cliché tropes around.		2024 Directed by: Peter Sullivan Screenplay by: Jeffrey Schenck, Peter Sullivan, Marla Sokoloff Starring: Britt Robertson, Chad Michael Murray

Jingle Bell Run: Movie Review

A simplistic and enjoyable romance.

While Hallmark Christmas movies are always simplistic, sometimes they lean into that simplicity perfectly. Jingle Bell Run spends all of its time on Wes and Avery and their budding relationship as they race around the United States in an Amazing Race type reality competition show. It’s the right focus because the actors fit their characters perfectly and there is that much growth in their relationship.		2024 Directed by: Lucie Guest Screenplay by: Tom McCurrie, Stephanie Sourapas Starring: Ashley Williams, Andrew W. Walker

Christmas with the Singhs: Movie Review

Family drama that over-complicates a nice romance.

First, Hallmark has to be congratulated on recognizing that there are other cultures and races in the world. It is such an overwhelmingly White network that Christmas with the Singhs is their only foray into a more diverse lineup. But before we go too far, it’s very important to note that the Singhs, an Indian American family, are Christian so Christmas still looks like Christmas.		2024 Directed by: Panta Mosleh Screenplay by: Patricia Isaac, Emily Ting Starring: Anuja Joshi, Benjamin Hollingsworth

Hello, Love, Again: Movie Review

The magic is gone and is replaced with a mess of forced comedy, dark drama and soap opera romance.

Hello, Love, Again has a good idea for the sequel, revisit the same characters in a new city. When Joy leaves Hong Kong for Canada, she’s starting a new life, but with the same love, so romantic issues are sure to abound. I was thinking something like Past Lives, but one where we already knew the characters. Instead the writers took every single idea they had for the sequel and packed all of them in. The result is a movie about everything that says nothing.		2024 Directed by: Cathy Garcia-Sampana Screenplay by: Carmi Raymundo, Crystal S. San Miguel, Olivia M. Lamasan Starring: Kathryn Bernardo, Alden Richards

Anora: Movie Review

The hilarious and heart-breaking life lived in excess for a call girl.

Sean Baker knows how to structure a film. Like all good stories, there are three distinct acts. Most viewers are apparently expecting only Act 1 because it tells the beginnings of a story where other movies end (hello Pretty Woman). Ani, short for Anora, (Mikey Madison) is a stripper and call girl; working at a large, high-end strip club, she gets hired by Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) a young, obscenely rich Russian party boy.		2024 Directed by: Sean Baker Screenplay by: Sean Baker Starring: Mikey Madison

Hot Frosty: Movie Review

Whimsy and comedy in a lightweight, simplistic rom-com.

Hot Frosty is the second of Netflix’s four holiday rom-coms releasing each Wednesday in the month of November. If the first one, Meet Me Next Christmas, was a typical romantic comedy (it was), then this is an atypical romantic comedy. It’s not every day that snowmen come to life. In this made-up fantasy, which is set in the real world, a hot perfect man is born out of the snow by placing a red scarf around his neck.		2024 Directed by: Jerry Ciccoritti Screenplay by: Russell Hainline Starring: Lacy Chabert, Dustin Milligan

Santa Tell Me: Movie Review

Santa's magic can't save this rom-com.

The appeal to Santa Tell Me is in the magical intervention on Olivia (Erin Krakow’s) love life, because everything else it does in service of a holiday rom-com is very unappealing. Olivia is a one-dimensional no-nonsense, over-worked television show interior designer. It’s a common, but over-used character for Hallmark movies, and it’s very tiring here. And then the worst trope of all, she misidentifies her future romantic interest and is immediately extremely rude and antagonistic towards him.		2024 Directed by: Ryan Landels Screenplay by: Ryan Landels Starring: Erin Krakow, Daniel Lissing

Escaping Ohio: Movie Review

Young love, tearjerker style.

An indie romance about young love, finding yourself, figuring out your future, living in Ohio, and leaving Ohio. Escaping Ohio has very common themes about a teenager hating their hometown, desperate to graduate and leave and then find love along the way. While it doesn’t tread new ground, it still me won me over with one great character, an adorable romance and a friendship that may or may not survive state borders.		2023 Directed by: Jessica Michael Davis Screenplay by: Jessica Michael Davis, Collin Kelly-Sordelet Starring: Jessica Michael Davis, Collin Kelly-Sordelet

Trivia at St. Nick's: Movie Review

Christmas, trivia, romance and an unlikable lead character.

Welcome to Nick’s Bar where the annual Christmas trivia tournament is the most important thing in this Vermont college town. There are a lot of things to like in Trivia at St. Nick’s and a whole lot of things to dislike. It’s a movie fighting to incorporate so many tropes and stereotypes that it can’t help but bring down a movie a solid premise, but at the same time, you’re sure to find parts of it to love.		2024 Directed by: Marlo Hunter Screenplay by: Christine Garver, Stephanie Jackson Starring: Tammin Sursok, Brant Daugherty

A Sudden Case of Christmas: Movie Review

A good premise ruined by everything else.

A Sudden Case of Christmas is about a young girl and her parents travelling to Italy to visit her grandfather, during the summer. It’s supposed to be about the girl recreating Christmas to be able to deal with her parents’ impending divorce. The problem is that it’s barely about that. The movie seems to spend most of its time with random characters that do not add to the story at all.		2024 Directed by: Peter Chelsom Screenplay by: Peter Chelsom, Tinker Lindsay Starring: Danny DeVito, Antonella Rose

Meet Me Next Christmas: Movie Review

A typical romantic comedy filled with romance, laughter and music.

For their 2024 Christmas rom-com slate, Netflix is releasing four movies, one each Wednesday in the month of November. With Meet Me Next Christmas, we are off to a rockin’ good start (please pardon the pun). The romantic comedy features not one but two meet cutes, an act two which has multiple laugh out loud funny scenes, an ending with all the sweet romance you could hope for, and last but not least, it is filled with fantastic music.		2024 Directed by: Rusty Cundieff Screenplay by: Molly Haldeman, Camilla Rubis Starring: Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, Kofi Siriboe, and Kalen Allen

Holiday Mismatch: Movie Review

An enjoyable pairing of romance and comedy.

Holiday Mismatch should be at the top of any Hallmark Christmas rotation. The characters are very simplistic but it’s a really nice romance with the right amount of comedy sprinkled in. It also employs two of the better rom-com tropes: fake dating turning into real dating; and meddling families who are constantly trying to get them together and then break them up and using reverse psychology and reverse-reverse psychology and then rinse and repeat.		2024 Directed by: Caroline Labrèche Screenplay by: Sarah Wise Starring: Beth Broderick, caroline Rhea, Maxine Denis and Jon McLaren

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: Movie Review

Cheesy and wholesome, but still a winning formula of kindness and acceptance.

Based on the 1972 novel of the same name, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has a Christian director and based on a very Christian story of a town hosting a Christmas pageant of the traditional Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. While I was concerned it might get too preachy or religious, it won me over because its only message is kindness and having an open-mind, which most of the Christian characters within the movie are unable to practice.		2024 Directed by: Dallas Jenkins Screenplay by: Platte Clark, Darin McDaniel, Ryan Swanson and Dallas Jenkins Based on the novel by Barbara Robinson Starring: Judy Greer, Molly Belle Wright

A Carol for Two: Movie Review

A nice and boring Christmas musical.

Usually the musical Hallmark Christmas movies are the better ones, adding another dimension to the holiday romance. Unfortunately that’s not the case for A Carol for Two, which is just a boring version of the romantic drama. Technically they have good singing voices, but nothing that adds any fun or excitement to the usual drama.		2024 Directed by: Jeff Beesley Screenplay by: Nina Weinman Starring: Ginna Claire Mason, Jordan Litz

Stealing Jokes: Movie Review

A lot of funny stuff and a lot of insanity.

A group of stand-up comedians on acid or cocaine or a combination of a lot of things. No, I’m not describing a normal night at a comedy club, but the new movie Stealing Jokes. A movie made by and about stand-up comedians that goes all over the place at break-neck speed. When a club owner screws them over, they become ninjas, and thiefs, and heist planners, and that covers like 20 minutes.		2024 Directed by: Mike Young Screenplay by: Mike Young Starring: Jeff Dye, Dustin Ybarra, Carlos "Ha Ha" Davis, and Ryu Go-Eun

Here: Movie Review

Uninteresting and lacks focus.

One house over the years. One camera in place to watch the people come and go in their lives. I’m not a fan of the digitally de-aged Tom Hanks and Robin Wright trailer, but what sold me on seeing this was a critic that described it as covering centuries. There is definitely a good idea in that concept, a single space as it has evolved over centuries, over human life. Here is not it.		2024 Directed by: Robert Zemeckis Screenplay by: Eric Roth, Robert Zemeckis, Richard McGuire Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright

Time Cut: Movie Review

Starts slow, gets increasingly stupid.

Maybe it’s just me, but time travel serial killer movies really need to have a comedic edge to them. Why are we trying to take this genre seriously? It’s not built for seriousness. There is a very noticeable lack of comedy in Time Cut. The first third of the movie is basically pure depression. A sister, and her parents, and a town, mourning a group of teens killed twenty years ago.		2024 Directed by: Hannah Macpherson Screenplay by: Michael Kennedy, Hannah Macpherson Starring: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry

The 5-Year Christmas Party: Movie Review

Let down by underplaying its premise.

The 5-Year Christmas Party has the same premise as See You Next Christmas. And I don’t mean they’re the same in the general sense that all Christmas rom-coms are the same (which is a lame criticism), I mean they literally have the exact same premise. The 5-Year Christmas Party features Alice and Max who meet up at Christmas parties every year for a 5-year period as they evolve apart and grow closer together.		2024 Directed by: Peter Benson Screenplay by: Zac Hug Starring: Katie Findlay, Jordan Fisher

The Christmas Charade: Movie Review

The usual Christmas romance fare, bundled in an FBI sting operation.

Normally, Hallmark should stay in their own lane and not try to do a movie about FBI agents going undercover in a sting operation, but admittedly, The Christmas Charade is light and fun and arguably better suited to the genre than all the big budget movies that go way too big and way too far. There’s still a degree of suspension of disbelief required, but Hallmark makes it more about the romance than the FBI.		2024 Directed by: Corey Sevier Screenplay by: Kate Pragnell Starring: Rachel Skarsten, Corey Sevier

Hangdog: Movie Review

A well-made movie filled with depression.

Hangdog is a drama about a lost dog that is actually about a lost person trying to find himself again. Starring Desmin Borges who is best known for playing roommate Edgar in You’re the Worst, a war vet suffering from PTSD who is constantly down on himself; he’s playing the exact same type here. Walt is in a serious relationship with Wendy, but her dog gets priority and Walt has spent the better part of the relationship in a downward depressive spiral.		2024 Directed by: Matt Cascella Screenplay by: Matt Cascella, Jen Cordery Starring: Desmin Borges, Kelly O'Sullivan

Woman of the Hour: Movie Review

Captivating and smart portrayal of a true crime thriller.

Woman of the Hour can be an uncomfortable watch, a movie that doesn’t really all come together until the end when you realize how succinctly it has told a true crime story with real implications from the sexism of the 1970s. How women weren’t believed and how easily people can present themselves differently. It's a measured and careful movie, a smart blend of what's needed to tell both a small story of one game show and an epic tale of misogyny.		2024 Directed by: Anna Kendrick Screenplay by: Ian McDonald Starring: Daniel Zovatto, Anna Kendrick

Chosen Family: Movie Review

The messiness of adult relationships.

Chosen Family takes place in a beautiful and affluent community in Rhode Island, and it's about how hard life is. Yes, you read that right, it's primarily about rich people who can afford to live in one of the nicest coastal towns in the country struggle through life's ups and downs. It is better than that, but be prepared.		2024 Directed by: Heather Graham Screenplay by: Heather Graham Starring: Heather Graham, John Brotherton

Advanced Chemistry: Movie Review

Funny, stupid, ridiculous.

Advanced Chemistry is a romantic comedy / comedy of errors. The premise suggests science fiction, a genre that typically can’t be done well with a miniscule budget. While the film does do well with its limited means, the biochemistry plot is too stupid for the movie to overcome. The resulting side effects of the experimental drugs lead to hilarity for some but only if you fall on the right side of ridiculous, which it does not for me.		2023 Directed by: Etana Jacobson Screenplay by: Alec Moore Starring: Samba Schutte, Chaunte Wayans

My Old Ass: Movie Review

A perfect mix of genres, characters and choices in life.

Let me just get one thing off my chest: I don’t like the title. I think it cheapens the movie; it may fit the characters in the beginning, but it grows so far beyond that. My Old Ass presents a few different themes but it evolves into something so sweet, uplifting and relatable (minus the parts that ignore the laws of time).		2024 Directed by: Megan Park Screenplay by: Megan Park Starring: Maisy Stella, Aubrey Plaza

The Problem with People: Movie Review

A tale of Irish quirkiness.

Local Hero meets Wild Mountain Thyme when a centuries old land dispute comes to ahead when a successful businessman from America travels to Ireland and quickly makes friends and enemies alike in the small Irish town. The Problem with People perhaps isn’t quite as weird as that mix would suggest but quirkiness takes over after a simplistic set-up. Fergus is dying and it’s his final wish that two separate halves of an estranged family reunite.		2024 Directed by: Chris Cottam Screenplay by: Wally Marzano-Lesnevich, Paul Reiser Starring: Colm Meaney and Paul Reiser

This Time Next Year: Movie Review

A mess of a not-a-romantic-comedy.

There’s a basic premise in This Time Next Year that is so simple but also creative and original. One moment of the year which most people think about exactly once a year and then never again, unless the odds have deemed you to be that one person it affects. Every year on New Year’s Eve there is a race in maternity wards to have the first baby born in the new year as it often comes with cash awards and prizes.		2024 Directed by: Nick Moore Screenplay by: Sophie Cousens Starring: Sophie Cookson, Lucien Laviscount