Christmas Movie Reviews # 9

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – SNOWED IN AT ROSEMONT

Twenty three year old Lisa (Ayla Kell) is pregnant and running away from the baby’s father Craig (Lochlyn Munro).
She is travelling on the bus to Denver when she hears that the road ahead is closed due to snow and is going back the way they came.
But at a diner she overhears Brad (Brendan Michael Coughlin), a professional snowboarder, talking to his girlfriend on the phone about his plan to drive over the mountain in his 4 x 4 so she asks for a ride.
They make good progress initially but a blizzard over takes them and Brad's car slams into a snow bank in the middle of the wilderness.
They are forced to seek shelter at the only sign of civilization that they had seen in the last ten miles, the Rosemont Lodge.
Which was once a vibrant year-round resort, but the Rosemont Lodge had been closed for nearly 20 years.
Most of the Lodge has been sealed up and only a corner of the main building shows any sign of habitation.
As they approached the building they are greeted by the lodge's owner, Josephine (Grace Zabriskie), who is brandishing a shotgun, and her retainer Abe (Brad Dourif) who persuades her to let them in out of the snow.
Josephine used to be the heart and soul of the resort, her personality, and her cooking, were as much of an attraction as were the hundreds of acres of pristine mountain wilderness but as a result of personal tragedy she closed the resort and became a recluse.
However having Brad and a heavily pregnant Lisa about the place it has a thawing effect on Josephine and after she and Abe deliver the baby a bond is formed that has a lasting effect.

This is a very enjoyable Christmas tale in which Grace Zabriskie is the absolute star of the show as Josephine but Brad Dourif runs a close second as Abe.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – CHRISTMAS IN CONWAY

To most of the inhabitants of Conway, South Carolina, Duncan Mayor (Andy Garcia) is a bad tempered grouch, but to his wife, Suzy Mayor (Mary-Louise Parker) he was a doting pussycat.
And he has more reason than normal to be cranky because Suzy is dying and has arrived home from the hospital to be cared for 24/7 by Nurse Natalie Springer (Mandy Moore), whom Duncan resents for being there and tries his best to ignore her.
He also singles out landscape gardener Tommy Harris (Riley Smith) for special treatment while he is working on the neighbour’s garden.
But Duncan begrudging employs Tommy to help him set up a Ferris Wheel in his own back yard as a special Christmas present for Suzy and the significance of the gift was that it was while riding one many years earlier that Duncan asked Suzy to marry him.
Neighbour Gayle Matthews (Cheri Oteri) is the only fly in the ointment who manages to the construction halted.
But the ex-carnival worker, Henry (Mark Jeffrey Miller), who Duncan bought the Ferris Wheel from comes to the rescue to finish the job with his crew.
This is a wonderful story full of tears and laughter in equal measure and Mary-Louise Parker puts in another trademark performance in a very memorable Christmas story of enduring love.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – LOST LETTER MYSTERIES FOR CHRISTMAS

This is the endearing tale of the postal service’s four musketeers of the Dead Letter Office, the beloved quartet of post office detectives, with a duty to deliver every last letter before Christmas.
Oliver O'Toole (Eric Mabius) and his team, Shane McInerney (Kristin Booth), Rita Haywith (Crystal Lowe) and Norman Dorman (Geoff Gustafson), are working around the clock to redirect Santa’s mail and with the assistance and a little guidance from a mysterious post office volunteer, Jordan (Rob Estes) they clear all the back log by the end of December 23rd.
The whole group then all attend the Christmas formal before they head off on their separate ways to spend their Christmas’s alone where they receive an emotional last-minute plea addressed to God, so they must delay their own travel plans to make sure one little girl doesn’t lose her Christmas joy.
And as they work tirelessly to make the little girl’s wish come true Oliver runs into his former Sunday school teacher (Marion Ross) and the true identity of the mysterious Jordan is revealed and the quartet discover love right under their noses.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – NAUGHTY AND NICE

The Pepper and Spice radio show in Los Angeles was a popular and edgy phone in show but cynical Pepper Sterling (Tilky Jones) over steps the mark and upsets one of the stations major sponsors and is banished to a sister station in rural Colorado town.
He was assigned to co-host a show with a "love doctor" Sandra Love (Haylie Duff), who is a hopeless romantic.
Pepper was unhappy with being second banana on a hick show in the back of beyond and wasn’t backwards in coming forward about letter people know as a result they have a spat live on air which gets them off on the wrong foot and their antagonistic relationship gets the whole town talking.
At first the two mix like oil and water but their on-air bickering becomes popular and, inevitably, they start to like each other and like soon leads to love.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

When temperamental Broadway director Vera Parks (Melissa Gilbert) is fired from yet another job, she has become unemployable in Manhattan so when she gets an offer to direct a Christmas pageant somewhere upstate, she has no alternative but to take the gig.
But she comes into conflict with all the cast, who are all traditionalists, when Vera wants to change everything.
She is also reacquainted with former beau Jack Harmon (Robert Mailhouse) which she was not expecting and the former love is slowly rekindled as the rehearsals continue and then she begins to form relationships with the cast and understanding of each other’s points of views and appreciation of their positions lead to compromises being made.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE HEART OF CHRISTMAS

Julie (Jeanne Neilson) and Austin Locke (Eric Jay Beck) are devastated when they learn their young son, Dax, has cancer.
Their story is told through the eyes of Megan Walsh (Candace Cameron Bure) a busy wife and mother who reads Julie’s blog about the time spent at St Jude’s hospital.
As she reads the blog she learns to put her own life into perspective while the Locke’s have to face the fact that their son is going to die and that he won’t live until Christmas, but with courage, determination and faith, they give Dax one last Christmas, even if it is in October.
You might think the death of a child an unusual component for a Christmas story but far from being morbid it is an uplifting story which makes you think.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER - A SONG FOR THE SEASON

This is a lovely story set during the holiday season, when a stern school administrator Cal Peterson (Gerald McRaney) is sent to review Bethlehem School with a view to cutting costs by any means.
He is accompanied by his teenage niece Fern (Alison Pill) who is now in his care and who, unknown to Cal, is brought alive by the music program
Cal and Fern move in with Cal’s father Jake Peterson (Andy Griffith) which provides another sub plot.
Also Cal despite himself begins to fall for music teacher Lily Waite (Naomi Judd) and following a long review, Cal is forced to conclude that the only way to save the funds is to eliminate the music program.
It is only at the final concert, before Lily must leave her job, the music program is saved by generous donations, and Cal sees Fern perform.
Not a dry eye in the house, wonderful stuff.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – A STAR FOR CHRISTMAS

Cassie (Briana Evigan) owns and runs her own Cupcakery which happens to be the only thing that is actually working in Cassie's world, her small town business in fact is a huge success, but her love life on the other hand is a total mess.
She can’t get over her ex-boyfriend Jared (Travis Van Winkle) because she sees him all the time as they have joint custody of the dog.
One day a stranger in the shop announces that she makes the best cupcakes he has ever tasted and the stranger turns out to be a big time Hollywood film director and he is making a movie in town and he wants Cassie to cater for the crew.
She also meets Alex (Corey Sevier) who she thinks is a handyman and employs him to work in the bakery and then her whole universe is turned upside down when she falls in love with him before he is revealed to be the famous and notoriously troubled actor Alex Gray.
Actress Skylar (Brooke Burns) rocks the boat as the femme fatal but Cassie’s best friend Tricia (Karissa Vacker) holds things together in the enjoyable holiday romcom.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – ANGEL DOLLS

Angel Dolls is by far the best Christmas movie of the last 30 years.
It is possessed with all the usual ingredients for a seasonal film, romance, humour, schmaltz, pathos and a strong Christian message but this one has something else, a surprise ending.
And that’s not something that’s easy to pull off in a Christmas movie.
Lynn Brandt (Josie Bissett) is an abused wife who leaves her alcoholic husband Darryl (Russell Porter) on Thanksgiving and moves with her children Thomas (Rustin Gresiuk) and Sara (Farryn Van Humbeck) to another town.
A year later and Lynn is working hard but getting nowhere financially and has to tell her son Thomas that they can’t afford a tree, decorations or presents.
Thomas is already having problems of his own as he’s still the new boy at high school and is being regularly bullied.
Their lives slowly become entwined with another family in trouble Kevin Morrell (Matthew Settle) has a failing business and his wife Jenny (Kendra Anderson) is heavily pregnant.
Thomas and Kevin become friends on the basketball court at a church youth club while Jenny’s pregnancy takes a turn for the worst.
Lynn finds a solution for the lack of Christmas presents and signs up the children for the Paper Angels which allows those on low incomes to write their child’s name and the desired gifts on the back of a Paper Angel hanging on the Christmas Tree at the Mall.
The school bullying soon turns to cyber bullying when another student puts up a Facebook appeal to help a poor kid namely Thomas.
But after he is befriended by popular girl Cassie Bale (Anja Savcic), Thomas uses the cyber bullying to his own advantage and turns the Facebook campaign into a charity collection for the Salvation Army.
Predictably perhaps Kevin gets Thomas’s angel from the tree, but the gifts he asks for are far from predictable.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE ROAD TO CHRISTMAS

After her flight is diverted due to bad weather high-powered fashion photographer Claire Jameson (Jennifer Grey) finds herself stranded in Middle America on the way to her dream Christmas Eve wedding in Aspen.
At the same time the rugged former artist turned teacher, Tom Pullman (Clark Gregg), and his 13-year old daughter Hilly (Megan Park) are on the road to spend Christmas with Grandma.
Claire is unable to get another flight or rent a car and is reduced to begging for a ride.
But Tom and Hilly are well into their road trip before they cross paths with Claire but when they do they kindly offer to take her to Aspen which isn’t far from their destination.
But as they got under way, none of them realized that as their journey was beginning it would lead them to a very different destination to the one they were expecting.