Saturday 7 May 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – THE CHRISTMAS BLESSING

 

Medical resident Nathan Andrews (Neil Patrick Harris), goes back home to his small town after he loses a teenager on the operating table.

He joins his dad Jack (Hugh Thompson) and his mechanic's business and becomes a basketball coach to some young people, which is where he meets Charlie Bennett (Angus T. Jones) and Meghan Sullivan (Rebecca Gayheart).

Nathan falls for Meghan but she thinks he’s a mechanic and he neglects to tell her that he’s a surgeon but then Charlie is taken ill, the truth comes out.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (1997)

 

Sarah (Ann Jillian) is the Veterinarian and part-time mayor of St. Nicholas, which is a town that is big at holiday time.

Unfortunately, the Town is rather remote, and the town's doctor has just passed away so Sarah and the town council are desperate to find a doctor to keep open the small town's clinic.

With simple cases, Sarah has been helping out in medical emergencies, but she can't truly practice human medicine.

They fear that without a doctor families will move away, and the town will die, but their hopes are raised when older resident Bob (Jack Palance) announces his widower son Michael (Robert Hays) and granddaughter are going to visit for the first time in years for the Christmas holiday.

The significance of the that news is that Michael is a surgeon but the mayor's attempt to recruit Michael is complicated by their history, or more specifically their high school romance, and his secret shame that he has lost his confidence in his surgical skills to the point that his big city hospital is kicking him upstairs to an administrative position.

So the question is, will he overcome his crisis of confidence because Michael truly is going through an emotional crisis that has to be dealt with.

As to filling the vacancy at the clinic Sarah isn’t certain she wants him back in town, as she is afraid her heart may be broken again so will there be a rekindling of their romance?

Friday 6 May 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER

 

After the terrifying events in LA, NYPD cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) is about to go through it all again as he goes on another Christmas vacation to meet his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia).

He is in Washington where he is at the airport meeting Holly off the LA flight.

But while he is waiting a team of terrorists, led by Col. Stuart (William Sadler) holds the entire airport hostage, while they plan to rescue a drug Lord, Esperanza (Franco Nero) from justice.

As part of that plan, they have seized control of all the control systems affecting all aircraft, with no runway lights available, and no means to contact them all aircraft have to remain in the air, with fuel running low, so if McClane is going to save the day again he will need to be fast.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – A BELLE FOR CHRISTMAS

 

Glenn Barrow (Dean Cain) is a widower who lost his beloved wife in a car accident about a year ago and he and his three children, Elliot (Jet Jurgensmeyer), Phoebe (Meyrick Murphy) and Janey (Jamie Dudney) are doing okay, give or take some tearful memories.

But with Christmas approaching what the kids wanted most of all was a puppy and they see a the perfect one at an adoption event, where beautiful Kate Rivers (Hayley Duff) suggests that the family give Belle a permanent home, but Glenn says no, at first, but he soon weakened.

However, Glenn had just started dating gold digger Dani Downey (Kristy Swanson) who turns out to be allergic to dogs.

Glen is unsympathetic as the three kids were so happy with their pet, which was obviously helping to heal their hearts.

But they all underestimate two faced Dani who isn’t going to allow a dog to come between her and the prize so she kidnaps Belle and dumps her at the pound.

When the kids discover Belle has been nabbed by the beautiful gold digger on Christmas Eve, the kids recruit their neighbourhood friends and set out on an adventurous rescue mission to save her.

And when Kate Rivers steps in to help Glenn when he discovers that the children have gone AWOL as well as the dog they find more than they were looking for.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – UNDERCOVER CHRISTMAS

 

Workaholic FBI agent Jake Cunningham (Shawn Christian) fears his case against investment fraudster Scott Shift (Cameron Bancroft) may not stick without the testimony of cocktail waitress Brandi O'Neill (Jami Gertz), who naively believed herself to be more then Scott's latest throwaway flirt.

Then Jake is tricked by his “Ma”, Anne Cunningham (Tyne Daly) to spend Christmas with his “seriously ill” dad, Judge Joe Cunningham (Winston Rekert) and is ordered by his bosses to take Brandi into protective custody.

Jake didn’t regularly visit his family, so he passed off Brandi as his steady date and his mum is not impressed and there follows a humorous posh versus working class seasonal culture clash, but there is a dark side to the tale when Jakes dad discovers the true identity of his girlfriend and sympathizes with the Shift family and unwittingly informs the corrupt family lawyer of her location.

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – WALLY LAMB'S WISHIN' AND HOPIN'

 

This film is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by award-winning author Wally Lamb and is a slice of vivid 1960s life, a wise-and-witty holiday tale that celebrates the “look how far we've come” philosophy. It takes place in1964 in the small town of Three Rivers, where Felix Funicello (Wyatt Ralff) is a Catholic school fifth-grader at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School.

And his only claim to fame is his cousin Annette Funicello (Krysta Rodriguez), the famous Mouseketeer and teen movie queen.

But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette (Molly Ringwald) and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova (Siobhan Cohen) and Felix’s world is turned upside down in this witty and endearing Christmas offering.

Annabella Sciorra puts in a great performance as his ma and Meat Loaf is outrageous as Monsignor Muldoon which just adds to the overall quality.

Thursday 5 May 2022

THE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES EVER – MARRIED BY CHRISTMAS

 

This is the story of two sisters, Carrie and Katie Tate (Jes Macallan and April Bowlby) who are as different as chalk and cheese.

Katie is away doing her own thing with no business brain or even any interest in commerce, while Carrie has been working hard for several years building the family business at the expense of a personal life.

But the bottom falls out of her world when Katie suddenly announces that she's getting married on Christmas Eve and all hell breaks loose in the Tate household.

And it’s all because there is some family chauvinistic contract which states that the new husband of whichever girl marries first gets control of the business.

So the race is on, will Carrie find a husband of her own in time to save the business she loves or will she reprioritise her life.