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diane-wiley
Reviews
Annie Claus Is Coming to Town (2011)
Will true love win out?
The best line in the entire movie is when Barry comes into Ted's toy shop and sees Lucy (hottie Vivica Fox) for the first time. Barry asks Ted, "Wow, who was that?" And Ted replies without missing a beat, "She will crush you, man." An absolutely wonderful line. And, frankly, the little moments between Barry and Lucy (albeit, few and far between) are the best in the film. As far as the rest of the movie goes, it is pretty predictable fare: cute girl Annie meets two incredibly good- looking guys (pulled from the super-model list), one who is obviously right for her and one who is obviously way wrong. Will true love win out? With the help of adorable Mia (Lucy's daughter), there is no doubt. Worth a watch one time.
Matchmaker Santa (2012)
Just sort of silly
Unfortunately, I have to agree with most of the other reviewers about this movie. Whoever edited and handled the sound for this movie, forgot to turn down the music when the actors were speaking. And the stalker Santa popping up all over the place was maniacal instead of magical. I guess that the producers and directors also thought that the plot/script were lacking, so they decided to throw in Florence Henderson and Lin Shaye as two "ditzy" cookie makers for comic relief who, instead, just come across with cringe-worthy silly performances. And the very capable John Ratzenberger could have been much better used in this film. There's too much plodding sub-plot going on with a focus on character quirks that didn't add to the overall story. Consequently, the whole thing felt fragmented and sort of lame. I kept checking the time to see when it would end.
Finding Christmas (2013)
Nice movie with a delightful surprise...
This movie has a somewhat predictable plot line, as do most of the Hallmark holiday movies: boy meets girl, boy loses girl (through a series of misunderstandings), and boy and girl finally get together. In this case, it's a gender reversal of the movie "The Holiday". There are some cute twists to the story and the dialog is believable. Unfortunately, as is usual for Hallmark, the characters are a little simplistic, so I was pleasantly surprised ... no, DELIGHTFULLY surprised at J.T. Hodges' cover of "Joy to the World." It was wonderful. His rendition was simple, fresh, while still being respectful. It made me want to hear more and I've watched the movie twice just to hear the song again.
The Christmas Pageant (2011)
I really really wanted to like it.....
Okay, so the production values were good, the lighting and set decoration was good, the costumes and make-up were good ... however, that's about it for this one. You would think that a company the size of Hallmark, with their own cable channel, would be able to pay for better script-writing and direction and turn out better quality movies. Sadly, somehow, they just keep turning out the same, repetitive formula: Fired-executive/Scrooge/down-on-their-luck individual meets small-town-person-with-a-heart-of-gold (usually with a precocious/precious child or two in tow) whose spouse has just died. Good grief, Hallmark seems to kill off a lot of spouses (see Christmas Ornament, Mrs. Miracle, Trading Christmas, etc., etc.). Arrggghhhhh! It just seems that, in the interest of filling time-slots, they settled for mediocrity in direction and script-writing. Ho Ho HUM.
Call Me Mrs. Miracle (2010)
Miracle - NOT
Frankly, I wanted desperately to like this movie because I like the premise of these types of "family miracle" movies. Classics like Mary Poppins, Nanny McPhee, the original Miracle on 34th Street charmingly offer faith, hope, and love via carefully crafted story lines and believable dialog, all the while asking the viewer to check "reality" at the door and make a magical journey with the characters. HOWEVER, with "Call Me Mrs. Miracle", Debbie Macomber's plot is just tediously predictable. Further, the screen writer's stilted dialog and the plastic acting courtesy of the director creates a cringe-worthy movie on every level. It's not even about suspending belief (as suggested by the one and only positive reviewer) ... it's about the quality of the story and it's presentation. There's just no miracle here.