Countdown To Christmas 2018: The Holiday Calendar

The Holiday Calendar (2018)

TV-PG

Starring Kat Graham, Quincy Brown, Ethan Peck, Ron Cephas Jones

Directed by Bradley Walsh

The Story:

Abby (Graham) is a struggling photographer who wants nothing more than to open her own studio. With the holidays fast approaching and her life in a bit of a spiral, Gramps (Jones) gives her Grandma's antique advent calendar. However, as each day reveals a new gift, that gift seems to come true in real life and it sends Abby down a path that could forever alter her future.

As someone who no longer has cable, I don't get the joy of watching FreeForm (Formerly ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas) where they saturated their airwaves with original and classic Christmas movies.

Nor do I have the luxury of Lifetime or Hallmark for a Christmas movie fix.

When I wrote up a list of Christmas movies that I do have access to, including what I own and what streaming services I have (Netflix & Amazon) I have over 130 choices...

So 25 Days of Christmas doesn't cut it at our house, and we start November 1st!!!

But as I said, I do have Netflix, and they carry a few of these offerings from Christmases past, they have started creating their own Christmas movies as well.

This year, they've introduced 3 (so far...) that I'm aware of, and The Holiday Calendar was the first of those 3.

Now the thing with Christmas movies you have to remember, is they often follow a very obvious pattern, but those of us that like Christmas movies usually don't care about that, it's a warm and comfortable feeling that makes you feel cozy while you watch it.

Or it's dreadful. :)

Thankfully, this wasn't dreadful. It was a lot of fun, and while you know how the film is going to end, you enjoy the trip that you're taking to get there.

So far so good, and this one will enter the ranks of the movies we will watch again each Christmas time.

Hoping Netflix continues this trend of yuletide offerings each year!

Final Grade: B

I Would Like A Different "Wish For Christmas"

Wish For Christmas (2016)  

Rated PG

Starring Anna Fricks, Joey Lawrence, Leigh-Allyn Baker, Bill Engvall,

Directed by John K.D. Graham

The Story:

Anna (Fricks) finds out that the Christmas dance at school has been moved to Christmas Eve. When she tells her parents (Lawrence & Baker), they tell her sorry, that's when they go to Christmas Eve service at church, and she won't be attending the dance. That night, she wishes that her parents didn't have such a strong faith in God. The next morning, her wish comes true. What begins as a cool dream come true for Anna, the scope of what she's done begins affecting more and more people in the community.

Just to be clear, don't confuse this one with A Wish For Christmas, A Christmas Wish, or The Christmas Wish.

This movie is completely different, I would assume, except for the whole making a wish, and it being Christmas time.

: )

Except I haven't seen any of those yet, and now I want to!

Much like I do every year, while watching our ever-growing list of holiday favorites over and over (and over!) again, I try and sample some of the new offerings, because you just never know when you'll find one that is good enough to add to the list.

Since I don't have cable, I don't get a chance to just turn on Hallmark, Lifetime or Free Form (formerly ABC Family) and get sucked in to their annual marathons of new films and old favorites.

This is probably a good thing.

: )

So I find new ones from Netflix and add them to the pile, and here we are.

Speaking of piles...

;)

It's not...bad...but it's far from good.

Anna is a spoiled brat, so it's really hard to sympathize with her at any point in the movie.

Her parents go from Bible-thumping to Bible-dumping overnight, literally, and the dialogue and interaction between the characters is less than stellar.

The script needed some overhauling, because aside from a strangely out-of-place Santa (Engvall) who exists for the sole reason to remind Anna that life isn't awesome for everyone in the world, most of the characters are one dimensional and hard for the audience to warm up to.

The ending seems forced, as does the reaction of the participants.

Unlike last year's attempts (Christmas Town, A Christmas Eve Miracle) however, I'm not going to put this one on the naughty list.

It's heart was in the right place, and the story could have been punched up and made much better.

Especially considering how talented at least half the cast has been in other things they've done.

Final Grade: C-