The Twelve Reviews of Christmas...Day Seven: "The Christmas Card"

I seriously want to live in this town...

The Story:

Sgt. Cody Cullen (John Newton) is serving a tour in Afghanistan.  For the holidays, he receives a random Christmas Card written by Faith Spelman (Alice Evans) who gives him some words of encouragement and invites him to come visit the family if he ever happens to be in Nevada City, California.  When one of Sgt. Cullen's men is killed in a mortar attack, he takes leave to go console the girlfriend, and then winds up in Nevada City.  He meets Faith, and in a nice twist of luck, saves her father (Edward Asner) from getting hit by a car.  Cody is invited to stick around for a bit, exchanging some work at the mill for a place to stay.  He agrees, and all is going swimmingly until Paul (Ben Weber), Faith's fiancé shows up...

Let's hear it for Hallmark!

Not to be outdone in the holiday department, Hallmark made this film in 2006.

Sadly, AT&T does not carry the Hallmark channel so I can't tell you if this film is playing this holiday season or not.

It should be, and if it is, I recommend a viewing.

It's sweet and charming.  A bit of drama with a helping of humor.

Yes, a lot like real life.

Faith's parents are hilarious in their obvious affection for Cody over Paul.  But as all good parents, they mostly want their child to be happy, so they will bite their tongue.

Mostly.

:)
Aside from Asner and Peter Jason, a great character actor, most everyone in the cast was a relative unknown to me.

But if the story is good, and the acting passable, it's hard not to want to watch a good Christmas movie.

That's what we have here.

Count me as  a big fan.

Probably my favorite of these sentimental dramatic romantic films that take place around the holidays.



Final Grade: B+/A-...

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: At least once, every year.  I do own this one, and I'm glad to have it!

The Twelve Reviews of Christmas...Day One: "Christmas in Boston"

Love at first sight, mostly?

The Story:

Gina (Marla Sokoloff) and Seth (Patrick J. Adams) have been pen pals for over 13 years.  Bestest of friends, chance has brought Seth to Boston for a toy conference because he works at a giant toy company and Gina is a reporter who will be covering the show.  The problem?  Seth had sent Gina a picture of his best friend, Matt (Johnathan Cherry).  No real worries, as Gina had sent a picture of her best friend Ellen (Lindy Booth) also.  Silly kids.  So they make their best friends meet... and they hit it off.

Big time.

Now what are the two supposed to do?  Their best friends are falling in love with each other, and Gina and Seth are disappointed, yet connecting with each other unbeknownst about who they really are.

Plus, Gina has the toy business scoop of a lifetime. 

Will she publish the story and destroy Seth's career?

Is fate going to step in and save the day?

Yep, another cute holiday movie served up from ABC Family as part of their 25 Days of Christmas programming.

From 2005, this one was probably seen by us for the first time 3 or 4 years ago.

It's a cute little tale, and all of the actors do a fine job.

Nothing earth-shattering or genre revitalizing, but ABC knows how to crank out an annual new film for their channel, and I'm glad for it.

So if you're interested in a sweet little romantic comedy for the holidays, here's a good one to try and start off with.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: At least once a year around now, and now thanks to a multi-pack of ABC Family films, I do own it!