adamjohns-42575
Joined Apr 2020
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adamjohns-42575's rating
Mystery On Mistletoe Lane (2023) -
In previous films I had enjoyed Victor Webster (David) in his lead roles, but right from the off in this one he came across too gruff and I didn't really see him as right for Erica Cerra as Heidi.
As the film progressed I didn't mind them as a pairing, but their connection didn't feel like the first throes of a passionate romance so much as an established relationship just past the "Seven Year Itch" stage. They were too comfortable with each other and not desperate enough to get snogging or rip each other's clothes off.
What I did like about this film was the two concurrent mysteries that ran alongside each other as Heidi's kids uncovered a previously unachieved treasure hunt within their new home while David and Heidi also tried to uncover the long forgotten family mysteries of the house in order to make the history of the town a bit more exciting as part of her new job at the local museum.
I wasn't actually sure that the 'Museum' that they both worked in was that worthy of exploration by the public. Heidi certainly had her work cut out to make it interesting, because I didn't ever work out what it represented? Was it an historic building, just the location of the historic society or just some random place full of old bits and bobs to bore kids on school trips with. It didn't even seem as architecturally important as the house Heidi had moved in to and obviously wasn't as full of mystery. It might have been better if they had focussed on just the one place and not both. She could have been a live in caretaker/curator/guide/manager instead.
The mystery continued with the discovery of a rhyme on the back of a painting and some toy Reindeers that lead them to the city to find out more.
Eventually David reached out to his Father Wallace (Fred Henderson) and I was glad that he didn't turn out to be the grouch that he had seemed to be at the start.
I also liked that the story didn't wait until near the end for the kids to own up to their hunt in order for all the pieces to fall together in one go. The unified effort to uncover the clues was, as Wallace stated, something that all the family should enjoy together and made the film more pleasant for it. It would have been too typical for the kids to have the information that the adults wanted and vice versa until the last moment.
There were a few clues that I found hard to believe hadn't been moved or lost over the 68 years of the house's being empty, surely someone would have moved something, even if it was just a plumber fixing a leak or whatever and Heidi certainly shouldn't have been making cookies in a kitchen that hadn't been cleaned well enough to notice the very blatantly located clue that was there.
Other than that I found her Ex, Robert (Cameron Park) a tad creepy. And what bug crawled up Deputy Mayor Pruit's (Stewart Prince) ass and died. He was just an idiot. Juliette Hawk as Annie was a brat too, but that was apt for the story, so I could cope with it more.
Based on the first five minutes I had expected that I would turn it off shortly afterwards, but then it got straight in to things with the adventure and overall I really liked it. The story offered a slight alternative to the usual Christmas boy meets girl thing and still had those seasonal elements to give it warmth and heart.
If it hadn't been for the lead actors not quite working with each other, I would have scored it a lot higher.
7.44/10.
In previous films I had enjoyed Victor Webster (David) in his lead roles, but right from the off in this one he came across too gruff and I didn't really see him as right for Erica Cerra as Heidi.
As the film progressed I didn't mind them as a pairing, but their connection didn't feel like the first throes of a passionate romance so much as an established relationship just past the "Seven Year Itch" stage. They were too comfortable with each other and not desperate enough to get snogging or rip each other's clothes off.
What I did like about this film was the two concurrent mysteries that ran alongside each other as Heidi's kids uncovered a previously unachieved treasure hunt within their new home while David and Heidi also tried to uncover the long forgotten family mysteries of the house in order to make the history of the town a bit more exciting as part of her new job at the local museum.
I wasn't actually sure that the 'Museum' that they both worked in was that worthy of exploration by the public. Heidi certainly had her work cut out to make it interesting, because I didn't ever work out what it represented? Was it an historic building, just the location of the historic society or just some random place full of old bits and bobs to bore kids on school trips with. It didn't even seem as architecturally important as the house Heidi had moved in to and obviously wasn't as full of mystery. It might have been better if they had focussed on just the one place and not both. She could have been a live in caretaker/curator/guide/manager instead.
The mystery continued with the discovery of a rhyme on the back of a painting and some toy Reindeers that lead them to the city to find out more.
Eventually David reached out to his Father Wallace (Fred Henderson) and I was glad that he didn't turn out to be the grouch that he had seemed to be at the start.
I also liked that the story didn't wait until near the end for the kids to own up to their hunt in order for all the pieces to fall together in one go. The unified effort to uncover the clues was, as Wallace stated, something that all the family should enjoy together and made the film more pleasant for it. It would have been too typical for the kids to have the information that the adults wanted and vice versa until the last moment.
There were a few clues that I found hard to believe hadn't been moved or lost over the 68 years of the house's being empty, surely someone would have moved something, even if it was just a plumber fixing a leak or whatever and Heidi certainly shouldn't have been making cookies in a kitchen that hadn't been cleaned well enough to notice the very blatantly located clue that was there.
Other than that I found her Ex, Robert (Cameron Park) a tad creepy. And what bug crawled up Deputy Mayor Pruit's (Stewart Prince) ass and died. He was just an idiot. Juliette Hawk as Annie was a brat too, but that was apt for the story, so I could cope with it more.
Based on the first five minutes I had expected that I would turn it off shortly afterwards, but then it got straight in to things with the adventure and overall I really liked it. The story offered a slight alternative to the usual Christmas boy meets girl thing and still had those seasonal elements to give it warmth and heart.
If it hadn't been for the lead actors not quite working with each other, I would have scored it a lot higher.
7.44/10.
My Norwegian Holiday (2023) -
They packed a lot of culture in to this one and sometimes it was a bit too much with everything having to be a lesson, but personally I actually didn't mind too much because it was a lot that I didn't know.
I also liked the meet-cute between Henrik (David Elsendoorn) and Jessica "J. J." (Rhiannon Fish) where she thought that he was being dumped and how the relationship grew from there, with him offering her a trip to Norway, because the other Jessica was clearly not coming back and it would have been a shame to waste the ticket.
Both of the actors played characters that were likeable and I wanted to see their connection blossom, which hasn't always been the case lately.
And I liked the heart of the secondary story as J. J. searched his home town of Bergen to find the origins of her Grandmother's carved Troll. It was sweet and emotional and I certainly welled up at points.
Honestly though I hadn't been sure about Henrik to start with, because he wouldn't normally be my type, but he really was such a cute character that I could see it in his face too. I didn't think that it had helped to have such a terrible picture of him as the thumbnail on my SkyBox.
While a lot of the locals gave him looks upon his return home I did know roughly what the issue with Henrik was going to be, but I didn't think that the people of Bergen should have been so cruel about it.
As with other films including a wedding (That was why he was returning home) or another culture's traditions it did seem a little bit lacking on the Christmas front, trying to get so many other elements in, but actually overall I did really enjoy it so I could forgive the lack of tree decorating, cookie making and so on.
But I must admit that I wasn't keen on the Norway fashions, especially the Sister Nora's (Karen Connell) bridal gown, but also the traditional garb too, it just didn't suit the actors.
And the production/camera work didn't do much to make Norway look very cheerful, everything was very grey, even the reds and greens. That didn't help with the lack of seasonal glamour.
Also it was fairly obvious that most of the cast were Irish, the Norse accents were good, probably far better than any I could come up with, but they definitely twanged with a brogue of the Dubliner.
However the story and its execution were in general a very pleasant surprise. With a tad more polish this one could have even rivalled mainstream films because it had lots of cheer and no real issue to upset things between the leads for a refreshing change.
7.59/10.
They packed a lot of culture in to this one and sometimes it was a bit too much with everything having to be a lesson, but personally I actually didn't mind too much because it was a lot that I didn't know.
I also liked the meet-cute between Henrik (David Elsendoorn) and Jessica "J. J." (Rhiannon Fish) where she thought that he was being dumped and how the relationship grew from there, with him offering her a trip to Norway, because the other Jessica was clearly not coming back and it would have been a shame to waste the ticket.
Both of the actors played characters that were likeable and I wanted to see their connection blossom, which hasn't always been the case lately.
And I liked the heart of the secondary story as J. J. searched his home town of Bergen to find the origins of her Grandmother's carved Troll. It was sweet and emotional and I certainly welled up at points.
Honestly though I hadn't been sure about Henrik to start with, because he wouldn't normally be my type, but he really was such a cute character that I could see it in his face too. I didn't think that it had helped to have such a terrible picture of him as the thumbnail on my SkyBox.
While a lot of the locals gave him looks upon his return home I did know roughly what the issue with Henrik was going to be, but I didn't think that the people of Bergen should have been so cruel about it.
As with other films including a wedding (That was why he was returning home) or another culture's traditions it did seem a little bit lacking on the Christmas front, trying to get so many other elements in, but actually overall I did really enjoy it so I could forgive the lack of tree decorating, cookie making and so on.
But I must admit that I wasn't keen on the Norway fashions, especially the Sister Nora's (Karen Connell) bridal gown, but also the traditional garb too, it just didn't suit the actors.
And the production/camera work didn't do much to make Norway look very cheerful, everything was very grey, even the reds and greens. That didn't help with the lack of seasonal glamour.
Also it was fairly obvious that most of the cast were Irish, the Norse accents were good, probably far better than any I could come up with, but they definitely twanged with a brogue of the Dubliner.
However the story and its execution were in general a very pleasant surprise. With a tad more polish this one could have even rivalled mainstream films because it had lots of cheer and no real issue to upset things between the leads for a refreshing change.
7.59/10.
A Christmas Intern (2023) -
I have always struggled with these Christmas films when Jackée Harry and/or Vivica A. Fox appear, because I just don't like their comedy/style. Most of the time I don't even get five minutes in, but Doug Rogers was very cute as Donte so I thought that I might give it a go.
However in mid January trying to see out the end of the seasonal films even Doug just wasn't enough for me.
If I get a chance in the build up to another Christmas, I might give it another try, but the film quality wasn't very good and the weird screen cuts were an odd choice and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to like the situation either as Alexis' Mother (Jackée Harry) turned up to spend Christmas with her while Alexis (Ciarra Carter) was trying to land Doug as an investor for her company. Meanwhile his Boss Charlotte (Viv) was clearly going to be tyrannical and I just couldn't put up with all of that again. I've seen it all before and there just didn't seem like there was going to be enough that was different from 100 other films or anything that would make this one standout and it didn't feel that it would be based that much on Christmas as much as it would just be a business contract turned romance set during the festive period and I didn't think we'd even see Doug shirtless so. . .?
Unscored as Unfinished.
I have always struggled with these Christmas films when Jackée Harry and/or Vivica A. Fox appear, because I just don't like their comedy/style. Most of the time I don't even get five minutes in, but Doug Rogers was very cute as Donte so I thought that I might give it a go.
However in mid January trying to see out the end of the seasonal films even Doug just wasn't enough for me.
If I get a chance in the build up to another Christmas, I might give it another try, but the film quality wasn't very good and the weird screen cuts were an odd choice and I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to like the situation either as Alexis' Mother (Jackée Harry) turned up to spend Christmas with her while Alexis (Ciarra Carter) was trying to land Doug as an investor for her company. Meanwhile his Boss Charlotte (Viv) was clearly going to be tyrannical and I just couldn't put up with all of that again. I've seen it all before and there just didn't seem like there was going to be enough that was different from 100 other films or anything that would make this one standout and it didn't feel that it would be based that much on Christmas as much as it would just be a business contract turned romance set during the festive period and I didn't think we'd even see Doug shirtless so. . .?
Unscored as Unfinished.