Yahoo Lifestyle The Best & Battiest Moments From This Past Weekend’s Holiday Movies
Once again it’s the season to be merry and watch every new holiday movie as it debuts! Each Monday, we’ll take a look back at the previous weekend’s premieres to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year with a new list of superlatives.
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Fullest Cups
We all hate to see the empty cups of cocoa, cider and coffee being sipped in holiday movies. So bravo to UPtv’s Festival of Trees for these overflowing “Snowcuccinos.”
Best Reference in Lifetime’s Taylor Swift Movie
Christmas in the Spotlight, about global pop star Bowyn (Jessica Lord) falling for wide receiver Drew (Laith Wallschleger), dropped Swift lyrics in dialogue and made Drew a funcle to a niece (very Uncle Travvy). But our favorite moment was Drew wearing a Santa suit to meet Bowyn at her parked private plane for their covert first date — presumably a nod to Swift’s brother, Austin, dressing as Santa for the Chiefs’ Christmas Day game last year.
Cleverest Meta Reference in a Holiday Movie
Multiple films have had characters talking about — or actually watching — past Hallmark or Netflix titles this year. We appreciate how Netflix’s The Merry Gentlemen, our pick of the week, worked The Princess Switch franchise in more subtly. See: this framed newspaper clipping claiming the Belgravia royals had attended a rock fest at The Rhythm Room in little old Sycamore Creek.
Unsung Heroes
If we learned anything from Magic Mike, it’s that not all actors are created equal when it comes to dance skills. The Merry Gentlemen’s Chad Michael Murray clearly had fun playing a tease (and we admittedly squealed when Grease 2’s Maxwell Caulfield subbed in for Marc Anthony Samuel). We should, however, acknowledge that Colt Prattes and Hector David Jr. did the heavy lifting. Also, a shout-out to pup Gizmo Nolan, the breakout start of this film, who has his own Instagram account.
Biggest Tearjerker
If you haven’t watched CBS’ Aussie comedy import Nugget Is Dead? A Christmas Story and plan to (streaming on Paramount+), skip ahead! How sad was it when Steph (Vic Zerbst) entered the family home Christmas morning, happily announcing that she’d retrieved the tiny diagnostic camera that their beloved ill dog Nugget had passed through his system, only to find everyone mourning Nuggy? We teared up again during the yard memorial service: “You loved jerky. God, you loved humping. And you loved us… even though we are us.” And then again when the dad (Damien Garvey) started sobbing and unveiled what he’d been building: an elaborate new dog house for Nugget. (Yep, just welled up again typing that!)
Best Use of a Tree
Interior designer Jacquie’s (Kate Miner) winning entry in Festival of Trees may be the sentimental favorite: She asked the children at the hospital benefiting from the auction to name their favorite things, then created ornaments representing each child. However, In Hallmark+’s Unwrapping Christmas: Lily’s Destiny, marketing guru Lily (Ashley Newbrough) turned a tree into a rocket in tribute to her late science-teaching father for her lane’s Festival of Trees. That’s just cool.
Most Inconsequential Detail to Annoy Us the Most
In Hallmark Channel’s To Have and to Holiday, both the pastor (Eric Close) and his mayor wife (Kate Drummond) spelled “O Holy Night” incorrectly while attempting to defeat their daughter and her fiancé in a compatibility quiz. Dishonorable mention: the distracting product placement for a certain slipper company in that film.
Gift Idea We’re Most Tempted to Steal
In Hallmark Channel’s A Novel Noel, burnout NYC book editor Harper (Julie Gonzalo) took a hiatus to work at a Maine bookstore while completing the final Christmas Bingo card that her late best friend had made for her. A Christmas Bingo card exchange sounds like a fun, tailorable way to actually encourage each other to experience the season with squares like Commit a Random Act of Holiday Kindness and Eat a Dozen Christmas Cookies in One Sitting in Public.
Best Sales Tactic for Small Business Owners
It’s no “stage an all-male dance revue to save your parents’ club” (The Merry Gentlemen) or “perform a benefit concert to save your mother’s diner” (The Roku Channel’s Jingle Bell Love). But, Harper’s idea to boost the bottom line at Sawyer’s (Brendan Penny) parents’ bookshop by hiding a “Santa Sawyer on a Stick” on the shelves daily and awarding the person who finds it a coupon was simple and effective.
Best Screenplay
Hallmark Channel’s Three Wiser Men and a Boy, our runner-up pick of the week, was a worthy follow-up to 2022’s standout Three Wise Men and a Baby. It had the perfect blend of bantering brotherly insanity and heart from Andrew W. Walker, co-writer Paul Campbell, and Tyler Hynes as their characters banded together to salvage a K-5th-grade Christmas pageant and resist their mother’s (Margaret Colin) new relationship.
Film Most Ready to Become a Franchise
Hallmark Channel’s excellent One Chicago-esque first-responder dramedy Christmas on Call should launch its own TV universe. While we’d miss stars Sara Canning and Ser’Darius Blain, the action (and romance) could move to a different city each year and feature a new noteworthy cameo (Donna Kelce popped up as cheesesteak joint cashier). The good news: Unless a film is set in Dallas, you can probably do another Cowboys diss.
Most Ready to Be a Hallmark Leading Man
Franco Lo Presti made an excellent Wrong Guy in Unwrapping Christmas: Lily’s Destiny, playing conceited Most Eligible Bachelor Owen. While he does have classic Hallmark Wrong Guy looks, he showed in last year’s Christmas Time Capsule (UPtv) that he can play a romantic Army vet, which means he is also Hallmark leading man material. Let’s get on that for 2025.
Dating Tip of the Week
If you spy the man you are crushing on with a woman, do not jump to the conclusion that he’s spoken for. She could be his sister, as seen in Unwrapping Christmas: Lily’s Destiny and Christmas on Call (costarring Reena Jolly and Erik Athavale).
Sexiest Xmas Sweater
You can’t go wrong with an ivory cable knit, as Fritz (Trevor Donovan) wore in Great American Family’s A Little Women’s Christmas while not telling Jo March (Jillian Murray) that he was her new book editor.
Christmas Time Is Here! Your Guide to 100 Holiday Movies on Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix and More in 2024
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