Noël à notre porte

Another save the family inn vs the big time developer story. This one is the common variation of wanting it to go to the right buyer who will respect the property. And the corporate representative is under constant pressure to close. All of this is the same old stuff.

Almost all of these movies have to have a face off between the leads early in the movie. This one wasn't quite as antagonistic as some and it led into a cute official introduction between the two.

Rukiya Bernard and Dewshane Williams have done several Hallmark movies together mostly as close friends to the leads. Now they are the leads for Hallmark's new competition GAC Family. There's obvious chemistry between the two actors screaming to get out, but for too long there is real deception between the two characters. She is working against the direct wishes of her client. This is real dishonesty, not just hiding a secret identity, or other "white lie". Either way, it kills the effect of their chemistry. .

Williams doesn't convince me in his early efforts as the rigid corporate big shot (aka the mean guy). Seems like he is trying too hard. Maybe that's the point - maybe it's because Julian is trying to convince himself.

There is a bit of mysticism with the watch and its backstory.

By 3/4ths through, the pieces are in place for a very predictable ending which is even more of the same old stuff.

Bernard and Williams sing together early in the movie and it is just average. However, Bernard and Tom Pickett, Mia's dad, sing a very nice Silent Night near the end.

This film just plodded along, like hands on the watch.

Everyone seemed sedated. The actors sleepily went through their lines, leads not really generating any attraction to each other. The writing was unenergetic, as nothing really happened - even the compulsory conflict "tearing" the couple apart barely registered. The solutions to problems fell to the leads' laps, already foreseen by the entire viewership from the beginning.

I did kind of perk up when they introduced some heritage elements, such as the photos and the female lead's old watch: I thought we're in for some plot twist. This opportunity was disappointingly wasted, and the watch concept remained random and contrived.

I'll add an extra star, however, for the location scout and the cinematographer, for making the inn and the village look so appealing - I now really want to spend Christmas at Pine Valley Inn! (If only it existed.)

All and all, unexciting but harmless and cosy nonetheless. I can imagine this would be suitable to watch during Christmas Day siesta; nothing to alert you from your semi-slumber.

Love Rukiya, but lord this was boring. Even she was struggling to save this. They tried to inject some chemistry by pairing her with Deshawn with whom she had had a successful paring previously, but no. On the upside, loved the duet at the end. Lovely. Who knew she could sing too?

'Christmas Time is Here' (2021)

Opening thoughts: GAC Family have literally just about been formed, but it's not faring too badly. Sure, there have been misfires, such as 'The Great Christmas Switch'. There have also been winners, primarily 'Much Ado About Christmas'. Also saw 'Christmas Time is Here' for the leads, have seen both Rukiya Bernard and DeShawne Williams in other things and have seen that they can be good with the right material. Was very willing to give it a fair chance, despite the storyline not sounding particularly promising.

Feelings overall for 'Christmas Time is Here' were slightly above mixed feelings. There are quite a lot of things done well, with the best aspects being close to great. There are though some major shortcomings that stop it from being above decent, and it does very little new with an overused formula (an overuse that one does feel). 'Christmas Time is Here' is a long way from being a disaster and is a superior film to 'The Great Christmas Switch' for instance, but it doesn't have the same amount or kind of spark that 'Much Ado About Christmas' had.

Good things: Bernard is the best aspect here, despite having reservations about her character she gives a one hundred percent committed performance and is charming. The supporting cast do competently, even in cliched roles.

Production values are attractive to look at, the scenery is beautiful in particular. The music is easy on the ears and doesn't feel too much. There are charming and light hearted moments sprinkled throughout.

Bad things: However, Williams comes over as surprisingly robotic and one note, while also strained early on. He and Bernard have no chemistry together, something that surprised me as somebody who has seen them act with each other before and very well. Will agree about Bernard's character not being well written, the dishonesty is overdone and mean spirited and she is too unrealistically unethical. On the whole the chemistry is bland and walk through like, indicative of writers that were too indifferent in fleshing out the relationship and a director that had their mind on other things. The writing is too corny and doesn't flow naturally on the whole.

The pacing is all over the place, the film is dull due to seeing on screen pretty much exactly what was to be expected, while also having a lot of jumping about, am sure that more parts were filmed that somehow didn't make it into the film. The ending is too neat. The story is very predictable and underdeveloped, very familiar material here not given any freshness. The stuff with the watch was a promising angle but done nothing with, big missed opportunity there.

Closing thoughts: All in all, average.

5/10.

I really wanted to like this movie. The story is cute and should been really good. The acting was good, but the movie was extremely slow. There was very litter substantiated. Twice, time was spent with long periods of singing, most likely to fill time.