'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Just finished watching "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and I'll have to say it left us with smiles on our faces.

We yearn for stories in these Christmas romances to "break the mold", and boy howdy did these writers ever manage that! I'll forgive them their one huge cliche ... a performer who has to take a major break at the last minute and must be replaced.

As our leads produce a performance of a play which offers a mock trial to prove authorship of the classic poem (between Moore and Livingston) surprises arise, as two men appear who seem to be playing their roles, though the roles are not in the script.

The two actors who play Moore and Livingston steal this movie. Their performances are believable and nuanced.

By the way, if the Livingston theory IS correct, which I doubt, my wife is distantly related to the author of Twas the Night Before Christmas. :-)

Highly recommended, and we'll watch this one again in the future.

This story is totally different from most of the Halmark Christmas romance movies, but it still has some echoes of a few of those romance stories. After all, there is a Christmas performance that brings together two old flames to rekindle their past. But the trial setting with the objective of shedding light on the true authorship of a Christmas iconic tradition is unusual and there is some mysticism thrown in with the appearance of a ghost.

The acting is good. The dialog is sparkling. There are twists and turns. Did anyone predict the outcome of the trial even if the outcome of the relationship was predictable? I did expect one thing involving Madison even if it didn't occur to me how that would happen. That was clever. And the chemistry between Torrey DeVito and Zone Holtz was excellent.

This was a good climax to Hallmark Channel's 2022 lineup.

This movie stepped way outside of Hallmark's normal formula elements from start to end. Great acting, Great Production, Overall excellent quality and just plain fun to watch. Hallmark and their poor competitor GAC often produce movies which are just plain boring and poorly done and this is not one of them. Several original elements here which I won't go into as they would be spoilers.

Only one small complaint, but not enough to lower the rating -- there are several places in the movie where the soundtrack overpowers the actors making it hard to hear. This wasn't the only Hallmark movie to do this. So, whoever does the sound mixing, please be mindful of not overpowering the dialogue.

Definitely a movie to look forward to watching again.

I like it was the first verdict after final credits. For story ( I do not know the poem ), for acting (Zane Holtz is enogh seductive and proposes a real nice performance ), for small truths, fair reminded, for gingerbread memory technique and, sure, for the three gingerbread houses, for supporting actors wor and for inspired reflection about vocation.

And, sure, for Victorian fair. But the good point is the courage of Hallmark to propose more than the familiar recipe, using some good ...spices.

So, just smart option for Christmas Eve and for fine debate about author of a very popular poem. So, just appreciation.

Ever-gorgeous Torrie DeVitto and Zane Holtz star in a different kind of Hallmark movie. The plot involves actors who have some history between them putting on a play that is a courtroom drama debating the authorship of the Christmas poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas. It's more difficult to say than to watch. Things get interesting when the ghosts show up.

Torrie is always going to be one of my favorites. I haven't seen Holtz before, but their chemistry was good and his performance as a conflicted single dad was very compelling.

The appeal for me was the feeling of being at a play. This is a form of entertainment not everyone has experienced. If you haven't, you must. It's completely different than going to the movies or watching TV. There is an excitement about it that's hard to explain.

All in all, a refreshing effort.