Christmas ball, Christmas ball, which Christmas movie on Netflix is the best of them all?
Netflix is now teeming with movie titles about the holiday season. Below are mini reviews of some of those films. These movies are not being judged like Oscar contenders, but on how each one brings Christmas cheer to the viewers.
May the brief commentaries on each film serve as guide for Netflix subscribers who are looking for entertainment fare that will bring them joy during the remaining days of the Christmas season.
A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS
The title of this film may as well be A Sgt. Esguerra Christmas. Sgt. Esguerra, formerly Bohol Avenue, is the location of ABS-CBN, the mother organization of Star Cinema.
Star Cinema began as the home of quality films: Sana Maulit Muli, Radio Romance, May Minamahal and even the commercial Sharon Cuneta picture Madrasta. But somewhere along the way, the executives discovered a template for love stories.
It all started with Cathy Garcia Molina, who came up with hit movies that were very well made – particularly those with John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo. Sometimes, John Lloyd was paired with Sara Geronimo and that tandem also proved to be delightful.
But Star Cinema stuck with the winning formula – until it started to come out of everyone’s ears. The plots sadly became predictable: Boy meets girl and they’re off to a bad start. Of course, they make up, fall in love and live happily ever after because that is how everything ends in a love story aimed to please the audience. No, they’d never do it the Shakespearean way because that won’t sell.
And so until before the pandemic, moviegoers had a better batting average than the late Madame Auring when it came to predicting the story lines of Star Cinema that was later changed to ABS-CBN Films.
The Star Cinema influence, surprisingly, invaded America. And so there is a Netflix film that looks like it was mounted by ABS-CBN.
Here’s the plot: Joseph (Josh Swickard), the heir to a giant real estate company based in San Francisco, is tasked to purchase a piece of farm land in Petaluma, an hour’s drive away from the Bay Area. The huge obstacle is the owner of the property, a young woman named Callie (Lauren Swickard, the real-life wife of Josh) who refuses to sell the land. So what does Joseph do? He pretends to be a ranch hand and from there tries to figure out his next move.
So guess what happens next? If you say they fight in the beginning, then you already had an overdose of Star Cinema movies because that is correct. From here, you know that they eventually fall in love, but the girl discovers the truth and they fight again before they reconcile in the end.
Sounds like a Star Cinema movie? You bet. Why, they even have an odd character to provide the laughs – the type played by ABS-CBN’s former resident comic, Janus del Prado.
A California Christmas won’t exactly put you in a Christmas mood. The strange thing there is that the people in the film never seem to get cold even if the location is in Northern California in December. All of them wear light clothes like it’s summer in that place. There is even a scene where the two lead actors undress outdoors at night for a love scene. Maybe global warming has really changed the climate there in a major way.
Well, there is actually a sequel to this that looks promising at the start of the story. They travel to San Francisco and there are more Christmas scenes to put you in a holiday spirit.
But as usual, there is villain who tries to put an end to their romance. As expected, they have a misunderstanding and separate for a brief moment – until everything is okay again. Even Santa Claus would be tempted to say ho-ho-hum. If you want a sleep inducer after all that holiday season excitement, this Christmas movie is for you.
A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS
The story of this movie could very well be the scenario of Downtown Abbey a century later. The heir to a castle becomes cash-strapped because the estate has become costlier and costlier to maintain through the decades. All that is left of this duke (Cary Elwes) is his title and a white elephant of a property. Oh, there is also his pride and he tries his best not to lose the castle even if the only solution to his problem is to sell it.
The location of this film crosses the Atlantic. A Castle for Christmas begins with the best-selling author Sophie Brown (Brooke Shields) getting the rant of her readers who disapprove of what she does with the male lead character of her romance novel. From the United States, she flies to Scotland to hide in a village where she thought she can move around incognito.
But unlike here in the Philippines where only entertainment personalities and vloggers get recognized in public, people in the west side of the globe still read and so they know that she is a famous writer.
Fortunately for Sophie, the Scottish village where she hides is populated by the nicest people on earth. They read her books, but are not rude to her – unlike her fans in the US.
Exploring the village, she chances upon a magnificent castle where she meets the duke who is now all grumpy. Given the fact that he is without money, surely he has become quite moody.
Like in A California Christmas, they initially fight, too. But A Castle for Christmas has a lot more to offer. For one, it has a lot of scenes that will make the viewer feel that it is Christmas. And there’s the beautiful camaraderie Sophie develops with the village folks. That brings out the true meaning of Christmas.
A Castle for Christmas is a feel-good movie that is guaranteed to give the viewer the holiday cheer.
LAST CHRISTMAS
This film boasts of a lot of big-names in the cast: Emilia Clark, Michelle Yeoh, Oscar winner Emma Thompson and Henry Golding of Crazy Rich Asians fame.
It opens in Yugoslavia where Kate (Emilia Clark) is first shown as a youngster singing solo in a church choir. When the family migrates to London, she continues dreaming of becoming a famous singer, but always ends up rejected in auditions.
But a girl has to live and so she finds work as an elf – actually a shop assistant in an all-year round Christmas store owned by Michelle Yeoh, who calls herself Santa. Wearing an elf costume all day humiliates her, but she is positive her luck will change one day and become a professional singer.
It is difficult to empathize with her character because she is such a scatterbrain. But the viewer begins to understand her flaws when it is revealed that she has just survived serious medical issues.
Her knight in shining armor comes in the person of Tom (Henry Golding). Thank heavens they don’t fight in the story and so we are introduced to fresh material. But the twist in the end is a big surprise that the viewer doesn’t exactly see coming, except maybe for the truly perceptive ones who watched the trailer.
Last Christmas can make you cry. But it doesn’t necessarily ruin the holiday spirit. Actually, we may need a good cry or two after all that saccharine holiday cheer throughout the Christmas season. And so this makes for a perfect Christmas movie.
Released in 2019, Last Christmas will surely be able to stand the test of time. It will stay relevant for many more Christmases in the future.
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Source: Pinoy Ako News
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