Film Critics United

The Christmas Charade (2024) - Hallmark Reviewed by L. Sue The trailer for this movie is Christmas meets the FBI, and if you know me, you know I love me some spycraft mixed in with Jingle Bells. Whitney, a school librarian who always plays it safe, is looking for a little adventure. She starts her day by watching a spy show before heading to work. Kudos to her for waking up early enough to enjoy some TV—making me feel a bit better about choosing sleep over morning exercise or watching movies. Whitney’s best friend convinces her to go on a blind date with "mark_loves_cats_1922," even personally vouching for him IRL. Despite some initial hesitation and even tossing the address into the trash, Whitney realizes she needs some excitement in her life and decides this date could be the perfect opportunity. She agrees to meet Mark at a restaurant—he’ll be the one wearing a green sweater. Plus, she’s slightly guilted into this as her parents want to set her up with some ophthalmolog...

Catfish Christmas (2022) - TUBI As most of you probably know, the great Tony Todd passed away in November 2024. In honor of Mr. Todd, I paid homage to his Candyman action figure on my YouTube channel, where I talk about toys. However, while perusing his IMDB page, I saw that Mr. Todd appeared in another one of my passions—silly holiday romantic movies. So obviously, we had to stop what we were doing, track down this movie "Catfish Christmas" (which is playing for free on Tubi at the moment), and further pay homage to the late, great Tony Todd. While the man might not want this particular film to be his everlasting legacy, I'll tell you what I know about Tony Todd: this brother never half-assed any role, including this one. It is a great day for the lovely Leslie (Leigh Ann Rose) as her fiancé Xavier has just proposed to her. Hate to get sidetracked again, but I KNOW the actor playing Xavier! That would be my main man, my homeboy from Detroit, Yancy Fuqua. Without gettin...

Christmas With The Singhs (2024) - Hallmark Asha (Anuja Joshi) is a hardworking Chicago-based nurse practitioner helping children with disabilities hang ornaments on Christmas Eve at her hospital. Jake (Ben Hollingsworth) is a dedicated sports reporter for the Chicago Newspaper. While interviewing some local personalities—dang, I can't name a single current Chicago Bulls player. Does DeMar DeRozan still play for them? Anyway, Jake slips and falls on some ice while helping an old lady and ends up in the emergency room, being treated by none other than Asha. It turns out these two attended the same high school back in the day. She remembers him immediately. He remembers her eventually. But the girl is a cutie, so Jake wastes no time asking her out after he gets patched up. Asha accepts. Quick. C'mon baby, you want to at least pretend to think about it for a moment. Anyway, it's a glorious night for these two, ending with a kiss on Asha's doorstep. No near-miss kiss here, ...

A Biltmore Christmas (2023) - Hallmark So Lucy (Bethany Joy Lenz) is a hard working Hollywood screenwriter tasked with re-writing this world's version of 'It's A Wonderful Life', 'His Merry Wife'.  Which, 'It's A Wonderful Life, to my knowledge has amazingly not been remade yet.  80+ years have passed and the powers that be haven't had the stones to remake that classic.  I'm not complaining, but it just seems strange.  Anyway, the problem with Lucy's script is that her ending isn't a happy one.  Mr. Balaban (Tommy Cresswell) the studio head, finds this unacceptable and instead of firing Lucy and hiring someone else, he decides to send Lucy to the famous Biltmore hotel in snowy North Carolina (I think), where the original 'His Merry Wife' was filmed so she can get some happy ending inspiration.   As it turns out, we would learn the reason Lucy doesn't give the movie a happy ending is because happy endings just aren't real. ...

Holiday Crashers (2024) - Hallmark Reviewed by L. Sue Admittedly, in the year 2024, who isn’t looking for a little fun and distraction? I know I am, hence we subject ourselves to these Christmas movies ostensibly for the benefit of you, the reader, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get anything out of temporarily residing in an alternate reality. Picture this: two adrift millennials are working dead-end jobs at a print shop. They see all these fabulous invitations being printed for all kinds of glamorous holiday parties, and spunky Bri has a thought. Why not swipe one of the invitations from the shred pile for themselves and live the life of the rich and famous? Prim and proper Toni is a little more skeptical. Isn’t this wrong? Isn’t this lying to people and possibly themselves? Bri, ever the dreamer, thinks this is just some fun, food, dancing, and distraction. Carpe Diem! Party crashing is harmless, and she will most definitely shred the invitation… right after they use it. So, off...

Christmas With A Kiss (2023) - Hallmark So Big City Social Media Influencer Mona (Mishael Morgan) is out on a date with what I guess is her boyfriend and she's ready to commit to this dude by inviting him to spend Christmas with her, and her family, in her tiny home town.  But this cat also has something to say, mainly that being with Mona has made him realize how much he loves his ex-wife.  Damn.  I mean Mona seems pleasant enough, she's very good looking, has a nice figure, a great job and a killer NYC apartment but clearly there's something else there I'm not seeing because that's harsh.  Fortunately Mona's bestie Shay (Samantha Gracie) is there to comfort her in her time of need to let her know that while it is true, she is almost valueless without a man, but that a high quality man is just around the corner!  Thanks Shay! Now it's off to Tiny Town where Mona has to help the family with the annual Sinclair Christmas Festival, and that's when she sees...