Two Holiday Movies You Must See
A rite of passage during the Christmas holiday season is tuning in to a good movie. Christmas movies put us in a festive mood where we are ready to don decorations, bake cookies and get creative with our gift-giving. True to form, most holiday movies have a pretty solidly followed theme: Overworked executive is forced to travel back to the small town they grew up in or for that matter, any small winter town will do. Once there, said executive realizes the true meaning of Christmas among the ski lodges or bakeries, wherever the movie takes place. There is usually a love interest, followed by some type of conflict and at the end of the movie the executive always makes the decision to stay in the small town they’ve found, leaving their corporate life behind for good in favor of a more traditional existence. Sound familiar? I would think so if you have ever tuned into a Christmas movie.
This year, we have a couple of movies we are suggesting based on the first premise that they are unique storylines. You’ll still get all the holiday feelings you came in search of, but you’ll also get a new Christmas storyline which is always nice. The first movie must-see this December is “Fallen Angel.” It is a 2003 Hallmark television movie. I turned it on, just wanting to kill a few minutes before heading to the grocery store but the more I got into it, I just couldn’t tear myself away. The movie goes a little like this. A caretaker who opens up mansions on a beautiful lake in Maine is beloved for how dutiful he is to those he works for. His son does not have that bond with his father and so one day he follows him to work, desperately wanting some time and attention from his dad. They open the mansion and have the opportunity to meet the young couple and little girl who were up for the winter. That evening the caretaker’s son goes to a holiday event with the man from the mansion and his little girl. As fate would have it a terrible snowstorm causes the man to crash into a young mother and her child. The man runs away from the scene of the accident, leaving his little girl and the caretaker’s son, rocked with guilt and sadness, not to be seen again for many years. Fast forward to the present time when the caretaker’s son is now an adult and tasked with opening up the mansions for his father who has recently died. The caretaker’s son realizes the man from the accident is still alive and realizes he has the opportunity to reintroduce the man with his daughter who he had run away from that night many years prior. It is a well-written, non-conforming type of holiday movie which has all the features we love….love, redemption, and finding a way forward, without all the kitschy norms of a usual holiday movie. You must check it out on Hallmark’s movie channels.
The other movie that you must catch this holiday season is “Nutcrackers” on Hulu. It’s not the traditional Nutcrackers movie, but still very seasonal and perfect to watch over Christmas. In this version of “Nutcrackers” a man must settle his deceased sister’s estate which involves finding homes for her four rowdy young sons. What starts as a “keep them alive” situation with the basics of food and shelter, finds the man in turmoil over the boys he is starting to really care for and his own need to get back to his single life. The gravity of the situation settles in as the man and the boys try getting a local couple to adopt the children but of course the havoc the boys wreak as they visit the couples home makes that option not a good one. Then a foster mom in town who seems perfect reveals her intentions of just wanting to fill the house with foster kids to collect the money that goes along with taking the children in. In the end, the man does what is best for the family and promises the boys he will “still be there in the morning,” something the boys kept asking him. It is a lovely story of sticking by family and spreading holiday cheer in ways other than gift giving. Hop on over to Hulu and catch Ben Stiller in Nutcrackers.
We hope you’ll take an afternoon for yourself this holiday season, prepare a hot cup of cocoa and your favorite snacks and settle in for a great, happy Christmas movies.
Photos courtesy of Hallmark Channel and Movie Trailers Facebook pages.