Movie: Christmas List
Network: Hallmark Channel
Original Air Date: November 25, 2016
CAST:
Alicia Witt ... Isobel Gray
Gabriel Hogan ... Jamie Houghton
Peter Benson ... Brett Bishop
Susan Hogan ...
Chance Hurstfield ...
PLOT:
via Hallmark: Isobel Gray is a young fashion designer who travels to Fall River, Oregon, 'the perfect Christmas town' alone, when her fashion designer boyfriend Brett Bishop is suddenly called away on business. Isobel brings along her Christmas bucket list a collection of holiday traditions she's longed to experience since childhood. With Christmas approaching, Isobel meets Jamie Houghton, a handsome local contractor and volunteer fireman who is happy to assist Isobel in completing her list but also leaves Isobel asking if Brett is truly 'the one.'
Movie Review:
Coming...
See or Skip:
Coming...
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Photo Credit: Copyright 2016 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Kailey Schwerman
Thank you for all your hard work keeping us posted on movies that I really enjoy watching! With your website I am up to date, again THANKS!
ReplyDeleteHappy to Alicia Witt back with Gabriel Hogan for a Christmas movie. And happy to see Susan Hogan back with Alicia Witt for christmas. I still love and watch A Very Merry Mix Up all the time. Love Alice and the fun Mitchums.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - that is such a fun connection all around! Did you also know, Susan Hogan is Gabriel Hogan's real life mother? I've been wondering if they will have any scenes together in this new movie. They were both also in a 'Murder She Baked' Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie. Their characters spoke briefly and if you watch carefully in the party scene you will see them walk by talking together in the background. Both of Gabriel's parents are actors, by the way, and they both portrayed his parents on the TV show Heartland!
DeleteThat is certainly a cute nod to Hallmark Christmas movie fans to have at least two actors Alicia Witt has already been in Christmas movies with - also star in this new movie!!!
Oh yes, I know. I LOVE the Murder She baked series, I watch it all the time I have them on my DVR. The movie The Christmas Secret stars Gabriel Hogan's Mom and Dad. They are a couple too. PS I want Hannah to choose Mike :)
DeleteLove it, Sabrina! So glad to know you also love Murder She Baked! I'm on Team Mike (Cameron Mathison), too, by the way! Sorry Norman (Gabriel Hogan)!
DeleteAnd, yes, yes, yes, I also love The Christmas Secret - they are both so wonderful in it!
Thanks for sharing, Sabrina!!! Happy watching!!! :)
Favorite scene with Isobel - Baking gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteFavorite scene with Jamie - Santa.
Favorite scene with Isobel and Jamie together - Snow tubing.
A Christmas List did not move me at all. I am not a fun of Alicia Witt. I could not past the first 15 minutes of this movie.
ReplyDeleteI loved Christmas List. Great movie!
ReplyDeleteWhen she is decorating the cabin,the Deck the halls song sounds like Richard Cheeseman's style. Is it him?
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me where the movie was filmed. And where was the carousel from?
ReplyDeleteI didn't like this movie at all. I'm not sure if it's was Alicia or the director who told her to play the character the way she did in the beginning but it was off-putting to say the least. She played it almost as way way too "child-like" - wide eyes, mouth hanging open, expression of confusion all the time. Just a really odd choice that didn't work at all.
ReplyDeleteYes! Thank you, Anon! We thought it was only us in our house that saw this. My husband thought she was playing a "simpleton" in his words. This was her second movie in a row, after "I'm not ready for Christmas" that was a mess. And it's a shame because we loved her in "A Very Merry Mix-Up" from years ago. She's venturing too close to the Anne Heche "chewing-up-the-scenery-way-too-much" method of acting but we hold out hope for the future that she'll turn it around!
DeleteChristmas List is my favorite new Christmas movie of the season thus far (and that includes movies on both Hallmark channels and other channels as well). I loved it. I liked some other ones this year, but this one was the one that spoke to me the most.
ReplyDeleteI will revaluate after I see the last few new movies, but, for the time being, this one is way up at the top.
This is good to hear! I couldn't make it past the first 15 minutes for the reasons I stated above. But I'll give it another shot now! Thanks! I think it has a similar problem to Christmas in Homestead which many people didn't rave about. You had to get through a rough start with a difficult-to-like lead. It wasn't the actresses fault, it was simply the storyline.
DeleteI hadn't read your initial comment or comments above, until now.
DeleteI loved the movie, the story/plot, the scenery, the actors -- the whole thing. Because I have enjoyed all of Alicia Witt's Christmas movies (and her wedding movie) on the Hallmark Channel, I didn't notice anything different in how she was acting or expressing herself in "Christmas List." To me, it just seemed like Alicia being Alicia. She has been pretty much the same in every role, for the most part, to varying degrees, and she is not that different when she is just doing interviews and not acting. I think that she is a bit quirky and unique -- which I fully appreciate, but other people will either take to her or not take to her. What I think is refreshing and charming is what someone else thinks is annoying and weird. We all have different tastes and preferences.
For the people who are not fans of Alicia, or her acting style, or facial expressions, or whatever, I don't think this movie will change anyone's mind at the 30-minute mark, or the 60-minute mark, or the 90-minute mark. I don't think that it would be worth it to give it a second shot if the first 15 minutes were already bothering you. I'm not one to try to convince people to watch a movie again, that didn't hook them in the first place.
I'm totally fine being on my own little island in my love of this movie! Other fans are welcome to join me on my island, but I'm okay being the only island inhabitant.
The other day I sat through the first part of a movie -- one that I will not name -- and it was so bad that I thought "How could anyone have thought this was a good movie? Is this a joke?" I made it quite a bit beyond 15 minutes, though. I was determined to stick it out for at least a full 30 minutes to one hour. I had to eventually give up and turn it off, after furiously fast forwarding through a few more scenes just to see if anything exciting happened. I couldn't deal with it.
Last year I was forcing myself to sit through movies that didn't grab me after about one hour. This year I decided that the one hour point was my limit. I felt that I wanted to give every movie a fair chance, and 30 - 60 minutes should be enough time for the movie to hook me. Not only did this one movie not hook me, it sent me running off into the dark of night, off into the Hinterlands, never wanting to watch TV again. Luckily I bounced back and was able to recover from that dreadful experience. ;) But I shall not be making another attempt to watch it. Once was enough.
I actually quite liked this.
ReplyDeleteAlicia Witt has been unfortunate in often being cast as an abrasive professional with unlikable characteristics to the extent that you just couldn't like her in the role but this was different and I felt she came over well.
Yes she was slightly disengenuous but I thought she and Gabriel Hogan blended well together and had good chemistry.
As Sherry In California has said it's subjective and it would appear that this Movie hsn't generally been well recieved.
Of this year's Hallmark/Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Christmas offerings this is the lowest rated on IMDB at 6.1 except for Looks Like Christmas (5.9).
There haven't been any really outstanding ones this Season apart from Finding Father Christmas - my favourite to date - and Christmas Cookies was almost there but was somewhat spoilt by a weak ending but in general I thing the overall quality is an improvement on the last couple of years.
I would rate Christmas List 7/10.
Well I enjoyed it, I see her as a little girl being told how to celebrate Christmas and the trimmings and now she is on her own to experience all the things she dreamed of doing. Her mother is still trying to control it! Than Jamie runs into this "kook" at the tree lot and it doesn't stop there. He looks at her with joy and amazement of someone never experiencing all the joys of the holiday! I love it!
ReplyDeleteIlove the Hallmark movies. Its so refreshing to have fun happy movies that are clean with NO foul language!!!That alone is nearly.impossible anywhere else. Thanks Hallmark. My favorite channel.
ReplyDelete