The Christmas Blessing (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

After becoming disillusioned with his job after a failed surgery, Nathan Andrews decides it’s time to take some time off of work to go back to his hometown to see his dad.  But he decides to hide the true nature of his visit as he goes around town helping people.  He stumbles across a random woman several times, and the two of them fall madly in love.  Nathan also meets back up with his lawyer friend who helped him buy his dying mother a pair of shoes, which are now missing.  Will Nathan be able to make peace with his past and reconcile his work over the holidays?

 

Production Quality (3 points)

Much like the preceding film, The Christmas Shoes, The Christmas Blessing is basically a pristine production with no real errors.  Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are all fine.  The soundtrack is fairly typical, but the sets, locations, and props are good, even if there are a lot of Christmas decorations.  Finally, the editing is standard with no real errors.  It’s rare that we see a perfect production, but at least in this era, Hallmark put their full efforts towards this front.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Also much like the film that comes before this one, The Christmas Blessing is almost a totally pointless plot.  It has a predictable return-to-hometown to stumble upon a random romance at Christmas spiel, all of which seem very forced and manufactured.  This is evident in very obvious and programmed dialogue, which in turn creates one-dimensional characters that only serve as stand-ins for the plot’s inevitable purpose.  There is also a dose of a buying-a-building subplot here, along with a troubled character subplot.  With all of this going on, the progression is very rushed and based on coincidences in route to a predictable conclusion before the television time is up.  The Christian message is also very muted and mostly only based on the previous film.  Basically, the only reason to make these sorts of films is just to have more content to play on TV.

Acting Quality (2 points)

Though this cast is mostly professional, in keeping with Hallmark’s usual standards, there are some moments when the cast members seem to be trying too hard.  Sometimes lines come off as overly practiced, and emotions can sometimes be overly ‘interested.’  But on the whole, this section is above average and is on industry standard.

Conclusion

These two films are made for the sake of having Christmas films based on a recognizable Christian song in order to grab the attention of some audiences for a short amount of time.  In the grand scheme of things, movies like this are extremely forgettable and will be lost in time.  We need films that are dynamic and timeless, not more mindless holiday fodder.

 

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

 

December 16, 2017January 2, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Christmas, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2005, Alberta Film Entertainment, Angus T. Jones, Beth Grossbard, Beth Grossbard Productions, Blake Shelton, Carey Feehan, Christmas, Craig Anderson, Craig Anderson Productions, Dani DeJesus, Donna Van Liere, five points, Hallmark, Hugh Thompson, Inspirational, Jay D. Sodergren, Jesse Lipscombe, Jordy Randall, Karen Arthur, Kerry Johnson Bailey, Larry Rapaport, Lawrence Shragge, Margherita Donato, Max Morrow, Murray Ord, Neil Patrick Harris, NewSong, Olivia Cheng, Patricia Casey, Rebecca Gayheart, Rob Lowe, Robert Clinton, Romance, Shaun Johnston, Tom Cox, Wanda Cannon, Wesley Bishop Leave a comment

The Bridge, Part 2 [2016] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Seven years after her father’s secret manipulation of her relationship with Ryan Kelly, Molly Callens transfers away from Franklin, Tennessee, finishes her college degree, and joins her father’s company and prepares to become its CEO.  Meanwhile, Ryan travels the country as a successful backup musician.  In Franklin, Donna and Charlie find themselves faced with financial ruin when storm damage threatens to take The Bridge away from them forever.  Then they are hit with an even worse tragedy, causing them to reach out to everyone whose lives they’ve touched.  This prompts Ryan and Molly to return to Franklin and reunite with a common goal: to save The Bridge.  Little do they know that their relationship might be rekindled too, even seven years later.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

There is a marked improvement in production quality from Part 1 to Part 2.  The camera work improves; it seems like more time was spent on it.  The sets are not as limited, but there are still excessive Christmas decorations everywhere.  However, the musical score is no better and the editing is still below par.  Time is better utilized in Part 2, but it still feels like important things have been discarded for the sake of typical Hallmark elements.  Overall, The Bridge, Part 2 is back to usual Hallmark production quality, but no better than that.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Writing a second part seven years later is an interesting concept, but it’s not presented properly.  Why did it have to be seven years?  Why not three, just enough for Molly to finish school?  It seems like everything except Molly’s schooling and Ryan’s musical career was paused during the seven year lull.  How did Molly and Ryan never ever discuss their falling out during those years, or even re-think their relationship?  Nevertheless, Part 1 ends with Christmas, and viewers are transported seven years later—to another Christmas!  Thus, this plot is littered with trite Christmas concepts.  The Christian message is only slightly more pronounced than before.  Since no character development was attempted in Part 1, the characters cannot be appreciated in Part 2.  The dialogue is still wooden and robotic.  The characters are still swept along by circumstances rather than affect their circumstances with their personality-driven choices.  The Bridge quickly descends into the typical save-the-bed-and-breakfast plot and rushes to an expected conclusion.  But even with that, the inevitable end of the plot is quite understated and confusing.  In short, this plot once again has some potential that is washed away in a tide of Hallmark nonsense.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

One consolation here is that the helium from the previous installment has been discarded and replaced with typical amateurish acting.  Line delivery is still robotic and forced and emotions are still not felt, but there is slight overall improvement.  However, there are still makeup problems and too much costuming.  In short, an all-too-common Hallmark casting performance.

Conclusion

As another aside, was it necessary to play Part 2 on Easter 2016 when there are still overt Christmas themes?  Why not play both of them in December 2015?  Where Part 1 was rushing to get to Part 2, the latter part is business as usual for Hallmark.  Karen Kingsbury’s talent as an author is lost in this two-part disaster, all thanks to Hallmark.  Some may criticize us for being so hard on this inspirational entertainment network, but their commitment to fakeness and fantasy over reality cannot be ignored.  With the amount of money they spend on movies per year, they should be turning out some serious quality content.  We can only imagine what quality movie creators like the Kendrick brothers, the Erwin Brothers, or the Burns Family especially could do with a three-hour two-part movie.  It’s highly likely that a large network like Hallmark will never pay any attention to these meager blog posts, but we continue our clarion call to the Christian movie culture nonetheless: produce quality and creativity that’s better than the mainstream, not the same old thing over and over again.

 

Final Rating: 3 out of 10 points

 

April 1, 2016January 17, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Christmas, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 2016, Alison Araya, Andrea Brooks, Carey Feehan, Christmas, Faith Ford, Hallmark, Inspirational, Jaime M. Callica, Jamie Pachino, Joel Berg, Karen Kingsbury, Katie Findlay, Kazumi Evans, Matt Hamilton, Mike Rohl, Natasha Burnett, Nicole G. Leier, Robert Egger, Romance, Taylor Hastings, Ted McGinley, Troy Mundle, Two 4 The Money Media, Wyatt Nash Leave a comment

The Bridge, Part 1 [2015] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Following a tragic personal loss, Charlie and Donna Barton are driven to pursue their dream: owning and operating a bed and breakfast.  They lease a beautiful property and begin renovating it and open it for business, calling it The Bridge.  They seek to make personal connections with their customers through hospitality and real books.  The Bartons are able to see many personal stories unfold, including the developing love between Molly Callens and Ryan Kelly.  Though Molly and Ryan are from very different worlds, they find common ground in making future goals and in discovering their true purposes in life.  As they grow closer together, little do they know that their relationship is about to be tested to its fullest.

 

Production Quality (1 point)

Hallmark is usually known for their high production quality, but corners were obviously cut in The Bridge, Part 1.  For starters, there is far too much soft lens camera used, like they are trying to cover up things.  This only lends to the overall plastic feel of the film.  However, there is some good camera work that mostly saves the production from being horrible.  The sets are severely limited, only showing The Bridge over and over again, a couple of house and outside scenes, and that old truck.  The editing is very confusing, dropping viewers in the middle of circumstances with no explanation.  The 90 minutes of runtime are very poorly utilized.  The Bridge also makes use of Hallmark’s most annoyingly loud soundtrack.  In short, this film was obviously thrown together just for the sake of making it.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

The Bridge is not up to par with a typical Karen Kingsbury plot, and it can be understood why, since the movie departs from the original book concepts.  In this forced two-part movie, there is far too much repetition.  With 90 minutes to work with, the characters should be very deep and believable.  They are not.  Rather than being authentic, they are swept along by the plot without any control over their circumstances.  They make unexplained decisions, such as poor communication at convenient times, and are affected by coincidences just to extend the plot.  Besides this, the characters have a strange obsession with The Bridge and the Bartons have an unexplained perceptiveness.  The Christian message is watered down and replaced with trite Christmas superstitions and a crusade against ‘downloads’.  The only consolation in Part 1 is that there is a small amount of potential in the plot concept, yet it is squandered.  The end makes no sense and is anti-climactic, thus making this entire movie a waste of time.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Hallmark has coached some infamous casts before, but this collection takes the cake.  Filled with overly syrupy happiness, the actors and actresses seem like they are snorting helium.  With constant overdone smiling, they robotically deliver their lines with no emotion.  This is not to mention the very amateurish makeup jobs.  There is really nothing good to say here.

Conclusion

We maintain that Hallmark contacted popular Christian author Karen Kingsbury and instructed her to write a plot that closely follows the mindless romance storyline they are so deeply obsessed with.  Hallmark essentially used Kingsbury’s popularity among Christians to spin out another two-part movie about their typical themes.  They are obviously convinced that their audience constantly wants to see mindless romances time and again.  This movie was forced to be two parts, thus totaling up three hours of runtime, which was totally washed down the drain.  Karen Kingsbury is not at fault here—this is just another typical Hallmark disaster.

 

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

 

March 28, 2016January 17, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Christmas, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 1.5 points, 2015, Alison Araya, Andrea Brooks, Carey Feehan, Christmas, Creepy Father Recordings, Faith Ford, Hallmark, Inspirational, Jaime M. Callica, Jamie Pachino, Joel Berg, Karen Kingsbury, Katie Findlay, Kazumi Evans, Matt Hamilton, Mike Rohl, Natasha Burnett, Nicole G. Leier, No Downloads, Robert Egger, Romance, Taylor Hastings, Ted McGinley, Troy Mundle, Two 4 The Money Media, Wyatt Nash 1 Comment