Falling For Christmas, starring Lindsey Lohan, is like a Christmas card, while pleasant to look at, it often comes across as inauthentic. In its bare-bones, it is exactly what you would expect of a holiday romcom: small town boy meets big city girl and they fall in love. The acting is fine. It is sentimental and the chemistry between characters is pretty good. My biggest compliment would be the visuals, which look great. Attempting to be relevant in a modern age, they employ references to modern things. They use words like “influencer” which can come across as inauthentic, and the sentimentality is over the top and therefore not always effective at drawing a tear. For fans of Lohan, I would recommend this film, but with the constant out pour of holiday romcoms, this just doesn’t add enough to make it worth the watch for most. As there are so many holiday romcoms that come out every year, I wouldn’t go out of my way to give this a watch. This is the equivalent of the Danish butter cookies that come in those tins you get from your grandma. Mediocre. 6/10.

This adaptation of A Christmas Carol adds a modern touch to the classic and is great to look at. Taking advantage of the improvements in animation quality, this film really explores the visual elements of A Christmas Carol more than any version before. The ghosts all look distinct and have intense dramatic visual effects that look great. It looks a lot more colorful than any other adaptations, which fits the more lively tone of this adaptation. Though enjoyable for all ages, it definitely seems more geared towards a younger audience. It is very sparkly and energetic, and with the exciting animation, this could be another great way to introduce Dickens’ story to young children. The storyline is kept intact, the Scrooge is convincing and the message and emotions are powerful. My only problem with this film is the songs which are sprinkled throughout various musical numbers, which are mostly mediocre and often feel unnecessary. Overall this film is fun to watch with the family, though not even close to the best adaptation, offering something different among the vast number of adaptations that exist. I would be happy to find this in my stocking. 7/10.

A Christmas Story Christmas offers a delightful return to Hohman, Indiana as we see Ralphie, now a father, return back home for Christmas. A true homage to the original, it is narrated in the same style and all the great characters are present in this film, though now grown up. While the original movie offered Christmas from the perspective of a child, the new one offers the perspective of a parent, working to make Christmas special for their child. I think people of all ages would enjoy this film, but especially parents, who grew up with A Christmas Story and may relate to Ralphie and his ambitions to make Christmas special for his kids. It is well casted, authentically amusing and at times heartbreaking, as it deals with loss. I recommend this film to anyone, but especially to anyone familiar with A Christmas Story. So give it a watch, I triple dog dare you! 8/10.

In a new take on the classic, this Christmas Carol takes place in modern day where we get equal focus on our ghosts and our scrooge. Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds’ dynamic shines through this story about what it means to truly change, as their comedic forces bounce off each other in the best possible moments. Although being boggled by not-so memorable songs throughout its run, Spirited has all the ingredients of a first-rate Christmas movie. 7.5/10.

In a jaunty blast of holiday cheer with Kevin Bacon, this Marvel installment hits all the right notes for a good time. Although not being able to find its footing for the first few minutes, the story picks up as soon as our main journey starts. Throughout the special, you feel a sense of heart and soul that leads you to cry in the payoff of the movie. However, the movie has weak spots in its sometimes cringey dialogue, and is too absurd at times, otherwise it’s a great holiday gift. 7/10.

What do you think of when you think of a Christmas rom-com? I think of this movie. A lonely guy meets a curious girl, and they go on an adventure to find her long-lost mother. Upon the way, they find love in a winter setting. While the movie has definite strong points in its two leads, it ultimately falls flat on delivery of its core premise of the love story, which leads you to feel unfulfilled at the end of the movie. At the end of the day, there’s many other things I rather have in my stocking. 5/10.

A Hollywood Christmas is what it sounds like, a Christmas movie in Hollywood. We find our lead, who’s a director, in her own holiday romcom, trying to save her movie from being canceled while falling for the charming network executive. However, despite this meta-textual layer of being a Christmas movie within a Christmas movie, it doesn’t stop the movie from having bad writing that makes you cringe and boring characters that have little-to-no depth. While there are a few bright spots in this movie, I’m gonna ask Santa for something else. 5.5/10.A Hollywood Christmas is what it sounds like, a Christmas movie in Hollywood. We find our lead, who’s a director, in her own holiday romcom, trying to save her movie from being canceled while falling for the charming network executive. However, despite this meta-textual layer of being a Christmas movie within a Christmas movie, it doesn’t stop the movie from having bad writing that makes you cringe and boring characters that have little-to-no depth. While there are a few bright spots in this movie, I’m gonna ask Santa for something else. 5.5/10.