Angel of Christmas (2015)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 400 (C H R I S T M A S ) MOVIES AND SPECIALS.BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I AM HONEST! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY Christmas MOVIES AS I CAN. In this movie a woman's life changes in unexpected ways when, in the process of writing a newspaper article about her family's heirloom Christmas ornament, she meets an enthusiastic artist. The heirloom seems to bring people together. Our protagonist is someone who isn't looking for love but is not against it either. The film is one of those you should watch on a cold December Night. It is a very romantic but predictable. This film however is better than the average Hallmark movie. It has some very pretty settings and a story that will spark something even in the most cynical viewer.

While this wasn't the worst of Hallmark's Christmas movies in 2015, it was still below average and disappointing. It's not a spoiler, but lets just say the "twist" of the ending was no surprise.While I give props to making the main character a newspaper copy editor -- a different occupation than usual -- these unbelievable newspaper details were just silly:* She's never actually seen editing, only writing. * She's given about a month to write one story. * This is technical, but newspapers have been shrinking in physical size for several years. The paper she is holding at the newsstand looked almost twice as wide as today's newspapers. * Trust me, no newspaper report types "The End" * The editor assessing her first story is holding a printout of the story. It's 2015. At a major metro newspaper, it would all be done on computer.

Christmas Angel is about a newspaper staffer who is trying to catch her big break by writing some story about her grandmother's wooden angel as this is apparently what the New York Times will run as their front page story. The angel kind of looks like a man in a woman's wig, but we won't focus on that aspect of the movie too much. I had a hard time believing that this newspaper staffer, who supposedly has not caught her big break, somehow lives in a giant apartment in Manhattan furnished by Jennifer Convertibles. The average rent in Manhattan topped $3,700/month this year; there is no way a struggling newspaper staffer would be able to afford her posh apartment in Soho. My wife also furiously pointed out that there is no way that she can come and go from her parent's house in the suburbs and be back in her huge Manhattan apartment on the night before her big article is due as if she was just driving down the block. How does she even own a car??? Parking alone would probably cost her annual salary. And then she goes to Murphysport, of all places, on Christmas Eve with no traffic! And this artist, who the movie established as someone who doesn't have his own studio somehow has this enormous cabin in Murphytown in upstate New York!! My wife and I were enraged at this beyond-belief fictional representation of New York City. I had supplemental rage at the fact that she was given something like two weeks to write this puff piece for the New York Times. That doesn't seem realistic. Her editor must have owed Struggling Susie a favor or something.Also, this movie needed more Patrick Muldoon. Patrick Muldoon was not in this movie at all, and, as one of the great Christmas movie actors of our generation, he would have really provided the spark that this movie lacked. Though it was a close call, this movie, fortunately, did not ruin Christmas for my wife and me. My wife did threaten to kick the TV, but I talked her down with the promise of hot cocoa.

Hallmark ends its first batch of Christmas romantic comedies for 2015 with this highly watchable effort. Jennifer Finnigan writes a story about her family's heirloom wooden angel. In talking to her relatives about legends that have accumulated around it, she comes to understand and accept the nature of faith and, this being a Hallmark TV movie, falls in love with laid-back artist Jonathan Scarfe.Although the story is nicely handled with a pleasant bit of whimsy -- is the angel actually doing something or is it all coincidence? -- there are a couple of technical aspects that might have been better handled. Conversations between Ms. Finnigan and Mr. Scarfe are shot in a lot of short clips, when a slower cutting speed might have helped; and there is a lot of obvious and poorly executed dialogue looping during the tree-buying scene.However, the loveliness of the story and the fine performances by the leads render those two complaints minor. This is the best of the batch of Hallmark Christmas romcoms and worth seeing on its own account.