It’s Christmas! Or at least in 2021, we’re desperate enough for good news to want to kick of the late December holiday in mid-October. As if the immoral, cruel world that we live in wasn’t awful enough, it’s becoming beyond expensive to actually exist in it anymore, and that’s if you can avoid getting the killer viruses going around and passing them on to your loved ones…so Christmas is more of a focus than ever, for secular and non-secular audiences alike, and Christmas movies now seem to be popular the whole year round…
Erik Bloomquist seems to be living an interesting dual life creatively, switching between horror and romantic films. Ten Minutes to Midnight and Night at the Eagle Lodge are the scary ones, Weekenders and Christmas on the Carousel are the more tenderly inclined offerings. Bloomquist takes the lead here as Greyson, who has a thing for Sloane (Madeleine Dauer), and her decision to move away with her mother prompts Greyson to consider sharing his latent feelings with her. A catalyst comes in an opportunity to get together with friends and film a potentially viral Tik Tok video (very 2021) in and around a vintage carousel in a New England town….
I’m putting on my Santa hat and reaching out with some goodwill here; Christmas movies are a big deal, and yet big-budget all-star studio stuff is usually pretty awful (Surviving Christmas, Christmas with the Kranks, you know the kind of thing). But there’s something to be said for wholesome fare like Christmas on the Carousel; it’s simple, clean-cut drama that just about gets over the line and is infinitely preferable to the soppy, sentimental Last Christmas. The lack of any other people in the story suggests some post-apocalyptic world, and it’s tempting to see this as a lockdown movie; aside from planning a viral video, there’s little evidence here that there’s more than six people alive in this world, and that surreal quality actually works for the film as a chamber piece.
Bloomquist’s take on the familiar Hallmark model should satisfy his target audience, and 71 minutes is ideal for this kind of fluffy, lightweight story. Yes, Christmas on the Carousel is cheesy, route-one fare, but if you’re keen to unwrap your presents before they’re even under the tree, this will provide an early fix of heart-warming Christmas romance everyone seems to crave at this time of year.
Christmas on the Carousel is out on home streaming from Oct 19th 2021. Links below.
NOPE. I cannot abide rom coms or Christmas movies, but Kurt Russell as Santa doing Santa Clause is back in town with the E street band all in a jail cell is the best Christmas movie scene ever. fAcT!
I kind of knew I was opening a Xmas Pandora’s box here. So you’re a Christmas Chronicles fan?
No, just a Kurt Russell fan. That was the best bit in the movie. I didn’t watch the sequel.
OK, I’ll allow this as Kurt Russell is cool, even when playing Santa, I guess.
Yes, haven’t seen one more cool than Kurt. If I had a chimney and he came down it I wouldn’t knobble him.
Oh, er missus…hope he reads this.
Unlikely I think but he’d be happy to have a fan of his work if he did.
You never know…it’s no Yorkshire Christmas, but I’m sure Kurt would help things go with a swing…
and she clinches a win with an iron clad fAcT!
FaCT!
What would the Grinch say? Because that’s what I’m feeling. I mean, before his heart grew.
Well, I’m no Grinch, just a well-adjusted critic. You don’t want three ghosts visiting you, do you?
Do they like mulled cider and scones? I’m a generous host.
Do you have a Santa hat? Tis the season to be jolly….
I’ll give them Christmas crackers to open. I bet ghosts like Christmas crackers.
What a holly, jolly scene you conjure up.
And I wrote a whole flipping comment on your site forgetting the comments weren’t working, sigh.
Anyway, a Christmas movie before Halloween? That’s ridiculous…..
Christmas is not just for Christmas in Hollywoodland; it’s ALL the year round! Last Christmas is currently in the Netflix top ten in the UK, so there must be an appetite for this right now…
Was Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Nope. It does not embody anything about the Christmas spirit, in fact, the festivities are a counterpoint to the action. FaCT! jaws 4 is not a Xmas movie either, it’s for all the year round FACt!
Gotta disagree with Dix on this one.
I think it completely does embody the spirit of Macho Manliness, which is the other side of the Christmas Coin, the emotional schmaltsy-ness that was spawned by such movies as “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I don’t want a whole slew of movies like Die Hard, one is fine by me, but like the meme says “It’s Not Christmas until you see Hans Gruber fall from Nakatomi Tower”.
I’ll leave you two macho manly men to your festivities….
👍
So true about Hollywoodland.
People want to be comforted and they think “feel goodz” stuff will do the trick. So I’m not surprised about the status of Christmas movies. But I don’t have to like it 😀
It’s not my usual beat. But, for example, I noted that when there was a run of Christian movies, most critics didn’t review them. I’m not planning on covering all Hallmark Christmas movies, but I thought maybe covering on from this genre would be worthwhile. Diversity and all that…
On an unrelated note here.
Do you, or have you ever, thought about reviewing tv series? Or is that different enough in terms of “screen” that it simply isn’t feasible? I don’t know if that would like asking me if I would ever read and review Harlequin Romance novels, as they are “books” and I review books 😀
Yup, I’ve covered a few tv shows, The Undoing, Toast of London, Mare of Easttown, and publicists do sent me press releases. I’d say I had to be really interested to review a show because it takes so long to watch; I’m currently on series 8 of the Office….but streaming has blurred the lines bwtween tv and cinema, and there are good things on tv.
Oh that’s right, I remember that review of Mare.
Season 8? You must like it 😀
Not everything about it, but the good bits are great.
I think I stopped after season 2 or maybe even 1.
I had second hand embarrassment from Michael so badly that it almost literally made me squirm in discomfort.
It really hits a stride at a certain point, as Michael gets to become a much more 3D character. It was worth sticking with it after a wobbly first couple of seasons…