Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
That's Chatsunami for ya! Return of the Bad Festive Films
176 Plays1 year ago
It's finally back! Join Satsunami and Andrew as they take on two very peculiar Hallmark holiday films: I Believe in Santa (2022) and Christmas Under Wraps (2014). But the question remains: what makes these films so bad? Can the Hallmark cheesiness somewhat redeem them? And do YOU believe in Santa? Well...let's find out!
Check out all of our content here: https://linktr.ee/chatsunami
Website: chatsunami.com
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ChatsunamiPod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatsunami/
TikTok: tiktok.com/@chatsunami
Patrons:
Battle Toaster
Sonia
Greenshield95
Danny Brown
Use my special link zen.ai/chatsunami and use chatsunami to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr
Stay safe, stay awesome and most importantly, stay hydrated!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Festive Theme
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Aloha ho, everybody, and welcome to another festive episode of Chatsunami. My name's Chatsunami, and joining me for this festive episode is none other than the one and only Hallmark hero himself, Andrew. Andrew, welcome back. Thanks for having me back. Quick question, do you believe in Santa? I would like to refer you to my Red Panda lawyer, thank you very much.
00:00:44
Speaker
Oh, and on that note, how are you doing today? I'm good, thank you. How are you? Not too bad.
Getting into the Christmas Spirit
00:00:49
Speaker
As you can hear by my voice, I have come down with a little bit of a cold. See, that's the official story, but I genuinely feel as if the topic for today has poisoned me and I am slowly decaying into a pile of garland Christmas ornaments. Did you say garland? I said garland. Oh my garland indeed.
00:01:09
Speaker
Last week we decided to discuss the 2019 film The Well. I have to say, obviously we are halfway through December at this point, but have you been watching a lot of Christmas films? We've been getting into the Christmas spirit, we've been watching several especially bad Christmas movies. We completed the Christmas Prince trilogy, which is just possibly the worst series of Christmas movies I've seen. Except for maybe some of the ones we saw today, we'll have to discuss that. How about yourself?
00:01:35
Speaker
Well, yeah, we have been going through quite a few of them. I actually tweeted out about this, but my family and I, we all went out to watch the Muppets Christmas Carol live in Glasgow. And that was actually really good. And by live, I mean, the music was live. They didn't just pull out Kermit the Frog. I'm like, I'll actually create it, which would have been awesome in itself. But yeah, we've watched that. We've watched The Grinch. We actually watched Spirited as well. Have you seen that film?
00:02:03
Speaker
I don't think so, no. It's the Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell take on the Christmas Carol. I think it's relatively new. I think it was an exclusive on Apple TV, but it's surprisingly really well done. Oh, yeah, I don't have Apple TV, so I don't currently have a legitimate way of watching
Hallmark Movie Tropes and Personal Experiences
00:02:20
Speaker
it.
00:02:20
Speaker
no other than that there's been you know bits and pieces we actually also ventured into bad christmas albums we finally watched christmas chronicle or a christmas chronicle the christmas chronicle i can't remember it was chronic anyway but yeah today
00:02:35
Speaker
Today we are indeed going to be pulling ourselves away from good Christmas films and we are going to be talking about two very, I was going to say iconic, but let's face it, at this rate, they just pushed them out in a factory conveyor belt, don't they? It does seem very Christmas cookie cutter of these movies where they all fit the same tropes, they all have very similar protagonists.
00:02:57
Speaker
They all have that same kind of message and various kind of lines, but yeah, each one has its own special spark of terrible that we're hoping to capture today. So in a surprising move I have to say, because this is something I was saying to you just before we started recording tonight, but I was actually surprised that we haven't done this idea since
00:03:16
Speaker
Adam and I did it during the first year of Chatsunami. And what I mean by that is, during our first Christmas on Chatsunami, Adam and I decided to exchange two very bizarre and terrible Christmas films with one another. We decided to watch the very festive classic, Bone Alone,
00:03:36
Speaker
to Silent Night, Deadly Night, which I have to say both of them not very good Christmas forms let alone films but yeah I'm just surprised that after that we never really did anything like that since and especially with you and I Andrew so I think this was your idea so if anyone has to get blamed for this episode I guess it's gonna be you Andrew so apologies. I knew I had to take on the blame at some point so it's only fair.
00:04:01
Speaker
So yeah, today we are indeed going to be talking about two Hallmark columns.
Discussion on 'Christmas Under Wraps' and 'I Believe in Santa'
00:04:06
Speaker
We are going to be talking about 2014's Christmas Under Raps, and we are also going to be talking about 2022's I Believe in Santa. See, without any further ado, because I feel as if I am beating around the hallway bush at this point, not wanting to talk about these columns, but will we just dive into it? Yeah, let's jump straight into
00:04:25
Speaker
And as always, we will be right back after these festive messages. You can get everything you need on Chatsunami, creepy face. Is that a teaser for I Believe in Santa? Yeah. Welcome to Chatsunami, a variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime in general interest. Previously on Chatsunami, we've analysed what makes a good horror game, conducted a retrospective on Pierce Brosnan's runs James Bond, and listened to us take deep dives into both the Sonic and Halo franchises.
00:04:54
Speaker
Also, if you're an anime fan, then don't forget to check us out on our sub-series, Chatsunani, where we dive into the world of anime. So far, we've reviewed things like Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and the hit Beyblade series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out on Spotify, iTunes, and all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:05:18
Speaker
Hello, my name's Alan. And my name's Robin. And we together broadcast Radio Leaven 372. It's a podcast. Oh, sorry.
00:05:33
Speaker
Hello, my name's Alan. And I'm Rowan. And this is Radio Leaving 372. A podcast from our pub shed in our garden, the Debuckety Scooby. And we're available across all the platforms that you listen to your podcast on. So join in and listen to our domain banter. Thanks for listening. Bye.
Plot and Critique of 'I Believe in Santa'
00:05:56
Speaker
So, let's start off with probably the more contemporary film of the two, and I'm going to hand this one over to you Andrew, because as I said before, you and I both decided to pick out Hallmark films for one another. We purposely chose really bad films, so yeah, the flow is yours. Would you like to tell the lovely listeners at home about the wonder that is I Believe in Santa?
00:06:21
Speaker
Nothing would make me happier. So Satsanami decided to provide to me this wonderful Christmas movie, which is called, I Believe in Santa. The movie is basically about a adult man who genuinely believes Santa is real and a relationship he forms with a woman who hates Christmas and who has a daughter who still believes, but she's not really sure how to break the news to the daughter about Santa not being real at the right age.
00:06:46
Speaker
And so it's about both her coming to terms with his belief in Santa, appreciating the holidays, and then him sort of understanding not to force his belief of Santa onto people and to take the holiday as it comes. Yeah, that sounds about right, to be honest. See, this is usually the part where I would say, oh yeah, you can go look it up in Wikipedia or IMDB, but information about this film is very scarce.
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, I tried to find like a Wikipedia article, and it doesn't exist. They have an IMDb page, but it doesn't really have much on it. So it's very difficult finding more info on the background of this movie, because there's a lot of things we were quite curious about, like whether or not this movie was originally just like a religious movie that they then replaced the theme to be about Santa.
00:07:32
Speaker
Oh, this was 100% I remember just following. People keep saying this to me with some films where it's like, oh, maybe you're overthinking it or maybe you're reading too deep into it. No, no, no, no. I believe 100% this was just reworked from. I believe in Jesus Christ or something.
00:07:49
Speaker
got instead of like, eh, I want to make it more Christmassy. You know, that'll sell more. So they decided to switch to Jesus with Santa, which, you know, that's a whole other commentary in itself. But you're completely right, though. There's only maybe one piece, as I've recorded this episode, there's only one piece of trivia for this film. And it's something like that the two main actors who fall in love, I know spoilers for these films, but the two actors that fall in love, they are actually married in real life.
00:08:18
Speaker
how do they have no chemistry then? Yeah that was my question as well because when I was watching them I was like wow this is like I don't know someone rubbing two Santa figures together and being like oh look at the chemistry. I'd find it more believable if they were siblings than a very
00:08:34
Speaker
Well, they've both got the same big crazy eyes, which we've all come on to. But can I just point out how this film starts? Because it's not a conventional Christmas film. Because usually when you get a film like this, it always starts banging the middle of Christmas. But in a minute, after that, I'm angry that this film actually got me to do some math.
00:08:54
Speaker
I think it was 170 or 100 and something days till Christmas. And I was like, oh, that's fine. That's only one month, two months, three months. I was having six months before Christmas because they have a huge 4th of July party thing. And can I just say this is probably one of the worst ways to introduce one of your
00:09:15
Speaker
love interests into one of these kind of films because I don't think the term, see when you're having a dinner party and you're saying, oh how did you meet your husband and everything and they go, I met him because I thought he was a kitty kidnapper. I'm sorry, what? Yeah, he nearly kidnapped my daughter at a 4th of July party, oh boy. No, no, he didn't. And that was just very weird to me, I don't know how you felt.
00:09:36
Speaker
Yeah, I did think that was a very bizarre dynamic that was initially kind of set up where like, understandably, when you see your daughter who should have been with a group of friends and an adult with a random stranger, you are going to be like, oh my god, what the heck? Yeah, that it very quickly was like, oh, but you're actually kind of cute, though. And maybe I should try and date you. That did feel very strange. And like, yeah, it's not really good dinner party conversation when you're like, Oh, yeah, we met because I thought he was a pedophile. You know, it's more like,
00:10:03
Speaker
how an episode of Dateline would start or something like that. Is he that kind of person? No, no, nothing like that. Oh, thank God. Then what is his weird thing? Oh, he's just obsessed with Christmas. I'm sorry, what? No, he's just obsessed with a big bearded man in a red suit, which of course brings us on to the main point, or rather the reason this is called I Believe in Santa.
00:10:24
Speaker
I think you're missing the start of the movie where she's writing this article about the 4th of July. Oh yeah, why she loves it compared to Christmas. Initially she's told to write an article for whatever stupid magazine zine that she has to write for, which I looked at a picture of the email she was sending to her editor, who they set up as being an absolute asshole and ended up being a very reasonable human being at the end. The zine, as far as I can tell, is called milehighesign.com. Do you write for airplane articles or something?
00:10:54
Speaker
What are you writing for? And why are you writing an article about how good a holiday is? And why is that consistently your job? Because the only two articles we've seen her write is one on Independence Day and then later one on Christmas. That must be a really tough job, having to write twice in a year. I know, exactly. We don't see her do any other work aside from that. As far as I could tell, if the article was just what she read out at the start, then it was like two paragraphs long. And then half of that was dedicated to why she doesn't like Christmas.
00:11:19
Speaker
I feel pretty cheesed off reading that and being like, I came here to read why my favorite holiday, Independence Day, is the best damn holiday of the year and I'm getting stuff about Christmas and that's just not acceptable. Good accent, by the way.
00:11:32
Speaker
That felt very weird. I don't know why she's writing articles in this. And then we get a reaction shot from one of our main characters, Tom, who reads her article and was like, don't know about this person. I think he's like drinking cocoa and I think eating candy cane in July. I said, don't look at Christmas Wednesday or something. I think he is in early July. I think he's already doing Christmas stuff. And so it's not like later on, he's like only for like a month or so a year. But like, clearly, it's not because clearly your Christmas crazy earlier in the year, too. What the hell was wrong with this guy? So much.
00:12:01
Speaker
And again, before we go on and start talking about how weird these characters are, this isn't a slate against the actors themselves. It's obviously the characters they're playing and everything, so just want to throw out that disclaimer before we get into it, before the big hallmark people start beating down their door.
00:12:17
Speaker
Yeah, then of course later on we have the, oh god, we have the reveal quote-unquote where we see that he is obsessed with Christmas and he's talking to his friend about how he hasn't told his girlfriend. I mean they would have been dated for about six months by this point. By this point yeah it would have been at least four or five months.
00:12:38
Speaker
And then he's like, oh yeah, by the way, let me show you how amazing I am when it comes to Christmas and he opens the door. And I'm going to be honest, they are some of the tackiest decorations I think I've ever seen in my life. So she goes crazy about how overboard he goes for Christmas. And like, there are a few things.
00:12:57
Speaker
But to be honest, I've seen a lot more decorations in a place before. This wasn't an insane level of Christmas decoration. The only thing that was like a big like, oh, okay, was the Santa animatronic Santa he had, which was very creepy. And then the train set, which was quite extra, but didn't necessarily need to be like a Christmas thing that could have been this guy's into trains. So her reaction to seeing that kind of puzzled me, because I was like, it's not even that much.
00:13:19
Speaker
No, I completely agree. I mean, I've even written this on my notes. I have said, and this is verbatim, Guy is the most milk toast lover of Christmas. As I said, you know, it is kind of over the top, but I have seen a lot worse personally. Yeah.
00:13:34
Speaker
See, when I first saw it from Horang on Hinder and everything, I thought, oh, that's not that bad. And when they turned it around, I totally agree with you. I thought, OK, the decorations are a bit much and the trains a bit much. The animatronic Santa's weird. It's like, I don't know, prequel to Christmas Five Nights at Freddy's going on here. I'm pretty sure there was like a Coca-Cola Santa kicking about. Twelve Nights at Santa. Oh, good. Don't give them ideas.
00:13:59
Speaker
but yeah it wasn't that bad I have to say. What we also missed out was the montage of other holidays that happened between Independence Day and Christmas where they were like having fun together as like a family. It's like montage of going out for summer walks and dressing up for Halloween and going for an autumn walk, all these kind of things. There was like loads of them. Each shot was maybe five seconds and so like they must have been like all right this room, film it,
00:14:24
Speaker
go go go and like film like a random scene and then move on to the next one. I'm like how many of these did they actually film? Do you know I was actually impressed that this is like going way ahead but you know how whenever you go into the apartments of these places and you know there's like the family photos on the wall can you imagine that being part of your job to be like okay you have to pretend to be my daughter in this picture and you have to be happy.
00:14:50
Speaker
Just the thought, and that's where we could be like, I don't want to do this job anymore. It's like, you're going to smile for I believe in Santa and there's going to be your IMDb resume.
00:15:01
Speaker
to have to say. But again, there's no information, so I've got no idea what went on. Speaking of, I mean, I can justify his apartment. He's a lawyer, and his roommate, I think, is also a lawyer. Yes, I thought it would be clear, Russell. He seems to work in the same firm. I don't know if he's apparently going to leave his lawyer as well, or what situation is there. She, on the other hand,
00:15:21
Speaker
is in a very nice house and it seems to be a single parent that works for a magazine that she sometimes writes articles for. How is she affording this house?
00:15:36
Speaker
alimony checks or something from her partner to fund the mortgage payments or the rent payments, whatever she's got going on there, because it's absolutely crazy that she's got a place. I mean, she lives in Colorado, so it's not the most expensive area to live in, not like she's in New York or something like that.
00:15:53
Speaker
But still, I find it hard to believe that a magazine writer's salary in Colorado is gonna provide you enough to single-handedly pay for this house. This is a nitpick because this is the case with so many kinds of movies and shows and people often kind of bring up the fact like, how are they affording this kind of thing. That did sort of take me out a little bit. I was like, how is she doing that?
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, it always seems to be a massive house and I know people say, oh it's because it's different. I don't know, is it not because they made a wood or something like that at some of these houses? But even then it's like, how do you afford such a big house? What is your secret? What kind of writing silver bullet do you have that you're affording all of this? Again, she has time to really not pay attention to the fact that, let's face it, our boyfriends and to be husband
00:16:38
Speaker
is a little bit on the off side, because there's one thing about having a passion for Christmas, okay? That's perfectly fine. You know, you do you. But the guy has like a spare warehouse full of Christmas stuff. Or not a warehouse, sorry. But like his- The storage unit.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, so he so he pays for this benefit of doubt. Maybe he has other stuff other than just Christmas decorations in there where we live. We have a downstairs in the basement of our apartment building that we store our Christmas decorations in. So maybe that's a normal thing that he does that. But yeah, it does seem
00:17:08
Speaker
pretty odd. Then you've got wonderful lines that I'm sure tons of families will be saying all over such as, have you ever been flocked? I've been flocked too. And I have never heard this term before but I'm assuming it's the act of putting fake snow over a tree I want to say. So it looks as if it's been outside but that makes me up that.
00:17:32
Speaker
because he turned red, he's like, oh look, it's flocking season. It's like the new Morbius, it's flocking time. I'm like, please stop saying flocking, because he says it three or four separate times. Why do you keep saying this? Why? And again, again, it's a homework film, they're trying to be cheesy and things, but
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, I did think it was a bit strange. There was a couple of lines that I kind of wrote down because they just amused me by how random and weird they were. There was one that was like, uh, I don't even remember who said it now, but it was, but Pasha, it's Christmas. I don't remember who said that now, but I remember it staying with me. When we were watching later on in the movie, my partner and I were laughing about her job again.
00:18:07
Speaker
And initially there was this whole joke about him putting an ad for like Hot Dog sponsoring 4th of July. And my partner and I were laughing about that isn't just like a 4th of July thing, that's just like their regular sponsor and he's always putting sausages. And Grant, the editor, just like slaps the article, this baby can hold so many Hot Dog ads.
00:18:23
Speaker
I completely forgot about that. Yeah, Chrissie, he does turn round, yeah, doesn't he, and says, oh, did you mention the hot dogs? Did you mention this? And he's like, yeah, yeah, I mentioned that. Yeah, and of course, I'm reading my notes here, and one of the notes I actually do have is me just saying that this guy feels as if he's worse than Buddy the Elf, just purely because he's so up to 100 all the time. But the worst part, and this comes
00:18:46
Speaker
kind of later in the film and it's the main point. I think we can really levy against this film as to why does this film exist as it is. And they basically have a family dinner, don't they? Or family acquaintances dinner. And then they get into a huge religious debate. I'm reading my notes here. I've got one that says, don't drink the eggnog. I think this man's a Scientologist. And I stand back
00:19:11
Speaker
because he is very cult-like, you know, he starts talking about belief systems all over the world. It's a theme today's episode. Yes, it will be actually, yes. Stay tuned for part two because he starts to bring religion into it and I was like, okay, that's a one-off comment because Christmas is, by all means, at least originally, is a religious holiday. And I thought, okay, you know, he's bringing that up, he's going to let it go. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He could ript on to it tight like a candy cane.
00:19:39
Speaker
I wrote down the people who celebrate different religions equals celebrate Santa's Christmas. So it's like they're not celebrating Christmas. This was the guy's argument, by the way, not mine for legal reasons here. He says that people with different religions still celebrate Christmas, but they celebrate it in Santa's POV. His type of Christmas, they don't celebrate it as a religious holiday. And I feel as if a lot of Americans probably do have something to say about
00:20:09
Speaker
about that. Yeah, it very much is still a religious audience of many. And also Lisa's friend tries to bring this up. So you believe in the spiritual aspect of Santa that his generosity and his love perpetuates throughout people around the world for Christmas. And he's like, No, fuck you, Sharon. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying jolly Saint Nick is real. And if you don't get your act straight, you're gonna get cold this year. Sharon Sharon was a highlight for me in that movie. Her reaction expressions were wonderful. Oh, no, she was absolutely fantastic. I feel
00:20:36
Speaker
as if, although don't get me wrong after that dinner, I would be like, what the actual hell, but I was really surprised. I don't feel as if they were insensitive to other religions and things, but I'm going to be honest, I feel as if they were skirting a very, very thin line with us all. Yeah, they weren't thin ice for sure. They didn't necessarily say anything offensive, in my opinion. But yeah, as soon as religion, and especially other religions got brought up, I was like, oh, where are you going with this?
00:21:05
Speaker
yeah, especially when they're talking about his flatmate and he says, oh yeah, aren't you a Muslim or something like that? And I was like, oh my God, where are you going with this? Because I was like, why are you bringing all of these religions into a bloody Santa debate? It was just, again, it wasn't insensitive what he said, it was just very, very bizarre. It's like someone who got the task of writing this song and it's like, okay, you can mention
00:21:34
Speaker
religions and things but you have to be very, very careful here. Because is this not one of these Hallmark films that also technically does have Santa at the very, very end? Does it? I mean, do you mean the narrator? No, well, no, not that but is this the film and I'm getting all these terrible films landed into one but does the wee girl not get like an iPhone? Oh yeah, she does at the end. It wasn't really clear whether or not Tom actually got that for her. Or does someone just break in and leave it there?
00:22:03
Speaker
It's like, wow, I did food! Or did she, like, steal one from an Apple store? They're like, oh my god guys, Santa got it for me, you have to let me keep it now! I didn't copy this, man, we'll come over for staying warm! Thank you, Santa! I just saw enough shortcuts! This remnants of a Molotov cocktail.
00:22:21
Speaker
How do the evidence tapes get in here? Let's throw it into the fireplace! Oh god, then that's a foggleboard watch. Don't question the hog-tied security guard in the closet. I'm sure it's sad as well, but yeah, the only other thing I really have to say about this foggle, other than the fact that, again, it's like a cult foggle, and not a cult classic, just a cult foggle in general, but...
00:22:43
Speaker
The only other thing I want to bring up is his hatred towards this random child he calls Freckles. And I feel very uncomfortable with a 30 something year old man just trying to bully this child that's throwing snowballs at him.
00:22:58
Speaker
Yeah, he's picked an element of this person's appearance and just gave him a nickname based on it. Like that is a very bullying behaviour. And both my partner and I look very closely every time Freckles and Friend were on screen and neither of them had Freckles. We were like, which one of them is Freckles? It's not apparent. Because I mean, there's literally the recedes that we see Freckles quote unquote. The first one is when they first sees them and he has like this very PTSD commodity moment where they grabs it
00:23:26
Speaker
and throws it out of the way. He's like, look out! Incoming! And he starts throwing snowballs back at this kid, too. You know, I mean, that is dickish behaviour by the kids, but he wouldn't expect an adult to reciprocate that, surely? Well, I mean, you can get the benefit of the doubt of the kids that maybe, like, they know this guy and that he's gonna, like, play along with it. They're not just hitting every random passerby with snowballs.
00:23:49
Speaker
I don't know. We don't see enough evidence for that. No, we don't. In which case these kids should burn in hell. But it may be that he's in on it with them. I don't know. I feel as if there was a hint of scorn when they said it, because he goes, Frickles. And you know, he's really mad. Well, okay, he's not mad. He's Hallmark mad about it. Yeah, he returns fine.
00:24:09
Speaker
But yeah, the first time he fights back by himself, the second time it's him, his girlfriend Lisa and her daughter, fight back. And then the final one is when they have to build like a cardboard slave or something. And it reminded me of that Simpsons episode with the soapbox derby racers. I also kind of thought about that to be honest. Because I was expecting like the spikes to come out of Freckles
00:24:32
Speaker
It's like, I know, we're going down. Tom seemed very hyper-focused from the way I was looking at her. Yeah, I think he might have a point there. He definitely has an obsession, but I don't know. I think it genuinely goes beyond hyper-fixation. And here's my reason why, your honor. I believe it's because, although he is hyper-fixated on, you know, elements of Christmas, trying to make it holiday jolly, he is a capitalist wendry. He's buying all the Christmas stock at that time of year.
00:25:01
Speaker
What kind of weirded me out though, beyond Freckles, beyond everything else he did in the film, was he has this really weird conversation with his partner down the line, and I don't know if you felt this way as well when you were watching it, but he has this weird conversation when he starts talking about things like faith and you shouldn't be imparting your beliefs onto your child and things like that, and I can't remember why she doesn't like Christmas, but she had a bad
00:25:29
Speaker
Oh, I could I could tell you exactly her background for not liking Christmas. She as a child under 10, which this goes against all of Tom's rules, which we'll get to later about Santa Claus as a child under 10. She opened a closet and saw a Barbie that she was supposed to get for Christmas from Santa.
00:25:45
Speaker
And her parents were like, oh, you weren't supposed to see that. You've ruined Christmas. We're returning the toy and you're getting nothing. We hate you. Trauma, trauma, trauma. And that has caused her to believe, oh, they put traditions ahead of me. And so that's why Christmas is awful.
00:26:02
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to pin this blame on the parents, to be honest. It's definitely no Santa's hope for that. Yeah, I don't think Christmas is necessarily to blame. It's clearly you have unresolved trauma with your parents. And maybe you just associate trauma you have with your parents with this particular holiday, which that is understandable. But if you're starting to enjoy aspects of Christmas, you are able to recover from that and see that the two things aren't necessarily associated. And so she then takes a hard turn back and is like, actually, no, fuck Christmas.
00:26:32
Speaker
And yeah, as I said, they have a very deep and very much deeper land. It had any right to be where it's like, oh, you should be imparting these beliefs onto your child. And, you know, rightfully so. She says, don't tell me how to raise my child. Yeah, she has a point there. He does very respectfully back off and apologize. Oh, yeah. I'm like, of course, that is your child. That was not my place to say. That was a very mature way of dealing with that situation. I was quite impressed that they were able to do that, because I think in the heat of the moment, often those kind of situations, that's not how people deal with it.
00:27:01
Speaker
you, holly jolly harlan, let me tell you about Christmas. It was just a very weird conversation and then this forgotten all about just because he knows how to make a sled and I'm like, if that isn't the spirit of Christmas, I don't know what is. You have a youth and so we'll make amends. But yeah, then they have the sleigh ride, that wee girl steals the iPhone and yeah, that's it. That's
00:27:25
Speaker
Oh, and of course we get the end and the ration of some disembodied voice going, do you believe? Who are you? Am I in hell? It was such a weird, deep voice as well. This kind of came out of nowhere. I got startled by it. I was like, oh my God. Yeah, because at the beginning I think they have some similar where they've got the different languages that they bring in to say Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and so forth. And I can't
00:27:48
Speaker
remember after the narrators there at the beginning? I think there is a narration at the start from what I remember, but I didn't make a note of it, so I can't remember for sure. But yeah, they never bring it back again. They just have the guy at the end come back going, do you believe? Yes. If you leave me alone, yes. Instead, we have strange transitions between calendar days where the editing goes from one day of Christmas to the other through the means of a calendar. And it's like, OK, these are strange transitions you're doing. This is what you decided on. I mean, maybe Windows Movie Maker was too expensive. Maybe.
00:28:18
Speaker
And on that note, before we go on to the next film, is there anything else you want to say about this absolute Christmas classic that I know you're going to have on your Christmas rotation from here on out? It will not be added to my Christmas rotation. For way no reason. But this movie was not as bad as I expected. It's not as bad as you made it out to me when you suggested I watch this. And my partner and I did actually kind of enjoy the movie at times, saying that there was a lot we were like, what the fuck?
00:28:47
Speaker
I took so many issues with just the actors' weird faces that they were making at any given point. Lisa's actress Christina Moore has the craziest eyes I think I've ever seen. It was genuinely terrifying at times. She looked like she was going to crack and kill him on several occasions.
00:29:04
Speaker
And that was during scenes where they were having a romantic dinner. It wasn't even her shocked by something he did scene. Those were more normal faces than her normal resting face that she had when she was looking at him adoringly. She looked like she was deciding what part of him she was going to cut up and eat. Yeah, that's what I had in my notes as well. Just the fact that she has very intense eyes whenever she has any action to anything.
00:29:27
Speaker
And you just sat there and you think, what is going on here? Oh my God. I've just realized something that's made so much sense. John Doocy, who plays Tom, was the writer for this movie. No way. No wonder they were like, he's such a cute guy. He's so wonderful though. Oh, he's amazing. He just sort of wrote himself as being this absolute hunky guy when like, I'm sorry. I don't want to be mean, but John Doocy is not an attractive person.
00:29:49
Speaker
He's not ugly, but like from a love interest in these kind of hallmark movies, he is not attractive at all. It's like that quote out of Simpson Tied where it's like, he's attractive and an ugly sort of thing. There was definitely a lot of self and certain there, I think, because the thing
00:30:04
Speaker
is, there's not even really any compromise at the end. I think that's my biggest issue with this film, other than the fact it's just a pseudo religious film, but with Santa instead of a certain level of logic here. Like I said, you know in Christian Rock when they replace actual rock songs where they say, baby, or my girl, just Jesus Christ? Yeah, that's what it felt like in this film.
00:30:25
Speaker
But beyond that though, the thing that really irked me about it was the fact that there was not really any compromise there. Like, granted he was level-headed, you know, he wasn't a total psychotic. He was like dressing up in Santa's clothes and Christmas day, like,
00:30:42
Speaker
oh, honey, let's get to work. It wasn't like that. But at the same time, she had to backtrack her trauma and just be like, oh, yeah, I guess because he's the love interest in this. We have to go along with it for the rest of our lives. I was like, really? Is this who you're settling for? And again, no shade to the real life couple. I just mean purely in terms of the characters here. So will we move on to the next one? Yeah, I think we've flocked. I believe in Centre for what
Introduction and Critique of 'Christmas Under Wraps'
00:31:09
Speaker
it's worth.
00:31:09
Speaker
So the next home we have is 2014's Christmas Under Apps, which is a thumb-up rightfully so. I had never heard of, until Andrew graciously gave it to me. Or, sorry, when I say gave it to me, he didn't post it through the mail. He just sent a link and said, go watch it. And I was like, oh!
00:31:26
Speaker
I can't wait to watch this. And yeah, it's a film. It's about a distinguished doctor who decides to move from her fast-paced big-city life. She gets broken up with her boyfriend at the most romantic setting possible. And that's what always annoys me about these films. And even in high budget films it's like, why do these guys, or even women sometimes, why do they always take people to the most romantic
00:31:52
Speaker
place possible. You know, they've got the candles, they've got the lovely music in the background. And you know, what course are you planning to break up on? You know, it's going to put a downer if you're midway through your sip and you're like, yeah, I think we should break up. And then again, is that a dick move to wait until you're dessert to see? I guess the reason behind it is so like they can't make a scene because they'll be like, I'm in public, I'll break up with you and then you won't be screaming at me kind of thing. It's so cowardly.
00:32:17
Speaker
Is that not the same guidelines though? Say when you buy something off of eBay or something and they say meet in person, or even Facebook Marketplace, something like that where they say meet in person in a very public area where they can't cause a scene. I think that's the
00:32:32
Speaker
points are very subtle are there? I mean, yeah, that's just a very tropey thing to do to do that breakup at a restaurant. Why are you doing that there? That's such an immature thing to do. But yeah, so she thinks she's being engaged to he's actually breaking up with her very brutal scene where are the most brutal day because she gets broken up with by her seemingly long term boyfriend must be long term enough that she thought they were getting engaged and then finds out from her dad that she's not receiving the fellowship
00:32:59
Speaker
at this hospital in Boston that she was hoping to get a fellowship in, and so this was a very sucky day for her. Yeah, and then of course she ends up accepting a rebound fellowship, which is the only way I could describe this in the middle of nowhere, and quite possibly one of the worst named towns I have
00:33:18
Speaker
ever heard in my life for one of these holiday films. So the town she goes to and see if this is a real place, see just the name of chant, please anybody reach out to me and please tell me if this is a real place but she travels to a place called Garland, Alaska and it's like the middle of nowhere and see in terms of middle of nowhere places, it's not the worst
00:33:41
Speaker
No, they seemingly have internet, which I was like, oh, that's not so bad, considering she had to get like a small microplane from Anchorage over for like seemingly hours over to this random town with nothing else nearby it. Yeah, I was surprised because usually in these films you have the trope that they get there and they have like a very squalid accommodation and things like that.
00:34:05
Speaker
and it's like all right okay you know fish out of water situation kind of thing and no she ends up in this massive log cabin pre-paid for they're like we need a doctor we will be paying for your accommodation we'll be paying for your travel she seems to get a lot of meals and drinks and stuff free and she's like the head doctor so she's probably on like a pretty significant wage she's been making absolute bank living here man i'd move there for that kind of treatment
00:34:31
Speaker
to be honest. It's absolutely crazy everything she gets and of course you get the tropes throughout the scene though honestly it just it doesn't work in this sense because she goes and this is something I was saying to you before we started recording today but she goes into this
00:34:48
Speaker
coffee place and it's like the only cafe in town and she does the thing where she's like oh can I get a triple macchiato something something something and then she's like oh you don't do that here it's like no we've got instant coffee as if that's the pinnacle of a backwards middle of nowhere rural town but
00:35:07
Speaker
As she said, you know, they've got internet, they've got supplies coming in constantly. One of the things that actually got me, and I think I text you about it, was the fact that when she arrives there, she rolls her eyes and goes, oh, great, they don't have a coffee maker. What, you mean a kettle? I think she went like a Niskafe, I think. No, no, I get that, but it's like, what's wrong with a kettle? She's got a fast-paced lifestyle. She can't be making her own coffee.
00:35:31
Speaker
She got no time to press a button. Generally, I was losing sympathy for her at that point. Mind you, and American listeners can kind of correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think that many Americans have a kettle. Yeah, yeah. No, that is true, to be fair. Because I have to say, when a lot of Americans come over here, and this is very anecdotal, but as far as I know, when they come over here, they're kind of like, oh, what's this? Well, not what's this. They obviously know maybe a kettle, but it's just not as common over there because, surprise, surprise, I don't think Americans are big tea drinkers.
00:36:00
Speaker
Ice tea, maybe. Ice tea, yeah, exactly. But flashing back though, before she actually goes to Garland, and I made this note as well, I said Garland Hospital. What was Holly Jolly Hospital taking? Then of course you've got the foreshadowing mum who gives the very Christmas cracker. How do you put this, the Christmas cracker type advice? Well Christmas
00:36:22
Speaker
are you hoping for that gives you advice? They double with fortune cookies. It was a really pure purchase, I have to say. Fortune crackers a few well. But yeah, she says things like, oh, Grandma says, follow your heart and everything. What Grandma? I'm sure that's what the mum says at one point, says your Grandma always used to say follow your heart or something like that. She does the thing with
00:36:42
Speaker
it's all the stereotypical platitudes where it's like, oh, follow your dreams, listen to your heart, not your head, so on and so forth. Her parents do look like they are 60 to 70 years old. They look absolutely ancient. And at one point when I finished, she saw them, I thought they might have been grandparents. No, those are her parents. And she's seemingly recently out of medical school. So I think that's the situation with the fellowship that she did really well in medical school, got some good background experience, and then gets to go off and do fancy doctor stuff.
00:37:11
Speaker
But maybe I'm wrong. I thought she was maybe late 20s, early 30s, but I guess maybe she's older than that and she's been a doctor for a while and her parents are like a reasonable age, but they just seem substantially older than I expected them to have been. And I mean, the fact that they're living a mansion as well, and I get it because the dad's like a... He's a high up doctor. Yeah, and that's the thing as well. I was really surprised that the system's rigged because she's already got a dad and I don't want to say big pharma, but let's see, so it probably is big pharma.
00:37:39
Speaker
she's got her dad in so the dad's just like oh leave it with me I'll get you a really good job in this industry. Absolute nepo child, she's relying so much on nepotism here and the mum is like forge your own path and she's like mum just doesn't get my dream is like is your dream to have everything handed to you? I completely agreed with her mum I thought I was like I was like no the mum is right here do your own thing
00:37:59
Speaker
Be a doctor if you want to be like your dad in that way, but find your own job. This Alaska thing is a great opportunity and you found it yourself, or kind of you went to an office and spoke to someone who was like, this is available, but you took that chance yourself. Because, so you know, honestly, I think the mum was in a very, very roundabout way, calling her a basic bitch, to be honest.
00:38:17
Speaker
It's because she's like, oh, you never take chances, you don't do this. And she has the stereotypical line of, oh, you'll be very back soon. And I just noted down, unless a hunky lumberjack or something changed her mind. And you know, I wasn't far off and I don't think it's fair because the hunky love interest in this was very omnipotent. He was like competent in a lot of things.
00:38:40
Speaker
But yeah, there was a couple of things just before she got to Garland. There's a couple of things that I just want to kind of bring up, and I don't know if you noticed this as well. The fact that the plane that, say, before she got the other plane over to Garland, did you notice that plane was coming in at an angle? No, I didn't notice that. I don't know if you watch the thing. Obviously, it's probably stock footage, and I don't know if it's a windy day, but it was really coming in at an angle. Pull up! Pull up!
00:39:06
Speaker
We're headed to Garland! I have to say, see this whole—and I agree with the main character here when they said that the job was adjacent to Anchorage. That is just corporate catfishing right there because I even noted that down because you saw the stock footage of them flying over the mountains and they just put down Jesus Christ where's that hospital? Moria! Because that's what it felt like. I was expecting them to see the fellowship go
00:39:33
Speaker
She was looking for a fellowship. Yeah, exactly. That was my thought. I was like, what is going on? It's like poetry, right? You have my stethoscope. And there was like a lot of really weird line reads. I can't remember when it was, but I think the main guy comes out of nowhere and she rightfully says that. She goes, oh, that came out of nowhere. And you sit there and be like, was that the best take you had that day? Or do you just know it's a Hallmark film, so you're not even going to try here?
00:40:00
Speaker
She does that a few times. Her reaction to things is so unproportionate to what's going on later on in the movie. It goes into this open area in the woods where our hunky friend has taken her. And she goes, oh, wow. It's always a green screen, so she can't see what's happening. The aurora borealis is happening above her. It's absolutely beautiful. And she's like, that's awesome. Can you imagine if there was a really serious incident where it was like, oh my god, the faction had collapsed and Frank's trapped underneath. That's Garland for you.
00:40:27
Speaker
because as you were saying in the I Believe in Santa review there's a lot of very cultish undertones in this film because I genuinely see if you switch the movie around from a very whimsical score to like a horror track. Genuinely this could be like the next Midsomer or something because the way
00:40:46
Speaker
her acting, especially that took me out when she was like, oh, news travels fast, and suddenly everyone was saying there are flowers and things. Can you imagine if they don't like somebody? I know. What happened to the other doctors? They didn't work out. Yeah, like, what are they buried in that mountain you flew across?
00:41:04
Speaker
or under the Aurora Borealis area. Yeah, that was really, really, I don't know, it was just, it was really awful, I have to say. I have to admit, I was really disappointed in myself because I tried calling that she would say that's Garland for you at the end, but she never did. And I feel quite upset about that. She never said it.
00:41:25
Speaker
And again, the whole fact she said things like, I can make this work when she's talking about the log cabin. And I was just thinking, it's a log cabin, for God's sake. It's not like a hovel. That's another line, I actually forgot. Did you notice this one where her and is it Frank who was the pseudo Santa where they're talking and they have this really weird backhanded compliment argument with one another?
00:41:51
Speaker
where not Santa, wink, wink, says, it'll fat me up here. And then she turns round and says, oh, you look like Santa. It's like, fuck it, they have no children, that's all that's for. I know, immediately kind of getting to the point where this guy is Santa and she's already, wink, wink, you kind of look like Santa, wink, wink. I also forgot I noted this now because the main character's called Andrew and I just spit down, oh no, he's called Andrew.
00:42:18
Speaker
All the interactions between her and Frank were very odd. There was very little chemistry at any point in this movie. Neither her nor Frank seemed to be able to act properly in this role. And like, I'm sure he's an established actor. You know, he was the boss to the National Lampoon, but he doesn't seem very good. What I don't like about this film is, and again, I'm skipping to the end here, where it is implied that he is the real Santa because it lies off into the night with one reindeer and how it happened to the others. I did think that that was a bit strange. He only had one.
00:42:46
Speaker
I get why, technically, because getting 12 reindeers is probably a mighty task in itself for a Hallmark film, but you're going to go with one and just not even a magic slave. That might have been better, but yeah, there's a scene where basically they're saying,
00:43:04
Speaker
He ate too many cookies. Can you imagine kids watching this being like, I'm gonna weave out milk and cookies for Santa. And they watch this and then all of a sudden all these adults are like, you killed Santa. I was thinking that at the end when he's had this almost heart attack, which was definitely a heart attack, and they're like, it's not a heart attack actually. I was like, hmm.
00:43:20
Speaker
Not so sure about that, given everything that he collapsed, he has pains in his chest and arm. I'm not a medical professional, maybe there are things that are very similar, but definitely should be not great to move around and go deliver presents right now. And it's been told to switch up his diet, because he's gonna die if he keeps eating cookies. That memo is not gonna be passed down to the kids, so he's either continued to eat the equivalent of a metric ton of cookies in one night, or he's left them all now, and so the kids are like, oh, Santa didn't come, because he didn't eat my cookies.
00:43:47
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of really weird moments like that, because obviously they're trying to say, oh, it is Santa, but you know, wink, wink, don't tell anyone, don't tell the kids. And it really disturbs me, because there's a scene where she goes over there for dinner, and you know, they have like a huge blowout, because it's like, oh, you're a fourth generation garlander, or some weird thing like that, which I thought, what happened to the other generations? And they're like,
00:44:15
Speaker
Yeah, you see like this elf jump scare where an elf runs across the screen that leaves its heart? That is never brought up again by the way. I missed that scene. I was looking down making notes about something else and then she was like, was that an elf? And I was like, fuck, I missed it.
00:44:30
Speaker
No, exactly, because I was watching it and I was like, no, that couldn't have been an elf, but they never... But I get up again the way that they get around it by saying, oh, he's Santa, but for the modern age, as he runs, I think it's like a shipping company for Christmas. And the thing that I absolutely hate about it, and I'm aging this to you, it's like such a minor nitpick.
00:44:48
Speaker
he's got like this
Concluding Thoughts and Comparisons
00:44:50
Speaker
oval sign that he uses and it's like holiday shipping or something, a holiday something, but the word holiday isn't within the oval so it overlaps and it's really hard to read. I know it's a hallmark fellow but I know nobody cares. I know this isn't so much a, oh I hope someone was fired for that blunder moment, but you're sitting there thinking, really? Is that the choice you're gonna go with Santa?
00:45:13
Speaker
You know, the same Santa that is on all the coat bottles and things, is this the branding you want to go with? Partly so. We can only assume that he either runs Santa's workshop or a secret Alaskan sweatshop, because that's the only two options I've got down here. There's like no happy medium in between them. The only other one I want to draw attention to, and I don't know if you noticed this, but seeing the power cut scene
00:45:35
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know why I thought of this, but when the lights cut out there all I could keep thinking was power cuts brought to you by Garland, Pyeong-yang. That's Garland for you. Oh praise her benevolent leader Santa Claus. He needed the power more than we did. He needed the power more than we did. Yeah, the fact that Andrew is the launchpin of this community, that he is the handyman, he's the pilot, genuinely
00:45:58
Speaker
like I can understand this dad to reservations about letting them go because how else are they supposed to get out of there? Like seriously he's the only one who can fly a plane and obviously they would have to arrange a new service but they need to set up a better infrastructure in this town for these kind of things like I was thinking this as well Lauren can't be there forever
00:46:17
Speaker
They can't rely on hoping that someone will come out to their random ass town to be their doctor in the future. Clearly that's not been working for like some time. So maybe they should have a system set up where they kind of incentivize some of the kids from Garland to go into medical school so that they can come back and be the town doctor. Shadow Lauren, so they learn from that kind of thing. It's not a sustainable model.
00:46:38
Speaker
Well, that's the thing as well. How long have they been without a doctor? I think they said a year. Jesus Christ! Because I don't get me wrong, obviously they must have talented nurses and anxieties and things like that. And I mean in stretch in saying that because it's not really a hospital. I'm convinced that someone's living room and they just converted it.
00:46:57
Speaker
It was very much just a house. No, why they couldn't get a real hospital? No, wait, no, Sonic! Backtrack! Because I'm saying that, no, they couldn't have got a real hospital, but they had a real hospital at the beginning of the film. So, yeah, they literally just get, I don't know, the producers all day home in Alaska, maybe.
00:47:14
Speaker
I don't think they were in Alaska. They were probably in like Georgia or somewhere cheap to film and then just put some fake snow around. I think they often film in like Colorado and Georgia for these kind of things. So it was all just awful. It was just terrible. I liked Billy. Yeah, Billy was cool. Billy was cute. Billy wasn't a terrible actress. She more than anyone else kind of gave off the culty vibes when she would like creepily smile after saying
00:47:33
Speaker
The convenience store in Garland has everything you need. Billie's relationship with Wyatt, the florist boy, was very strange. At the very start, on Lauren's first day, she has this patient waiting room, absolutely full of people, and she's having a chit chat with Billie, who she's known for roughly six hours about the florist boy and what her relationship with him is. Maybe have this conversation after you've dealt with the mountain of patients who have not seen a doctor in a year. Yeah, there's just a guy belitted out in the waiting room, and she's like, oh, Wyatt's so dreamy. I'm dying.
00:48:01
Speaker
You did say at one point that she already saw the patients by order of importance. And like the first patient she had to see was someone who had a tummy ache from eating something that they shouldn't have or something. Oh, okay. So that's the severity here. There was people with like a broken foot. We're dealing with someone who had a tummy ache. Coming from someone who frequently gets tummy aches. I don't feel like my situation deserves to be ahead of those with actual problems. Yeah, you could just imagine the triage system there. It's like, oh, somebody ate too many Christmas cookies. Help, I've been shot. No, no, sorry.
00:48:30
Speaker
This is Garland. To summarise my thoughts on both films really, especially for this one though, is the fact that they are homework films. The bar isn't set especially high for what to expect from these films, but even for a homework film you just sit there thinking, why did you make this decision? Was this the best decision of your life? Was it the worst?
00:48:51
Speaker
I had kind of figured the movie out pretty early on. Fifteen, twenty minutes into the movie, I made a note being like, I'm pretty sure that Garland is either a cult or is actually the North Pole. I was like, okay, no, I am correct that they're implying that Garland is actually the North Pole. There's a really weird scene where Nate, this guy who's like clearly an elf, that like had a little teeny tiny hammer that he was making toys with in part of his hand. He was like, I made toys that just like an awkward little shrug. I was like, oh, this scene's awful. It's so cringy.
00:49:16
Speaker
Can you imagine the alternative? It's like, don't say you're an elf, don't say you're an elf. I DO DRUCKS!
00:49:24
Speaker
As I said, I don't know what it is about Christmas films and trying to kill off Santa Claus because we reviewed the web last week and as I said for that in the very beginning it's like, oh what a lovely family moment and then all of a sudden, oh yeah dad died a couple of years later. I mean even then I believe in Santa they didn't really kill him off but I think they killed off a lot of people's faith in that film.
00:49:48
Speaker
And yeah, this one, yeah, they just tried to straight up kill him by the end with an overdose of sugar. For a film about traditions, it was a weird take to have. I hate this movie. It left such a negative impression on me. I never want to see it again. And you told me prior to this recording that there was actually a sequel to this that came out just last year, which has some of the same characters in it. But our main character is not in it. And seemingly another woman is now falling in love with Andy Holiday. So like, what happened?
00:50:17
Speaker
So Lauren, was she killed in the brutal ritual sacrifice that is Garland? What is happening over there? See, my theory is that, see at the very end of the film, where they have the Christmas fair and he comes out on the sleigh with the reindeer and then he flies off into the night sky, I think she got trampled. Grandma got hit by a reindeer style. She was just like, oh, what whimsical fun. And then, you know, maybe she died on route back to Boston and everything that happened subsequently was all just a figment.
00:50:46
Speaker
honestly I'm not curious enough to watch the other film to see what the hell happened between 2014 and 2022 when they brought out a sequel because who in the and again see if you're a hallmark
00:51:01
Speaker
and aficionado, whatever the term is for Hallmark fans, these films. Was there a clamouring for a sequel, especially for this film? Because I feel as if of all the Hallmark films I've seen, there are some where I genuinely do think, oh that was actually not that bad. Maybe it should have got a sequel but for the most part I don't get why they would have made a sequel for this film in particular because nothing happens.
00:51:25
Speaker
I mean, Santa nearly dies, sorry, and the reindeer nearly has to get put down for glue. But other than that, nothing really happens, does it? Yeah, it's a very nothing film. It is very uneventful. But before we wrap up, though, I've got one particular question for you. And it's going to be a very difficult question here, so grace yourself. But what would you say was your preferred film between these two?
00:51:48
Speaker
Oh, definitely the first one. Definitely. I believe in Santa. That was much more enjoyable. I had things I could actually say about that movie, whereas like this one just, it just kind of went by me. Other than just the usual comments about, yeah, this felt very culty. Why is this like this? This was strange kind of thing. There was nothing that really stood out to me about this movie. It felt like a tax write off.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah, no, I would agree with you. I think that I Believe in Santa probably is the better of these two. I mean, it's not saying much, but yeah, I would definitely agree with you there. I would even say that I Believe in Santa's the more entertaining album out the two. Yeah, it is more enjoyable.
00:52:22
Speaker
because I wish you could kind of laugh at a lot of the things I did, whereas for Christmas Under Wraps, it's got unintentionally funny moments, but it's all caked in this, you know, stereotypical Hallmark moments. The, oh, person from the big city, they come to a town that they're not really used to. They fall in love with the local handyman. So it's all right, but it's just a wee bit dull. Christmas Under Wraps is also a movie that seems to take place around Christmas rather than be about Christmas.
00:52:51
Speaker
And I mean, that's the case with a lot of these Hallmark movies where like Christmas isn't necessarily the centerpiece or the focus. It's just like a decoration. I believe in Santa clearly had Christmas focus. Whereas Christmas under wraps was a story of a young doctor who needed to sort of change her ideals about life by going to this small town.
00:53:10
Speaker
And that could have been a story told not at Christmas, but it just so happened it was also Christmas. I did note that if we're in Alaska and we're around Christmas time, it's not getting light out at all, essentially, for a good two months, two, three months. A lot of this took place during the day. And I was like, I'm pretty suspect of the fact that this is in complete darkness right now. See you in that note, though. Andrew, thank you so much for watching, I believe, in Santa. And I'll give you a very hearty festive screw you for making me watch this one.
00:53:40
Speaker
That's more than fair. I think I fulfilled my role of giving the worst Christmas movie. You know, seeing I want to say, out of all the bad Christmas films that I actually have watched, it wasn't the worst I've ever seen. I wouldn't say it's the best, absolutely not the best, but yeah, it's not the worst I've ever seen. How do you compare to Bone Alone? Oh, the Bonawoods, a masterpiece in itself.
00:54:02
Speaker
have to get you a copy. It's just pure R. No, and that though, thank you so much for doing this episode. And speaking of killing off Santa, next week we are going to be tackling for our final festive episode, we are going to be tackling the one and only Santa Claus, or the Santa Claus technically. We'll be tackling Tim Allen's The Santa Claus, which
00:54:24
Speaker
I have to admit, this is probably very blasphemous for the holiday season, but I have never really sat down and watched this film. I know of it. I've heard people who absolutely hate it, you know, other people who love it. So yeah, it'll be interesting to watch and discuss it next week. But yeah, until then, if you want to catch up with our other festive episodes, then you can catch us on the website, chatsandami.com. I also want to give a huge shout out to our
00:55:13
Speaker
And as always stay safe, stay awesome and most importantly stay jolly.
00:55:21
Speaker
That too. That's garland for you. Do you believe in Chatsunami?