TxMike

After our usual Saturday evening steak and wine dinner, with California Cabernet this time, we looked for a holiday-themed movie and found this one, streaming on NFLX.

It is a somewhat "low energy" movie but in substance it is watchable and suitably entertaining. Filmed in Canada but set in Denver, Hayley Sales (who also sings a couple of songs in the soundtrack) is pastry chef Libby. She and two friends had recently opened a new pastry restaurant during the holiday season. An out-of-town customer comes in and due to a confusion leaves money on the table but exits angry. Then he leaves a very negative review.

That person is Marshall Williams as Peter, a somewhat famous actor, in town for his brother's wedding. His bad review used a pseudonym and then Libby similarly uses a pseudonym to refute his bad review. This leads to a lot of back-N-forth between the two of them, each had no idea who the other was. That is the "shop around the corner" flavor of what transpired next, for the rest of the movie, each getting to know and like the other through the exchange of thoughts and ideas.

Of course all that leads to them eventually meeting and trying to work out this newfound relationship.

This is not a Hallmark movie but made much like one, it even has the only kiss during the last minute of the movie.

Not a great movie, with not much new, but the two main actors are good in their roles. The very negative reviews here and "1" ratings are nonsense, it is not a bad movie by any measure.

My wife and I watched this on Christmas night, streaming on NFLX. We found it to be more interesting than most "hallmark type" of short movies.

It involves a family that owns a large ranch but wants the whole valley. It reminded me of the Dutton family in the "Yellowstone" series starring Costner as John Dutton, just on a smaller scale.

Lexie Crenshaw is a partner in a California firm that deals in real estate acquisition and must go back home to try to seal a deal, the purchase of a smaller ranch by a Minnesota conglomerate. It is tense because the adjacent Crenshaw Ranch is owned by her family, estranged for the prior 10 years because her dad shut her out in favor of his two sons.

Coby Mason is the owner of the struggling ranch, they are "underwater" financially but he is very stubborn, he vows he won't sell. But he and his young daughter (11) bond quickly with Lexie and that becomes a difficult romantic issue in the whole story.

Anyway it is developed interestingly with decent dialog and appropriate characters. Worth a viewing for movie night at home.

I found this movie streaming on NFLX. I like Colin Farrell so I figured it would be worth watching. I was right, a very interesting character study that to me is a rated a bit low.

Here he is Lord Doyle, a made-up name to seem more important and to try to hide from those looking for him. It is set and filmed in Macau, a special administrative region of China, that is the only place in China where casinos are legal.

You see Doyal is a mediocre gambler with a big gambling habit and as the movie starts he owes almost a million pounds back in England. Now he also owes the hotel and local casino. He is a con man. Every time he loses his motto is that his luck has to change.

This in many ways is a hard movie to watch. I am glad I watched it, I think it is a very good movie, but it also is not one I'd want to watch again. It has both tragedy and redemption.

Farrell is great in a difficult role, to me it is an award-worthy performance.