I really wanted to like this, I’ve been looking forward to it since seeing the trailer but I think, as always, the promo material was kinda misleading. There’s such a great cast here, and the setting and visuals are gorgeous, plus it’s a fun idea, but it just didn’t work. Maybe you need a bit more patience to get on the right wavelength of the comedy, but I just felt disappointed.

This one was so boring, and the reviews I’ve seen following it all suggest the amount of chemistry between the leads doesn’t grow at all during the movie, so I don’t think we missed much. A shame, because Reese is good people.

Woah. This film. I watched it because it’s such a bizarre concept - this guy who was SO good at making Irish dancing a global phenomenon decided he wanted to write, produce, direct and star in a spy movie. The film is a bit of a laughing stock in the industry and I knew going into it that it was going to be bad.

I was expecting this to be your traditional cheesy rom-com wedding movie but it turned out to be a proper comedy that was a lot more enjoyable than I’d anticipated. Jennifer Lopez is great, and I loved the chemistry between her and Duhamel, which seemed to grow and evolve with the movie just as it should have done.

Hmm, bit of a disappointment this one. The tribute to Chadwick Boseman was great and I appreciate the characters needed room to grieve, but the film was far too long for the story it had to tell. There’s a good movie in there, it just got swallowed up by negative points like the length, the fact that it’s trying to be Avatar, that the awesome science kid isn’t really given much to do.

It’s a great film, combining humour and action in the best way and with Arnie doing exactly what he does best - marching around with either his muscles or his guns and somehow managing to keep hold of a beautiful wife along the way. It doesn’t feel like a James Cameron movie, too quirky for that really, there’s a car chase with a horse for goodness’ sake. And the end twenty minutes or so are just about as far-fetched as its possible to get. But it’s so likeable that you can’t help going with it and hoping for that happy ending.

These live-action remakes are really asking for trouble when they are trying to re-invent such stone-cold classics, and this one sadly doesn’t live up to its predecessor. At best, this movie is okay, but it veers into irritating territory and Will Smith as the genie is a choice that I just can’t get on board with. The songs are the only thing that make this worthwhile and they are obviously straight from the original… except for the new musical moments which are then just jarring against the brilliance of the old ones. Overall, just meh.

Yay for another Emma Roberts holiday movie! This one was quite similar to Holidate but with a focus in on one specific time of year - New Year! It took a minute to get going, I thought, with us all having to get through the trick of them looking like they were talking about and to each other but actually not, etc, etc. But once they properly met and the evening began, it was fantastic!

I’ve been looking forward to this and although I feel like it’s a bit of a weird time to watch a mystery movie set in the heat of summer on a Greek Island (not so festive!), I had to watch it soon after being released because of spoilers. I’m glad I had to make the effort though because it was as brilliant as expected.

I wanted to watch this after suddenly hearing about the meme that Kermit is responsible for 9/11 (in the alternate universe without him the towers are still standing) but unfortunately, I didn’t get that far. It was all just a bit scrappy, the various muppets were all over the place and I only got about half the references anyway. If there was a story, it was taking its time to get going… plus Whoopi and David were watching from a summer meadow which wasn’t very Christmassy.

There’s no getting away from the fact that this is a slightly oddball movie - the fact that the brother immediately starts hitting on SJP’s character is supremely uncomfortable, but then Elliot wasn’t exactly subtle once the sister showed up. It was never quite clear what the focus was or where it was going, or what the main aim was, but perhaps that’s because the main point of the whole thing was that families are weird.

Mm, couldn’t get past the twenty minute rule on this one. We flicked between lots of different characters without really getting a good sense of who they are and how they relate to each other, somehow there was a lot of scenes but the story didn’t progress at all, and more than anything, the main guy just didn’t seem sympathetic at all so I didn’t care what was going to happen upon his homecoming. Pass.

Mixed feelings about this one - it’s a great cast (except, you know) and the concept is interesting and fun. I like that it’s a slightly darker take on festive stories, to balance out the sugary sweetness of many others. But I feel like it could have been so much better. Vince’s babbling didn’t quite fit, for me, I’m assuming a lot of that was him improvising. And the CG to make the elves smaller fell a little bit into that uncanny valley so that it was a little bit creepy. But it was entertaining and certainly a lot better than many other Christmas films around.

This is a lovely gentle little movie about people finding the meaning of Christmas in connecting with other people. At first, you’re really uptight with all the commuters and thinking there’s no way this party can work, but gradually as the film unwinds, you start to relax into it too. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to talk to commuters all of a sudden, but it’s a great message not to judge people as you never know what’s going on in their lives.

Terrible, terrible film! The guy is basically one step away from being a serial killer, and the woman is completely unflexible and holding a grudge for something that didn’t really sound like much of a problem at all. The film spends a good 15 minutes in the American sunshine, which is never ideal for when you want a Christmas movie, but it does eventually get near the festive season.

This is another take on the Shop Around the Corner/You’ve Got Mail story where people are rivals in real life and falling in love via their writing - this time it’s app messaging. That part of it was kinda fun, it’s a good storyline and they update it quite well. The leads do better when they’re bickering than when they’re getting on, but that’s okay. The other part of it is the whole business side, which I think is a fundamental flaw to the whole movie.

Ah, this was a pretty dull movie, to be honest. It started okay, looked like it might have something interesting about it, but then it felt like all the threads that were set up didn’t go anywhere. What was the point of the viral video? And what was the big deal about the dad knowing before the girl about the casting? For a movie about dance, there wasn’t a lot about dancing. All a bit odd. The only chemistry in the movie was between father and daughter - because they are real life father and daughter! The rest is completely forgettable.

Yay, a new and decent Christmas rom-com. This one took a minute to get going, at first I wasn’t sure either of the characters were going to be engaging (she was getting excited about Eureka lemons, etc) but it didn’t take long for the action to get going and their real personalities to shine through. I thought the lead two had brilliant chemistry, to the point that it felt so confusing what they saw in their other partners. But a great journey to get them together, even if his phone forgetfulness was just a little bit contrived to help up the stakes. Otherwise, perfect, and with a Say Anything reference at the end, too.

A batch of proper cheesy Christmas movies appeared on iPlayer and with a spare ninety minutes, I figured it couldn’t hurt to watch one of these babies for free. This one was actually pretty respectable for a Hallmark movie, although not a patch on some of the better festive rom-coms we’ve watched. Some of the story choices didn’t really make sense, and the sentimental nature of it sometimes veered into irritating, but the male lead was great and I think they had the beginnings of some good chemistry.

I think I liked this more than the previous one, although it’s all still more of the same - these stuffy British characters trying to hold their own in an era of servants and class that is quickly dying out. But I did like the mystery of the Countess, and I thought the silent film turning into a ’talkie’ and that being a threat to the stars was really interesting. A good couple of hours, I hope they do more!