Well played, Santa...

Well played.

Since the world didn't end today, how about some contemporary Christmas movie recommends. Of all the Christmas movies I've watched this year, and for some reason I can't seem to stop watching those made-for-television shows lately, I found the following five to be pretty darned enjoyable. These aren't the Christmas classics, except maybe my number one, Noel. It's not the acting or the script or the quality of these films that made me like them--for me it's all about the sigh at the end.

Mostly these films are of the variety one might call schmaltzy. Overly emotional, cheesy, and often maxing out every Christmas music crescendo for impact.

But sometimes, when I'm up late wrapping presents, or back in the day, when I was assembling toys and sticking those foul little stickers on everything--those of you who ever put together a plastic toy in the nineties know what I'm talking about--it was nice to watch those flicks for company.

Don't JUDGE me for my taste in holiday entertainment. O.o

5. Holiday Engagement 

This is your standard, hire a guy to be your fiancé for Thanksgiving so your mom isn't disappointed fare. I enjoyed this because I like the actress. Quirky good girl gets guy. Lots of humor here.

4. Desperately Seeking Santa

Sexy Santa? Seriously, who thought that was a good idea? I'm a free thinker and I still don't think Santa needs to be sexy. At any rate this movie is an enjoyable romp with an evil capitalist overlord type who is gobbling up small businesses and costing local jobs. In one scene there were posters of hot guys on the walls and I swear I've seen half of them on our m/m book covers. Tragically bad dancing. I still liked it. Go figure.

3. Crazy For Christmas

This is your guy gives out money willy-nilly because he's realized family is what's most important for Christmas. I kind of enjoyed this one too. Howard Hessman was really on a roll here. Buon Natale.

2. Dear Santa

I don't know if it's the actress, whom I love, or the kid, who made me want to be her mom, or the male character love interest because I want to drive his snowplow, but honestly, I just loved this movie. Sure it's a guilty pleasure, and it's not going to win any awards, but I came away from this movie ready to deck the halls and break out the eggnog, and I just don't know.

1. Noel

This is a seriously weird film, in that it's like a whole bunch of A-list actors I mean...REALLY A-list: Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz, Paul Walker and Alan Arkin. First rate acting. First rate writing. It's a strange little movie I'd never even heard of before. It had five or so plotlines to follow and It's not like they ever all came together in the end either, but... It left me feeling oddly uplifted and even privileged to have seen it.

These films are all available as instant watch for live streaming from Netflix, and are possibly available to watch on Amazon as well, so mull the wine, pop the popcorn, and dive right in.

Perfect for holiday procrastination!

This is DAY Nine

of the GREAT HOLIDAY ZAMFEST!
what's in it for you?

Welcome to the twelve days of ZAMfest All you have to do is comment to enter the daily drawing and I'll pull a new name from the hat each night to win an ebook from my backlist. The TWELFTH day will be Christmas, that's when I'll put the name of anyone who leaves me a comment on all twelve blogs, into a drawing and one very lucky person will win the grand prize-- a $50 dollar Amazon Gift Card. If you're new to the ZAMfest, it's not too late to go back and comment on earlier blogs. Good Luck!

DAY eight's winner is strive4bst, I'll be contacting you to see which ebook you'd like!

Thanks a bunch! Christmas is right around the corner now!