Hello! Welcome to episode 54 of I’d Rather Stay In. This week, we are joined yet again by one of our favorite guests, Ade Olayinka (@fivetreechristmas) to chat all things holiday movies.
Episode transcript
Welcome to I’d rather stay in the podcast for cozy introverts. We’re your hosts Stephie Predmore
and Megan Myers,
this week’s episode holiday movies. Hey, Megan,
hey Stephie.
So, not too long before we hopped onto record, I was scrolling on the Instagrams. And I saw that Kristen Bell had posted a few posts today. So I watched him. And it was this series of videos that she took of her in Dax having a marital dispute the other day. And so, I should preface that they are my favorite celebrity couple, like hands down, I kind of have a crush on both of them. But I also love them because they’re just very normal human beings. And they bicker all the time. And for some reason, I fucking love that. And Dax was really annoyed because it was claiming that Kristen and the girls keep stealing all of his toiletries. And so he bought a fireproof safe like you would put like your passport and your birth certificate in to store his toiletries in the bathroom.
like one of those ones a little handle.
Yeah, the handle and like a key that locks it. So that, as he put it, the chimpanzees I live with can’t steal my shit. And so she was like, filming him like opening up the safe. And at one point, like he kept calling it the toiletry safe. And at one point, she was like, way, way, way, way. Wait, what is this actually called? This is actually called a toiletry safe. He’s like, Oh, that’s ridiculous. No one would buy that. It was like, the firt the first video was like seven minutes. And then it’s just like putting his shit in the safe of ranting about how they steal all of his stuff. And then the firt like there was like four parts to this because then later, he was like putting it in the bathroom. And like talking about how he has like half of the drawer and Kristen has four drawers. And why do we have so many towels? And she’s like, cuz four people live in this house. There’s only four towels What is happening? Give us like a whole thing. I was peeing my pants. I was laughing so hard because they’re nor they seem like normal people, except for the part where she was like, he was talking about how this bottle of I think it looked like it was like rubbing alcohol or something like that was mostly empty. And he was like, Well, can we do something about that? She was like, No, I need that to take off my wig. So it was pretty normal except for the I need to take off my wig statement. But the rest of it was just absolutely normal. married couple things. And I love them.
I have some questions about what are these magical unicorn products that Daz Shepherd is using that he thinks are so precious, because he’s
a man tweezers and nail clippers and apparently his hair brushes. And I girl. Oh, also one point. He was like going through the door. He’s like, Why? Why is so much your stuff in the drawer and he like pulled out this box of Q tips. And she was like I am not the only one in this house that uses q tips. And then he went on a rant about how he only uses a Q tip every, like two weeks. And so he only uses 24 q tips a year and then literally like 15 minutes later, she caught him in the bathroom using a Q tip. She was like I got you. So but also apparently he must always have like 10 extra tubes of toothpaste on hand at all times.
So just like full size toothpaste.
Yeah. They had like six extra in the drawer and he was like yeah, this is getting down. This is too low. I think I need to go restock. No,
I mean, is there like a tooth emergency?
She was like what do you think is coming for you?
It’s a really bad history with the tooth fairy.
Oh my god, I was seriously could not stop laughing and it was so funny because it sounded so much like arguments that happen in this house. And in which case Alex is Dax and I am Kristen. So anyway, that was if anyone just wants a very like normal celebrity couple to follow. And Bella Shepherd, that was in percent. So anyway, that was that was my little share for the evening. How are you?
I’m good. I have not watched anything that entertaining in a while.
I bet you’re gonna hop off recording here and go look for it and watch it.
I will have to but it might be gone by then. Who knows? Oh,
well it’s on her feed. So who wasn’t in her story? Oh, see, but I do that she does have some story highlights that I will occasionally go back and rewatch she has this there’s a tiger or at least there used to be an entire story highlight on when they got there like adjustable bed. It was it’s pretty hilarious. Not gonna lie. Very easily entertained by their Instagram accounts. It’s It’s fine. What’s new with you?
Mmm
hmm.
I can’t talk about that thing because it’s not happening yet. So
Megan has a secret
about it. We’ll talk
about it soon. It
um, nine
a house is not that big. shorty did that. But yeah,
I have not pregnant. She’s not pregnant. That one.
That’s never gonna be the secret. No, absolutely
not. Bob asked me the other day something about like, I don’t know if he just watched a movie where someone had a baby or whatever the deal was like, you want to have another baby like jokingly, obviously, cuz we can’t have any baby. Sweet. And I was like, no, that sounds horrible. Also, that’s why I’m friends with Stephie. I can just borrow her baby. Right? Give her back.
Right. You get to be the cool aunt this time.
Yeah, like don’t have to deal with it
exactly like that. There’s a there’s some definite benefits to be like the cool aunt and uncle. Yes, I can drop her off. You can get a baby fix. And then you send her on back.
Yeah. The only other thing that I have going on is that I’ve been like, very slowly buying things for the house that we needed. And so they’ve been trickling in. So I got my new rug for the porch, and I got a new light for our bathroom. But the mirror for the bathroom hasn’t come yet. So it’s got a new light. But the old mirror
sits only halfway there.
Yes. And also I tried to clean the bathtub today. Hmm. Because the people who used to live here are disgusting, basically. And like never clean anything. And I hurt my wrist trying to clean the bathtub.
So I don’t claim.
I know like I normally don’t, but we haven’t gotten a cleaner here.
So you’re like saying luckily myself, it sucks.
Yes, I hire a cleaner. I am not ashamed of that. I regret I absolutely recommend that to anybody who has the money to do that. Oh, yeah,
we have a cleaning lady touche. I absolutely. It’s my sanity. So well. We’ll talk more about my will will will talk more about that on enjoy at the end. We’ll circle back also come back to this. So you guys know, we love a good holiday movie. So we’re gonna we’re back to talk about them again. We talked about cheesy holiday movies last year, but this time, we’re going to talk about it with one of our favorite guests.
That’s right You guys know her as our resident skincare expert, but she’s also a holiday movie aficionado. Please welcome back our friend Ade Olayinka
Hi everyone. How are you doing? Hi, ladies.
Hello. Welcome back. Thank you. It’s
good to be back. I’m so excited to be here. You know, I i’m sure skincare will come up. But today it’s all about Christmas.
Christmas, this is just like the 20th step in our plan to get you to just be like
amazing.
It’s fine. So our listeners do know you from our skincare episodes. Guys, if you have not listened to those they’re excellent full of awesome information. But you are a woman of many talents and passions one of which is Christmas movies. So please tell us about your podcast five every Christmas. Yeah, so
I A few years ago, I got really into Christmas. It’s actually funny. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently that it hasn’t been that long that I’ve been super into this genre. I didn’t grow up watching it my parents don’t watch these movies. And so it’s it’s been a pretty new thing for me but just last year I took my love of Christmas movies to the next level and I decided to kind of start talking about them with people and and mostly with myself. And so, you know, I try my very hardest to watch every single release from Hallmark and lifetime. So that’s seven every weekend once the once the season picks up, and then I just talk about them, I give a little review. And every once in a while I have people on just to chat about movies and Christmas and how their jobs look on movies and TV. So that’s that’s the general gist of factory Christmas.
Yeah, stephie and I are going to be making a special appearance on your podcast very soon. So be sure to subscribe, we’ll be sure to put a link in our show notes. But while we’re on the topic of the podcast, how and why exactly do you decide to start a podcast all about the cheesy Christmas movies? Yeah.
So I would say maybe three years ago, four years ago, I made a post on Facebook. And I was just like, Yay, it’s cheesy Christmas movie season, like it was
whichever year a Christmas Prince came out,
it was the year of my first Christmas Prince. So that would have been, that’s like four Christmases ago, because they’ve had three back to back movies. And this year, they don’t have one. So that’s, that’s the year that this kind of like all started and I just, I just randomly posted on Facebook like yay. And the the comments of that post became like an informal discussion thread, about every movie that was coming out. And it was kind of crazy. The next year, I got super sick. I think right around the time the movies were really picking up. So I sat on the couch actually was in bed writing working my dissertation and watched probably 50 movies that year. And we that’s the we started a Facebook group. And then last year, I was I was encouraged by my friends to just kind of start a podcast and I kind of did it on the download. I didn’t want people to know that I was experimenting. You know, I wasn’t sure if it was something I was really going to do. So I just kind of started it. I got the Instagram handle, got the Facebook handle got started, like recording a little bit. And had probably two or three episodes up before I told most of my friends. Just to you know, get comfortable with it. But I just really wanted I had a lot of thoughts about them. I watch, you know, 51 year 70 the next year 80 something 90 something next year, this year, I’m on track. I’ve already watched almost 40. So I take in a lot of these movies. And when you take that many you have thoughts, you know, so I thought I would just share it share my thoughts with whoever felt like listening.
So when we talked about cheesy Christmas movies last year, you had started the podcast. Yeah. And we mentioned your Christmas movie classification system, which I feel like needs a formal name that you need to like trademark a formal name here. But I absolutely need you to share more information with our listeners on that because we just sort of breezed over it. So we need to hear how this came to be. For sure. So
you know, I again, I was deep into these movies, this was probably I don’t I don’t remember if it was this was two or three years ago. But I was deep into them. And my sister and I were just having a conversation about how you know the typical joke that we all make like they’re all the same haha woman goes to small town falls in love finds Christmas magic. And that’s where we’re having this discussion. I was like, yeah, there’s just like one and then and then I was like, wait, wait, but there’s like one, there’s like this other one. And there’s this other one? I was like, wait, there’s actually, you know, yes, there are they are formulaic. They are you know, predictable. However, there is kind of a lot more nuanced than I had even thought. And so I actually think literally on a napkin, I wrote out like, okay, here, here are a few How could you group them? You know, I’ve been on I’ve been on the show before. So most people here know that, you know, I spent a lot of my life five and a half years of my life, being trained to think really analytically. And so I just really wanted to be able to say like, here is the structure, this is what we’re talking about here. And so I, I wrote it out. And I’ve refined it a little bit every year, over time, two to four ish types of movies with some sub sub categories. You know, one is the typical kind of movie that we talked about, right? A woman has, you know, she’s like, works too hard. And she goes to a small town and falls in love or she has something magical happens to her and she falls in love or she’s just like working really hard, right? Like, oh, like, I have to like really climb the corporate ladder. And you know, she has a mean boss and whatever. And this guy like helps her and she falls in love and, and that’s kind of what I call the type one. You know, just just like a woman working too hard. Something shakes up her life and, and she falls in love and discovers the true meaning of Christmas and family and love. So that’s the first type. The second type is like, I’m headed home, right? Think of like a holiday engagement, which I always have to say it’s not a Christmas movie. It is a Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving movie. It happens at Thanksgiving. But it’s a classic. Think of a holiday in handcuffs, right? The the really good one with a Melissa Joan Hart and Mario Lopez. Side note, I just have to say here, there, she’s directing Mario Lopez and movie this year called police navvy. Dad, he’s a dad. It’s just like, I just can’t believe that somebody let this happen. But anyway. So like, those are the kinds of movies right like, so holiday engagement and whatever home in handcuffs or whatever, holiday in handcuffs where somebody is going home, but they’re single and like very, super sad about being single. So they do one of two things. They either rent or steal, like kidnap somebody to be their partner at home, or they like get home and they’re like, Oh, I’m so single and sad. And then they run into their old friend or their old boyfriend, and they fall in love. And so that’s like, I call that one just like single and going home, right? And then the last major category is the Scrooge right? Like there’s a scroogie dude or scroogie lady, they just like hate Christmas. And then they find somebody who just like is obsessed with Christmas. And, you know, they learned that Christmas is actually secretly awesome. And they fall in love. And then the last type I would say is I kind of it’s kind of a lump sum category. It’s just like save Christmas like something’s jeopardizing Christmas, the parade or like Santas workshop or something, right, something is jeopardizing Christmas. And the our core team has to team up to save it. And they fall in love in the process. What a surprise usually. So those are kind of the four, the four types that I came up with, and, and I’m still refining it. And sometimes things don’t quite fit in. But you’d be surprised how many movies fit in very nicely into one or sometimes two of those categories.
And you say surprise, they fall in love, but also surprise, they probably don’t kiss until the last 30 seconds of the movie.
You know, it’s it’s becoming more and more common, even on Hallmark that they kiss like at the midpoint of the movie. I don’t know if they’re just like trying to modernize or I don’t know what’s going on. No, genuinely it shocks me. Like, you know, I’m I’m a 31 year old woman. I’ve seen people kiss I’ve kissed people myself. It shouldn’t be shocking. But these movies are so formulaic. But like every time it’s not like one hour and 58 minutes into the movie and the kiss. I’m like genuinely taken aback.
Like hit my texting. Can you believe it? takes from you and you’ll be like I’m scandalized. A kiss is only 30 minutes. It’s crazy. It’s
crazy. And I experienced my first movie they didn’t kiss recently. I my first movie ever.
I didn’t kiss at all. I didn’t kiss at all.
I think it was COVID related. But it made me really mad. It made me realize they might have filmed it like early in COVID when we weren’t sure like, if you could, but their phases are super close. Right? So I don’t know. I don’t know. It just no one can explain it to me. Whatever.
Like angle it so it looks like they’re kissing at least
Megan you should have been there to help them out. Because
left it up.
We were I had to stay at a hotel this past weekend. And I don’t normally have cable. So I was flipping the channels. And Hallmark obviously had a Christmas movie on. And it was like 859 and they were like standing on a roof. And now I’m like they’re gonna kiss and my son was like no girls and like they’re gonna kiss and the movies almost over they have to kiss. And as soon as I kiss the credit starter role, the way to do it, that’s what we expect. Right? Oh, so after you’ve watched all of these movies, do you really prefer these Hallmark slash lifetime Christmas movies? Or the more classic like not so cheesy ones?
You know, I think I’d like them all. And that’s a genuine answer. Um, over time, I’ve come to realize that my siblings and I are potentially weird because we just taken media as it is. And for the for the most part. There are exceptions to that rule. Like I can’t stand so far Emily and Paris there are things that I’ve like started and not finished right. But for the most part, I mean, I’m I’m a lover of things that end up at the Oscars and I’m a lover of the Fast and Furious movies. Right and and, and I love cheesy romantic comedies and I love you know, Christmas movies that make me cry. And I love Christmas movies that make me laugh. Like everything I take it. I take them at what they’re at face value at what they’re offering. And so I think often people will say like, how can you say like I’m trying to think of a movie I’ve seen lately that in theaters, right? But how can you How can you rate this as an eight? And it’s like an Oscar winner, and how can you know and then you also rate some Tomer Christmas movie eight out of 10. And it’s like a hallmark Christmas movie. And it’s because, you know, I’m taking them for the genre that they’re in. So I think there’s room for all of it in the world with as many channels running 24 seven as we have, right. And, and that, you know, we should appreciate things at the, at the level at which they’re offering us right, you wouldn’t compare a children’s book to Nietzsche and say, like, wow, they really didn’t explore like, the philosophical, you know what I mean? Like, like, like, you take it at the level that it’s giving something to you, and you try to find meaning and enjoy, I enjoy it, where it’s worth speaking. So I think a genuinely, I find myself laugh. I just today I was finishing a movie before I headed to the gym. And I just kept I said to myself out loud, which is rare that I can sit on the house alone all day and not utter a word out loud. But I said out loud to myself, you know that this is so cheesy, but I love it. I love it. I love it. You know, it ended on such a cheesy note. But I really appreciate that. They make you squirm, and they make you one I always wonder what are these actors thinking? Do you think they like love being in the shot? Or do you think they hate it? Like I just can’t, you know, I can’t disparage it just because it’s it’s a low budget, I take it for what it’s giving me.
I actually wish that more people had that philosophy about the media that they consume, because it really annoyed when people are like, so overly intellectual about the media that they consume. Yeah, like, I can absolutely get nerdy about things. But sometimes I’m like, I just want to watch something dumb and enjoy it. Yeah, I
mean, my sister says this all the time about the movie The holiday. And it’s like one of the bunch of people’s favorite ROM coms and Christmas movies. I think it’s like probably one of the most popular ones. I don’t know that’s just making an uninformed guests there. But she says one of the things that’s great about this movie is that it asks nothing of its viewers and she says that jokingly but also with entire with, like, an entire. She’s serious, right? Like you don’t you don’t come to this movie, because you’re like, I want to think it’d be moved and like you’re just enjoying Jude Law and Cameron Diaz fall in love. And like, it’s cute, right? And it’s not asking you to think too hard about like life, because like life is hard enough. And you just want to put it if I wanted to think hard about life I’d put on like the Family Stone. Right. But I’m not I’m putting on the holiday. So yeah, I think that’s, that’s important. And it reminds me of I don’t know if y’all heard this, but I think it was like Scorsese, or like one of those, maybe several of them around the same time. So remember these like old timey? You know, high brow directors and producers were disparaging the Marvel movies, and it just really makes me upset because first of all, the same actors that that act in your movies act in these movies, and there’s, like, there’s nothing wrong with them, you know, like doing different kinds of work. And that there are there are directors and crews and people being you know, given their livelihoods through this, this this industry so like, What’s it to you that these people get to work right, first of all, but also like, We don’t expect your movies to make a billion dollars, right? Like, we’re, we’re still going to appreciate your movies, even though they’re small arthouse films, right, we’re getting something from them just the way that we’re being entertained by Marvel and and so they’re I just really believe there’s room for all of it. At least in my life, there is and i and i think people can enjoy media more. If you can just have an open mind and meet meet authors and creators and actors and you know, the whole industry where they’re at. Yeah,
make makes a movie. Really? rewatchable and speaking in this Christmas movie genre, what makes a movie really rewatchable? What are things that we love to see in a Christmas movie?
I have a hard time answering this question. I am trying to think you know, through what are the movies that I like to watch the most. In fact, today, I follow this Instagram cast. It’s called hunks of Hallmark. And they literally just every day post a picture. It’s one of the most popular like Christmas slash Hallmark account. I mean, they have like 50,000 followers something crazy like that. They have more followers than some of the Hallmark actors to be clear. And, and they posted a picture of a guy from Mingo all the way Which was one of my favorites from I think 2018 is the year it came out. And I cannot tell you what I love about that movie. It’s a formulaic plot. It’s like a type two movie. That’s a fake fake partner story. And it’s like nothing special. But I love it. I watch it every year, I watched it, like in July. I watched it in like September, like I just like watch it at random. I keep it on my DVR at all times. And I just like watching it, and I and then there are some movies that I like to watch. Because, you know, they’re comfortable. They’re familiar. They’re like an old blanket. Princess Diaries is one of those. Like, I love watching that movie, it asks very little of me, like to use my sister’s terminology, and it’s just familiar. And then so I think there’s something about like the magic of connecting with a movie. Maybe it’s like where you watch it the first time. Maybe it’s like just the memory of who you watched it with. For me, that’s what I feel about Christmas Chronicles. Like, it’s really not one of my favorite movies. Apologies to my best friend, Kathleen. I know she loves it, but it’s really not one of my favorites. But I watched it with like a lot of my friends. You know, we have like a group gathering what a foreign concept in 2020. But we had a big group party, and and was sat down to watch this kid’s movie together. And now it’s one of one of my favorites, right? Because of the memory. So I think with every movie, it’s something different. But there’s got to be something magical about it, whether it’s how you watched it, where you watched it, something you connect to in the movie, it can be a lot of things.
Yeah, I always feel like for me, I really need chemistry between the leads, but not even just the leads, like all of the actors. Like if there’s if their chemistry is off, like even if the leads are great, and they have great chemistry, but the other actors that like supporting actors, the chemistry isn’t there, like the with the whole cast. It’s not as fun of a watch for me, it doesn’t make me want to come back to it. But when the whole cast just seems to really click, then it’s much more fun to come back and rewatch
Yeah, I always like the ones that definitely have like intentional humor in them, as well. Not necessarily like Bad Santa, but like, there are certain of the certain ones that are the Hallmark lifetime movies that are just like have no comedy in them whatsoever. And I’m like, that’s just not real life. Like, they feel weird to me because they’re trying to depict like, you know, people out in the world like but they’re not funny. And if they’re trying to be telling jokes, whatever it’s like in a Weird, Gross way. I don’t know not like gross but it’s hard to explain. Um, I feel natural, basically.
You know? Yeah, I’m gonna revise my answer a little bit like I still stand by everything I said. But I also when you said when you said comedy it made me realize that one of my favorite like three of my favorite movies in the last couple years two turtledoves Holly and Ivy and the Christmas bow are all super sad at least from from Hallmark right there. They’re like not super sad that’s maybe going too far but they like deal with with issues of grief of loss of of you know just heavier things and I really enjoyed them I think hallmark movies and mysteries were all three of these movies aired actually is kind of at its best a little bit when they’re trying to do this and sometimes they crash and burn but with these three they really I think they soared and so I think maybe there’s something to that for me at least like a little bit depressing
us want to be
depressed
she’ll with you know feel that
I mean I want to feel the feels but for for me like a Christmas time. I just want to be happy you’re not
dealing with it. So that to me, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
I definitely a little bit of both. So like yeah, cuz I I love like, I love going back and rewatching like a Christmas branch, which is just goofy. Right? bonkers. bonkers. Completely bananas. But then I also absolutely fell in love with Klaus last year. And I cry every time I watch that movie. So I’m definitely split. There’s some movies that I just I watch and I want to feel the feels and cry. It’s like like watching Coco. I absolutely It is my maybe my all time favorite Pixar movie. And I sob at the end of it every single time. And I’m such a masochist because I know I’m gonna cry by But I still love it so much so I don’t know. Yeah, I
think it says something about connecting right like so I maybe look I’m revising to go back to my first answer. But different different things can make us remember and connect but but it but it has to have that it has to have that. I don’t know what it made me connect to Chris’s friends but like, I give them a million out of five stars. It’s so good.
I do I do like Stephanie said that one was like just bonkers. Crazy. We all really enjoy it like I really enjoyed the really bonkers crazy ones. Like they know what they’re about. And they’re not afraid to like be crazy. Yeah, like the the Christmas Prince ones and Princess switch. And I’m ever gonna throw like even though this one isn’t as bonkers, crazy. I really love the spirit of Christmas.
That is
crazy. But also I loved it.
It might be I might be the only person that doesn’t like it. I don’t connect.
I don’t I would absolutely rewatch because it’s so weird.
Also never wanted a ghost to fall in love with you.
I was actually genuinely frightened a little bit when I watched the first time which probably didn’t help. Oh, like wait, this is scary.
I haven’t I haven’t watched um, because there’s there’s one that just came out this weekend. Last weekend that we are recording. And I recorded it on the DVR and it’s about a time traveler and I haven’t watched it yet, but I it gave me very likes spirit of Christmas vibes. And so I was like, obviously, I’m gonna record this one too. Why?
Oh, there are a lot of great time jokes in it. I haven’t finished yet, but a lot of great like time. Ooh, time will tell.
That means this one that Megan and I should watch together. I think
so. We also watched that really bad ghost one last year. Yeah, like the Ghost Dad.
Oh, Ghost Dad was terrible.
Oh my god. It was not like Bill Cosby goes dad. It was like, No, it was one go.
Yes.
Yes. And I don’t know, because it was one of those. So we were in. We were all in Austin for our company conference. And we were like stuffing swag bags. And so we just turned on the TV. And I can’t remember Megan and me. We one of us turned on lifetime. I think it was on lifetime. And obviously it was Christmas movies. And we weren’t really paying attention. But then we like realize as we were sort of half watching this movie that the status of ghost. And then we all became very invested in it. But I still don’t know. I couldn’t tell you what the movie was called.
Just I don’t remember it was called either. However, he was like, creepily watching his wife fall in love with another person.
I remember
so bad. I’m gonna try to find the name of it. So
ghosts are not all encompassing. So what we’re saying, Yeah, we aren’t we don’t love. We don’t love all Christmas ghosts. We
just love Christmas.
I also want to say that I consider like the first, at least the first two Harry Potter movies as Christmas movies.
That’s fair,
I think because they came out at Christmas. And so I just always associate them as Christmas movie.
Well, and I think that both of those books and movies, all many of the books have a lot of plot that takes place around Christmas. But I think those two in particular, really, like the movies focus in on the plot that happens over Christmas. Mm hmm. And so there’s a bigger portion of the movie like I would say probably proportionally compared to the others where you’re like Christmas is a thing. Right? And it’s not like in definitely hallows where Christmas is a thing. But then the snake comes out of the dead woman. Like, really disrupts the Christmas spirit. They’re fresh in the vibe, huh? Yeah. So I can see how I could see how you would how you would consider those to be Christmas movies. Yeah. I’m not so arguing with that.
What have been and we kind of kind of started to touch on this a little bit. But what have been our favorite holiday movies that have come out in the last couple of years and which ones were just terrible. Like we just talked about ghosts, Dad was terrible.
It was terrible. What was that one? On a this year that you and I were texting while we were watching? Who is on lifetime. Oh,
I’ll open up my spreadsheet but
I’ll give it a one.
I have one.
Oh, a crafty Christmas romance,
a crafty Christmas.
I accidentally texted that. But I think it was a Freudian slip. It was truly a terrible movie. Let me just preface this. That like lifetime is having. And I really do believe this is COVID related. They’re having some significant sound issues this year, like suit like it, it feels like you’re watching a Foreign Language Film that’s been dubbed, like, that’s how bad the sound issues are, like, but they just don’t match up. And then and then you add that to like a very poorly executed plot with with bad acting, and bad chemistry. And now he looks like her dad. Like he looks like her dad.
She looks like he could be her dad. Yeah, he looks significantly older than her. But the problem with that movie, a crafty Christmas romance, or a crappy Christmas romance, whatever you want to call it. Um, is I think what you said when we were texting about it was that it wasn’t just the chemistry was bad. They had like, anti chemistry. Yeah.
It was like they actively hated each other.
Honestly, it kind of seemed like the actors hate each other. And, you know, if the actress ever happened to listen to this, they’re like, Oh, we love each other. Well, then you need to figure that out. Because it seemed on screen. Like they just genuinely didn’t like each other. Yeah. And so it was one of those where I watched like, seven minutes of it. And I was like, I can’t This is so bad. And the dialogue was really terrible. And I the plot was really boring. Yeah,
I was gonna say something about the plot, too. So this is becoming unfortunately, in my opinion, a more common plot, I might have to make its own thing soon if it keeps happening. But but it’s like a it’s called I call it like, the the scavenger hunt. Right now. I’m just kind of putting it where it belongs and other of my plot type categories. But this is becoming more of a thing where they’re just like, here’s an item that we found, I wonder who used to own it. Let’s do a scavenger hunt to find the person that used to own it. And then like this whole movies about them, like finding the person who owns this item. And it’s not interesting, like, we don’t care about the item. They don’t do enough in any of these movies, I would argue, but particularly this one, they’re like they find some coin. I think it’s like a priceless coin that a little girl sent to Santa like 50 years ago during World War Two, and you’re just like, who cares was effing coin like, keep it sell it? Like, who
cares?
It’s like, it’s just, it’s not interesting to watch people look for someone. And so like, I think at its core, it started off from like, a place where it was always gonna be a problem. And then all these little details only made it worse. I don’t know. And I’d also say that like, just to kind of broadly answer the question. I mean, there are a lot of probably perfectly fine movies with really long titles, but lately, lifetime and Hallmark are giving movies these like incredibly long titles. And then the movies just like not that interesting. So time for you to come home for Christmas. I never seen a man and it never kissed a man and a Christmas sweater. Time for you to come home for Christmas time for us to come home for this is truly a thing. There are three of them now and so like I don’t know like I just feel like this year. Yes, I’m enjoying myself. But but they’re really having trouble all channels finding their footing except for maybe lifetime this year. I don’t my best guess again Knock on wood for them is that it’s COVID related, but this year hasn’t been nearly as good as previous years. Some of my favorites Christmas presents we’ve talked about that. Like it’s like a bonkers bonkers world. But it’s it’s a lot of it’s a lot of fun. I really liked like Operation Christmas drop this year. I really liked some of the sad ones. The Christmas Bo gi Gecko, the CGI Gecko was trashed. And Netflix should apologize to its viewers for it. I stand by that. It was like First of all, it’s not even a real plot point. It’s like it’s like not necessary not to tell the story. So why do it I don’t know if they gave it to some like intern to be like, hey, like we need this Gecko. And then now they fired them which is unjust because like they shouldn’t have assigned it to that intern in the first place. So justice for that intern, because it’s like truly terrible. I liked the movie, but I did not like that. I don’t know they’re I’m pretty generous. I think I’ve been harder harsher this year. But there have also been there’s less good material this year. Generally speaking, I like I just like the genre. I like Christmas. I I don’t know. I was a fan of like the Hanukkah movies last year so that was that was good. I don’t know I’m enjoying myself I broadly enjoy myself but a lot of a lot of potential favorites. I’ll stop there.
You really enjoy jingle jingle.
I love the jingle jingle. I really can’t. I think that, you know, on so many levels, it’s really special. That’s another movie that’s like, okay, it takes place at Christmas. But is it a Christmas movie? Like, who knows? Probably not. It’s just like, happens at Christmas. But I’d say you know, it has all the makings of a great children’s movie. And a great story. You know, it’s, it’s about rediscovering faith in yourself. It’s about family and connection. It’s and it’s, you know, I think in a similar way to Black Panther, which is saying a lot maybe but in a similar way to Black Panther. It makes a world where were black people can be the leader of a movie approachable to all people. And like, I love movies. I love the I love the genre, right? But like when you scroll through my Instagram is a sea of white faces, right? It’s just like, standard looking JC Penney catalog white looking girl with like, standard looking JC Penney catalog white guy and like will they fall in love? Yes. Right. Like it’s like so refreshing to have a movie that features the world of blackness in in like a really in a genre that I love and in a way that like, people I think, from who from all walks of life and of all races will just enjoy coming to see this movie and and see blackness in a positive way on their TV screen. So that that was it was so it’s such a good movie, and it’s also an important movie. So I can’t say enough good things about the jingle jingle.
Yeah, it was really cute. I watched it over the weekend. And I was I was watching it while I was finishing up Eden’s Christmas stocking so like I wasn’t super like I was watching it but I wasn’t able to just like fully devote my attention to it. But I want to I actually want to watch it again. Because it’s a real it’s a really beautiful movie.
That’s true.
Very similar to like I really loved Like I said, I really loved Klaus last year. And I love the the story and so many things about that movie and I but I really loved how beautiful it was the animation. I think it’s just really beautiful. And I feel that same way about jingle jingle. The colors are beautiful. The costumes are beautiful. The sets are beautiful. Yeah. So I want to I want to watch it again. What I’m actually like really paying attention to the screen because it’s there’s so much to look at the you talked a lot in your podcast review of it you talked about the hair is gorgeous. So yeah, I it was it’s highly recommend that one.
I was gonna say Noelle from Disney plus last year, I felt similarly I mean without the blackness thing but like they did a really good job of world building the North Pole. And like I think that’s something that’s really great. When you can build a world that’s like detailed and and I can’t like get my eyes can’t look at the screen enough to capture all the things like that’s, that’s really exciting for kids, but also for adults, right? Who can catch these little easter eggs here and there.
I was gonna say that I have. I have not watched jingle jangle yet because I want to watch it with my kids. And I asked them to watch it with me and they were like, We can’t watch it yet because Thanksgiving hasn’t happened. And we can’t do Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Because my children are on storable I know
that I know that’s a thing for some people. I try not to judge
if I want to put up the tree and decorate it shouldn’t be a problem. But apparently it is in my head.
I pulled out I pulled out some of the mantel decorations, but my husband will not let us get a tree until Sunday after Thanksgiving. So because he’s a little bit of a Scrooge. It’s fine. It’s fine field knows sorry, even watching Christmas movies, but he was like, Well, sometimes I don’t have to lose. I don’t have to listen to Christmas music and I go I don’t play it when you’re home.
Mm hmm. But now I am haha. So I wanted to ask you, you had all these classifications for the movies. But aside from please movie Gods make these movies more diverse. Like what are their things Would you really like to see in these holiday movies? Oh man you haven’t seen yet?
I think so. I mean, this year everyone’s putting gay characters in a movie. I think every every platform has a queer storyline of some sort. Hulu has happiest season coming out. Lifetime has one I don’t know what it’s called. Hallmark has the Christmas house, which they played it safe by making it like a three story movie. So there’s like an older couple. That’s the parents and then there’s like two brothers. One’s gay one straight. So I think we’re, I think they played it safe. But I congratulate them for branching out because it was such a big controversy for them last year. And so like that, that’s a theme that I think is important, and it’s coming out on all the platforms. And I also say so last year, lifetime did an exercise in world building, I would call it and every single movie that came out on lifetime last year, mentioned in some way shape or form. Chocolate no winter storm Megan is what it was called. And it was a really fun little thing to watch for in every movie and you just kind of knew that all the characters and all the lifetime movies were experiencing the same Christmas. Even if there weren’t like actual physical crossovers of characters from movie to movie, it was like oh like winter start Megan’s that my mom from buying in our winters or Megan canceled the wedding that I’m planning or whatever right like winter storm Megan was just this like force of nature but like you were looking out for in every movie and I’m really sad to see that they weren’t able to achieve that sheer again, I hope knock on wood that it’s COVID or something but like everything’s just felt so disjointed on all the channels and and I think the ability for for one of these channels to kind of tell a holistic story across all of their movies. You know, Hallmark has what 40 and lifetime is 30 like that’s a hard ask but it’s possible and lifetime showed us that last year so just doing something surprising and new and special. Like that was really cool and everyone dropped it this year. But I’d love to see more of that just like more cleverness more unity more something I don’t know I thought that was so special and i and i really do I’m really disappointed that we didn’t see anything like that this year.
I really liked last year even though the then the night before Christmas was not a very good movie overall garbage it had it like they watched they watched one of the movies on TV like while they were watching Netflix and then later on they like mentioned altova and I was like ah like the little easter eggs Yeah, I thought that was hilarious. Yeah, and I didn’t actually make any sense to the movie at all so
like because
of who’s in the movie?
It doesn’t anyway it’s starting to stress me out actually
like I love it.
But like it like in basically at this point. All of the worlds are fake in the other world so it’s like what’s the real what’s supposed to be the real right
I need answers Netflix.
I guess we’ll have to see what they do with the new princess switch one and see if they drop anything in there.
I need to know they released a map FYI for all you listeners out there who are interested panglima altova and whatever the other one is all there’s a map now.
Monrovia
genovia
God is wild it’s still gravia
that’s a nice
gold stars for you.
I really I really am very, I am excited for the second princess switch because we were robbed last year. They gave us the terrible Night Before Christmas Vanessa Hudgens movie instead of second princess which that was garbage.
It was disappointing. To be sure.
It was very disappointing. I was really upset about it. I mean, I’m a little I’m a little upset that we don’t get another Christmas Prince movie this year but it’s fine I guess they’ve done the good work the last three years and by good work I mean trash that we love. They did some work. They they did some work and yet we keep coming back for more. That’s true. Sometimes I don’t know why.
Like just keep watching Queen amber has a special place all of our hearts.
She does and I don’t understand it like I legitimately
cannot she won you over with her note taking skill.
Or is it her blog? Amber
blog, first ambers blog. Last week did it for me. I for the fact that she like gave birth on like silk sheets. I don’t wait. Nine months didn’t
doesn’t everyone?
Oh, I mean, oh, but other people but totally in a really nice night gown my hair done up.
Yeah, it’s, there’s so many so many questions
so that without the Caribbean assembled
Has anyone who wrote this movie ever had a baby
or a job?
Or better baby?
I don’t know, just like, we’re taking notes. Just like simply taking notes.
So many, but that’s like, that’s what’s so funny about it is like, sometimes we watch these movies and I’m like, oh, man, they just like weren’t trying very hard. I almost feel like with the Christmas prints that they were just like, punking us?
Yes, absolutely. They
did the very first one. And then we all were like, yes.
Okay, motherfuckers they’re,
they’re telling you what, in the very first scene of the movie, what to expect. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this. I talked about it all the time. But like, the opening shots are like different scenes of New York City at Christmas time and the final shot before the movie starts. It’s a shot of Chicago. It doesn’t make it look you can see the Chicago fiery,
right? It is very iconically Chicago.
It’s so strange and like, again, they’re just letting you know like stop now. Attention to detail isn’t your it’s like your thing. This isn’t for you.
If you really liked the first dad, wait till you see what we’ve done with him. Oh, God,
new dad. Oh, God, new pop,
new new pop the the penguin humidifier or cat no cow has a cow humidifier in the background in the kitchen while baking Christmas cookies. I’m actually
like rubbing my eyes and stress thinking about new dad.
Like, he’s, he’s so bad. He’s terrified.
He takes a lot out of you. He was
such a lovely character in the first movie. And then they made him like his horrible, horrible caricature of a New Yorker.
Yeah.
I don’t know why.
It was unnecessary. Yeah. So, listeners, if you have thoughts on new dad, if you have thoughts on Christmas ghosts, if you have thoughts on what movies you love, or hate, please let us know we would love to know. So kind of heading towards wrapping up some of our movie rants. But just kind of thinking about the holiday season overall, obviously, in 2020, the holidays are going to look a lot different than they have in years past for all of us. But I’d love to hear what’s one thing we’re each just really looking forward to in the next month.
I can start um, you know, December is always a really special month for me. Um, it’s my birthday. I was born in the 22nd Christmas, it’s my favorite time of year I have obviously maybe, um, and so the whole month is kind of settled celebratory for me. So just generally being in that season is something I’m looking forward to but specifically, I I’m really looking forward, I’m lucky enough knock on wood, but nothing changes. Going to be able to spend Christmas with my family, my immediate family. And you know, my parents have had COVID since I last saw them. So it’s been a while and just to be with them and see them being okay means a lot.
Yeah, for sure. Megan, how about you?
So, for me, it’s definitely having our first Christmas in this house. I’m excited to decorate it when I’m finally allowed to decorate it. But also having having snow and having like the White Christmas experience again without having to travel for hours and hours. Say that now. It’s gonna be really nice. Yeah. And I think my kids are are really gonna like, I don’t know, I feel like they’re gonna appreciate that more. A little bit like it’s Christmas in Texas is fine, because especially because you’re like, Oh, I can wear a tank top up but also like it doesn’t. It makes it harder to feel like Christmas. If you grew up in the Midwest. You’re just like a it’s kind of Christmas.
Hey again. huzi.
Yeah, I need to be able to eat as much soup as I want. And hot chocolate and wear my fuzzy pajamas. And I’m really looking forward to that. We’ll see about the snow. But
no, it’ll be special. It’ll be special.
Yeah, really nice.
It’ll be really nice.
Yeah, I just am really looking forward to celebrating our daughter’s first Christmas. So that’s something that Alex and I have been looking forward to For a very long time of having our first Christmas, not just the two of us. And so this will be be that Christmas. So we’re very excited. Obviously, she’ll be, like 10 months old, so she won’t be like ultra aware what’s going on, but I think it’ll still be really fun. I think she’ll still have a good time, like, opening presence. She won’t give a shit what’s in them, but she’ll have a good time opening up.
It’s sort of like, like the first birthday. It’s like, it’s for you and Alex. Exactly. So
it’s gonna be a really good memory. Yeah. And she’s got some really cute Christmas PJs, and some cute sweaters, and, you know, some really sweet stuff like that. So very excited about that. Hey. So on that note, what’s bringing us joy? Ade, what’s bringing you joy right now?
What’s bringing us joy?
Oh, man, I’m deep, deep in the Christmas season. And, you know, like I said, have watched probably almost 40 of these movies now. And I found that the thing that really brings me joy is even if they’re not my favorites, I don’t think I’ve rated them highly, but a couple movies that have taken me on trips with them. So there was one called Christmas you will blog that took place in somewhere outside of Santa Fe. And then there was another call Christmas in Vienna, that obviously took place, Indiana, and these were filmed on location and and it’s meant a lot to me, I’m getting weirdly emotional. Oh, gosh. But yeah, it’s true, I consider travel to be part of my identity, part of who I am. And 2020 has been hard in some ways, right? In a lot of ways. But one of those minor things for me, right people have died, I’m not minimizing that. But for me, it’s that I haven’t been able to travel, I’ve been able to see the world and to go to to have these movies take me on that journey has been really special that neither of them are my favorite, but but I really just enjoyed being in a new place, and experiencing the sights and the sounds and the sounds and the traditions. So that’s been really special.
thing in.
Um, so mine is gonna sound like it’s not happy. So my grandfather passed away. A week or so I guess when this comes out to be about two weeks ago. And I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to even have a funeral because of COVID. But we were and it was very small. But I was able to go and I brought my oldest son with me. Honestly, like more of as a like support system for me than anything else. But at the funeral, they decided to read this paper that I had written for a college journalism class, I took a look a narrative journalism class. And one of the sections that we did was on memoir, and so I had written this paper about my grandfather. And they read that at the funeral. And it was really touching to, like, Hear, hear the pastor read it. And like, you know, put that if, you know, the tone and the affection and everything, like within my piece of writing, and then afterward, some of the people that were at the funeral came up to me and they’re like, you know, I was friends with your grandfather. And I actually had a copy of that because he was so proud of it.
Wow.
So that’s me, like really? I like I wrote it like 15 years ago, so it just made me really happy
to hear so lovely.
Stephie What about you? Well, my
it’s gonna sound really fucking frivolous. But my robot vacuum. I never thought I’d be a person with a robot vacuum and then I had a crawler. And my child was just like getting dog hair all over her front. And I was like, God, fuck this shit. And so I ordered a robot vacuum and I love it. Awesome. Like, I just I we have so many animals in this house, and I hate vacuuming and I hate sweeping it just takes so I don’t know why I hate vacuuming so much. I just always really have sweeping, like, takes so much time. And I didn’t realize how much I was going to enjoy just like pushing a button, letting the little dude roll around the house for however long and then I would have a clean floor every day. Like, it’s amazing. I just, it’s just makes my brain feel a little bit clearer. Also, like forces me to kind of like before I started to kind of go around and pick up dog toys or pick up the baby toys or whatever, pick up the random pieces of paper that Anya has pulled out of the wastebasket in my office to chew on, like, whatever. So sort of forces me to tidy a little bit before I run it, but I just I like my robot vacuum. It’s making me happy right now.
Yeah, you do have to pick up because otherwise it will, like get stuck on everything. Yeah, I’d
accidentally sucked up a cat toy the first day that I had it going and then it was like BB and I was like, why
are you
know, you sucked up a cat toy. So now the cat toys go on the coffee table before I run it. But you know, whatever. I like Patricia the robot vacuum.
I have a rug with fringe on it. And so it always gets stuck on it and gets really confused. Oops.
Yeah, it’s got it’s gotten it’s like stuck under the fridge like twice. Like don’t go under the fridge dummy. How’s it get under the fridge? Like it doesn’t that’s the problem it gets. This fridge is like just high enough up that it like gets it. If it goes at just the right way. It gets like the very like, quarter inch underneath it and then it like can’t get out. It’s like it’s wedged. It starts beeping like, Oh, me Help me. Oh, no,
she’s stuck. I’m learning all these tips for my future robot vacuum.
Honestly, 10 out of 10 would recommend
no friend. The only
problem I really have with it is that it has a it has a home button, which is that it has a remote control, which is still leagues above my old Roomba. But it doesn’t like listen to when you press the home button. I think maybe it’s just too far away.
Oh, yeah, I have to have mine in the same room. Okay. And then I can push the little home button and then it goes in it finds its home. But if it’s not in the same room, it gets lost. And it just like goes in circles like I can’t find and then it
just starts cleaning again. And it’s like I give up.
So magical. It is very girl. It’s really magical.
It literally goes home by itself.
Yeah. Like it goes back to this little chairs at charging. I mean, I guess if it couldn’t
do that it probably couldn’t clean your home.
But yeah, I don’t. It’s it’s pretty great. So I mean, we have second floors have to carry it upstairs and let it run it cycle up there. But you know, like I also can like, control it from the app on my phone. So if it’s I’m downstairs, it’s been working upstairs for a while. I just like turn it off and then go on a scavenger hunt later to figure out where she is. And it’s whatever. I like it anyway. Listeners get a robot vacuum and a cleaning lady both
do it both. Yes. Great.
Next time…
We are going to take a little break during the month of December to spend some time with our families and plan for the new year.
But while you wait for new episodes in 2021 Be sure to leave us a review on Apple podcasts and listen to us on your favorite platform. You could also follow us on social media at irsipodcast or send us an email at idratherstayinpodcast@gmail.com we’d love to hear from you.
Talk to you soon.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai