On the 12th Day of Christmas (2015) and Snow Wonder (2005)
Director: Harvey Crossland
Robin Dunne ... (teleplay by) and
Robert Vaughn ... (teleplay by)
ROBIN DUNNE has been playing sleazy or shady characters in the past that I kind of forgotten that he could play a good person too. His role here, DJ Mitch O'Grady, is such...a good person who used to love Christmas, and gave our female protagonist, Maggie(BROOKE NEVIN), the best Christmas ever a decade ago.
Maggie decides to make Mitch love Christmas again by being his secret Santa. The problem is, the higher ups want her to do a story about it, making her break the Journalism Code of Ethics:
Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. The Radio Television Digital News Association, an organization exclusively centered on electronic journalism, maintains a code of ethics centering on public trust, truthfulness, fairness, integrity, independence, and accountability.
Yes, she could have just told at least her bosses, but she didn't, so I think you could make a wild guess about what would transpire in the future, and you would probably be right.
Even so, I still think the story is good and sweet. Ms. Nevin and Mr. Dunne have good onscreen chemistry.
By the way, Mr. Dunne also cowrote the teleplay. For me he did well.
The movie is not an award winning piece, but it surely warms the heart.
The cast from imdb:
 | Brooke Nevin | Maggie Chalke | |
 | Robin Dunne | Mitch O'Grady | |
 | Dani Kind | Grace | |
 | Geri Hall | Rita | |
 | A.C. Peterson | Alan Kramer (as Alan C. Peterson) | |
 | Greg Hovanessian | Jimmy | |
 | Tess Degenstein | Brianna | |
| Don Allison | Peter O'Grady | |
 | Scott Cavalheiro | Ryan Gallagher | |
| Eva Greig | Mission Child | |
 | Daniel Kash | John MacDonald | |
| Adam Arcieri | Child #1 | |
Initial release: 20 November 2005
The second to the least favourite among the smorgasbord of characters, are the first three: Stacey(JULIE ANN EMERY), Paula(POPPY MONTGOMERY) and Jim(DAVID SUTCLIFFE) plus one(the Christmas Eve wedding's Cellist). The Bride, the Bridegroom, and the musician are all annoying. Well, maybe even the Maid of Honor, but at least she woke up from the nightmare they were all in. She realised that the man she had always fantasised about is nothing great.
JASON PRIESTLY's role, Warren, is the sleaziest of them all. He's the lying philandering husband of a wife who is worried sick of him because he's supposed to be trapped at the airport in Cincinnati, so he's the least favourite of them all.
The four other stories are all lovely:
Pilar(JENNIFER ESPOSITO) and Miguel(HUNTER CLARY), a mother and son tandem who evidently love each other so much, but the estranged husband/father threatens to separate them because of pride. Some questioned her praying to the Blessed Mother. We just venerate the Virgin Mary, and we don't worship her, but you've got to understand the cultural differences, and we should respect what she believes in.
The Family Court Judge(MARCO ST. JOHN) is the one whom Pilar's estranged husband pesters. He is also connected with another character. Who? You will be able to guess it before the movie ends.
Billy(JOSH RANDALL), the Weather Man and the teleprompter/copywriter or whatever else named Joey(MICHELLE KRUSIEC)'s story is cute. That's all I have to say.
All stories are relatable, but maybe this one's the most relatable, at least for me: Luke(ERIC SZMANDA), an aspiring novelist, and his Auntie Lula(MARY TYLER MOORE), the "unidentified woman", bonding for more than ten hours. My favourite part was when Luke was able to achieve something his mom thought he could never do, and he said something like, "In your face!", and his eyes glowed in anger, Lula gave him a lesson he would never forget. Her ways might be eccentric, but it works.
Bev(CAMRYN MANHEIM)'s story is the most serious of them all, but her talk with the pianist/bartender(ALDIS HODGE)...well, the man with many hats...is one for the books. His words were not highfalutin at all. As a matter of fact, there was some innocence...wait, that wasn't the word I was looking for. Maybe pure is closer to what I'm thinking about. Their simple conversation was very touching. For me, it was one of the highlights of the movie.
The other one was the scene at the roof with Luke and his Auntie Lula.
There were many unbelievable scenes that made me incredulous to the fact that it could happen in real life, but in toto, I liked it.
That's that.
Most of the cast from imdb:
 | Julie Ann Emery | Stacey | |
 | Jennifer Esposito | Pilar | |
 | Camryn Manheim | Bev | |
 | Poppy Montgomery | Paula | |
 | Jason Priestley | Warren | |
 | Josh Randall | Billy | |
 | David Sutcliffe | Jim | |
 | Eric Szmanda | Luke | |
 | Mary Tyler Moore | Aunt Lula | |
 | Michelle Krusiec | Joey | |
 | Vince Vieluf | Mario | |
 | Hunter Clary | Miguel | |
 | Aldis Hodge | Hotel Piano Player | |
 | Marco St. John | Judge Tilma | |
 | Ritchie Montgomery | Kirk | |
Thanks a bunch for your time. :-)
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