I Watched Small Town Santa (2014, Dir. by Joel Paul Reisig)

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Dazzling Erin

Sheriff Rick Langston (Dean Cain) is having a terrible holiday season. When his ex-wife tells him that she doesn’t want him coming over for Christmas to see their daughter, Sheriff Langston goes to her house and is shocked to discover a fat man with a white beard having a sandwich in the kitchen. The man (Paul Hopper) says he’s Santa Claus. Rick says the man’s under arrest. Everyone in town thinks that Rick is a real Grinch, tossing Santa Claus in jail. But even behind bars, Santa has a way of solving people’s problems.

This is the second film that I’ve watched in two days in which Dean Cain plays a sheriff who arrests Santa. I guess this is the Dean Cain Christmas Cinematic Universe. It would have been funny if Dean Cain had been playing the same sheriff that he played in Defending Santa. How many times can this happen to the same person? In a few years, maybe they will remake The Santa Clause with Dean Cain’s sheriff having to replace Santa after one of his arrests goes wrong.

Small Town Santa has some cute scenes. Rick has a dream where everyone in town turns into Santa and starts telling him how much he sucks. There was a scene with an amateur Christmas pageant that I could relate to. (My 5th grade performance as Shepherd #3 was critically acclaimed!) Speaking of amateurish, some of the acting could be described that way but Dean Cain is believable and likable as the burned-out small town sheriff. Keep an eye out for the “Real Heroes Don’t Wear Capes” poster.

Santa Claus solves everyone’s problems. I knew he would!

I Watched Defending Santa (2013, Dir. by Brian Skiba)

Posted on December 17, 2025 by Dazzling Erin

After finding a portly man with a big white beard passed out in a snowbank, small town Sheriff Scott Hanson (Dean Cain) brings him to the hospital. When the man wakes up, he says that his name is Kris Kringle (Bill Lewis) but you can call him Santa Claus. Kris uses his powers to give the children in the hospital what they want. (He creates a miniature pony for one girl.) District Attorney Robert Nielson (Gary Hudson) thinks that Kris is a public danger and wants to have him put in the mental ward. Public defender Sarah Walker (Jud Taylor) defends Kris and falls back in love with her ex-boyfriend, Scott. Santa Claus spreads his magic across town. He detoxifies the town drunk but not even Santa can save the life of a dying child. That scene was very sad.

Have you ever wanted to see Santa Claus play football with Dean Cain and Full House‘s Jodie Sweetin? This is the movie for you! Santa Claus plays in the park and even does a front flip. Go Santa Claus Go! But then old St. Nick also uses his powers to cause another player’s pants to fall down during a key play, which allows Dean Cain’s team to win the game. That’s cheating, which I was always told put you on the naughty list.

Speaking of being on the naughty list, it doesn’t ever make sense that the district attorney is so obsessed with putting Kris Kringle. Santa Claus never hurt anyone. Trying to put Santa Claus in jail before Christmas is definitely worth a lump of coal in your stocking! Defending Santa is an okay Hallmark Christmas movie but don’t spend too much time trying to make it make sense.

Holiday Film Review: Broadcasting Christmas (dir by Peter Sullivan)

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2016’s Broadcasting Christmas, Melissa Joan Hart (who will always be Sabrina to me) plays Emily Morgan.

Emily is a television news journalist in Connecticut. She specializes in doing human interest stories. Years ago, Emily was up for a job with a station in New York but she lost out to her then-boyfriend, Charlie Fisher (Dean Cain). Charlie went to New York and Emily has never really forgiven him. As the Christmas season approaches, Emily finds herself reporting about the fact that America’s top morning show, Rise & Shine, is looking for a new co-host. Being considered are a basketball player, a reality TV star, and …. CHARLIE! Emily has a meltdown on air and says that she feels that she should be the new cohost of Rise and Shine. Emily’s rant goes viral and, soon enough, she’s invited to come audition for the spot.

Emily, Charlie, Abby (Krista Braun), and Jimmy Eubanks (Todd Litzinger) will be auditioning over the holiday season. They’ll take turns co-hosting with Veronika Daniels (Jackee Harry) and they will also be expected to come up with human interest stories. Emily and Charlie immediately start working hard, trying to make a good impression while also trying to resist the fact that they’re clearly both still in love with each other. Jimmy Eubanks doesn’t work at all. And Abby — well, Abby knows that she’s going to get the job and the auditions are all just for show.

Except, Abby doesn’t get the job. She gets a chance to plan a celebrity wedding and abandons the show. Now, it’s just between Emily and Charlie. Will they be able to balance falling in love with competing for the same job? Will Emily find her confidence? Will Charlie make peace with the fact that his famous father was instrumental in getting New York to select him over Emily? And how does a hundred year-old fruitcake fit into it all?

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, it’s a Hallmark holiday film and, as soon as you see their names in the credits, you immediately know that Melissa Joan Hart and Dean Cain are going to end up back together. It’s the type of film where New York is safe and beautiful and the snow falls constantly without anyone ever getting a red nose or a scratchy throat. The film’s portrayal of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a network show feel especially false. One doesn’t necessarily watch a film like this expecting to see anything reflecting reality but the whole idea that Veronika would have four people on her show without fully knowing what they’re planning on doing when they appear requires a huge suspension of disbelief.

That said, it’s a sweet-natured movie. Melissa Joan Hart and Dean Cain make for a cute couple and I have to say that, between her Hallmark films and her Lifetime films, Hart has shown herself to be one of the stronger performers appearing in these type of films. That’s the holiday spirit for you. Any other time of the year, I would probably roll my eyes at this film. But, watching it in December, I was just happy that Emily and Charlie realized that they still loved each other.

Awwwww!

October Positivity: Forgiving God (dir by Jason Campbell and Aaron Dunbar)

Posted on October 25, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2022’s Forgiving God opens with a seance.

Jon Moore (Matthew Utley) and his foster sister are fooling around with a Ouija board. Jon wants to contact the spirit of his little brother, Tommy (Jacob Pitoniak). Jon blames himself for his brother’s death and many of his subsequent problems can be linked back to the day that Tommy was killed in a mass shooting. The Ouija board seems to have a mind of its own, with the little pointer tool moving even when Jon takes his fingers off of it. Tommy’s face appear in a candle’s flame, blain Jon for his death and encouraging Jon to take his own life. Jon freaks out. Jon’s foster sister asks him if he’s stoned but otherwise, doesn’t seem to be too concerned about Jon’s suicidal tendences.

Jon’s subsequent attempt at suicide fails but it does lead to a both a huge fire and Jon getting sent to yet another foster family. Feeling lost and alienated and struggling to fit in with his religious community, Jon soon starts spending all of his time in the woods. Eventually, he meets a Native American girl named Isaka (Alexandra Sertik). At first, Jon fears that Isaka might be another demon sent to destroy him. Pastor Mark (Dean Cain) puts his mind at ease.

Jon is soon convinced that he’s in love with Isaka. He tells everyone about his new girlfriend and no one believes him. (That said, they’re rather tolerant of someone who claims to be spending all of his time with someone who they say doesn’t exist.) Jon starts to wonder why he never sees Isaka outside of the woods. Why has he never met Isaka’s parents? Why is Isaka always wearing the same clothes? Why does every picture that he takes of Isaka fail to develop? You can probably guess why. Isaka has a tragic story of her own and a lesson to teach Jon.

Forgiving God is a faith-based film that has a lot in common with the horror genre, from the Ouija-dominated opening to Jon’s fear that Isaka might be an otherworldly being sent to lead him astray. It’s actually a fairly intriguing story and, compared to most faith-based films, it’s actually told pretty well. Yes, there’s a few moments of awkward humor (faith-based films always seem to have at least one scene of awkward adult-teen dialogue) and some of the performance feel more professional than others. (Dean Cain, it must be said, classes up the joint in his small role.) There’s a sequence set at “bible camp,” which really made me happy that, when I was growing up, my family never stayed long enough in one place for anyone to suggest that my sisters and I should go to camp. That said, the cinematography is impressive, Matthew Utley gives a good performance as Jon, and there’s a fairly effective scene involving a grizzly bear. As far as indie religious films go, Forgiving God isn’t that bad at all. If anything, it continues Pennsylvania’s tradition of giving us independent cinema. George Romero gave us zombies. This film gives us bears and mysterious forest girls.

October Positivity: Meant To Be (dir by Bradley Dorsey)

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2012’s Meant To Be tells the story of …. well, it tells a few stories.

Tori (Erin Sossamon) is a teenage girl who has a bright future but only if she can survive her less-than-wonderful present. She has an abusive boyfriend. Her parents seem to be absent. She’s a photographer and her high school counselor (Michael Gross) has helped her to find a scholarship but Tori has recently discovered that she’s pregnant!

Linda Dickson (Erika Eleniak) is a social worker, who lives in a nice house and who has a wonderful husband (Dean Cain) but who also seems to be struggling with an overwhelming depression. Maybe it’s because her 18 year-old daughter has recently left home for college. She obsesses on finding newspaper stories about 20 year-olds doing wonderful things. She cuts them out of the paper and puts them in a shoebox. (I do the same thing with well-written obituaries.) When a call comes in about a loud argument at Tori’s house, Linda is the one who investigates. When she realizes that Tori is pregnant, Linda becomes a part of Tori’s life, giving her advice. Linda is determined to convince Tori to not get an abortion, even if it means that Tori will lose her scholarship.

And finally, there’s Nathan (Bradley Dorsey), a twenty year-old aspiring writer who doesn’t know what he should write about. In a voice-over, he says that he’s learned that writing about only what you know can be a trap so he’s decided to write about what he doesn’t know. (By that logic, my next short story should be about trigonometry.) Nathan grew up in the foster system. He doesn’t know who his mother was. He’s not even fully sure where he was born. But he’s still going to search for her so he can discover not only where he came from but also why he was abandoned.

Nathan finds himself staying at a mysterious hotel, one where all of the other guests also appear to be people who never knew their mother. Even though Nathan puts a do-not disturb sign on his door, the motel maid (Della Reese) still regularly enters his room and encourages him to get out of bed and continue his search. With the help of two other guests, Shelly (Kristen Renton) and Becky (Colleen Foy), Nathan is able to track down his mother and her address….

Can you guess who she is?

Of course, you can! Now, in all fairness to the movie, it doesn’t present the fact that Linda is Nathan’s mother as some sort of surprise twist. From the moment that Nathan figures out that his mother was named Linda and then Becky comes across an old glamour shot of Erika Eleniak in a high school yearbook, it’s pretty clear that Linda Dickson gave up Nathan and she’s never stopped thinking about him and that’s why she’s so obsessed with Tori. That’s not the twist.

But there is a twist and here it is….

Are you ready?

Nathan and all the residents at the hotel and most of the passengers on the flights that Nathan takes in and out of town are …. ABORTION GHOSTS! That’s right. Linda had an abortion. Nathan was the son she was meant to have but didn’t.

Is it heavy-handed? Yes. Is it effective? Well, the answer to that question probably depends on how you feel about abortion. That’s one thing about all of these abortion movies. It’s hard for me to imagine that any of these films — whether it’s the church-produced Pro-Life films or the studio-produced Pro-Choice films — have ever changed anyone’s mind about abortion. As such, movies about abortion largely exist to preach to the choir. Abortion movies, regardless of which side they come down on, are largely movie that people watch so that they can nod and think to themselves, “My side really is the only correct one.”

As for the film itself, it’s rather slow and the voice-over tends to get rather portentous. Dean Cain was probably on the set for one day. Colleen Foy gave the best performance while Erika Eleniak was a bit bland in the lead role. On the plus side, it looked like a real movie, which is more than one can say for a lot of faith-based films. Again, how you react to the film will largely depend on whether or not you agree with its message.

October Positivity: Miracle at Manchester (dir by Eddie McClintock)

Posted on October 18, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2022’s Miracle at Manchester tells the story of a high school community that is brought together by one potential tragedy.

Brycen Newman (Kory Getman) is a high school student and an all-around athlete, a star on both the baseball and the football teams. But when he faints during baseball practice and also suffers a sudden nosebleed in the middle of class, his father (played by director Eddie McClintock) rushes Brycen to the hospital. He’s told that there’s nothing wrong with Brycen, beyond the typical teenage growing pain. Take a Tylenol and don’t worry about it, he’s told. That night, Brycen is woken up by a blinding headache. Another trip to the hospital reveals that Brycen has got a tumor in his brain. Brycen is continually given hope, just to have it snatched away. At first, he’s told that the tumor has been removed. But then the tumor comes back. Brycen goes through chemotherapy and even prepares to be sent to Florida so that he can take part in an experimental treatment. No one has much faith that Brycen is going to survive but Brycen’s fellow students rally around him. The football teams shaves their head in honor of Brycen. A priest leads a prayer ceremony in the stands. Journalist Miles Himmel (Nick Avila) follows Brycen’s story and reports all the details, even though he firmly does not believe in miracles. (He even snaps at his young daughter when he hears her talking about a miracle.)

While this is going on, a local mechanic named Ed Hanson (a nice performance from Daniel Roebuck) is fixing cars and, for veterans, charging on a dollar. His wife, who happens to be a nurse at the hospital, tells Ed that he need to get more rest and he needs to come up with a better financial plan than only charging people a dollar for thousands of dollars worth of work. Ed replies that he has no choice. He does it for the veterans and the needy. Good for Ed. We need more people like Ed in the world.

Miracle at Manchester is the type of low-budget, overly earnest filmmaking that typically brings out my cynical side but I have to admit that I actually teared up a bit while watching this film. Some of that is for strictly personal reasons. I lost my mom to cancer in 2008. Last year, I lost my Dad to Parkinson’s. Right now, I’m still in a state where even seeing a hospital room in a film will trigger my tears. But beyond that, it was a heartfelt story and also one that was (perhaps loosely, I don’t know) based on a true story. The film ended with the footage of the actual Brycen. It got to me.

Speaking of my father, after he died, I was organizing his estate and I was surprised to discover that he used to regularly give money to Make-A-Wish. Two representatives of Make-A-Wish appear in this film. Again, I can be cynical when it comes to various charities but Make-A-Wish seems like a good group of people. I’m proud of my Dad for supporting them.

October Positivity: One Cop’s Journey (dir by Jason Campbell)

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2022’s One Cop’s Journey, Keith Knotek (Tim Perez-Ross) is involved in a traffic accident. Because Keith is clearly intoxicated, he’s taken to jail. Because it’s the start of the weekend, Keith is going to have to spend three days in jail before the Magistrate will see him and determine the amount of money that it will take to get him out.

Keith sits in a jail cell for three days. Because he’s a cop, the other police officers treat him with perhaps a bit more sympathy than they would give the usual inmate. You need a private cell? Here you go. You want us to call your wife? No problem! You want to get changed for court in the officer’s locker room? Sure, why not? Here’s a phone, go ahead and call your minister.

That minister is played by Dean Cain. The cop calls the minister and admits to getting a DUI and maybe hurting some people in the car accident.

“We all make mistakes,” Dean Cain replies.

And isn’t that the truth! One Cop’s Journey attempts to show the stress that would lead a cop to start drinking. His partner and best friend is gunned down while pursuing a suspect. Keith, himself, is nearly killed while conducting a routine traffic stop. No one wants to hear the details of what a cop has to deal with on daily basis. His wife has grown tired of him being depressed and emotionally withdrawn all the time and, when she discovers that he never told her about one traumatic incident that happened shortly before they were married, she considers it to be the same as telling her a lie. Worst of all, his teenage daughter decides to attend an anti-police rally, holding a sign that reads “No Justice No Peace,” while her friends all hold signs that read, “Defund the Police.”

Since this is a faith-based film, Keith eventually finds redemption and hope through prayer and he goes on to write a book about the pressures of being a cop. That’s to be expected and, to its credit, the film doesn’t get particularly preachy when it comes to the religious angle. I imagine that most people who would regularly get offended by the religious subtext will be too busy getting upset over the film’s political subtext to really notice.

One Cop’s Journey is thoroughly and unapologetically pro-cop and that’s never more obvious than in the protest scene when the blue collar, salt-of-the-earth policemen find themselves being yelled at by a bunch of bitter geriatrics and a few smirking college students. There’s nothing subtle about it but, then again, there’s nothing subtle about most left-wing movies either. As is so often the case when it comes to political movies, how you react will depend on how you felt about the issue before the movie started. (My own personal opinion is that police reform is something that needs to be considered, especially when it comes to the militarization of the police. At the same time, the “abolish the police” folks were and are living in a fantasy world.)

One Cop’s Journey is only 63 minutes long and there is an effective dream sequence in which Keith finds himself looking at the headshots of everyone who he feels he has left down. That said, the film still had far too many slow spots for so short of a production. Putting Keith in the jail cell really did make the whole thing feel pretty stagey. Still, the film did find the time to share some information about Post Traumatic Stress amongst first responders. It’s heart was in the right place.

The Eric Roberts Collection: Deadly Sanctuary (dir by Nancy Criss)

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2015’s Deadly Sanctuary, Philadelphia reporter Kendall O’Dell (Rebekah Kochan) relocates to a small town in Arizona and proceeds to spend the majority of the movie complaining about it.

Seriously, I could relate to Kendall to an extent. We both have red hair. We both have asthma. We both hate snakes. We both wear high heels in the desert. We’ve both run outside in our underwear after coming across a tarantula in our house. But, even with all that in mind, even I quickly got annoyed with listening to her complain about every little thing. Her father got her a job at the Arizona newspaper so, of course, Kendall calls him up to complain about the desert. An old man stops and helps to shoo a snake away from Kendall’s car so, of course, Kendall gives him the glare of death when he casually calls her “sweetie.” (The guy’s 70 and was clearly not hitting on Kendall so maybe he can be forgiven for not speaking like a 30-something grad student.) Kendall shows up late for her job interview so, of course, she complains about the newspaper to her editor (Eric Roberts). Kendall gets a place to live, rent-free. She complains about the house being located near a mental hospital. Kendall’s co-worker, Ginger (Teri Lee), sets Kendall up with both a handsome cowboy (Marco Dapper) and the richest man in town (Peter Greene) and, of course, Kendall finds an excuse to complain about it.

Eventually, a plot of sorts kicks in. Kendall investigates the death of her predecessor and discovers that the sheriff (Dean Cain) doesn’t seem to be all the interested in solving any of the murders that seem to occur around town. She also tries to set up an interview with Dr. Price (Daniel Baldwin), the owner of the mental hospital, but it turns out that he doesn’t want to talk to her. He doesn’t care that she once wrote a series of articles about mental health in Philadelphia. (Yikes! I’ve seen Parking Wars so I can only guess how scary that must have been.)

Kendall hears strange voices in her house and spiders keep showing up at inopportune moments. Who can she trust? Who is the bad guy here? The rich guy or the salt-of-the-Earth cowboy dude? Well, I won’t spoil the film. I will say that the plot had potential but the poor pacing and the unlikable lead character eventually combine to do this movie in.

Eric Roberts is his usual avuncular self in this film. He spends most of his scenes sitting behind a desk. The rest of the film’s celebrity cameo budget was apparently spent on Dean Cain and Daniel Baldwin, both of whom seem rather bored with the whole thing.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

The Eric Roberts Collection: Bed & Breakfast (dir by Marcio Garcia)

Posted on April 6, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2010’s Bed & Breakfast is one of those Hallmark-y films that takes place at a B&B in a quaint little town.

Having recently been left by his actress wife, Jake (Dean Cain) is trying to open up a bed and breakfast, using a house that was left to him by a former employer. Helping Jake out is his brother, Peter (Jake Engvall), a member of law enforcement who not only enjoys drinking beer but also enjoys talking about beer as well. Juliana Paes plays Ana, the niece of the original owner of the house. Ana is from Brazil and she wants to sell the house because her brother is in debt to some local mobsters. But then Ana meets the handsome and single Jake and …. well, you already know what’s going to happen. This is one of those films where the familiarity is the point. You watch it because you know that Jake and Ana are going to fall in love and you know exactly how long it’s going to take for that to happen. Dean Cain is rugged. Juliana Paes is pretty. The town is lovely. It’s a sweet little film that you’ll forget about a few minutes after it ends.

Of course, these films always require a cameo or two. John Savage and Julia Duffy show up as a couple who stay at the B&B and who share a dance at the end of the film. Ted Lange is the judge who settles the issue of who actually owns the house. Eric Roberts shows up as a reviewer who stays at the B&B and decides that it’s a wonderful place that more than deserves a good review. Yay! I will say that it’s always interesting to see Roberts playing someone who is just a nice, polite guy. He doesn’t get to do it all that often. Eric Roberts doesn’t have much screentime in this film but he gets to be pleasant the entire time. It’s a nice change of pace.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

October Positivity: Break Every Chain (dir by Tim Searfoss)

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2021 film, Break Every Chain, tells the story of a cop with a problem.

Struggling with the memories of his own troubled childhood and also with the responsibilities of having a family of his own, Jonathan Hickory (Ignacyo Matynia) throws himself into his work as a member of the police force. He’s considered to be a good cop, one who is given important assignment and who can be trusted not to abuse his authority. At one point, when it appears that a drunk man is pointing a rifle at him, Jonathan is smart to realize that opening fire on the man is not the way to deal with him. Jonathan, in many ways, seems like a throwback to the days before the American police force became the militarized behemoth that it is today.

Jonathan is promoted to riding a motorcycle and it must be said that the motorcycle that he receives is pretty badass. Jonathan investigates accidents. He gives speeches about the important of not driving drunk. To the world, he’s the ideal cop. But, secretly, Jonathan is falling apart. Haunted by the things that he’s seen as a member of law enforcement, Jonathan has turned to drinking and has been neglecting his family. Soon, Jonathan is full-blown alcoholic and it’s only a matter of time before his drinking catches up to him.

Break Every Chain is a pretty simple film but it’s effective. Matynia gives a good performance as Jonathan and the film doesn’t try to force some sort of cure-all solution on the audience. Jonathan does get help for his problems and he does turn to his church for support. And, yes, it’s not all surprising when it turns out that Jonathan’s pastor is played by Dean Cain. However, the film itself is not particularly preachy, at least not by the standards of most faith-based films. It suggests that, for Jonathan, devoting himself to religion gives him another way to deal with life that doesn’t involve getting drunk and neglecting his family. The movie isn’t incorrect about that. Regardless of whether one agrees with Jonathan’s religious beliefs or not, he is correct to believe that the human mind needs something else to obsess on beyond its addictions.

I should admit that films about addiction, especially alcoholism, always tend to effect me more than other social problem films. My family tree has its share of drinkers, some of whom could handle their alcohol better than other. I know firsthand the trauma that can come from seeing a family member struggle with their addictions. One reason why I don’t drink is because I know that I have certain compulsive tendencies. I tend to channel those tendencies into watching and writing about movies and, of course, making lists. The way some people are about having that glass of wine before bed, that’s the way I am about making sure that my To-Do List for the following day has been written out and it’s ready to go. Some people are addicted to drugs. Some people are addicted to booze. I’m addicted to making out lengthy To-Do Lists. That said, there’s no greater feeling than crossing something off of your To Do List. For instance, I just crossed reviewing this film off of my list and now, I’m feeling great!