Podcast in a Pear Tree: Christmas Movie Reviews

by Aaron Lee Harvey, Danielle Espino, Samantha Gifford

Join L.A. transplants Aaron Lee, Danielle and Samantha as they share their honest (both sarcastic and appreciative) reviews of the latest Christmas movie offerings from Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix, and more. Warning, massive spoilers ahead: discussing major plotlines and loveable details are the whole reason we're doing this!

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Podcast episodes

  • Season 4

  • Time for alpacas, Christmas reality tv and Die Hard action

    Time for alpacas, Christmas reality tv and Die Hard action

    It's our last episode for 2024, and we had a manageable list of movie debut options coming into the mid-weekend of December premieres that somehow had a different mix of movie tropes from cocktails to sustainable fashion. We review a Hanukkah-focused film on Hallmark (Hanukkah on the Rocks) and The Santa Class, Lifetime's offerings with The Holiday Junkie and Christmas on the Alpaca Farm, Get Him Back for Christmas on GAC, and a surprise new release find on Netflix. Before diving into the films, we also tackle Hallmark's reality show Finding Mr. Christmas.

  • Mystic Santas, Lopez dimples, and no snacks (yikes)

    Mystic Santas, Lopez dimples, and no snacks (yikes)

    We kick-off our episode with a festive visit to the first ever Los Angeles Christmas Market in Downtown Los Angeles. But it's down to business as we tackle all sorts of tropes in the films that debuted the second week of December, including Sugarplummed and Leah's Perfect Gift from Hallmark, How to Fall in Love by Christmas and A Very Merry Beauty Salon from Lifetime, Nutcrackers on Hulu, and of course, Once Upon a Christmas Gift (GAC).

  • LiLo and the 90s do Christmas for Thanksgiving

    LiLo and the 90s do Christmas for Thanksgiving

    We finally review all the films from Thanksgiving Weekend, and there were definitely too many! We kick-off with the theater-released Amazon film, Red One. To keep the chaos somewhat manageable we go by network, starting with Hallmark (A 90s Christmas, Holiday Touchdown, Christmas Quest), Netflix (Our Little Secret), Lifetime (BeBe Winans' We Three Kings), and Great American Christmas/GAC (I Heard the Bells, A Cinderella Christmas Ball, Home Sweet Christmas).

  • Here comes the spice, Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce and bunches of Bs

    Here comes the spice, Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce and bunches of Bs

    We've hit a solid B week for films. Plus, have you ever wondered what your desert island Christmas song would be? Well you'll be thinking about it as we discuss the premieres from films right before the Thanksgiving holiday, including Netflix's Christmas spicy film The Merry Gentlemen, the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance inspired Christmas film on Lifetime, Christmas in the Spotlight, and others like Sincerely, Truly Christmas (Lifetime), Three Wiser Men and a Boy (Hallmark), Little Women’s Christmas (Great American Christmas), and To Have and to Holiday (Hallmark).

  • Diners, quilts, and awkward mistletoes... some of the best films of the season have arrived

    Diners, quilts, and awkward mistletoes... some of the best films of the season have arrived

    We had some of the best movies of the season in this latest episode! One in particular was quite possibly our star of the season. Some films we cover this week: Confessions of a Christmas Letter (Hallmark), A Cozy Christmas Quilt (Great American Christmas), Jingle Bell Love (Roku) and some honorary mentions of Reason for the Season (Hallmark Mysteries), Hot Frosty (Netflix), Jingle Bell Run (Hallmark), Christmas at Plumhill Manor (Lifetime), and A Christmas Less Traveled (Great American Christmas).