A Merry Christmas Match premiered on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on October 25th and stars Ashley Newbrough and Kyle Dean Massey. It's only the second movie of the season and I've already gotten things out of order so it's looking like it'll be in the order that I watch them and not entirely chronological.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: single girl with big city dreams (Corey) stays "stuck" in small hometown and runs her Dad's antique shop, her now famous best friend comes home for a visit from LA with boyfriend and his rich "most eligible bachelor" best friend in tow (Ryder), all before Christmas Corey makes an impromptu visit to the famous bestie in LA and attends a party at Ryder's parents home (without letting him know she was coming). You see where this is going or maybe not quite yet... The general theme is follow your dreams and your heart.
Meet Cute Moment: While he is looking around her family's antique store they turn around and almost run into each other. He falls backward and breaks a chair and winds up kneeling on the floor in front of her. You won't forget about the broken chair because they bring it up on at least three more occasions.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I already went off about this from the last movie but it came up again so I will try to merely just mention it in passing. In this movie the main character is planning and putting on a children's Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve. Again with the Christmas Eve festivities, really?!?! Forgetting about the question of time at home or church on Christmas Eve, doesn't anyone in town go away for the holidays? I would think that there would be a lot of kids who couldn't make it due to family obligations and the theater would be a bit empty too. Every holiday concert or pageant where I live is at least a week or two before the holiday for precisely these reasons.
Hallmark Movie Connections: Ashley Newbrough was previously in Small Town Christmas (2018) with Kristoffer Polaha. I also saw her in a non-Hallmark Christmas movie (who knew?!?) Snowmance (2017) that is often (although not currently) available on Amazon Prime. Kyle Dean Massey is making his Hallmark movie premiere but was previously seen performing on Broadway and in the show Nashville.
Let me know if you found a merry Christmas match in this movie because I missed it.
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses - Premiere #1
Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on October 26th and stars Jill Wagner and Matthew Davis. Donna Mills appears in a supporting role.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: single mom former interior designer, rich single workaholic, mission to redecorate estate for everyday and Christmas, faux love triangles, finding balance in life and the spirit of Christmas (plays on meme of Grinch)
Meet Cute Moment: They literally run into each other on the sidewalk. He walks away saying "Nice running into you." Her first impression of him as related to her Dad "...just someone in need of some Christmas cheer."
Notable Knitwear Alert: Max (her son) is seen wearing a great knitted hat with fair isle sheep on it at the tree lighting (similar to the Baa-ble Hat). Max is later seen wearing a knit sweater with reindeer fair isle pattern across the chest at home when Nick comes to visit.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: What's with people planning/attending an event on Christmas Eve? I mean really!?! In this movie they are planning and attending a charity party on Christmas Eve. I don't recall seeing any children at the party either. Do millionaire/billionaire families not spend Christmas Eve with family and close friends? They are obviously not religious either because no one was rushing out to make it to church on time. This trope of things happening on Christmas Eve has always bothered me since it is NOT normal. Also, do people really not plan ahead more than a month when remodeling/redecorating their house? Maybe money solves the problems that a lack of planning causes but the contrived nature of this trope has always bothered me.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the movie and let me know if the same things bother you.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: single mom former interior designer, rich single workaholic, mission to redecorate estate for everyday and Christmas, faux love triangles, finding balance in life and the spirit of Christmas (plays on meme of Grinch)
Meet Cute Moment: They literally run into each other on the sidewalk. He walks away saying "Nice running into you." Her first impression of him as related to her Dad "...just someone in need of some Christmas cheer."
Notable Knitwear Alert: Max (her son) is seen wearing a great knitted hat with fair isle sheep on it at the tree lighting (similar to the Baa-ble Hat). Max is later seen wearing a knit sweater with reindeer fair isle pattern across the chest at home when Nick comes to visit.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: What's with people planning/attending an event on Christmas Eve? I mean really!?! In this movie they are planning and attending a charity party on Christmas Eve. I don't recall seeing any children at the party either. Do millionaire/billionaire families not spend Christmas Eve with family and close friends? They are obviously not religious either because no one was rushing out to make it to church on time. This trope of things happening on Christmas Eve has always bothered me since it is NOT normal. Also, do people really not plan ahead more than a month when remodeling/redecorating their house? Maybe money solves the problems that a lack of planning causes but the contrived nature of this trope has always bothered me.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the movie and let me know if the same things bother you.
Hallmark = Christmas Movie Magic?
At least that is what they want to make you think with all of their ads. I completely admit to having a slight addiction to the channel and their formulaic year round theme-based romance/chick films. When I got rid of cable and went with Sling over a year ago, I made sure to include the Hallmark channels (because apparently one is not enough) with my subscription.
I also admit that in the past I have consumed almost all of their original films at Christmas and throughout the year. This year, in celebration of 10 years of Countdown to Christmas, Hallmark has upped their holiday game and has an astounding 40 premieres (24 on Hallmark + 16 on Movies & Mysteries). While I'm not sure I can completely commit to watching all of the movies - - there are 4 premieres a week starting in October - - I can try...
My initial thought is to rate each film out of 5 Christmas trees (seasonally appropriate), include a few details regarding the characters/situation/themes that establish a baseline understanding of the movie, brief description of the meet cute moment, notable knitwear (I am a crafter after all) and maybe a bit of my commentary and snark. We'll see how it goes and this may push me to watch some of the movies/actors that I would usually avoid.
I don't plan to write a dissertation for these movies or go knee deep into the details so my posts will be only the briefest of summaries. If you want a complete review and discussion, there are podcasts for that.
I also admit that in the past I have consumed almost all of their original films at Christmas and throughout the year. This year, in celebration of 10 years of Countdown to Christmas, Hallmark has upped their holiday game and has an astounding 40 premieres (24 on Hallmark + 16 on Movies & Mysteries). While I'm not sure I can completely commit to watching all of the movies - - there are 4 premieres a week starting in October - - I can try...
My initial thought is to rate each film out of 5 Christmas trees (seasonally appropriate), include a few details regarding the characters/situation/themes that establish a baseline understanding of the movie, brief description of the meet cute moment, notable knitwear (I am a crafter after all) and maybe a bit of my commentary and snark. We'll see how it goes and this may push me to watch some of the movies/actors that I would usually avoid.
I don't plan to write a dissertation for these movies or go knee deep into the details so my posts will be only the briefest of summaries. If you want a complete review and discussion, there are podcasts for that.
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