Check Inn to Christmas premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 26th and stars Rachel Boston (Julia) and Wes Brown (Ryan).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Julia Crawley is a lawyer living in NYC who is getting to go home to Crestridge, Colorado for the holidays. She's been at the law firm for 10 years and is trying for a promotion to a more senior partner track position that will mean more work and less time for family, friends and herself. Ryan Mason is a Crestridge native who after going to school for his MBA and working in Chicago decided to come home and help run his family's inn. Crestridge is home to two inns which sparked a long-standing feud between the families, the Crawleys and the Masons. Just imagine what could happen when a new enemy comes to town and is able to bring the the feud to an end. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend!
Re-Meet Cute Moment: While they attended the same school they didn't run in the same circles so it's not surprising that they don't recognize each other at the train station. Julia unknowingly left her laptop on the train and Ryan returned it. Neither of them realizes at first that the other is from the feuding family.
Notable Fashion Alert: Rachel Boston's character is rocking several wrap dresses with boots. I think that this is a Rachel Boston costuming thing because I've seen her sport this look in other movies.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Not too much snark to share. I liked that the family feud was controlled. There is definitely a level of competitiveness and avoidance that makes it clear that there is definitely still a feud but it isn't taken to an over the top level with anomosity or malice. And the fact that the family feud appears to be waning anyway makes the movie resolution much more believable. I mean going from enemies to business partners wouldn't be possible any other way. I liked that the families were both still involved with the holiday festivities but just kind of avoided each other. I did enjoy the business Christmas decoration contest but I wish that we had seen the bakery or other competing businesses at some point in the movie. I did enjoy that both main characters had their assumptions about each other which were wrong and they have more in common than they initially expect and the same is true about their families. That little nugget is probably something we can all keep in mind throughout the year. I enjoyed the slow relationship building that they aren't really getting involved with each other because they know they are going their own ways but I felt that there was enough chemistry between the actors so that you knew that they were interested in each other. Julia's missing a step on the ladder and Jake just happening to be there to catch her was a bit too much but I guess there has to be at least one moment like that. I guess the issue was that I saw the moment coming a mile away but I did like that the moment was interrupted and called out. Part of the conclusion that I appreciated was that Julia's decision was first and foremost about doing what was right for her, her family, the town and Ryan is just one aspect of the decision. Way to go logical thinking! One moment of snark, is everyone really going to Eddie's pub and ordering the hot chocolate? If that's the case, you know it's been doctored.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Rachel is a year-round Hallmark staple. She was previously in A Rose for Christmas (2017) with Marc Bendavid. My favorite of her previous movies was A Ring by Spring (2014) with Kirby Morrow and co-starring Ali Leibert and Jesse Moss. Wes Brown is becoming a year-round staple and was previously seen in Under the Autumn Moon (2018) with Lindy Booth. Earlier this year he was in Over The Moon In Love (2019) with Jessica Lowndes, who apparently also wrote and executive produced the movie (thanks IMDB for that tidbit).
I hope that you enjoyed curling up and watching this little gem. By the way, did you notice that we're halfway through this crazy endeavor. Thanks for coming along!
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Friday, November 29, 2019
A Christmas Duet - Premiere #19
A Christmas Duet premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 25th and stars Chaley Rose (Averie) and Rome Flynn (Jesse).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Averie and Jesse used to be a chart topping singing duo but they drifted apart. Averie is now living is a small town and running the Blue Spruce Inn. Jesse is still playing music and touring as a small time solo act. What happens when the life paths of these two converge at her little inn right in the lead up to the Yuletide Festival.
Re-Meet Cute Moment: Jesse was booked to stay at the Blue Spruce Inn and runs into Averie and to his surprise she is the proprietor of the inn. It is your typical romantically awkward moment.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: The premise was a bit different than some of the other music related movies and the cast was pointedly more diverse than other movies so I was hopeful. While the movie wasn't bad, it was just okay. The plot seemed to be cluttered with the festivities and the inn review that I just didn't feel like there was much room for character exploration. The abbreviated time frame of 6 days until the Yuletide Festival also make it difficult to expect to see much other than your basic running around plot. Beyond the ridiculous time frame there are other unbelievable plot devices at work, such as the dwindled festival budget, the implication that there were no materials that could be salvaged after the flood and the idea that there was a storm raging somewhere off screen that seemed to be stranding many of the characters (either at the inn or unable to get to the inn). One thing that my viewing partner and I did enjoy was the performance of Chaley Rose so we hope to see her again with better material or a different co-star.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Chaley Rose and Rome Flynn are both making their Hallmark movie premiere. They may both be familiar as they both have been supporting cast members of popular TV series in the past. One performer that my viewing partner spotted and repeatedly mentioned was Reese Alexander as Averie's dad. Reese Alexander was recognized as the Tourney coach from Disney's Descendants movie from 2015. Proof positive that every performance is an opportunity to connect with the audience.
Let me know if you really bought into the character transformation and the movie's conclusion.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Averie and Jesse used to be a chart topping singing duo but they drifted apart. Averie is now living is a small town and running the Blue Spruce Inn. Jesse is still playing music and touring as a small time solo act. What happens when the life paths of these two converge at her little inn right in the lead up to the Yuletide Festival.
Re-Meet Cute Moment: Jesse was booked to stay at the Blue Spruce Inn and runs into Averie and to his surprise she is the proprietor of the inn. It is your typical romantically awkward moment.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: The premise was a bit different than some of the other music related movies and the cast was pointedly more diverse than other movies so I was hopeful. While the movie wasn't bad, it was just okay. The plot seemed to be cluttered with the festivities and the inn review that I just didn't feel like there was much room for character exploration. The abbreviated time frame of 6 days until the Yuletide Festival also make it difficult to expect to see much other than your basic running around plot. Beyond the ridiculous time frame there are other unbelievable plot devices at work, such as the dwindled festival budget, the implication that there were no materials that could be salvaged after the flood and the idea that there was a storm raging somewhere off screen that seemed to be stranding many of the characters (either at the inn or unable to get to the inn). One thing that my viewing partner and I did enjoy was the performance of Chaley Rose so we hope to see her again with better material or a different co-star.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Chaley Rose and Rome Flynn are both making their Hallmark movie premiere. They may both be familiar as they both have been supporting cast members of popular TV series in the past. One performer that my viewing partner spotted and repeatedly mentioned was Reese Alexander as Averie's dad. Reese Alexander was recognized as the Tourney coach from Disney's Descendants movie from 2015. Proof positive that every performance is an opportunity to connect with the audience.
Let me know if you really bought into the character transformation and the movie's conclusion.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Our Christmas Love Song - Premiere #18
Our Christmas Love Song premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 24th and stars Alicia Witt (Melody) and Brendan Hines (Chase).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Melody (apropos name) is a country star who has really made it and even debuts a new Christmas song at the Grand Ole Opry. She seems to have it all but her mentor accuses her of copying the song from one of hers. She has 12 days (until Christmas) to prove she wrote it. So she goes home to Madison, Indiana for Christmas for the first time in 2 years to try to find notes that can prove the authorship of her song. Chase is her ex-boyfriend and former writing partner who didn't leave Madison and is running his family's tavern.
Re-Meet Cute Moment: Chase and Melody have a history as high school sweethearts. Sometimes the easiest way to deal with exes and past relationships is to avoid them at all costs. Well Madison is a pretty small town so of course you would run into each other in the grocery store and have an awkward conversation. Seemed to be an homage to You've Got Mail and the awkward encounter the main characters have at Zabar's.
Missed Nutcracker Moment: There is apparently a Nutcracker presentation event that happens at the tree lighting but we the audience don't get to attend but instead get to see another 4 minute commercial interlude.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Let me start by saying that I didn't have high hopes for this movie because of the preview in the commercial. There was something weird about how she was moving while playing. But I hoped that I was going to be wrong. Alicia Witt is an actual song writer and performer so I felt like the performance would be good. I did like her performance at the Grand Ole Opry but wasn't really in love with the original Christmas songs. The plot was a bit weak with her mission to find a slip of paper with proof that she wrote the song years ago. There wasn't much chemistry between the characters and it felt like they were dialing it in. The movie concludes in typical Hallmark fashion with one character uprooting their life for the other.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Alicia is a Hallmark movie stalwart and seems to appear in a movie each Holiday season. One of my favorite of hers was A Very Merry Mix Up (2013) with Mark Wiebe. This movie appears to be Brendan Hines Hallmark debut, however, he has been working in supporting cast roles on a number of TV series over the years. I previously caught him as a recurring guest role in Scorpion.
Let me know if you felt differently about this one than me.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Melody (apropos name) is a country star who has really made it and even debuts a new Christmas song at the Grand Ole Opry. She seems to have it all but her mentor accuses her of copying the song from one of hers. She has 12 days (until Christmas) to prove she wrote it. So she goes home to Madison, Indiana for Christmas for the first time in 2 years to try to find notes that can prove the authorship of her song. Chase is her ex-boyfriend and former writing partner who didn't leave Madison and is running his family's tavern.
Re-Meet Cute Moment: Chase and Melody have a history as high school sweethearts. Sometimes the easiest way to deal with exes and past relationships is to avoid them at all costs. Well Madison is a pretty small town so of course you would run into each other in the grocery store and have an awkward conversation. Seemed to be an homage to You've Got Mail and the awkward encounter the main characters have at Zabar's.
Missed Nutcracker Moment: There is apparently a Nutcracker presentation event that happens at the tree lighting but we the audience don't get to attend but instead get to see another 4 minute commercial interlude.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Let me start by saying that I didn't have high hopes for this movie because of the preview in the commercial. There was something weird about how she was moving while playing. But I hoped that I was going to be wrong. Alicia Witt is an actual song writer and performer so I felt like the performance would be good. I did like her performance at the Grand Ole Opry but wasn't really in love with the original Christmas songs. The plot was a bit weak with her mission to find a slip of paper with proof that she wrote the song years ago. There wasn't much chemistry between the characters and it felt like they were dialing it in. The movie concludes in typical Hallmark fashion with one character uprooting their life for the other.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Alicia is a Hallmark movie stalwart and seems to appear in a movie each Holiday season. One of my favorite of hers was A Very Merry Mix Up (2013) with Mark Wiebe. This movie appears to be Brendan Hines Hallmark debut, however, he has been working in supporting cast roles on a number of TV series over the years. I previously caught him as a recurring guest role in Scorpion.
Let me know if you felt differently about this one than me.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2 - Premiere #17
Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2 premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 24th and stars Ali Leibert (Darcy) and Peter Porte (Aiden).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: It's been a year since Darcy ran over Aiden with her bike which gave him a case of amnesia in A Gift to Remember (2017). Aiden is all recovered and living two doors down from Darcy. Darcy is now the manager at Chaucers book store and we've returned just in time for Christmas. It's their first real Christmas together and they are both trying to come up with the perfect gift for one another. We are introduced to Marcus, a young boy who is spending Christmas with his aunt (Mrs. Henley) while his parents are both deployed over the holiday. In an attempt to pack more into the movie than is necessary, there is also the fact that Darcy and Aiden need to work fast to save the Liberty Recreation Center from being sold.
Giant Toy Soldiers Alert: There were giant toy soldiers, although not Nutcrackers, around the room at the Liberty Recreation Center party.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I really liked the 2017 feature, A Gift to Remember. This sequel didn't live up to the first in my mind. There were too many plot lines going on and it lacked the warmth of the original. There is a snowmaze at the park that they visit which is very cool and would be a cool addition to a winter wonderland. Aiden plans to design, cut and paint his village buildings in the approximately 1 week before Christmas Eve. My husband and I called foul loudly on that project. I mean if he were planning to only do one building I might find the project more reasonable but about a half dozen buildings is a no go in my mind. Let's talk about the fact that it is supposed to be December in Philadelphia. Darcy either is impervious to the cold or wants to come down with pneumonia for New Year's because when she gets dressed up for both the Rec Center party and the Christmas Eve party at Chaucers she is without a coat for both! If she were wearing a long sleeve wool dress, I might buy the lack of outerwear but she's wearing really short sleeved satiny dresses on both occasions. The one sentiment that I do appreciate from Mrs. Henley is that friends are the family you choose. It's a worthy sentiment to keep in mind as we look forward to Thanksgiving and the coming holiday.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Besides their prior pairing in A Gift to Remember (2017)... Ali was previously seen in a supporting role in Anything for Love (2016) which starred Erika Christensen and Paul Greene. Peter was previously in Love, Once and Always (2018) with Amanda Schull.
I really liked these characters and the original story but I'm just not sure that this script warranted revisiting them this year. The original movie was based on a book by Melissa Hill and if you are needing anther dose of the characters maybe the source material is worth a read. Please let me know your thoughts about this sequel.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: It's been a year since Darcy ran over Aiden with her bike which gave him a case of amnesia in A Gift to Remember (2017). Aiden is all recovered and living two doors down from Darcy. Darcy is now the manager at Chaucers book store and we've returned just in time for Christmas. It's their first real Christmas together and they are both trying to come up with the perfect gift for one another. We are introduced to Marcus, a young boy who is spending Christmas with his aunt (Mrs. Henley) while his parents are both deployed over the holiday. In an attempt to pack more into the movie than is necessary, there is also the fact that Darcy and Aiden need to work fast to save the Liberty Recreation Center from being sold.
Giant Toy Soldiers Alert: There were giant toy soldiers, although not Nutcrackers, around the room at the Liberty Recreation Center party.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I really liked the 2017 feature, A Gift to Remember. This sequel didn't live up to the first in my mind. There were too many plot lines going on and it lacked the warmth of the original. There is a snowmaze at the park that they visit which is very cool and would be a cool addition to a winter wonderland. Aiden plans to design, cut and paint his village buildings in the approximately 1 week before Christmas Eve. My husband and I called foul loudly on that project. I mean if he were planning to only do one building I might find the project more reasonable but about a half dozen buildings is a no go in my mind. Let's talk about the fact that it is supposed to be December in Philadelphia. Darcy either is impervious to the cold or wants to come down with pneumonia for New Year's because when she gets dressed up for both the Rec Center party and the Christmas Eve party at Chaucers she is without a coat for both! If she were wearing a long sleeve wool dress, I might buy the lack of outerwear but she's wearing really short sleeved satiny dresses on both occasions. The one sentiment that I do appreciate from Mrs. Henley is that friends are the family you choose. It's a worthy sentiment to keep in mind as we look forward to Thanksgiving and the coming holiday.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Besides their prior pairing in A Gift to Remember (2017)... Ali was previously seen in a supporting role in Anything for Love (2016) which starred Erika Christensen and Paul Greene. Peter was previously in Love, Once and Always (2018) with Amanda Schull.
I really liked these characters and the original story but I'm just not sure that this script warranted revisiting them this year. The original movie was based on a book by Melissa Hill and if you are needing anther dose of the characters maybe the source material is worth a read. Please let me know your thoughts about this sequel.
Christmas at Graceland: Home For The Holidays - Premiere #16
Christmas at Graceland: Home For The Holidays premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 23rd and stars Kaitlin Doubleday (Harper) and Adrian Grenier (Owen). Priscilla Presley makes a cameo appearance.
RATING (out of 5): 🌟 Just a reminder that the star =1/2 a Christmas tree and is basically as low as it goes ranking wise.
General Movie Details: Harper has been working in museums across Europe and came home for Christmas for the first time in 3 years. She's interviewing at the Brooks Museum for their international curator position and is in town for the holiday and waiting to find out if she got the position. Owen's a widowed businessman with 3 kids and he is without childcare while his nanny is home for the holidays and her backup fell through. Harper volunteers to fill in while she's in town.
Meet Cute Moment: She gives his kids (and her nieces) a private tour of Graceland which she did back in high school. When he picks up his kids he proceeds to stick his foot in his mouth a bit and then offers her the temporary nanny position.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I'll be honest, I didn't finish the movie... I turned if off about halfway through. There was no chemistry and not really anything believable or interesting in the way of a plot. I should also admit that I didn't watch last year's Christmas at Graceland (2018) which is completely fine since the two movies may share a name they are in no way related. Thanks Hallmark for not only adding to the confusion but also disappointing. So the movie starts no earlier than 3 weeks until Christmas and Owen is just starting to plan the Christmas Eve fundraiser at Graceland, the newly crowned Gala of Giving. I really find that hard to believe. About as difficult to believe as the fact that Harper is recruited to work on helping to curate the Elvis at Christmas special exhibit. No offense but that if it is that close to Christmas, any events and exhibits would already be finalized. I mean the special exhibit should already be mounted. So I found the whole thing to be utterly unbelievable and there was really nothing else substantial enough in the plot or performances to hold my interest. Also, they really made Memphis out to be quite white during December. I didn't think that they reliably had snow in the area of the country for that long. I get that they want to make it look and feel like Christmas but it seems to be a bit much this time. The one thing that I did see that I liked was the light up wooden advent calendar that plays music when the drawers are open that Harper gave Owen's kids.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Kaitlin previously had a supporting role in Chance at Romance (2014) starring Erin Krakow and Ryan McPartlin. Adrian was previously in Love at First Glance with Amy Smart.
If you did make it through the whole movie I hope that you found it an enjoyable watch. With 14 movie premieres between 11/23 and 12/2, I just don't have the time or energy to watch a sub par Christmas movie.
RATING (out of 5): 🌟 Just a reminder that the star =1/2 a Christmas tree and is basically as low as it goes ranking wise.
General Movie Details: Harper has been working in museums across Europe and came home for Christmas for the first time in 3 years. She's interviewing at the Brooks Museum for their international curator position and is in town for the holiday and waiting to find out if she got the position. Owen's a widowed businessman with 3 kids and he is without childcare while his nanny is home for the holidays and her backup fell through. Harper volunteers to fill in while she's in town.
Meet Cute Moment: She gives his kids (and her nieces) a private tour of Graceland which she did back in high school. When he picks up his kids he proceeds to stick his foot in his mouth a bit and then offers her the temporary nanny position.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I'll be honest, I didn't finish the movie... I turned if off about halfway through. There was no chemistry and not really anything believable or interesting in the way of a plot. I should also admit that I didn't watch last year's Christmas at Graceland (2018) which is completely fine since the two movies may share a name they are in no way related. Thanks Hallmark for not only adding to the confusion but also disappointing. So the movie starts no earlier than 3 weeks until Christmas and Owen is just starting to plan the Christmas Eve fundraiser at Graceland, the newly crowned Gala of Giving. I really find that hard to believe. About as difficult to believe as the fact that Harper is recruited to work on helping to curate the Elvis at Christmas special exhibit. No offense but that if it is that close to Christmas, any events and exhibits would already be finalized. I mean the special exhibit should already be mounted. So I found the whole thing to be utterly unbelievable and there was really nothing else substantial enough in the plot or performances to hold my interest. Also, they really made Memphis out to be quite white during December. I didn't think that they reliably had snow in the area of the country for that long. I get that they want to make it look and feel like Christmas but it seems to be a bit much this time. The one thing that I did see that I liked was the light up wooden advent calendar that plays music when the drawers are open that Harper gave Owen's kids.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Kaitlin previously had a supporting role in Chance at Romance (2014) starring Erin Krakow and Ryan McPartlin. Adrian was previously in Love at First Glance with Amy Smart.
If you did make it through the whole movie I hope that you found it an enjoyable watch. With 14 movie premieres between 11/23 and 12/2, I just don't have the time or energy to watch a sub par Christmas movie.
Holiday Hearts - Premiere #15
Holiday Hearts premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 23rd and stars Ashley Williams (Peyton) and Paul Campbell (Dr. Ben Tyler).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🌟
General Movie Details: Peyton is planning the annual Canaday Inn Christmas Eve party for the first time and is having a bit of trouble with coming up with a theme. Peyton's crush from 10 years ago (Dr. Ben Tyler) has been back in town for a year and while she knows he's there she hasn't seen him. All that is going to change when Peyton and Ben are thrust together to take care of Lily, their friends daughter while he has surgery.
Re-Meet Cute Moment: Both Peyton and Tyler are traveling the same stretch of road going in opposite directions when they both spot a reindeer in a field. Both are temporarily mesmerized by the sight and wind up sliding off the slippery road (luckily without colliding). When he can't get his car started again she give him a ride and they are forced back together.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There are a squadron of soldiers outside the the stores along Main Street. There are a pair of smaller (3' tall) Nutcrackers flanking the door at Lily's house.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Peyton's parents are sporting some knit sweaters at the beginning of the movie when we meet them. Her dad is especially embarrassing what some might think borders on a conservative ugly sweater. Ben is wearing a great navy cabled pullover with a rolled mock turtleneck sweater while decorating the tree.
Notable Quotable: These aren't exact quotes but my highlighted take aways.... Dr. Ben refers to the Triple H gene, Ho Ho Ho. People either have it or don't. Lily shares that snowflakes are kisses from heaven (it comes up a few times). Peyton when talking to her sister remarks that her slice of pecan pie makes good boyfriend material, crusty on the outside and sweet on the inside.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Lily's dad needs to have emergency surgery for a torn ACL after falling from the ladder. I guess I'm just surprised that this would be deemed emergency surgery and would need to be done immediately. Lily's house is referred to as an old place but from the outside it looks relatively new or at least the siding looks pretty new. I enjoyed the fact that Lily and her caregivers (Peyton and Ben) are carrying on the family traditions. They are a family with 3 trees. You might say it's a bit much but I have to admit that I've so been that girl in the past. I'm now a 2 tree girl because you need one in both the family room and the living room. I seriously have issue with the fact that we are supposed to believe that Peyton doesn't have a theme for the Christmas Eve party until 3 days before and somehow manages to pull together all the right decorations and everything in time. You see that she has help but I just don't buy it.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Ashley Williams was previously in October Kiss (2015) with Sam Jaeger. Paul Campbell was previously in A Godwink Christmas (2018) with Kimberly Sustad.
While the movie was okay it was just lacking in the holiday magic for me. Let me know if you felt something more.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🌟
General Movie Details: Peyton is planning the annual Canaday Inn Christmas Eve party for the first time and is having a bit of trouble with coming up with a theme. Peyton's crush from 10 years ago (Dr. Ben Tyler) has been back in town for a year and while she knows he's there she hasn't seen him. All that is going to change when Peyton and Ben are thrust together to take care of Lily, their friends daughter while he has surgery.
Re-Meet Cute Moment: Both Peyton and Tyler are traveling the same stretch of road going in opposite directions when they both spot a reindeer in a field. Both are temporarily mesmerized by the sight and wind up sliding off the slippery road (luckily without colliding). When he can't get his car started again she give him a ride and they are forced back together.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There are a squadron of soldiers outside the the stores along Main Street. There are a pair of smaller (3' tall) Nutcrackers flanking the door at Lily's house.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Peyton's parents are sporting some knit sweaters at the beginning of the movie when we meet them. Her dad is especially embarrassing what some might think borders on a conservative ugly sweater. Ben is wearing a great navy cabled pullover with a rolled mock turtleneck sweater while decorating the tree.
Notable Quotable: These aren't exact quotes but my highlighted take aways.... Dr. Ben refers to the Triple H gene, Ho Ho Ho. People either have it or don't. Lily shares that snowflakes are kisses from heaven (it comes up a few times). Peyton when talking to her sister remarks that her slice of pecan pie makes good boyfriend material, crusty on the outside and sweet on the inside.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Lily's dad needs to have emergency surgery for a torn ACL after falling from the ladder. I guess I'm just surprised that this would be deemed emergency surgery and would need to be done immediately. Lily's house is referred to as an old place but from the outside it looks relatively new or at least the siding looks pretty new. I enjoyed the fact that Lily and her caregivers (Peyton and Ben) are carrying on the family traditions. They are a family with 3 trees. You might say it's a bit much but I have to admit that I've so been that girl in the past. I'm now a 2 tree girl because you need one in both the family room and the living room. I seriously have issue with the fact that we are supposed to believe that Peyton doesn't have a theme for the Christmas Eve party until 3 days before and somehow manages to pull together all the right decorations and everything in time. You see that she has help but I just don't buy it.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Ashley Williams was previously in October Kiss (2015) with Sam Jaeger. Paul Campbell was previously in A Godwink Christmas (2018) with Kimberly Sustad.
While the movie was okay it was just lacking in the holiday magic for me. Let me know if you felt something more.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love - Premiere #14
A Godwink Christmas: Meant for Love premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 17th and stars Cindy Busby (Alice) and Benjamin Hollingsworth (Jack). Kathy Lee Gifford appears in a supporting role as Olga, Alice's mom.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Alice runs her family's boutique in Minneapolis but she's realizing that it isn't her calling. Jack lives in Dublin, Wisconsin and works in sales for a medical company. These two individuals are experiencing godwinks that keep bringing them together and cannot be ignored.
Meet Cute Moment: Alice is at the hotel for a charity event, the Schooner Gala, and Jack is there for his company's holiday party. He's slightly distracted on his phone and runs into Alice and feels an instant connection. Alice even remarks, "You're still holding my hands." In his confusion he follows her into the Schooner Gala insteard of his office party but he doesn't realize it's the wrong party. It's only later that he realizes his mistake but there paths continue to converge.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There are giant Nutcrackers on the street with Alice's shop that are seen periodically through the movie. Additionally, there are some Nutcrackers on the shopping district street in Dublin, Wisconsin which are also seen multiple times during the movie.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I have a major issue with the movie. There was a Godwink Christmas movie that premiered last year (which I actually liked - probably a 4-tree movie) that also has Kathy Lee Gifford in a co-starring role as the aunt of the main character. Now this year, she's also in this movie BUT her character is a completely new/different character. REALLY!?!? If you are going to create a series of movies based on theme where the characters are not related from one movie to another, then you really shouldn't have any of the same actors in the movie. It just makes things unnecessarily confusing.
There are a bunch of little oddities in the movie that left me scratching my head. Alice's job is retail which is usually not a high paying position. But she has an amazing gourmet kitchen in what looks to be a really nice apartment. Jack lives 90 minutes from Minneapolis but his company puts him up in a hotel when he has to work in the Minneapolis office. This just seems weird to me. Where I am from a 90 minute trip to the office is just called a daily commute, just saying. Alice and Jack make snow angels on their roadtrip when they get waylaid but they don't have gloves or mittens. As someone who has made this mistake before, it isn't fun and it is downright cold. I guess they are impervious to the cold or the costume designer just forgot to include handwear for the actors. At the hotel in Iowa, they are in rooms across the hall from each other which is not too coincidental. The weird part is that their room numbers were 302 and 312. Usually those rooms would be down the hall from each other not across the hall. I'd expect the rooms to be 302 and 303 if they were across the hall from each other. One of the issues that I have a real problem with is the way that Olga, Alice's mom, does not respect Alice's privacy. She and the rest of Alice's family are all too willing to share her private medical information with others without her knowledge or permission. That's just not right!
Hallmark Movie Connection: Cindy Busby was previously seen in Royal Hearts (2018) with Andrew Cooper. Benjamin Hollingsworth was previously in Lucky in Love (2014) with Jessica Szohr.
To me this movie was not nearly as enjoyable as the first Godwink Christmas but let me know if you feel differently.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Alice runs her family's boutique in Minneapolis but she's realizing that it isn't her calling. Jack lives in Dublin, Wisconsin and works in sales for a medical company. These two individuals are experiencing godwinks that keep bringing them together and cannot be ignored.
Meet Cute Moment: Alice is at the hotel for a charity event, the Schooner Gala, and Jack is there for his company's holiday party. He's slightly distracted on his phone and runs into Alice and feels an instant connection. Alice even remarks, "You're still holding my hands." In his confusion he follows her into the Schooner Gala insteard of his office party but he doesn't realize it's the wrong party. It's only later that he realizes his mistake but there paths continue to converge.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There are giant Nutcrackers on the street with Alice's shop that are seen periodically through the movie. Additionally, there are some Nutcrackers on the shopping district street in Dublin, Wisconsin which are also seen multiple times during the movie.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I have a major issue with the movie. There was a Godwink Christmas movie that premiered last year (which I actually liked - probably a 4-tree movie) that also has Kathy Lee Gifford in a co-starring role as the aunt of the main character. Now this year, she's also in this movie BUT her character is a completely new/different character. REALLY!?!? If you are going to create a series of movies based on theme where the characters are not related from one movie to another, then you really shouldn't have any of the same actors in the movie. It just makes things unnecessarily confusing.
There are a bunch of little oddities in the movie that left me scratching my head. Alice's job is retail which is usually not a high paying position. But she has an amazing gourmet kitchen in what looks to be a really nice apartment. Jack lives 90 minutes from Minneapolis but his company puts him up in a hotel when he has to work in the Minneapolis office. This just seems weird to me. Where I am from a 90 minute trip to the office is just called a daily commute, just saying. Alice and Jack make snow angels on their roadtrip when they get waylaid but they don't have gloves or mittens. As someone who has made this mistake before, it isn't fun and it is downright cold. I guess they are impervious to the cold or the costume designer just forgot to include handwear for the actors. At the hotel in Iowa, they are in rooms across the hall from each other which is not too coincidental. The weird part is that their room numbers were 302 and 312. Usually those rooms would be down the hall from each other not across the hall. I'd expect the rooms to be 302 and 303 if they were across the hall from each other. One of the issues that I have a real problem with is the way that Olga, Alice's mom, does not respect Alice's privacy. She and the rest of Alice's family are all too willing to share her private medical information with others without her knowledge or permission. That's just not right!
Hallmark Movie Connection: Cindy Busby was previously seen in Royal Hearts (2018) with Andrew Cooper. Benjamin Hollingsworth was previously in Lucky in Love (2014) with Jessica Szohr.
To me this movie was not nearly as enjoyable as the first Godwink Christmas but let me know if you feel differently.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Write Before Christmas - Premiere #13
Write Before Christmas premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 17th and stars Torrey DeVitto (Jessica) and Chad Michael Murray (Luke). There are a number of actors you will also recognize in supporting roles.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄 I am very tempted to add a 🌟 (the new 1/2 tree, because 1/2 of a Christmas tree has to be the presence of a star) to this rating because I can definitely see myself rewatching this one. Also, I could easily see a spin off movie starring one of the supporting couples next year. Let's get the gang back together for a sequel, Germany anyone?
General Movie Details: Jessica really wants to spread some holiday cheer to her boyfriend so she buys him 5 very special holiday cards. However, when he dumps her that evening with 2 weeks until Christmas she decides to use those cards to thank 5 people who have had a lasting impact on her life. Those cards effect each recipient's life and their relationships and we get to see how that all plays out in this interconnected web.
Meet Cute Moment: There are a number of meet cute moments in this movie for several of the character couples. I enjoy that the first times we see the main characters they are more like passing ships. I mean they even bump into each other on the sidewalk and apologize and continue on their way with no lasting memory of each other. It is very fitting with the movie and these particular characters.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There are two life-size Nutcrackers that flank the doors to Jessica's apartment building that you see glimpses of a few times over the course of the movie.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Warning, there is a bunch of sweet knits in this movie. The costume designer for the movie is Valerie Halverson and I just want to praise her for the use of seasonally stunning sweaters and accessories. This is someone with a vision and a love of knits. Come to find out she's also a Hallmark veteran when I checked out her filmography. Let's talk sweaters... Fair isle yoke sweaters are very on trend this year and we have two great ones to pick from here. Jessica is seen wearing a navy blue yoke sweater with a Norwegian star (selburose) band and an allover lice pattern in white in Strings & Notes about 3 minutes into the movie. Much later we see a white yoke sweater with a Norwegian star band and fair isle around the hem and cuffs in red on one of the girls at the group home. Jessica also dons a green cabled sweater in Strings & Notes about 28 minutes into the movie. The last item that I want to highlight in this movie is neither knitted or a costume... it's a crocheted afghan on the back of Aunt Lila's couch that can be seen when she calls Jessica to thank her for the card. I am not the only one that was enamored with the costume styling as I found a posting on where to buy the items or copy the looks. They chose some different pieces to highlight but you can see just how much knitwear was included.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So this movie feels to me like it is a relative to the format used in Love Actually or Valentine's Day. All of the films have an ensemble cast and disparate storylines with some character connections. However, they take it a step further in this movie by making Jessica be the character connection with everyone. I visualize this story as a hub and spoke model, anyone else seeing a wire snowflake form in their mind? I think that this works quite well to keep the story more contained and keep Jessica and her storyline at the heart of the movie. I won't deny that this type of story is by nature a bit disjointed and short on character development. I admit that the first 5-10 minutes of the movie are incredibly confusing because you are seeing snippets of scenes with people you aren't introduced to until later in the movie. But I think that a second watching might give the viewer an opportunity to get more from the quick initial snippets we see and the course of the various storylines. Yeah for "legitimate" excuses to rewatch! We have another appearance of an adopted child. In this case, he's a grown adult but it is still a departure from the norm and the writers work adoption and giving back to community into the plot seemlessly. Did I also mention there is a military component to the story too? They really hit all the points with this one. I didn't play Hallmark bingo while watching this one but I should just to see how many boxes on the page can get filled in...
Fear not, this movie is not without it's faults. Let's start with the elephant in my mind... It is 13 days before Christmas and she mails cards to recipients who not only receive the cards but the cards are able to create impactful situations for the recipients. I mean in my world it seems like the mail is extra slow around the holidays and it can take a week or more for mail to make it to it's destination no matter how close. Also, how does Jessica get the home address for former teen boyband member Jax? I know that his brother is his manager, but I doubt that their address is public record regardless of his current status as a has been. Good news for anyone missing it in the last few movies... bring on the Christmas Eve events with this one. In this case, there is even the option to attend multiple Christmas Eve happenings (you go Luke). Primo is hosting a Christmas Eve party at his restaurant. I guess that there are people with nothing to do on Christmas Eve so I guess a party is not that weird but seems like it should be postponed a week for New Year's. The other event is a pop-up reunion concert for Jax and his bandmates. This helps bring the plot back together towards a neatly tied bow but it seems a bit of a stretch that everyone is free for Christmas Eve and to pull off the plan in less than 2 weeks.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Torrey DeVitto was previously seen in Best Christmas Party Ever (2014) with Steve Lund. She seems to be pretty busy with her day job on TV, currently Chicago Med, but maybe she'll have time to co-star in the sequel I'm envisioning for next year. Chad Michael Murray previously starred in Road to Christmas (2018) with Jesse Schram.
Did you enjoy this movie or was it too much (too many storylines) and too little (too little character growth) for you?
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄 I am very tempted to add a 🌟 (the new 1/2 tree, because 1/2 of a Christmas tree has to be the presence of a star) to this rating because I can definitely see myself rewatching this one. Also, I could easily see a spin off movie starring one of the supporting couples next year. Let's get the gang back together for a sequel, Germany anyone?
General Movie Details: Jessica really wants to spread some holiday cheer to her boyfriend so she buys him 5 very special holiday cards. However, when he dumps her that evening with 2 weeks until Christmas she decides to use those cards to thank 5 people who have had a lasting impact on her life. Those cards effect each recipient's life and their relationships and we get to see how that all plays out in this interconnected web.
Meet Cute Moment: There are a number of meet cute moments in this movie for several of the character couples. I enjoy that the first times we see the main characters they are more like passing ships. I mean they even bump into each other on the sidewalk and apologize and continue on their way with no lasting memory of each other. It is very fitting with the movie and these particular characters.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There are two life-size Nutcrackers that flank the doors to Jessica's apartment building that you see glimpses of a few times over the course of the movie.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Warning, there is a bunch of sweet knits in this movie. The costume designer for the movie is Valerie Halverson and I just want to praise her for the use of seasonally stunning sweaters and accessories. This is someone with a vision and a love of knits. Come to find out she's also a Hallmark veteran when I checked out her filmography. Let's talk sweaters... Fair isle yoke sweaters are very on trend this year and we have two great ones to pick from here. Jessica is seen wearing a navy blue yoke sweater with a Norwegian star (selburose) band and an allover lice pattern in white in Strings & Notes about 3 minutes into the movie. Much later we see a white yoke sweater with a Norwegian star band and fair isle around the hem and cuffs in red on one of the girls at the group home. Jessica also dons a green cabled sweater in Strings & Notes about 28 minutes into the movie. The last item that I want to highlight in this movie is neither knitted or a costume... it's a crocheted afghan on the back of Aunt Lila's couch that can be seen when she calls Jessica to thank her for the card. I am not the only one that was enamored with the costume styling as I found a posting on where to buy the items or copy the looks. They chose some different pieces to highlight but you can see just how much knitwear was included.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So this movie feels to me like it is a relative to the format used in Love Actually or Valentine's Day. All of the films have an ensemble cast and disparate storylines with some character connections. However, they take it a step further in this movie by making Jessica be the character connection with everyone. I visualize this story as a hub and spoke model, anyone else seeing a wire snowflake form in their mind? I think that this works quite well to keep the story more contained and keep Jessica and her storyline at the heart of the movie. I won't deny that this type of story is by nature a bit disjointed and short on character development. I admit that the first 5-10 minutes of the movie are incredibly confusing because you are seeing snippets of scenes with people you aren't introduced to until later in the movie. But I think that a second watching might give the viewer an opportunity to get more from the quick initial snippets we see and the course of the various storylines. Yeah for "legitimate" excuses to rewatch! We have another appearance of an adopted child. In this case, he's a grown adult but it is still a departure from the norm and the writers work adoption and giving back to community into the plot seemlessly. Did I also mention there is a military component to the story too? They really hit all the points with this one. I didn't play Hallmark bingo while watching this one but I should just to see how many boxes on the page can get filled in...
Fear not, this movie is not without it's faults. Let's start with the elephant in my mind... It is 13 days before Christmas and she mails cards to recipients who not only receive the cards but the cards are able to create impactful situations for the recipients. I mean in my world it seems like the mail is extra slow around the holidays and it can take a week or more for mail to make it to it's destination no matter how close. Also, how does Jessica get the home address for former teen boyband member Jax? I know that his brother is his manager, but I doubt that their address is public record regardless of his current status as a has been. Good news for anyone missing it in the last few movies... bring on the Christmas Eve events with this one. In this case, there is even the option to attend multiple Christmas Eve happenings (you go Luke). Primo is hosting a Christmas Eve party at his restaurant. I guess that there are people with nothing to do on Christmas Eve so I guess a party is not that weird but seems like it should be postponed a week for New Year's. The other event is a pop-up reunion concert for Jax and his bandmates. This helps bring the plot back together towards a neatly tied bow but it seems a bit of a stretch that everyone is free for Christmas Eve and to pull off the plan in less than 2 weeks.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Torrey DeVitto was previously seen in Best Christmas Party Ever (2014) with Steve Lund. She seems to be pretty busy with her day job on TV, currently Chicago Med, but maybe she'll have time to co-star in the sequel I'm envisioning for next year. Chad Michael Murray previously starred in Road to Christmas (2018) with Jesse Schram.
Did you enjoy this movie or was it too much (too many storylines) and too little (too little character growth) for you?
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Christmas Under the Stars - Premiere #12
Christmas Under the Stars premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 16th and stars Autumn Reeser (Julie) and Jesse Metcalfe (Nick).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Julie is a single mom and 7th grade science teacher in Chicago. This is the first Chrismas for her and her son after her father's passing. She is still working through the grief process which is made more difficult as she is still trying to deal with and resolve his medical bills. Nick is an investment banker who is the son of a prominent businessman. Unfortunately, he gets fired from his firm due to making a bad investment decision for a big and important client. These two people from disparate backgrounds find their paths repeatedly crossing at a local Christmas tree lot run by Clem. Tag line for this movie is that "Everything works out at Christmas, just need hope."
Meet Cute Moment: Their first interaction is truly just passing each other at Clem's tree lot. The following day, Julie and Matt (her son) come back to the tree lot and Julie and Nick, hired by Clem to be the "muscle", officially meet. Clem seems to have a bit of matchmaker in him and at the end of the day he sends Nick to deliver a tree to an address belonging to Julie to the surprise of them both.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There is a life-size Nutcracker at Clem's tree lot that can be seen while Clem is being interviewed by the reporter toward the beginning of the movie and also towards the end of the movie while Nick is on the phone.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Let's start by saying that these characters for the most part seem like real people with relatively normal lives. Yes, Nick is a "rich" guy with all the trappings of that life but it fits since he was an investment banker and from a well off family... but his character is not used to represent Scrooge or an overly pompous rude rich guy. He is played just like a relatively normal kind of guy. This is refreshing to see in a Hallmark movie. I also really like that Julie is the one that asks Nick for a dinner date. Another thing that I found refreshing was that Julie's son, Matt, is her adopted son. They seem to be really pushing away from some of the typical Hallmark stereotypes with their characterizations in this movie. I understand that there needs to be a conflict for the story arc to work but I appreciate the fact that there are no exes that show up. The conflict is the result of Julie's own sensitivity regarding her current financial situation and the fact that she is open and honest with Nick about it provides the opportunity for Nick to reflect on his past and the person he wants to be. The conflict also doesn't create a real impasse between them. I know that there are some questions and issues left unexplained surrounding how her dad's medical bills would impact Julie financially. In my mind, I kind of think of it less that it creates trouble for Julie's financial position but more likely creates issues regarding his estate (and any inheritance) for which she is probably the executor. There is also a touching scene between Nick and his dad that stays on the right side of being too sentimental and sappy. You know that these characters are all "good" people because they spend their Christmas Eve with family and friends and giving "gifts" to each other. Fear not, this movie ends with a kiss, as all good Hallmark movies should. Although they really should invest in better green screen editing because the background for the kiss and finale really does look like a painted backdrop instead of a realistic cityscape. I bet they paid a lot of money for the poor effect. They could have just used an interior set for the background and had a better and cheaper result.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Autumn and Jesse are not new to Hallmark or to working with each other. They previously starred together in A Country Wedding (2015). Autumn also appeared in Valentine Ever After (2016) with Eric Johnson. Jesse also appears in the Hallmark series Chesapeake Shores (2016-ongoing) with Meghan Ory.
I really liked the feeling that I was watching seemingly real people trying to manuever through their lives without it feeling overly contrived. Let me know how you felt.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Julie is a single mom and 7th grade science teacher in Chicago. This is the first Chrismas for her and her son after her father's passing. She is still working through the grief process which is made more difficult as she is still trying to deal with and resolve his medical bills. Nick is an investment banker who is the son of a prominent businessman. Unfortunately, he gets fired from his firm due to making a bad investment decision for a big and important client. These two people from disparate backgrounds find their paths repeatedly crossing at a local Christmas tree lot run by Clem. Tag line for this movie is that "Everything works out at Christmas, just need hope."
Meet Cute Moment: Their first interaction is truly just passing each other at Clem's tree lot. The following day, Julie and Matt (her son) come back to the tree lot and Julie and Nick, hired by Clem to be the "muscle", officially meet. Clem seems to have a bit of matchmaker in him and at the end of the day he sends Nick to deliver a tree to an address belonging to Julie to the surprise of them both.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There is a life-size Nutcracker at Clem's tree lot that can be seen while Clem is being interviewed by the reporter toward the beginning of the movie and also towards the end of the movie while Nick is on the phone.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Let's start by saying that these characters for the most part seem like real people with relatively normal lives. Yes, Nick is a "rich" guy with all the trappings of that life but it fits since he was an investment banker and from a well off family... but his character is not used to represent Scrooge or an overly pompous rude rich guy. He is played just like a relatively normal kind of guy. This is refreshing to see in a Hallmark movie. I also really like that Julie is the one that asks Nick for a dinner date. Another thing that I found refreshing was that Julie's son, Matt, is her adopted son. They seem to be really pushing away from some of the typical Hallmark stereotypes with their characterizations in this movie. I understand that there needs to be a conflict for the story arc to work but I appreciate the fact that there are no exes that show up. The conflict is the result of Julie's own sensitivity regarding her current financial situation and the fact that she is open and honest with Nick about it provides the opportunity for Nick to reflect on his past and the person he wants to be. The conflict also doesn't create a real impasse between them. I know that there are some questions and issues left unexplained surrounding how her dad's medical bills would impact Julie financially. In my mind, I kind of think of it less that it creates trouble for Julie's financial position but more likely creates issues regarding his estate (and any inheritance) for which she is probably the executor. There is also a touching scene between Nick and his dad that stays on the right side of being too sentimental and sappy. You know that these characters are all "good" people because they spend their Christmas Eve with family and friends and giving "gifts" to each other. Fear not, this movie ends with a kiss, as all good Hallmark movies should. Although they really should invest in better green screen editing because the background for the kiss and finale really does look like a painted backdrop instead of a realistic cityscape. I bet they paid a lot of money for the poor effect. They could have just used an interior set for the background and had a better and cheaper result.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Autumn and Jesse are not new to Hallmark or to working with each other. They previously starred together in A Country Wedding (2015). Autumn also appeared in Valentine Ever After (2016) with Eric Johnson. Jesse also appears in the Hallmark series Chesapeake Shores (2016-ongoing) with Meghan Ory.
I really liked the feeling that I was watching seemingly real people trying to manuever through their lives without it feeling overly contrived. Let me know how you felt.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Hallmark Fails?
This post is a break from our recent movie review fare to call out the cable division of Hallmark. So with it being the 10th anniversary of Countdown to Christmas, the company decided that they should overload the schedule with 40 premieres. They have been advertising the schedule for over a month with sneak peeks and commercials indicating the "official schedule" being premieres on Thursday and Friday on Movies and Mysteries and premieres on Saturday and Sunday (plus an all week Thanksgiving premiere-athon) on Hallmark Channel. This all made sense to me so that diehard fans (or those with a crazy goal and can do attitude) can see all of the premieres over the season. Well apparently something must have happened because Hallmark has changed their schedule for the rest of the season beginning with this weeks Friday premiere of Godwink Christmas 2 (you get the idea here). There was some back and forth with fans on their Facebook page where they confirmed the change in their comment responses. I imagine there was also some grumblings on Twitter and other social media sites as well. So there are now multiple premieres on Saturdays and Sundays onboth networks with conflicting times at 8pm and 9pm. Anyone trying to watch the movies live (I don't fall into this camp) will need to give up on that dream. The spread out of the premieres made it easier for me to both watch and post my reviews regularly and not get completely Christmas-ed out. I wonder if they have been seeing low ratings for the M&M premieres and hope that this move will yield better results.
Based on the movies I've seen so far this year, I'd recommend they focus on quality instead of quantity and I'm sure that limiting the number of premieres would result in improved ratings/viewership. I am sure that they have their own plans which seem to lean towards quantity forsaking all else. I know that they have Christmas movies 24-7 and only show their own movies but it would be nice to show more of their older films and maybe repeat some of the older ones more often. They could even pay for some older "independent" (ie not developed by a specific network) Christmas content that hasn't been on TV for years or has limited appearances. One example would be The Nutcracker, I mean the ballet not a movie about the ballet. Ovation TV used to do the Battle of the Nutcrackers but they don't show them anymore and many of the options would probably be available for a reasonable price to televise. Another example could be something like the fabulous (my opinion but it did also get two award nominations) TV movie The Christmas List (1997) with Mimi Rodgers that originally appeared on the long gone Family Channel. They could always have a throwback classic Christmas movie thrown in there for good measure, I'm thinking along the lines of Shop Around the Corner (1940) or both versions of Christmas in Connecticut (1945 and 1992). It's not their usual fare but they may attract others beyond their typical audience with some different offerings. I know there is a lot of additional Christmas content out there that is just wasting away with the increased focus on new content and lots of it.
All of this to say that I am going to continue in my attempt to see all 40 premieres this year but it's going to be a bit harder to fit it in with my life and be timely. There are only maybe 10-12 that my spouse is interested in watching so I try to fit my movie watching in when we aren't spending time together. In the end, I probably will be posting my "reviews" about 2 to 4 days after airing date.
Feel free to share your thoughts about Hallmark making such a huge schedule change after their very public and highly promoted schedule announcements. Also, feel free to comment on the thought of adding some different Christmas content and what you'd recommend.
Based on the movies I've seen so far this year, I'd recommend they focus on quality instead of quantity and I'm sure that limiting the number of premieres would result in improved ratings/viewership. I am sure that they have their own plans which seem to lean towards quantity forsaking all else. I know that they have Christmas movies 24-7 and only show their own movies but it would be nice to show more of their older films and maybe repeat some of the older ones more often. They could even pay for some older "independent" (ie not developed by a specific network) Christmas content that hasn't been on TV for years or has limited appearances. One example would be The Nutcracker, I mean the ballet not a movie about the ballet. Ovation TV used to do the Battle of the Nutcrackers but they don't show them anymore and many of the options would probably be available for a reasonable price to televise. Another example could be something like the fabulous (my opinion but it did also get two award nominations) TV movie The Christmas List (1997) with Mimi Rodgers that originally appeared on the long gone Family Channel. They could always have a throwback classic Christmas movie thrown in there for good measure, I'm thinking along the lines of Shop Around the Corner (1940) or both versions of Christmas in Connecticut (1945 and 1992). It's not their usual fare but they may attract others beyond their typical audience with some different offerings. I know there is a lot of additional Christmas content out there that is just wasting away with the increased focus on new content and lots of it.
All of this to say that I am going to continue in my attempt to see all 40 premieres this year but it's going to be a bit harder to fit it in with my life and be timely. There are only maybe 10-12 that my spouse is interested in watching so I try to fit my movie watching in when we aren't spending time together. In the end, I probably will be posting my "reviews" about 2 to 4 days after airing date.
Feel free to share your thoughts about Hallmark making such a huge schedule change after their very public and highly promoted schedule announcements. Also, feel free to comment on the thought of adding some different Christmas content and what you'd recommend.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
A Christmas Miracle - Premiere #11
A Christmas Miracle premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 14th and stars Tamera Mowry-Housley (Emma) and Brooks Darnell (Marcus). Barry Bostwick appears in a supporting role as Santa Dean.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄 A little insight here, my husband said that if I finish watching the movie then it deserves at least one star. I do have to say that I stopped the movie with about 17 minutes remaining to grab some dinner (and catch Disney +) so you can say that I really wasn't drawn into the story.
General Movie Details: Emma is a divorcee and single mom who just moved to Denver from Savannah for a new job as the Executive Assistant to the editor of a magazine (Daily Lifestyle Magazine). She has a background in journalism and pitches a story for the big Christmas issue for Real Life Christmas Miracles. Needless to say her boss steals her idea and she and her photographer colleague, Marcus, search for their own Christmas Miracle story to turn the tables on Valerie (the editor) and expose her.
Meet Cute Moment: Emma decided that 1 week after starting a new job that she should give everyone in the office mini Christmas trees that light up for their desks. So she tried to give one to Marcus but he didn't want one and they had a bit of a tete-a-tete before one of his friends came in and Emma gave the tree to him.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There was a Nutcracker sighting outside the theater where Sissy is performing.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So my favorite moment was when Marcus commented on the reindeer cookies and said, "I think these are going to sleigh (slay)." There you go that is the best there was to be had. I had a major issue with the timing in this movie. The characters work at a magazine which I am not sure about the actual issue frequency as it doesn't appear to be daily despite the name so maybe it's weekly. Either way, at the start of the movie there are already decorations everywhere you look which to me signals that we are at least at Thanksgiving time. Don't get me started on the fact that her son is already on holiday break until the new year which must mean that they are on a year-round calendar (PS Denver Public Schools are not, I looked). So if the Christmas issue of the magazine is so important, why wouldn't they have started planning and pitching story ideas for the features and the cover story for THIS year's issue before the post-Thanksgiving timeframe? Do they work with a printer with the capability to instantaneously print and deliver the magazine? I mean I know that monthly magazine's are usually working at least 3-6 months in advance of the publication date so they are usually thinking snow and Christmas during summer and fall so this must published more frequently but REALLY?!? Either way, I did find the timing of everything to be a distraction from the start. I mean Valerie (evil editor) says Merry Christmas to Emma and Marcus in the lobby right after meeting going over the Christmas issue layout. And yet based on a passing remark at the Christmas Eve jazz concert in the park (yep, they went there too) to reunite Santa Dean with his daughter, the Christmas issue was released a week before Christmas Eve. Now let's move on to the fact that Emma's new boss stole her idea and passed it off as her own and we see about 1 minute devoted to that confrontation/resolution but it is Christmas so everything works out in the end and everyone is forgiven and believed to have more integrity then they themselves feel they have and display. Finally, the snippet of the Christmas Eve concert where daughter and father are reunited sounded terrible. I mean the musical soundtrack, if they are really supposed to be professional musicians it really should have sounded better. There you have it... There was very little character development or backstory provided for the main characters. I really had no vested interest in whether or not Santa Dean's reunion happened. I don't think that I would classify a wish for a family reunion and a musical group reunion for a Christmas concert to be a "Real Live Christmas Miracle", but that might just be me.
Hallmark Movie Connection: It appears that this is the first Hallmark movie for both Tamera Mowry-Housley and Brooks Darell. Tamera was well know for starring in a sitcom with her twin sister Tia in the 90's and Brooks appears to be a regular cast member on The Young and the Restless.
I hope that if you watched this movie, you enjoyed it more than me because the only miracle for me was finishing it.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄 A little insight here, my husband said that if I finish watching the movie then it deserves at least one star. I do have to say that I stopped the movie with about 17 minutes remaining to grab some dinner (and catch Disney +) so you can say that I really wasn't drawn into the story.
General Movie Details: Emma is a divorcee and single mom who just moved to Denver from Savannah for a new job as the Executive Assistant to the editor of a magazine (Daily Lifestyle Magazine). She has a background in journalism and pitches a story for the big Christmas issue for Real Life Christmas Miracles. Needless to say her boss steals her idea and she and her photographer colleague, Marcus, search for their own Christmas Miracle story to turn the tables on Valerie (the editor) and expose her.
Meet Cute Moment: Emma decided that 1 week after starting a new job that she should give everyone in the office mini Christmas trees that light up for their desks. So she tried to give one to Marcus but he didn't want one and they had a bit of a tete-a-tete before one of his friends came in and Emma gave the tree to him.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There was a Nutcracker sighting outside the theater where Sissy is performing.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So my favorite moment was when Marcus commented on the reindeer cookies and said, "I think these are going to sleigh (slay)." There you go that is the best there was to be had. I had a major issue with the timing in this movie. The characters work at a magazine which I am not sure about the actual issue frequency as it doesn't appear to be daily despite the name so maybe it's weekly. Either way, at the start of the movie there are already decorations everywhere you look which to me signals that we are at least at Thanksgiving time. Don't get me started on the fact that her son is already on holiday break until the new year which must mean that they are on a year-round calendar (PS Denver Public Schools are not, I looked). So if the Christmas issue of the magazine is so important, why wouldn't they have started planning and pitching story ideas for the features and the cover story for THIS year's issue before the post-Thanksgiving timeframe? Do they work with a printer with the capability to instantaneously print and deliver the magazine? I mean I know that monthly magazine's are usually working at least 3-6 months in advance of the publication date so they are usually thinking snow and Christmas during summer and fall so this must published more frequently but REALLY?!? Either way, I did find the timing of everything to be a distraction from the start. I mean Valerie (evil editor) says Merry Christmas to Emma and Marcus in the lobby right after meeting going over the Christmas issue layout. And yet based on a passing remark at the Christmas Eve jazz concert in the park (yep, they went there too) to reunite Santa Dean with his daughter, the Christmas issue was released a week before Christmas Eve. Now let's move on to the fact that Emma's new boss stole her idea and passed it off as her own and we see about 1 minute devoted to that confrontation/resolution but it is Christmas so everything works out in the end and everyone is forgiven and believed to have more integrity then they themselves feel they have and display. Finally, the snippet of the Christmas Eve concert where daughter and father are reunited sounded terrible. I mean the musical soundtrack, if they are really supposed to be professional musicians it really should have sounded better. There you have it... There was very little character development or backstory provided for the main characters. I really had no vested interest in whether or not Santa Dean's reunion happened. I don't think that I would classify a wish for a family reunion and a musical group reunion for a Christmas concert to be a "Real Live Christmas Miracle", but that might just be me.
Hallmark Movie Connection: It appears that this is the first Hallmark movie for both Tamera Mowry-Housley and Brooks Darell. Tamera was well know for starring in a sitcom with her twin sister Tia in the 90's and Brooks appears to be a regular cast member on The Young and the Restless.
I hope that if you watched this movie, you enjoyed it more than me because the only miracle for me was finishing it.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
The Mistletoe Secret - Premiere #10
The Mistletoe Secret premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 10th and stars Kellie Pickler (Aria) and Tyler Hynes (Alex). Supporting cast includes Patrick Duffy as Aria's dad and Christopher Russell as Sterling Masters.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Aria is the owner of the Mistletoe Diner in Midway, Utah and also the chairperson of the local Christmas council. This year's holiday season is an important one in Midway because the local businesses have been losing business to the new fancy ski resort that opened nearby. Aria has nominated their town to be featured as the holiday adventure locale to be featured on the website of Sterling Masters, host of the travel show Masters of Travel. What she doesn't know is that Sterling Masters has a ghost writer (his best friend Alex who is also a novelist) who handles the website for him. Alex is less than thrilled to be spending 3 weeks in a small town for the holiday because they are all the same. Alex is pleasantly surprised and finds keeping his cover story straight is pretty easy until THE Sterling Masters arrives in town and tries to steal the spotlight and the girl.
Meet Cute Moment: Alex enters the closed diner and follows Aria's singing and catches her off guard while she is hanging ornaments in the banquet room. He luckily catches the glass mistletoe ornament (it's a thing that will come up again) and prevents it from shattering. Unfortunately, he then accidentally blows a fuse while trying to "help" with the lights. Aria takes pity on him and hooks him up with some coffee and pie. She gives him the scoop on the town while he kind of talks down about small towns at Christmas but he really does like her pie.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Alex is sporting a cozy blue cabled sweater with a shawl collar at the very end of the movie. I think that I might have to do some pattern searching because I think that sweater would be a great project and a warm sweater to have for this cold winter.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There is a giant Nutcracker that can be seen in the background during the snowman building scavenger hunt.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I love the idea of the town's Christmas passport that you can get stamped at each event you attend - breakfast with Santa, tree lighting, yule log, snowman scavenger hunt and so many more. I appreciate that they allude to Aria being a transplant from North Carolina because her accent does stand out and is a bit off compared to the other characters. In general, while I like the premise I feel it fell flat. I didn't really feel like there was real chemistry or a connection between the main characters. They seemed friendly but nothing really special. I also know that you aren't really supposed to "like" Sterling Masters but since he's Alex's best friend I kind of expected him to be less superficial and more likable. He redeems himself in the end but he still doesn't improve on the likability meter. Sterling also seems very stupid and/or clueless about maintaining both of their cover stories. While I know that the movie plot has to plant the seeds to uncovering the deception for the other characters, this seemed too contrived and abundantly obvious. The magical view in the background landscape really looks like a painted set piece and the shooting star was an almost comical lighting effect. Just saying that should have spent a few more $$ on getting this look more realistic.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Kellie Pickler was previously in the Graceland series (Christmas (2018) and Wedding at Graceland (2019)) with Wes Brown. She is primarily a singer but this movie is her third movie with Hallmark. Tyler Hynes was in It's Christmas, Eve (2018) with LeAnn Rimes, another singer who dips her toe in the acting pool.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the movie and whether it lived up to your expectations.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Aria is the owner of the Mistletoe Diner in Midway, Utah and also the chairperson of the local Christmas council. This year's holiday season is an important one in Midway because the local businesses have been losing business to the new fancy ski resort that opened nearby. Aria has nominated their town to be featured as the holiday adventure locale to be featured on the website of Sterling Masters, host of the travel show Masters of Travel. What she doesn't know is that Sterling Masters has a ghost writer (his best friend Alex who is also a novelist) who handles the website for him. Alex is less than thrilled to be spending 3 weeks in a small town for the holiday because they are all the same. Alex is pleasantly surprised and finds keeping his cover story straight is pretty easy until THE Sterling Masters arrives in town and tries to steal the spotlight and the girl.
Meet Cute Moment: Alex enters the closed diner and follows Aria's singing and catches her off guard while she is hanging ornaments in the banquet room. He luckily catches the glass mistletoe ornament (it's a thing that will come up again) and prevents it from shattering. Unfortunately, he then accidentally blows a fuse while trying to "help" with the lights. Aria takes pity on him and hooks him up with some coffee and pie. She gives him the scoop on the town while he kind of talks down about small towns at Christmas but he really does like her pie.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Alex is sporting a cozy blue cabled sweater with a shawl collar at the very end of the movie. I think that I might have to do some pattern searching because I think that sweater would be a great project and a warm sweater to have for this cold winter.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There is a giant Nutcracker that can be seen in the background during the snowman building scavenger hunt.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I love the idea of the town's Christmas passport that you can get stamped at each event you attend - breakfast with Santa, tree lighting, yule log, snowman scavenger hunt and so many more. I appreciate that they allude to Aria being a transplant from North Carolina because her accent does stand out and is a bit off compared to the other characters. In general, while I like the premise I feel it fell flat. I didn't really feel like there was real chemistry or a connection between the main characters. They seemed friendly but nothing really special. I also know that you aren't really supposed to "like" Sterling Masters but since he's Alex's best friend I kind of expected him to be less superficial and more likable. He redeems himself in the end but he still doesn't improve on the likability meter. Sterling also seems very stupid and/or clueless about maintaining both of their cover stories. While I know that the movie plot has to plant the seeds to uncovering the deception for the other characters, this seemed too contrived and abundantly obvious. The magical view in the background landscape really looks like a painted set piece and the shooting star was an almost comical lighting effect. Just saying that should have spent a few more $$ on getting this look more realistic.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Kellie Pickler was previously in the Graceland series (Christmas (2018) and Wedding at Graceland (2019)) with Wes Brown. She is primarily a singer but this movie is her third movie with Hallmark. Tyler Hynes was in It's Christmas, Eve (2018) with LeAnn Rimes, another singer who dips her toe in the acting pool.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the movie and whether it lived up to your expectations.
Picture A Perfect Christmas - Premiere #9
Picture A Perfect Christmas premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 9th and stars Merritt Patterson (Sophie) and John Cor (David).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Sophie, a workaholic photographer living in San Francisco realizes she has some time off over the holidays. The timing is perfect because her grandmother (Mrs. Griffith) is recovering from a fractured foot and could use the help. So Sophie heads to Bainbridge Island in Washington to enjoy the holiday with family. It just so happens that David, Mrs. Griffith's neighbor, could use some help minding his nephew, Troy, over the holiday break. Sophie and Mrs. Griffith volunteer to be co-nannies to Troy to help David out. The message the viewer is left with is that genuine kindness never needs to be repaid.
Meet Cute Moment: After Sophie arrives at her grandmother's, Mrs. Griffith sees an opportunity to do a bit of matchmaking and sends Sophie over to David's to return the hat that Troy left at her house. David thinks that she's the nanny candidate he's waiting for that the agency sent over for an interview. He proceeds to interview her for the position and she starts wondering about this new neighbor but then the truth comes out about who she is and he's left feeling quite embarrassed.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Troy wears a fabulous gray knit hat with a white fairisle band and braided ties. He wears it several times during the movie.
Giant Nutcracker Alert: There are several giant Nutcracker sightings in this movie. The most untraditional is the golden gilded Nutcracker on Mrs. Griffith's porch. This is the first sighting that I can recall where the Nutcracker is not the traditional color scheme. Other more traditional sighting are in the toy store and near Santa's station at the tree lot.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: This movie feels like a Hallmark film of old to me. The story is pretty good and you learn enough about the characters that you connect with them. There is chemistry between the leads. The nephew is quite good and engaging. There are insignificant others and exes that enter into the picture and they help to push the story along and not detract from the plot. The grandmother's matchmaking and the heart-to-heart reflections and hopes that she shares with Sophie add to the the familial feeling of the movie. I love that part of the conclusion is not for anyone to throw away their career but to be encouraging of their career opportunities and to vow to figuring out how to work with them. So much more realistic than chucking it all after only a few weeks! There is a Christmas pageant in the movie and these Bainbridge Island folks are smart enough to host their's on the 23rd. The pageant includes doing a dramatized reading/play of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, which is near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker and Hudson Valley native. Finally, there is a great dog who literally steals the show!
Hallmark Movie Connection: Merritt Patterson was previously in A Royal Winter (2017) with Jack Donnelly. John Cor was previously in Love On Safari (2018) with Lacey Chabert.
I was afraid that Hallmark was substituting quantity for quality this year but this one measures up for me. Does this one make you feel all the Hallmark movie feels?
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Sophie, a workaholic photographer living in San Francisco realizes she has some time off over the holidays. The timing is perfect because her grandmother (Mrs. Griffith) is recovering from a fractured foot and could use the help. So Sophie heads to Bainbridge Island in Washington to enjoy the holiday with family. It just so happens that David, Mrs. Griffith's neighbor, could use some help minding his nephew, Troy, over the holiday break. Sophie and Mrs. Griffith volunteer to be co-nannies to Troy to help David out. The message the viewer is left with is that genuine kindness never needs to be repaid.
Meet Cute Moment: After Sophie arrives at her grandmother's, Mrs. Griffith sees an opportunity to do a bit of matchmaking and sends Sophie over to David's to return the hat that Troy left at her house. David thinks that she's the nanny candidate he's waiting for that the agency sent over for an interview. He proceeds to interview her for the position and she starts wondering about this new neighbor but then the truth comes out about who she is and he's left feeling quite embarrassed.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Troy wears a fabulous gray knit hat with a white fairisle band and braided ties. He wears it several times during the movie.
Giant Nutcracker Alert: There are several giant Nutcracker sightings in this movie. The most untraditional is the golden gilded Nutcracker on Mrs. Griffith's porch. This is the first sighting that I can recall where the Nutcracker is not the traditional color scheme. Other more traditional sighting are in the toy store and near Santa's station at the tree lot.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: This movie feels like a Hallmark film of old to me. The story is pretty good and you learn enough about the characters that you connect with them. There is chemistry between the leads. The nephew is quite good and engaging. There are insignificant others and exes that enter into the picture and they help to push the story along and not detract from the plot. The grandmother's matchmaking and the heart-to-heart reflections and hopes that she shares with Sophie add to the the familial feeling of the movie. I love that part of the conclusion is not for anyone to throw away their career but to be encouraging of their career opportunities and to vow to figuring out how to work with them. So much more realistic than chucking it all after only a few weeks! There is a Christmas pageant in the movie and these Bainbridge Island folks are smart enough to host their's on the 23rd. The pageant includes doing a dramatized reading/play of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, which is near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker and Hudson Valley native. Finally, there is a great dog who literally steals the show!
Hallmark Movie Connection: Merritt Patterson was previously in A Royal Winter (2017) with Jack Donnelly. John Cor was previously in Love On Safari (2018) with Lacey Chabert.
I was afraid that Hallmark was substituting quantity for quality this year but this one measures up for me. Does this one make you feel all the Hallmark movie feels?
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Holiday For Heroes - Premiere #8
Holiday For Heroes premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 8th and stars Melissa Claire Egan (Audrey) and Marc Blucas (Matt).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Matt is in the Army and stationed in Afghanistan and receives part of a holiday care package received by Devin, who is under his command. Matt begins a letter writing pen pal relationship with the package sender, Audrey, who is Devin's sister. After about of year of corresponding, Matt gets sent stateside for his final month of his contract which happens to correspond nicely with the lead up to Christmas and the New Year. He will be working and living in the same town as Audrey. He shares all of this with her in a letter which of course gets lost in the mail. So he unknowingly surprises her at the coffee shop she co-owns in the small town of Branford, Connecticut. He helps Audrey enjoy the holiday season even though her brother and the rest of the solders from the nearby base aren't able to make it home for the holidays. When things go awry, together they, along with a very supportive community, work to continue the tradition of celebrating the heroes at home and abroad with the Holiday for Heroes party. The nugget of wisdom I took away from the movie was provided by Jade (co-owner of the cafe), "You can't live in the what-ifs, live in the what-haves." Seems like a message that we can all take to heart and embrace no matter what the season or what the reason.
Meet Cute Moment: There is something to be said for the awkwardness of finally meeting someone you know so completely. Now add to that the element of surprise when the person who should be half way around the world is in your coffee shop asking for a latte. While not really a traditional meet cute moment, I think that it still qualifies and actually seems pretty relatable to many of us.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Carlos is wearing a red Christmas sweater that has a fair isle pattern with reindeer on his chest in the scene in his restaurant. Festive knitwear is always a winning combination. No ugly sweater here.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: My husband remarked that the main cast and the extras looked like real people, not just a bunch of super pretty faces. I also noticed that there was actually some diversity in the cast which only added to the more realistic feel of the community. Kudos to Hallmark, keep doing it and push to do it with more of your movies! Let's start by saying, I am loving this town. I mean they seriously know how to do up the holidays right - tree lighting, smores making, caroling, carriage rides, eggnog competition and ending with a party. Even better, they know how to spread out the festivities over a few weeks. You're never really told when the Holiday for Heroes party was scheduled but I feel like this community knows the value of family and this wouldn't have been happening on Christmas Eve. I mean they even have Santa at the party giving out donated toys to the children of the soldiers and we all know how busy Santa would already be on Christmas Eve. There is a scene where the leads go ice skating in a completely decorated rink and this often where you have to question things because how and when did the lead make that happen. Well don't worry in this movie Matt comments about recruiting the hockey mom's (he's volunteering to help coach while in town) to do the decorating. Nice save by the goalie on that one. Hallmark has done a number of military-based plots in their movies and the setup of pen pals makes this feel non- creepy as compared to some of their prior plots (I'm glaring at you, The Christmas Card. Just because you got an invitation to visit doesn't mean being basically a stalker is any less creepy!). I like that you see Matt working through his feelings for Audrey and also trying to see where he belongs. There are some scenes with his friend and former Army colleague, Tom, where you get to see him working through his decisions so the ending isn't out of the blue or rash. There are a few extra surprises in the last few minutes and the movie ends with a kiss. Seems pretty perfectly Hallmark.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Melissa Claire Egan is making her Hallmark premiere in this movie but has been working in television for years, including 7 years on The Young and the Restless. I hope that she continues to find time for these projects because she seemed to have great chemistry with her co-star and brought a realism to her performance. Marc Blucas was previously in Operation Christmas (2016) with Tricia Helfer, in which he is also playing a military role. Marc seems to get type cast a bit in military type roles but he's also appeared in a few other Hallmark movies and looks completely at home in those too.
I wonder if Hallmark knew that there were some "lesser" films on their roster and front-loaded the schedule with some of the B team movies. I guess only time will tell and I know that the quality is very subjective but my fingers are crossed.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Matt is in the Army and stationed in Afghanistan and receives part of a holiday care package received by Devin, who is under his command. Matt begins a letter writing pen pal relationship with the package sender, Audrey, who is Devin's sister. After about of year of corresponding, Matt gets sent stateside for his final month of his contract which happens to correspond nicely with the lead up to Christmas and the New Year. He will be working and living in the same town as Audrey. He shares all of this with her in a letter which of course gets lost in the mail. So he unknowingly surprises her at the coffee shop she co-owns in the small town of Branford, Connecticut. He helps Audrey enjoy the holiday season even though her brother and the rest of the solders from the nearby base aren't able to make it home for the holidays. When things go awry, together they, along with a very supportive community, work to continue the tradition of celebrating the heroes at home and abroad with the Holiday for Heroes party. The nugget of wisdom I took away from the movie was provided by Jade (co-owner of the cafe), "You can't live in the what-ifs, live in the what-haves." Seems like a message that we can all take to heart and embrace no matter what the season or what the reason.
Meet Cute Moment: There is something to be said for the awkwardness of finally meeting someone you know so completely. Now add to that the element of surprise when the person who should be half way around the world is in your coffee shop asking for a latte. While not really a traditional meet cute moment, I think that it still qualifies and actually seems pretty relatable to many of us.
Notable Knitwear Alert: Carlos is wearing a red Christmas sweater that has a fair isle pattern with reindeer on his chest in the scene in his restaurant. Festive knitwear is always a winning combination. No ugly sweater here.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: My husband remarked that the main cast and the extras looked like real people, not just a bunch of super pretty faces. I also noticed that there was actually some diversity in the cast which only added to the more realistic feel of the community. Kudos to Hallmark, keep doing it and push to do it with more of your movies! Let's start by saying, I am loving this town. I mean they seriously know how to do up the holidays right - tree lighting, smores making, caroling, carriage rides, eggnog competition and ending with a party. Even better, they know how to spread out the festivities over a few weeks. You're never really told when the Holiday for Heroes party was scheduled but I feel like this community knows the value of family and this wouldn't have been happening on Christmas Eve. I mean they even have Santa at the party giving out donated toys to the children of the soldiers and we all know how busy Santa would already be on Christmas Eve. There is a scene where the leads go ice skating in a completely decorated rink and this often where you have to question things because how and when did the lead make that happen. Well don't worry in this movie Matt comments about recruiting the hockey mom's (he's volunteering to help coach while in town) to do the decorating. Nice save by the goalie on that one. Hallmark has done a number of military-based plots in their movies and the setup of pen pals makes this feel non- creepy as compared to some of their prior plots (I'm glaring at you, The Christmas Card. Just because you got an invitation to visit doesn't mean being basically a stalker is any less creepy!). I like that you see Matt working through his feelings for Audrey and also trying to see where he belongs. There are some scenes with his friend and former Army colleague, Tom, where you get to see him working through his decisions so the ending isn't out of the blue or rash. There are a few extra surprises in the last few minutes and the movie ends with a kiss. Seems pretty perfectly Hallmark.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Melissa Claire Egan is making her Hallmark premiere in this movie but has been working in television for years, including 7 years on The Young and the Restless. I hope that she continues to find time for these projects because she seemed to have great chemistry with her co-star and brought a realism to her performance. Marc Blucas was previously in Operation Christmas (2016) with Tricia Helfer, in which he is also playing a military role. Marc seems to get type cast a bit in military type roles but he's also appeared in a few other Hallmark movies and looks completely at home in those too.
I wonder if Hallmark knew that there were some "lesser" films on their roster and front-loaded the schedule with some of the B team movies. I guess only time will tell and I know that the quality is very subjective but my fingers are crossed.
Monday, November 11, 2019
A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas - Premiere #7
A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas premiered on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 7th and stars Rachael Leigh Cook (Willow) and Benjamin Ayres (David).
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Willow is returning to her hometown from NYC to help her sister finalize plans for her wedding in a month (2 days before Christmas). Turns out that the venue for the wedding needs to change and Willow knows the perfect place to host the wedding, the inn her family used to own. Now she just needs to convince the current owner, David, who is trying to sell the inn to let her transform the Eagle Ridge Inn back to the magical Christmas place she remembers in time for the wedding.
Meet Cute Moment: They meet in the barn at the inn. It turns out that David is the best friend (and best man) to the fiance of Willow's sister Juni. Unfortunately there really was nothing cute about this meeting.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There were two giant Nutcrackers outside the coffee shop in town which we see several times in passing. The coffee shop gets several mentions throughout the movie but we never really get to see the shop but if the giant Nutcrackers are any indication the Christmas force is strong with them. The diner that Willow's mom owns will need to keep up the Christmas spirit to continue to compete. The diner does have Christmas games so that is something but it seems like this Christmas decorating competitiveness is one-sided and the plot line is minimally developed. Another fun spotting is the life-size statue of a king in one of the shop windows they pass by several times while walking in town. I am calling him Henry VIII but I know that's not correct. Either way, he does stand out and looks a bit out of place.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Sorry about this but there is going to be a lot. The title is A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas... This is a complete misnomer, there is no indication that they are in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There isn't even one of the cute "Entering Town of XXX" signs, my spouse and I were looking. Maybe I also take issue because I've been in the Blue Ridge Mountain area and know the stunning landscapes that can be seen. There was not even a wide angle mountain shot. There was a wide angle driving on a snowing road shot in the beginning but the movie was devoid of mountainous vista shots or any winding roads as they travel along. There are a few scenes in town but you don't get a lot of the small town feels you get with other movies. There is no real sense of place. The movie would have been more aptly named Christmas (Wedding) at Eagle Ridge Inn because that's what the movie was really about. So in the beginning of the movie we see Willow in NY at what appears to be an office party and we learn that she might be transferred to another office and that the company she works for is in the hotel/hospitality business. She later says that she's an assistant manager in a hotel but then she puts together a proposal for her company to invest in the inn and that she would be on-site to run it. I'm confused because an assistant manager would not be in a position to put together a proposal for investors and have it taken seriously in the very short time frame she has. Willow what exactly is your job, do you even know? You appear to work in an office and not in the hotel so I am guessing that maybe you started as an assistant manager and have worked your way up. Finally, Willow tells David that her family will pay for everything they do to the inn to decorate for the wedding and Christmas. I am curious just how much they were willing to spend on the wedding because there are a lot of purchases, rentals and some cleanup and construction. I wonder if Willow even had a budget for the project that she was trying to follow. She rents a horse drawn carriage that is going to take her sister Juni down the drive for the wedding and it gives inn visitors rides for two weeks before the big day. Based on the enormity of her mom's house, she made a lot of money with the sale of the inn, her husband had a very large life insurance policy or her diner is the only restaurant in town. By the way, is it just Willow's mom and her sister Juni living in the huge contemporary colonial? Seems like a lot of extra space and a mismatch in style from the homeyness of the inn, her small town style dinner and the few images we see of the town.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Rachael Leigh Cook was previously in Hallmark's Vineyard series (Autumn, Summer and Valentine... In The Vineyard ) with Brendan Penny. Benjamin Ayres was previously in The Chronicle Mysteries series with Alison Sweeney.
Let me know if you felt any Christmas magic with this one because it left me cold.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Willow is returning to her hometown from NYC to help her sister finalize plans for her wedding in a month (2 days before Christmas). Turns out that the venue for the wedding needs to change and Willow knows the perfect place to host the wedding, the inn her family used to own. Now she just needs to convince the current owner, David, who is trying to sell the inn to let her transform the Eagle Ridge Inn back to the magical Christmas place she remembers in time for the wedding.
Meet Cute Moment: They meet in the barn at the inn. It turns out that David is the best friend (and best man) to the fiance of Willow's sister Juni. Unfortunately there really was nothing cute about this meeting.
Giant Nutcracker Sighting: There were two giant Nutcrackers outside the coffee shop in town which we see several times in passing. The coffee shop gets several mentions throughout the movie but we never really get to see the shop but if the giant Nutcrackers are any indication the Christmas force is strong with them. The diner that Willow's mom owns will need to keep up the Christmas spirit to continue to compete. The diner does have Christmas games so that is something but it seems like this Christmas decorating competitiveness is one-sided and the plot line is minimally developed. Another fun spotting is the life-size statue of a king in one of the shop windows they pass by several times while walking in town. I am calling him Henry VIII but I know that's not correct. Either way, he does stand out and looks a bit out of place.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: Sorry about this but there is going to be a lot. The title is A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas... This is a complete misnomer, there is no indication that they are in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There isn't even one of the cute "Entering Town of XXX" signs, my spouse and I were looking. Maybe I also take issue because I've been in the Blue Ridge Mountain area and know the stunning landscapes that can be seen. There was not even a wide angle mountain shot. There was a wide angle driving on a snowing road shot in the beginning but the movie was devoid of mountainous vista shots or any winding roads as they travel along. There are a few scenes in town but you don't get a lot of the small town feels you get with other movies. There is no real sense of place. The movie would have been more aptly named Christmas (Wedding) at Eagle Ridge Inn because that's what the movie was really about. So in the beginning of the movie we see Willow in NY at what appears to be an office party and we learn that she might be transferred to another office and that the company she works for is in the hotel/hospitality business. She later says that she's an assistant manager in a hotel but then she puts together a proposal for her company to invest in the inn and that she would be on-site to run it. I'm confused because an assistant manager would not be in a position to put together a proposal for investors and have it taken seriously in the very short time frame she has. Willow what exactly is your job, do you even know? You appear to work in an office and not in the hotel so I am guessing that maybe you started as an assistant manager and have worked your way up. Finally, Willow tells David that her family will pay for everything they do to the inn to decorate for the wedding and Christmas. I am curious just how much they were willing to spend on the wedding because there are a lot of purchases, rentals and some cleanup and construction. I wonder if Willow even had a budget for the project that she was trying to follow. She rents a horse drawn carriage that is going to take her sister Juni down the drive for the wedding and it gives inn visitors rides for two weeks before the big day. Based on the enormity of her mom's house, she made a lot of money with the sale of the inn, her husband had a very large life insurance policy or her diner is the only restaurant in town. By the way, is it just Willow's mom and her sister Juni living in the huge contemporary colonial? Seems like a lot of extra space and a mismatch in style from the homeyness of the inn, her small town style dinner and the few images we see of the town.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Rachael Leigh Cook was previously in Hallmark's Vineyard series (Autumn, Summer and Valentine... In The Vineyard ) with Brendan Penny. Benjamin Ayres was previously in The Chronicle Mysteries series with Alison Sweeney.
Let me know if you felt any Christmas magic with this one because it left me cold.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Christmas Scavenger Hunt - Premiere #6
Christmas Scavenger Hunt premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 3rd and stars Kim Shaw (Belinda) and Kevin McGarry (Dustin). Tom Arnold appears in a supporting role as Belinda's dad.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Belinda (aka Linda and Bel) is a big city career girl with a real estate development company. She is up for a promotion if she can secure a property in her hometown for a her client. She is going home for Christmas (and a wedding apparently) for the first time in years. Dustin is small town boy who never left home even when they were supposed to go to the big city together for college. As luck would have it, Dustin runs the textile mill museum that Belinda is tasked with purchasing. We find out that the mill is in need of restoration and financial backing which means it will need a Christmas miracle to avoid being sold. Thanks to Belinda's meddling dad, she is paired up with Dustin for the town's annual Christmas scavenger hunt.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I was completely prepared to fall head over heels for this movie and in a way I did... flat on my face. The script was terrible. I love the idea of scavenger hunt and Christmas themed is a bonus. However, there appears to be no rush to complete the 10 tasks and the winner is decided based on a karaoke competition at the party that evening. Even though Dustin is the reigning champ from the last few years, I don't see any level of hustle. I know that they supposed have until midnight but really why procrastinate. Besides since the hunt ends with karaoke and a party, I'd imagine the hunt really ends by 9pm or so. I am so disappointed at the unrealized potential here that could be enjoyed with some relatively easy and small tweaks to the story. Additionally, why is it that the Christmas miracle always comes through in the end. In this case it's all thanks to Belinda's giving nature during the hunt. I kind of would have liked it if the Christmas miracle were that they were able to come to a compromise with the future developer to save the mill building. I am guessing that the mill building would have been on the National Register of Historic Places or at least the state/town register and as such probably wouldn't have been able to be easily torn down anyway. Besides, this is a more believable outcome in my mind. Finally, I never really got the feeling that there was real chemistry between the main characters. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of familiarity but I didn't get the feeling of real passion. Belinda's breakup with her boyfriend and admission that Dustin was always the one within a few days seemed comical and entirely unrealistic to me.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Kim Shaw appears to be making her Hallmark debut with this film. She has appeared in a number of series and movies on TV but nothing that I've watched. I hope that her next Hallmark film has a better script and she has a better chemistry with her next co-star. Kevin McGarry was previously in Winter Love Story (2019) with Jen Lilley. He also is the "new" Mountie on When Calls the Heart (2019 - he gets a better offer?) with well everyone Hallmark! Interestingly in looking at their IMDB pages it appears that Kevin had a role in one episode of Kim Shaw's TV show, Saving Hope, in 2017.
You'll have to let me know if I'm being too harsh just because the movie didn't live up to my expectations based the potential I saw in the concept.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄
General Movie Details: Belinda (aka Linda and Bel) is a big city career girl with a real estate development company. She is up for a promotion if she can secure a property in her hometown for a her client. She is going home for Christmas (and a wedding apparently) for the first time in years. Dustin is small town boy who never left home even when they were supposed to go to the big city together for college. As luck would have it, Dustin runs the textile mill museum that Belinda is tasked with purchasing. We find out that the mill is in need of restoration and financial backing which means it will need a Christmas miracle to avoid being sold. Thanks to Belinda's meddling dad, she is paired up with Dustin for the town's annual Christmas scavenger hunt.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: I was completely prepared to fall head over heels for this movie and in a way I did... flat on my face. The script was terrible. I love the idea of scavenger hunt and Christmas themed is a bonus. However, there appears to be no rush to complete the 10 tasks and the winner is decided based on a karaoke competition at the party that evening. Even though Dustin is the reigning champ from the last few years, I don't see any level of hustle. I know that they supposed have until midnight but really why procrastinate. Besides since the hunt ends with karaoke and a party, I'd imagine the hunt really ends by 9pm or so. I am so disappointed at the unrealized potential here that could be enjoyed with some relatively easy and small tweaks to the story. Additionally, why is it that the Christmas miracle always comes through in the end. In this case it's all thanks to Belinda's giving nature during the hunt. I kind of would have liked it if the Christmas miracle were that they were able to come to a compromise with the future developer to save the mill building. I am guessing that the mill building would have been on the National Register of Historic Places or at least the state/town register and as such probably wouldn't have been able to be easily torn down anyway. Besides, this is a more believable outcome in my mind. Finally, I never really got the feeling that there was real chemistry between the main characters. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of familiarity but I didn't get the feeling of real passion. Belinda's breakup with her boyfriend and admission that Dustin was always the one within a few days seemed comical and entirely unrealistic to me.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Kim Shaw appears to be making her Hallmark debut with this film. She has appeared in a number of series and movies on TV but nothing that I've watched. I hope that her next Hallmark film has a better script and she has a better chemistry with her next co-star. Kevin McGarry was previously in Winter Love Story (2019) with Jen Lilley. He also is the "new" Mountie on When Calls the Heart (2019 - he gets a better offer?) with well everyone Hallmark! Interestingly in looking at their IMDB pages it appears that Kevin had a role in one episode of Kim Shaw's TV show, Saving Hope, in 2017.
You'll have to let me know if I'm being too harsh just because the movie didn't live up to my expectations based the potential I saw in the concept.
Monday, November 4, 2019
Merry & Bright - Premiere #5
Merry & Bright premiered on Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas on November 2nd and stars Jodie Sweetin (Cate) and Andrew Walker (Gabe). Sharon Lawrence appears in a supporting role as Cate's Mom.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄 + 1/2 tree... poor planning by me and hopefully I can figure out how to show a 1/2 tree but this is what I've got for now... It's early in the season and while I liked the movie, I don't think that it's a 4 star movie for me.
General Movie Details: The Board of Directors of the Merry & Bright Candy Cane Company have concerns for the future of the company and their new CEO (Cate) so they employ a corporate consultant (Gabe) to review and make recommendations for the future of the small candy maker. Initially, Gabe doesn't want to be there and Cate doesn't want him there either. However, over the course of working together (2 weeks... saving personal commentary for below) they realize they might not be as different as they thought and they can work together to make Merry & Bright successful again. The general theme is to hold on to who you are and your legacy but be willing to take a chance.
Meet Cute Moment: When Gabe recognizes Cate at the hotel and tries to introduce himself after arriving in town, she instantly assumes that he is the blind date her mom set her up on. She, of course, explains to him that she isn't going on a date with him only to realize who he really is and to be completely embarrassed.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So I loved the homage to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice when Cate overhears Gabe on the phone putting down the town, the company, the situation and Cate. I also loved that Gabe commented that with 2 weeks to Christmas that a candy cane company would be winding down. Yes, Gabe, in the real world you are absolutely correct but this serves as a reminder that time works differently in a Hallmark movie. Issue number one is with the makeup artist on the film because Jodie Sweetin's (and the actress playing her assistant to a lesser degree) fake eyelashes are just too long. I have no problem with enhancing the actresses natural lashes but this is just plain distracting. There are a few shots with her in partial profile and it looks unnatural and unnecessary to be done up to that degree. Moving on... I find it problematic that we are supposed to believe that the Merry & Bright Board of Directors is concerned enough about the future of the company to hire a consultant but then these characters are not in the film and are never referenced again. The Board does not even need to be briefed about a possible new product line or taking on another large investor. Something seems not right for an apparently engaged and concerned BOD to be completely absent from the the presentation of the findings and in the decision making process. To balance out this rant, I have to applaud the writers for their appropriate use of the flash forward in time (one year) so that we can see the happily ever after moment craved in the genre and it isn't completely unbelievable or worse creepy. Honestly, I am ok without the neat bow in the last seconds of the movie but I know that I am probably in the minority on this account. If you have to wrap it up with a bow, a well done flash forward is my personal preference. In case you are looking for a Christmas Eve event, Britewell, Ohio also has a Christmas Eve Jubilee for the town. Yep, everyone's doing it. I guess I should just embrace it already.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Jodie Sweetin also appeared in Entertaining Christmas (2018) with Brendan Fehr. Andrew Walker is a Hallmark fixture who also appeared in Debbie Macomber's Dashing Through The Snow (2015) with Meghan Ory. Did you know that apparently Andrew Walker has been two timing Hallmark with Lifetime the past few years around this season? I had no idea until I was checking out his IMDB page. Keep your eyes peeled because it appears he is not the only Hallmark stalwart who is involved with more than one network these days.
Hallmark, I'm Looking At You: It's nice when you can learn something completely useless from a movie. December 26th is National Candy Cane Day. Share this random fun and true fact with someone you love. When you are either shopping for deals or trying to return the failed Christmas gifts be sure to have one handy to celebrate and just get through the day.
Let me know your thoughts about fake eyelashes, flash forward endings and flavored candy canes.
General Movie Details: The Board of Directors of the Merry & Bright Candy Cane Company have concerns for the future of the company and their new CEO (Cate) so they employ a corporate consultant (Gabe) to review and make recommendations for the future of the small candy maker. Initially, Gabe doesn't want to be there and Cate doesn't want him there either. However, over the course of working together (2 weeks... saving personal commentary for below) they realize they might not be as different as they thought and they can work together to make Merry & Bright successful again. The general theme is to hold on to who you are and your legacy but be willing to take a chance.
Meet Cute Moment: When Gabe recognizes Cate at the hotel and tries to introduce himself after arriving in town, she instantly assumes that he is the blind date her mom set her up on. She, of course, explains to him that she isn't going on a date with him only to realize who he really is and to be completely embarrassed.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So I loved the homage to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice when Cate overhears Gabe on the phone putting down the town, the company, the situation and Cate. I also loved that Gabe commented that with 2 weeks to Christmas that a candy cane company would be winding down. Yes, Gabe, in the real world you are absolutely correct but this serves as a reminder that time works differently in a Hallmark movie. Issue number one is with the makeup artist on the film because Jodie Sweetin's (and the actress playing her assistant to a lesser degree) fake eyelashes are just too long. I have no problem with enhancing the actresses natural lashes but this is just plain distracting. There are a few shots with her in partial profile and it looks unnatural and unnecessary to be done up to that degree. Moving on... I find it problematic that we are supposed to believe that the Merry & Bright Board of Directors is concerned enough about the future of the company to hire a consultant but then these characters are not in the film and are never referenced again. The Board does not even need to be briefed about a possible new product line or taking on another large investor. Something seems not right for an apparently engaged and concerned BOD to be completely absent from the the presentation of the findings and in the decision making process. To balance out this rant, I have to applaud the writers for their appropriate use of the flash forward in time (one year) so that we can see the happily ever after moment craved in the genre and it isn't completely unbelievable or worse creepy. Honestly, I am ok without the neat bow in the last seconds of the movie but I know that I am probably in the minority on this account. If you have to wrap it up with a bow, a well done flash forward is my personal preference. In case you are looking for a Christmas Eve event, Britewell, Ohio also has a Christmas Eve Jubilee for the town. Yep, everyone's doing it. I guess I should just embrace it already.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Jodie Sweetin also appeared in Entertaining Christmas (2018) with Brendan Fehr. Andrew Walker is a Hallmark fixture who also appeared in Debbie Macomber's Dashing Through The Snow (2015) with Meghan Ory. Did you know that apparently Andrew Walker has been two timing Hallmark with Lifetime the past few years around this season? I had no idea until I was checking out his IMDB page. Keep your eyes peeled because it appears he is not the only Hallmark stalwart who is involved with more than one network these days.
Hallmark, I'm Looking At You: It's nice when you can learn something completely useless from a movie. December 26th is National Candy Cane Day. Share this random fun and true fact with someone you love. When you are either shopping for deals or trying to return the failed Christmas gifts be sure to have one handy to celebrate and just get through the day.
Let me know your thoughts about fake eyelashes, flash forward endings and flavored candy canes.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Two Turtle Doves - Premiere #4
Two Turtle Doves premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on November 1st and stars Nikki DeLoach and Michael Rady.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Single successful scientist (Dr. Sharon Hayes) returns home to her hometown to celebrate her first Christmas since the passing of the grandmother who raised her. While in town, she has to wrap up the details of her grandmother's estate with her lawyer (Sam) who happens to be a widowed (attractive) father and her next door neighbor. Her grandmother stipulated that before making any decisions about the house Sharon needs to complete 12 of their family traditions like the 12 days of Christmas heirloom ornaments. However, when the ornaments are located, the two turtle doves ornament which was always hers and was thought to bring love is missing. The hunt for the missing ornament helps both Sharon and Sam to begin to see the possibilities of what's to come and to make space for it.
Meet Cute Moment: Sharon stops into the Holly and Ivy bakery in town to pick up some cookies and Sam notices her and saves her from a group of ladies who recognize her as Vera's granddaughter and are trying to play matchmaker with their sons.
Christmas Decoration Alert: Over the years, my spouse and I have noticed that the Hallmark set decorators love some giant Nutcrackers. I too love a giant Nutcracker, although mine are only about 3' tall compared to their 6-8' at minimum statues. There was at least three giant Nutcrackers spotted at different locations in the movie. I am guessing that I probably missed a few so keep your eyes peeled.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So the center of the film is about a set of handmade ceramic ornaments depicting the 12 days of Christmas. These were apparently passed down through the generations as they were made by Sharon's 7x great grandfather. I am all about antiques and old stuff but these ornaments do not look like ones that would be over 100 years old. They look way too contemporary in their form and colors. Also, who goes out to dinner and ice skating wearing a suit and pantsuit? I mean even for a first date this seems like a mismatch but apparently they must have discussed it beforehand because they are both improperly dressed for the evening activity.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Nikki DeLoach was previously in Christmas Land (2015) with Luke Macfarlane. Michael Rady was previously in Christmas at Pemberley Manor (2018) with Jessica Lowdes. He also was in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies for a non-Hallmark connection.
Hallmark, I'm looking at you: While writing this post, I wanted some seasonal music in the background and I noticed that Hallmark had a Yule Log recording available... so I started streaming it only to be immediately confused, the Christmas music was playing and the yule log was lit in the background... however, in the foreground was a room completely decorated for fall!!! I am so confused, this does not compute.
Let me know how many giant Nutcrackers you caught and if the autumn yule log is as problematic for you as it is for me.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄
General Movie Details: Single successful scientist (Dr. Sharon Hayes) returns home to her hometown to celebrate her first Christmas since the passing of the grandmother who raised her. While in town, she has to wrap up the details of her grandmother's estate with her lawyer (Sam) who happens to be a widowed (attractive) father and her next door neighbor. Her grandmother stipulated that before making any decisions about the house Sharon needs to complete 12 of their family traditions like the 12 days of Christmas heirloom ornaments. However, when the ornaments are located, the two turtle doves ornament which was always hers and was thought to bring love is missing. The hunt for the missing ornament helps both Sharon and Sam to begin to see the possibilities of what's to come and to make space for it.
Meet Cute Moment: Sharon stops into the Holly and Ivy bakery in town to pick up some cookies and Sam notices her and saves her from a group of ladies who recognize her as Vera's granddaughter and are trying to play matchmaker with their sons.
Christmas Decoration Alert: Over the years, my spouse and I have noticed that the Hallmark set decorators love some giant Nutcrackers. I too love a giant Nutcracker, although mine are only about 3' tall compared to their 6-8' at minimum statues. There was at least three giant Nutcrackers spotted at different locations in the movie. I am guessing that I probably missed a few so keep your eyes peeled.
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So the center of the film is about a set of handmade ceramic ornaments depicting the 12 days of Christmas. These were apparently passed down through the generations as they were made by Sharon's 7x great grandfather. I am all about antiques and old stuff but these ornaments do not look like ones that would be over 100 years old. They look way too contemporary in their form and colors. Also, who goes out to dinner and ice skating wearing a suit and pantsuit? I mean even for a first date this seems like a mismatch but apparently they must have discussed it beforehand because they are both improperly dressed for the evening activity.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Nikki DeLoach was previously in Christmas Land (2015) with Luke Macfarlane. Michael Rady was previously in Christmas at Pemberley Manor (2018) with Jessica Lowdes. He also was in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies for a non-Hallmark connection.
Hallmark, I'm looking at you: While writing this post, I wanted some seasonal music in the background and I noticed that Hallmark had a Yule Log recording available... so I started streaming it only to be immediately confused, the Christmas music was playing and the yule log was lit in the background... however, in the foreground was a room completely decorated for fall!!! I am so confused, this does not compute.
Let me know how many giant Nutcrackers you caught and if the autumn yule log is as problematic for you as it is for me.
Friday, November 1, 2019
Nostalgic Christmas - Premiere #3
Nostalgic Christmas premiered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries' Miracles of Christmas on October 31st and stars Brooke D'Orsay and Trevor Donovan.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: single career girl (Anne) goes home to small Maine hometown (from NYC) to help Dad close down his toy store and retire, widowed single dad (Keith) in same small Maine town is trying to keep the local mill he runs from being sold and closing, they wind up co-chairing the Christmas Committee and realize in the process that it is difficult for them both to say goodbye to a town they love and call home. Theme of remember what really means something to you.
Meet Cute Moment: Keith's daughter forgot to get a toy for the toy drive so they convince Anne to open up the toy store to remedy their toy emergency. While his daughter finds the perfect toy, Keith proceeds to praise the quality of her Dad's toys while putting down both the quality of the new high tech toys sold elsewhere and the buyer of said toys (her).
Notable Handmade Alert: Hand carved Santas! Not only are they something to behold but the individualized names and tags... I wish I knew where I could get my hand's on the advent calendar Anne swiped the descriptions from. I may not be able to carve wood but I could see those tags and descriptions in some future applications. Nutcrackers, anyone? Ah, a project for another day!
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So, I love the fact that she is a corporate working girl but still takes off basically the whole month of December. This isn't snark, I know people who do this and applaud them for making it happen. Yeah for vacation, no bah humbug here! Fear not, there is plenty to poke at in this film. Let's start off with timing in the film, it's 3 weeks until Christmas and they are just getting around to putting together the Committees to plan the town festivities. I LOVE that Anne points out that they seem to be off to a late start. I kind of love a movie that can poke fun at itself, a bit of an elbow nudge and wink here. Beyond the timing until Christmas, let's talk about geography for a minute... Anne says it's a 5 hour train trip from NYC to Maine. I heard this and immediately called FOUL. I looked online and seems that the typical trip from NYC to Portland, Maine is about 8 hours but the quickest on Amtrak is just over 6 hours. I guess in a world where you can build a Christmas Village in under 3 weeks, of course the trip would be quicker too! Just in case you were curious, the culmination of the town's Christmas festivities is... you guessed it, a pageant on Christmas Eve.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Brooke D'Orsay was also in Christmas in Love (2018) with Daniel Lissing (another 3+ tree holiday film, if you can catch it). Trevor Donovan was also in Snowcoming (2019) with Lindy Booth.
Hallmark, I'm looking at you: I want to take a quick moment to ask a question, is there really any possible justification for having a Christmas movie premiere on Halloween??? I think not Hallmark, and you're breaking my heart already with the all Christmas, all the time even before Halloween. Please put the orange, gold, pumpkin, candy and costumes back in Halloween. Forgetting about the fact there's another big holiday, Thanksgiving, still on the horizon that you've decided to pass right over. Plea (falling on deaf ears) over and now it is time to embrace Hallmark for it's commercialism. I am actually surprised it's taken this long to try to further monetize Countdown to Christmas and the networks with merch. While some may go for wine glasses and socks, I am all in for the idea of Hallmark movie bingo. I was initially thinking that this might need to be in my stocking this year, but I really wished that they had an alternative movie bingo set that could be used year round. Then I did a bit of Googling and found the game put together by Missy Kellor (going back to 2017) and am thinking that I am going to partake in the free card options and may pull in some of the prior year's cards as well. I checked out her 2018 post and am thinking that some of her ideas are just the inspiration I need to create my own year round Hallmark movie bingo set or even seasonally if I need more craft plans in my life.
Who is in for some Hallmark bingo with me? Keep an eye on a stocking near you because I know a few people in my life who would appreciate some Hallmark bingo cards, just throwing it out there.
Let me know if you too felt that Hallmark was hitting a bit more of their stride with this one. I'll admit that I've liked some of the casts previous movies so it might be my own biases here as well.
RATING (out of 5): 🎄🎄🎄
General Movie Details: single career girl (Anne) goes home to small Maine hometown (from NYC) to help Dad close down his toy store and retire, widowed single dad (Keith) in same small Maine town is trying to keep the local mill he runs from being sold and closing, they wind up co-chairing the Christmas Committee and realize in the process that it is difficult for them both to say goodbye to a town they love and call home. Theme of remember what really means something to you.
Meet Cute Moment: Keith's daughter forgot to get a toy for the toy drive so they convince Anne to open up the toy store to remedy their toy emergency. While his daughter finds the perfect toy, Keith proceeds to praise the quality of her Dad's toys while putting down both the quality of the new high tech toys sold elsewhere and the buyer of said toys (her).
Notable Handmade Alert: Hand carved Santas! Not only are they something to behold but the individualized names and tags... I wish I knew where I could get my hand's on the advent calendar Anne swiped the descriptions from. I may not be able to carve wood but I could see those tags and descriptions in some future applications. Nutcrackers, anyone? Ah, a project for another day!
Obligatory moment of snark/personal rant: So, I love the fact that she is a corporate working girl but still takes off basically the whole month of December. This isn't snark, I know people who do this and applaud them for making it happen. Yeah for vacation, no bah humbug here! Fear not, there is plenty to poke at in this film. Let's start off with timing in the film, it's 3 weeks until Christmas and they are just getting around to putting together the Committees to plan the town festivities. I LOVE that Anne points out that they seem to be off to a late start. I kind of love a movie that can poke fun at itself, a bit of an elbow nudge and wink here. Beyond the timing until Christmas, let's talk about geography for a minute... Anne says it's a 5 hour train trip from NYC to Maine. I heard this and immediately called FOUL. I looked online and seems that the typical trip from NYC to Portland, Maine is about 8 hours but the quickest on Amtrak is just over 6 hours. I guess in a world where you can build a Christmas Village in under 3 weeks, of course the trip would be quicker too! Just in case you were curious, the culmination of the town's Christmas festivities is... you guessed it, a pageant on Christmas Eve.
Hallmark Movie Connection: Brooke D'Orsay was also in Christmas in Love (2018) with Daniel Lissing (another 3+ tree holiday film, if you can catch it). Trevor Donovan was also in Snowcoming (2019) with Lindy Booth.
Hallmark, I'm looking at you: I want to take a quick moment to ask a question, is there really any possible justification for having a Christmas movie premiere on Halloween??? I think not Hallmark, and you're breaking my heart already with the all Christmas, all the time even before Halloween. Please put the orange, gold, pumpkin, candy and costumes back in Halloween. Forgetting about the fact there's another big holiday, Thanksgiving, still on the horizon that you've decided to pass right over. Plea (falling on deaf ears) over and now it is time to embrace Hallmark for it's commercialism. I am actually surprised it's taken this long to try to further monetize Countdown to Christmas and the networks with merch. While some may go for wine glasses and socks, I am all in for the idea of Hallmark movie bingo. I was initially thinking that this might need to be in my stocking this year, but I really wished that they had an alternative movie bingo set that could be used year round. Then I did a bit of Googling and found the game put together by Missy Kellor (going back to 2017) and am thinking that I am going to partake in the free card options and may pull in some of the prior year's cards as well. I checked out her 2018 post and am thinking that some of her ideas are just the inspiration I need to create my own year round Hallmark movie bingo set or even seasonally if I need more craft plans in my life.
Who is in for some Hallmark bingo with me? Keep an eye on a stocking near you because I know a few people in my life who would appreciate some Hallmark bingo cards, just throwing it out there.
Let me know if you too felt that Hallmark was hitting a bit more of their stride with this one. I'll admit that I've liked some of the casts previous movies so it might be my own biases here as well.
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