absnow54

I can’t believe they did a short king sketch with Jacob Elordi without bringing on his short king doppelgänger, Josh Hutcherson.

The Bear airs in that in between zone of eligibility, where season 2 aired during the Emmy voting period, so I could see it potentially falling off the radar next year if another comedic darling comes along.

He’s skipped award season this year because he’s about to start a show on Broadway.

The show is airing 3 months late, but still, some of those loses felt like years ago.

How dare they pull out a very special version of the Friends theme song!

I’m so glad Paul Giamati won if only to address the In n Out photos. Can’t wait for pizza in a bag.

Given his established success in the franchise, I feel like this has a higher probability of being made than other projects announced, but still: I’ll believe it when I see it…

Ghosts of Christmas Always was another good one from last year. I feel like by next year, I'll only remember 2 or 3 from this year too, which is fine, because it makes catching reruns less tenuous.

Exactly! Although, even when they strike gold with some pairings, when the story isn't there, it's tough to catch lightning twice. Autumn Reeser and Antonio Cupo come to mind. I guess, statistically, Hallmark needs only 5/100 new movies in a season to succeed, so they don't saturate my holiday rewatch schedule year after year (I didn't even have time to watch Nine Lives of Christmas this year my DVR is so full!) but it's such a slog getting through the duds.

I'm not seeing any announcements. The show airs on Sunday, and I've seen little-to-no promotion.

I think the filmmakers did a terrible job adapting Katniss's relationships, but I thought the romance written by Suzanne Collins was mostly great. The movies tried too hard to make it into a Twilight-esque love triangle, but it was much more subtle in the books. Or maybe it's just that book!Katniss and book!Peeta checked off all of my favorite tropes, so the romance was an easy sell for me. I didn't like the romance between Snow and Lucy Gray, because she was just his Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who didn't fit into the box he wanted, and that dynamic was well played out through the 2010's. The point of Snow is that he didn't need a catalyst to go evil. He was evil and self serving all along. His journey was getting his foot in the door to regain his elite standings in an already evil society, even after being given the opportunity to embrace humanity.

Speaking of, have they handed out the team medals yet? It's been 2 years!

Agreed. It was pretty bland, and I think part of the reason was that none of the characters were given any charisma. Even Charlie Hunnam, who was supposed to be a total scoundrel was just kind of there. Maybe he was too busy choking on his Irish accent. I was excited for this movie based on the premise, but it didn't deliver. Everything about it was boring. And the final battle drove me crazy! Why did they give the love interest a weapon and ask him to murder Sofia Boutella? Why did they need him to do it? Why could they not just do it themselves? That was some bush league Bond villain plotting right there.

I watched Sealed with a List last night, and I thought the premise and the characters were good, but the story wasn't there. It meandered a lot. I think it could have been decent if the plot were tighter. Now that Hallmark has shown their full crop (although I guess HMM still has a few left...) I think my top picks for the season are Catch Me if You Claus, Round and Round, and The Santa Summit. I'd also maybe add Christmas on Cherry Lane, because although it was frustratingly confusing, there was a lot to think about after. My award for most outlandish movie of the year is Navigating Christmas, in which the heroine decides to go halvesies on a lighthouse with her boyfriend of 3 days. Girl. What were you thinking? That town wasn't that charming. Runner up goes to the shipping boxes from Heidelberg Christmas.

I like that they also tied the significance to her parents anniversary, so they had an excuse to throw a big party. This wasn't on Hallmark, but EXMas was the biggest offender this year. The exterior shots of the house were MASSIVE, yet, for some reason, they didn't have a guest bedroom, and there was only one shared hallway bath.

I haven't had a chance to watch Sealed with a List yet, but I thought I recognized the actress! Love Strikes Twice was such a gem! I've also liked Evan Roderick since Spinning Out on Netflix, but all the Hallmark movies he's done have been such duds, although Autumn in the City was decent.

I want to know how Mission Impossible got nominated!?! Wasn’t it considered a Box Office bust due to its massive budget? Did Paramount throw a fit or something to have it included in its award show? Or did international box office save this one?

I think my favorite part about Christmas on Cherry Lane was that they felt the need to give al the characters nicknames, so they wouldn't give away the ending. I'm watching 34213 holiday movies a season, I can't recall the names of the lead characters in the films I actually liked. I've watched The Nine Lives of Christmas a dozen times, and only know the character's names by the actors who play them (the character's name ends in a "lee" sound, I remember without Googling.) The movie would have been easier to watch if they sprinkled bread crumbs throughout. The only time I was engaged was when I saw the dead dad's car all fixed up, and instantly realized the cop was Conrad's dad (speaking of. Can we talk about the family photo, where they used Microsoft Paint to merge younger photos of all the actors. It was exceptionally bad.)

I missed the Palm Springs reference. When she said Tom Cruise, I figured she was talking about Edge of Tomorrow. I'll have to watch the movie again, because the pacing was so quick. At one point she mentioned it was the third time she was reliving the day, when I thought it was only the second.

Round and Round was a winner for me. I’ve loved Bryan Greenberg since One Tree Hill, so I was glad to see him in this. He was such a charismatic and fun love interest. So much chemistry! My favorite moment was when she kissed him in the van and he asked if that was the first time. This one joins the top of my 2023 list along with Catch Me if You Claus.

I think the main issue was that his original dinner was ruined, and he had to remake it in a time crunch, in an unfinished kitchen. So he was probably limited on pots and burners. They should have just made the issue that the store was out of cranberries, since the movie already required way too much thinking. This movie definitely felt like Hallmark’s attempt at This Is Us, down to the anvil-rific reveal in the last 90 seconds.

They could potentially use her in Andor if they give Mon Mothma flashbacks next season to cover the arc from the ROTS deleted scenes. Or Padme could pop up in Ahsoka if they do anymore Clone War era flashbacks.

Bummer for Isabeau, she was positioned much better last year when the rest of the ladies flubbed their Free Skate, and she snuck onto the podium.

I struggled with the book. A lot. So in comparison, I actually thought the film was well done. It trimmed a lot of the fat that made the book hard to read for me. I still had a hard time connecting with the characters, and while Sejanus was less annoying than he was in the books, he was less annoying. The highlight, without a doubt, was Jason Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman. I didn't think anyone could come close to Stanley Tucci's perfection as Caesar, but Jason Schwartzman pulled it off.

Hallmark has made a few decent Hanukkah movies between Double Holiday and Eight Gifts of Hanukkah. I'm looking forward to Round and Round because it has Bryan Greenberg in it.