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1 hour ago, Koalagirl said:
Clippings, you’ve pretty much said everything I was thinking while I watched this movie. The terrible hair was very distracting and I’ve seen better ballgowns from Halloween costume store!
Same. And Chippings, I'm not surprised you found the male hero to be the one decent aspect of the movie. He has actually been in a regular Hallmark movie and I think some other shows and seems to be a decent actor. Not sure how he ended up with all these other smaller-time actors in this cheap movie. I wasn't surprised to find out that the female lead is actually English, as her American accent was definitely off at times. They should have just had her be from London and keep the rest of the story the same. There wasn't really a need for her to be American specifically.
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Agree about Christmas at the Castle. I probably shouldn't have bothered to watch the whole thing. I appreciate Lifetime for continuing to air "new" movies this week since I'm a secular Jew, not working this week, live alone, am not visiting family like I normally do thanks to the pandemic, and have little better to do. This is exactly when I have more time to watch, but there's understandably less on. Even Hallmark doesn't bother. Unfortunately, they seem to have chosen some of their lower quality movies to show now, I guess because they aren't expecting a large viewing/buying audience. So they are smartly trying to be the network with new content but with little risk or effort. Oh well. We'll see what
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1 minute ago, Irlandesa said:
That's what the producers of Netflix's Love Is Blind did. Most of the filming was done in Atlanta and everyone on the show was connected to the Atlanta area.
If you aren't familiar with Love Is Blind, the process is even crazier than The Bachelor/ette in a way. Couples "meet" by dating through walls. They don't get to see one another until they get engaged. Couples then go to Mexico to get to know one another more. They then return to the Atlanta area, move in with one another and move towards a wedding. At the end. They either get married or they don't.
Three of the couples from the first season are together. Two are married and the other couple is just together. It has been two years since the show was filmed. But changing jobs or moving away from their people isn't something the couples need to do which I do think has helped.
Thanks. Another show that I haven't watched, but I remember seeing advertising for it on Twitter. It sounds like that show has worked out well so far, based on what you shared. Very interesting.
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2 hours ago, waving feather said:
Yeah, I'm rooting for them too. They seem to really like each other (aside from being in love/lust) and that's always a plus. But will see if they can make the long distance thing work and how compatible they are as partners. Tayshia is bubbly and Zac is very low key. It's not a bad thing that they are not rushing to get married though.
So I'm kind of weird with these shows. I actually do not watch the Bachelor or the Bachelorette. I think the only full episodes I ever saw were the last one or two of the first season of the Bachelor a million years ago. Generally, I'm not into the melodrama of these sorts of reality shows. But I seem to get curious towards the end or after the end when I see stuff on social media, and I end up reading about it. Related to the long distance dating - I guess there would be less options and drama for the show in terms of casting, but I feel like they should have seasons where the cast is from a certain region of the country. I know the whole basis of the show is unrealistic, but I think the couples would have a slightly better shot if they lived somewhat close to each other in real life to start with. While there might be claims of being so in love, etc. on the show, when they get back to the real world, distance dating just adds another complication. How often are they so bought in right after the show that they immediately uproot their lives and make a move somewhere else? Just have each season shift regions in the country. Though I know the producers, etc., don't really care so much about relationship success after the show airs and there probably isn't any motivation to doing this. This random non-watcher thinks it's a good idea, though. 😛
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4 hours ago, Lugal said:
I've noticed that too, and I've moved away from Hallmark unless I like the leads. The more interesting stuff seems to be on other channels. Still waiting for my Pagan Holiday Movie, though.
To be fair, this year Hallmark has had all the things @Darian listed except for having "a man follow a woman to another country because she got the big promotion." I've liked more Hallmark movies this year than I have in awhile, and I haven't been thrilled with many of the Lifetime ones although there have finally been a few.
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17 hours ago, Ashforth said:
I watched a few of the movies this weekend.
Too Close for Christmas was not bad (except for the ridiculous reason that she was mad at the guy), but echoing what's been said before, what the hell has Jessica Lowndes done to her face? I think last year her lips were gigantic. This year, her lips are more normal-ish, but her whole face looks like plastic. I actually looked her up and saw that she is 32. 32! She looks at least ten years older, like a 45 year old trying to look 35. And why did Chad Michael Murray have a pronounced Southern or Western cowboy accent? No one else in his family did. Plus the mother was a weird control freak who had the whole family cowed. Other than that, it was okay 🤣 At this point, my judging system is whether the movie is so bad that I turn it off.
I liked A Christmas Exchange, I thought both leads were appealing and the storyline that they were strangers getting to know each other through texting and calling while living in each other's houses was fun and different. Laura Vandervoort is 35 and doesn't look like she's doing any Botox or fillers, so she looked natural and so much younger than Lowdnes.
I started Christmas Ever After and it was just okay, but I grew tired of it and turned it off. As others have said, the female lead was pretty over the top. Maybe since she's a Broadway star she's accustomed to having to make it BIG! to reach the audience in the back of the theater.
I already commented on the other new movies that you referenced.
Too Close for Christmas just bored me. I don't have a lot to say about the movie besides that.
It's funny, I also liked A Christmas Exchange, but I had the same issue with it at the start of the movie as I did with Christmas Ever After. The female lead annoyed me at first and was very over the top. Her forgetting to leave her house keys for the guy who came all the way from England to stay there and then chatting his ear off when he called her about it and told her how tired he was. However, the movie improved once she calmed down and I ended up really liking it, which is also what happened with Ever After. It was another movie that I did not expect to like from the preview.
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18 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:
Thanks for the reviews about Christmas Carousel. I like Rachel Boston but movies with royalty in them rarely interest me. So it has to be pretty good to get over the royalty aspect.
I also like Lindy Booth but I couldn't get into the HMM where she's cleaning out a house with Justin Bruening.
I actually liked the Lindy Booth one more than I expected.
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Eh, I wasn't really into it even before it got to the annoying tropes. I didn't really feel any chemistry between the leads, and Neal's fake English accent messed with his acting or something. I didn't like him as much as I did in the movie he did with Danica.
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1 hour ago, bankerchick said:
Yes, memememe76, W channel in Canada seems to premier the movies a week or two behind the American channels. I watched about 5 minutes of that movie and tuned out. The lead was annoying (not because of the wheelchair.)
I am currently watching Nine Lives of Christmas. An oldie from 2014, but a goody. All the necessary requirements - a non-annoying lead actress with a handsome lead actor.
The lead in Christmas Ever After started off a bit over-the-top and silly but she does settle down after a bit and is actually very sweet and more normal. I ultimately liked the movie, like Callietwo. I liked it more than I expected to.
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3 hours ago, norcalgal said:
There was one particular holiday movie I was looking forward to seeing because I think it's the first movie centering on an Asian American family - A Sugar & Spice Holiday I can recall on any channel. Here's what stood out for me:
* there was a lot more humor than these type of movies usually have (maybe a little too much with all the food puns)
* the bread kneading scene was the steamiest I can recall in a holiday movie EVER - on any channel (was that just my imagination?)
I posted most of my thoughts on the holiday movie thread since it was on Lifetime. But related to the steamy scene, it's definitely up there. There's another similar one from a different older Lifetime movie - I'm blanking on the name right now. The female character was helping a company that goes public and it doesn't go well, she finds a cute Christmas-y town to escape to that her mother had been to (I think), and she lives above and is temporarily in charge of a bookstore, and she starts changing the bookstore. It's a terrible description, I know. But there's a similar scene where the male lead is leaning over her from behind and helping her wash soot off of her hands.
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13 minutes ago, EyewatchTV211 said:
Sugar & Spice was decent, but what stopped me from liking it more was that they included too many of the usual obstacles, and you knew they were all coming. The unsaved work plans, him being mad at her for sharing his ideas to help his career without telling him, a work misunderstanding about who got the job, and then the potential issue of whether they could be together if she went to Australia (though I'm glad they resolved that by having him go with her). I feel like there was another that I'm forgetting. They weren't major, but it was enough to annoy me each time something else happened. And why didn't they really include his father at all? He supposedly came home to help him when he was sick, and then he could leave when he was better. But we only see her family, unless his father was that random dude in the background a couple of times.
ETA what I did like: I thought it was hilarious that her dad spoke with the southern American accent after learning English by listening to country music or Johnny Cash or whoever it was. That cracked me up almost every time. And they did have good chemistry and other funny moments. The movie included some things that aren't typical for these movies with the dessert references, grandma appearing from her imagination to guide her, etc. It's just frustrating to me that there are some movies that are so close to finally being "good" for what they are and completely enjoyable, but they don't quite get there because they have to throw in one of the usual, annoying tropes.
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17 hours ago, argrow said:
I agree. Of the 3 movies with minorities you never see in a Christmas movies last weekend, Sugar & Spice was my favourite. Everything just with clicks with that movie and I'm glad we don't have another plot where pursuing your career is considered evil.
Sugar & Spice was decent, but what stopped me from liking it more was that they included too many of the usual obstacles, and you knew they were all coming. The unsaved work plans, him being mad at her for sharing his ideas to help his career without telling him, a work misunderstanding about who got the job, and then the potential issue of whether they could be together if she went to Australia (though I'm glad they resolved that by having him go with her). I feel like there was another that I'm forgetting. They weren't major, but it was enough to annoy me each time something else happened.
ETA what I did like: I thought it was hilarious that her dad spoke with the southern American accent after learning English by listening to country music or Johnny Cash or whoever it was. That cracked me up almost every time. And they did have good chemistry and other funny moments. The movie included some things that aren't typical for these movies with the dessert references, grandma appearing from her imagination to guide her, etc. It's just frustrating to me that there are some movies that are so close to finally being "good" for what they are and completely enjoyable, but they don't quite get there because they have to throw in one of the usual, annoying tropes.
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2 hours ago, shapeshifter said:
After seeing a Zoom interview with Fran Drescher re The Christmas Setup I wanted to check it out, but I don't get Lifetime. I might have temporary access starting in January, but...
I hope you find a way to watch. Like I said, I really did enjoy it. I saw an interview with the leads about working with Fran, and they talked about how she took things that weren't necessarily funny in the script and found ways to play it in a funny way. I could definitely see that. I think the movie benefited from having a longtime sitcom actress in that role that differentiated it from the other parental actors. Her acting style (and voice) might have bugged some people, but I really enjoy it. I also found out that the lead couple are actually married in real life, and several other people involved in the project are also homosexual, so they apparently helped craft the movie in a way that would be sensitive to that storyline.
ETA: I don't want to forget to acknowledge Ellen Wong, who played the best friend, Madelyn. I really enjoyed her as well. She was also funny and a good friend. Really, like I said in the first post, I think the main cast was all solid.
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16 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:
Great posts, @Just Carol and @EyewatchTV211. I'm Jewish too. We had a small menorah and that was the extent of our "decoration".
For authenticity I think Hallmark should show us enjoying Peking Duck in a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day.
We didn't do Peking Duck, but yes the Chinese. And don't forget going to the movies!
8 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:No no I dont think she was closing the restaurant down, I think David was going to take his trip to write his book, and he was coming back to be with her. They will probably just video chat/email during those 6 weeks, or she may visit him for a week or two.
She may not go for a full 6 weeks. But when her father suggested that she visit him in Italy, and the exchanges that followed, I think they were implying that Christina might join David for a little bit to go see her father.
I forgot to include someone else's quote, but whoever said she looked mid-30s - I think I'm insulted. I am 35 myself. I think the way they filmed her/the lighting, etc. softened her up a bit and maybe made her look a little younger than she is, but the Botox or fillers or whatever made her look terrible. As someone else who recognized her from other things and knew what she used to look like, I was so distracted by it the whole movie. Not to say that David was the hunkiest of leads, but it just wasn't a good look. She probably would have looked better as her natural self. She isn't even that old. It's sad. It kind of took me out of a lot of the movie, so I may have to rewatch to see if I can get past it and enjoy it more.
2 hours ago, norcalgal said:And sorry to throw in another nitpick, but it's this: in so many of these holiday movies (Hallmark, Lifetime, ION, etc.) the characters (leads/parents/siblings/etc.) all seem to live in such beautiful, updated homes. Granite kitchen counters, stainless steel appliances, marble (and large) master baths, etc. Also, every home is so spic and span with very little mess (toys/clothes strewn everywhere, spills on rugs, certain room or section of a room jam packed with old magazines/newspapers/tchotchkes). Basically, my complaint is that the homes always seem like they're model homes in a housing development. If you've ever been in those model homes, they are home decor porn!
This is a nitpick for me as well, but I'm pretty sure that I read it's intentional. I think it's part of their attempts at "wish fulfillment" for the viewers. In addition to having the fairytale romance, you can pretend to have the perfect house, too. It does the reverse for me. It frustrates me to see the unrealistic houses, especially for people with careers that you know could never afford those houses in the areas that they supposedly live (and no indication that family left them money). Seeing those homes sometimes takes me out of the movies a bit as well as I scoff at the silliness, although I've gotten better at ignoring it.
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10 minutes ago, Just Carol said:
As a Jewish person, here is my take on Love, Lights, Hanukkah. There are several ways to write Jewish characters into a Hallmark movie. The first way is to stereotype them. The second way is to force Christmas tropes onto Hanukkah so as to demonstrate Jewish characters engaging in activities that are relatable to non-Jews, such as building snowmen and drinking hot chocolate. No cookies to bake, but we grate potatoes for latkes! It's a family tradition! No Christmas festival, but, hey, there is a giant menorah-lighting in town! Bending the tropes leads to mistakes, of course. Attention Hallmark set designers: Hanukkah decorations, if any, generally do not include wreaths or lights on the house.
A third thing to do is to hit the audience over the head with Jewish stuff. That little robot boy, oy.
On a separate topic, Christina seems to have tons of money. The restaurant must be doing very well despite the lukewarm review of her lasagne. She has that gorgeous house, and can afford the very expensive gifts she bought her bio family. So what happened at the end? Is she closing down the restaurant for six weeks to accompany David to the Mediterranean?
I'm also Jewish, although I jokingly say now that I'm a "bad Jew." Growing up, we were reform at most, and at this point my family would probably consider ourselves secular Jews. I agree with some of this but disagree with some, though I could be wrong about my thoughts since I didn't grow up sticking rigidly to traditions. I don't see building snowmen and drinking hot chocolate as Christmas-specific activities, but more winter activities that we see a lot in Christmas movies because people like them and wintery/cold/snowy associations with Christmas make people feel good. As a chocoholic who comes from a line of chocoholics, I have always loved hot chocolate. I grew up in an area with a good-sized Jewish population, so I don't think I would attribute it to just being pulled into the Christmas world around me. I definitely don't remember a large menorah-lighting, like you mention. I've seen large menorahs in towns I've lived in as an adult, but I never attended any sort of event and don't remember seeing events publicized. And the mother's decorations were definitely Christmas decorations with Hanukkah colors. I think companies are trying to get Jewish customers more recently, as I have seen some lights targeting Hanukkah that look Christmas-y. My mom has some hanging outside of my parents' house currently. I forget if it's just blue/white lights or if they have little menorahs or Jewish stars hanging off. The decorations definitely are not traditional Jewish, though.
With Christina, I assume the restaurant is doing well. It was her mother's and now hers, so it has obviously been in business a long time and has been successful. David's lukewarm review was relatively recent, so its business probably wouldn't have been tied much to it, and we find out her cooking wasn't as good around that time because her grandmother had just passed and she was off of her game. Other references suggest that she normally was an excellent chef. So I can buy the success, though she definitely still seemed to have a lot of money and I don't know what her plan is for the restaurant while she's away if she's the head chef.
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i apologize in advance, but I need to complain about two minor things repeated in these movies that drive me crazy. 1. The super fake snowmen. I really hate the styrofoam-looking, overly round bodies of the fake snowmen in so many of these movies. Or really, it's the same one or two. I appreciate the few movies that have ones that look real. If I remember right, Christmas With the Darlings had better snowmen. 2. People holding and eating food out of gloved hands. Is this one just me? I imagine my gloves are covered in dirt and germs in between washings, whereas at least my bare hands are washed frequently and more easily before eating. Yet they do it so much in these movies, and it makes me cringe every time.
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I watched The Christmas Setup. I liked it a good amount, and it was definitely one of the better Lifetime movies this holiday season. I guess I shouldn't be surprised with Fran Drescher involved. Some people don't like her or can't get over her voice, but I was a huge fan of The Nanny growing up as a Jewish kid in New Jersey. The movie seemed to go further with the humor than a lot of the other movies. Fran definitely plays a mother differently from all of these other constantly rotating actors who play the parents in these movies. The actors all worked for me. The storyline was mostly the typical Christmas tropes (outside of the LGBTQ storyline being front and center), but it worked for me overall. Though I wished Fran and her sons played Jewish and the love interest was Christian. But maybe that would have been a step too much in a movie with the LGBTQ storyline and the interracial storyline with the brother and best friend. Or maybe it just would not have allowed Fran's character to be in charge of some of those Christmas festivities.
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For some reason, I can't quote Chippings' post. But I agree and would also add that the James might have seen it as "fate" or "destiny." That this woman that he is falling for also happens to be the amazing nurse who helped his father and took such great care of him. And it was meant to be.
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8 hours ago, Valentine said:
I finally watched this, and I agree about the ridiculousness of those "dancing" shoes. I usually like CCB's movies, and I love Warren Christie in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but this movie was a fail for me. They seemed mismatched. He looked much better with facial hair and statuesque Brooke Burns.
It's funny - I'm usually one of those who doesn't like facial hair on a man. But Warren Christie is one that it does actually work for. I did like his look in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
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Just finished Christmas She Wrote. It was just okay. There were definitely problems with it, as others have said. The best part was the Goo Goo Dolls' Christmas song at the end.
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7 hours ago, kirinan said:
I watched the whole thing, and "just OK" was what I thought at the end. There's definitely more Warren Christie, but @Chippings was right--he had nothing to work with. Basically, it was two hours I didn't have to find something else to watch. And I got lots of solitaire played on my iPad.
I will say, for those who DVR'd it, fast-forward to sometime in the second hour when CCB dances on those impossibly glittery, impossibly high red stilettos for a good laugh. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she didn't do badly on Dancing With the Stars, but man, those shoes did her no favors. She clomped around like a total newbie, and I swear she was about to lose her balance a couple of times. How she didn't come out of it with a broken ankle is beyond me. What was the costume director or whoever made that decision thinking?
I agree, the movie was "just OK" or even a little blah and not sure the story made sense much of the time.
It's funny, the shoes stuck out to me, too. Possibly because it aired so soon after the waltz movie, where they commented specifically about how you need ballroom shoes. And in If I Only Had Christmas, I thought her earlier shoes did look more appropriate for dancing and thought maybe she had given that feedback. And Warren Christie's character comments on getting shoes from an actual place that sells dance shoes, so I was expecting new appropriate ones. Then magically, the ruby slippers end up being insane stilettos that are absolutely not for dancing. So the movie ended up losing even more points there after all, when it seemed like it might get that right at first. Not that the shoes played much of a role in how good/bad the movie was.
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15 hours ago, Callietwo said:
Yes, the premise Irlandesa described was accurate.
And though I too thought “That would NEVER happen in RL” at the way it ended with Cameras following them like that, I still absolutely loved the movie. (except and unless they were paparazzi cameras looking for a scoop on famous people but then they wouldn’t have been miked)
Allison & Marc are two favorites of mine; I love that they are age appropriate together and the play well off each other with chemistry galore.
When she walked off with the other guy the end, she seemed disappointed that he was the one that left the card and I was glad that misunderstanding was quickly rectified rather than typical Hallmark trope of Brian (Marc) packing his bag and leaving before she knew it was him.
I enjoyed it also, so I guess I will have to rewatch it to see how I missed that explanation initially. Hopefully I can get it to play without it skipping around a ton. So what was the girlfriend's surprise then, if he knew about the show?
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3 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:
Good Morning Christmas made choices that made me irrationally mad. They're stupid things but they made it tough for me to watch which is a shame because I tend to like Alison's Hallmark movies. She wasn't the problem.
Marc Blucas completely looked like an ex football player who had aged. Aged being the operative word. And had he wanted to break his contract because he got an opportunity to host a football show, I might have understood his position. But no, he was going to leave his #1 rated morning show (and you know those are super lucrative jobs that, had he left, famous people would have fought over) so he could have a lame reality show with the girlfriend he didn't even love?
And the producer telling her crew to turn on their microphones and put them on camera even though she knew that they likely were having a private moment was appalling to me. If I were that duo, I'd use my clout to have her fired.
I totally agree with your last point. For the other - I might have missed something because my SlingTV has been having issues with my recordings. But I didn't think he was leaving the show specifically to be on the reality show with his girlfriend. I thought he didn't even know his girlfriend was working on that as a possibility until later in the movie and that it was coincidental. I took it that he was just over the show in general. He was tired of working with Alison's character and her pressure to be more prepared, to do things he didn't care about (like showing an interest in Christmas), etc. and just wanted to move on. Then, when he and Alison got to know each other and like each other, he had a renewed interest in the show and working with her. Again, I could be completely wrong.
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Just watched Heart of the Holidays. My first recording was messed up. It was mostly boring, although I did watch to the end. I actually would have preferred Sam with Will and Noah should have gotten together with the other girl. Oh well.
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E01.08: After the Rain
in Bridgerton
· Edited by EyewatchTV211
The show writing probably also explains why so many are assuming that Penelope did what she did out of jealousy instead of that she did it to protect her friend. In her book, as she talks about her long history with Colin, Penelope acknowledges over and over that she has never had any chance with him and had no expectation of reciprocated feelings. She isn't stupid, she expected him to end up with someone. Of course she felt pain seeing his attentions elsewhere, but she didn't have Lady Whistledown spill the beans in a naive attempt to have a chance with him. Like Blackberry Jam, I think ultimately her goal was to protect Colin. And like Marina made youthful mistakes, Penelope also did in how she ultimately resolved the situation.