Countdown to Christmas 2024

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Saw The Christmas Secret again today. Once again, this one is a keeper, ending will have you reaching for the tissues. 

[Badsamaritan]

21 hours ago, giovannif7 said:

I, too, really enjoyed Deck The Walls. I loved the relationships established through the script and cast, especially the brother/sister banter between Rose and Sal (Ashley Greene and Danny Pellegrino), their connection with aunt Gigi (Carolyn Hennesy, mob lawyer Diane from General Hospital), and the work partnership with Sal and Brysen (Wes Brown). I have to admit, my eyes practically rolled out of my head when they first introduced Sal's love interest as his former school bully Jake (Claybourne Elder). But I was impressed by the way the script delved into the misunderstanding that led to the bullying, and the actors sold the shift in their connection once the truth came to light. Honestly, as much as I would have liked to see a kiss between Sal and Jake, it felt too soon.

I find myself hoping for a sequel that focuses on the the blossoming Sal/Jake romance as well as Rose and Brysen's path from first kiss to their wedding. Possibly having Jake produce/finance a home renovation series for partners Sal and Brysen, with Rose contributing her interior design expertise, as they all overcome the various obstacles and pitfalls along the way? I would really love to spend more time with these characters.

I liked Deck the Walls well enough but I think I would've liked it better with a different lead actress. I'm not a huge fan of Ashley Greene, she plays kinda one-note for me. She struck me as a sour puss a little too much, and her comic timing is not as good as all the other actors in the movie. I really like Wes Brown and he does a good job with creating chemistry with his costars but his and Ashley's energies felt off to me and not nearly as good as it could've been with someone like Bethany Joy, Rhiannon Fish, or Rachel Leigh Cook who all have good comedic chops and generate chemistry well. The brother/sister squabbling scenes would've been fantastic with RF or RLC, they're much more expressive (but Rhiannon, sweetheart, please stop injecting things into your face) and would've made those scenes even better.

I did surprisingly enjoy A Chiefs Love Story last night. No lie, I expected to hate-watch it because of all the promo and I'm not a sports ball person (which means I probably missed a lot of the cameos but that's ok) but I ended up really liking it and I will watch again. Hunter and Tyler had good chemistry and the family was awesome. I loved the side comments in the family about all the holiday movie 'meet cute' tropes and Hunter and Tyler overhearing all their plotting. I'm proud of Hunter, she's come a long way since her Y&R days, i wasn't sure if she could pull off comedy that well but she did. 

It's interesting, HM has 4 actresses in their pocket from CBS soaps: Hunter (Summer Newman, Y&R), Lyndsy Fonseca (Colleen Abbott Carlton, Y&R), Bethany Joy (Young Reva Shayne+Michelle Bauer), and Kim Matula (Hope Logan Forrester, B&B). They were all decently popular actresses, I'm glad they've found a home. 

[Kaoteek]

On 11/30/2024 at 8:11 AM, Irlandesa said:

Somewhat interesting double-header tonight. 

A 90s Christmas was okay for a time travel movie.  It's not my favorite genre. I think the only one I've liked recently is Katie Findlay's movie for Hallmark. I really struggled with the decision to set the movie in 1999 and have the same actors play the 17-18 year olds and 44-45 year olds in the present day when the actors didn't look like they could pull off either age.  Just a strange choice.   But hey, at least there was some good family content in this movie and a coming out story. 

Can't say I cared much for this one. I also struggled with the actors' ages, more than I expected to, it kinda felt like they cut corners during the production (continuity was sometimes all over the place - the artificial snow fixed on the roof of the magical Uber was quite obvious, being there in one shot, not there in another, then back, then not), and aside from a few winks here and there, I just felt the 90s setting was underutilized.

[EtheltoTillie]

Deck the Walls was a DNF for me.  I made it 10 minutes.  Oh, well, that's some more time back in my day.

[EtheltoTillie]

I'm really enjoying The Finnish Line!  I love dogs, and I love Kim Matula.  Even annoying Cheyenne from Superstore is doing a great job as the nice best friend.  Now, the come-from-behind dog racing plot may be a bit farfetched.

Edited December 2 by EtheltoTillie

[EtheltoTillie]

When that dog-racing villain struck Kim Matula's dog, I was reminded of my favorite movie, Breaking Away, when the Italian racers struck Dennis Christopher and threw him off his bike.

[Ele]

16 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I'm really enjoying The Finnish Line!  I love dogs, and I love Kim Matula.  Even annoying Cheyenne from Superstore is doing a great job as the nice best friend.  Now, the come-from-behind dog racing plot may be a bit farfetched.

I like Matula and Mirchoff a lot, but I was kind of disappointed. Matula’s character was way too uptight and came off as kinda annoying. She could have had the competitive and uptight characteristics without coming off as over the top. I stuck with it because the movie was engaging enough. 
 

I watched a bit of the Hemmens movie on HMM that was  reairing at the same time. It seemed decent. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Well, I did not have Kim Matula hanging of a cliff on my bingo card!  Scary.

But also did she cheat at the end by jettisoning the weighted bags? 

[jpgr]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

When that dog-racing villain struck Kim Matula's dog, I was reminded of my favorite movie, Breaking Away, when the Italian racers struck Dennis Christopher and threw him off his bike.

My brother and his team came in third in the Little 500 one year, and were in the crowd scenes of the movie!

I haven't watched this movie yet, but I'm sure it will be on another 100 times or so in the next few weeks so I'll get a chance.

[argrow]

Shirtless scene in The Finnish Line was highly appreciated. Was that the longest shirtless scene we've seen in a Hallmark movie?

[EtheltoTillie]

53 minutes ago, jpgr said:

My brother and his team came in third in the Little 500 one year, and were in the crowd scenes of the movie!

 

We're not worthy.  We're not worthy.  This is seriously mindboggling to a superfan like me.  My related brush with greatness is that Barbara Barrie lives in my neighborhood and used to go to my gym (now closed). 

[Irlandesa]

The Finnish Line was my favorite movie of the weekend, I think.  And this night of movies was superior to last night's two features.  It feels odd that they decided to air these two on Sunday vs. Saturday.

[EtheltoTillie]

Hey, no one has answered my question about cheating by throwing the weighted bags off the sled.  Please help.  This is a serious question.

[absnow54]

I am so far behind on this weekend’s offerings. I managed to watch Deck the Walls and agree with others. The story was solid, and I think they did a good job building backstories for each character. Ashley Greene isn’t my favorite. Her performances are typically wooden. I found her serviceable in this role, but agree that there are many actresses from Hallmarks rotation who would have done better. She needed some Type-A spunk, while Greene mostly played it “cool girl.”

I also watched a 90’s Christmas, which I really wanted to love but didn’t. The wigs were bad. I spent the entire movie trying to figure out what was going on with Chandler Massey’s hair. I think it was extensions because his hair was still bad in the present, but shorter. Anyway, I agree with others, they should have cast some 20-somethings or 40-somethings for the roles. Using 30-something actors was distracting because they either looked too young or too old. They do get major bonus points for the “I love Joshua Jackson” notebook, because 1999 was peak Pacey, but also timely since JJ is in the midst of a TV comeback. 

[bankerchick]

11 hours ago, argrow said:

Shirtless scene in The Finnish Line was highly appreciated. Was that the longest shirtless scene we've seen in a Hallmark movie?

Shirtless scenes seem to be few and far between these days.  At one time you could count on Christopher Russell, but he seems to have a new contract where the shirt stays on.  Did I mention it's been a while since I liked any of his movies?

[Kaoteek]

Struggled with Believe in Christmas. I know that the lead couple is a couple IRL, but eh. And the apparent age difference between the bff and her love interest just didn't work for me. Also, something fun could have been done by pushing the whole immersive experience premise even further, but alas...

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

On 12/1/2024 at 10:14 AM, Badsamaritan said:

I liked Deck the Walls well enough but I think I would've liked it better with a different lead actress. I'm not a huge fan of Ashley Greene, she plays kinda one-note for me. She struck me as a sour puss a little too much, and her comic timing is not as good as all the other actors in the movie. I really like Wes Brown and he does a good job with creating chemistry with his costars but his and Ashley's energies felt off to me and not nearly as good as it could've been with someone like Bethany Joy, Rhiannon Fish, or Rachel Leigh Cook who all have good comedic chops and generate chemistry well. The brother/sister squabbling scenes would've been fantastic with RF or RLC, they're much more expressive (but Rhiannon, sweetheart, please stop injecting things into your face) and would've made those scenes even better.

I did surprisingly enjoy A Chiefs Love Story last night. No lie, I expected to hate-watch it because of all the promo and I'm not a sports ball person (which means I probably missed a lot of the cameos but that's ok) but I ended up really liking it and I will watch again. Hunter and Tyler had good chemistry and the family was awesome. I loved the side comments in the family about all the holiday movie 'meet cute' tropes and Hunter and Tyler overhearing all their plotting. I'm proud of Hunter, she's come a long way since her Y&R days, i wasn't sure if she could pull off comedy that well but she did. 

It's interesting, HM has 4 actresses in their pocket from CBS soaps: Hunter (Summer Newman, Y&R), Lyndsy Fonseca (Colleen Abbott Carlton, Y&R), Bethany Joy (Young Reva Shayne+Michelle Bauer), and Kim Matula (Hope Logan Forrester, B&B). They were all decently popular actresses, I'm glad they've found a home. 

Loved__ A Chiefs Love Story !!! The 2 leads were perfect, I think Tyler's performance was the best  I've ever seen him do. Like he was just playing a regular guy. This one's a keeper. Ed Begley Jr. stole the show in my opinion.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I thought Santa looked familiar. He's the same actor who played Olaf the troll who was married to Anya way back (20 years ago?)   in that episode on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

[Badsamaritan]

7 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

I thought Santa looked familiar. He's the same actor who played Olaf the troll who was married to Anya way back (20 years ago?)   in that episode on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

Yes! He was also Jerry on ER for a long time but I loved him as Olaf the troll on BtVS. The episode 'Triangle' will be in rotation next week I think on Fuse. They're in early season 5 right now for BtVS. 

[absnow54]

On 12/2/2024 at 5:35 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

Hey, no one has answered my question about cheating by throwing the weighted bags off the sled.  Please help.  This is a serious question.

I don’t know that it was explained, but it seemed like they were supposed to toss the weights (disguised as a sack of presents) at the Christmas trees. She wasn’t the only one doing it, as there was already at least one sack under the tree when she dropped hers. 

[EtheltoTillie]

52 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

I don’t know that it was explained, but it seemed like they were supposed to toss the weights (disguised as a sack of presents) at the Christmas trees. She wasn’t the only one doing it, as there was already at least one sack under the tree when she dropped hers. 

Thanks, I was so confused.  Your explanation makes sense.   But they talked about disguising the weights at one point, and that sounded like cheating.  I think I can live with this explanation LOL. 

[Daff]

7 hours ago, Badsamaritan said:

Yes! He was also Jerry on ER for a long time but I loved him as Olaf the troll on BtVS. The episode 'Triangle' will be in rotation next week I think on Fuse. They're in early season 5 right now for BtVS. 

Jerry was one of the actors keeping me watching ER, week after week-at a time when “tape” space and vcr capabilities were very limited. Loved that character.

[bankerchick]

8 hours ago, Badsamaritan said:

Yes! He was also Jerry on ER

Thank you.  I rewound and stopped play a few times because I knew I knew him but couldn't place him.  Did the same thing for the mom before finally breaking down and checking imdb, only to realize she was the reason I stopped watching the sitcom she was in.

[Kaoteek]

I think I liked the idea of The Christmas Quest more than the execution, which lacked energy, danger, action - heck, everything that makes a good adventure movie (even considering the fact that it was a Hallmark Christmas movie masquerading as an adventure movie). It wasn't bad (though the final cavern, and its cheap decorations + candles all lit up, was pretty bad), and i'm glad Lacey got another one of her paid vacations, but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

As for the Succession/Mrs Miracle quasi-crossover, eh. I don't know, it felt kinda forced - Rachel Boston's Ashley Williams-esque enthousiasm, the plot, the characters... I just never really got on board. And I'm not a huge fan of Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes.

[Orcinus orca]

25 minutes ago, Kaoteek said:

I think I liked the idea of The Christmas Quest more than the execution, which lacked energy, danger, action - heck, everything that makes a good adventure movie (even considering the fact that it was a Hallmark Christmas movie masquerading as an adventure movie). It wasn't bad (though the final cavern, and its cheap decorations + candles all lit up, was pretty bad), and i'm glad Lacey got another one of her paid vacations, but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

I loved The Christmas Quest for one thing and one thing only - the shots of Iceland.  Otherwise the whole premise was so stupid.  Zillions of people searching for this treasure for hundreds of years and these two end up stumbling upon each and every clue with minimal effort.  And the ex-husband is one single living human that can crack the code?  My eyes rolled back so far I could read the tag in my shirt.

[Kaoteek]

To my surprise, I really enjoyed The Finnish Line. It was different enough, funny enough and snarky enough to make up for the obvious Santa Claus village sponsoring, and it went places I didn't expect it to. A nice surprise.

(and I'm also quite enjoying the Holidazed series)

[roughing it]

So I'm a little confused...are we supposed to be posting Hallmark movies here on this thread (Countdown to Christmas) or the Hallmark Movie thread.  Or both?  Well it's obviously both, but would be easier to track if only on one thread.

[bankerchick]

 

1 hour ago, roughing it said:

So I'm a little confused...are we supposed to be posting Hallmark movies here on this thread (Countdown to Christmas) or the Hallmark Movie thread.  Or both?  Well it's obviously both, but would be easier to track if only on one thread.

I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason to which one is for what.

I guess since this one is Countdown to Christmas, this is where I post comments about Holidazed or Finding Mr. Christmas?

Finding Mr. Christmas is disappointing.  I don't find any of the guys particularly appealing, and the whole 'contest' is kinda dumb.  Let's have a skater fall down in front of the guys to see who is kind enough to help her up??  Will probably watch to the end but don't care if I ever see a movie with any of these guys in it.

I really liked the pilot of Holidazed and the episode about the guy from Ghost of Christmas Always.  Even Erin Cahill, usually a definite 'no' for me, didn't spoil it.  The next episode was dumb - I kept waiting for Grandma to tell these guys to stop being so stupid, of course she knows they're gay.  (I'm not a fan of farce as a rule.)  Last night's episode was the worst so far.  The lead actress (the redhead) has as much charisma as a wet rag.  Coincidentally, I watched a movie with her in it yesterday (Trevor Donovan is an NFL player, and she is the completely milquetoast love interest) and unless she's someone's daughter/niece/she has blackmail on someone, there is no explicable reason why she is cast.  I do have a general question about this series though - is there going to be a final episode to wrap everything up?  The whole premise seems weird; have a show about a family that ends unresolved, then come back some weeks later to find out how it all turns out (as if we don't know they will all live happily ever after.)

[Kaoteek]

Yeah, that's the format, IIRC. Six families = six episodes + 1 intro episode + 1 outro episodes where everyone will probably help each other during the storm, and end up celebrating Christmas all together.

[DanaMB]

4 hours ago, roughing it said:

So I'm a little confused...are we supposed to be posting Hallmark movies here on this thread (Countdown to Christmas) or the Hallmark Movie thread.  Or both?  Well it's obviously both, but would be easier to track if only on one thread.

When the Christmas movies started there was talk of having a separate thread for this year’s Christmas movies. It may have been to keep the other thread for all other Hallmark movie talk since some people weren’t ready for Christmas movies so early? I don’t remember the details.  But if everyone wants this thread merged with the other one we can probably reach out to a mod to see if it can be done. 

[Ele]

Looking forward to A Dance in the Snow tomorrow followed by Christmas Under the Lights as I only watched a few snippets of the latter. They are both on HMM.

[Irlandesa]

5 hours ago, DanaMB said:

When the Christmas movies started there was talk of having a separate thread for this year’s Christmas movies. It may have been to keep the other thread for all other Hallmark movie talk since some people weren’t ready for Christmas movies so early? I don’t remember the details.  But if everyone wants this thread merged with the other one we can probably reach out to a mod to see if it can be done. 

I think I asked if people wanted it because we have a whole forum now that allows for separate threads so why not play around with it?  This way, if someone sees a movie next year that was initially aired in 2024 and wants to see what people think of it, they'll easily be able to find the posts specifically related to Christmas movies from 2024 instead of trying to find them in a much longer thread. 

But I don't think there are any rules.  It's similar to when there were just threads for Hallmark and Hallmark mysteries and a separate Christmas movie thread.  There was no rhyme or reason where people chose to post when it came to holiday movies.  Some people are going to post in the main thread.  Others here.  

I try to keep my thoughts here just because I think it makes for a nice reference place but I'll respond in the other thread too.

[Daff]

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think I asked if people wanted it because we have a whole forum now that allows for separate threads so why not play around with it?  This way, if someone sees a movie next year that was initially aired in 2024 and wants to see what people think of it, they'll easily be able to find the posts specifically related to Christmas movies from 2024 instead of trying to find them in a much longer thread. 

But I don't think there are any rules.  It's similar to when there were just threads for Hallmark and Hallmark mysteries and a separate Christmas movie thread.  There was no rhyme or reason where people chose to post when it came to holiday movies.  Some people are going to post in the main thread.  Others here.  

I try to keep my thoughts here just because I think it makes for a nice reference place but I'll respond in the other thread too.

It’s not an imposition to check both threads. I assumed the countdown thread is for 2024 premiers. The HM, apparently for Christmas movies from past years.

[GeorgiaRai]

For many years, I only watched Hallmark Christmas, and still watch more of the holiday movies than anything else, so I really appreciate having separate threads!

As for keeping track of movie names, plots and actors, I've been using Pinterest for that over the last few years. I save an image of movies I like, then I can scroll through and refresh my memory as to what's worth re-watching or recording. 

Like this one: 

Edited December 5 by GeorgiaRai

[ButterQueen]

I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but thought I would share.  I have Xfinity and recently did a general search of free Christmas movies.  I found so many of the old Hallmark movies.  Hope this helps.

[Orcinus orca]

I found one of my favorites for free on plex - A Season for Miracles.  Has commercials but so did the original since it was a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.

[DanaMB]

13 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think I asked if people wanted it because we have a whole forum now that allows for separate threads so why not play around with it?  This way, if someone sees a movie next year that was initially aired in 2024 and wants to see what people think of it, they'll easily be able to find the posts specifically related to Christmas movies from 2024 instead of trying to find them in a much longer thread. 

But I don't think there are any rules.  It's similar to when there were just threads for Hallmark and Hallmark mysteries and a separate Christmas movie thread.  There was no rhyme or reason where people chose to post when it came to holiday movies.  Some people are going to post in the main thread.  Others here.  

I try to keep my thoughts here just because I think it makes for a nice reference place but I'll respond in the other thread too.

I like the separate threads, too, but thought maybe I was alone.  Glad to see others like it, too.

 

[roughing it]

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I get it, this one for current movies and the other for previous movies.  Makes sense, I was just confused which is typical of me 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/4/2024 at 2:05 PM, roughing it said:

So I'm a little confused...are we supposed to be posting Hallmark movies here on this thread (Countdown to Christmas) or the Hallmark Movie thread.  Or both?  Well it's obviously both, but would be easier to track if only on one thread.

I've been trying to post new movies here and older movies on the other thread.  But if people have already posted in the "wrong" thread, I have still gone on to comment.

Count me as disappointed in The Christmas Quest.   I did not understand the quest.  Lacey's mom's life's work was assembling a room full of Christmas junk?   Was there any ancient artifact found?

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

That will be in the next Quest movie next year?

[Daff]

11 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I've been trying to post new movies here and older movies on the other thread.  But if people have already posted in the "wrong" thread, I have still gone on to comment.

Count me as disappointed in The Christmas Quest.   I did not understand the quest.  Lacey's mom's life's work was assembling a room full of Christmas junk?   Was there any ancient artifact found?

I think the point was that her mom eventually realized that her single minded focus on her profession caused her to miss out on the things that enrich her life (those things that others in the movie kept talking about). So, the mom left the clues to the “real” life’s treasure buried in the cave, hoping her daughter found them before it was too late.

4 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

That will be in the next Quest movie next year?

So, that would be a satisfying family life and celebrations with friends and loved ones.

[Orcinus orca]

2 hours ago, Daff said:

I think the point was that her mom eventually realized that her single minded focus on her profession caused her to miss out on the things that enrich her life (those things that others in the movie kept talking about). So, the mom left the clues to the “real” life’s treasure buried in the cave, hoping her daughter found them before it was too late.

So she doomed her daughter to exactly the same life.  Great planning.

[Daff]

Well, I did say before it was too late.

[Clawdette]

I'll pass on commenting on Private Princess Christmas as a movie, but I must comment on how beautiful Erica Durance is. She probably has had some work done but she looks natural and youthful.  If she has had some tweaking, she needs to share her doctor's name so we all can use her/him.

[absnow54]

I kind of tuned out of Private Princess Christmas when I realized Erica Durance has been relegated to the supporting mom roles. The Brendan Penny cameo was fun!

[EtheltoTillie]

I like Private Princess, because I love Private Benjamin. I don’t know the Erica Durance actress. My only quibble is the same one we had with A Reason For the Season (the single mother who gave birth in a diner and became rich). The princess had become a brat but why didn’t her mother do something earlier?  

I had to quit the Christmas Dance movie and the Christmas Under the Lights. Too boring. 

[Lugal]

14 hours ago, absnow54 said:

I kind of tuned out of Private Princess Christmas when I realized Erica Durance has been relegated to the supporting mom roles.

Yeah, that's weird. Especially since I remember her from her Smallville days like this:

[Woopwoopkitty]

On 12/3/2024 at 6:37 AM, EtheltoTillie said:

Thanks, I was so confused.  Your explanation makes sense.   But they talked about disguising the weights at one point, and that sounded like cheating.  I think I can live with this explanation LOL. 

While telling Kim about the new weight rule he tells her that the good news is they’ll be disguising the weight to stay on theme.  I thinks it’s safe to infer that the big red bag of “presents” is the disguise

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

On 12/6/2024 at 9:10 PM, absnow54 said:

I kind of tuned out of Private Princess Christmas when I realized Erica Durance has been relegated to the supporting mom roles. The Brendan Penny cameo was fun!

Tried to enjoy Princess For Christmas , way too much kumbaya when it comes to adults doing boot camp with a military theme. May have worked as a summer camp for kids. 

[absnow54]

Sugarplummed was fun. I like when Hallmark is silly and self referential. I think it would have been fun to have more clips from Sugarplummed films sprinkled throughout. I still think A Christmas Movie Christmas (an UPtv movie) did Christmas movie satire better.