Holiday TV Movies & (Non-Rankin Bass) Holiday Specials - General Discussion

[dalek]

I wish they'd show the holiday episodes of some of the Nickelodeon cartoons from the 1990s, such as the Rugrats Hanukah episode, and the Christmas episodes of Rocko's Modern Life and Hey Arnold.

In terms of movies, Christmas Angel starring Bruce Davison never gets shown anymore, although it does currently seem to be up on youtube.

I thought Hitched for the Holidays was cute.  I liked when his family went completely overboard in being supportive and bought and decorated their place with what seemed to be every menorah in the city.

[ShelleySue]

On December 12, 2016 at 3:30 PM, Shanna Marie said:

I caught Christmas in Connecticut on TCM yesterday, and I found myself wondering how the usual holiday movie purveyors (Hallmark, Lifetime, UP, ION, etc.) have managed not to do a ripoff of this one -- or have they?

It was remade as a boring, stupid, silly, horrible movie.  Can you tell that I didn't like it?

It's official.  Very few of the movies this year are distinguishing themselves from each other.  I liked Journey Back to Christmas because it was so different.  I just hope that next year we don't have a batch of new time travel holiday movies.

Does anyone know why Hallmark (both channels) is constantly recycling the same movies.  Why don't they show some of the other older ones too?

[Shanna Marie]

23 minutes ago, ShelleySue said:

It was remade as a boring, stupid, silly, horrible movie.

I knew there was an actual remake of Christmas in Connecticut. But these holiday movies tend to do serial numbers filed off versions of more famous movies. Like A Crown for Christmas was basically The Sound of Music with one kid and no music or Nazis (unqualified perky person hired to be governess for widower's kid who's driven off previous governesses, new governess bonds with kid and wakes up the whole household, but there's an evil potential fiancee of the widower's social class who has secret plans to send the kid off to boarding school). Or there was that one that was Sliding Doors, only catching a plane vs catching a train (in one reality, woman catches train/plane and has fabulous success that's somehow lacking, in other reality she misses it, which leads to her catching boyfriend cheating, lots of career struggles, but then leads her to where she needs to be). A Christmas Kiss was Working Girl (put-upon assistant has great success with a project and with her evil boss's boyfriend while boss is away, then boss returns and takes credit). There was the variation on The Holiday, but using the city vs. small town idea Hallmark loves, and the twist that it was guys trading homes for Christmas instead of women, but otherwise it was plot point by plot point, with the one in the small town falling for the homeowner's single parent sibling after initially wanting to give up and leave and the one in the city falling for the homeowner's colleague but being tempted by the return of the evil ex. Then there are the numerous Groundhog Day variations, but at least most of those don't seem to adhere to the source material plot point by plot point like these. They just play with the concept of reliving the day until you get it right. But there doesn't seem to have been a Not!Christmas in Connecticut -- really! It's set in California, and it's about blogging, and the guy is a police officer instead of a war hero, so it's totally different! -- with a bland, generic title like Home for the Holidays or A Christmas Visit.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Shanna Marie
typo patrol

[twoods]

I still grin like a giddy fangirl when I see Sascha dance. A Nutcracker Christmas was decent enough- I liked how different it was from the other movies. I had no idea that Amy Acker used to be a dancer- I was impressed how decent she was considering she's an actress. I liked her in Dear, Santa better. 

Edited December 15, 2016 by twoods

[Valentine]

15 hours ago, dalek said:

In terms of movies, Christmas Angel starring Bruce Davison never gets shown anymore, although it does currently seem to be up on youtube.

They've been showing it on the BYU channel (I didn't know there was such a thing). I've watched it twice!

[twoods]

18 minutes ago, Valentine said:

They've been showing it on the BYU channel (I didn't know there was such a thing). I've watched it twice!

Thank you! It's on this Sunday and I've always wanted to watch it. 

[EyewatchTV211]

3 hours ago, twoods said:

Thank you! It's on this Sunday and I've always wanted to watch it. 

I think I said this last year, but I'm disappointed it isn't repeated on one of the regular channels. I don't get BYU, and I enjoyed this movie. :(

[Shanna Marie]

I got around to watching A Cinderella Christmas tonight, and it's my favorite of the year so far. I liked all the cast (well, loved to hate the cousin), the acting was pretty good, and everyone had good chemistry. I liked that they did a Cinderella story that put the ball up front and then spent most of the movie on the aftermath. I just kind of felt like the guy was at times a little too stupid to live. Who plans a wedding to a person he doesn't even know? He did figure her out, but not quickly enough for him not to look like an idiot. She had good reason to be wary of him. I hope the wedding at the end was a "one year later" thing and that they didn't get married the next day. Even the engagement seemed a little rushed. I'm just going to pretend that they took a year to plan the wedding and got to know each other a bit better.

Though one thing almost threw me out of the movie from the start: the opening scene shows her taking cookies out of the oven, like she's been baking, but they were very obviously Pepperidge Farms cookies. There were Milanos on that tray, which don't come out of the oven that way. You'd have to put the chocolate between the two halves. If you're going to stick store-bought cookies on a baking sheet for a baking scene, they probably shouldn't be iconic brand cookies. Buy a tin of those Danish butter cookies, or something.

Still, I didn't delete this one from the DVR. I may give it another watch.

[twoods]

Watching the old movie "Will You Merry Me" about the Jewish girl and Christian guy who are engaged, families get together and hilarity ensues, and I can't get past the irritating voice of the lead actress. Plus she's vegan but eats yogurt? And how can his mom not know that duck is meat? What potential.

Thank goodness Let It Snow is on- it never gets old no matter how many times I watch it. I like how the mom is so nice and warm and not the cliche bitch mom that Hallmark tends to throw at us. Seeing Alan Thicke's character makes me sad though.

Edited December 16, 2016 by twoods

[MissyPoo]

15 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

Does anyone know why Hallmark (both channels) is constantly recycling the same movies.  Why don't they show some of the other older ones too?

1

You noticed that too, huh? Last year I kept seeing Boyfriend for Christmas but this year I keep seeing the same ones every day. I wonder if it's because they deleted some off the list this year so they have to scramble and put repeats on. At least they aren't showing the same movie one evening and then hours later like they did last year. But yeah, way too many repeats of the same movie. And it doesn't help that the titles are so similar. (I keep mistaking Love You Like Christmas with Looks Like Christmas, blah).

[Kaoteek]

Hearts of Christmas was okay, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that it was written either by some ex NICU nurse, or by someone closely affiliated to one (hence the constant, awkward exposition/praise from the characters about how great the NICU & its people are), and/or that the movie only got made if they could find some outside sponsoring/financing to pay for most of it (hence the recurring product placement, whether for national brands, or local establishments, or even the hospital). It didn't feel like a Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie at all, yet the fact that Hallmark aired it there just feels like the network just didn't really believe in it, right from the start. Weird.

And while we're in the "business man wants to sell beloved building at Christmas but falls for the cute girl working there after butting heads with her" & "it's on Hallmark Movies & Mystery, but doesn't really fits the brand" categories, Sound of Christmas (aka Twelve Trees of Christmas II, only less cartoony, and with less trees) was decent, but utterly unmemorable. Part of the problem was the predictable plot, and the uneven acting (Dunne's boss couldn't be flatter, and even Lindy Booth kinda overacted here and there), but mostly, it just felt on auto-pilot to me.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Kaoteek

[JenMD]

On 12/12/2016 at 4:34 PM, twoods said:

Love You Like a Christmas was decent enough. I hated that by usual Hallmark standards the female lead was wretched for having a career that she actually cared about. Oh no she had to answer a call from her boss instead of hang out with the bored preteen! Ruined the good chemistry that the leads had.

Yeah, wasn't she actually on a work trip?  The wedding that she was driving to was for a client and she was trying to finish up whatever post-Christmas marketing project she was working on, so it didn't seem like she was actually taking a vacation.  The movie really didn't grab my full attention so I might've missed an explanation, but it kept bugging me how apologetic she'd get.  I did try to ignore that yet again a Christmas movie has a marketing person working on a Christmas-related promotion at Christmas.  The acting was fine, but I did wish I'd liked the story more.

On 12/13/2016 at 0:15 AM, Misslindsey said:

I liked Sound of Christmas. It had a somewhat similar story to Hearts of Christmas, but I still enjoyed it. I must be getting easy. One thing that I liked was that they were city people not longing for a quaint small town Christmas. As someone who lives in Chicago, cities have Christmas too! Oh and the teenaged daughter was not obnoxious, which was a bonus.

This one was fine, too.  I think I liked it a bit more than Love You Like Christmas, although neither will be on my must rewatch list.  Story was good, if nothing groundbreaking, but man, was that fake piano playing by everyone just wretched. 

@Shanna Marie, I caught the Milano cookies on the tray in A Cinderella Christmas, too, that was hilarious.

So far, I've found I've been having much more run rewatching old favorites (12 Dates of Christmas, Mistletones, A Royal Christmas, among others) to be way more enjoyable than most of the new stuff I've made it through this year.

[twoods]

2 hours ago, JenMD said:

Yeah, wasn't she actually on a work trip?  

So far, I've found I've been having much more run rewatching old favorites (12 Dates of Christmas, Mistletones, A Royal Christmas, among others) to be way more enjoyable than most of the new stuff I've made it through this year.

She was on a work trip that everyone knew about, but she was so rude for working instead of enjoying Christmas. Ridiculous.

I agree on the old movies. I still have new stuff that i need to watch but I would rather watch the old movies again because I already know they are enjoyable.

[JenMD]

My Christmas Love, totally generic title aside, was a complete winner for me.  I laughed (a lot), I cried, I cared about how all these characters came out at the end.  It had a decent budget (that only stretched so far apparently, those poor 9 Ladies Dancing looked like they were wearing Home Ec projects), good acting, a decent script and a not terribly rushed ending.  I was kind of shocked we got to see the sister's wedding and the reception.  I guessed the sender of the gifts at about the 20 minute mark, but I did enjoy the mystery of it all, anyway.  It's because I enjoyed the whole thing so much that I can overlook the kinds of things that would normally bug me, like people getting live animals as presents, or what they're supposed to do with all that milk, or why they got all the gifts over again on day 12.  I really liked the struggles all the characters went through and thought the leads had some really lovely chemistry, but I thought the whole cast gelled really well, too.  Plus there was Gregory Harrison.  I mean, he's on my "Actors Who Automatically Make Things Better" list, so I knew it couldn't be a total loss.  I just really enjoyed this one. 

[Kaoteek]

Holiday Joy... meh. Been there, seen that. Also, despite Bailee Madison's energy, it was kinda dull in the long run, especially after that pre-wish segment, which was unvoluntarily hilarious, with its cheap, bad wigs and fake belly on Bailee "because she's a nerd".

As for A Christmas in Vermont (aka A Vermont Christmas Vacation), I don't have much to say about it. It was your standard ION/Hybrid production directed by Fred Olen Ray, with kinda sad cameos by Chevy Chase & Morgan Fairchild, and a female lead that initially had me doing constant double takes, thinking she was Janet Varney's sister or a lookalike or something. And then that made me think I'd like to see Janet Varney in a comedic Christmas movie, and I kind of halfway paid attention to the story after that. Then again, it was a very pedestrian effort (and i'm not saying that because they're walking-and-talking everywhere, in this movie ^^), so there wasn't much to miss there. At least the leads had chemistry.

(gotta say I had a good laugh when I noticed "A Prince for Christmas" on the town's theater marquee, though. )

[Irlandesa]

21 hours ago, JenMD said:

My Christmas Love, totally generic title aside, was a complete winner for me.  I laughed (a lot), I cried, I cared about how all these characters came out at the end.

Yes.  Finally.  A movie worth rewatching.  I've likedish a few movies this season but there have been way too many meh to horrible movies to get through to get here--and I'm not just talking Hallmark either.  (A Husband for Christmas, for instance, is probably the worst movie of the year for me.)

What worked about My Christmas Love was that it was just a pretty good romcom that just happened to take place during the Christmas season.  There was lots of Christmas but no one had to learn some magical lesson or meaning of Christmas.  It wasn't about the value of a small town.  Or one's family.  She valued both city and country and loved her family.  Nope, the lesson she "learned" could have been placed in any romcom at any time of year and worked. 

A big plus is that the lead actors had so much personality and chemistry.  Meredith Hagner was great last year in A Gift-Wrapped Christmas and I remember liking Bobby Campo as the wayward brother in Snow Bride.  They made a great pairing and much of the angst came from the subtleties of actors being able to convey the inner turmoil of jealousy.  As someone who loves romcoms, very few Hallmark movies hire both lead actors with the ability to bring that so it's really nice to see when it happens.

And that doesn't even touch on the other relationships done well.  I loved how the sisters were different, could even annoy one another but we saw over and over how much they not only loved one another but were friends.  I adore Gregory Harrison and he was great here too and really built a family feeling around his daughters and their love interests.  I also low key shipped the sister with her fiance.  It was a nice little twist that they had to make a bit of a journey as well.

I need to delete movies to clear space on my DVR but I think I might let this one linger a bit--although I'm sure I'll be able to record it next year.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Irlandesa

[twoods]

The commercials for My Christmas Love looked terrible so I didn't record it but good thing Hallmark is probably going to air it all week. Glad that you guys enjoyed the movie- looking forward to watching it!

I enjoyed Ice Sculpure Christmas last year which is the only reason why I recorded Sleigh Bells Ring because of the lead actor, but the whole premise of the movie centering around a used Sleigh seems hokey. Hope it's decent.

Edited December 18, 2016 by twoods

[kirinan]

Ha! I just discovered something that tickled me. I'm watching "Every Christmas Has a Story" for the umpteenth time (yes, yes, but that's the power Colin Ferguson has over me--in fact, I'm seriously consider buying the DVD, don't judge me), and the movie theater in town is showing "A Very Crawford Christmas." I've noticed that every time, and today I finally looked it up. "A Very Crawford Christmas is actually a drag stage show that originated in San Francisco! I LOVE that! I don't know how it made it past the Hallmark Family Values Police, but it made my day that it did. 

ETA: Okay, even though I know I trashed the blandness of the commercial for My Christmas Love, I'm going to check it out. Irlandesa hasn't steered me wrong yet. Not to mention she's a fellow Love At the Thanksgiving Day Parade/Antonio Cupo appreciator--'nuff said. :)

Edited December 18, 2016 by kirinan

[againstthewind]

Also loved A Christmas Love. It's probably my favorite this year. I was invested in everyone's story, no wacky hijinks and the characters seemed to behave like real people. Meredith hagner reminded me of someone - I couldn't pinpoint it.

[Misslindsey]

I will echo enjoying A Christmas Love as well. I agree the commercials for it looked terrible. I really liked the cast. The characters behaved like adults and I was interested in every character's story, which is rare for me. 

I finally watched Season Greetings. I did like it. There were some parts that I felt I missed things because they happened offscreen, but overall I liked it. One thing that I enjoyed was that it took place over a year, so the two leads did not just meet and fall in love in three days.

Small voice.....I did not like Journey Back to Christmas. I thought I would like it despite being a Candace Cameron Bure (She is usually a deal breaker in my cheesy movie watching along with Shane Grimes Beech and Jessica Lowndes) movie because it is time travel, but I did not. I just could not get into it. I do not know if it was my mood or something. Maybe I will try again another time.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Misslindsey

[Kaoteek]

Not a huge fan of A Dream of Christmas. Not only because I'd just watched Holiday Joy 48h earlier, but also because of the ending felt... awkward. Especially when you take into account the production title of the movie, "It's a Wonderful Wife".  Yeesh. That said, aside from the ending, the movie was overall competent and the cast likeable.

Finding Father Christmas wasn't my cup of tea, either. Too "Movies & Mysteries", if that makes any sense. Nothing particularly bad in and of itself, aside from the slow pacing, but I just didn't really care much for the mystery or the romance... too sappy for my taste.

[In2You]

I watched Season's Greetings with the family. They laughed alot during the roof scene though my sister did mention the abrupt cutting of scenes and how some stuff played out offscreen.

[VartanFan]

Saw Christmas Love and found that central 'love' story to be the weakest part of the movie.  I did not guess the gift-given, which is somewhat suprising and was NOT a fan of the about-face "I've loved you forever" (i guess why the central romance fell flat for me).  

Love Gregory Harrison (will always adore the Au Pair movies) and so was happy to see him.  

I don't watch many of these movies but saw a rerun of Christmas Cookie (or Cookie Jar?) yesterday and thought that one was pretty good.

[twoods]

34 minutes ago, In2You said:

I watched Season's Greetings with the family. They laughed alot during the roof scene though my sister did mention the abrupt cutting of scenes and how some stuff played out offscreen.

Exactly, like the death of his grandfather. I was wondering why he was so distraught over losing the girl but then realized he was mourning his grandfather's death. Same with the minor characters getting together. I think they cut a lot of scenes out.

Edited December 19, 2016 by twoods

[Shanna Marie]

Seasons Greetings may be my new favorite for the year. The cast was good, there was great chemistry, it actually made me laugh, and it made me cry. With slightly better production values and better editing, this one might even have worked as a big-screen romcom. I liked that it spanned a whole year, so they weren't having their entire relationship take place between Thanksgiving and Christmas, though I thought the proposal at the end was a bit much, considering they weren't even speaking at that time and had never actually dated. But otherwise, I liked it enough to save on the DVR for a repeat viewing.

I had very mixed feelings about A Nutcracker Christmas. I liked the actors and the relationship, but there were things that really bugged me. For one, I thought her reaction to everything was way over the top. He was right to not think she should dance in the state she was in, as she realized. He would have been as at risk for problems if she was distracted as she was, so he wasn't just deciding on her behalf. For her to give up everything to do with dance over that one thing was a bit much. Then there was the timing of everything. I'm not a serious dancer, but I take adult classes for exercise at a serious ballet school, and there's no way they'd be starting Nutcracker rehearsals after Christmas decorations were already up. The stuff happening in this movie would have been happening in October. I seriously doubt that a company in a city the size of Philadelphia would have just one performance on Christmas. They'd be starting performances around Thanksgiving. And then it would be physically impossible for someone who hadn't done anything even remotely dance-related in eight years to be able to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy in just a week or so of rehearsals. I could buy him, since him being involved in the company meant he was probably doing some dance on a daily basis, but her doing all that without having put on pointe shoes in eight years? Completely ridiculous. It might have worked if she'd become a ballet teacher back home, so that she was essentially taking three or so classes a day, still doing pointe, and was in amazing dance shape and just needed to review the choreography, but not after eight years away. That was when the movie totally lost me.

However, I was impressed that Amy Acker was able to do as much as she did at her age and after as long as she's been away from serious dance.

[In2You]

1 hour ago, twoods said:

Exactly, like the death of his grandfather. I was wondering why he was so distraught over losing the girl but then realized he was mourning his grandfather's death. Same with the minor characters getting together. I think they cut a lot of scenes out.

And the bff confronting Will about the consultant's lies.

[againstthewind]

So I caught last year's The Spirit of Christmas on Lifetime tonight and also quite enjoyed it, despite the premise being kind of squicky. I may have teared up once or twice - I'm such a sarcastic cynic in my "real" life that my friends are astounded that I love these movies so much. Also, I've been told I look a lot like Jen Lilley, and plausible deniability aside, I'd wait around all year for twelve days of whomever played Daniel's hot ass too.

[Kaoteek]

I did enjoy Season's Greetings, aka "let's set a romantic comedy at Hallmark headquarters, and make it a big, loud, farcical movie". It wasn't particularly subtle (whether in acting or in writing), but it was mostly a fun, light-hearted movie with a few sound issues here and there (they needed a better mic, or a better boom operator), and excentric supporting characters.  A nice surprise.

[Shanna Marie]

49 minutes ago, In2You said:

And the bff confronting Will about the consultant's lies.

Yeah, I felt like there was a big gap there between the bff (loved that character) overhearing the consultant and Will's change of heart. I can connect the dots, but I felt like something was missing. And I felt like it was a big lurch between the confrontation at the hospital and the scene that was obviously after the grandfather's death. That scene with the assistant coming over with the grandfather's stuff and Will collapsing on her shoulder was really well done and made me cry. It's one of the better depictions of male grief I've seen on TV. I also noticed the sound issues. I wonder if this one is out on DVD and if it would be the uncut version with the missing scenes.

[BooBear]

On 12/14/2016 at 4:52 AM, mamadrama said:

Am I the only person that prefers the Lifetime ripoff Comfort and Joy to The Family Man? The Family Man is, by far, one of my most hated films. I don't like any of the characters but actually thought Nicholas Cage was better off in his "real" life without the family. Maybe it is because I couldn't stand Tea Leoni's character. I also get this kind of "success shaming" message and it rubs me the wrong way. With Comfort and Joy, however, she legitimately seems happier. 

No you aren't the only one.  I think Comfort and Joy is way better than the Family man.   I find the Family man to be kind of repugnant. I do think that Nic Cage's character would be better off without the family.  In Comfort and Joy, the family imho sells that they love Nancy McKeon's character right from the second she wakes. So it isn't so much that her life sucks prior to the accident, just that it could be so much better. 

[sacrebleu]

Quote

Meredith Hagner was great last year in A Gift-Wrapped Christmas and I remember liking Bobby Campo as the wayward brother in Snow Bride.  

 

Sharing the affection for this movie. The actors were better than the material. I thought Hagner was really charming in A Gift-Wrapped Christmas as well. I also liked that there were other stories beyond the main one-- the relationship of the bride and groom, the dad taking a few small steps back into the world after his wife's death. 

I will say I figured out the gift mystery pretty early on. But this was probably the best (low bar) Hallmark movie this year IMO.

[Twilight Man]

Let's watch every single Lifetime holiday movie and then rank them.

(May God have mercy on your soul, you poor human being).

 

It's a Yahoo article, so, as you can guess, they don't know how to count.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Twilight Man

[EyewatchTV211]

12 minutes ago, Twilight Man said:

Let's watch every single Lifetime holiday movie and then rank them.

(May God have mercy on your soul, you poor human being).

 

It's a Yahoo article, so, as you can guess, they don't know how to count.

They got it from Elle, who has the full list on their website. I don't quite agree with much of their rankings, but oh well http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/g29238/lifetime-christmas-movies-ranked/

[Valentine]

9 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

They got it from Elle, who has the full list on their website. I don't quite agree with much of their rankings, but oh well http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/g29238/lifetime-christmas-movies-ranked/

I don't agree with their rankings, either. That list is far from complete. Sad that without even really thinking about it, I could come up with several Lifetime (not just holiday movies, Lifetime holiday movies) that weren't on the list.

[EyewatchTV211]

I also don't agree with the order for the movies they did include.

[BooBear]

Did anyone watch a Christmas to Remember last night? With Cameron Mathison and Mira Sorveno.  First I will say good on Mira from coming down from an Oscar win to this. And then also... head smack, why is a recent Oscar winner doing a Hallmark movie with some guy that often does bits on Extra? Was she blackballed or something or, is she just really down to earth?

But I couldn't watch it.  I turned off after about 1 hour. There wasn't anything wrong with it other than the movie didn't understand that because a man and a woman are in a home together that in and of itself does not create chemistry.  There was none, zip, nada. At least in that first hour.

[Kaoteek]

I'll Be Home For Christmas just didn't really work for me. Suvari & Brolin were fine, Brolin's direction was, too, but the cop love interest with the haircut, the arrogant/pedantic boyfriend, and the overly precocious little girl that wouldn't shut up all bugged me, the script wasn't too compelling, and the Streisand soundtrack was... what it was. I liked the dog, though.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Kaoteek

[Shanna Marie]

Journey Back to Christmas was a big meh. I like 1940s stuff and time travel, but this just didn't work for me, mostly because most of the acting was pretty bad. I got a big "extremely earnest high school drama club" vibe from most of the actors, especially the lead. Everything she said sounded like she was very carefully reading from a script. I had a hard time buying a town where people hadn't thought of putting lights on the gazebo and had never heard of caroling. I've never seen a town that didn't light up its gazebo for Christmas. And it was weird just how paranoid everyone was being about this woman. Would people really care that much?

[Snipsa]

On 19/12/2016 at 6:00 AM, againstthewind said:

So I caught last year's The Spirit of Christmas on Lifetime tonight and also quite enjoyed it, despite the premise being kind of squicky. I may have teared up once or twice - I'm such a sarcastic cynic in my "real" life that my friends are astounded that I love these movies so much. Also, I've been told I look a lot like Jen Lilley, and plausible deniability aside, I'd wait around all year for twelve days of whomever played Daniel's hot ass too.

I really enjoyed watching this one on Netflix.  Both lead actors were serviceable, the scenery was awesome and the storyline, although cooky, was actually pretty well thought out. Didn't love the ending, but overall a nice way to spend 90 minutes.

10 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

I'll Be Home For Christmas just didn't really work for me. Suvari & Brolin were fine, Brolin's direction was, too, but the cop love interest with the haircut, the arrogant/pedantic boyfriend, and the overly precocious little girl that wouldn't shut up all bugged me, the script wasn't too compelling, and the Streisand soundtrack was... what it was. I liked the dog, though.

I really struggled to finish this one.  Mostly due to the precocious girl who acted 10 years older than she appeared - no child of that age, that I know, speaks that way! Also, the arrogant, unfeeling, controlling boyfriend was just too much of a stereotype.

 

I liked Ms Suvari and Mr Broslin well enough, but the movie was just really bad...

[Darian]

On 12/14/2016 at 4:57 AM, mamadrama said:

As an author, I LOVE this one. I set my DVR to record it but I apparently no longer get Oxygen. Who knew? I bought this DVD for $2 a few years ago but can't find it. 

 

I'm DVRing If You Believe Friday morning on Bravo.  

[sacrebleu]

Quote

I'm DVRing If You Believe Friday morning on Bravo.  

Oooh! Thanks for the heads up. That's the one with Hayden Panatierre as the younger version of Ally Walker right? That's one of my favs.

[Darian]

1 hour ago, sacrebleu said:

Oooh! Thanks for the heads up. That's the one with Hayden Panatierre as the younger version of Ally Walker right? That's one of my favs.

That's what the description says. Ally Walker as a book editor, yada yada. Hope the right one airs. Enjoy!

[Kaoteek]

Watched The Rooftop Christmas Tree, which was fine and touching when it focused on the old man with the tree. But since most of it focused on that tepid romance between the lawyers, on their arguments, and suffered from really bland, underlit visuals, I quickly grew bored with it.

And I just finished Sleigh Bells Ring, which was decent, and should have been my cup of tea, with Erin Cahill, that magical sleigh, Mr Winter, and so on... but something bothered me. Not sure if it was the writing, the acting, the pacing or the editing, but something felt off to me, the dialog scenes & the script often didn't flow naturally or had time to breath (I think the editing was way too tight overall - sometimes, the dialog felt like it was one line/one cut/one camera change, which is just overkill...).

Edited December 21, 2016 by Kaoteek

[twoods]

Thank you to whomever steered me to Christmas Angel on BYU channel. What a great movie. I cried, laughed, and even the romance was nice. Definitely staying on the DVR.

Finally watched My Christmas Love and liked it. The mystery had a nice twist to it. The lead actress's voice sort of grated after a while but the secondary story made up for it. I liked the lead actor from Snow Bride so glad he got to be the lead for once, and the ending was realistic and refreshing.

Edited December 22, 2016 by twoods

[Kaoteek]

Didn't care much for A Heavenly Christmas. Then again, i'd seen it already when it was called Christmas Magic, except with Lindy Booth as the angel-in-training, Paul McGillion as the widowed father/diner cook/ex-musician, and Derek McGrath as the older angel. And I wasn't too impressed back then, either. Especially since despite the "HOF presentation", it had basically that run-of-the-mill script & mediocre effects/bluescreens that all Hallmark tvmovie tend to have.  Eh, at least Davis & McCormack felt more appropriate as a couple than Booth & McGillion.

[Almost 3000]

Time Warner is now Spectrum in my area and I just finally switched to their box. Lo and behold I now have Hallmark and HMM. So since Tuesday they've been on all day. Previously I had watched a few Lifetime and Ion holiday movies and noticed how cheap the décor was and usually accompanied by the dry, drab California environment that I see everyday. At least Hallmark looks lush and wintery. Had to laugh at a few Balsam Hill product placements. Nice week to get these channels!

[BooBear]

 

Didn't care much for A Heavenly Christmas. Then again, i'd seen it already when it was called Christmas Magic, except with Lindy Booth as the angel-in-training, Paul McGillion as the widowed father/diner cook/ex-musician, and Derek McGrath as the older angel. And I wasn't too impressed back then, either. Especially since despite the "HOF presentation", it had basically that run-of-the-mill script & mediocre effects/bluescreens that all Hallmark tvmovie tend to have.  Eh, at least Davis & McCormack felt more appropriate as a couple than Booth & McGillion.

My head shaker was why did Hallmark re-air Christmas Magic just this weekend?  To remind us all that they re-made their own story? The quality of the acting / romance was much better in a Heavenly Christmas but it was more strained to have the kid be his niece.   Plus he didn't sell me on being a musician or seem too down on his luck.   

[Shanna Marie]

On 12/17/2016 at 11:08 PM, JenMD said:

My Christmas Love, totally generic title aside, was a complete winner for me.  I laughed (a lot), I cried, I cared about how all these characters came out at the end.  It had a decent budget (that only stretched so far apparently, those poor 9 Ladies Dancing looked like they were wearing Home Ec projects), good acting, a decent script and a not terribly rushed ending. 

I'm so glad you posted this because I DVRd a later showing based on this report, and this may be my favorite of the year. I loved the cast. The heroine and the guy had actual personalities, the supporting cast was great, the plot wasn't too stupid, and the setting was really nice. I did feel rather old, though, with Gregory Harrison playing the dad, when he was my pre-teen crush during the days of Logan's Run. I may rewatch this one. I didn't actually figure out the mystery until we saw the envelope. I just figured out that the gifts weren't for her, but I was guessing they were from the fiance to the sister (nice bit of red herring work there in having him talking about needing to come clean on a secret).

Wasn't the lead girl in Lifetime's personal shopper movie from last year? She's got so much charm, I'm surprised she hasn't graduated from the made-for-cable Christmas movies into a role in a sitcom. She'd be a great rom-com leading lady if they still made big-screen romantic comedies anymore.

[twoods]

Yes, she was in Gift Wrapped Christmas. 

Christmas with the Andersons ended up being decent. The quality of the movie was definitely lacking and some of the scenes were pointless (the endless birthing scenes).

[Irlandesa]

16 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

I'm surprised she hasn't graduated from the made-for-cable Christmas movies into a role in a sitcom.

She has been in sitcoms as a regular (Men at Work) and as a guest star (Veep).  She's currently starring in Search Party.  I think it's on TBS.  She was also on Royal Pains for quite a few years.  So she has done more than Hallmark/Lifetime movies.