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

[BlossomCulp]

I remember reading about the actress who played Cary Grant's mother in North By Northwest, she was only 7 years older than Grant but at a time when he was still playing the suave leading man who gets the girl she was playing dowager mother type roles.  Sexist indeed!  But I guess she was glad to get the work and I imagine that's probably true Jasmine Guy as well.

[In2You]

Melissa and Mario work well together so I was looking forward to tonight's movie.  Also as a Sabrina the Teenage Witch fan its nice to see Tara Strong and Melissa Joan Hart reunite. 

A movie about toy stores and they're actually selling name brand current toys instead of trying to push hand made trinkets of yesteryear. Instead she must deal with the Toy Store equivalent of WalMart coming to town.

I loved their employees response to teaming up. They were all, "The feud is only between the two of you!"

That bobsledding scene was so fake looking it was funny.

The brother deserved better than that klepto stalker. Stealing to get him to notice her wasn't cute. 

[twoods]

I attempted to watch the snowman boyfriend movie that Ion aired tonight and was bored to tears. I watched the first 15 minutes, then ffed to the end to see the cliche ending. The leads had zero chemistry and they were both annoying. Too bad because I usually like Jesse Hutch, and there was real snow!

I watched The Christmas Gift again, which was on Lifetime a few years ago about a woman who reconnected with a guy who sent her a care package as a kid. I still like watching it because besides the diversity, there was more to the movie than just romance. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by twoods

[Chas411]

Watched A Christmas Eve Miracle - what an awful film. The plot was mundane. I didn't even get why the mom was so upset etc her kids didn't even seem to care she worked. It was just poorly acted and the lead looked bored throughout. 

[Kaoteek]

Ah, yes, A Christmas Eve Miracle. AKA A Magic Christmas 2.0 : same crew, most of the same cast, same cheap shooting location (Utah), same micro-budget, and I'd be willing to bet they were both shot at the same time.

On another note, I was quite wary of Lifetime's output, this year (their 2015 programming was mediocre, at best, and then they just gave up in 2016), but Wrapped Up For Christmas wasn't half bad. Almost as if they told the writers "you know all those things Hallmark doesn't do often, or at all - diversity, mixed couples, nice production values, likeable, developed & numerous characters - ? Do them !". It wasn't perfect, but I wasn't bored, the cast was fun, and it was enjoyable enough to make me forgive the usual tropes or flaws.

[Enero]

I loved the cast of Wrapped In Christmas, but I wish it had been better. I don’t know, I felt like they were trying too hard to make it cute and funny, and it just wasn’t. 

Tatyana and Brendan looked good together, but had no chemistry. I thought the assistant and the book store guy popped more. 

Would a store really lose their lease with a mall if they weren’t meeting a specific sales threshold? I’d think as long as they’re paying rent on time, that’d be all that matters. 

All that said, I hope that we’ll see more Lifetime Christmas and otherwise movies with more diverse casting. 

[JasmineFlower]

Snowmance! I hope this is indicative of what ION is giving us this season because I really enjoyed it. Not saying it's the best movie ever made, but I was completely engaged and into the movie for the entire time and it had a true romantic comedy feel to it, they were definitely going for laughs some of the time (the co-workers, snowball fight, "little guy"). Felt like they got the cast right, they didn't include too many shenanigans like I thought might happen about 2/3 of the way through (thank goodness!) and what there was, was pretty funny. It's really good to see Ashley Newbrough (Sage, Privileged) as Sarah and I thought she fit better than it seemed she might here. She was a likable lead, not at all as I expected her to be initially. Not sure I've seen the actor playing Nick in much of anything, but I really like him here as the best friend. Not gonna knock you over with looks, but really a good choice for this role. Jesse Hutch is a regular in these Hallmark/holiday kind of movies, but not in his usual role if memory serves. Actually there's mild originality in this movie in terms of the premise, it's not one they've overused a ton, Jesse's character is sort of along the lines of Weird Science but in snowman form. The co-workers were there for laughs mostly and I think they succeeded. The accents were a bit too heavy from my experience with people from St. Paul and Minneapolis and more indicative of those from northern, eastern and/or northeastern Minnesota than from the Twin Cities, but maybe I'm meeting people who just don't have the accent for some reason. Co-worker Isabelle was quite a unique character for one of these movies and she basically made me laugh throughout whenever she popped up. I was really happy they wrote it so she was real friends with Sarah and not just some weird co-worker. If you watch the show Superstore, think in terms of Dina for this character. To me, this was a great thing. So yeah, really liked it, thought it was one of the more complete IONs I've seen in awhile, definitely a better overall quality, and thought they didn't get too caught up in the gimmick while still making sure it was present since that was the original premise.

 

So, I'm way behind others and I've only watched maybe 6 movies so far this holiday season on the various channels, but Snowmance jumps far out front as my favorite of the season so far. Definitely worth giving this one a chance. The first repeat I'm seeing on the schedule is in almost two weeks on Saturday, December 9 at 11 am ET.

Edited November 28, 2017 by JasmineFlower

[anniebird]

One of my favorite made-for-TV Christmas movies is from 2001 -- Off Season starring Rory Culkin, Sherilynn Fenn, and Hume Cronin. It's really different from most of these movies because the main character is a weird little kid, and it takes place in summer, in Florida. But it's totally charming and I may be the only person who's ever seen it. I'm also on the If You Believe bandwagon. My recent favorites include A Christmas Kiss (1! 2 was terrible!) and Trading Christmas.  Most of these movies are all cookie-cutter but occasionally one stands out because of the writing, acting, and directing.

[MissyPoo]

What's Christmas Eve Miracle? I don't think I remember hearing about that one.

I saw Snowmance and was expecting some bonkers crazysauce kind of movie like Ion of olde, but I was pleasantly surprised. It kept me engaged throughout the story even though it felt familiar, I was curious to see how things played out and I liked the beginning through the years. I agree with JasmineFlower about the co-worker. I'm glad they didn't try to make her go after the friend or something for laughs but the heartfelt convo they had was cute. I think it's the little moments in this one that I really enjoy rather than the whole of the movie. I'll probably rewatch this as one of my cozy background movies.

Although Finding Santa didn't grab me the first time, I saw bits of it later and the scenes caught my interest the second time. I'll probably snag it again on the DVR to watch in full. Currently watching A Joyous Christmas and enjoying it so far. HMM has been knocking it out the park for me this year.

anniebird, your recents are on my faves list as well.

[Irlandesa]

8 hours ago, Enero said:

Tatyana and Brendan looked good together, but had no chemistry. I thought the assistant and the book store guy popped more. 

I love the diversity in opinions in this thread. Some thought Snowmance was not great and I almost deleted it from my DVR.  Others came in and stuck up for it so I will try to get around to watching it.  You think the duo in Wrapped Up In Christmas had no chemistry while I think it was really terrific and made the movie work more than the plot did. 

In fact, I recorded the director's cut version to see if they have more scenes. And I wish they hadn't spent the last half hour with the duo on the outs. I kind of skimmed through the version and I think they added more with the little girl shopping for some ideas on how to bring her aunt and her boyfriend together.  Plus some bookstore stuff.  But I'm not sure.  Maybe I just forgot that scene from the original airing. 

I didn't love A Very Merry Toy Store.  Mario Lopez and Melissa Joan Hart are good together but I just couldn't get into the story.  My favorite part was the very fake looking toboggan race.  I just loved that so much.  That and seeing a corrupt politician go down.  *sigh* 

I gave up on Christmas Solo and skipped the middle.  I like Jonathan Scarfe and Kelli Williams so I really thought I might like it but I am not here for teenage angst.  Although the wrap up was good.  And I enjoyed that the Asian guy and black girl got together.  That was a love story I was rooting for.

[JasmineFlower]

Does a Very Merry Toy Store pick up steam as it goes on? Because at about a half hour in, it seems really sleepy and subdued, which is not something I think I've ever said about one of MJH's movies. Probably not one of Mario's either. Both usually have more lively fare. If someone could let me know, that'd be great. At the current pace, I'm thinking it's better to bail now.

[Irlandesa]

8 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

Does a Very Merry Toy Store pick up steam as it goes on?

'I don't think so.  But do fast forward to the toboggan race.  So silly.

[JasmineFlower]

Just now, Irlandesa said:

'I don't think so.  But do fast forward to the toboggan race.  So silly.

Thanks. I was planning to do watch that regardless since it's gotten a few mentions. it's not hard to imagine the fakeness of it because I LOL at the fake town they showed in the first half. Usually MJH and Mario get a bit of a budget, but can't imagine there was one here. There was a shot of the "town" (Roy's Toys plus the buildings next to it and the parking lot) that was less fake CGI and more magnified town from inside of a snowglobe level of fake. Seriously, it wasn't even completely to scale. For those that watched the movie, for sure this happened when the baddie rival walks outside of his store at his bust of a grand opening with this "associate" to find out that they are having a free pancake event and they show his empty store and empty parking lot.

[twoods]

Damn forgot the director cut version of Wrapped was on tonight. Hope they re-air it.

Glad that some of you liked Snowmance. Maybe I was tired from the long weekend and didn't give it a chance. I did like the actress and hope she's in more movies- I loved her in Privileged. 

Watching an old ABC family movie right now, Snowglobe, with Christina Millian. It's pretty terrible but is good background noise. I need Mistletones to re-air, which I absolutely love. Too bad Freeform doesn't make any Christmas movies.

[Kaoteek]

Actually, they do, this year. It airs in December. Apparently, it aired tonight.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Kaoteek

[MissyPoo]

twoods, not sure what time zone you're in but they usually do a second showing later in the night. Hopefully there's still time enough for you to catch again tonight. I don't see any repeats of it but will keep an eye out. Otherwise it may be on demand or on the movie page on the Lifetime site. I'm curious to see what they added.

Heh, I actually love Snowglobe. It's one of my old faves and it does have a bit of cheese in it, but I thought it was pretty cute. I didn't even know it came on. Love the Mistletones, too. I need to hunt down a schedule to see when both come on.

[JasmineFlower]

3 hours ago, twoods said:

Watching an old ABC family movie right now, Snowglobe, with Christina Millian. It's pretty terrible but is good background noise. I need Mistletones to re-air, which I absolutely love. Too bad Freeform doesn't make any Christmas movies.

Mistle-Tones is on tomorrow/today at 2:35 pm ET and again at midnight. Hopefully you see this and can set it to record in time.

@MissyPoo Snowglobe is coming on at 12:30 pm ET tomorrow/today if you want to catch it. It'll air one day next week as well.

On 11/20/2017 at 6:04 PM, Kaoteek said:

ION movies keep airing early around here, so we just got Snowmance (Nov 26th movie)

Would this happen to mean you're in Canada? If so, can you tell me the name of the channel ION movies are airing on there? I'm on another forum and there's a Canadian on there who wasn't sure they would be able to see any of the ION movies but wanted to. Apologies if I misunderstood what you meant.

[MissyPoo]

Hot dog! Thank you, JasmineFlower! Setting them to tape now.

Just saw The Christmas Snowman and weirdly enough, this short film was what I expected Snowmance to be more like. I actually like this short film more than the full-length take on the theme. I wish they would continue it.

Edited November 28, 2017 by MissyPoo

[JasmineFlower]

Bizarre how similar Christmas Snowman and Snowmance were, right? So strange how these same themes and gimmicks pop up in the same year after having none for a few, like the year we suddenly had multiple personal shopper holiday movies. Anyway, I did like Christmas Snowman. No idea if it would hold up if forced to become a 90 minute movie, but short story and suggestion of more was cute and the actress is one I've liked before too, which didn't hurt. It made me want to make sure I check out the other ones that air with the bigger movie premieres.

[MissyPoo]

So true! I know these were probably filmed at different times but the similarities are indeed interesting. I haven't seen the actress before (or maybe she's not ringing a bell?) but the snowman guy seemed very familiar. I think I may have seen him in a Hallmark years ago. Something to do with planning a wedding I think.

Anyway, I'll have to check out the imdb if they have a page for the film. I'm also looking forward to the other ones. The two so far are definite rewatches for me. I hope Lifetime keeps this tradition up each year.

[In2You]

4 hours ago, twoods said:

Damn forgot the director cut version of Wrapped was on tonight. Hope they re-air it.

Glad that some of you liked Snowmance. Maybe I was tired from the long weekend and didn't give it a chance. I did like the actress and hope she's in more movies- I loved her in Privileged. 

Watching an old ABC family movie right now, Snowglobe, with Christina Millian. It's pretty terrible but is good background noise. I need Mistletones to re-air, which I absolutely love. Too bad Freeform doesn't make any Christmas movies.

Freeform does make movies the one last year sucked.

[JasmineFlower]

4 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

So true! I know these were probably filmed at different times but the similarities are indeed interesting. I haven't seen the actress before (or maybe she's not ringing a bell?) but the snowman guy seemed very familiar. I think I may have seen him in a Hallmark years ago. Something to do with planning a wedding I think.

Anyway, I'll have to check out the imdb if they have a page for the film. I'm also looking forward to the other ones. The two so far are definite rewatches for me. I hope Lifetime keeps this tradition up each year.

The actress in the Christmas Snowman short is Erin Boyes. She's been in several Hallmark movies as a supporting character. For sure this year, she was the sister/aunt in the Miss Christmas movie. Last year, she was in the Mistletoe Promise (only know this because I saw it again over the weekend). She has also been on HMM, maybe more than once, but definitely in one of the more recent Garage Sale mysteries. Can't be certain which one (they ran together), but it was one of the new ones this summer when Garage Sale had a new one each week.  

Not sure of the actor's name, but I believe he's in the new Hallmark HOF, The Christmas Train. I wasn't paying close attention and have to watch again, but he's possibly the guy in the young couple. Kirsten Prout was the woman in the couple I'm thinking of, if that helps.

[twoods]

Thanks guys! Angry Angel looks decent, and will be nice to see Brenda Strong as the lead. I guess every channel is picking up on diverse leads except for Hallmark.

Thanks JasmineFlower for the info on Mistletones. DVR is set. I wish they would air Christmas In Boston, which is one of my favorites. It's been years since I have seen that movie.

[Mountainair]

I really enjoyed Angry Angel! In fact it might be one of my favorites this year! I was only familiar with Jason Biggs and the girl friend of the widowed husband. She was on Bomb Girls (a show I miss terribly). 

Did they ever say how the wife died in the first place?

Anyhow, I thought the premise was interesting and found myself wishing the movie wasn’t over yet!

[Kaoteek]

6 hours ago, JasmineFlower said:

Would this happen to mean you're in Canada? If so, can you tell me the name of the channel ION movies are airing on there? I'm on another forum and there's a Canadian on there who wasn't sure they would be able to see any of the ION movies but wanted to. Apologies if I misunderstood what you meant.

Sorry, not Canadian, French.

I'm curious about Angry Angel, tbh, since I quite like the cast, and since it made so many "Christmas should be about peace, love, baby Jesus & praying God, not angry angels"-type people angry online since it has been announced that I kinda want it to be a fun, well-made movie, just to annoy them some more.

[JasmineFlower]

4 hours ago, twoods said:

Thanks guys! Angry Angel looks decent, and will be nice to see Brenda Strong as the lead. I guess every channel is picking up on diverse leads except for Hallmark.

Thanks JasmineFlower for the info on Mistletones. DVR is set. I wish they would air Christmas In Boston, which is one of my favorites. It's been years since I have seen that movie.

Yeah, with the exception of Alexa Vega's newest movie, I'm not sure Hallmark has anything major in the way of a diverse cast. ABC Family (I refuse to use it's terrible new name) has long been willing to cast their former Disney stars in these movies. Corporate synergy I assume. Nice to see Brenda Song in something like this for sure.

I love Christmas in Boston. It's definitely been a few years since I saw it though. Last time I caught it, I searched the guide at the right time to find some strange time it aired. ABC Family will sneak in some of their best movies every once in awhile, but it's really hard to know their schedule ahead of time since they seem to have moved past thinking original movies are a part of their solution. But, if you really love it, keep in mind this was made during the heydey of ABC Family movies, so it's available on DVD like many of their movies from that time are, if you ever wanted to get it.

[AnnaRose]

34 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

ABC Family (I refuse to use it's terrible new name) has long been willing to cast their former Disney stars in these movies.

Thank you for mentioning this.  I haven't watched anything on ABC Family for a while, and I didn't realize the name has changed.  I did a quick search, and it looks like it's called Freeform now.  Is that right?  If so, I totally agree with you.  What a stupid name change.

[JasmineFlower]

1 hour ago, AnnaRose said:

Thank you for mentioning this.  I haven't watched anything on ABC Family for a while, and I didn't realize the name has changed.  I did a quick search, and it looks like it's called Freeform now.  Is that right?  If so, I totally agree with you.  What a stupid name change.

Yes, that's the new name and the channel to look for if you want to try to catch Angry Angel. They changed it at the start of last year, supposedly as part of their new push. Meanwhile, they haven't changed anything content wise that they've been doing for about 10 years, so not sure the name change was remotely necessary.

[Lilac2000]

Is Snowglobe the one where Christina Milian goes to the idyllic town in her dreams or whatever? I watched one on ABC Spark here in Canada the other night with her, Ashley Benson and Chad Michael Murray(!!!). Christmas Cupid? It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great by any means...CMM is in it for Pete's sake. But she and Ashley had great frenemy chemistry and it had some funny moments. 

[twoods]

Yeah, I liked Christmas Cupid much better than Snowglobe. The obnoxious Italian New York family got annoying, and she didn't have chemistry with the lead. I'm surprised she hasn't been in more holiday movies.

I'm looking forward to the Lifetime movie with Bethany and Andrew Walker. Looks promising.

[MissyPoo]

16 hours ago, JasmineFlower said:

The actress in the Christmas Snowman short is Erin Boyes. She's been in several Hallmark movies as a supporting character. For sure this year, she was the sister/aunt in the Miss Christmas movie. Last year, she was in the Mistletoe Promise (only know this because I saw it again over the weekend). She has also been on HMM, maybe more than once, but definitely in one of the more recent Garage Sale mysteries. Can't be certain which one (they ran together), but it was one of the new ones this summer when Garage Sale had a new one each week.  

Not sure of the actor's name, but I believe he's in the new Hallmark HOF, The Christmas Train. I wasn't paying close attention and have to watch again, but he's possibly the guy in the young couple. Kirsten Prout was the woman in the couple I'm thinking of, if that helps.

Oh! Maybe that's where I saw her. I'm rewatching Miss Christmas when it comes on next so I'll keep an eye out. I finally remember where I saw the guy. I think he was the groom dude in Perfect Match, Danica and Paul Greene's first movie. Sounds like he's playing it again in The Christmas Train. I'll have to keep an eye out when I finally watch it. 

9 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

Thank you for mentioning this.  I haven't watched anything on ABC Family for a while, and I didn't realize the name has changed.  I did a quick search, and it looks like it's called Freeform now.  Is that right?  If so, I totally agree with you.  What a stupid name change.

Yeeeaaah. I'm the same way with the Sci-Fi Channel. I refuse to use that name change.

 

I saw on the schedule that my old faves are coming up on Lifetime. A Christmas Wedding and 12 Wishes of Christmas. Somewhat bonkers and a bit of cheese but I love em every year. 

[JasmineFlower]

I also like Christmas Cupid. Both in general and more than Snowglobe. Christmas Cupid is available right now for me through on ABC Family OnDemand. It did air on the schedule sometime last year and could again this year. I suspect it remains in the rotation because of Ashley Benson. I'd be up for more movies with her or Christina, just wish they'd recommit to original movies and start having them on throughout the year plus around the holidays again.

 

A Very Merry Toy Store - Surprisingly subdued movie from where I sit. Not what I expected of a movie with Melissa and Mario. And while I realize they've grown older, I, for instance, greatly preferred last year's Broadcasting Christmas over this, hands down. This was good in that Melissa and Mario were good with what they were given, but it wasn't the best storyline at all to me. Because I wasn't that into it, felt like it dragged quite a bit and seemed like a very slower paced, heartfelt movie when really they included several things in this as more hi-jinks, so I think it was supposed to seem kind of lighthearted.  There's also plenty here that I didn't get, like the shoplifter/stalker. Still scratching my head on that one since I didn't realize stealing was to be viewed as charming and a form of mating.

When others say things were fake and it's funny, they so aren't kidding. I mentioned that one of the "town scenes" was so incredibly fake it looked like they magnified the inside of the snowglobe. The snow is falling in this movie but no one's hair is ever messed up. The piano lessons were a hoot because they looked so fake. And the race, oh, the race. I'm still at my mom's, told her we had to watch the race scene since it was mentioned here multiple times and still wasn't prepared for the level of fakeness that it was. My mom mentioned that it looked like a 1950s movie or like Batman the TV show and that's about right. The beginning of the race, the head to head shots, the far away shots, the ones through the binoculars, the mountains and trees in the back all looking as fake as can be. I really hope they meant for this to be laugh out loud hilariously bad.

 

Wrapped Up in Christmas - I was able to watch most of this (probably missed about a half hour towards the beginning). It was just okay really and I think the reasons that I did like it are purely because it was nice to see everyone again, that includes Brendan who I've always liked since Samurai Girl and Bones. I felt like the romance was a bit on the mundane side. I have no problem seeing that this same movie with a different cast, might be viewed as mostly a dud. I think the romance between the receptionist/friend and bookstore guy had more zing to it than Tatyana and Brendan's did. But I really enjoyed most of the family stuff, that felt really natural. My favorite was Tatyana with her family, but I also liked the scenes between Brendan and Cindy Pickett (Ferris Bueller mom). In general, it was just good to see everyone and they looked really great and I'm really glad I watched just to see the cast. Kim looks even better than the last time I saw her in particular. If I'm being picky, I wish Jasmine was in it a bit more, but understand she wasn't the focus. Also very nice that Tatyana was clearly allowed to sing on the movie's soundtrack or whatever passes for close to that in this case as that was definitely her voice singing in the background.

[anniebird]

I'm so happy I found this forum - I had no idea that there were Christmas movies on UP and ION and they are so superior to the cheesy Hallmark movies. I really liked Wrapped Up For Christmas, (I loved the diversity) Angry Angel, and Married for Christmas. 

[Kaoteek]

On 28/11/2017 at 5:58 AM, Irlandesa said:

I gave up on Christmas Solo and skipped the middle.  I like Jonathan Scarfe and Kelli Williams so I really thought I might like it but I am not here for teenage angst.  Although the wrap up was good.  And I enjoyed that the Asian guy and black girl got together.  That was a love story I was rooting for.

Same here. I just tuned out halfway through, 'cos I just couldn't give a damn about all the high school drama/rivalry & annoying whiny teenager with dead parent issues and dreams of singing. I get what they were going for, and that they were trying to have their usual Christmas rom-com audience + a younger, teen audience, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

And speaking of movies that just didn't work, A Very Merry Toy Store.

I think it's a case of Lifetime giving carte blanche to MJH : it's her production company, her mom directed the movie, her business partner wrote it, her friends acted in it, and she probably had tons of input on the final product... which, sadly, translated into a very slow-paced, lifeless tv movie with very low production values & effects, a decent amount of toy/product placement, so-so writing and little-to-no energy in the editing & the (often awkward) dialogs. Disappointing, because on paper, it could have been a fun one.

Edited November 30, 2017 by Kaoteek

[JasmineFlower]

I've found my new favorite of the season. No surprise to me, but I basically loved Angry Angel. Won't be for everyone, but if you used to like the more contemporary tone of ABC Family movies and if you like current Pixl movies, think you should definitely check this one out.

For my money, ABC Family always made the best movies out of the bunch and this follows suit. It's not some formulaic romance like we mostly get this time of year at all. It also isn't some phoned in script that was just churned out and never looked at again. This is a great, higher quality movie similar to what used to make movies on this channel some of the best.

Also, they got the cast right. Brenda Song is about perfect in this. I felt like this role was so very Brenda, completely in her wheelhouse to carry a sarcastic tone and have fun with the role. It felt right from the start on the plane and once she delivered the "Yup, that's right, I was a white girl from Nebraska" line perfectly, I knew I was going to love it. She really was an angry angel and I loved the booze drinking, disinterested angel that we got for a lot of the film. Jason Biggs was really good as well. I wasn't expecting his character to be himself, so that was a pleasant surprise and enjoyed his willingness to mock himself. Really enjoyed the rest of the cast as well, everyone was a great choice, no one felt really out of place here.

So, this is one I enjoyed from start to finish and will be one I will try to catch when it's on again. As long as you like comedies that have a touch of an edge to it at times, I think you'll like this. Angry Angel isn't like a Bad Santa level of "angry", but she's a highly flawed character for sure, like an Eleanor from The Good Place if you happen to watch that show. But there's also a lot of heart to the movie, surprisingly moving by the end but not in a truly saccharine way that is offputting. It's really good, try it out.

 

My guide shows it repeating next Tuesday and Wednesday during the day, at 2:30 pm  and 12 pm on the corresponding days. Set it to record, and/or check your OnDemand, because it's there for me as well. Wish they had bothered to promote this more than they did off-network or at least on their partners networks, might actually convince them to get back into making movies more regularly if they had a ratings hit, cause I'm sure it would've been a draw and one that willhave great word of mouth.

[Mountainair]

Angry Angel has been my favorite by far! I’ve already watched it twice and hate that I deleted it from my living room DVR- I kept it on the bedroom DVR-so will need to catch  it on repeat! 

Great movie! I also watched The Miseltones again last night. Was that an ABC family original as well? They usually do ok by me and Angry Angel was just another example of that!

[In2You]

Why did no one tell me Brenda Song had a new movie? Ive been a fan of her since her Disney days

[twoods]

YAY! Found Angry Angel on demand and absolutely loving it. It is hilarious and doesn't take itself too seriously. Can't wait to watch the rest of it tonight. First MistleTones, now this movie- another win for "ABC Family." 

[Kaoteek]

Welp, I guess in order to see that Angry Angel I'll have to wait for a brave soul to post a copy somewhere in the deep dark corners of the interwebs. It should happen sooner or later, with all those repeats.

(damn you, french tv networks. Why do you only bother with the cheapest UpTV & ION movies available, and Hallmark reruns ? Why !?)

[chitowngirl]

My favorite of the older ABC Family movies is Snow and Snow 2 Brain Freeze. I don't think they're aired anymore, but I have them on DVD!

[twoods]

I've seen both air recently on Freeform. I liked the first one better than the second. Those movies were when Ashley Williams wasn't so smiley and annoying.

[JasmineFlower]

18 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

My favorite of the older ABC Family movies is Snow and Snow 2 Brain Freeze. I don't think they're aired anymore, but I have them on DVD!

Snow will literally be airing on ABC Family tonight at midnight if you want to record it for your DVR. Haven't seen Snow 2 on the schedule yet, but @twoods is right, both aired on the channel last year this time.

[chitowngirl]

Elf is on almost EVERY SINGLE NIGHT on Freeform! The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 3 (but not 2 for some reason) are also making too many appearances. They are so unimaginative in their programming. Weekends are almost always either Harry Potter or Twilight weekends.

[In2You]

On 11/29/2017 at 7:12 PM, Kaoteek said:

Same here. I just tuned out halfway through, 'cos I just couldn't give a damn about all the high school drama/rivalry & annoying whiny teenager with dead parent issues and dreams of singing. I get what they were going for, and that they were trying to have their usual Christmas rom-com audience + a younger, teen audience, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

And speaking of movies that just didn't work, A Very Merry Toy Store.

I think it's a case of Lifetime giving carte blanche to MJH : it's her production company, her mom directed the movie, her business partner wrote it, her friends acted in it, and she probably had tons of input on the final product... which, sadly, translated into a very slow-paced, lifeless tv movie with very low production values & effects, a decent amount of toy/product placement, so-so writing and little-to-no energy in the editing & the (often awkward) dialogs. Disappointing, because on paper, it could have been a fun one.

It started out good but went downhill probably round the time of  that fake ass bobsledding competition. I did notice her mom's name credited and was half expecting Emily to pop up in the movie.

[ShelleySue]

I told my husband that I wasn't sure if I liked Angry Angel so much if it was because it was a good movie or because it didn't have the traditional Christmas formula.  Does anyone else think that it was a pilot for a series?

[In2You]

1 hour ago, ShelleySue said:

I told my husband that I wasn't sure if I liked Angry Angel so much if it was because it was a good movie or because it didn't have the traditional Christmas formula.  Does anyone else think that it was a pilot for a series?

The way it ended left it open for a series or sequel. 

It was definitely one of the good ones this year. It made Hallmarks look all the more stale by comparison. 

[JasmineFlower]

I'm kinda confused by the ending of The Christmas Calendar. Was I not paying attention enough or did they honestly make one secret admirer throughout really two in the end? Cause that's just kinda strange. The more elaborate secret admirer was touching, they didn't need to add the rest in to make it work.

This was just an okay one. But Laura Bell Bundy is good in it if you like her. She sings in it briefly, but it's nothing to catch unfortunately, she wasn't able to really belt it out, which is a waste to me. If she's gonna sing at all, let her really sing so we can really enjoy her voice and it be a positive thing about the movie.  The lead guy has a good look, but oh man, the French accent. It's not good and just got more annoying to listen to given how bad it was as the movie went on. And what's worse, is it's SO unnecessary. There's no reason in the world this couldn't have been a pastry chef from NYC who studied in France and returned to NYC and worked at the bakery where they first met. There was zero reason for him to be French when it wasn't his real accent. Like I said, he has a good look, he didn't need the accent to make him somehow more appealing if that was the thinking.

 

Also, in case anyone is DVRing titles they see they aren't familiar with, be aware that UP's Love for Christmas is really ION's A Golden Christmas 3 which has also gone by the title Home for Christmas before this new one. They're just trying to confuse everyone at this point, 3 titles is so unnecessary.

And since I'm mentioning movies airing on UP, I completely concur with what's been said about Christmas Solo. Unless you want some mean girl teen angst, I'd skip this one despite Kelli Williams starring in it.

[BlossomCulp]

Just saw Love at the Thanksgiving Parade - definitely a cut above most of the made for TV Christmas movies.  Good dialogue, plausible back stories and an engaging cast.  Definitely in the "must watch again" list :).

[CherryAmes]

Home alone today and have 12 Dates of Christmas lined up on my PVR for some afternoon viewing.  I saw this a few years ago and really liked it but never came across it again.  And for some reason it's never been released on DVD.  I hope it's as good as I remember it :).

[Karen885]

I watched "Home for Christmas Day" from HMM this morning.  Not to be confused with "home for Christmas", "a Christmas homecoming" and a dozen other similarly titled movies.  This one is about an 18 year old girl who begins a relationship with a soldier against her mother's wishes.  I thought it was pretty good.  The ending was ridiculous.  

 

SPOILERS!!

 

 

So he was in the girls hometown for 2 weeks during which they start dating.  He gets shipped off someplace a week before Christmas, then gets sent someplace else, gets mistakenly proclaimed dead (at a high School choir concert, lol what), then shows up for a Christmas party at her house.  Again, all this happens in a week.  That flight home would take like a day, not to mention the time spent in the hospital with his TWO BROKEN LEGS.

 

Overall an enjoyable film with the usual Hallmark ridiculousness mixed in.