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

[Shanna Marie]

I gave up cable this year, so I'm stuck with ion, some of the local station sub-channels (there's one showing a lot of older movies), and Amazon Prime for my Christmas movie fix. And wouldn't you know it, it looks like the other networks have quit just letting Hallmark win by default and are actually doing new movies this year.

Somehow, kissing strangers in elevators seems to have become a sub-genre, given that ion was able to put together a marathon of kissing in elevators movies. I hadn't seen Merry Kissmas, but it wasn't too bad. The guy was really cute and even had a personality instead of being the usual Ken doll. I liked the supporting characters. It was rather ridiculous that Mr. Wrong was supposed to be this big-shot celebrity, and yet he was directing what looked like a local theater production of The Nutcracker in Palo Alto, and it was apparently a big deal for his career. And yet the dancers weren't even on pointe. Aside from that, I liked it okay.

There was an older one on one of the local stations, 12 Days of Christmas Eve that was basically A Christmas Carol meets Groundhog Day, and it was decent.

[Jaded]

I watched My Christmas Inn last night and I liked it for what it was. It reminded me of a Hallmark movie but with color. It was nice that the only "baddie" per say was the guy who wanted to buy the inn and that he didn't have very many scenes. I had been watching Silver Spoons on Antenna TV over the past few months off and on until I got to see the last episode so seeing Erin Gray with that blonde hair was a change. The glasses made her look different too but she was easily identifiable with that voice. I also liked that the boss seemed happy and supportive in her last scenes. I had forgotten who played Jen's parents after reading about them awhile back so it was fun seeing them too. I was glad that the writers didn't make them overbearing and nosy. The guy who played Brian reminded me of an actor who regularly appears in Hallmark movies.

I see that Lifetime has a movie titled Christmas Lost and Found that premieres this upcoming Friday. It doesn't seem to have the small town twist and only mentions 2 large cities in the description.

[In2You]

4 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I just finished A Twist of Christmas and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.  When I saw the ads and the preview scene (of them in the store), I thought it looked awful.  But this is why I like to at least watch the beginnings of movies because in reality, I liked both of the lead actors.  The woman was perhaps a bit too cautious but at least I bought the explanation.  The guy was charming and they had nice chemistry.  There were some issues with the timing of their day because it's hard to believe they fit everything into that day and she still expected to give him time to work but overall this was the best movie of the weekend so far.  Of course, there are five more tonight...oy. 

Yes the timing was off especially when they were running around all day and still had the party to attend. But this movie surprised me. I actually laughed a few times which I wasn't expecting based on the previews.

[MissyPoo]

11 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

What's even more frustrating is that sometimes the movies have original names that actually indicate what they are but then the networks get their hands on them and make them generic.  People talk about what movies they like/don't like and 90% of the time I have to Google them to find out which movie they're talking about. 

Yes, this! Like yesterday I found out Christmas Perfection was The Perfect Christmas Village. I get branding and all but sometimes the changes are just frustrating. Especially since I'm skipping a lot this year so I don't know who was in what or when half the time.

 

Oh! Some good news if you guys are looking for Lifetime and more christmas movies. They've made some of their movies available at TubiTv for free usually with ads. You don't even have to register but I like registering to keep a queue for later watching. They even have Recipe For a Perfect Christmas, Dear Santa, and Love at the Christmas Table. I think someone upthread mentioned The Christmas Shoes and it's on there. It's great if you missed any of their movies last year or want to rewatch them. The only new one they have from this year is The Christmas Contract but maybe Lifetime will put more of their new ones soon.

PlutoTv also has some oldies but goodies that have appeared on the networks like A Princess For Christmas, A Cinderella Christmas, Christmas with the Andersons, Angels in the Snow and others. They have a bit more ads than Tubi. They don't have a direct link to their Christmas movies but it's on that page.

[twoods]

A Nutty Christmas was decent. I liked the chemistry and some scenes were hilarious, and those cookies looked amazing, but I ffed through some of the scenes because they were dragging. I preferred My Christmas Inn and The Christmas Contract. Good to see that some of you liked the Twist movie- I plan on watching it tomorrow night. Ion had some new movies tonight that I DVRed so will see if they are any good.

[Shanna Marie]

The new ion one last night, Christmas Cupid's Arrow, or something like that, was pretty good. It just wasn't at all what the description suggested it would be about. It was supposedly about a woman getting on an online dating app, but there was just one montage of bad online dates before it turned into a replay of Cyrano de Bergerac, except the Cyrano character was quite cute. The hot guy from the dating app was actually a pretty shallow lawyer, but he liked the literature professor heroine, so he got his friend, another professor, to write poems to send her so she'd think he was deep. You know how it's going to go if you've ever seen one of these when the other professor turns out to be a widower with an adorable little girl. The widower with the adorable little girl is never going to be Mr. Wrong.

The weird thing about this movie was that the production quality was even lower than I've come to expect from ion movies. It looked and sounded like it was shot on someone's iPhone, and they'd just used the built-in microphone on the phone. The sound had a weird tinny quality, sometimes with echoes if the scene took place in a small room, and the ambient sound was at the same level as the dialogue. You heard every footstep, every rustle of paper. There was one scene in a loft-type apartment with wood floors and bare walls, and when anyone walked, you heard the "clomp, clomp, clomp" across the floor -- but then there was a part of the scene when both characters were standing still, and yet you still heard clomping, so I suspect we were hearing the footsteps of the crew. I got the impression they were using actual locations instead of sets, so there was nothing done to deaden the sound in the space, and the sound crew apparently hadn't heard of directional microphones or sound editing. It was very distracting. Normally my complaint about these movies is that they'd be okay with a better script, which shouldn't cost that much more, but in this case the script was decent but the production was glaringly under-par.

[JenMD]

3 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

The weird thing about this movie was that the production quality was even lower than I've come to expect from ion movies. It looked and sounded like it was shot on someone's iPhone, and they'd just used the built-in microphone on the phone.

Yeah, I didn't make it 5 minutes through Christmas Cupid's Arrow.  It looked so completely amateurish that I just deleted it.  I'm kind of sorry to hear the story was pretty good.  I wasn't even planning to watch it yet but came across it after something else we were watching wrapped up and it didn't take long to give it a hard No.

[Sara2009]

For those of you with Netflix, I recommend watching “ Angela’s Christmas.” It’s only 30 minutes, but it’s adorable. I guess it’s technically a children’s film, but I think people of all ages will like it.

[Shanna Marie]

26 minutes ago, JenMD said:

Yeah, I didn't make it 5 minutes through Christmas Cupid's Arrow.  It looked so completely amateurish that I just deleted it.  I'm kind of sorry to hear the story was pretty good.

I figured out while watching the noon news what the sound quality was like -- it's like during a newscast when either one of the people forgets to turn their microphone on or the microphone fails, and you can still hear them because they're being picked up by other people's mikes, but the sound's not great, so they sound like they're trapped in a box, far away. That's the way the sound on most of the movie was, like the lead actors' mikes weren't on and they were being picked up by mikes elsewhere in the room, and they kept cranking up the input to get the lead actors, which made everything else even louder. I normally read, knit, do crosswords, surf the web, etc., during these movies and listen to them, occasionally looking up if a scene sounds interesting, so bad sound made it really distracting, though, oddly enough, I may have followed the movie more closely because of that because I was trying to figure out what was wrong.

The lead actress used to be on CSI, and I noticed she got producer credit. You'd think she'd have dealt enough with real production crews from being on a major network series to know something was seriously wrong. She also would have been familiar with the concept of wearing booties to muffle footsteps in scenes where their feet don't show.

[Kaoteek]

Man, Lifetime's Every Other Holiday, with Schuyler Fisk, really did feel like a ION, INSP or UpTV movie, with its country/religious vibe, its focus on the family melodrama, and its weird stunt casting of Jimmy Wayne as the potential love interest of Fisk's character (a casting choice that really didn't work ^^).

Weird thing is, despite the movie ticking a lot of the boxes I usually try to avoid in Christmas movies (Preachiness ! Bitchy, nosy mother-in-law ! Struggling country artist ! Deadbeat dad ! Cow-boy !), I didn't hate it. The acting was solid, it wasn't the cheapest of productions, and it felt somewhat sincere, without falling into too much tropiness. So... nothing I'd go out of my way to watch again, but not a bust.

[Irlandesa]

10 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

The weird thing about this movie was that the production quality was even lower than I've come to expect from ion movies. It looked and sounded like it was shot on someone's iPhone, and they'd just used the built-in microphone on the phone.

 

6 hours ago, JenMD said:

Yeah, I didn't make it 5 minutes through Christmas Cupid's Arrow.  It looked so completely amateurish that I just deleted it

There's such a fine line between low budget and no budget and that line can usually be found at sound.  It's weird because I could tell that this movie had a Cyrano premise and the script had promise.  But ultimately, the production values drove me away.  The scenes in the office must have been overrun by echoes given how much overlay they had to go back and do.  I swear, the sound and lips didn't even match up.  The scenes in the office were long too.  And there was something off in the directing too.  I think the leads had talent but the way it was directed made the fact that they were acting a bit too obvious---kind of like if they were capturing live theater where every beat or reaction has just a bit more emphasis to make sure we see it--important with live performances but it doesn't work quite as well on TV.

So I bailed about 30 minutes in.  It's frustrating that something different was hampered by something like that.

I tried The Christmas Pact but it's one of those movies that just felt long again and a chore to get through.  I ended up fast forwarding to the Dwayne and Whitley scenes. 

[twoods]

Are we getting burned out by Christmas movies? It’s only December 3rd but I’m feeling that way. I give it a good 10 minutes before I delete it, and some I’ve been ffing scenes. There is no time to waste on a subpar movie, and that’s also why like JenMD, I deleted the Cupid movie after five minutes. It reminded me of those crappy produced Amazon prime “romances” that are filmed so poorly that I can’t focus on the storyline. Why waste any money on a movie if you’re not going to put some effort into making it look presentable?

Lifetime’s Twist of Christmas has a lot of promise. I’m half way into it and didn’t realize that Vanessa Lachey can act pretty well. I’m wondering what the typical misunderstanding will be since there doesn’t seem to be any angst, but that’s a good thing.

Edited December 4, 2018 by twoods

[MissyPoo]

3 hours ago, twoods said:

Lifetime’s Twist of Christmas has a lot of promise. I’m half way into it and didn’t realize that Vanessa Lachey can act pretty well. I’m wondering what the typical misunderstanding will be since there doesn’t seem to be any angst, but that’s a good thing.

 

Surprised the crap out of me, too. I actually found her endearing. I just finished it, but for the life of me can't remember if there was a misunderstanding. So yeah, definitely feeling some burnout by the new ones. I did love A Majestic Christmas mainly because Jerrika H was so charming and likable. I usually tune into Hallmark to see what faves are on or (back when I couldn't go back and forth), I just left it on, but I've had my fill of the same old so I'm rewatching old faves from the streaming sites that are against the Hallmark grain. I'm slowing down on the newer ones because they are beginning to feel like a weird time loop with different actors.

Edited December 4, 2018 by MissyPoo

[JasmineFlower]

I watched Christmas Contract. I liked it a bit less than others, but still not bad. The problems are not plentiful. Hilarie is a known quantity in these and delivers once again. Robert is always nice to see and we do get some brief shirtless action in this, and isn't that when he's at his most appealing if we're being honest? Cheryl Ladd needs to lay off the plastic surgery, fillers, botox or whatever she's doing lately. It's becoming too much and she's going to start being hard to recognize. Danneel has also done something to her face and mostly looks like herself, but very clearly doesn't look exactly like she used to and it's not merely aging unfortunately. Now, she really needs to stop, too young and pretty for that nonsense.

The writing. Why are you going to the trouble to make a big production of the contract, but you don't even once make sure you have a story to tell your family? Even if these two weren't bright enough in the moment to think of it, how about Danneel? She came up with the plan, let her lead that part so she's in the movie a bit more. The ex-boyfriend is just suddenly back in love and willing to move to NYC? I had whiplash from that part. Not sure where that came from and it just proved to be a bit strange. I also found that when his girlfriend was introduced she came off regular and suddenly we see her later with a complete shift in tone. It's like they decided as they went, we need to make her a bit more unlikable.

The casting. Why is this Northern VA girl being cast in multiple "Bayou" movies? What about Hilarie screams Louisiana? She's good in this don't get me wrong, but this is her second Lifetime movie where she's from the Bayou. They need to stop with that. Jason London is in this and if you walk out of the room more than once during the movie, you may miss his speaking lines. Huh? WTH? Why is he being used so little? What's more perplexing about his use is the casting of the ex. He is truly nothing special and next to Robert? Let's get serious. Even if we're not going on looks, let's get real here, still a hard pass. What was the thinking here? He's not a viable other man in this trio. It makes me wonder why you don't use Jason, a cleaned up Jason not the scruffy one we see here, in that role instead. It'd be a more believable, more tempting alternative. At least you'd see a guy who you actually believe Hilarie was gone over and got her heart broken by. Cause this guy? No.

I did enjoy the movie overall. This is a familiar and likable cast. Just not going to be a fave as I had assumed it would be. Possibly I expected too much and in the future, I'll like it more when those expectations are removed. But always happy to see Hilarie, Robert, Cheryl, and Bruce.

 

Christmas Cupid's Arrow. This is an ION movie and stars Elisabeth Harnois and it's not one to avoid, but isn't one I'd go out of my way to catch either. I missed most of the first half, but I saw enough where I'm not going to seek out what I missed for a better impression. I think the general storyline had promise. The acting is good, though I'm not crazy about Elisabeth's character and how she was written here. The Cyrano storyline works. I just think in many ways, it was so obvious this guy couldn't be who he was presenting himself to be and she was definitely smart enough to figure that out sooner than she did. I also wish they had skipped the oh he's talking to a woman so let me assume he's dating her cliche. I liked the lead guy. I would've preferred a good deal more time spent between the lead girl and guy here, though maybe that was covered more fully in the first half. I wish this had been a Lifetime or Hallmark movie. With increased production values and some script editing, I think this could've come off a good deal better for me than it did. Because I didn't mind many parts of this movie and yet it still felt lacking by the time the ending rolled around.

[Atlanta]

Anyone see "Dear Santa"? It's on Netflix. It's not too different from typical Christmas movies... single widowed dad with a daughter, daughter wants a new mom, nasty current girlfriend, nice rich girl. 

[Kaoteek]

Didn't care much for UpTV's A Christmas Switch.

Partly because i've seen the exact same movie half a dozen times already (and this one didn't have a really memorable cast nor enough rhythm to make up for the sense of déjà vu), but also because they made the choice of having the "body swap" portrayed by having both actresses simply act differently (I prefer when such movies use the Quantum Leap technique of having the actresses switch places on screen while "magically" looking like their regular selves to other people), which led to some crazy eyes overacting here and there.

All in all, very bland and so-so, despite Cleary Herzlinger - the daughter of the director - being simply adorable. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Atlanta said:

Anyone see "Dear Santa"? It's on Netflix. It's not too different from typical Christmas movies... single widowed dad with a daughter, daughter wants a new mom, nasty current girlfriend, nice rich girl. 

That was originally a Lifetime movie from a few years ago (and I'm pretty sure will air there again this year for those who don't have Netflix). I like this movie and will watch it if I come across it.  I remember,  though, that last year there was a Lifetime movie where all the characters were watching a Christmas movie at a festival.   It was Dear Santa. The corporate cross-promotion cracked me up.

[JasmineFlower]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

That was originally a Lifetime movie from a few years ago (and I'm pretty sure will air there again this year for those who don't have Netflix). I like this movie and will watch it if I come across it.  I remember,  though, that last year there was a Lifetime movie where all the characters were watching a Christmas movie at a festival.   It was Dear Santa. The corporate cross-promotion cracked me up.

Ugh! That was Four Christmases and a Wedding. That was so awful when they slid that in there. I think they mentioned like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life or movies of that caliber at the festival in their trivia game and then threw in Dear Santa like it was comparable perennial Christmas classic. What a freaking joke that was.

[Shanna Marie]

25 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

That was Four Christmases and a Wedding. That was so awful when they slid that in there. I think they mentioned like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life or movies of that caliber at the festival in their trivia game and then threw in Dear Santa like it was comparable perennial Christmas classic. What a freaking joke that was.

I couldn't remember which movie that was, but, yeah, Dear Santa as some kind of classic you could do trivia questions about and that would be shown on a big screen outdoors at a civic festival was rather hilarious. I have to confess that I've never seen it. I suspect those who aren't huge Christmas movie fans have never heard of it.

13 hours ago, twoods said:

Are we getting burned out by Christmas movies? It’s only December 3rd but I’m feeling that way.

I'm not really burned out (not having cable helps), but I have to confess to being a bit relieved to not have cable so I don't have as many to try to watch. I think they've pretty much hit overkill. I remember way back when the Family Channel showed The Christmas List (the one with Mimi Rogers) and I loved it so much and wished there were more things like it, and then a few started showing up on Lifetime and it was fun seeing things like Christmas in Boston or Recipe for a Perfect Christmas, but they were still rare enough that it was a treat. It was nice when there were enough movies that they could marathon them on weekends. I remember spending some rainy, cold December Saturdays curled up on the couch, watching movies on Lifetime and Family. I don't know when Hallmark got into the game in a big way because my cable company didn't get Hallmark until a few years ago, but then it was like being hit by an avalanche, and it was no longer quite as much fun. Now it's such a "thing" that it's not quite as special to stumble upon one of these movies.

I always liked the Lifetime and Family movies better than the Hallmark ones. They were more likely to take place in the city (and without the city being evil). The heroine's career was usually just part of her life and not something she had to give up to be happy in a small town with her old boyfriend. There was a bit more of an edge to those -- there could be (gasp!) kissing before the end, and sometimes it was even suggested that the couple had sex or that the heroine was living with the evil ex before they broke up. The Family movies were more likely to have some kind of magic or fantasy element that I liked. Those movies were also all less cookie-cutter. Hallmark seems to have made them all a lot more generic and presenting one particular worldview (aside from the overall "Christmas is awesome and if you don't love it, you need to reform" message that comes with holiday movies). To a large extent, these movies work to fill the romantic comedy void for me. I love a good romantic comedy, but they quit making them for the big screen, or when they did, they had gone in the gross-out direction and tended to involve a leading man who was an overgrown fratboy manchild. The Christmas movies tended to be romantic comedies, and since they were female driven, the men were usually decent human beings who were functioning adults. The Hallmark guys tend to be blander than the earlier guys on the other networks, where the leading men were often the actors who played supporting characters on series shot in Vancouver, and it was nice to see them getting lead roles.

Hmm, I wonder if The Christmas List is still on the Tube of You. I watched it there a few years ago, and I still loved it.

[twoods]

5 hours ago, Atlanta said:

Anyone see "Dear Santa"? It's on Netflix. It's not too different from typical Christmas movies... single widowed dad with a daughter, daughter wants a new mom, nasty current girlfriend, nice rich girl. 

I really like it because the “spoiled” lead is actually a pretty good person, and the kid isn’t annoying. I’ve watched it several times.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, JasmineFlower said:

Ugh! That was Four Christmases and a Wedding. That was so awful when they slid that in there. I think they mentioned like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life or movies of that caliber at the festival in their trivia game and then threw in Dear Santa like it was comparable perennial Christmas classic. What a freaking joke that was.

Ha. Honestly? I'd rather watch Dear Santa again than either of those other two classics.  But yes, it was silly.

[Scarlett45]

My absolute favorite Holiday TV Movie is “Holiday in Handcuffs”- I saw it on Thanksgiving and it kicked off the season. 

[AnnaRose]

25 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

My absolute favorite Holiday TV Movie is “Holiday in Handcuffs”- I saw it on Thanksgiving and it kicked off the season. 

I just set up my DVR to record it, finally, after reading good things about it.

[Scarlett45]

1 minute ago, AnnaRose said:

I just set up my DVR to record it, finally, after reading good things about it.

You will laugh a lot. 

[redpencil]

Quote

I tried The Christmas Pact but it's one of those movies that just felt long again and a chore to get through.  I ended up fast forwarding to the Dwayne and Whitley scenes. 

I had the same issue. This was tedious. I started fast forwarding through long sections starting about 45 minutes in, and even when I wasn't fast forwarding and watched what seemed to be the more important sections, I was just so bored. I also got the lead character and her female friend mixed up multiple times.

[Scarlett45]

You know, although Hallmark pops out more movies the most memorable/my favorites are from Lifetime:

For example- Holiday in Handcuffs, Love at the Christmas Table (which I just watched this year!), The Santa Con.....

[chitowngirl]

23 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

You know, although Hallmark pops out more movies the most memorable/my favorites are from Lifetime:

For example- Holiday in Handcuffs, Love at the Christmas Table (which I just watched this year!), The Santa Con.....

Holiday in Handcuffs was an ABC Family movie.

[Scarlett45]

16 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Holiday in Handcuffs was an ABC Family movie.

It was! You’re very right. I also loved The Mistle Tones and that was ABC as well. 

[twoods]

Wasn’t 12 Dates of Christmas with Mark Paul Gosselar also on ABC Family? They really know how to make awesome Christmas movies. Even after they switched to Freeform, their movies have been my favorites. I am pissed they never replay one of my favorites, Christmas in Boston.

Edited December 6, 2018 by twoods

[MissyPoo]

Yup! 12 Dates was also ABC Fam. One of my other top faves are from that network as well. Snowglobe. :)

[AnnaRose]

I've never seen 12 Dates of Christmas, but Titan TV says ABC FAM is going to be showing it 12 a.m. EST on Wednesday December 19th.  (It's weird that it says FAM-E or ABCFAMHD instead of Freeform, isn't it?)

[Valentine]

On 12/4/2018 at 2:22 PM, Shanna Marie said:

Hmm, I wonder if The Christmas List is still on the Tube of You. I watched it there a few years ago, and I still loved it.

Oh man, that is the first made for TV Christmas movie I watched, and I still love it. Mimi Rogers was great. Plus Marla Maples! I also liked Three Days with Kristin Davis from roughly the same era. I hate that they stopped showing up on TV.

[twoods]

Enjoyed Christmas Harmony. Was wondering why the lead looked familiar and didn’t realize she was in Pitch Perfect, which I love. It was weird seeing Peter Porte as the bad guy, but the music was nice and the kid was really good.

 

Has anyone seen the commercial for Santa’s Boots? It looks  absolutely terrible.

Edited December 6, 2018 by twoods

[Irlandesa]

52 minutes ago, twoods said:

Has anyone seen the commercial for Santa’s Boots? It looks  absolutely terrible.

I've seen the ads.  With Lifetime, I've learned to not judge a movie by its ads....especially after A Twist For Christmas.  Santa's Boots has Megan Hilty, who I adore so I'm going to hope for the best...even though I hate "santa is real " stories (which I think this one is but I'm not certain.)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I've seen the ads.  With Lifetime, I've learned to not judge a movie by its ads....especially after A Twist For Christmas.  Santa's Boots has Megan Hilty, who I adore so I'm going to hope for the best...even though I hate "santa is real " stories (which I think this one is but I'm not certain.)

I really want Santa’s Boots to be good. Megan Hilty can save almost anything. Plus the male lead is Noah Mills who was super charming and hot in The Brave(I’m still pissed that was canceled). 

[WendyCR72]

Charlie Brown Christmas is on ABC at any minute! (12/6) Always be a favorite.

[Dr.OO7]

I just watched ''Christmas In The Air''. For all the typical Hallmark cheesiness, I  appreciate that for once in one of these cliched "Uptight Loves Wild" pairings that it's  the uptight person to teach the  wild one that being organized isn't a bad thing, rather than the usual "free spirit gets stick-in-the-mud to loosen up" (although that still happens to some extent). 

Edited December 8, 2018 by Camille

[Kaoteek]

Funnily enough, despite the low production values (no budget for ADR, I guess !), and the fact that I was prepared to hate it (ION movies are often miss and rarely hit), I ended up somewhat enjoying Christmas Cupid's Arrow, mostly because the cast worked well together (and i've got a soft spot for Sasha Jackson). It was still a low-budget, low-key riff on Cyrano, with a not-so-well-written female lead, and Christmas was totally irrelevant to the entire endeavour, but it was okay for what it was.

(also, it had some relevant pop culture references, which is always surprising, considering the "timeless" quality most Hallmark/Lifetime movies aim for)

[Karen885]

I just watched My Christmas Inn on lifetime and really liked it.  One part that made me laugh was when the main character said "I just did an ad campaign for a company called Balsam Hill. Have you ever heard of it". It was real subtle.

[JasmineFlower]

On 12/6/2018 at 1:19 AM, twoods said:

Wasn’t 12 Dates of Christmas with Mark Paul Gosselar also on ABC Family? They really know how to make awesome Christmas movies. Even after they switched to Freeform, their movies have been my favorites. I am pissed they never replay one of my favorites, Christmas in Boston.

Freeform's first (and only) movie last year was Angry Angel. Easy to seem like the best when they barely make any and nail it when they do. My guess is that they would continue to be a favorite like ABC Family was with the quality and tone of movies they put out, they're back at it again this year. They were always the best year-round as well if you ask me, but they need to get back in the game more than they are. They don't need to become a machine like Hallmark, they always beat them even with only like 5-8 new movies a year, but give people something. They've really bailed and ceded the crown to Hallmark, when they were very clearly in the driver's seat for everyone's favorites over the years. Hallmark can pretend all they want that they started this Christmas movie thing, but it was ABC Family that started the 25 Days of Christmas event featuring seasonal movie premieres years before them.

Christmas in Boston is a favorite and it's been a few years since I've seen it. Last time I caught it was a random showing that basically wasn't on the schedule and I saw it by accident. Not on the 25 Days schedule they released yet again. I'm probably even more confused about why they never air Desperately Seeking Santa, but do air 12 Dates of Christmas since they were both made around the same time a bit more recently. But in general, the channel sucks now movie-wise for me since Disney has decided it's there to show major Disney movies on repeat and largely bail on the channel's original movie library. Don't know why, they are not killing it in the ratings with their big budget repeats.

[Kaoteek]

Gotta say I enjoyed Christmas Perfection, and its weird mix of irish Snowglobe and Groundhog Day. It wasn't necessarily fresh or original, but the lead actress was a welcome change from all the familiar faces of those usual Christmas movies, it didn't take itself too seriously, and I've always had some fondness for Ireland, so... I liked it (more than most Hallmark movies, so far, this season).

[Shanna Marie]

On 11/29/2018 at 3:51 PM, twoods said:

Much better than A Wedding For Christmas, which was on Ion. Bad acting, stilted scenes.

I finally watched my recording of this one, and while the story was actually decent, the acting was just so bad and stilted. Are these non-union productions, so they're stuck with actors who haven't managed to get into SAG/AFTRA? Because the acting all around in this movie was flat-out amateur. You could tell they were saying lines, and some of them seemed to be having to work hard to remember their lines.

However, they did actually show that having a Christmas Eve wedding would be a challenge, with things being booked and people not being available, and I was a bit surprised when the boss at the end was pretty mellow about it all. I'd been worried that the heroine would have some kind of ultimatum of having to choose work vs. family when the boss was acting like she expected her to drop her sister's wedding to plan a New Year's Eve event (good luck booking things for that with less than a month's notice), but then she was like "oh well."

This one might have been pretty good if they'd hired actual actors. These people wouldn't even be cast in most community theater productions. It was like they rounded up people off the street, handed them scripts, and said, "Hey, want to be in a movie?" Or did they Kickstart this, and the highest reward level was a role in the movie?

[Chas411]

Just started A Gift Wrapped Christmas - anyone seen this? I don’t recognize any of the actors bar Lucy from seventh heaven.

[JenMD]

On 12/6/2018 at 5:59 PM, Dani said:

I really want Santa’s Boots to be good. Megan Hilty can save almost anything. Plus the male lead is Noah Mills who was super charming and hot in The Brave(I’m still pissed that was canceled). 

This one won Christmas Movie Lottery at my house last night over Hallmark and I enjoyed it, with 2 caveats.  I enjoyed Megan Hilty a lot and I'm not familiar with Noah Mills, but I liked him, too.  I liked the whole cast, the look of the movie, everybody was nice, the woman representing the business that wanted to buy them out was straightforward, no evil undertones, etc.  I was much less silly than the commercial suggested.  However.  My biggest problem is the idea that the store wouldn't have any information on every single employee, even those sent by a temp agency.  Name, address, phone, SS#, and since he'd be working with children, fingerprints and a background check.  And I'm not exactly sure what I missed, but then it turns into a Cinderella story with some silly contest to find him by his shoes.  Despite the fact that unlike Cinderella, these are normal shoes that any guy with the same size feet should fit.  So weird.  Fortunately for me, all this happened so late in the movie that I just rolled my eyes and kept watching.  But really dumb writing.  Loved Granny, though, she was a pip. 

21 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

Gotta say I enjoyed Christmas Perfection, and its weird mix of irish Snowglobe and Groundhog Day. It wasn't necessarily fresh or original, but the lead actress was a welcome change from all the familiar faces of those usual Christmas movies, it didn't take itself too seriously, and I've always had some fondness for Ireland, so... I liked it (more than most Hallmark movies, so far, this season).

I liked this one, too.  It was a little odd but in a fun way.  Nice to get something a little different, both in cast and location.  It's not one I think I'd necessarily rush to re-watch but I enjoyed it.

Also really enjoyed Friday's Lifetime offering, Christmas Lost and Found.  It's probably my favorite Lifetime this year so far.  I really enjoyed the cast, I thought they gelled very well.  I'm not familiar with the lead actor (although he looks like Luke Mitchell's little brother) but I really like Tiya Sircar from a few different things.  I thought they had great chemistry and it's always nice to see Diane Ladd.  I'm glad we found out who was responsible for the scavenger hunt before the end of the movie so that had some time for a resolution.  I also liked how they played it.  Whitney seemed to genuinely enjoy both Christmas and her grandmother's company before it started but just need, as Grandma said, to slow down and enjoy things.  They could have written it as her being exasperated or cynical about Christmas but there was a warmth that ran through the story that I really enjoyed.  My one quibble would be the department store lady seemed to be relying on Whitney just a bit too much to save the party, but I realize they probably just didn't have time/budget for more people to be involved.  I did chuckle whenever she lamented not being able to see the window progress because she was locked out.  I kept thinking, "Just go outside!".  Heh.  Oh, and there was a very weird edit late in the movie.  Whitney is in the storage room and calls Brian with the revelation that she found a bunch of historical items she can use.  But Brian pointed that out to her earlier in the movie and she dismissed it all because they were going "modern".  It certainly wasn't enough to derail the movie, but it was odd.  Overall though, I really enjoyed this one.  Also, they didn't go crazy bananas with the Christmas decor.  I'll always appreciate a set decorator that realizes sometimes less is more.  A house doesn't have to looks like the North Pole to be festive (unless the movie takes place in the North Pole, then go for it!).

[Chas411]

I ended up quite enjoying A gift wrapped Christmas - the leads had a nice chemistry and the story of a widowed father meets optimistic gift shopper felt somewhat more original than the usual high powered career girl moves to small town to learn the importance of Christmas. 

[Kaoteek]

4 hours ago, JenMD said:

This one won Christmas Movie Lottery at my house last night over Hallmark and I enjoyed it, with 2 caveats.  I enjoyed Megan Hilty a lot and I'm not familiar with Noah Mills, but I liked him, too.  I liked the whole cast, the look of the movie, everybody was nice, the woman representing the business that wanted to buy them out was straightforward, no evil undertones, etc.  I was much less silly than the commercial suggested.  However.  My biggest problem is the idea that the store wouldn't have any information on every single employee, even those sent by a temp agency.  Name, address, phone, SS#, and since he'd be working with children, fingerprints and a background check.  And I'm not exactly sure what I missed, but then it turns into a Cinderella story with some silly contest to find him by his shoes.  Despite the fact that unlike Cinderella, these are normal shoes that any guy with the same size feet should fit.  So weird.  Fortunately for me, all this happened so late in the movie that I just rolled my eyes and kept watching.  But really dumb writing.  Loved Granny, though, she was a pip.

Same here. Santa's Boots was an enjoyable one, with a solid cast (Hilty, Mills, Teryl Rothery, Garry Chalk...), it was light-hearted but not too tropey (no rival love interest & misunderstandings, yay !), it wasn't cheap-looking, and yes, Grammy was fun. A likeable movie that kinda felt like it was pitched as a reverse-Cinderella-inspired Hallmark movie (Frontstreet Pictures usually work with Hallmark), but then, halfway through development, they switched to Lifetime and just decided to make it more about the characters than the Cinderella gimmick. Which in turn made it stronger.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Kaoteek

[AnnaRose]

3 hours ago, Chas411 said:

I ended up quite enjoying A gift wrapped Christmas - the leads had a nice chemistry and the story of a widowed father meets optimistic gift shopper felt somewhat more original than the usual high powered career girl moves to small town to learn the importance of Christmas. 

I'm glad you enjoyed it.  It's one of my favorites. (Of course, I have a huge list of favorites, but still, it's a very enjoyable movie.)

[EyewatchTV211]

20 hours ago, Shanna Marie said:

I finally watched my recording of this one, and while the story was actually decent, the acting was just so bad and stilted. Are these non-union productions, so they're stuck with actors who haven't managed to get into SAG/AFTRA? Because the acting all around in this movie was flat-out amateur. You could tell they were saying lines, and some of them seemed to be having to work hard to remember their lines.

However, they did actually show that having a Christmas Eve wedding would be a challenge, with things being booked and people not being available, and I was a bit surprised when the boss at the end was pretty mellow about it all. I'd been worried that the heroine would have some kind of ultimatum of having to choose work vs. family when the boss was acting like she expected her to drop her sister's wedding to plan a New Year's Eve event (good luck booking things for that with less than a month's notice), but then she was like "oh well."

This one might have been pretty good if they'd hired actual actors. These people wouldn't even be cast in most community theater productions. It was like they rounded up people off the street, handed them scripts, and said, "Hey, want to be in a movie?" Or did they Kickstart this, and the highest reward level was a role in the movie?

I didn't think the male lead was bad, although maybe I was overlooking the bad due to his cuteness. The female lead, however, was awful. Her acting was bad, and I hated the character in general. Her "growth" as the movie progressed did nothing for me. I couldn't see one reason why the guy would fall for her, so it was hard to root for them at all. Unsurprisingly, there was no chemistry.

[Dr.OO7]

On 12/4/2018 at 1:24 AM, twoods said:

Are we getting burned out by Christmas movies? It’s only December 3rd but I’m feeling that way.

It's inevitable, considering that Hallmark has been airing them 24/7 since BEFORE HALLOWEEN.  I feel the same way about LiteFM's 24/7 Christmas music starting the weekend before Thanksgiving. I don't know why their respective TPTB never considered that possibility.

It really doesn't help how very similar these movies are.

[In2You]

I was really enjoying Christmas with a Prince and that it was different than the usual royal Christmas stories. The children and the lead's love for her patients added some depth and heart.  Usually the leads in these stories feel like nothing other than overgrown little girls holding onto princess fantasies. But she actually had a memorable career she was passionate about.

I was praising this movie for not having the stereotypical annoying ex buzzing around but then they brought in some bitchy wannabe fiancee in the 2nd half. But I liked the way she schooled her.

Charles Shaughnessy is becoming the go-to King in these movies.