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

[Avabelle]

Watching A Nashville Christmas with Jessy Schram and Wes Brown and it’s really nice. Making me feel festive despite how early it is. 

[absnow54]

We're Scrooged on Up!TV was kind of decent. Former high school sweethearts get trapped in a retelling of A Christmas Carol while attending their class reunion. It drags a bit near the end, but I thought it was more engaging than most of what Hallmark has offered so far this season. 

Edited November 10, 2023 by absnow54

[Avabelle]

Watching Take Me Back for Christmas on Hallmark and enjoying it. I don’t know either of the leads at all.

Does Hilarie Burton still work with Hallmark? I haven’t seen her do one in a while.

[Guest]

On 11/10/2023 at 1:45 PM, Avabelle said:

Does Hilarie Burton still work with Hallmark? I haven’t seen her do one in a while.

No. She insisted on LGTBQ+ representation in her movies and they refused so she went to Lifetime. 

[Irlandesa]

I liked EXMas on Freevee.  It was more comedy but Leighton Meester and Robbie Amell had good chemistry. 

 

[GeorgiaRai]

I started watching Kristin's Christmas Past a few years ago based on comments in this thread; it has become one of my favorites.  Now, I try to watch it at least once every year, and thanks to Lifetime, today's the day! 

[twoods]

I will follow Robbie Amell anywhere. Thank you!

[memememe76]

Watched Best Christmas Ever, the cast gave it their all. But I don’t understand why Netflix kinda stopped trying with holiday movies, both in terms of quality and quantity. 

[anniebird]

I tried watching two Lifetime movies, Planes, Trains, and Christmas Trees and Christmas Plus One and thought they were both awful. I didn't get very far with either one.

[DanaMB]

On 11/20/2023 at 1:21 PM, anniebird said:

I tried watching two Lifetime movies, Planes, Trains, and Christmas Trees and Christmas Plus One and thought they were both awful. I didn't get very far with either one.

I felt like I had seen both of them before. I stopped Christmas Plus One halfway through because I was convinced I saw it last year. Stuck with the other one, but felt like it dragged and dragged. 

[anniebird]

7 hours ago, DanaMB said:

I felt like I had seen both of them before. I stopped Christmas Plus One halfway through because I was convinced I saw it last year. Stuck with the other one, but felt like it dragged and dragged. 

The guys on the Deck the Hallmark podcast thought Planes, Trains, and Christmas Trees was one of the worst of the year.

Edited November 26, 2023 by anniebird

[absnow54]

Lifetime Holiday movies are generally rough, but since they scored Jake Epstein's Laughing All the Way this year, they won my viewership last night. I thought it was pretty decent, although the romance seemed like a shoehorned afterthought. I didn't love his Adam Sandler-esque bits, but the song about fake Christmas Trees was pretty funny!

[norcalgal]

On 11/25/2023 at 8:22 AM, DanaMB said:

I felt like I had seen both of them before. I stopped Christmas Plus One halfway through because I was convinced I saw it last year. Stuck with the other one, but felt like it dragged and dragged. 

I watched to the bitter end because I’ve adored Corey Sevier for decades. 

[GeorgiaRai]

I stuck it out just for Corey, too!  

[statsgirl]

I enjoyed A Biltmore Christmas. Kristoffer Polaha and Bethany Joy Lenz can generally be counted on for a decent film but add in Jonathan Frakes (ST:TNG) and Robert Picardo (ST:Voyager) having fun hamming it up and a lot of easter eggs from the fake movie (a combination of It's a Wonderful Life and The Bishop's Wife with Polaha in the Cary Grant role, to Lenz pronouncing 'poinsettias' harking back to a 2018 movie of hers, to Rachel Boston playing the actress in the remake saying that this movie will be better than Check Into Christmas, a movie that Boston made in 2019.

Margaret, the geeky Christmas movie lover, worked as a stand-in for me.

ETA: apologies, I just realized that this may be in the wrong thread. All the Christmas movies here air on the same channel and I have trouble knowing what is Hallmark and what isn't n

Edited November 29, 2023 by statsgirl

[memememe76]

The Sandra Bullock jokes were great too. Lucy and Jack are also the lead characters’ names in While You Were Sleeping.

[MerBearHou]

I am re-watching A Biltmore Christmas as we speak!  Stumbled onto it starting after I watched tonight‘s Dancing w the Stars.  

[Scarlett45]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:49 PM, Irlandesa said:

I liked EXMas on Freevee.  It was more comedy but Leighton Meester and Robbie Amell had good chemistry. 

 

I saw ads for that and was interested. 
I saw one from a few years ago Angel Falls Christmas with Chad Michael Murray and it was bland, predictable, but his acting choice as an Angel was solid. 

[Chaos Theory]

Not a it re I am in the right place but couldn’t find it elsewhere so here I go.  Last night I was bored so I gave Netflix’s Family Switch a try.  While not necessarily a Christmas movie it took place during the season so I am counting it.  For the most part it was fun if predictable.   I did like that the entire family got into the fun and not just two people.    Yeah the baby and the dog were just sight gags but whatever.   The adults/teen stuff was actually pretty well done.    I really liked the juxtaposition between a popular father and his nerdy son.     The mother and daughter stuff was good as well.   
 

I mean not usually my type of movie.   But it’s Christmas every network pulls out its sickly sweet wholesome inventory.    

[Scarlett45]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:49 PM, Irlandesa said:

I liked EXMas on Freevee.  It was more comedy but Leighton Meester and Robbie Amell had good chemistry. 

 

I liked this one a lot. It was cute and funny, and the family were well written and used just enough. It was fun! Especially the last scene. 

[susannot]

Candy Cane Lane on Prime, starring Eddie Murphy.  Inventive, creative, and hilarious.

[DanaMB]

On 11/27/2023 at 8:29 AM, absnow54 said:

Lifetime Holiday movies are generally rough, but since they scored Jake Epstein's Laughing All the Way this year, they won my viewership last night. I thought it was pretty decent, although the romance seemed like a shoehorned afterthought. I didn't love his Adam Sandler-esque bits, but the song about fake Christmas Trees was pretty funny!

I agree, it was decent. I thought they could have made his act less Adam Sandler-esque. It threw me off. 

[Trini]

Thought this is a fun weekly feature that some may be interested in; at TVLine: 'The Best & Battiest Moments From This Past Weekend’s Holiday Movies'

[WendyCR72]

As this thread is also titled for non-Rankin Bass Christmas specials as well as movies, I guess this thread is the best spot to put this:

Today only, you can purchase the original animated How The Grinch Stole Christmas on Amazon Video for just $3.99. It is usually a little over $13.

[chitowngirl]

Genie on Peacock with Melissa McCarthy. A cute little movie you can watch with your family. Not breaking any new ground, but an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

[Spartan Girl]

36 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Genie on Peacock with Melissa McCarthy. A cute little movie you can watch with your family. Not breaking any new ground, but an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

I enjoyed it too. I wasn’t expected the time travel ending, but whatever works.

I really what to know what was the decked-out restaurant they went to for the daughter’s birthday dinner! It was gorgeous!

[DanaMB]

21 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I enjoyed it too. I wasn’t expected the time travel ending, but whatever works.

I really what to know what was the decked-out restaurant they went to for the daughter’s birthday dinner! It was gorgeous!

Me too! I tried finding out, but there was nothing out there. 

[Kaoteek]

For some reason, I ended up putting GAF's A Vintage Christmas in the background, and... welp, although I liked the leads, it was all so generic and been there seen that ten-fifteen years ago on Hallmark that I've already forgotten most of it.

[Featherhat]

Does this go here? 

Netflix have released the trailers for their Christmas/holiday movies 2024. 

It features the last of Lindsay Lohan's movies with them among others. 

As a side note I didn't even realise she'd done "Irish Wish" with them in March:

Netflix Christmas Movies 2024

 

[Gharlane]

Wasn't there a Halloween special that might have been a Rankin-Bass production and had the same animation style as Rudolph and The Little Drummer Boy specials?

[Makai]

On 10/27/2024 at 3:54 PM, Gharlane said:

Wasn't there a Halloween special that might have been a Rankin-Bass production and had the same animation style as Rudolph and The Little Drummer Boy specials?

Sounds like Mad Monster Party?. Parts of it are on YouTube. 

 

[Gharlane]

On 11/3/2024 at 12:09 PM, Makai said:

Quote

Wasn't there a Halloween special that might have been a Rankin-Bass production and had the same animation style as Rudolph and The Little Drummer Boy specials?

Sounds like Mad Monster Party?. Parts of it are on YouTube. 

That's it! I remember them playing it on TV as a young child.