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

[Dejana]

I watched. It was pretty bad. The lead is torn between her current fiance (at times ex-fiance), who is clearly terrible and she knows it, and the guy she randomly kisses in the elevator. The fiance was played by David O'Donnell, who was in the movie with Candace Cameron Bure last year. Unfortunately, they had him playing this crazy egotistical, jerky famous person with a ridiculous fake accent. That whole part was just terrible. No one would buy them ever having been together. If that character had not existed and they had some other form of drama, the rest of the movie might have been okay. I think the actual leads had decent chemistry. And there was a ton of kissing in the movie, and way before the end, which was different for one of these movies.

They rolled the Wrong Love Interest and The Boss From Hell into one person. Titanic was on earlier in the day and the fiance here in Merry Kissmas reminded me of the Billy Zane character, crossed with Miranda Priestly. The movie seemed to drag, so I flipped back and forth, but I'm not sure I care how it ends.

[KLovestoShop]

I was just watching Boyfriend for Christmad, which I really do like, but there's something that bugs me about so many of these movies. They're supposed to be at Christmas time, so they try and portray the outside as being cold and snowy. But, all you see is green grass, green leaves on the trees and plops of very fake looking snow. You have to feel sorry for these actors who are bundled up for below freezing temps when it's probably 80 degrees. I guess there's no budget to actually go to a city that's really cold and has real snow.

[WendyCR72]

To be fair, the usual "cold spots" are having a warm winter. I live in Upstate NY. Last year and the year before, we were pounded by snow and were living in a freezer. We're expected to hit 60 by Sunday.

 

Global warming, anyone?  :-P

[twoods]

Which one is Paul Campbell in? Becoming Santa or Wish Upon a Christmas? I know that Jesse Hutch (from Let it Snow and Harvest Moon) is in Becoming Santa on Lifetime. Is Paul Campbell in the other one?

My bad- I checked and it was Aaron Ashmore- on the quick preview I saw, he looked like Paul Campbell but that beard threw me off. Sorry for the confusion! I will still probably catch it since I like Larisa Oleynik, though the storyline seems to be similar to one that Candace Burre did a few years ago about a Christmas ornament factory.

Becoming Santa looks cheesy, but will catch it for Jesse Hutch.

Edited December 7, 2015 by twoods

[Mountainair]

I was just watching Boyfriend for Christmad, which I really do like, but there's something that bugs me about so many of these movies. They're supposed to be at Christmas time, so they try and portray the outside as being cold and snowy. But, all you see is green grass, green leaves on the trees and plops of very fake looking snow. You have to feel sorry for these actors who are bundled up for below freezing temps when it's probably 80 degrees. I guess there's no budget to actually go to a city that's really cold and has real snow.

That and the fact that these people wear 6 inch heels in the snow without a care in the world. No worries of black ice while walking around town with semi scraped side walks. I live wear it snows and while I have no need for heels now I used to and I'd wear my boots in to work and change into a pair of heels once I got into the office. 

Then there's the fact that these people take midnight strolls through the snow, attend outside festivals in the snow, sit on park benches in the snow, etc. Personally, if it's 40 degrees or less outside I'm inside. The longest I'll be outside is to go from the house to the car. 

 

I'm finding I don't have enough time to watch all the movies I've been DVR'ing. Part of that is due to the location of my DVR but It usually takes me about 2 or 3 days to get through one movie. 

 

And way earlier in the thread I had mentioned the fact that my cable provider gifted me with the Hallmark Movies and Mystery channel which only lasted about 2 weeks- go figure :)

[Shanna Marie]

The lead is torn between her current fiance (at times ex-fiance), who is clearly terrible and she knows it, and the guy she randomly kisses in the elevator.

Wait, there's another ION movie about a kiss in an elevator? There was one a couple/few years ago called something like A Christmas Kiss that was basically the plot of Working Girl, except what kicked it off was the rich, successful boyfriend of the villainess getting stuck in an elevator with her assistant, the heroine, who was all done up with sparkly theatrical makeup by her friend who was a makeup artist. They ended up kissing, but he didn't recognize her when he ran into her again as his girlfriend's assistant. Then the plot of Working Girl ensued, where the evil boss stole the assistant's ideas and presented them as her own, and then the boss went out of town and then had some kind of injury that kept her out of town longer so the assistant and boyfriend (who was also a client) had to work together on the project and, of course, fell in love. Boss came back at a bad time, publicly claimed assistant's work as her own and humiliated her in front of boyfriend, also put on the ring she found in the boyfriend's stuff and claimed they were engaged, and for whatever reason he actually went along with it for a while, in spite of having fallen in love with the assistant. Somewhere along the way I guess he figured out she was the girl he kissed in the elevator. But he looked like a total idiot for ever dating that shrew in the first place. As usual, the evil girlfriend demonstrated her evilness by making plans to redecorate his cozy home to make it more modern, as I recall. She was some kind of interior designer, and the project was to decorate his house for Christmas for some big charity event he'd be hosting. He hated all the girlfriend's ideas that were all avant garde and modern, so in desperation she reached for the assistant's ideas she'd previously dismissed, and of course he loved that proposal.

 

So there are two Christmas movies involving a kiss in an elevator and an evil significant other who's obviously wrong but that the character is dating anyway? Is this a subgenre, like the royalty movies?

[Aliconehead]

I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone to stay AWAY FAR AWAY from UP's Beverly Hills Christmas.  Bad acting, stupid story, bad acting. It was HORRIBLE

[EyewatchTV211]

Wait, there's another ION movie about a kiss in an elevator? There was one a couple/few years ago called something like A Christmas Kiss that was basically the plot of Working Girl, except what kicked it off was the rich, successful boyfriend of the villainess getting stuck in an elevator with her assistant, the heroine, who was all done up with sparkly theatrical makeup by her friend who was a makeup artist. They ended up kissing, but he didn't recognize her when he ran into her again as his girlfriend's assistant. Then the plot of Working Girl ensued, where the evil boss stole the assistant's ideas and presented them as her own, and then the boss went out of town and then had some kind of injury that kept her out of town longer so the assistant and boyfriend (who was also a client) had to work together on the project and, of course, fell in love. Boss came back at a bad time, publicly claimed assistant's work as her own and humiliated her in front of boyfriend, also put on the ring she found in the boyfriend's stuff and claimed they were engaged, and for whatever reason he actually went along with it for a while, in spite of having fallen in love with the assistant. Somewhere along the way I guess he figured out she was the girl he kissed in the elevator. But he looked like a total idiot for ever dating that shrew in the first place. As usual, the evil girlfriend demonstrated her evilness by making plans to redecorate his cozy home to make it more modern, as I recall. She was some kind of interior designer, and the project was to decorate his house for Christmas for some big charity event he'd be hosting. He hated all the girlfriend's ideas that were all avant garde and modern, so in desperation she reached for the assistant's ideas she'd previously dismissed, and of course he loved that proposal.

 

So there are two Christmas movies involving a kiss in an elevator and an evil significant other who's obviously wrong but that the character is dating anyway? Is this a subgenre, like the royalty movies?

There have been three of these movies, so I guess it IS a subgenre. There were two with the same name but numbered that were clearly supposed to be connected, the one you describe being the first of the two. This one had a slightly different name but somewhat similar storyline. The girl and guy recognize each other the next time they see each other. Dejana is completely right - they combine awful significant other and evil boss into one character in this one. 

[TVFan17]

Okay, this isn't exactly Hallmark "holiday" movie news, but it is about Winterfest -- their 'new movies every weekend in January' event that bridges the gap between the Countdown to Christmas and the Countdown to Valentine's Day.  Here is the Winterfest 2016 line-up (I just knew that Luke Perry was going to be in a movie that involved cowboys or ranches or something similar, and he is!), featuring 5 new movies:

 

http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/winterfest/schedule

 

 

Those of you who watch The Walking Dead will probably be shocked (as I was) to see that "Beth" (Emily Kinney) is in one of the Hallmark Winterfest movies -- Love on the Sidelines!!!!  For the love of God, let's hope she is not singing!

 

Also noteworthy is that Meghan Markle is making a return to Hallmark -- I don't think she has done a movie for Hallmark since her 4th of July endeavor -- When Sparks Fly -- last year, has she?

[NYGirl]

I caught the end of Last Chance for Christmas and for the life of me I can't find out who played Mrs. Claus.  It's driving me crazy.  Anybody know?

 

I also ended up seeing most of the The Flight before Christmas and I don't feel bad that I fells asleep.  Mayim annoyed me to no end.

 

Today I saw the Magic Stocking.  Very cute movie.  I liked all of the characters.  

[JenMD]

I caught the end of Last Chance for Christmas and for the life of me I can't find out who played Mrs. Claus.  It's driving me crazy.  Anybody know?

 

 

Mrs. Claus was played by Jayne Eastwood; she's done a ton of things but was instantly recognizable to me as Judy the waitress from The Santa Clause ('cause I kind of love that movie to bits).  Although, looking at her bio, she's done more than a few other holiday movies over the years, it's pretty cool, she's all over the place. 

 

I actually liked Last Chance for Christmas, despite the goofy premise.  I have no problem checking my logic at the door when they go all in on Santa in these movies and I liked everybody in it; Tim Matheson was a surprise bonus (man, has he aged well).  Kid was cute, location was nice and I thought the leads built some nice, sweet chemistry.  It just worked for me all around.

 

In other news, the Mistle-Tones is on ABC Family tonight at midnight, just found 12 Dates of Christmas finally (on 7 am later in the week) and I just noticed Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas is on this weekend!  I haven't seen that for ages and ages.  I loved that one when I was a kid.  So happy right now, even if my poor dvr is groaning under the weight of all these Christmas goodies..

Edited December 8, 2015 by JenMD

[EyewatchTV211]

I caught the end of Last Chance for Christmas and for the life of me I can't find out who played Mrs. Claus.  It's driving me crazy.  Anybody know?

She is on Syfy's Haven currently, if you watch that show.

[Shanna Marie]

I got around to watching my recording of Just in Time for Christmas last night, and I liked it. It won't go on my list of all-time favorites and didn't give me a massive case of Christmas warm fuzzies, but I watched and enjoyed it rather than hatewatch snarking at it. It only contained one of my most-hated Christmas movie tropes, the dreaded major professional event on Christmas Eve night (like Yale would really be having a major faculty party that night -- I'd bet that a good-sized percentage of their faculty isn't even in town during the winter break). Otherwise, it avoided the evil significant other, the hates Christmas vs. loves Christmas divide, single parents with adorable plot moppet kids, the small-town vs. big city divide, and even the career vs. family divide, since what she learned was that it didn't have to be mutually exclusive. She was still going to take the job, but she realized that taking the job didn't require giving up on everything else. It just would have been nice if the glimpse of the future had been more about their new life together than of the wedding.

 

While I agree that it was a conclusion that they could have come to in five minutes, in a sense that was what happened -- she went away to think, then the thinking gave her the flashforward, and that was what helped her have the kind of realization she might have had with just thinking. The conflict seemed pretty realistically human, since it was a case of bad timing that she got her dream job offer and a proposal at the same time. He was all geared up about the proposal, she was all geared up about the job offer, and they both freaked out. He might have reacted better if her response to the proposal had been to talk about it rather than just walking out. She might have reacted more rationally in the aftermath if he hadn't just freaked out and stormed off. I could sit there and think that maybe she could take the job and go, see how it worked, then he could follow her when his lease ran out, or he could have put the other girl in charge of that shop while he moved and opened a new one. But in the heat of the moment, people don't always think clearly, and they both cooled down and were able to work things out.

 

Also, not a huge fan of "hey, everybody's life seems to have turned out pretty good in this future, everybody seems happy, and I've got my dream career... but let's just ruin all of this because I want my ex-boyfriend back, dammit".

Given the clip from It's a Wonderful Life that they showed, I don't think this was a real reality, so she wasn't ruining anything for anyone. Clarence Kirk showed her a hypothetical possible future (just as Clarence in the movie showed George a hypothetical world where he hadn't been born). Or you could think of it as what the Ghost of Christmas Future showed Scrooge. It looks like in the real reality she didn't take anything away from anyone. Her mom's health was better because they caught it earlier, and she still ended up with the doctor. The other girl in the coffee shop didn't end up being anyone's second choice after he lost the love of his life and seemed to be on track to meet the right person. If the book was a bestseller in one reality, odds were that it would still work out that way.

[Kaoteek]

Yeah, I guess. Still bothered me, just as the on-the-nose "It's a wonderful life" clip did.

 

Unrelated, but one of my pet peeves, this season, is the relationship flashback montage accompanied by a sappy pop song. I've mentioned it before in this thread, but this season, that montage has popped up in at least four or five different Christmas movies (which isn't really surprising, since they're all produced and written by the same pool of producers & writers), and with every new one, I'm growing more and more annoyed by this trope.

 

Also, Merry Kissmas was a dud. Like, "Doris Roberts forcing herself upon the male lead in an elevator" dud. *shudder*

 

(however, it's about all it had in common with the above-mentioned A Christmas Kiss, which I recently rewatched, and enjoyed, thanks to the cast)

[LydiaMoon1]

I really enjoyed My One Christmas Wish on UpTV, starring Amber Riley.  While it hinted at some darker themes, the movie basically kept things positive and light and it left me with a good feeling. In fact, I wouldn't mind watching it again.

[Misslindsey]

 

Also, Merry Kissmas was a dud. Like, "Doris Roberts forcing herself upon the male lead in an elevator" dud. *shudder*

Merry Kissmas was awful. The whole Doris Roberts forcing herself on the male lead was so disturbing, and not at all funny, which is what I think they were going for. I was cringing all throughout that scene. Poor male lead.

 

 

however, it's about all it had in common with the above-mentioned A Christmas Kiss, which I recently rewatched, and enjoyed, thanks to the cast

I enjoyed A Christmas Kiss as well. I even did not mind a Christmas Kiss 2. Cliche yes, but watchable mindless fluff.

[Kaoteek]

TBH, I don't remember much about A Christmas Kiss 2, except the fact that I didn't care much for its male lead, so...

 

And speaking of things I didn't care much for...

 

I watched Magic Stocking (on the Movies & Mysteries Channel).  It was pretty much what I expected.  I found the child annoying.  Her mom was a bore at first too.  What I liked about the movie were the grandma and her little romance; the adorable puppies (both of them); and the stocking itself (which randomly yielded significant treasures throughout the movie).  It wasn't a bad movie, but just not one that I will be racing to the TV to see again before this holiday season ends.

 

Pretty much the same thing, as far as i'm concerned. Magic Stocking was competently produced (by neither Hybrid nor MarVista), the concept of the stocking was interesting (albeit slightly underexploited), Webster was fine in a very generic part (though I couldn't help but picture him in his Scorpion King getup, which made for a fun mental rewriting of this movie), the puppy was adorable and the grandma was fun, but Bridget Regan & her daughter mostly left me cold, which in turn didn't help the rest of the movie, already quite predictable to begin with. Not a bad movie, but not one I'll rewatch anytime soon, indeed. Also, didn't felt very "Movies & Mysteries" to me.

 

(and I've decided to skip The Bridge, and wait for part 2)

[emjohnson03]

Watched "Just in Time for Christmas" and even rushed home from work to catch the re-air (need DVR!!). It started promising and then...I don't know.

 

First of all, for the larger budget they really could have tried harder to look more wintery. It was so clearly summer but that's ok...secondly...

 

I live about an hour from Yale and where she lived, was not Yale. It was way too California. Could they have tried to do a colonial? It was just so oddly not CT that it threw me. And yes the dreaded party on Christmas Eve...yes that doesn't make any sense.

 

And I can't get behind her never coming home in three years because of her ex-boyfriend?? It seemed so crazy to me. Oh and don't forget the ode to George Bailey as she looked at the very run down house. It was just a bit much.

 

But I loved Christopher Lloyd. He was great. I didn't mind the leads but it didn't pull me. One second she was confused and the next she was elated and the next she was despondent. I did like how she went to the doctor because she thought something was wrong, as that made sense....but let's just go to Seattle with ex-boyfriend and he's all about it! I did enjoy the push/pull at the coffee shop near the end but I wasn't emotionally invested like I had hoped.

 

And William Shatner with that beard was strange. And really didn't make him any more mysterious. Wish he was on for more than 2 scenes. He probably was only on set for like a few hours and got paid, not bad, haha!!

 

All in all, I was hoping for more because it is a bigger production or so I thought. It didn't scream totally festive to me.

 

I am looking forward to "On the 12th Day of Christmas". That looks cute and the leads look adorable. Not blown away by many but I'm just counting the days to When Calls the Heart New Years Event anyways :)

[Shanna Marie]

After reading about it here, I had recorded A Very Merry Mix-up (actually, a couple of times because I didn't realize I'd already recorded it), and it was really cute. Probably not in the category of "I must watch this every year!" but I still liked it. I kind of wish they hadn't spoiled the twist in the title, though, because I thought they did an excellent job of setting up the situation in a way that seemed quite plausible and not blazingly obvious. If it hadn't been for the title, I'd have thought they were doing a twist on While You Were Sleeping, where she falls in love with the brother she's not engaged to, and it might have been a surprise that it was the totally wrong family. As it was, because of the title I kept noticing all the things they did to set up the situation.

 

I liked the leads and liked their connection, and I loved the "wrong" family. There was actually a decent "comedy" element to the romantic comedy, and it all looked nice and Christmassy. I'm not normally a fan of the Evil Significant Other trope, but I think this was handled reasonably well, in that we could see in the beginning that he wasn't always such a jerk, and he did most of his mustache twirling behind her back. However, it might have worked better without the actual engagement, if she was just a girlfriend, and the visit to the family for Christmas was meant as a test/tryout before getting engaged because she seemed to be pretty aware of all the red flags from the start, with the way she was clearly unhappy about his proposal and then hesitant before accepting. If they're not yet engaged, then she looks like less of an idiot for accepting the proposal of someone who's pretty obviously not right, and meeting what she thinks is his family would make her feel better about him.

 

Since I tend to prefer the movies with at least a slight magic/fantasy element, I was a little disappointed that the clock she was talking about at the beginning didn't turn out to be a magical clock that had something to do with creating the mix-up from the title.

[bmoore4026]

Today is the 30th anniversary of the two part Irwin Allen version of Alice in Wonderland.  While it's not exactly a Christmas special, per se, it did first air around Christmas.  Don't know if it goes here, but I don't see what it could hurt.

 

Anyway, for those who may not remember, here are the opening titles for parts one and two:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-SkLEWDFys

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_bFSHkfmjA

 

Some favorite numbers:

 

John Stamos: 

 

Jayne Meadows:

 

Martha Raye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqzGSsTZAVs  (I call this "The Reddit Song")

 

Sammy Davis jr:

 

Carol Channing (as a whole):

 

God, I'll be here all day listing the musical numbers.  I just love this version so much :)

[sacrebleu]

I dislike all wedding at Christmas movies just because I assume the bride is not thinking of her guests/friends/family.

 

 Travel is so expensive for out of town guests, and then you're stuck with buying wedding gifts at the same time as Christmas gifts?  (although I suppose you might save on flowers because everything is already decorated?)

 

I should say, I'm totally projecting, because I'm stuck going to a wedding on the 18th- I don't have to travel, but a wedding the Saturday before Christmas is hassle enough.

[ClareWalks]

The Flight Before Christmas was appalling, truly. Mayim played perhaps the worst woman I've seen on Lifetime in a while, and I used to watch Dance Moms. I wrote a whole snarky recap of it for another website (if you really want to read it, PM me and I'll send a link so I don't spam this board), so I basically had to get through it. The hot nerdy dude made it slightly worthwhile, anyway. I will definitely be watching Becoming Santa, too. 

[Irlandesa]

Thank you for the reviews about Merry Kissmas.  I will not seek it out.  That will save me some time.

There isn't much on TV tonight except Black-ish and You're The Worst so I thought I'd clear a movie off my DVR by watching it. I chose How Sarah Got Her Wings and it kind of took me by surprise.  I don't know if it's because of the mood I'm in but I think I kind of loved it.  In fact, it may end up topping my personal "favorite holiday movies of 2015" list. 

 

I don't want to spoil it too much but at first I thought I could predict how it was going to go but it was okay because the gentle humor was working for me.  It felt more natural than stilted.  But then it kind of zigged and zagged and went places I didn't expect before ending up  partially where I thought it was going to go but not completely.  I liked the story.  I liked the cast.  In fact the lead male was kind of giving me Chris Pratt vibes.  So much that when it came to do the clearing off of the DVR, I couldn't quite do it. I wanted to watch it again.  I don't know that I will but maybe I'm giving myself the chance.

 

Other things I liked that could be  spoilery if these movies can even be that---

 

Another interracial couple.  And this one I vastly preferred over Lifetime's.  The angel and her ex had good chemistry too but I admit I was cheering for the family.  The only thing is that it seemed like the show jumped a year while she was an angel but then went back in time when her life was saved. I'm glad the dog's alive too but I hope that all the progress she made in the future didn't disappear when she was sent back. 

[Aliconehead]

irlandesa I had the same thought. I liked the movie a lot. But was bothered by the ending. I do love Derek Theler on Baby Daddy and he was great in this.

[jenh526]

Watched the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol on AMC last night. My favorite part is the ghost of Christmas-yet-to-come. He scared me as a kid, and is still pretty creepy.

[editorgrrl]

I so wanted to love The Flight Before Christmas. I liked the casting and thought the story would be cute. I enjoy a story of strangers forced to be in close quarters. However, I was ultimately disappointed.

They didn't convince me why these two would be drawn to one another. Mayim's character kept thinking horribly about the guy for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Why would she be attracted to him if that were the case? Why would he be attracted to her? What did she offer him that his current girlfriend did not?

Didn't care much for The Flight Before Christmas, which indeed felt like A Christmas Detour redux.

It all just felt… forced, for lack of a better word. McPartlin's glasses & suit felt forced & artificial, Bialik's "I talk to myself out loud" neuroses & constant snark felt forced and artificial (also, a tad overacted, compared to the rest of the cast's underacting), that annoying "magical undercover Santa" (that seems to pop up in a lot of those Christmas romance movies) felt forced, the entire unlikely romance thingie felt forced, the country dance competition felt forced, the final party scene felt forced. I can take forced & artificial in this kind of movies, but only to a degree, and this was way too much. I just never bought into this premise, and into this couple.

I liked that Mayim Bialik is unconventionally attractive, but her character was unlikeable. Ryan McPartlin was an extremely attractive man wearing glasses—like Superman, or a gender-flipped librarian—but his character had zero personality. The only thing these two had in common was geography and profession—"You work in advertising? I work in marketing!" So I couldn't care less about any of it.

The writing and performances were awkward—like the hotel owners dancing to countrified carols in the lounge.

Edited December 10, 2015 by editorgrrl

[TVFan17]

l finally watched the rest of The Flight Before Christmas (previously I had only gotten through the first 45 minutes or hour of it before I had to stop).  It's not one of my all-time favorites, by any means, but I don't think I minded it or was as bothered by it as it seems others were. I didn't think it was horrible at all, and Mayim didn't annoy me beyond maybe the first half of it.  I really thought the movie was okay. 

 

I guess the main thing that annoyed me is what annoys me in many of these movies -- after a couple of strolls through town, some pancakes and a dance, the two leads decide they are meant to be together.  In most of these made-for-TV Christmas movies (on any channel) that happens -- just a couple of scenes of them having a conversation and suddenly they are in love.  However, sometimes a movie can pull off that rushed kind of romance a bit better than other times.  For example, A Very Merry Mix-Up (on Hallmark) involved a rushed romance -- the 2 leads decide they are soulmates within a couple of days -- but, for some reason, I was not as bugged by that because the story was interesting (the mix-up, the clock, fairly decent acting, the charming family, etc.) and I believed that the leads were bonding.  In The Flight Before Christmas I didn't see enough "bonding moments" between Mayim and Ryan to make me believe that they were falling for each other.

 

Also, the Santa-esque guy who kept popping up at the right time... was he supposed to be Santa?  That seems to be a trend in this year's movies -- mysterious figures (who might be Santa or might be angels) pop up at the right time, and we never find out who in the hell they are!! 

 

I also watched Last Chance for Christmas.  I didn't care about the reindeer story.  I like Hilarie Burton and Gabriel Hogan from their previous Hallmark endeavors, and I wouldn't have minded more of them together and less of the reindeer.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Sherry67

[EyewatchTV211]

l finally watched the rest of The Flight Before Christmas (previously I had only gotten through the first 45 minutes or hour of it before I had to stop).  It's not one of my all-time favorites, by any means, but I don't think I minded it or was as bothered by it as it seems others were. I didn't think it was horrible at all, and Mayim didn't annoy me beyond maybe the first half of it.  I really thought the movie was okay. 

 

 In The Flight Before Christmas I didn't see enough "bonding moments" between Mayim and Ryan to make me believe that they were falling for each other.

 

I also watched Last Chance for Christmas.  I didn't care about the reindeer story.  I like Hilarie Burton and Gabriel Hogan from their previous Hallmark endeavors, and I wouldn't have minded more of them together and less of the reindeer.

I wasn't as bothered by Flight Before Christmas as others either but didn't care for for it. I could forgive Mayim's character for being moody/bitchy after what happened to her at the start of the movie. The timing of that and meeting Ryan's character was unfortunate, because it did make it hard to imagine what he saw in her. Even if she did eventually warm up. But I didn't dislike her as much as other characters, like Alicia Witt's character in I'm Not Ready for Christmas. I know many liked that movie. Yet I had a hard time liking her or rooting for her when her actual personality at the start (not due to stinky circumstances) was selfish and manipulative in order to get what she wanted. Even if she also learned to be a better person. 

 

Agree regarding Last Chance for Christmas. The few bonding scenes were cute, but there were not enough. They spent too much time on the misunderstandings before and after the bonding. The one misunderstanding was enough. A Crown for Christmas is still my favorite so far this year. I do wish they had extended the timeline for the story, as mentioned in a review I read, and there could have been more bonding time as well. But the few bonding scenes were great, each of them also admired the other while observing them during other times or found important personality traits to admire, and the chemistry was just so good. I also liked feeling like I was taken to another world. I have rewatched this one.

[TVFan17]

I wasn't as bothered by Flight Before Christmas as others either but didn't care for for it. I could forgive Mayim's character for being moody/bitchy after what happened to her at the start of the movie. The timing of that and meeting Ryan's character was unfortunate, because it did make it hard to imagine what he saw in her. Even if she did eventually warm up. But I didn't dislike her as much as other characters, like Alicia Witt's character in I'm Not Ready for Christmas. I know many liked that movie. Yet I had a hard time liking her or rooting for her when her actual personality at the start (not due to stinky circumstances) was selfish and manipulative in order to get what she wanted. Even if she also learned to be a better person. 

 

Agree regarding Last Chance for Christmas. The few bonding scenes were cute, but there were not enough. They spent too much time on the misunderstandings before and after the bonding. The one misunderstanding was enough. A Crown for Christmas is still my favorite so far this year. I do wish they had extended the timeline for the story, as mentioned in a review I read, and there could have been more bonding time as well. But the few bonding scenes were great, each of them also admired the other while observing them during other times or found important personality traits to admire, and the chemistry was just so good. I also liked feeling like I was taken to another world. I have rewatched this one.

 

Yes -- I totally agree about Last Chance for Christmas.  Not enough bonding scenes between the two leads, and too much time wasted on misunderstandings.  Also, I was constantly staring at Hilarie Burton's hair.  She was a blonde in the Hallmark movie, Surprised by Love, early this year. She was kind of a redhead/strawberry blonde in the Hallmark movie Naughty or Nice.  Now she has gone full brunette.  So I was trying to decide which hair color I liked best on her!  Lol.

Crown for Christmas is a delightful movie.  I generally don't like royal-ish movies set in the actual castles and palaces, but that one seemed like a fairy tale.  And... I have to admit that I love the goofy line uttered at the end, "You had me at 'sewing kit.'"

I must admit to being very curious to see How Sarah Got Her Wings now, after reading Irlandesa's positive review.  I was unable to record it when it aired the first time, so I guess I have to wait until it airs again to catch it.

 

 

 

Just as an amusing/coincidental side note -- it's funny that you mention I'm Not Ready for Christmas (which I really liked a lot -- I don't know if anyone else liked it, but I did).   Both that movie and The Flight Before Christmas were filmed right around the same time, in the summer, give or take a couple of weeks.  Each movie started out with a different working title.  Mayim's movie was supposed to be called The Accidental Trip.  Alicia's movie was supposed to be called The Honesty Trip.  At that point, neither Mayim nor Alicia revealed for which network her movie was being made. 

 

I remember thinking, "Okay... these movies can't be for the same network.  There can't be 2 'trip' movies in one season, unless they're going with a 'trip' theme this year."  So then I started to think that maybe one of the movies was going to be for ION or ABC Family (this was before I realized that ABC Family stopped making new movies).  To me, neither "trip" title sounded like anything that Hallmark would use so I figured that the movies couldn't be for Hallmark.

 

Not long after that, I remember seeing someone's comment about one of the movies on Reddit.  The person said he was an extra on the set of The Honesty Trip (which was filmed in Salt Lake City, as Alicia Witt had indicated on her social media pages), and he said it was a movie for Lifetime.  He did not mention Hallmark.  He very clearly said it was a Lifetime movie.

 

But... someone else who supposedly had inside info posted on the It's a Wonderful Movie website and said that Mayim's movie, The Accidental Trip, was going to be on Lifetime... which then brought me back to thinking that Lifetime was going for a "trip" theme this year, with 2 "trip" movies.

 

All of a sudden, The Accidental Trip became The Flight Before Christmas and joined Lifetime's holiday schedule, and The Honesty Trip became The Truth About Christmas, and later became I'm Not Ready for Christmas, and ended up on Hallmark.  The whole "trip" theme disappeared.  I'm not sure if, indeed, both movies were slated for Lifetime at first, and then somehow Hallmark nabbed one of them -- that doesn't seem likely, as it would seem that Hallmark would have already known which movies were going to end up as part of the Countdown to Christmas.

 

In any case, both Alicia Witt and Mayim Bialik were very active on social media during the filming of their movies, and, in looking at Mayim's photos from the set, for some reason I had no idea that it was going to be a movie about a romance between Mayim and Ryan McPartlin.  It looked like an ensemble sort of movie to me, like a bunch of people trapped in an airport or on an airplane on Christmas Eve or something.  I thought it was going to be more of a Christmas comedy of sorts.  So when I found out that The Flight Before Christmas a.k.a. The Accidental Trip was actually a romance, I was very surprised!  I didn't think it was going to go that way.

[Kaoteek]

Gotta say I struggled with The Christmas Note. Not that it was bad - it was typical Donna VanLiere, though, with tons of miraculous coïncidences leading to that unlikely (and yet oh so predictable) reveal tying everything together - , but it felt slightly too melodramatic & overacted (or at the very least, the acting seemed unnecessarily intense, here and there), with dialogs that were too on the nose & overwritten, and as a result I just couldn't get into it. Also, the main recurring musical theme felt awfully familiar, to the point I spent half the movie trying to remember where it has been lifted from.

[Guest]

I liked that Mayim Bialik is unconventionally attractive, but her character was unlikeable. Ryan McPartlin was an extremely attractive man wearing glasses—like Superman, or a gender-flipped librarian—but his character had zero personality. The only thing these two had in common was geography and profession—"You work in advertising? I work in marketing!" So I couldn't care less about any of it.

The writing and performances were awkward—like the hotel owners dancing to countrified carols in the lounge.

 

The only reason I saw this is that I was flipping by and trying to figure out were I knew Ryan McPartin.  Then the rest of the movie was 'That's Captain Awesome behind those glasses.'  But you sum up the issues with the movie pretty well.

[Kaoteek]

In another time and place, How Sarah Got Her Wings could have been a nice theater release featuring Chris Pratt & Kristen Bell. Heck, throw in a Gabrielle Union, a Rosario Dawson, or even a Rashida Jones as the other love interest, Emily Blunt as Daphne, and there you go, you'd have a fine holiday rom-com.

 

As it is, though, it's probably amongst the most likeable holiday tv movie of 2015, and clearly one of the best, if not the best, holiday tv movie ION ever aired (probably because MarVista is only the distributor of this tv movie, and not the actual production company behind it ; also, it was written by a writer from the show Greek). At first, I was kinda hesitant on yet another perky and mostly interchangeable blonde lead character and her romance problems in a non-snowy setting, but the movie took enough interesting twists and turns to shed that first impression and ended up being endearing & quite fun. The cast was also a notch above the usual ION/UpTV standards, acting wise, which is always a plus. A nice surprise.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Kaoteek

[Kaoteek]

Not convinced by Last Chance For Christmas. It wasn't awful (even though these days, Lifetime really seems to be struggling to find its identity, as far as Christmas movies go), it kinda felt like an old-school Disney-type Christmas movie (only somewhat cheaper, half-assed and with a weird semi-ironic "yeah, we know Christmas movies are silly, so we made it ultra-cheesy" vibe re:everything Santa & the North Pole), but I never really bought that insta-romance between Burton & Hogan. Granted, it didn't help that I find Hilarie Burton quite generic, whether here, in Christmas in the Bayou, or in Naughty or Nice... but still, it felt rushed. That said, I liked Hogan's awkward character, and the kid was likeable (despite some overacting here and there), so two out of three aint bad.

 

(not so sure about that very weird on Santa as a bumbling, neurotic mess, and Mrs Claus as a stern, strict, uncompromising headmistress type, though)

Edited December 13, 2015 by Kaoteek

[JenMD]

Dear Director of "Becoming Santa",
 

The next movie you make that requires your actors to climb a very fake looking snowbank made out of cotton batting, think about using a close up instead of a wide shot.  A snowbank made out of cotton batting pretty much looks like exactly that when your actors climb it and sit down and it squishes like they were sitting on a soft blanket. Snow doesn't "squish".  It did provide one of the best laughs I've had this Christmas movie watching season (I watched, laughed, rewound, watched and laughed again - probably not what you were going for).  Otherwise, movie was cute enough, leads were likeable, you went all in with the magic of Christmas (you can't go halfway with these things), but you lose points for the whole nonsense idea of a toy company testing and coming up with new toys days before Christmas.  We just discussed this kind of dippy storytelling upthread.  Also, your CGI was iffy, at best. 

 

Happy holidays,

JenMD

 

(Seriously, the snow squished.  I died laughing.)

 

 

[TVFan17]

I watched the latest Hallmark installment, On the Twelfth Day of Christmas (starring Brooke Nevin and Robin Dunne), and, for the most part -- with a couple of small issues that bugged me -- I really enjoyed it!  I think it is a solid movie in the Countdown to Christmas.  The supporting characters were fairly interesting (including the sister, and the programming director, and the boss at the newspaper office).  The concept was interesting.  The leading lady is not extremely familiar to Hallmark audiences, although she has done some work for them before, but she was adept and capable in the role -- she didn't seem wooden and disconnected like, say, for example, Jessica Lowndes did in Merry Matrimony.  She was likable and attractive in an approachable way.  The leading guy -- played by Robin Dunne, who has done some stuff for Hallmark in the past, as well as for Lifetime -- looks a bit like he is a teenager, but his voice was perfect for the role of the DJ.

 

One thing that bothered me is that the movie starts out 10 years in the past, and the 2 leads are taking a selfie with a more current-looking phone.  Ten years ago, selfies were not as prevalent and neither were those types of phones.  Then the story skips ahead 10 years and the 2 leads look exactly the same.  Exactly the same -- there is no difference at all.  A 5-year jump would have been more believable.  But I can forgive that quirk in the story because it was an otherwise charming movie.

 

I have not yet watched Becoming Santa.  Tonight I am recording Dashing Through the Snow on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

[Irlandesa]

(Seriously, the snow squished.  I died laughing.)

OMG.  I watched last night mostly because of this and it did.  Watching it be pushed down and then rebound was so funny.  But overall, even though I have a predisposition to not like "Santa is Real" stories, I thought this was cuter than it had to be.  I enjoyed it. 

 

I liked Magic Stocking more than others.  That's not to say I thought it was great but I did think Victor Webster was one of the sexier leads even in a generic role.  I guess I like them a little older.  Plus, it was nice that the lead softened rather early in the movie so we could have some decent romantic buildup before she withdrew again.  I like Bridget Regan, though, so I was satisfied overall. 

 

I took a break while watching Last Chance For Christmas.  I like Hilarie enough and Gabriel Hogan was good.  I believe he's also in the Murder She Baked mysteries as Norman.  (There's going to be another one in January--yay.)  I was liking it before I took the break but after that it was kind of hard to get through.  I did like a salty Mrs. Claus but I do think "Santa is Real" didn't work for me in this one.

 

I also watched The Twelfth Day of Christmas which I had to go back to a list of the holiday movies this weekend so I could remember watching it.  That tells you all you need to know what I felt about it.  It annoyed me for some reason.  There was nothing offensive about it. I liked the lead actor.  But eh.

 

Finally, we almost had sex in a Christmas movie.  Wow.  But of course, it was interrupted.  I thought I might like A Christmas Truce because it takes place in the past and is not a variation of the "stuck traveling together" or "need to help Santa save Christmas" or "gonna close the small town's factory" story.  I want to support different.  But oy, the mannered melodrama.  If there was something funnier than the snow in Becoming Santa, it was how much A Christas Truce was in love with its score.  It was there all the time, from the moment the two love interests met eyes to whenever they wanted us to feel something.  It was the canned laughter of emotions.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Irlandesa

[Misslindsey]

I enjoyed On The Twelfth Day of Christmas. I liked both the male and female leads and the cheesy story. 

 

 

One thing that bothered me is that the movie starts out 10 years in the past, and the 2 leads are taking a selfie with a more current-looking phone.  Ten years ago, selfies were not as prevalent and neither were those types of phones.

I could not tell if they were taking a selfie with a phone or a digital camera. They made a point at the start to show the female lead with a flip phone, so I have no idea. While selfies were not as popular back then my friends and I still did them when we were places. We called it the obligatory self take with our digital cameras, and of course, took about a million of them since the forward facing camera wasn't a big thing then. 

[TVFan17]

I enjoyed On The Twelfth Day of Christmas. I liked both the male and female leads and the cheesy story. 

 

I could not tell if they were taking a selfie with a phone or a digital camera. They made a point at the start to show the female lead with a flip phone, so I have no idea. While selfies were not as popular back then my friends and I still did them when we were places. We called it the obligatory self take with our digital cameras, and of course, took about a million of them since the forward facing camera wasn't a big thing then. 

 

It could have been a digital camera that she was using for the selfie.  That's what I thought it was at very first glance, because it didn't appear that she was taking a selfie with a flip phone.  When I looked at it a bit closer I thought it looked more like a smart phone, like what was being used during the rest of the story.  But it could very well have been a digital camera.  That part of it bothered me less than the fact that the 2 leads looked identical in the present day to how they looked 10 years prior.  It looked as if only one day had passed in 10 years!  Lol.  I mean, they may not look drastically different 10 years later, but something would change.

 

In general, though, I thought it was good and the leads were very charming. 

 

There are only 2 more new movies to come on the Hallmark Channel -- with the Mariah Carey movie being the next one in line.  Mariah Carey plays Lacey Chabert's old high school rival, which is... unusual... considering that I think there is at least a 10-year-age gap between the 2 of them in real life.

 

I set the DVR to record How Sarah Got Her Wings next weekend, so I am looking forward to that one from ION after reading the good reviews in this thread!

Edited December 13, 2015 by Sherry67

[twoods]

I also set to record How Sarah Got Her Wings since it got such positive reviews on here. I really liked On the 12th Day of Christmas because it showed the leads falling in love and the movie didn't drag on like others have this season. I would have liked her mentioning that she wasn't moving to Chicago to Mitch at the end, but for the most part I loved it.

Edited December 13, 2015 by twoods

[TVFan17]

I also set to record How Sarah Got Her Wings since it got such positive reviews on here. I really liked On the 12th Day of Christmas because it showed the leads falling in love and the movie didn't drag on like others have this season. I would have liked her mentioning that she wasn't moving to Chicago to Mitch at the end, but for the most part I loved it.

 

Good point -- she should have mentioned that she wasn't leaving after all.

 

It's interesting that you brought up the 'not dragging on' aspect of the movie.  I felt the same way.  I didn't think it dragged, but I am becoming acutely aware of the fact that my mood or present frame of mind has a lot to do with how I interpret the pacing of a movie, and whether or not I am fully paying attention or zoning out.  So, that said, I wondered if I was in a more receptive mood for this movie, and that's why I didn't think it dragged. 

 

I read a couple of comments on Facebook and in a specific review to indicate that other people thought it started off slow and then picked up steam.  However, I didn't really think that there were any unnecessary scenes in the movie to cause it to drag.  The 2 leads met -- or re-met -- pretty early on in the movie, and things got going soon after.   I suspect that some viewers may have been daunted by the possibility that they could be sitting through all 12 days/gifts, and that the story would drag.  The movie, of course, did show us the first several gifts and their outcomes to get the story moving, but then it zipped through a montage of the next few gifts to speed things along.  So I thought it worked well in that regard.

 

I also liked that "Maggie" was sitting there, crafting and assembling everything herself, complete with glitter and sketches and the whole nine yards (as opposed to  just having someone else do it).  It was a lofty endeavor -- one that, all tolled, in reality would have taken longer than the amount of time she spent on it, but in movie time she got it all done rather quickly! 

Edited December 13, 2015 by Sherry67

[JunebugWA]

Irlandesa, 

My husband also thought Derek Theler (Jordan) was Chris Pratt in "How Sarah Got Her Wings" 

Derek's acting has definitely improved since he first starred in "Baby Daddy" 

[NYGirl]

Last night my daughter and I watched 2 movies on demand.

 

The Mistletones.  I LOVED it.  I loved all of the cast and the songs.  Tori Spelling was the perfect villain.  I couldn't help but wonder if she did her own singing.

 

The Christmas Snow Globe.  I did not like the lead at all.  Christina Millian was great as usual and I liked the male lead but the female lead ...nah.

[TVFan17]

Last night my daughter and I watched 2 movies on demand.

 

The Mistletones.  I LOVED it.  I loved all of the cast and the songs.  Tori Spelling was the perfect villain.  I couldn't help but wonder if she did her own singing.

 

The Christmas Snow Globe.  I did not like the lead at all.  Christina Millian was great as usual and I liked the male lead but the female lead ...nah.

 

The Mistle-Tones is a great movie as far as these predictable TV Christmas movies go -- and one of the last few original new movies that ABC Family made for the holiday season.   Tori Spelling is not a great actress in general, but I totally agree with you that she was the perfect snooty villain.  She played that role very well.

 

A Snow Globe Christmas from Lifetime is one of my favorites -- except for the whole subplot about saving the land, which I didn't care about.  Alicia Witt is the redhead/lead actress.  She seems to be very polarizing -- people either like her, or they don't like her at all.  Personally, I like her and I like her in these made-for-TV movies.  She is just about to join the cast of Nashville, which is a show I never watch, and I may actually tune in to see her.  She has had a long career, working in movies such as Mr. Holland's Opus and other feature films.  She was also on the TV show Cybill, way back when.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Sherry67

[NYGirl]

Oh no!!  I watch Nashville faithfully.

 

I'm guessing it's more the way the part was written for her.  I'll see after watching her on Nashville if I like her.

[TVFan17]

Oh no!!  I watch Nashville faithfully.

 

I'm guessing it's more the way the part was written for her.  I'll see after watching her on Nashville if I like her.

 

Uh-oh!   Well, hopefully she will grow on you when she's on that show.  Here is one of the blurbs about it -- http://spoilertv.siteblogs.net/2015/12/12/nashville-season-4-alicia-witt-to-recur/.

 

Some people just don't care for her acting style, though, so she may end up not being popular on Nashville.  It will be interesting to see how she is received.  She does her own singing, so there will probably be a lot of that.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Sherry67

[KaveDweller]

It could have been a digital camera that she was using for the selfie.  That's what I thought it was at very first glance, because it didn't appear that she was taking a selfie with a flip phone.  When I looked at it a bit closer I thought it looked more like a smart phone, like what was being used during the rest of the story.  But it could very well have been a digital camera.  That part of it bothered me less than the fact that the 2 leads looked identical in the present day to how they looked 10 years prior.  It looked as if only one day had passed in 10 years!  Lol.  I mean, they may not look drastically different 10 years later, but something would change.

 

I looked away from the TV for a minute when they flashed the "10 years later" note. So, I was confused about when the woman suddenly had a job at a newspaper when she was just talking about being in school. I figured out there was a time jump pretty quickly, but they really should have done more to make them look different.  A hair cut or something at the very least. It was a pretty cute movie though.

[Irlandesa]

 I would have liked her mentioning that she wasn't moving to Chicago to Mitch at the end, but for the most part I loved it.

Why wouldn't she move to Chicago?  Both of them want a bigger market than Harrison.  After ten years, she's getting that opportunity. 

 

Some people just don't care for her acting style, though, so she may end up not being popular on Nashville.  It will be interesting to see how she is received.  She does her own singing, so there will probably be a lot of that.

I like Alicia Witt but if she's in a bad movie, she can't make it better.  But if she's in a good movie, I like her just fine.  As for Nashville, the show is a mess.  They keep bringing on new characters and giving them airtime fans would rather have devoted to their already large cast.  If Alicia isn't accepted, the least of her issues would be her acting. 

[twoods]

Irlandesa, she mentioned that she didn't accept the Chicago job because it was given on false pretenses with her secret Santa story that ended up being about herself. She mentioned it to her boss towards the end of the movie.

All this talk of Mistle-Tones makes me want to watch it again. I started watching Let It Snow and still love the movie. I liked that the lead's Christmas wish was spending it with her dad, not getting the guy.

[StaceyNotStacie]

I watched two movies this weekend - Becoming Santa (Lifetime) and The Christmas Truce (Ion).

 

I really liked The Christmas Truce.  It had a good story that wasn't the usual Christmas movie.  The actors were unknown to me, but likable.  I usually don't watch the Ion movies unless the storyline looks interesting or the actors are familiar, but this one caught my attention.  

 

Becoming Santa was okay.  I liked the lead actors.  Wasn't a fan of the supporting cast.  I'm sure he was supposed to bug me, but I couldn't stand the actor who played Jack Frost.  There was just something about his voice that annoyed the crap out of me.  Once again, Lifetime went the route of casting another former tv sitcom couple in a movie.  While I didn't mind this, Michael Gross just didn't feel like Santa Claus to me.  I've seen so many different Santas in all of the different Christmas movies that this one just didn't feel like Santa.  It just felt like they had a guy in a long white beard who we were told was Santa.  I also laughed when I saw the cotton ball snow on the roof.  

Edited December 14, 2015 by Stacey1014

[ShelleySue]

I'm very disappointed.  I had my DVR set to record "Family for Christmas" on Hallmark and "Dashing Through the Snow" on Hallmark Mysteries and movies last night.  The descriptions for both said that they were new.  Then I realized that there was a hockey game I wanted to watch. I can't record two things and watch a third at the same time.  So I un-DVRed Dashing because Family had already started recording, and set the DVR to record Dashing next week.  After the hockey game I decided to watch Famiy for Christmas.  Even though it said that it was new, I knew that I had seen it before.  I looked on imdb and it said that it had aired in July.  So it had been one of the Christmas in July movies.  Why did Hallmark say that it was new and run it on a Sunday night, when the new movies are playing?  So now I'll have to wait for Dashing which I had really wanted to see.