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

[norcalgal]

8 hours ago, Jaded said:

Emily though was in one of my favorite Hallmark movies Love on the Sidelines from 2015. She made that movie work and it's one that didn't follow the usual blueprint. If anyone has a chance to watch it in the future it's a good one to check out.

Co-signed about Love on the Sidelines.  This is one I've watched multiple times and still love to watch.

[magdalene]

15 hours ago, Avabelle said:

The Noel Diary looks a little too earnest and cheesy for me. As said above I prefer lightness. I also hate where these types of movies take themselves too seriously. Given a lot of you have mentioned the last half hour can someone spoiler tag if they end up together or not so I know if it’s a total waste of time.

To me it was a sweet movie and not heavy at all.  It has an ending totally in line with the romance genre.

Spoiler

It's a happy ending for the couple. And father and son reconciling.

[Irlandesa]

I just watched Merry Kiss Cam on Hulu.  It was fun because it was filmed in Duluth and I like Duluth. I like recognizing places I've been and views I've seen.  It was not super funny but it was a nice story about two people actually going on dates as they build their relationship.

I certainly hope A Christmas Spark lives up to my expectations because Lifetime has pretty much disappointed me all season.  Kelsey Grammar's movie last night was so campy and maybe I would have liked it more if I'd been in the right mood but I wasn't so I stopped.  I wanted more dancing in Mario Lopez's movie. 

[KaveDweller]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I certainly hope A Christmas Spark lives up to my expectations because Lifetime has pretty much disappointed me all season.  Kelsey Grammar's movie last night was so campy and maybe I would have liked it more if I'd been in the right mood but I wasn't so I stopped.  I wanted more dancing in Mario Lopez's movie. 

I liked the Kelsey Grammar one, even if it was crazy predictable. I love those time loop concepts. I laughed at they kept coming up with different ways of killing him at the end of each Christmas Eve. It was also fun seeing Spencer Grammar....I don't think I've seen her in anything since Greek ended.

[Clawdette]

I enjoyed The Noel Diary.  The road trip was especially well done and Bonnie Bedelia and James Remar were both excellent in their roles.  I like my heartstrings tugged every so often.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Clawdette

[Irlandesa]

A Christmas Spark wasn't much of a story.  It was a simple, straight forward movie about two people finding one another later in life.  It's as if Lifetime just wanted to give Joe Lando and Jane Seymour two hours to show they still oozed chemistry.  They do and so I enjoyed spending the time with them.

[Scarlett45]

On 11/24/2022 at 10:55 PM, memememe76 said:

The Noel Diary is clearly the best Netflix outing. The cinematography was really a cut above, and the chemistry between Justin Hartley and Barrett Doss was undeniable. It falters the last 20 minutes or so, though. You end up unsatisfied. Even the small characters pop—the waitress, the bookseller, the fans at the beginning. I love when Christmas movies are made with real effort. 

(bolding mine) I agree. It is known that I have been in lust with Justin Hartley since 2000, and yes, I was pretending I was Rachel in that movie (especially when she tied her curls up in a pineapple!) BUT even with my bias I have to admit it was well done. I loved Ava! And the emotional beats were strong, with great chemistry between the leads. 

[MissyPoo]

On 11/26/2022 at 5:13 PM, shapeshifter said:

In this case, they start with the concept of a famous, wealthy author going back to his home town to empty the house where his mother has just passed. Sounds good.
There's a woman still living across the street who knew him when he was young. Still good.
Then they add: The female lead is the birth daughter of the famous author's former Nanny.
Whoa. Starting to go off the rails. 
And then every member of the famous author's family has a tragic and/or insanity-troubled back story. 

TBF, it seems like this was pretty close to the book it was based on. Minus a mention of abuse which they may have left out/changed so it didn't become super somber and, of course, the main character's writing genre). I haven't read the book yet, but I plan to soon to see how what was changed from the book to adaptation. 

The book blurb:

Quote

Bestselling romance author Jacob Churcher hasn't been home for almost twenty years — not since his mentally ill mother kicked him out of the house when he was just sixteen. When a lawyer calls, days before Christmas, to inform him that his estranged mother has passed away and left her house to him, Jacob returns not just to settle the estate but to try and reconcile with the past and the pain and abuse he experienced as a child. Also, maybe cleaning out her house will be slightly less depressing than spending the holidays alone, watching re-runs of Christmas classics.

But as it turns out, the house holds more than just difficult memories, Jacob’s mother had become a hoarder and he must excavate through two decades worth of clutter. As Jacob digs through the detritus, like an archaeologist, he uncovers many puzzling items including a diary left by someone named Noel, a young woman he has no recollection of, who stayed with Jacob’s family during her pregnancy. That’s not the only echo from the past. Jacob has an unexpected visitor, Rachel, a woman looking for the mother who put her up for adoption thirty years before. United by their quest to make sense of the past and rewrite their futures, Jacob and Rachel begin a search for Noel. Along the way they find more than they possibly imagined, including grace, forgiveness and a chance at love.

[Bruinsfan]

On 11/27/2022 at 1:24 AM, Jaded said:

One of the episodes I tried to watch was when Negan was introduced with his bat and well I think others who've seen that one know what I mean.

Ha! You got the same experience I got with A Game of Thrones by having my first (and only) episode feature the Red Wedding!

[norcalgal]

23 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

A Christmas Spark wasn't much of a story.  It was a simple, straight forward movie about two people finding one another later in life.  It's as if Lifetime just wanted to give Joe Lando and Jane Seymour two hours to show they still oozed chemistry.  They do and so I enjoyed spending the time with them.

Yep, they still “spark”  (See what I did there?) together.  It was a nice movie but I doubt I’ll do any repeat watching.

The main thing I took away from the movie was how often Jane and Joe’s characters kissed.  That’s unusual for a holiday movie, but since this wasn’t Hallmark, the reins on kissing/touching were loosened.

[shapeshifter]

TVGuide.com actually has a well-organized (IMO) list of all the Christmas offerings:   
tvguide.com/amp/news/ultimate-christmas-and-holiday-movies-and-specials-guide-2022

But wait. There’s more:   
https://www.google.com/search?q=christmas+specials+on+tv+2022

[NYGirl]

No remarks on the 12 Days of Christmas Eve?  I really enjoyed Kelsey Grammar.  He's a great comic actor.

The plot was different but I wasn't a fan of the daughter.  The granddaughter was the cutest. I liked the ending and the fact that there was no love interest.

[Kaoteek]

Honestly ? I kind of disliked it, partly because it felt flat and Grammer was overacting like Jim Carrey on acid, but also because I remember enjoying the other 12 Days of Christmas Eve, with Steven Webber & Molly Shannon, so much more back then.

[Clawdette]

Let me say at the outset that I am trying to write this in an explanatory manner and not in a judgmental one.  I'm just trying to communicate my take on the new Candance Cameron Bure movie on GAC, A Christmas . . . Present and her stated intention to deliver more programming reflective of "traditional family values."  But I don't think she stated what her intent really is:  to deliver Christian-themed movies.

I don't know whether she thought labeling them "traditional family movies" would be more appealing to more people than "Christian movies" or whether she didn't really think about the difference in those groups of adjectives.

Traditional families are not exclusive to Christianity.  Traditional families are present in every culture and religion, so theoretically, GAC could produce movies about a traditional Muslim family or Buddhist one.  I don't think that's what CCB or GAC have in mind.

A Christmas . . . Present was overtly proselytizing and I don't say that as a criticism but as a description.  Church and faith were woven throughout the script in a forthright manner.  There is nothing wrong with that but I think CCB should have been upfront with what her real intentions are.  Don't couch them in traditional values instead of Christian values. 

I am a practicing Christian but I generally don't watch any Christian programming.  I appreciate that the stations/networks/streamers that carry it are clear about what they are delivering.  CCB and GAC should be upfront, too, and describe their programming as Christian oriented if that's what it is.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Clawdette

[Notabug]

16 hours ago, Clawdette said:

Let me say at the outset that I am trying to write this in an explanatory manner and not in a judgmental one.  I'm just trying to communicate my take on the new Candance Cameron Bure movie on GAC, A Christmas . . . Present and her stated intention to deliver more programming reflective of "traditional family values."  But I don't think she stated what her intent really is:  to deliver Christian-themed movies.

I don't know whether she thought labeling them "traditional family movies" would be more appealing to more people than "Christian movies" or whether she didn't really think about the difference in those groups of adjectives.

Traditional families are not exclusive to Christianity.  Traditional families are present in every culture and religion, so theoretically, GAC could produce movies about a traditional Muslim family or Buddhist one.  I don't think that's what CCB or GAC have in mind.

A Christmas . . . Present was overtly proselytizing and I don't say that as a criticism but as a description.  Church and faith were woven throughout the script in a forthright manner.  There is nothing wrong with that but I think CCB should have been upfront with what her real intentions are.  Don't couch them in traditional values instead of Christian values. 

I am a practicing Christian but I generally don't watch any Christian programming.  I appreciate that the stations/networks/streamers that carry it are clear about what they are delivering.  CCB and GAC should be upfront, too, and describe their programming as Christian oriented if that's what it is.

That is my big problem with CCB and all her prattle about 'traditional family values'.  She is really referring to the very narrow lane in which she travels which not only excludes non-Christians, but also Christians who are not as conservative as she is.  If she were more forthright and told the world that she promotes conservative fundamentalist Christian values, I'd be ok with it.  I wouldn't watch, but I wouldn't feel like there's some bait and switch going on, either.

[KaveDweller]

On 11/29/2022 at 11:48 AM, NYGirl said:

No remarks on the 12 Days of Christmas Eve?  I really enjoyed Kelsey Grammar.  He's a great comic actor.

The plot was different but I wasn't a fan of the daughter.  The granddaughter was the cutest. I liked the ending and the fact that there was no love interest.

There were comments on it upthread.

I didn't even think of the fact that there was no love interest, but I do like that a movie managed to do that. 

23 hours ago, Clawdette said:

A Christmas . . . Present was overtly proselytizing and I don't say that as a criticism but as a description.  Church and faith were woven throughout the script in a forthright manner.  There is nothing wrong with that but I think CCB should have been upfront with what her real intentions are.  Don't couch them in traditional values instead of Christian values. 

That's the thing that is annoying about CCB. She really believes that the traditional = Christianity and that anything else isn't traditional.

[Irlandesa]

On 11/29/2022 at 7:52 PM, Clawdette said:

But I don't think she stated what her intent really is:  to deliver Christian-themed movies.

I think you offer a generous and gracious interpretation of what she's trying to say.  But it's hard to escape the baggage they carry over from Hallmark which is what colors my opinion of what she was saying.

That baggage fills in a fuller picture.  Having them be Christian-themed explains why they may not focus on Hanukkah stories.  Or Muslim stories.  But it doesn't explain why gay people don't exist.   Or why it's so white or why it doesn't do interracial romance either. 

Those are the questions they were being asked and the answers depict a very specific brand of Christianity that can definitely turn off advertisers.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Irlandesa

[Makai]

On 11/29/2022 at 5:52 PM, Clawdette said:

I am a practicing Christian but I generally don't watch any Christian programming.  I appreciate that the stations/networks/streamers that carry it are clear about what they are delivering.  CCB and GAC should be upfront, too, and describe their programming as Christian oriented if that's what it is.

I agree that they should be more upfront but I don’t think that saying Christian oriented is enough. I get tired of Christian entertainment that assumes that certain beliefs are synonymous with Christianity. Most of the time when something is labeled as Christian I know I am not the right type of Christian. Which I think is also part of the backlash against GAF and CCB. Part of why this whole thing bothers me so much is that I don’t like being painted with the brush they are using. 

5 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think you offer a generous and gracious interpretation of what she's trying to say.  But it's hard to escape the baggage they carry over from Hallmark which is what colors my opinion of what she was saying.

That baggage fills in a fuller picture.  Having them be Christian-themed explains why they may not focus on Hanukkah stories.  Or Muslim stories.  But it doesn't explain why gay people don't exist.   Or why it's so white or why it doesn't do interracial romance either. 

Those are the questions they were being asked and the answers depict a very specific brand of Christianity that can definitely turn off advertisers.

Exactly. 

[Cetacean]

4 hours ago, Makai said:

I get tired of Christian entertainment that assumes that certain beliefs are synonymous with Christianity.

Plus certain beliefs are common among many established faiths (some form of "do unto others" is pretty universal) but her type of christianity veers off the path right to hating everyone who is not like her or not following her god who is the "only one true god".  That's not how it should be in a diverse nation.

Describe it as what it is - a cult that writes movies for white, heterosexual, married women.

[maggiegil]

Thought this was an interesting interview with the Head of Programming at Lifetime Amy Winter, its mostly about the business model of Christmas movies

[Clawdette]

In my original post about my interpretation of Bure's actual platform of making Christian movies, I should have phrased it as her brand of Christianity as opposed to the broad umbrella of Christianity.  My Christian beliefs bear no resemblance to hers and I believe are reflective of many other Christians, too.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Clawdette

[argrow]

I enjoyed Dolly's Magic Mountain Christmas. It is as cheesy and fun as you can expect. But then, Dolly can do no wrong in my opinion.

Edited December 2, 2022 by argrow

[Irlandesa]

After saying I had no interest in watching The Noel Diary, I was waiting for my pizza today and decided to put it on when I saw it was still the number one movie on Netflix. .  The thing I feared would bring it down, its earnestness, didn't end up being too bad.

The thing that made it eye roll worthy for me was just how dumb so many things about it were.  I'll start with the positive, the dog is a star! And the couple did have some chemistry.  I especially liked Barrett Doss. It's just that I found it hard to get into their romance.  Maybe it's because she didn't really show up until almost 20 minutes into the movie. 

But onto the stupid stuff--since it has been out for a while, I'm not going to spoiler tag these so you've been warned. 

He's a famous author.  It's mentioned later he has millions of followers on Instagram.  Yet at the beginning, there's clearly a big fan at his book signing who thinks the "Ava" he mentions is his girlfriend.  But I'd imagine an author with millions of followers probably has some doggo pics up in his Insta.  And a big fan probably would know about her and wouldn't mistake her for a girlfriend. 

His dad has the most confusing reasoning for leaving his son.  And when they reunite, his dad mentions that he has read all of his books and listened to the latest since his eyesight is going. He claims it's the first time he heard his adult son's voice.  Except, his adult sign is a best selling fiction author.  It's unlikely his books are read by anyone but a professional actor unless Jacob happens to be an actor as well. Then they leave the girl outside forever while they trim the tree.  I get it for a private conversation but for tree trimming?  And she's cool with this.

They spend one last night in a hotel and they have to share a room.  She checks in and her hair is naturally curly.  By the time they have dinner in the room, she has it straightened.  First, it's hard to ignore the fact that it was the movie's choice to straighten her hair for their 'sexy' scene when it has been naturally curly the rest of the movie like naturally curly can't be sexy.  But when she leaves in the middle of the night, it's back to being curly. 

'I think there are more stupid things in this movie but I feel like I should have read my book instead of watching this.

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

Plus certain beliefs are common among many established faiths (some form of "do unto others" is pretty universal) but her type of christianity veers off the path right to hating everyone who is not like her or not following her god who is the "only one true god". 

And as other posters note in the Duggar forum it's not just believing in Jesus, it's believing in the right Jesus.

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Then they leave the girl outside forever while they trim the tree.  I get it for a private conversation but for tree trimming?  And she's cool with this.

Heh, asking if she's "cool with this" is either gracious of you or a punny understatement.😉
Her lips should have been purplish blue by the time they allowed her——the daughter of The Help/Nanny——back indoors.

 

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

First, it's hard to ignore the fact that it was the movie's choice to straighten her hair for their 'sexy' scene when it has been naturally curly the rest of the movie like naturally curly can't be sexy.  But when she leaves in the middle of the night, it's back to being curly. 

Having 3 curly-haired daughters, I missed a lot of dialog wondering if she was supposed to be wearing a wig or if there was a salon nearby that just spent over an hour doing her hair.  And it was the opposite of showing her with her hair in a bonnet before bed in an earlier scene, which had led me to believe they were going to be accurate of the depiction.

The dog parts were good, except not once was he shown on-leash in public places. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by shapeshifter

[Dr.OO7]

I thought I'd post one of my favorite performances of my favorite Christmas song. From the 1996 National Christmas Tree Lighting:

https://youtu.be/z84QdJlPpHE

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

I thought I'd post one of my favorite performances of my favorite Christmas song. From the 1996 National Christmas Tree Lighting:

https://youtu.be/z84QdJlPpHE

Aww. They’re all so young and beautiful! 
I bet Bill wanted to join in on the saxophone 🎷

[twoods]

Cloudy With A Chance of Christmas was decent. The leads and their chemistry kept me interested, and it was nice they were both single.

[Dr.OO7]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Aww. They’re all so young and beautiful! 
I bet Bill wanted to join in on the saxophone 🎷

Would it have helped or made it even more disastrous? I can't believe how badly everything went wrong.

[MerBearHou]

10 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

I thought I'd post one of my favorite performances of my favorite Christmas song. From the 1996 National Christmas Tree Lighting:

https://youtu.be/z84QdJlPpHE

I have never seen this!  OMG.  

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, twoods said:

Cloudy With A Chance of Christmas was decent. The leads and their chemistry kept me interested, and it was nice they were both single.

It was on the better end of what Lifetime has put out for sure.

Believe it or not, QVC has a streaming app.  And believe it or not, they have a Christmas movie called Holly And the Hot Chocolate.  I saw a surprise recommendation for it a few weeks ago and I didn't work today so I decided to watch it.  And I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.  It's a basic story of a woman going from Philadelphia to Boston to visit her boyfriend and crashing in small Pine Falls.  There's a widower.  There's a daughter but she's 17 so no bratty teen or overly precocious child. There are quirky town characters.  It's only 60 minutes.  And I found myself enjoying it.

It's such a simple story that it's hard to explain what about it I liked but I think the actors were good and the dialogue had an element of "this is how people joke with each other" and camp. 

I tried Hotel For The Holidays but realized about 20 minutes in that there was nothing about it that was going to grab me.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Irlandesa

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Aww. They’re all so young and beautiful! 
I bet Bill wanted to join in on the saxophone 🎷

2 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

Would it have helped or made it even more disastrous? I can't believe how badly everything went wrong.

Probably couldn’t have helped. 
Why was it such a production disaster?

[twoods]

I tried to watch Hotel for the Holidays but it was dubbed in German and I couldn’t figure out on the Freevee app how to change it to English. Must have been a glitch.

[debbie311]

On 11/29/2022 at 5:52 PM, Clawdette said:

A Christmas . . . Present was overtly proselytizing and I don't say that as a criticism but as a description.  Church and faith were woven throughout the script in a forthright manner.  There is nothing wrong with that but I think CCB should have been upfront with what her real intentions are.  Don't couch them in traditional values instead of Christian values. 

I am a practicing Christian but I generally don't watch any Christian programming.  I appreciate that the stations/networks/streamers that carry it are clear about what they are delivering.  CCB and GAC should be upfront, too, and describe their programming as Christian oriented if that's what it is.

Agree.  I watched this movie last night. It was very heavy on the preaching. Now that I know what road they are down on this network, I won't watch another.

[Scarlett45]

I’m sitting down with my mom to watch A New Orleans Noel with Keisha Knight Pulliam and Patti LaBelle (Lifetime). Should be good! I will report back. 
 

Edited to add- it wasn’t my favorite of Keisha’s. I loved the NOLA setting and the supporting family members, but I didn’t get why these two liked each other much less claimed “love” after a few days (even though they had crushed on each other in college). There were some super cute moments but I think the writing could’ve been better. 
 

My fav holiday tv movie from last year was Ghosts of Christmas Past with Annie Clark, the writing was so tight and it was cute. I also believed the couple falling for each other. 

[twoods]

Hotel for the Holidays was disappointing because I wanted more of the leads storyline (Mena and Madelaine). I thought they would be the majority of the movie instead of the Love Actually vibe with other storylines. Mena is still wonderful to look at though, so my time wasn’t completely wasted. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by twoods

[Scarlett45]

36 minutes ago, twoods said:

Hotel for the Holidays was disappointing because I wanted more of the leads storyline (Mena and Madelaine). I thought they would be the majority of the movie instead of the Love Actually vibe with other storylines. Mena is still wonderful to look at though, so my time wasn’t completely wasted. 

Did you say MENA?? What is this movie of which you speak? Google tells me it’s on Prime Video. 

[twoods]

Hotel for the Holidays, which is on FreeVee which is an Amazon app. They have a lot of other movies that I have to check out. And yes, he’s lovely as usual. Those dimples and smile make me melt.

Edited December 4, 2022 by twoods

[absnow54]

13 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

My fav holiday tv movie from last year was Ghosts of Christmas Past with Annie Clark, the writing was so tight and it was cute. I also believed the couple falling for each other. 

I didn’t appreciate this one last year, but caught it again this year, and really enjoyed it. I thought Annie Clark’s character had a really good arc, independent of the romance. 

[Jaded]

I watched the two Keshia Knight Pulliam movies that were on Lifetime last night and really liked both. Radio Christmas was kind of corny in the setup but once Keshia's character got to the town she was being sent to it got a lot better. Belinda Montgomery appeared in it too and as soon as I saw her name in the opening credits my first thought was about how she played Doogie's sweet Mom in the 90's. According to IMDB it's from 2019.

The second movie A New Orleans Noel was one from this year. I related to Keshia's character in this one in regards to having no family left and learning to make it on her own. I'd have a bit of a freak out and might run out of a house too if I was thrust into interacting with a close-knit family like that especially during the holiday season when it wasn't something I was used too. Patti Labelle's character was really enjoyable in this and it was clever how she brought the two main characters together.

I hadn't really been watching Xmas movies this year until the past few days. Out of the three Lifetime ones I've seen so far Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas (2022) was the one that didn't hold my attention as much as the other two. If I see it on the schedule again I might give it another chance.

[norcalgal]

6 hours ago, Jaded said:

I hadn't really been watching Xmas movies this year until the past few days. Out of the three Lifetime ones I've seen so far Cloudy with a Chance of Christmas (2022) was the one that didn't hold my attention as much as the other two. If I see it on the schedule again I might give it another chance.

This movie was boring as heck and I forced myself to continue to the end. The only two things I liked about it were:

1. Incorporating Puerto Rican elements into the story and 

2. learning about Leavenworth, Washington.  I googled it and turns out, it’s a real place as it was presented in the movie.  Reminds me of Solvang, California.  In fact, Mr. NorCal and I might wanna go there next year for Christmas 

[Scarlett45]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:11 PM, twoods said:

Hotel for the Holidays, which is on FreeVee which is an Amazon app. They have a lot of other movies that I have to check out. And yes, he’s lovely as usual. Those dimples and smile make me melt.

He was very cute, but I agree with you that the movie was kind of forgettable. I wish the hotel was more of a character, and I did like the older couple and the pop star was funny. 

[Irlandesa]

I liked the idea of Merry Textmas but the budget is so low that they couldn't even align sound to the way people are talking.

Did anyone watch CBS's movie?  I didn't watch but can catch up on Paramount if it's decent.  I kind of resent Kloots starring in it as she's not an actress (as far as I know and I suspect I'll be wishing Rebecca Budig were the star).  And I'm irked at Paul Greene going to GAF. 

[bankerchick]

I'm watching Fit For Christmas, starring Paul Greene.  It's like there was a pitch meeting and someone said, 'we should do something like one of those Hallmark movies.  We could have a big bad corporation come in to a small town (let's call it something cute, like Mistletoe) close the community centre and put up something like a ski resort, and send in a handsome, witty guy to do it.  We could have a girl come home from the big city, and they could have a meet-cute, say they bump into one another and she drops some stuff.  They banter (he's funny, but she's kind've a bitch) then, lo and behold, they run into each other at her work.  She is really trying everything to keep the community centre open, even though it's not practical and her paltry contributions will only keep the centre open for another few months at best, and the ski resort will probably bring jobs and great opportunities for the town.  We need someone to run a cafe, probably her best friend and her adorable husband.  And let's give her a widowed Dad who is afraid to connect with the townie who is clearly into him.  The leads finally warm to one another, but then her estranged boyfriend shows up and the town votes against keeping the centre.  We'll have a ridiculous misunderstanding with 15 minutes to go  and it will look like they don't get together, but of course her dad imparts some gobbledy-gook advice.  Let's have the CEO of the big corporation, who happens to be the lead's dad, come to town so he can see how wonderful it is and learn to love Christmas again.  They decide to integrate the community centre into the ski resort.  She breaks up with the boyfriend and decides to stay in Mistletoe.  Happy ever after.  Roll credits.'

I feel like I'm watching a movie from 2015.

[ECM1231]

You nailed it, @bankerchick; in fact as we were watching, Mr.  ECM asked me was I sure this wasn't a Hallmark movie.

I knew nothing about the lead other than she was married to the late Nick Cordero. I hadn't realized she was a dancer and was impressed by her leg kicks.

It was a pleasant way to spend an evening and yeah, I'm annoyed with Paul, Danica, Cameron, and others for defecting to GAF. 

[Spartan Girl]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:08 PM, twoods said:

Hotel for the Holidays was disappointing because I wanted more of the leads storyline (Mena and Madelaine). I thought they would be the majority of the movie instead of the Love Actually vibe with other storylines. Mena is still wonderful to look at though, so my time wasn’t completely wasted. 

I’ll check it out, but only for Mena. Seriously, he’s so cute and he deserves more mainstream movies!

[norcalgal]

Color me shocked how much I liked Christmas on the Slopes (badly named since almost nothing of the show took place on the ski slopes).  However, my biggest gripes about the movie were

1) how quickly the leads exchanged I love yous - ESPECIALLY the female lead who supposedly was in love with her business partner and asked him to marry her just a few weeks before!!!  And

2) Related to the above was how quickly Ansell proposed marriage to Sophia 

other than that, I liked the story, production values were great (for a movie on Up Network!) and acting was decent. Finally, the community kitchen, kids’ kitchen, international cooking competition for the Savannah location was a really good one. Hopefully, something like that exists in real life.

[Inquisitionist]

I keep seeing ads for this during TVLand shows.  Good god, does Tanya Tucker look awful!  I feel sorry for Keith Carradine, a fine actor, being dragged into what looks like utter dreck.

[norcalgal]

On 12/4/2022 at 8:41 PM, Irlandesa said:

I liked the idea of Merry Textmas but the budget is so low that they couldn't even align sound to the way people are talking.

Yes, it was a little low budget but I still enjoyed it. I liked learning about Oaxaca and its  Christmas traditions. The reason Alex was so distanced from his Mexican heritage felt authentic. I can totally see someone ethnic (of any ethnicity which is not WASP) remove themselves from their heritage to “fit in”. And even more so in such a Caucasian place like Rhode Island. 

Skip Search for Secret Santa. Crap production values, acting (who acts blasé about burglary, kidnapping and attempted murder???), and story was subpar. But how this differs from a Hallmark holiday movie is that the lead male character and another semi main character weren’t completely white hat guys. They both had a criminal past, so that was new!

Edited December 8, 2022 by norcalgal

[Irlandesa]

I saw a review praising All I Didn't William For Christmas on VH1 and decided to tune in spontaneously because there wasn't much else on.

I really enjoyed it.  It's about a woman who deals with insecurity.  She gets drunk one night and pens an angry letter to Santa about things she wants and then an elf comes down to give it to her.  Gabrourey Sidibe was very good.  She was funny when she needed to be funny and she delivered in the more dramatic moments.  She just keeps me engaged when she's on the screen.

The rest of the cast was fun as well.