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.

[Spartan Girl]

Okay, I’ll admit it: I watched Hot Frosty on Netflix. It was dumb but I needed it. And I can’t say it wasn’t fun to watch Boyle and the Pontiac Bandit to play the town cops.

[EtheltoTillie]

Geez even Lacey and Craig and Boyle could not save this hot mess for me. I tapped out halfway through. 

[Bill1978]

Maybe my brain has turned into mush writing student reports but I enjoyed Hot Frosty, especially once the Snowman's acting improved. It was nice diversion on a hot Aussie summer Saturday evening. I was probably enjoying the little references to movies like Mean Girls and Pretty Woman and I may have yelled at the TV 'You have to Beauty and the Beast him' towards the end. And I felt so stupid for not working out it was Lauren Holly in a supporting role until I saw her name in the end credits. And just like last year's Call Me Claus, I felt with a slight improvement to the script (and actors) this could have been a movie released into cinemas - especially since they managed to score a Coldplay song for the end!!

[Gharlane]

(I could have sworn there was a Charlie Brown thread somewhere. 🤷‍♂️)

 

[KWalkerInc]

https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/22122-peanuts-the-charlie-brown-and-snoopy-thread/

It was under genre talk in other tv talk.

[Gharlane]

Thanks! I knew I had seen it before but searching for "charlie" and "peanuts" didn't work. 🤷‍♂️

[KWalkerInc]

I think I found it just one time by accident when I was browsing in the genre talk just to see what was in it.

[Irlandesa]

On 11/16/2024 at 6:31 PM, Bill1978 said:

Maybe my brain has turned into mush writing student reports but I enjoyed Hot Frosty, especially once the Snowman's acting improved

I really thought I'd hate it because I'm not a fan of the snowman comes alive plot which I've seen in other movies but I found myself liking it more than I thought I would. It's not the greatest but it was a cute Sunday afternoon watch.

[twoods]

Netflix’s newest offering Our Little Secret wasn’t too bad and watchable. It had some funny scenes, but I wish there was more development between the leads. I felt we didn’t get enough bonding and “wistfully missing the past” looks, and that they were some scenes that were cut. I did enjoy the crazy family shenanigans. 

[ButterQueen]

On 11/25/2023 at 2:23 PM, anniebird said:

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

I made it 30 minutes into it.  Horrible, just horrible.

[roughing it]

I watched Best. Christmas. Ever. on Netflix. It was horrible. Started out ok but got progressively worse. I thought with Jason Biggs and Heather Graham it would be better. This is one to skip.

[absnow54]

On 11/29/2024 at 1:44 AM, twoods said:

Netflix’s newest offering Our Little Secret wasn’t too bad and watchable. It had some funny scenes, but I wish there was more development between the leads. I felt we didn’t get enough bonding and “wistfully missing the past” looks, and that they were some scenes that were cut. I did enjoy the crazy family shenanigans. 

I agree with this. Lindsay Lohan and Ian Harding’s charisma helped fill in the gaps that were otherwise lacking, but it would have been nice to have a few more moments of yearning. I mean, I guess it’s nice they weren’t carrying on an emotional affair through the week. I definitely bought them as lifelong friends, though.  The most glaring omission was what Logan actually bought Avery for Christmas. Did we ever find that out?

[roughing it]

As far as  Netflix movies so far,I enjoyed Our Little Secret. Merry Gentlemen was ok too, although I would’ve liked someone else besides Chad Michael Murphy as the lead. There was just something about him that I didn’t think worked well here.

[twoods]

Finally got around to Hot Frosty and I sort of liked it? It was better that Our Little Secret in terms of the leads bonding and falling in love, plus I prefer the leads being single instead of them having a significant other and falling in love with someone else. The leads also communicated well and there were no dumb misunderstandings. 

[roughing it]

I watched Dear Santa with Jack Black.  It was terrible - turned it off about 40 minutes in.  I wish I hadn't given it that much time.  And I very rarely turn off a movie, always thinking it must get better.  But this was really bad.

[DanaMB]

5 hours ago, roughing it said:

I watched Dear Santa with Jack Black.  It was terrible - turned it off about 40 minutes in.  I wish I hadn't given it that much time.  And I very rarely turn off a movie, always thinking it must get better.  But this was really bad.

Agree. It was terrible. 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Jack Black used to do good movies , now, not so much.

[norcalgal]

20 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Jack Black used to do good movies , now, not so much.

The only holiday movie I can recall watching where Jack Black was a main character was The Holiday.  Love this movie, btw!  And that's the only time I remotely saw him as a romantic option for the female character.