Hallmark Movies: Small Town Royalty Magically Celebrating Rekindled Love! - General Discussion

[Irlandesa]

Love, Chocolate and Romance had a lot of chocolate but not really much love or romance.  I like Will Kemp but I do agree that maybe the romantic rival was a better match for Lacey's character.  Lacey isn't my fave (but not my least fave either) but I do appreciate that she's apparently enough of a draw that Hallmark puts money behind her movies.  Even though the love story was meh, the scenery and chocolate shots/knowledge were great and worth it.

As for Alison Sweeney's Chronicle movie, it was kind of trying to vibe on the old series Cold Case, except they didn't bother to cast different people for the characters they played 20 years ago.  In fact, that was the biggest clue that 

Spoiler

The missing woman was alive since that actress is not a woman just starting out in life.

I see Alison cast the woman who played her sister in Murder She Baked.

[GaT]

3 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Thoughts on the Allison Sweeney mystery?

I liked it. I thought Alison Sweeney and Benjamin Ayres had good chemistry, the story was interesting, & they set things up for more story with the uncle.

[kirinan]

7 hours ago, GaT said:

I liked it. I thought Alison Sweeney and Benjamin Ayres had good chemistry, the story was interesting, & they set things up for more story with the uncle.

Agreed! I'm the first to admit my attention tends to wander on mysteries, which is why I've never really watched most of the movie series on HMM. But this was another one (Mystery 101 was the first) where I followed from beginning to end. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the chemistry between the leads in both cases (what can I say, I'm shallow, LOL). I think Alison Sweeney and Benjamin Ayres are both appealing actors, and their rapport was very easy and natural. After watching this one I set next week's up as a series recording on my DVR (did the same with M101) so I can be sure to catch any future new airings.

So here's another kudo for you, Hallmark. You've earned several of those from me so far in 2019; keep up the good work!

Edited February 18, 2019 by kirinan

[ShelleySue]

On February 16, 2019 at 11:12 PM, MerBearHou said:

I now want to visit Bruges ASAP!

My daughter and and I have started going to European Christmas market.  During the movie I google Bruges and found out the they have a big Christmas market.  So I called my daughter halfway through the movie and told her I know where we're going this winter.  Heck, I might just skip those markets and only visit chocolate shops.

[Irlandesa]

I finally got around to clearing The Story of Us off of my DVR.  Oh what a waste of charming casting. 

[Happywatcher]

Watching the Alison Chronicle movie off the DVR.

With the exception of her overly big sad over the 20 year old murder, this is good. I want to listen to this podcast. The red herrings are pretty good, too.

The love interest looked younger than Alison. I was going to check IMDB, then I remembered it is the 2010s, so you go, girl.

[kirinan]

11 hours ago, Happywatcher said:

The love interest looked younger than Alison. I was going to check IMDB, then I remembered it is the 2010s, so you go, girl.

Ha, I wondered the same thing, so I looked it up on Sunday. He's only a year younger than her (she: b. 1976, him: b. 1977). But even if it had been 10 years' difference, chemistry is chemistry, so good pairing.

[sistersledge]

Finally finished watching Pearl in Paradise thanks to someone here and liked it! (Rare for me to say this, I know) But I like Kristopher and everything he’s in so there’s that too. 

As always I do have a few beefs:

- I was sure they were going to lose this poor woman’s old journal the way they were casualing throwing it around. I was legit worried about it.

- Seemed a little far-fetched that Alex would think her job was on the line if she didn’t find the pearl, wasn’t the whole point about the search? Speaking of, hopefully they featured the guy’s off-the-beaten path getaway in the magazine

I have this problem with a lot of Hallmark movies but the graphic design of supposedly super amazing artwork always ends up looking like the intern did it in Word. They don’t have anyone over at Hallmark headquarters in the art department who can handle movie graphics? As a designer this always bugs me. Maybe I should see if they’d hire me as a freelancer. Like, take it up a notch or 10! The cover photo was awful! There’s no way that would happen, it would be a be a beautiful shot of Fiji.

I had the same problem with the Love, Chabert and Chocolate movie. A food stylist from NYC would not be walking around taking pictures with a Kodak digital camera from 2003.

Edited February 21, 2019 by sistersledge

[ShelleySue]

On February 19, 2019 at 8:37 PM, Happywatcher said:

With the exception of her overly big sad over the 20 year old murder, this is good. I want to listen to this podcast. The red herrings are pretty good, too.

I listen to some podcasts, but nothing of this genre.  In real life, would this have been released as her investigation was ongoing?  

[Happywatcher]

3 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

I listen to some podcasts, but nothing of this genre.  In real life, would this have been released as her investigation was ongoing?  

Some shows are going live now, at least for supporters. Most shows would wait, however.

The big thing now is a show called My Favorite Murder. It is a podcast with two female comics discussing famous murders and being funny about it. They tape half their shows live at different venues, usually discussing local murders at each location. 

[mikeb]

Looking at the ratings for the 4 new HMM mystery movies so far this year, it looks like Mystery 101 starring Jill Wagner and Kristoffer Polaha outperformed the other 3 by about 20 per cent.   Hopefully this bodes well for future installments.  Ruby Herring, Emma Fielding, and Chronicle Mysteries were all lumped closely together, although I am guessing Chronicle Mysteries might have been hurt premiering same night as Rescue Dog Show on Hallmark channel.

[MerBearHou]

Very interesting -- I enjoy reading ratings info!  I really liked Mystery 101 and Chronicle Mysteries -- the other two (Ruby and Emma) are very so-so for me, particularly Emma.  Courtney T-S looks way too "manufactured" for me (has she always looked this way?  I don't really know her from other shows) and it's hard for me to look at her.  Harsh, I know...  I do like Taylor Cole (though her Ruby wig is SO bad) and will circle back for sure if there's another.

Edited February 22, 2019 by MerBearHou

[Irlandesa]

5 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

I listen to some podcasts, but nothing of this genre.  In real life, would this have been released as her investigation was ongoing?  

It depends.  What usually happens is a podcaster will do research, prepare a season of episodes and then release them every week.  If nothing new or of note is discovered, the podcast ends.  (Podcasts like Dirty John and Doctor Death had pretty finite endings when they were released. There may have been an update episode or two but really, they were basically over.)  Then there are podcasts like Up and Vanished (blech) and Teacher's Pet which started out looking at what was available on cold cases but, as people started hearing the podcasts, they started coming forward to share what they know.  Sometimes, it's information that hadn't been investigated before.   As the investigation heated up again, the podcast released episodes incorporating the new developments. 

Those are the podcasts that cover a case a season...similar to what Alison is doing here.

Then there are other true crime podcasts that aren't investigative, like My Favorite Murder.  They just summarize what is already known about a case in one episode.

[mikeb]

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

Very interesting -- I enjoy reading ratings info!  I really liked Mystery 101 and Chronicle Mysteries -- the other two (Ruby and Emma) are very so-so for me, particularly Emma.  Courtney T-S looks way too "manufactured" for me (has she always looked this way?  I don't really know her from other shows) and it's hard for me to look at her.  Harsh, I know...  I do like Taylor Cole (though her Ruby wig is SO bad) and will circle back for sure if there's another.

I think Courtney Thorne-Smith's look is due to trying to look younger than her age of 51.  I understand actresses are under tremendous pressure to look young but wish more of them would allow themselves to age naturally.

[Mountainair]

I enjoyed Chronicle Mysteries quite a bit. I hadn't really heard much about it and had it saved on my DVR to watch later in the week. I spend 95% of my life driving and True Crime Podcasts keep me going. One that I listen to had Ali Sweeney as a guest host (not her first time guesting). So I thought that was a cool tie in with the movie. She really is into True Crime podcasts! 

[Happywatcher]

Love on the Menu

The lead was good as exacting career woman who has a pretty good idea for a new food line. Her 'fish out of water learning to cook' scenes were good. Other good parts were the camera work on the cooking scenes, and the use of scenery for window/outdoor shots.

The love interest one star chef was a jerk about 2/3 of the movie--which isn't attractive. His manager wasn't good as a sidekick, and his professional issues were cringeworthy.

The really annoying thing was the love interest's daughter. I think the scriptwriters and director were going for funny and missed and made her out to be an annoying little snot. Plus, she has a smartphone but no uber...and even if he won't let her have the app, why not send one for her?

[WarmSkull]

I just finished Love on the Menu. Admittedly, I am an Autumn Reeser fan girl and have been happy that her past few movies do not rely on the typical Hallmark misunderstanding that usually drives the protagonists to get together at the last minute of the movie. 

Overall, I thought the movie was good. I liked the kitchen/food prep and the table prep scenes. I liked that their first kiss and then other cute moments occurred well before the end of the movie. It’s nice when Hallmark doesn’t follow their usual troupe of saving the first kiss for the end.   

I was a bit annoyed by her boss becoming a big bad out of nowhere.  Maggie worked with her boss for how long and this was the first time her boss moved on to a new project? Not likely.  Hank and the boss fulfilled their contractual obligations. Moving on to a new chef is business.

I think that storyline could have handled it better. I also fan girl for Teryl Rothery and would have loved aspects of her character from All for Love to have been used for the storyline: more logical and understanding. “You have spent a lot of time with Hank and don’t have the heart for frozen food anymore? This is a business that I need to run. How about you think if you want to stay with us or return to your roots of managing restaurants?” An outright firing seemed a bit drastic for the slow-moving movie. 

4 hours ago, Happywatcher said:

The love interest one star chef was a jerk about 2/3 of the movie--which isn't attractive. 

I didn’t think Hank was a jerk for the much of the movie. He definitely was after the initial contract agreement, particularly when Maggie did her introduction in the kitchen. Other than that, I thought Kavan portrayed Hank well, from  his initial resistance, to dropping his walls and then accepting Maggie into his life. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by WarmSkull
Spelling is fun.

[sistersledge]

2 hours ago, WarmSkull said:

I was a bit annoyed by her boss becoming a big bad out of nowhere.  Maggie worked with her boss for how long and this was the first time her boss moved on to a new project? Not likely.  Hank and the boss fulfilled their contractual obligations. Moving on to a new chef is business

Yes this part didn’t make any sense. The contract was fulfilled, there was no issue. So she decides to quit her job so she can be at the restaurant 24/7? Why couldn’t she just keep her job and date him without having to work there? She could even still be an investor. That’s how most relationships work anyway. TBH, I was kind of on the boss’ side for this one - I think she will regret it. 

I know it will never happen but it’d be great to get a sequel where it all does go south and she has to look for a new job... but of course everything would be fixed by the end.

[Happywatcher]

2 hours ago, sistersledge said:

Yes this part didn’t make any sense. The contract was fulfilled, there was no issue. So she decides to quit her job so she can be at the restaurant 24/7? Why couldn’t she just keep her job and date him without having to work there? She could even still be an investor. That’s how most relationships work anyway. TBH, I was kind of on the boss’ side for this one - I think she will regret it. 

I know it will never happen but it’d be great to get a sequel where it all does go south and she has to look for a new job... but of course everything would be fixed by the end.

They had it staged somehow that the bitch boss got to steal his new formulas and then cancel the deal and move on to another partner. 

[AnnaRose]

On 2/1/2019 at 11:07 AM, sistersledge said:

Finally got around to finishing “A Perfect Bride: Happily Ever After.” Meh. First I was annoyed that their whole relationship seemed to be about joking around. Actress basically giggled through the entire movie. Secondly, terrible idea to work with the ex. How long had it been since the incident? And the photographer didn’t have enough cohones to tell her it was a bad idea. Thirdly, the bad advice of the friends who convinced the couple that everything needed to be perfect. And then in the end, they were all surprised at the post-poning. Thanks for nothing sister. Also, did he take the 20k job? He should have. I’m glad they still went through with it BUT OF COURSE everything magically wrapped up perfectly in the last 15 minutes. Also, didn’t seem like they were that stressed out about things.

I haven't watched Love on the Menu yet, but I did see the two Kavan Smith movies that were re-broadcast this weekend - The Perfect Bride and its sequel The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells - and I agree with the criticism I bolded above.  It was very annoying to watch them being so ridiculous about having to have everything perfect for their wedding, to the point that they decided to postpone it two days before.  That was in large part so that the bride to be could have her 'perfect' wedding dress, which was so silly. -- She's a beautiful fitness instructor and looked absolutely gorgeous in the dress she finally settled for... but then, while admiring the dress in the mirror, Ms. Eagle-Eyes sees a reflection of a store employee wheeling by a couple pieces of fabric and sketches for the most generic-looking strapless wedding dress I've ever seen... and OMG!!! it's her dream dress!!  But 'Oh no's, it won't be ready in time!' so she'll have to settle for the gorgeous dress that is super-flattering on her.  I need to go find my violin.

So they cancel the wedding two days before - never mind all their guests that made travel arrangements and planned time out of their schedules... and then the next day, they finally start to get a clue that actually marrying your true love might be a little more important than making sure every single detail is absolutely perfect... so the wedding is back on, everybody!  We hope you didn't cancel you flights and hotel reservations!!

Bride is now ecstatic because the dress shop made her dream dress (which looks just like all the other ubiquitous strapless wedding dresses) in time after all, but she shouldn't be so excited because it looks incredibly frumpy and dumpy and makes her perfect bod look anything but perfect.  Yay, karma!

Ugh.  Sorry for the rant.  I just had to get that off my chest.  I probably should avoid wedding-related movies all together because I have such low tolerance for wedding-related nonsense.  I don't understand why people make such a huge deal out of something that lasts a few hours.  To me, the marriage is the important thing.

Anyway... Kavan Smith and Pascale Hutton were cute together though and there weren't the typical villians or misunderstandings - so that at least made it somewhat tolerable.

[Irlandesa]

Good catch, @forumfish.  After two Chronicle movies, I don't know where I stand on them.  I think both reveals have been well done.  But these past two weeks, I've not quite given the movies my full attention.  Is it because something else was distracting me or is it because the movies, while well made, just don't grab me the way Alison's previous mystery series did. 

I was confused about some things in the movie, though.  Like was the husband having an affair.  It was denied throughout most of the movie but then

Spoiler

the murderess kept talking about how he left her

And the victim's brother was obsessed over the crime and the fact that he thought his brother-in-law got away with it to the point where it looked like his wife had basically left him and took the kids.  But once the truth came out, that seemed to wrap quickly in the montage at the end where she wraps the podcast.  In my experience of watching true crime shows,

Spoiler

it's unlikely that the brother would change his mind as shown with the handshake.  Given who the murderer was, her connection to the accused husband and how certain the brother was that shenanigans were going on, the brother would still likely think his brother-in-law was somehow involved in it.  Especially considering how much of his life he gave to this.

Another curious thing was this 75% ballistics match talk.  I've never heard ballistics talked about like that.  Usually it's "it's a match" or it's not.

Love on the Menu was pretty decent.  Nice food shots.  Nice chemistry between to Hallmark pros. But I agree with the critiques of the end.  Autumn's boss's business model makes no sense.  She works with chefs to get their recipes and then moves on?  Usually, if they're approaching a chef, it's a partnership.  It's branding.  It would make no sense that their contract just ends because she'd lose access to the guy who could sell the frozen food to his fans.  And if that's the way she operates, Autumn's character would know by now.  (And if the chef did agree to this, it's no wonder his restaurant was failing.)

On the flip side, the boss reacted bizarrely to Autumn resigning.  People do that every darn day.  That clinginess seemed to come out of nowhere.

[Happywatcher]

4 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Good catch, @forumfish.  After two Chronicle movies, I don't know where I stand on them.  I think both reveals have been well done.  But these past two weeks, I've not quite given the movies my full attention.  Is it because something else was distracting me or is it because the movies, while well made, just don't grab me the way Alison's previous mystery series did. 

I was confused about some things in the movie, though.  Like was the husband having an affair.  It was denied throughout most of the movie but then

  Hide contents

the murderess kept talking about how he left her

And the victim's brother was obsessed over the crime and the fact that he thought his brother-in-law got away with it to the point where it looked like his wife had basically left him and took the kids.  But once the truth came out, that seemed to wrap quickly in the montage at the end where she wraps the podcast.  In my experience of watching true crime shows,

  Hide contents

it's unlikely that the brother would change his mind as shown with the handshake.  Given who the murderer was, her connection to the accused husband and how certain the brother was that shenanigans were going on, the brother would still likely think his brother-in-law was somehow involved in it.  Especially considering how much of his life he gave to this.

Another curious thing was this 75% ballistics match talk.  I've never heard ballistics talked about like that.  Usually it's "it's a match" or it's not.

Love on the Menu was pretty decent.  Nice food shots.  Nice chemistry between to Hallmark pros. But I agree with the critiques of the end.  Autumn's boss's business model makes no sense.  She works with chefs to get their recipes and then moves on?  Usually, if they're approaching a chef, it's a partnership.  It's branding.  It would make no sense that their contract just ends because she'd lose access to the guy who could sell the frozen food to his fans.  And if that's the way she operates, Autumn's character would know by now.  (And if the chef did agree to this, it's no wonder his restaurant was failing.)

On the flip side, the boss reacted bizarrely to Autumn resigning.  People do that every darn day.  That clinginess seemed to come out of nowhere.

I was military police, but was never MPI (detectives) nor CID (detectives for more serious crimes).

My training on firearms and tool mark examiners are that they use comparison microscopes, and they find points to match on the known sample and the recovered bullet or shell casing (sort of like the matching points on fingerprints). They aren't perfect matches, and smart criminals use stainless cleaning brushes on the barrel, chamber and firing pin which changes the marks slightly.

We did get a whole door and frame cut out of the wall, crated up, and sent to the CID crime lab in the States to try to match the lockpicks they found on a rape suspect who picked a door. 

[Kemper]

I watched the Ruby Herring movie yesterday, and for the life of me I can't figure out why it was so boring.  The actress was gorgeous (and not stick thin)..the rest of the cast was fine, too.  I didn't guess who the villain was until the last 15 minutes or so.  But I did think the actor who played the dad should have been the young detective and prospective boyfriend.  Yes, eeew.

But it was almost like there was no "there" there with the cast and plot.  The movie just had no life...it seemed almost everyone was sleepwalking.  Maybe it was because they were stuck in the same venue (hotel for a wedding) the entire movie.  I started to think Hotel California" after awhile.  What were they supposed to be doing there for the whole week?  Just the parents, daughters and fiancee.  I could not figure out how they were getting to "X number of days to wedding" by stating what day they were presently in. Then I realized the wedding was going to be on Sunday.  Sorry to say, I hope this is not going to be a franchise.  

[WarmSkull]

10 hours ago, Happywatcher said:

They had it staged somehow that the bitch boss got to steal his new formulas and then cancel the deal and move on to another partner. 

I recall the scene with Dr. Frozen Foods that they made it out to be like that. But, when (Not So) Evil Boss talked to Maggie she said they got the 12 recipes from Hank and he was paid for the step deal. I think it’s pretty standard for the recipes to be given to/owned by Frozen Foods Inc and standard that the company would learn something from Hank along the way.  

But that whole storyline was poorly written so it seemed abrupt and disruptive. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by WarmSkull
Grammar.

[Happywatcher]

Watching the second Alison Chronicle movie off the DVR. 

It was good, overall. The scene where they are in the shipping container and are to busy hug flirting to make the 911 call was a little much, as was the ending scene where she puts her briefcase in the back of her SUV for no reason and the love interest accuses her of leaving town.

However, I heard an okay snarky line at the office over Christmas and wanted to share it. 'Why do the Hallmark Christmas actresses all drive SUVs?'  'So they can haul the 25 different coats they need for the week of filming'

[AnnaRose]

On 2/24/2019 at 3:10 PM, Happywatcher said:

Love on the Menu

The love interest one star chef was a jerk about 2/3 of the movie--which isn't attractive. His manager wasn't good as a sidekick, and his professional issues were cringeworthy.

The really annoying thing was the love interest's daughter. I think the scriptwriters and director were going for funny and missed and made her out to be an annoying little snot.

Huh.  I didn't get that at all.  The only time I thought he really behaved badly was when Autumn's character broke the news to him that the deal was over and he reacted badly toward her... but then he apologized right after that. 

As for the manager... that didn't bother me because, unless I misunderstood, he took over after his sister died and was just in way over his head.

I also didn't think the daughter was an annoying little snot either.  I liked her scenes with Autumn's character.  It was totally believable to me that a teenage girl who had lost her mother would bond with Autumn's character and would be excited to have some female guidance.  I liked that aspect.

On 2/24/2019 at 5:23 PM, WarmSkull said:

I just finished Love on the Menu. Admittedly, I am an Autumn Reeser fan girl and have been happy that her past few movies do not rely on the typical Hallmark misunderstanding that usually drives the protagonists to get together at the last minute of the movie. 

Overall, I thought the movie was good. I liked the kitchen/food prep and the table prep scenes. I liked that their first kiss and then other cute moments occurred well before the end of the movie. It’s nice when Hallmark doesn’t follow their usual troupe of saving the first kiss for the end.   

I was a bit annoyed by her boss becoming a big bad out of nowhere.  Maggie worked with her boss for how long and this was the first time her boss moved on to a new project? Not likely.  Hank and the boss fulfilled their contractual obligations. Moving on to a new chef is business.

I think that storyline could have handled it better. I also fan girl for Teryl Rothery and would have loved aspects of her character from All for Love to have been used for the storyline: more logical and understanding. “You have spent a lot of time with Hank and don’t have the heart for frozen food anymore? This is a business that I need to run. How about you think if you want to stay with us or return to your roots of managing restaurants?” An outright firing seemed a bit drastic for the slow-moving movie. 

I didn’t think Hank was a jerk for the much of the movie. He definitely was after the initial contract agreement, particularly when Maggie did her introduction in the kitchen. Other than that, I thought Kavan portrayed Hank well, from  his initial resistance, to dropping his walls and then accepting Maggie into his life. 

I thought the boss was unnecessarily bitchy from her first scene, so it seemed well-telegraphed to me.  Also, I don't think Teryl was in this movie... the boss was played by Barbara Niven.

Anyway... these movies are mostly hit and miss for me, but I actually ended up enjoying this one.  (Although it was a little slow and boring too, if I'm being honest.)  I really liked Autumn and Kavan together and I liked how their friendship developed and then turned romantic at a normal pace throughout the movie.  (No insta-love/let's get married or a couple who hate each other suddenly realizing they actually love each other.)  Having their first kiss happen earlier than most of these movies was nice too.

The negative for me was the business stuff - I never totally understood what their agreement actually was.  But they signed a contract so the terms should have been clear.  I read reviews here before I watched it though, and I think it actually made it easier for me to ignore the poorly written business details.

I probably won't watch it again, but it was a pleasant diversion for an hour and a half.

[Jaded]

I forgot there were two more Chronicles movies coming so soon after the first one. 

Edited February 26, 2019 by Jaded
Forgot a word

[GaT]

40 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I forgot there two more Chronicles movies coming so soon after the first one. 

I've discovered that I can set up a series recording for the mystery movies like I would for a weekly show. That way I don't have to remember to set the DVR & I don't miss any of them. 

[MissyPoo]

ET Online recently posted an article titled "How Hallmark Channel is Breaking Its Own Rules" but didn't say how in its article. I'm very curious as to what they have in store. I know from a previous article, they said they would be stepping outside of the box a bit, even going as far as to not have the couples get together in the end. Or maybe their christmas movies will start in September this year...

Or *gasp* mixed couples as leads?

https://www.etonline.com/how-hallmark-channel-is-breaking-its-own-rules-in-2019-exclusive-120148?fbclid=IwAR0NDMo9nWuUOj7bsxkDW3ytfdlWXT2sDgh4KuLk45y-N3kCJ4JaQbjBdT0

From the article:

Quote

 they explained why they believed Hallmark has seen consistent growth in an increasingly competitive TV landscape.

"I think it's a number of different factors: Our movies are higher quality, the storytelling is better, the casting is better, production values are better.

 

But seriously.

I think the real reason is they cater to their audience and they seem to be gaining a ton of new viewers each christmas season. This year more are tuning in after the holidays and since Hallmark seems to be the only family friendly rom com destination out there, they got a nice hold in their niche. I just hope they start whipping up some better written stories or gets someone like Pixl (R.I.P.) to give them a run for their money.

On a happier note, I still have to see Autumn's movie (love her!) and I saw from the Hallmark FB page that Julie Gonzalo is back for a spring movie this year. Woo hoo! Love her, too. I'm looking forward to seeing her with Tyler Hynes (aka Matthew Fillion or Nathan Perry).

[kirinan]

4 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

On a happier note, I still have to see Autumn's movie (love her!) and I saw from the Hallmark FB page that Julie Gonzalo is back for a spring movie this year. Woo hoo! Love her, too. I'm looking forward to seeing her with Tyler Hynes (aka Matthew Fillion or Nathan Perry).

Okay, MissyPoo, you just made my day with this--both the news (since I like both Julie and Tyler) and the (very funny) Matthew Fillion/Nathan Perry comment. 

[Jaded]

On 2/25/2019 at 6:39 AM, Kemper said:

I watched the Ruby Herring movie yesterday, and for the life of me I can't figure out why it was so boring.  The actress was gorgeous (and not stick thin)..the rest of the cast was fine, too.  I didn't guess who the villain was until the last 15 minutes or so.  But I did think the actor who played the dad should have been the young detective and prospective boyfriend.  Yes, eeew.

You probably already know this but for those that don't the actor who played Ruby's dad in the movie was her real life step father for years. I think that's why at least for me the kind of chemistry those two gave off in the movie felt even more icky.

[WarmSkull]

18 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

Also, I don't think Teryl was in this movie... the boss was played by Barbara Niven.

I didn’t phrase that properly. I liked how Teryl’s character in All for Love handled being a boss watching two characters fall in love, while working for her business. I would preferred to see a character similar to that one than what we got.

I can’t wait to do a rewatch this weekend. Especially after you mentioned that the boss was bitchy in the beginning on the movie. Going to keep my eye out for that. 

[Kitty Redstone]

On 2/24/2019 at 11:37 PM, forumfish said:

At the end of tonight's Chronicle Mysteries movie, Mike's mother was watching TV, and I swear it was Days of Our Lives, and that the woman with her back to the camera was Sami (Alison Sweeney). Hee!

It was!  I also thought it was cute.

Overall I'm enjoying the Chronicle movies.  I skipped watching all the Murder She Baked ones because I read many of the books the series is based on and came to despise nearly all the characters except for the cats.  I love Ali Sweeney and am glad to be able to watch her in something outside of Days of our Lives.

Overall I'm really enjoying all the new series HMM has shown this year.  I'm hoping they're still planning on bringing back Garage Sale Mysteries and Gourmet Detective as well. 

On 2/25/2019 at 6:39 AM, Kemper said:

But I did think the actor who played the dad should have been the young detective and prospective boyfriend.  Yes, eeew.

It took me a minute to realize he was playing her dad, too.  When he was on Days of our Lives, his character would have been paired with someone Ruby's age.

11 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

Or maybe their christmas movies will start in September this year...

Wow.  I thought they overdid it last year.  I wouldn't care one way or another how long they ran Christmas movies if it was restricted solely to the Hallmark Channel.  It pisses me off to no end that three months every year (plus two weeks in July) HMM goes to 24/7 holiday movies, too. 

[mikeb]

11 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Overall I'm really enjoying all the new series HMM has shown this year.  I'm hoping they're still planning on bringing back Garage Sale Mysteries and Gourmet Detective as well. 

There are 4 new Garage Sale Mysteries scheduled to air in August, but I have read Dylan Neal has confirmed there are no new Gourmet Detective movies planned.

[Kitty Redstone]

10 hours ago, mikeb said:

There are 4 new Garage Sale Mysteries scheduled to air in August, but I have read Dylan Neal has confirmed there are no new Gourmet Detective movies planned.

Thank you, MikeB.  I'm glad to hear about the Garage Sale Mysteries but sad that there's no new Gourmet Detective movies coming up.  I really like that series.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Overall I'm enjoying the Chronicle movies.  I skipped watching all the Murder She Baked ones because I read many of the books the series is based on and came to despise nearly all the characters except for the cats.  I love Ali Sweeney and am glad to be able to watch her in something outside of Days of our Lives.

It might be worthwhile to give the movies a shot. I tried reading the first book but couldn’t believe how different the characters were. Everyone in the movies are pretty likeable. 

[mikeb]

Here is an interesting interview with Dylan Neal from around the time when Truly, Madly, Sweetly aired last year. 

http://mydevotionalthoughts.net/2018/09/interview-with-actor-dylan-neal-truly-madly-sweetly.html

He develops a lot of his own movies for Hallmark, and talks about Hallmark always prefers to buy book adaptations, especially their HMM movies, even if they know there will need to be extensive changes to fit their formula.  He said Truly, Madly, Sweetly was based on a book he found that was a "contemporary adult romance novel" that even though in some ways fits well with the Hallmark template is highly sexual so required lots of changes.  He said there are at least 12 regular producers combing over the same books to possibly adapt, so there is a challenge finding them.

Another interesting tidbit learned from the interview is that Nikki DeLoach was on the Mickey Mouse Club 1990s revival with Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gossling (he also mentions Ariane Grande, but think he meant Christina Aguilera).

By the way, this website has lots of interviews with stars of Hallmark movies promoting them, including some of the lesser known supporting actors.

Edited February 27, 2019 by mikeb

[Happywatcher]

1 hour ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Thank you, MikeB.  I'm glad to hear about the Garage Sale Mysteries but sad that there's no new Gourmet Detective movies coming up.  I really like that series.

That is too bad. I thought the food writer character was great, and Brooke did nice work as the detective and an adult (temperament, not nudie) love interest. The family friendly versions of the violence/murders were still fun instead of being silly looking.

[Kitty Redstone]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

It might be worthwhile to give the movies a shot. I tried reading the first book but couldn’t believe how different the characters were. Everyone in the movies are pretty likeable. 

Hmm, maybe I will give them a try then. 

47 minutes ago, mikeb said:

Here is an interesting interview with Dylan Neal from around the time when Truly, Madly, Sweetly aired last year. 

http://mydevotionalthoughts.net/2018/09/interview-with-actor-dylan-neal-truly-madly-sweetly.html

That was a great interview - thanks!  I didn't realize he and his wife were writers and producers as well.  It was also interesting to get some insight into how Hallmark and HMM develop their movies.  I hope he's right that eventually HMM will have a weekly mystery series.

[Crs97]

I’ve always been surprised that Hallmark hasn’t adapted more Luanne Rice novels. I thought Follow the Stars Home was one of their best.

[Happywatcher]

I have seen a lot of military themed romances on the shelves now that we are on year 19 of the war on terror. I was surprised Hallmark hasn't done one yet, given the Army Wives series and all that, but then I remembered a company of troops is 200 extras with uniform regulation hair and that is tough to do. Battalion is 650-800, at that point you are redoing The Longest Day

[AnnaRose]

On 1/6/2019 at 1:57 AM, twoods said:

Along with @MissyPoo‘s excellent list (All Things Valentine, All For Love and Dater’s Handbook are some of my faves), I also enjoyed Stop The Wedding which has two of my faves Rachel Boston and Niall Matter.

On 1/7/2019 at 4:35 PM, MissyPoo said:

Oh yes! I liked Stop the Wedding (which I didn't think I would like) and Royal Matchmaker.

I'm so glad you both mentioned Stop the Wedding.  I watched it tonight and loved it!  🙂  The cast was great, the leads and supporting cast were appealing, and there wasn't really anything at all that annoyed me, which was nice.

Plus... early kisses(!), no real villain, people generally behaving like normal adults, no ridiculous plot contrivances, a peek at the wedding a year later, etc.

Thanks for the recommendation way back in January. 🙂  (I can't believe I recognized the title when I was browsing the DVR guide... Yay, me!)

Edited February 28, 2019 by AnnaRose

[Myrrhine]

I have really been enjoying the Chronicles movies. I liked the first one a bit more. I always like when there are a few moments of danger even though you know the main characters are safe. And that's also why I liked the 101 movie better than the Taylor Cole one (although I enjoyed it well enough when I watched it.) 

I am way behind on the Hallmark romances, but I am looking forward to the Belgium one since I love Bruges. 

For older films, I watched Royal New Year, but in the end I didn't love it. The perfectly nice almost-fiancee who was RIGHT THERE most of the time was even more problematic than usual. 

[EyewatchTV211]

9 hours ago, forumfish said:

Just watched the latest Emma Fielding movie and while I have liked Mark Valley since his "Jack Deveraux" Days days, what kind of accent was that supposed to be? It morphed from Boston to pseudo British to southern to ????

I was hearing pseudo British and Australian. 

[Irlandesa]

I watched Just Add Romance last night.  It was a little low energy at times but overall,  i liked it.  I liked that they knew each other at cooking school but weren't some grand romance.  So when they met up again a few years later, they had a good vibe but it wasn't the "long lost love" tortured kind.  It was also the second movie in a row which didn't wait until the end for a kiss.  The romance kicked off before the half way mark.  Making it a non-folksy cooking competition was fun too; although I wish they hadn't pulled punches with the ending.  They should have had one of them win.

[AnnaRose]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I watched Just Add Romance last night.  It was a little low energy at times but overall,  i liked it.  I liked that they knew each other at cooking school but weren't some grand romance.  So when they met up again a few years later, they had a good vibe but it wasn't the "long lost love" tortured kind.  It was also the second movie in a row which didn't wait until the end for a kiss.  The romance kicked off before the half way mark.  Making it a non-folksy cooking competition was fun too; although I wish they hadn't pulled punches with the ending.  They should have had one of them win.

I wasn't sure if it was just my mood, but I kind of loved it!

[Aliconehead]

Meghann Fahy is my favorite thing about the Bold Type and Luke MacFarlane is generally a good choice for me so I also appreciated the movie. 

MF was happy without being over the top which is becoming a rarity with the actresses on this channel. 

[TimetoShine]

Really enjoyed the latest chronicle mystery. Much more than the 2nd. 

But I was stunned to learn that HMM will be playing a Christmas movie every Thursday all year long. That is excessive. 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, TimetoShine said:

But I was stunned to learn that HMM will be playing a Christmas movie every Thursday all year long. That is excessive. 

I didn’t realize they were doing this. Now there is a Christmas movie on Thursday and Friday.

I wonder if the are testing the waters for a 24/7 Christmas channel. It was mentioned as a possibility during the Deck the Hallmark podcast with a Hallmark channel executive. 

[MerBearHou]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Chronicles mystery tonight. I like the two leads together very much and it was fun having Eileen (the funny, gossipy female from their newspaper office) on the job as well.  Chuck, Kendall and she are great additions to the cast. Chuck in particular is a delight — his humor is wonderful.   I’m also a sucker for any shows filmed in a vineyard. Pretty scenery and pretty homes and an interesting industry.  I wish they were making more of this series.