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

[Acmeproducts]

Chandler made good money in his job in Statistical Analysis and Data Reconfiguration. He helped Joey out. 
 

We’re kind of getting off topic. Are there Hallmark movies with realistic homes?

[MissyPoo]

On 10/31/2024 at 7:36 AM, GeorgiaRai said:

Agreed.  (She also had a cameo in another of the "Time...to Come Home for Christmas" movies as the same character.) 

She's not my least favorite but more often than not I don't care for her characters/roles.

Oh! Thanks for mentioning this. That's the only 'Time to Come Home' movie I've seen and I liked the amnesia angle they took with the story. When I saw Alison Sweeney, I thought it was another one of those 'add a Hallmark reg' moments and later found out she previously starred in one of her own.

 

On 11/4/2024 at 5:35 AM, Badsamaritan said:

"You had me at sewing kit" 😁

We so need more male leads that give the smoldering "I'm going to sop you up with a biscuit" look and the "I would do anything for this woman" look because the chemistry was chemistrying here and Hallmark needs more of that!

 

2 hours ago, Acmeproducts said:

Chandler made good money in his job in Statistical Analysis and Data Reconfiguration. He helped Joey out. 
 

We’re kind of getting off topic. Are there Hallmark movies with realistic homes?

The newer ones tend to lean more toward the big extravagant mansions (I love Long Lost Christmas, but the mother's house could have had its own block!). The older movies tended to have more realistic everyday homes (especially the movies in the late 90s on Lifetime and early 00s on Hallmark). Christmas Choir comes to mind, but Hallmark doesn't show that anymore (sadly). Window Wonderland had a more realistic apartment for Wynona Judd's character. I was watching Fir Crazy and noticed how more 'rustic' the parent's home looked. Even the homes in Pumpkin Pie Wars were pretty cozy and realistic instead of lavish mansions. Same thing with Corky Sherwood-Forrest's home in Trading Christmas. I loved that house so much. So flippin' cozy and that guest/writing house out back is my living dream. 

I'm in between with the house in Miss Christmas. It's homey but can lean a bit on the farmhouse mansion-y side of things.

[Orcinus orca]

8 hours ago, Acmeproducts said:

We’re kind of getting off topic. Are there Hallmark movies with realistic homes?

A Christmas Wish from 2011 always springs to mind, a single mom living in a tiny motel room with her kids. 

But heaven forbid there is anything but sunshine and roses (or poinsettias at Christmas) any any Hallmark movie these days.  The closest they come to that is The Christmas Secret which deals with a bad dad and even then they lived in a big old house albeit on the brink of getting evicted.  Same with another favorite of mine, A Season for Miracles that even has (gasp) drug addiction as part of the story.  But, while the house was enormous, they were essentially squatters and there was only a tree, no massive amounts of items from Balsam Hill to hawk.

Saccharine overload is the name of the game at Hallmark.  It doesn't need to be dystopian but, geez, come on.  No one I know lives in 5000 square foot homes.

[Badsamaritan]

5 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

 

We so need more male leads that give the smoldering "I'm going to sop you up with a biscuit" look and the "I would do anything for this woman" look because the chemistry was chemistrying here and Hallmark needs more of that!

You said a whole word here. I have not been impressed with a lot of the male leads this year. I'm not a fan of Christopher Russell, Corey Sevier, Daniel Lissing, or Mark Rosner. None of them are attractive to me and their acting isn't good enough for me to overlook that. Ryan Paevey isn't winning any awards but at least he was really pretty to look at. If I can't have a decent actor, Hallmark, then dammit I want my eye candy.

On another note, I realized not too long ago I had seen Corey Sevier before Hallmark - he played one of the 'models' on the Psych episode 'Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion'. I think those model roles were supposed to be ironic lol.

[Kemper]

When it comes to everyday Hallmark movies, especially the Christmas ones, I don't mind a little saccharine. I don't watch for serious plots; at least not on the regular Hallmark channel. I can see them being on Hallmark Drama; or how about bringing back the Hall of Fame movies? Make everyone happy. The network actually does viewers a disservice when they do not make a place for more serious, well-acted, well-written fare. Then again, that would be a 'new channel" that one would have to pay for.  I only get the regular Hallmark Channel. I love the Mystery movies but my system requires an extra fee.

I also see Hallmark Christmas movies now popping up on Netflix. There may also be a few on FreeVee. 

[Ele]

9 hours ago, Badsamaritan said:

You said a whole word here. I have not been impressed with a lot of the male leads this year. I'm not a fan of Christopher Russell, Corey Sevier, Daniel Lissing, or Mark Rosner. None of them are attractive to me and their acting isn't good enough for me to overlook that. Ryan Paevey isn't winning any awards but at least he was really pretty to look at. If I can't have a decent actor, Hallmark, then dammit I want my eye candy.

On another note, I realized not too long ago I had seen Corey Sevier before Hallmark - he played one of the 'models' on the Psych episode 'Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion'. I think those model roles were supposed to be ironic lol.

9 hours ago, Badsamaritan said:

You said a whole word here. I have not been impressed with a lot of the male leads this year. I'm not a fan of Christopher Russell, Corey Sevier, Daniel Lissing, or Mark Rosner. None of them are attractive to me and their acting isn't good enough for me to overlook that. Ryan Paevey isn't winning any awards but at least he was really pretty to look at. If I can't have a decent actor, Hallmark, then dammit I want my eye candy.

On another note, I realized not too long ago I had seen Corey Sevier before Hallmark - he played one of the 'models' on the Psych episode 'Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion'. I think those model roles were supposed to be ironic lol.

Agreed to all of this. Those actors are stiff  and don’t have much personality. 
 

Actors who I think pair well with their leading ladies are Page, Ayres, Kemp, Polaha, Jeannotte, Dalton, Faris, and Cavanagh

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

I watched One Royal Holiday today for the third time, always good!  Laura Osnes  is such an outstanding talent in all her movies, shows etc. I'd watch her in anything.

[Chippings]

One4 .. Thanks for mentioning this one.  It's my favorite of all time for many reasons, but the main one is that it introduced me to Aaron Tveit.  Also, all the principal actors have serious Broadway experience -- Laura Osnes of course, Tveit in Moulin Rouge and several others), Victoria Clark (more recently award-winning star of Kimberly Akimbo), Krystal Joy Brown (of Hamilton), and Tom McGowan (featured role in She Loves Me).  Amazing.  They all take what is probably a pretty standard Hallmark story and take it above that level.

So glad it's special to you also!    

 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Thanks Chippings, wow that's quite a very_ talented cast !!!  I watched Small Town Christmas yesterday for the first time, this was excellent. Great little storyline and the cast is excellent too. Is it just me or does Kristoffer Polaha  just seem to get better with age? 

[MerBearHou]

1 hour ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Thanks Chippings, wow that's quite a very_ talented cast !!!  I watched Small Town Christmas yesterday for the first time, this was excellent. Great little storyline and the cast is excellent too. Is it just me or does Kristoffer Polaha  just seem to get better with age? 

Kristoffer absolutely does!!

[norcalgal]

Just finished watching Holiday Mismatch and thoroughly enjoyed it - the acting, the story (predictable as it was), the warmth and humor. Good chemistry between/among the actors. Kudos Hallmark! And oh yeah, Aunts Zelda and Hilda ftw! 
OMG I just had a thought:  Melissa Joan Hart has done these kinds of movies (albeit not for Hallmark), but it would be FANTASTIC if they could get her to do one with her Spellman aunties!

So I had some more free time and watched Our Holiday Story.  Except for the shenanigans involving the missed connections and hidden identities, this was one of the most mature movies I can ever recall from Hallmark. I really liked the themes of belonging and exploring how someone can know if it’s truly love. Bravo, Hallmark. Movies need to show the  journey of how two people come to realize they’ve found their person, rather than presenting the couple as a fait accompli (even though we know they will end up together). But My biggest problem with this movie involved the casting of Nell’s best friend. Nell looked 15 years older than her bestie, so I just had a hard time all movie long believing they were BFFs, and the lack of the two actresses’ rapport added to the feeling.

Edited November 16 by norcalgal

[voiceover]

On 11/4/2024 at 6:50 PM, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Crown for Christmas is definitely one of the best Hallmark Christmas movies.

And Allie lives with her brother & sister in a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn.  So there’s that.

[bankerchick]

On 11/15/2024 at 9:41 PM, norcalgal said:

OMG I just had a thought:  Melissa Joan Hart has done these kinds of movies (albeit not for Hallmark), but it would be FANTASTIC if they could get her to do one with her Spellman aunties!

I just (tried to) watch her in a (I think) Lifetime movie yesterday, Mistletoe in Montana, or something like that.  The movie was horrible and she did nothing to save it.

[Ele]

The rest of the Miracles of Christmas movies on HMM actually look pretty decent. Good to see Hemmens and Ghanime in movies. Too bad they aren’t in the same one!

[Badsamaritan]

20 hours ago, Ele said:

The rest of the Miracles of Christmas movies on HMM actually look pretty decent. Good to see Hemmens and Ghanime in movies. Too bad they aren’t in the same one!

I just don't understand the folks at HM & HMM sometimes and their casting decisions. Hemmens and Ghanimé are arguably 2 of their hottest actors, why are they not in a movie together? Do the suits not watch their own movies to see who's giving chemistry and who isn't?  This has been a weird holiday movie season, with more misses than hits so far, and for me that is almost entirely on the casting of the leads. Because if I don't like them together, their standard movie formula isn't gonna work for me at all. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Someone on Reddit pointed me to two fantastic oldies. The Christmas Secret (2014) and The Christmas Note (2015).  Both amazing tearjerkers about how people find miraculous lost connections in a small town. The same small town. I hesitate to describe plots for fear of too many spoilers. 

[jpgr]

3 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Someone on Reddit pointed me to two fantastic oldies. The Christmas Secret (2014) and The Christmas Note (2015).  Both amazing tearjerkers about how people find miraculous lost connections in a small town. The same small town. I hesitate to describe plots for fear of too many spoilers. 

The Christmas Secret is in my top 10, maybe even top 5. The more recent The Christmas Promise reminds me of it in some ways and is one I also really like. 

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, jpgr said:

The Christmas Secret is in my top 10, maybe even top 5. The more recent The Christmas Promise reminds me of it in some ways and is one I also really like. 

I will check it out.  Is it from the same book author?  Actually, I may have seen it.  It's much newer than the others.  I only started watching these movies in earnest in the last three years.    I have to say that in

Spoiler

The Christmas Note it was so obvious that the two women would be sisters, but I enjoyed the way it unfolded. 

Good to see Jamie Lynn Sigler with a nice role.

Edited Yest. at 11:17 PM by EtheltoTillie