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

[twoods]

Christmas at Starlight was fantastic. It was hilarious and Paul And Kimberly shined yet again. It’s obvious they enjoy working together with their easy chemistry and playful banter. Definitely a rewatch in the future, once I go through the volume of movies that are left to watch. Thank goodness for you guys so I can delete the bad ones!

[WhyAmIHere]

2 hours ago, twoods said:

Christmas at Starlight was fantastic. It was hilarious and Paul And Kimberly shined yet again. It’s obvious they enjoy working together with their easy chemistry and playful banter. Definitely a rewatch in the future, once I go through the volume of movies that are left to watch. Thank goodness for you guys so I can delete the bad ones!

I really enjoyed Christmas by Starlight too.   Even with the usual Christmas tropes, it worked because Kimberley Sustad & Paul Campbell have genuine chemistry.  The chemistry between the leads is almost always what makes or breaks these Hallmark movies for me.   I also like that Kimberley is a different kind of leading actress for these movies.  She's more relatable to me with her low-key, sarcastic personality than say the uber-cheerful Candace Cameron Bure.   I hope Paul & Kimberley continue to work together and write more movies.  

I also enjoyed Five Star Christmas.  No specific comments other than I enjoy seeing Victor Webster. 

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, WhyAmIHere said:

I also like that Kimberley is a different kind of leading actress for these movies.  She's more relatable to me with her low-key, sarcastic personality than say the uber-cheerful Candace Cameron Bure. 

She is literally the only Hallmark regular that I can tolerate.  The others are just awful no matter with whom they are paired.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Kohola3
spelling error

[bankerchick]

Agreed.  I think it's because she seems vulnerable, and approachable.  She does something crazy and allows herself to look foolish without all the drama.  I also like that actor, as he seems to be more sarcastic than some and there is an enjoyable give and take with their banter whereas so many duets seem like she says something bitchy to him and he just takes it and keeps coming back for more.

[Irlandesa]

Christmas By Starlight had a good couple but they also had some genuine humor written into the script.

19 minutes ago, bankerchick said:

She does something crazy and allows herself to look foolish without all the drama. 

He did too.  When she wanted him to smell the tree, it'd usually be played so seriously.  Instead, he pulled the tiniest pine needle and tentatively smelled it like it was about to smell durian.  Then he fell backward.  It was just a well crafted moment.

21 minutes ago, bankerchick said:

so many duets seem like she says something bitchy to him and he just takes it and keeps coming back for more.

Or vice versa.  I loved the movie.  And his progression but his character was kind of a jerk. 

[EyewatchTV211]

7 hours ago, kirinan said:

I watched the whole thing, and "just OK" was what I thought at the end. There's definitely more Warren Christie, but @Chippings was right--he had nothing to work with. Basically, it was two hours I didn't have to find something else to watch. And I got lots of solitaire played on my iPad.

I will say, for those who DVR'd it, fast-forward to sometime in the second hour when CCB dances on those impossibly glittery, impossibly high red stilettos for a good laugh. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she didn't do badly on Dancing With the Stars, but man, those shoes did her no favors. She clomped around like a total newbie, and I swear she was about to lose her balance a couple of times. How she didn't come out of it with a broken ankle is beyond me. What was the costume director or whoever made that decision thinking?

I agree, the movie was "just OK" or even a little blah and not sure the story made sense much of the time.

It's funny, the shoes stuck out to me, too. Possibly because it aired so soon after the waltz movie, where they commented specifically about how you need ballroom shoes. And in If I Only Had Christmas, I thought her earlier shoes did look more appropriate for dancing and thought maybe she had given that feedback. And Warren Christie's character comments on getting shoes from an actual place that sells dance shoes, so I was expecting new appropriate ones. Then magically, the ruby slippers end up being insane stilettos that are absolutely not for dancing. So the movie ended up losing even more points there after all, when it seemed like it might get that right at first. Not that the shoes played much of a role in how good/bad the movie was.

[Luckylyn]

If Hallmark Movies were a Musical

I loved Christmas by Starlight .  I enjoyed Christmas Waltz mostly but felt like it was a bit lacking.  I think it was the cliche misunderstanding at the end that frustrated me.   

[memememe76]

I quite enjoyed Five Star Christmas. The absurdist humour and ensemble nature was a nice change of pace for Hallmark. I also liked the young college student had a storyline not involving romance. 

[bunnyface]

I saw this somewhere else.  The picture made me laugh more than the description (maybe because it's all too true?)  

"New from The Hallmark Channel, we bring you more movies to take up space on your DVR

Will she choose her fiance, the Rich man who's a doctor lawyer but is flying in the day before Christmas giving her just enough time to cheat on him? Or will she pick the guy from her home town who dated her in high school and they reconnected and it turns out he's a Prince and also somehow Santa's Son? Will she remember the meaning of Christmas through cheating? You already know who she chooses, but here's a hint: The fiance is the villain because he works too much in Vague office in Citytown far away from Rural Countryside, USA.

The twist is they need to save the farm, museum, or town! Hopefully they raise the money by Christmas night. They will!

Also, she has a black friend with 2 lines, or a sassy effeminate male friend.

And let's not forget the child who's other parent is dead. Who's only Christmas wish is to see their parent ruin an established relationship with a kiss on a Gazebo.

From Hallmark, We bring you a movie that will make you say, "I know that actor from somewhere" and then immediately start Googling them. Starring Jesus Woman who was once a child actress, and Once teen heart throb whose character is "Man": White Christmas

Wake your mother up to see the ending or else you're going to have to watch it again!

Hallmark, from our family to yours, Stay Straight and only dry kiss!"

[WinnieWinkle]

Saw Christmas Waltz and USS Christmas yesterday.  I liked them both, didn't love them, probably wouldn't watch again but I found them a pleasant enough way to pass an afternoon.  Highlight for me definitely was Will Kemp dancing. And I thought Lacey held her own.  I appreciated that she was good enough but they didn't suddenly have her turn into Ginger Rogers.

[Kohola3]

2 hours ago, bunnyface said:

I saw this somewhere else.  The picture made me laugh more than the description (maybe because it's all too true?)  

 

Every word is spot on!  I laughed out loud at the descriptions.  And I'm sure the true lovers of Hallmark are horrified.

[ShelleySue]

I spent a good part of If I Only Had Christmas wondering how she could afford that house.  I realize she was an executive and the cost of living in Kansas City is lower than in other parts of the country, but that was an insanely expensive house.  I spent the other part trying to count the Wizard of Oz references.  Between those two things I totally lost track of the plot.  Was there a plot?

[KaveDweller]

On 11/29/2020 at 6:42 PM, WinnieWinkle said:

Oh that's funny, I guess she's changed horses somewhere along the line.  I've only seen 3 or 4 of her movies but that doesn't sound like her kind of character at all.   I think she's going for sweet and kindly now.

There is also the movie where she plays twins, and one is a corporate career stereotype and one is a sweet Christmas lover. Really shows her range, lol.

On 11/30/2020 at 1:21 AM, Chippings said:

So, as to If I Only Had Christmas ??  I was a huge Warren Christie fan from Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but goodness, he has to have something to work with.  This character spent most of his time standing behind C.C. Bure, watching her be peppy.  Once in a while he perked up a little, but there just was hardly any "there" there.  

As to the thing being based on Wizard of Oz, what I could pick out was really strained.  Kansas, yes; "Bobo" for Toto, and 'the man behind the curtain' and the 'emerald' thing.  Was somebody supposed to be a Tin Man character or a Lion or Scarecrow?  Couldn't tell, if they were.  Was the lighted maze related to the poppy field or .. ?   The story they had didn't sit well in the Wizard mold. 

The whole thing just fell flat for me - did others "get" it more than I did?  

I didn't really get the Wizard of Oz thing either. I guess she was helping the three employees like Dorothy helped the TinMan, Scarecrow, and Lion? I didn't really find the parallels though. I think the problem is that it was Hallmark, so it was a love story and Wizard of Oz is not at all a love story. 

[Bronx Babe]

On 11/30/2020 at 9:25 PM, Luckylyn said:

If Hallmark Movies were a Musical

   

LOL  Best one yet.

[Bronx Babe]

Christmas Joy.

Older female executive to heroine:  "I just had to return to find out what this Christmas Crawl was all about and so have concluded that you're the best person for Creative Director.  Now if you'll excuse me I have to taste a gingersnap cookie"

I wish I were making this up.

Edited December 2, 2020 by Bronx Babe

[Bronx Babe]

Title eludes me.

Heroine, in a voice dripping with horror:  "They've offered me a job in New York City!"

Oh no!!! A fate worse than death!!

I'm getting the vapors!!

[Kohola3]

30 minutes ago, Bronx Babe said:

Older female executive to heroine:  "I just had to return to find out what this Christmas Crawl was all about and so have concluded that you're the best person for Creative Director.  Now if you'll excuse me I have to taste a gingersnap cookie"

Seriously?  Gah, they have jumped the shark on 99% of these insipid, repetitious movies.  Love, love, love the videos on YouTube mocking them!

[ctlady]

On 12/1/2020 at 9:35 AM, bunnyface said:

I saw this somewhere else.  The picture made me laugh more than the description (maybe because it's all too true?)  

And all the women are wearing red and the guys are in green-ish coats.  This is above and beyond cookie cutter!

 

[Bronx Babe]

I honestly tried to get through Christmas by Starlight but imo Hallmark is never so silly then when it thinks it's being clever and "witty".  The leads were pleasant enough and not overly cookie-cutter. Sorry, I do apologize to everyone who liked/loved it.  Must admit I bailed when the parents started making giant gingerbread houses.

I just can't take all that gingerbread!     

[ECM1231]

On 11/30/2020 at 10:45 PM, memememe76 said:

I quite enjoyed Five Star Christmas. The absurdist humour and ensemble nature was a nice change of pace for Hallmark. I also liked the young college student had a storyline not involving romance. 

Before commenting on Five Star Christmas, I'd like to ask if ALL Hallmark movies are talked about here? I had been commenting about the Christmas movies in the holiday movie thread.

I quite enjoyed Five Star Christmas and it was touching how the youngest sibling found her calling while acting as the "pretend chef" and by finding her late mom's recipe box.

I only know Bethany Joy Lenz from Hallmark and she's another actor who I find very natural. Apparently she sings as well. I'm obsessed with reading the Wikipedia pages of cast members. She played a 30 year-old but is really 39. She looks younger than she is.  HOWEVER,  and this is my biggest beef with Victor Webster, whom I really like, Victor looked too old for her in the film. I know he's only 47 irl but he looks older. The dad is 62 irl and the granddad was only a few years older in his late 60s. I'd be insulted if I were him. Lol

Anyway, it was pretty obvious early on who the real critic was, but it was still very enjoyable.

 

[Ashforth]

35 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

Before commenting on Five Star Christmas, I'd like to ask if ALL Hallmark movies are talked about here? I had been commenting about the Christmas movies in the holiday movie thread.

There was some discussion recently about whether Christmas movie talk should be confined to the holiday movie thread, but I don't recall seeing a directive from the mods about a decision. So we seem to have double the pleasure, double the fun of talking about Hallmark's Christmas movie offerings both here and in the holiday movie thread. Good times abound! I mean that sincerely, not sarcastically. 

I also liked Five Star Christmas. I've been having a difficult time enjoying the holiday movie fare on Hallmark and other networks this year, so it was nice to see one that I didn't want to turn off or hate-watch.

[Callietwo]

10 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

Before commenting on Five Star Christmas, I'd like to ask if ALL Hallmark movies are talked about here? I had been commenting about the Christmas movies in the holiday movie thread.

For me, I don’t understand the name of the other forum to know what movies I should talk about there.  
 

The “Non-Rankin Bass Specials” means what?  I don’t know who that is or what their movies are so I just respond wherever the discussion happens to be.  
 

Re the starlight movie-  I ended up liking it a lot, but hated the way Paul Campbell’s character was in the early part of the movie.  Came off as childish and whiney but I enjoyed his evolution. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Callietwo

[roughing it]

50 minutes ago, Callietwo said:

The “Non-Rankin Bass Specials” means what? 

Rankin-Bass produced animated holiday specials such as "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" and I believe "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".  So that thread would be movies/shows that are not these.

I wish there would be one Holiday/Christmas TV movie thread.  I did move the two threads into my feed but I still have to read both.

[kirinan]

4 hours ago, Callietwo said:

For me, I don’t understand the name of the other forum to know what movies I should talk about there.  

In the Holiday forum, you can talk about any holiday movie on any network, including Hallmark. This forum (at least so far) has been exclusively Hallmark channels, but we evidently can talk about any season's movies, including holiday (hopefully that answered what you're asking, @Callietwo...?).

Edited December 3, 2020 by kirinan

[Bronx Babe]

Can anybody please help with a title -- an actress with this very pronounced regional Southern accent (her character says "You can take the girl out of North Carolina but you can't take North Carolina out of the girl"; she lives in "Midway", Utah)  There's a t.v. guy who has a travel show and is assigned to her town, a Cyrano de Bergerac-ish theme from the little I saw, a cafe her family runs called The Mistletoe Restaurant and an inn called The Plum Fairy or something with Plums.

It was awful and I fell asleep. 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Bronx Babe said:

Can anybody please help with a title -- an actress with this very pronounced regional Southern accent (her character says "You can take the girl out of North Carolina but you can't take North Carolina out of the girl"; she lives in "Midway", Utah)  There's a t.v. guy who has a travel show and is assigned to her town, a Cyrano de Bergerac-ish theme from the little I saw, a cafe her family runs called The Mistletoe Restaurant and an inn called The Plum Fairy or something with Plums.

It was awful and I fell asleep. 

Sound like Mistletoe Secret. I didn’t watch it because I can’t stand Kellie Pickler but I have read the (awful) book it’s based on which was set in Midway, Utah. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm watching a 2020 movie "If I Only Had Christmas"   It's cute, easy to guess the big 'secrets' but nice, and upbeat.   Yes, Candace Cameron Bure stars.  

[Bronx Babe]

3 hours ago, Dani said:

Sound like Mistletoe Secret. I didn’t watch it because I can’t stand Kellie Pickler but I have read the (awful) book it’s based on which was set in Midway, Utah. 

Thanks, Dani, I do believe that's it!

So the book was bad too, lol.  

[bankerchick]

Just watched A Timeless Christmas and it was terrible.  Even Ryan Paevey, whom I normally like, wasn't particularly compelling.

Am I wrong, but in order to have 2 full moons in the same month, wouldn't the second one need to be at least the 29th of the month?  This movie had a Christmas Moon on Dec 18, 1903 and on Dec. 22 or 23, 2020.

A Christmas House is just starting but the reviews on here have not been stellar so not sure if I will stick it out.

[Sara2009]

Has anyone seen “ On The Twelfth Day of Christmas?” It’s from 2015, but I thought it was cute. The leads had a lot of chemistry IMO.

[methodwriter85]

I saw Sam Page's latest movie. He's hot again- dude looked so much better once he relaxed on the facial fillers. I'm also surprised that the happily ever is 

Spoiler

everyone moving to Seattle and not staying in the small town. 

 

[twoods]

2 hours ago, Sara2009 said:

Has anyone seen “ On The Twelfth Day of Christmas?” It’s from 2015, but I thought it was cute. The leads had a lot of chemistry IMO.

Yes, it’s one of the movies I watch once a year. Great story and chemistry with the leads.

[Sara2009]

8 minutes ago, twoods said:

Yes, it’s one of the movies I watch once a year. Great story and chemistry with the leads.

I also liked that we haven’t seen those two actors in a million different things. I thought Robin Dunne was more charismatic than the male leads usually are.

[Irlandesa]

Neither movie really entertained me too much tonight except that I really like Rukiya Bernard and was glad she was basically the lead of the movie. 

And the best thing about It's Time For Us To Come Home for Christmas (really awful title), which I mostly fast forwarded through when I realized it wasn't going to hold my interest, was the promo for A Glenbrooke Christmas that aired about 30 minutes in.  Seeing Antonio Cup and Autumn Reeser on screen together made me so happy even though I'm sure it'll probably be a basic plot.

Edited December 6, 2020 by Irlandesa

[Angel pie]

10 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:

Thanks, Dani, I do believe that's it!

So the book was bad too, lol.  

To be fair to the author, The Mistletoe Secret was very different than the book. I enjoyed reading the book.

[Kohola3]

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Angel pie said:

To be fair to the author, The Mistletoe Secret was very different than the book. I enjoyed reading the book.

The author is a good writer and I really enjoyed the other two. I just couldn’t get past the stalkerishness of the premise of The Mistletoe Secret. 

I’ve never understood why Hallmark chose that series to adapt when they had to completely gut the books to fit their requirements. There are thousands of romance novels ready made for Hallmark and yet they keep choosing books and then butcher them. 

[coreywt]

21 hours ago, bankerchick said:

Just watched A Timeless Christmas and it was terrible.  Even Ryan Paevey, whom I normally like, wasn't particularly compelling.

Am I wrong, but in order to have 2 full moons in the same month, wouldn't the second one need to be at least the 29th of the month?  This movie had a Christmas Moon on Dec 18, 1903 and on Dec. 22 or 23, 2020.

 

Yes! That bothered me when watching this movie. 2 full moons in one month would have to be 28-29 days apart. 

Edited December 6, 2020 by coreywt

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, coreywt said:

Yes! That bothered me when watching this movie. 2 full moons in one month would have to be 28-29 days apart. 

Yep, impossible to have two full moons with those dates.  There are two in this month, December 1st and December 30. I post them on our lighthouse group FB page for the photographers.

[Moose135]

20 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I post them on our lighthouse group FB page for the photographers.

That sounds interesting...

[DanaMB]

I really liked Christmas with the Darlings. It’s only the second movie so far that I saved to watch again. I thought it was cute. 

[Sara2009]

I really liked “ Christmas Waltz.” The leads had fantastic chemistry, and I thought Lacey Chabert did a decent job with the dancing.

[insomniadreams88]

Over an hour into Christmas She Wrote and my opinion about five minutes in hasn’t changed: I’d rather watch a movie about Stephen. There’s nothing engaging about the main story or characters. 

[Kaoteek]

Evergreen 4 was meh. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of the series despite liking the shared universe/continuity thingy, but this one felt somewhat undercooked (maybe due to COVID, since one character only appeared via Skype, and the cameos were somewhat limited to Ashley Williams and Barbara Niven), which bothered me since Rukiya Bernard was the lead, and she deserves stronger movies.

[Moose135]

33 minutes ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Over an hour into Christmas She Wrote and my opinion about five minutes in hasn’t changed: I’d rather watch a movie about Stephen. There’s nothing engaging about the main story or characters. 

When I saw the movie title, I asked "Is Jessica Fletcher going to be in it? Does Santa get killed and she solves the case?"

[Sara2009]

1 hour ago, insomniadreams88 said:

Over an hour into Christmas She Wrote and my opinion about five minutes in hasn’t changed: I’d rather watch a movie about Stephen. There’s nothing engaging about the main story or characters. 

I think it’s cute so far( only an hour in), but I doubt it’ll end up as one of my favorites.

[MrsClaus]

54 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

When I saw the movie title, I asked "Is Jessica Fletcher going to be in it? Does Santa get killed and she solves the case?"

I thought that too.  It would be a good movie.  I really wish they did mystery holiday movies.

[In2You]

1 hour ago, MrsClaus said:

I thought that too.  It would be a good movie.  I really wish they did mystery holiday movies.

I still don't understand why they don't do mystery holiday movies on HMM when there are more than enough holiday stories from those cozy mysteries they love to adapt.

[Irlandesa]

I would love to see Hallmark do some mystery movies too that aren't "Who owned this ring/charm 50 years ago" or "why were we all invited to this cabin?"  But maybe murder is just too grisly for the holiday?  I think the last one I remember was Murder She Baked having a holiday themed movie.

12 hours ago, Moose135 said:

When I saw the movie title, I asked "Is Jessica Fletcher going to be in it? Does Santa get killed and she solves the case?"

Me too. 

Unlike many here, I actually like Danica.  Not every movie she does but I've enjoyed enough of her movies that I'm usually going to give her a shot.  And I like Dylan Neal.  I wish Dylan had been the screenwriter on this movie because his movies seem to be a bit smarter.  Instead, it's Dateline's Andrea Canning as the writer and...ugh.  I got so deep into "this isn't how these things work" that I couldn't quite get out of that spiral.  Dylan's character is supposed to be this smart, business-minded new editor-in-chief yet it seemed like he made decisions about who had to go rather capriciously.  Wouldn't he look at the data about salary vs. ad revenue/clicks/user engagement before just deciding to fire her?  Instead they just had him go with his gut.  I know there are managers out there like that but it made him look really bad at his job. 

And why would she even consider going back?  She holds all the cards here.  If she's really that popular, she could freelance her own brand and leverage it into syndication.  Especially now that there are so many self-publishing venues out there.

And at the end, he's giving up his well paying job to be a reporter? Oookay.

When I read the description, I was curious about how they were going to navigate that the guy wanted to be her boss again and was flirting with her.  But no discussion of that weird fact--that if she had taken him up on his offer earlier, he'd be her boss. 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Irlandesa

[WinnieWinkle]

Swimming against the stream here but I really liked A Timeless Christmas.