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

[kirinan]

Christmas, She Wrote was...a way to spend two hours. @Irlandesa pretty much said it all in her post. I do like both leads well enough, so I was a little disappointed, but not surprised.

What did surprise me was that I liked A Little Christmas Charm much better than I thought I would, because I'm not usually a fan of Brendan Penny. It wasn't one I'd necessarily watch again, but I enjoyed it. Can I articulate why I liked it? Not really. Maybe it was that it was better than Christmas, She Wrote, maybe Brendan's beard made him seem different, maybe I liked Ashley Greene in her role, maybe it was that I was comfortable on the couch and didn't want to get up to go to bed, maybe it was playing, "Spot the Autumn/Antonio movie previews" (two different one, several times, I was happy). I don't know, but it was the right movie for yesterday evening.

[gutbuster]

5 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

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

I did, too. I admit it isn't perfect and I wish there had been more development of the romance, but it didn't trigger any of my pet peeves and I thought a lot of it was so charming and cute. I could watch the scene where he loses it over the cost of the pizza a million times. It's still one of my favorites of the new ones this year.

[Scarlett45]

On 12/1/2020 at 8:36 AM, WinnieWinkle said:

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.

I liked Christmas Waltz as well. Will Kemp is a very good dancer and Lacey commented she was not comfortable with dancing, but I thought she did a good job. I wonder why Lacey never sings in these Hallmark films- she was in Les Mis as a child.

 

19 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

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.

Thats kinda what I was thinking. I did think Rukiya and Holly were dressed beautifully and their makeup was on point. Holly's eyelashes in the scene where her character was discussing their Mom being gone, Dad being happy etc, had me going "this makeup is so good, natural looking but she clearly has been elevated, the separation of those lashes...". And all the black people were LIT properly (this makes me happy).

I am listening to the recent Deck the Hallmark episode with Antonio Cayonne, I think he is SO CUTE so cute. Like adorable.

[EyewatchTV211]

Just finished Christmas She Wrote. It was just okay. There were definitely problems with it, as others have said. The best part was the Goo Goo Dolls' Christmas song at the end.

[Kaoteek]

Really didn't care for Christmas She Wrote, despite usually liking Danica. The whole setup felt really undercooked (despite writing bland platitudes, Danica's so popular that people recognize her wherever she goes, her face is on every cab in town... and yet she's canned two weeks before Christmas "for budget reasons", as if she was an easily replaced no-name columnist ?), the protagonist's romance novelist aspirations were uninspired, the love triangle forced, and let's not even get into the ethical implications of the lead couple's relationship... bleh.

[Irlandesa]

12 hours ago, kirinan said:

What did surprise me was that I liked A Little Christmas Charm much better than I thought I would, because I'm not usually a fan of Brendan Penny.

I dreaded this one because I don't usually love these "let's track some random person down who used to own this item" type stories.  And I didn't really like that angle here either.  Or the fact that the guy kind of stalked the lead who turned him down for a date multiple times.  But overall, there was just something tighter about the script, I think. 

I did notice a mistake, though.  When they were looking at a picture at the gala, they said "oh look, it says So and So 1998."  Except the placard on the photo they were looking at said 2008.  Oops.

[Sara2009]

53 minutes ago, Kaoteek said:

Really didn't care for Christmas She Wrote, despite usually liking Danica. The whole setup felt really undercooked (despite writing bland platitudes, Danica's so popular that people recognize her wherever she goes, her face is on every cab in town... and yet she's canned two weeks before Christmas "for budget reasons", as if she was an easily replaced no-name columnist ?), the protagonist's romance novelist aspirations were uninspired, the love triangle forced, and let's not even get into the ethical implications of the lead couple's relationship... bleh.

I don’t mind problematic couples( in fiction at least) if they’re written well, but this one didn’t work for me because the ethical implications were never mentioned. They were just ignored.

[luvthepros]

On 11/30/2020 at 12:36 PM, MerBearHou said:

One more Wizard of Oz name connection:  the Gumm company -- Gumm was Judy Garland's real last name.  I only watched the first hour and then switched to The Undoing finale -- will have to give it another go to fully review.  Sounds like it was just OK to many of our Primetimer pals.

Another connection to The Wizard of Oz was CCB's gift of the red sparkly dancing shoes from Warren Christie's character.

[WinnieWinkle]

11 hours ago, Sara2009 said:

I don’t mind problematic couples( in fiction at least) if they’re written well, but this one didn’t work for me because the ethical implications were never mentioned. They were just ignored.

I didn't mind this because it was made very clear that he screwed up (which was refreshing) and that she was being hired back at the demand of the bigger boss.  What bothered me was the way the friend (name escapes me) got hired back full-time only because he was the best friend of the lead character.  Now that rankled.  I didn't mind Christmas She Wrote - not going into the list of movies I will watch and re-watch for sure but it was an ok way to pass a few hours - and I did like the secondary romances (more on that in a minute*) - the thing is though I felt like it had some real promise but it was like they had to rush to finish it and it ended up falling flat.

* I read a review of this movie where someone said they had to turn it off part way through because something happened that clashed with their morals (or something like that) I am assuming, correctly I believe, that it was the way the gay best friend found love in his home town.  I guess it's ok to have a gay character as long as they stay strictly in supportive friend mode.  Heaven forfend that they actually have a relationship with someone.  Think of the children.  Yuck.

Edited December 8, 2020 by WinnieWinkle

[Kohola3]

7 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

guess it's ok to have a gay character as long as they stay strictly in supportive friend mode. 

Yeah, the pearl clutchers pretty much have Hallmark by the short hairs.

[WinnieWinkle]

1 minute ago, Kohola3 said:

Yeah, the pearl clutchers pretty much have Hallmark by the short hairs.

This year Hallmark seems to have decided to throw caution to the winds (well gently toss caution caution to the wind) it will be interesting to see what happens.  If they will bow to the pressure of the pearl clutchers or at least keep things moving along the lines they've established this year.

[Kaoteek]

Funnily enough, the gay component of Christmas She Wrote kinda added to my frustration as he was barely more than the token, semi-sassy gay bff cliché character in 90% of his scenes, and the rest of it was mostly beating around the bush of his gayness and coming out in innuendos, as if this movie's writer didn't get the memo that Hallmark had gay couples, now, and it was okay to piss off a few pearl clutchers.

 

Still, baby steps, I guess.

[Suzysite]

7 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

If they will bow to the pressure of the pearl clutchers or at least keep things moving along the lines they've established this year.

It will depend a lot on ratings received and the resulting advertising dollars.  And to be fair, there have been pearl-clutchers on both sides of that issue.   

[WinnieWinkle]

7 minutes ago, Kaoteek said:

Funnily enough, the gay component of Christmas She Wrote kinda added to my frustration as he was barely more than the token, semi-sassy gay bff cliché character in 90% of his scenes, and the rest of it was mostly beating around the bush of his gayness and coming out in innuendos, as if this movie's writer didn't get the memo that Hallmark had gay couples, now, and it was okay to piss off a few pearl clutchers.

It was a litle weird.  He was definitely the sassy bff gay character that we've seen on Hallmark (and to be fair other places as well) for years now - the actor played a similar character in one of the Evergreen movies come to think of it.  However the love interest was actually interesting and broke the mold both in terms of the way his character was presented and also in his interests and profession.  Which I liked.  As you say, baby steps.

[Kohola3]

13 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

This year Hallmark seems to have decided to throw caution to the winds (well gently toss caution caution to the wind) it will be interesting to see what happens. 

It's so gentle as to be mostly unnoticeable.  Or just silly.  

[WinnieWinkle]

12 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

It's so gentle as to be mostly unnoticeable.  Or just silly.  

Not sure I agree that it's been unnoticeable.  I think in some ways Hallmark can't win.  They try for some diversity and they get people horrified that they've messed with the formula they love or they get people saying they aren't doing enough or what they're doing is token or silly or just plain doesn't work.   For me the biggest problem I have with the current crop of movies is that on the whole they just haven't been that good.  Ok, I did like a few very much, but overall?  Not really.  They can diversify the cast and try to reach a wider audience all they want but if the writing sucks, well the writing sucks.

Edited December 8, 2020 by WinnieWinkle

[Valentine]

On 11/30/2020 at 7:53 PM, EyewatchTV211 said:

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.

I finally watched this, and I agree about the ridiculousness of those "dancing" shoes. I usually like CCB's movies, and I love Warren Christie in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but this movie was a fail for me. They seemed mismatched. He looked much better with facial hair and statuesque Brooke Burns.

[Kemper]

I remember Danica McKeller as Winnie Cooper from back-in-the-day.  I like her, she seems pleasant enough but maybe is one of the weaker actresses on Hallmark.  She has two expressions...hurt/smile.  But she has a presence, I guess, and I have seen worse.

[MerBearHou]

11 hours ago, luvthepros said:

Another connection to The Wizard of Oz was CCB's gift of the red sparkly dancing shoes from Warren Christie's character.

Noticed another connection -- the company exec who rejected Gumm PR's proposal was named Ms. West as in Wicked Witch of the...  The exec wasn't wicked but was a downer business-wise.

Edited December 8, 2020 by MerBearHou

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Suzysite said:

It will depend a lot on ratings received and the resulting advertising dollars.  And to be fair, there have been pearl-clutchers on both sides of that issue.   

So far the ratings have been consistent with last year. Since their rating have been falling over the last couple of years holding steady is a win. 

[MerBearHou]

Who's heard Wes Brown's Christmas song on the radio?  He can definitely sing.  My gosh, Wes was over-served in the blessings department!!!  

[memememe76]

I really liked The Christmas House. Granted, I find Robert Buckley dreamy, but I liked the family's dynamic. I thought the flashbacks were well done (I also think Sharon Lawrence was really good in an underwritten role).

[Bronx Babe]

Coming soon:  My Hanukkah Prince

Can't wait!

[ShelleySue]

4 minutes ago, Bronx Babe said:

Coming soon:  My Hanukkah Prince

Can't wait!

Small town Jewish girl, Rachel (or Rebecca), is working in NYC in a high stress job. Her aunt calls her to say that she twisted her ankle and is unable to take charge of the Temple's big potato latke (pancake) exchange.  It's the major event of the year so Rachel has to rush home and help her aunt.  But there's a blizzard and all of the flights are grounded so she ends up renting a car and having to share it with a drop dead gorgeous man who has a European accent. It turns out he's the only Jewish prince in all of Europe and they fall in love while on the 48 hour car trip to the small town.  Of course he knows how to make the perfect latke and the latke exchange will be saved.

[bankerchick]

But about 15 minutes before the end of the movie, Rachel/Rebecca sees the Prince kiss the hand of another pretty Jewish girl and assumes this must be the love of his life.  She immediately breaks off plans for the latke exchange and leaves the small town to go back home to NYC.  Prince finds out after she has already left, follows her to NYC, and explains that the girl is actually his cousin who lives in a nearby small town who only came to Rebecca's town for the latke exchange and encouraged him to 'go after her.'  He proposes under the menorah.  Fast forward a year later to the giant wedding in the fictional European country.

[Callietwo]

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

Who's heard Wes Brown's Christmas song on the radio?  He can definitely sing.  My gosh, Wes was over-served in the blessings department!!!  

This makes me chuckle as in one of his recent movies, he had a brown sweater on and I noticed he had mini-moobs and I thought HA!  He does have a flaw, after all 🙂    The man does have a multitude of blessings.  

[MerBearHou]

Just now, Callietwo said:

This makes me chuckle as in one of his recent movies, he had a brown sweater on and I noticed he had mini-moobs and I thought HA!  He does have a flaw, after all 🙂    The man does have a multitude of blessings.  

Ooh that's a pet peeve of mine!  Jesse Metcalfe does too.  Ugh, wardrobe department -- it's not a great look!

[Kohola3]

38 minutes ago, ShelleySue said:

Small town Jewish girl, Rachel (or Rebecca), is working in NYC in a high stress job. Her aunt calls her to say that she twisted her ankle and is unable to take charge of the Temple's big potato latke (pancake) exchange.  It's the major event of the year so Rachel has to rush home and help her aunt.  But there's a blizzard and all of the flights are grounded so she ends up renting a car and having to share it with a drop dead gorgeous man who has a European accent. It turns out he's the only Jewish prince in all of Europe and they fall in love while on the 48 hour car trip to the small town.  Of course he knows how to make the perfect latke and the latke exchange will be saved.

This is some sort of spoof, right?  Like those that couple that does the YouTube videos?  It cannot be serious.

[kirinan]

1 hour ago, memememe76 said:

I really liked The Christmas House. Granted, I find Robert Buckley dreamy, but I liked the family's dynamic. I thought the flashbacks were well done (I also think Sharon Lawrence was really good in an underwritten role).

I remember seeing him in another Hallmark movie (can't remember what it was, though), and thinking he was nice-looking, but dayum, a couple (few?) more years on him and wow, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Dreamy is absolutely right! (And I did like the movie, too.)

[twoods]

Robert Buckley was recently in Love in Store on Hallmark where he played a home shopping network host, and I’ve also enjoyed him in a Lifetime holiday movie The Christmas Contract and iZombie. Besides being gorgeous he’s also a pretty good actor. I hope he’s in more Hallmark movies. I also enjoyed the lead actress in The Christmas House. She seems like one of the newer Hallmark actresses and was pretty good.

Edited December 8, 2020 by twoods

[EyewatchTV211]

8 hours ago, Valentine said:

I finally watched this, and I agree about the ridiculousness of those "dancing" shoes. I usually like CCB's movies, and I love Warren Christie in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but this movie was a fail for me. They seemed mismatched. He looked much better with facial hair and statuesque Brooke Burns.

It's funny - I'm usually one of those who doesn't like facial hair on a man. But Warren Christie is one that it does actually work for. I did like his look in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

[Kaoteek]

I didn't hate Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas : let's find a way to tie this (clearly unrelated) script to Blake Shelton's song. I didn't really like it either, mind you. It was just there, low energy, low stakes, totally predictable in every way... but I liked the idea, at least.

[Bronx Babe]

6 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

This is some sort of spoof, right?  Like those that couple that does the YouTube videos?  It cannot be serious.

Hallmark has signed Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss to play the grandparents.

[Bronx Babe]

Hallmark was going to cast Ed Asner as a rabbi but dropped him because they found out the actor is agnostic.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Bronx Babe

[WinnieWinkle]

14 minutes ago, Bronx Babe said:

Hallmark was going to cast Ed Asner as a rabbi but dropped him because they found out the actor is agnostic.

Not sure if you're joking or not but Asner appeared in several Hallmark films and actually got nominated for an Emmy for one of them.  

[Bronx Babe]

Winnie, I did not know this!

I'll take back my joke and give Hallmark some credit...

 

[MSterling]

Finally caught Christmas by Starlight aka Two Weeks Notice but lawyer of convenience.

[bankerchick]

I just saw it again myself.  I have recently developed a ridiculous crush on Paul Campbell and have been watching some of his movies on demand  (don't judge - Wedding Every Weekend and Window Wonderland are actually pretty good.)  One thing I did notice last night that I hadn't before, was the whole kissing the plexiglass thing (at least I assume that's what it is.)  When Will goes in for the big kiss at the end, his hand comes up as if to caress the side of her face but it just looks awkward.  Then when he is actually kissing her, his nose is kind've squished but he is clearly not touching her face.  I'm no actor so don't know what it's like to fake kiss someone, but how ridiculous must it be for the director to call 'Cut' then someone stick a piece of plastic between your two faces and then 'Action.'

[MerBearHou]

19 minutes ago, bankerchick said:

I have recently developed a ridiculous crush on Paul Campbell

Oh, same here for Paul — he is perfect to me.  Cute but not model perfect, smart, very very funny, self-deprecating, nice and tall, great smile — love love Paul!

[roughing it]

43 minutes ago, bankerchick said:

the whole kissing the plexiglass thing

any tongue action on that plexiglass??? 😜

[ShelleySue]

12 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:

Hallmark has signed Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss to play the grandparents.

That sounds very big budget.  Is it going to be a Hallmark Hall of Fame next year?  😉

 

[Bronx Babe]

lol, yes, @ShelleySue.  Plus, Nick Nolte will be added as a homeless shelter Santa Claus whose path somehow interacts with the Bette and Richard characters, thus reuniting these three once more since Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

[Kaoteek]

Didn't hate A Little Christmas Charm. Didn't love it either. It was a perfect laundry-folding movie, held together by a likeable lead couple. But that's about it : it was very by-the-book, often autopiloty, and totally unmemorable.

(then again, as the season progresses, i'm starting to get less and less tolerant of passable movies, so maybe I would have liked it more in early november)

[WinnieWinkle]

I just saw an older one THe Mistletoe Promise.  It wasn't bad at all but if anyone else has seen it I wonder if you can help me out.  I have 2 questions about it.  First, I admit I don't always pay close attention when I watch these movies so I may have missed the explanation but why oh why does the lead female character STAY working with her toxic ex-husband for 4 years???  And second, why is the ex-husband so toxic?  I mean I loved to hate him which is the way you should feel about a well written villain but I still kept wondering what the hell - what is he gaining by being so nasty.  Was he trying to force her to leave the company and she wouldn't go?  Which circles around to my first question.  Sigh.  I probably am overthinking a Hallmark movie!

[gutbuster]

12 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I just saw an older one THe Mistletoe Promise.  It wasn't bad at all but if anyone else has seen it I wonder if you can help me out.  I have 2 questions about it.  First, I admit I don't always pay close attention when I watch these movies so I may have missed the explanation but why oh why does the lead female character STAY working with her toxic ex-husband for 4 years???  And second, why is the ex-husband so toxic?  I mean I loved to hate him which is the way you should feel about a well written villain but I still kept wondering what the hell - what is he gaining by being so nasty.  Was he trying to force her to leave the company and she wouldn't go?  Which circles around to my first question.  Sigh.  I probably am overthinking a Hallmark movie!

She started the company, it was hers. When they got married, she of course thought she was in love and he became her partner/co-owner. He cheated on her during their marriage (can't remember if it was with the woman he was currently with or someone else), so that partially explains why he was a toxic ass.

She was reluctant to move on from the company despite the issues with the ex because it was hers, it was successful, and also because she loved the work she was able to do with underprivileged kids. The business was profitable so he'd been trying to buy her out of the company (so he could run it with his new lady, presumably). I think he was a toxic ass by nature but turned it up to eleven to try to force her out.

I like this movie a lot and even I've tuned out the details on the ex after watching it several times. He is the worst.

[mikeb]

It doesn't go into details, but this article talks about how Hallmark was able to film 39 out of planned 40 Christmas movies in spite of the pandemic by early on giving up on the other movies they normally make and focusing solely on the Christmas movies.  They were actually able to work on scripts and stories before the movies were filmed - instead of at the same time they were filmed like in the past.   Also mentions how One Royal Holiday was completely changed when they were able to cast Broadway actors.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1217366/inside-hallmark-channels-heroic-effort-to-save-their-holiday-movies

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, mikeb said:

It doesn't go into details, but this article talks about how Hallmark was able to film 39 out of planned 40 Christmas movies in spite of the pandemic by early on giving up on the other movies they normally make and focusing solely on the Christmas movies.  They were actually able to work on scripts and stories before the movies were filmed - instead of at the same time they were filmed like in the past.   Also mentions how One Royal Holiday was completely changed when they were able to cast Broadway actors.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1217366/inside-hallmark-channels-heroic-effort-to-save-their-holiday-movies

Thanks. I’m now sitting down to watch One Royal Holiday! (Waiting on my eggnog to arrive in my grocery order)

 

I wonder will we get new movies every Saturday in January for Winterfest.

 

 

[Kohola3]

2 hours ago, mikeb said:

They were actually able to work on scripts and stories before the movies were filmed....

That shouldn't have taken long.  They are just the same story over and over.

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:

That shouldn't have taken long.  They are just the same story over and over.

True. 
 

Okay I’m watching One Royal Holiday, and I admit I didn’t give it my full attention but what’s with all the emotion over Anna being the dead king’s nurse. Nurses taking care of their patients, I’m not making light of the job Anna had (far from it, it’s a wonderful profession), but I don’t see how this connects her to the prince emotionally.....”I knew it was you.” So you are more in love with her because she was your Dad’s nurse??

I liked the Mayor and the Head of Security getting together, that could’ve been an unusual storyline with the royals being secondary characters. 
 

My question was answered during the commercial break- we are getting a Luke McFarland movie A second shot at love on Jan 2nd about a hockey player taking ballet who falls in love with the ballet teacher. 

[Kohola3]

4 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Okay I’m watching One Royal Holiday, and I admit I didn’t give it my full attention but what’s with all the emotion over Anna being the dead king’s nurse. Nurses taking care of their patients, I’m not making light of the job Anna had (far from it, it’s a wonderful profession), but I don’t see how this connects her to the prince emotionally.....”I knew it was you.” So you are more in love with her because she was your Dad’s nurse??

Good question, made little sense to me.  And what was with the prince's greasy hair?  Ugh.