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

[Shanna Marie]

There are a few plots I wish I could issue a moratorium on for the Hallmark movies. The others who do holiday movies are almost as bad, but they don't do so many a year, so I don't think they're as prone to repeating themselves as Hallmark is. Not that there haven't been very good movies with these plots. I just think that when you look at the listings and there are so many with similar sounding plots that you can't tell them apart unless you recognize names on the cast, it might be time to put that plot on hold for a while and try to come up with something different.

1. The holiday store window decorating contest, with two people trying to win the job by doing the best window. Especially if they're coming up with new concepts daily on the fly. I saw a documentary on the store windows, and they're coming up with their themes as soon as the last one was implemented.
2. Really, any story that has the ad campaign, massive Christmas Eve event, corporate or city decorating effort, theatrical production, or product launch being planned after the Christmas decorations are already up just throws me out of the story. There can be drama in the implementation of a plan that was developed six months ago, or there can be a last-minute monkey wrench that forces them to improvise, but if the office Christmas tree is already up and the boss wants to see ideas for the big holiday ad campaign, that's a big no.
3. The small-town ornament factory that's about to be shut down, which will ruin the town. Gee, will the new owner/family member who's just inherited the factory come to the town, find love, and discover the true meaning of Christmas that leads him/her to keep the factory open? (I think I've seen at least four of these.)
4. Santa/Santa's son needs a wife/Santa's daughter needs a husband.
5. My life would have been so much better if I'd married my high school sweetheart and stayed in the small town.

[LexieLily]

Is there a reason Hallmark and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries is showing the same movie tonight - A Heavenly Christmas with Kristin Davis and Eric McCormack?

[twoods]

6 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

Is there a reason Hallmark and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries is showing the same movie tonight - A Heavenly Christmas with Kristin Davis and Eric McCormack?

It's a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, so they probably want to milk it for all its worth. 

[LexieLily]

2 minutes ago, twoods said:

It's a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, so they probably want to milk it for all its worth. 

What does that mean, Hallmark Hall of Fame movie? It's not a new one?

[Jaded]

7 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

What does that mean, Hallmark Hall of Fame movie? It's not a new one?

It's a new movie with a recycled plot. Hopefully the actors in it will bring the story to life so it won't be seen as just another Hallmark movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6263260/
 

[JenMD]

3 hours ago, LexieLily said:

What does that mean, Hallmark Hall of Fame movie? It's not a new one?

The Hallmark Hall of Fame movies are (were?) a higher grade of tv movie than your standard Hallmark movie we see weekly - in the past it meant bigger budget, bigger stars, higher quality script.  These were always event movies and were only aired a few times per year.

Hallmark Hall of Fame on Wikipedia (includes link to the movies that fall under this umbrella)

Edited November 26, 2016 by JenMD
link

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, LexieLily said:

What does that mean, Hallmark Hall of Fame movie? It's not a new one?

Usually a bit more money. (Or as @JenMD posted as I was writing this.)  If you look at the cast, there are three "name" stars in it.  So the production values might make it look a bit better a well.  That doesn't necessarily mean it's written better.  Lately, the HoH moves have kind of disappointed me but I do like Kristin Davis and don't hate Erik McCormick so we will see. 

[Kemper]

I have to wonder how the ratings are for all these Christmas movies.  Starting them before Halloween and then running for what is it...2 months?  I am already sick of them.  

I love a happy movie!  I am not against romance or Christmas.  Both it has been over a month (hasn't it?) with these all-the-same-movies is kind of like the constant marathons on HGTV.  Way too much of a good thing.  Is it just me?  I find I have been avoiding them this year; maybe I'll get back into it in a couple of weeks.  It doesn't help that some of the leads are very vanilla and that there are just no surprises.

[Jaded]

1 minute ago, Kemper said:

I have to wonder how the ratings are for all these Christmas movies.  Starting them before Halloween and then running for what is it...2 months?  I am already sick of them.  

I love a happy movie!  I am not against romance or Christmas.  Both it has been over a month (hasn't it?) with these all-the-same-movies is kind of like the constant marathons on HGTV.  Way too much of a good thing.  Is it just me?  I find I have been avoiding them this year; maybe I'll get back into it in a couple of weeks.  It doesn't help that some of the leads are very vanilla and that there are just no surprises.

They keep doing it every year so I guess a lot of people like it. I've looked at both channel's FB pages and the people that love it outnumbr the people that don't. I wish they'd do the Christmas marathon on the regular Hallmark since more people get that then Movies & Mysteries and leave the regular stuff going on when it comes to the latter's schedule. 

I left a comment once on the regular Hallmark's FB page suggesting what I posted above and  got attacked by the people who love over 2 mo of Christmas movies nonstop and got called a scrooge along with other names. 

[In2You]

1 hour ago, Jaded said:

They keep doing it every year so I guess a lot of people like it. I've looked at both channel's FB pages and the people that love it outnumbr the people that don't. I wish they'd do the Christmas marathon on the regular Hallmark since more people get that then Movies & Mysteries and leave the regular stuff going on when it comes to the latter's schedule. 

I left a comment once on the regular Hallmark's FB page suggesting what I posted above and  got attacked by the people who love over 2 mo of Christmas movies nonstop and got called a scrooge along with other names. 

There's alot of fanfare but I'd love to know if this year's ratings are better than last years.  I feel like last year there were all these press releases about ratings and none this year.

Edited November 28, 2016 by In2You

[msani19]

29 minutes ago, Kemper said:

 Both it has been over a month (hasn't it?) with these all-the-same-movies is kind of like the constant marathons on HGTV.  Way too much of a good thing.  Is it just me?

Nope, not just you. I have reached a saturation point with the sameness of these movies, that I didn't expect. I've felt that way other years, but I rolled with it. This year something snapped and I feel like I can't take it anymore. I saw a commercial for something where the woman wishes she never got married and then her wish comes true and I'm sure the lesson she learns is that a successful career can't bring her any joy. Blah. Besides the fact that it's literally becoming the same rotation of actors, there was previously some more variety but we are getting the same female and male leads. 

I don't spend any time on FB so have no idea what is being said over there. I can imagine they wouldn't be very kind to my opinions.

[Kemper]

If people get worked up enough to "attack" someone over a Facebook posting (especially Hallmark!Family!Wholesome!) you have to wonder if a lot of teenage girls watch these movies because they would fit a teen's idea of romance and happily-ever-after.   Although I think that age-group is a dream for advertisers.

Again, I am not criticizing people who love/hate/don't care about these movies.  Different strokes and all.  It is just that I think 2 months of Christmas movies (some of them really cheaply made) is nothing more than a craven bid for ad money on the network's part.  

[In2You]

29 minutes ago, Kemper said:

If people get worked up enough to "attack" someone over a Facebook posting (especially Hallmark!Family!Wholesome!) you have to wonder if a lot of teenage girls watch these movies because they would fit a teen's idea of romance and happily-ever-after.   Although I think that age-group is a dream for advertisers.

Again, I am not criticizing people who love/hate/don't care about these movies.  Different strokes and all.  It is just that I think 2 months of Christmas movies (some of them really cheaply made) is nothing more than a craven bid for ad money on the network's part.  

I've check out the Hallmark facebook page. No teens on there only grown woman mostly above the age of 30.  And the interns who run the page give the same copy and paste responses we you post anything but praise.

[Jaded]

2 hours ago, In2You said:

I've check out the Hallmark facebook page. No teens on there only grown woman mostly above the age of 30.  And the interns who run the page give the same copy and paste responses we you post anything but praise.

Yep. Judging from the profile pics it was older grown women getting so mad at me for the most part. 

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, Kemper said:

I have to wonder how the ratings are for all these Christmas movies.  Starting them before Halloween and then running for what is it...2 months?  I am already sick of them. 

I imagine we'll know depending on how they schedule next year but at least in the past, this is a ratings winning gambit for the network. Here's an article about ratings.  It looks like Hallmark is in the top 5 in many categories.

3 hours ago, In2You said:

There's alot of fanfare but I'd love to know if this year's ratings are better than last years.  I feel like last year there were all these press releases about ratings and none this year.

The press releases are still happening and at least claiming to have better ratings this year compared to last year.  (But press releases are weird in how they spin numbers based on very specific categories so I don't usually pay them much heed since I don't pay attention close enough to do the comparison myself.) 

What was interesting/different about last year was that there seemed to be a concerted PR effort to promote how well Hallmark was doing by having the head of the network or programming do a flurry of interviews.  That was unusual because I don't remember it happening before and it hasn't happened this year---or at least not yet.  But I don't think that means that Hallmark is doing worse this year but rather they accomplished whatever purpose those interviews were meant to accomplish that they don't feel a need to do them again this year.

3 hours ago, Kemper said:

It is just that I think 2 months of Christmas movies (some of them really cheaply made) is nothing more than a craven bid for ad money on the network's part.  

Isn't that what most ad-driven networks are after?   Heck, all networks.  If it's HBO, they're after subscriptions.  If it's an ad-driven network, it's ad revenue.  Even those open to looking at other measurements (like FX) are looking to see how to monetize their content and if they don't see a path, the show gets cancelled. Right now, it's better financially for their network to show old Christmas movies than it is to show old Frasier episodes or old Golden Girls episodes.  I would rather watch reruns of Frasier than many of the rerun holiday movies but I don't think it's craven or even artistically bankrupt to choose to air something they know will get better ratings than those reruns. After all, those Frasier episodes will likely run 2 or even 3 times a year on the channel.

[kirinan]

7 hours ago, Jaded said:

Yep. Judging from the profile pics it was older grown women getting so mad at me for the most part. 

I'm with the contingent that's tired of the same-old same-old, especially after this year. I'm tired of recycled plots, bland leads, lack of diversity, and right now, Christmas.

No doubt I am way over-generalizing here, but I'm guessing a lot of the women who watch these movies are also the women who devour Harlequin romances like they're going out of style (and I'll admit that I do read the occasional Harlequin. Not the steamier ones, but the sweet romances--their Heartwarming line--that are actually very much like Hallmark's movies) as an escape from their real lives. Part of the attraction of them both is, I'm sure, the familiar comfort of the plot lines and the absolute assurance of a happily-ever-after ending. But I've noticed lately that the Harlequins I've read suffer from the same problems as the Hallmark movies, and I have a pile of unread Heartwarmings I can't bring myself to read and will probably end up donating to the library.

As an aspiring writer who belongs to the Romance Writers of America (although I'm starting to realize I don't really want to write or read pure romance the way I once thought I did; it's a great genre, but I've come to see it's not for me), I've learned these readers are absolutely rabid and obsessed over their stories and do not take kindly to the formula(s) being messed with. And that's probably what you ran into, Jaded.

[izabella]

Just once, I'd like to see a Christmas movie where the big city outsider teaches the small town locals something about Christmas.  Big city people like Christmas, too, and they aren't all workaholics (or newspaper writers/tv/radio people!).

[Court]

Journey Back to Christmas is my favorite so far. I loved that while there was some romance, it hardly took up any time and it was straightforward. 

[JasmineFlower]

11 hours ago, izabella said:

Just once, I'd like to see a Christmas movie where the big city outsider teaches the small town locals something about Christmas.  Big city people like Christmas, too, and they aren't all workaholics (or newspaper writers/tv/radio people!).

I agree and this is true for the year-round movies as well. But yeah, I'm drawing a blank on Christmas movies where the city vs. country comes out as the city person teaching the lessen. Big city people aren't all alienated from their families either.

It also annoys the heck out of me when they show the city person show up to the small town and being blown away by the decorations and how in the spirit the small town is. I'm not saying every big city does up the decorations, but like all the big East Coast cities and Chicago, which are often the big cities being referenced in Hallmark movies, have amazing decorations and big tree lighting ceremonies to unofficially kick off the season. They aren't getting millions of visitors during the holiday season every year to see the tree, lights and decorations because they are lacking in festive charm. And LA might be hotter than most places you think of being into the season, but you can't claim they don't get into the holiday spirit when it comes to doing up the lights and decorations around town. It'd be nice if a few more movies recognized this reality.

[izabella]

20 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

Big city people aren't all alienated from their families either.

Totally agree with your whole post, but especially this!  For some of us, "going home for the holidays" means driving 20 minutes to where the parents and grandparents are gathering, aunts and uncles, cousins, kids, babies, and gosh, even family dogs!  And those same family members decorate trees and stroll through the zoo with cups of hot chocolate to see the zoo lights, see The Nutcracker and other plays, musicals, ballets and concerts, shop for and wrap presents, go to church, sing carols, go ice skating, see kids' school plays, make Christmas cookies, play Secret Santa, volunteer at food banks, collect toys for kids...they are not all working through Christmas or sitting home alone with sad little microwave dinners devoid of family or friends or holiday spirit.

[msani19]

12 hours ago, izabella said:

Just once, I'd like to see a Christmas movie where the big city outsider teaches the small town locals something about Christmas.  Big city people like Christmas, too, and they aren't all workaholics (or newspaper writers/tv/radio people!).

 

The types of jobs shown in these movies are pretty hilarious to me. They seem to mostly be "creative" jobs like advertising, publishing, writers, journalists etc. it's like Hallmark hasn't discovered that we're living in 2016 and those are mostly declining industries. Maybe the writers of these movies aren't equipped to write about technology, finance, medicine, law, consulting etc. 

[izabella]

23 minutes ago, msani19 said:

Maybe the writers of these movies aren't equipped to write about technology, finance, medicine, law, consulting etc. 

Even when they try to do that, it's always the evil big city consultants coming to small town to shut down their Christmas tree farm or something.

[Shanna Marie]

The one holiday movie I can think of where the "city" person was able to teach a lesson wasn't a Hallmark one. It was The Holiday, where Kate Winslet's character came to LA for Christmas and the screenwriter who lived nearby taught her about gumption and standing up for herself. Though that one wasn't really presented as a city vs. small town because even though she lived in a village, she worked in London. There was a Hallmark ripoff of it, with two guys swapping, but in that one it ended up that the city one wanted to stay in the small town with the single mom. I don't remember what happened to the small-town guy who came to the city, other than that there was some kind of mixup with a model who didn't know he was a small-town guy, and he sang country music at karaoke and fell in love with the city guy's assistant, but I think he was the one teaching city people a lesson, rather than the other way around. They were all shallow and too busy to appreciate life, and he was better because he was authentic.

[SlovakPrincess]

The one with James Brolin and Mena Suvari strayed from the stereotypes - it wasn't a snow-globe pretty little town, but a more realistic-looking smallish city.  And she was an assistant district attorney and he was a retired cop.  Of course, they did pull out the old holiday tropes of estranged parent / child relationship fixed by Christmas, the annoyingly precocious child, and trading in the heartless corporate fiancé for a better match.  But otherwise it was a better story than usual.

The Danica McKeller one with the stupid department store display is on again ... I need to stop watching this crap, even as background noise for when I'm puttering around the house!

[beadgirl]

Speaking of all the sameness, I'd love to see some holiday movies that go beyond love and family and decorations.  Don't get me wrong, I like a good romance, I value spending time with my family, and I do a lot of seasonal crafting and baking, but there is more to Christmas than that.  The original Christmas Carol wasn't just about celebrating Christmas but about agape and how one treats one's fellow man; a horrible modern version I saw a couple of years ago reduced it to "if you don't stop saying mean things, you won't get a man." That's why I love 2009's Christmas Angel -- the heroine found her purpose not in a man, or country life, or material traditions, but in devoting her life to anonymously helping total strangers throughout the year.  I know the religious aspects of Christmas can be a touchy subject both for non-believers and believers who have particular ideas of what should be shown, but surely the movies can sometimes go beyond the superficial and solipsistic aspects of the holidays.

Edited December 1, 2016 by beadgirl

[JasmineFlower]

I was going to try out A Perfect Christmas, but don't think I can do it. Is anyone else that watched this an Erin Gray fan from way back? I'm finding her look utterly distracting and don't see that changing that I'm guessing it's not worth it to even try this one. Who on earth told her this was a good look? Switch that washed out blond color to her regular brown (with some aid if necessary, I know she's not 28 anymore) and she looks great, because her face looks exactly like I'd expect it to. She's aged wonderfully.

[Shanna Marie]

They must have a real low life expectancy in the Hallmark Universe. There are all those 20-30 something attractive widows and widowers. And then if you live past your 30s, there's a good chance you'll be dead before your kids are adults. Only a very few people live to be over 50 or so to become either the disapproving parents of their adult children, the overly doting parents of adult children, the "perfect" parents to contrast with either the disapproving parents or dead parents, or the quirky elderly people who help teach valuable lessons.

[kirinan]

Okay, I have to say that both these upcoming movies look good to me (there's a trailer for the Amy Smart Hallmark movie, then it goes right into the Rebecca Romijn Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation). It helps that I like all four stars, especially Rebecca Romijn, who's always been one of my favorites.

Something to look forward to around Valentine's Day!

[Jaded]

I got excited today thinking about how the Christmas movies will be coming to an end soon. I didn't watch any of them this year. I think I overloaded on them last year when I was watching them to numb my brain when my Mom started to reach the end of her time on earth and after she died. 

[kirinan]

3 hours ago, Jaded said:

I think I overloaded on them last year when I was watching them to numb my brain when my Mom started to reach the end of her time on earth and after she died. 

Oh, Jaded, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom; this has to be a very hard time of the year for you. As someone who lost my mom after a long illness 10 years ago, I wish I could give you a huge hug in person, but know that I'm sending a virtual one across the miles.

Two days and change and we won't have to see any more of the Christmas movies (which I'm heartily sick of, because they've repeated them SO many times over the last couple of months) until next year. I hope they do a shorter season of them in 2017, or include more of the older ones for some variety. I am SO ready for the changeover, like, now!

Edited December 23, 2016 by kirinan

[twoods]

4 hours ago, kirinan said:

Okay, I have to say that both these upcoming movies look good to me (there's a trailer for the Amy Smart Hallmark movie, then it goes right into the Rebecca Romijn Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation). It helps that I like all four stars, especially Rebecca Romijn, who's always been one of my favorites.

Something to look forward to around Valentine's Day!

I love both actresses and even Adrian Grenier. Super excited about both movies!

[againstthewind]

Having just re-discovered how much I love Snow Bride, I'm seeing Hallmark KILLED it in Christmas 2013, with one of my other favorites, Window Wonderland premiering that year.

I feel like most of the newer movies lack the chemistry that Katrina Law/Jordan Belfi and Chyler Leigh/Paul Campbell had. Honestly, the only one I can think of from the past year that came close is Summer Villa with Hilarie Burton and Victor Webster. My other favorite pairings are the Johnathan Scarfe/Alison Sweeney, Arielle Kebbel/Andrew Walker and Autumn Reeser/Antonio Cupo.

The only newer Christmas movie that has come close is last week's My Christmas Love.

[twoods]

Wasn't Let It Snow also in 2013? Loved that movie too. 

[MissyPoo]

YES! 2013 was Hallmark's golden year for their christmas movies. I wish they would get the writers and the chemistry back from that year. I feel like this year, they just pumped them out to get the numbers and didn't care about the stories at all.

The next slate of movies for winter look interesting and even though they've done royalty romances over and over, I love me some princey heroes and royal themes so I'm so here for A Royal Winter. 

I just saw the preview for Love Locks and Love on the Ice. Both look cute! I liked the last Hallmark ice skating themed movie and since Andrew Walker is in that one, I'm here for it. The video someone previously posted for Amy Smart's movie didn't come out for me :-( but the synopsis sounds too cute. I'm definitely checking that one out!

[rallymantis]

A Merry Christmas to my fellow Hallmarkers!!  I got mine tonight: my beloved Crown for Christmas in prime time!

And I didn't get them anything...

[kirinan]

On 12/25/2016 at 9:32 AM, MissyPoo said:

I just saw the preview for Love Locks and Love on the Ice. Both look cute! I liked the last Hallmark ice skating themed movie and since Andrew Walker is in that one, I'm here for it. The video someone previously posted for Amy Smart's movie didn't come out for me :-( but the synopsis sounds too cute. I'm definitely checking that one out!

See if this preview works, MissyPoo (hee, I love your name because I have a sister named Missy and we sometimes call her that). And I'm also looking forward to the ice-skating movie too, btw. Figure skating is my all-time favorite sport--I remember watching Peggy Fleming's 1968 Olympic skate when it happened on TV, so that's how long I've been a fan--and I'm a total sucker for any movie or show with skating in it. And the skating in this one looks good!

[Irlandesa]

I swear the Amy Smart movie feels like someone should die at the end.  Something about the tone of the ad...but I'm glad they mention the guy okays her basically stalking his contacts. 

The figure skating movie has potential but I'm a little tired of these movies pretending women over 30 can be "big" in singles figure skating when that's typically a young woman's sport. For competition, at least.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Irlandesa

[In2You]

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I swear the Amy Smart movie feels like someone should die at the end.  Something about the tone of the ad...but I'm glad they mention the guy okays her basically stalking his contacts. 

The figure skating movie has potential but I'm a little tired of these movies pretending women over 30 can be "big" in singles figure skating when that's typically a young woman's sport. For competition, at least.

I saw a description for the movie and youre supposed to pretend the lead is 25 even though she looks 30+

[Shanna Marie]

5 hours ago, In2You said:

I saw a description for the movie and youre supposed to pretend the lead is 25 even though she looks 30+

Even 25 is rather old for a women's singles skater. The veterans tend to be about 22. But you pretty much have to throw realism out the window for most figure skating movies. Ditto with dance, writing, advertising, or any kind of business. Hallmark is the channel where you spend December working to develop the big Christmas product that will save your family business, where Christmas Eve is the best time to have a wedding, where owning property that you lease out gives you the right to move into the spare room, and where your boss can force you to let a new employee move into your apartment with you. That makes the 25 and probably lying about her age figure skater seem practically realistic in comparison.

[izabella]

I'm glad you mentioned how old figure skater was supposed to be, because I kept thinking she must be a teenager (even though she didn't look anything like a teenager) because: figure skating championship.  And because her mother seemed to be active in her skating career, and giving advice.  But then I was so very confused that they seemed to be setting her up as a love interest for hockey guy, who seemed way too old for a teenager and I was horrified. 

[In2You]

3 hours ago, izabella said:

I'm glad you mentioned how old figure skater was supposed to be, because I kept thinking she must be a teenager (even though she didn't look anything like a teenager) because: figure skating championship.  And because her mother seemed to be active in her skating career, and giving advice.  But then I was so very confused that they seemed to be setting her up as a love interest for hockey guy, who seemed way too old for a teenager and I was horrified. 

They styled her like a teen. I think the synopsis said she starts training a young skater and then has "what ifs" and decides to return to the ice.  Like  Shanna said even 25 is a stretch so this is one of those instances they should've cast someone younger and made the character a little younger. 

[MissyPoo]

On 12/26/2016 at 7:17 AM, kirinan said:

See if this preview works, MissyPoo (hee, I love your name because I have a sister named Missy and we sometimes call her that). And I'm also looking forward to the ice-skating movie too, btw. Figure skating is my all-time favorite sport--I remember watching Peggy Fleming's 1968 Olympic skate when it happened on TV, so that's how long I've been a fan--and I'm a total sucker for any movie or show with skating in it. And the skating in this one looks good!

 

 

That did work! Thank you, Kirinan! It looks great. I notice the production values look more theatrical. I almost felt like it would be coming out in theatres soon. :-) (And too cute about your sister hehe).

I agree! The ice skating one looks cute. I think I got hooked in the 80s when I used to watch the ice skating parts of the Olympics. I'm glad to see more movies coming up featuring the sport. Oh! The other one I was thinking of was Ice Dreams where I think Shelley Long was the mother. The two main characters kind of reminded me of Doug and Kate in The Cutting Edge (another movie I LOVE).

Edited December 29, 2016 by MissyPoo

[EyewatchTV211]

I think the two skating movies have started to become confused here. Didn't someone say the 25 y.o. is in the Winterfest movie with Andrew Walker that hasn't been out yet? It isn't the one with the former hockey player who has Mom very involved, etc. That was the Christmas movie on Up or whatever. 

But yes, 25 is generally old for ice skating. I guess we can pretend it's inspired by Michelle Kwan, since she tried to stick around as long as she could aiming for that gold. The preview for the movie makes it sound like the character had pretty much "retired" that but Andrew Walker's character still sees potential in her and convinces her to come back with him as coach. 

[dalek]

I'm not an expert on age in ice skating or ice dancing (although when Torville & Dean made their comeback in the 90s they were still pretty damn awesome imho and neither was a spring chicken), and I assume they went with competitive skating because DRAMA, but you could pick a more realistic setting and still have drama.

For instance, one thing ice skaters can do after retiring from competition is star in ice shows.  You could do All About Eve in an ice show setting. 

Former competitve figure skaters also open up schools and teach/coach.  You'd still get lovely filmed skating moments, but in a setting where it would be more reasonable for someone to be their 30s

[In2You]

4 hours ago, dalek said:

I'm not an expert on age in ice skating or ice dancing (although when Torville & Dean made their comeback in the 90s they were still pretty damn awesome imho and neither was a spring chicken), and I assume they went with competitive skating because DRAMA, but you could pick a more realistic setting and still have drama.

For instance, one thing ice skaters can do after retiring from competition is star in ice shows.  You could do All About Eve in an ice show setting. 

Former competitve figure skaters also open up schools and teach/coach.  You'd still get lovely filmed skating moments, but in a setting where it would be more reasonable for someone to be their 30s

She is a teacher the silly part is making her a teacher who decides to go back and compete with what looks like teens.

 

Storyline via Hallmark: Emily James (Julie Berman), a former Olympic figure skating hopeful who walked away from it all, now waits tables and teaches young kids to skate at the local rink. When former student Nikki (Anna Golja) begins training for Midwest Regionals with energetic (and handsome) coach Spencer Patterson (Andrew W. Walker), Emily begins to wonder 'What if...?' when Spencer suggests Emily still has what it takes. Once Nikki's domineering mom Mia (Gail O'Grady) gets wind of Emily's intention to also compete at Regionals, Emily must prove to herself that life is about taking a chance: at the comeback of a lifetime, and at love

[twoods]

Wow, that V day preview looks really good, especially the production value. The budget must be really high compared to the low production movies from Christmas. 

[Enero]

23 hours ago, In2You said:

She is a teacher the silly part is making her a teacher who decides to go back and compete with what looks like teens.

You think that's silly, A Nutcracker Christmas was just ridiculous. A dancer hasn't done ballet for 8 years,  her ex boyfriend has been out of the game (as a dancer) even longer, but when the two lead dancers quit (which would never happen with a major ballet company) they have to step in, at the last minute, to dance the lead roles in The Nutcracker ballet. Sorry, but I just could not suspend disbelief enough to buy that a former dancer would be able to successfully dance the lead in a ballet after not training for nearly a decade.

I actually find it more believable that someone whose retired from skating returns to competition years later because it's been done. As been stated Torvill and Dean returned to competitive skating in 1994, after being retired for many years. They'd even done some coaching while being away from competitive skating. 

 

Quote

No mention of December Bride, yet? It's the usual story of two lonely hearts pretending to be engaged for the holidays and falling in love. 

A December Bride was actually one of the few Christmas movies I liked this year. It did have the cliche two lonely hearts find love, but I liked that the conflict (though minor) was within the relationship instead contrived outside drama.  I kept waiting for the interior designer's former boss to expose her fake engagement which would in turn jeopardize her getting the decorating job with the Real Estate mogul. It never happened, which was a nice surprise. Plus the interior designer's reluctance to embrace her feelings for the account executive made sense considering how her previous relationship ended. 

The leads were both beautiful and actually had chemistry, and the interior designer's Christmas decorating expertise was nicely done. It didn't look gaudy or like Christmas threw up all over everything. The wedding at the end was a nice touch, and I guess was needed since that was the name of the movie, but I think it would've be fine if it had ended after the account executive proposed.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Enero

[Shanna Marie]

55 minutes ago, Enero said:

They'd even done some coaching while being away from competitive skating. 

I think that was the key. They never stopped skating. They were coaching, and they were skating professionally, and a lot of the things they were doing as professionals were more technically challenging and innovative than what they'd done as amateurs. The only real change was going back to Olympic competition rules. But that Nutcracker movie was ridiculous. I didn't think the guy was too much of a stretch because he was working with a ballet company, so he may have been going through classes and seemed to do some dancing on his own. But it was an actual plot point that she'd had nothing to do with ballet for eight years. She wasn't teaching, which would have meant essentially taking multiple classes a day and staying in good enough shape to demonstrate. There's no freaking way she'd have been able to dance pointe within days of putting on pointe shoes for the first time in eight years. Her shoes would have been full of blood because she wouldn't have had a chance to re-develop the calluses.

Though that wasn't the only silly thing about that Nutcracker movie. That one suffered from the Christmas movie rule that all the action has to take place during the holiday season, after all the decorations have gone up, so they were casting and rehearsing the Nutcracker in December, something that more likely would have happened in October, and they seemed to be doing only one performance, on Christmas itself (another Christmas movie rule -- the climactic event must happen on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day). It's unlikely that a program big enough to bring in an outside guest artist and house her for a month would do just one performance. In a city the size of Philadelphia, I'd think they'd be doing performances all month.

[Irlandesa]

On 12/29/2016 at 3:11 PM, dalek said:

I'm not an expert on age in ice skating or ice dancing (although when Torville & Dean made their comeback in the 90s they were still pretty damn awesome imho and neither was a spring chicken), and I assume they went with competitive skating because DRAMA, but you could pick a more realistic setting and still have drama.

I love Torville and Dean and they were indeed awesome (and IMO robbed of the gold) when they made their return.  But I guess I see ice dancing and singles skating as different animals.  I'm no expert but ice dancing seems to be the one ice sport that still heavily relies on artistry where individual skating and pairs seem to have it more weighted towards athleticism in competitive skating. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I very well may be), but the entertainment tours they later go on have more flexibility for focusing on artistry with less athletic feats.  They aren't all throwing down quads.

[Shanna Marie]

13 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I very well may be), but the entertainment tours they later go on have more flexibility for focusing on artistry with less athletic feats.  They aren't all throwing down quads.

The pro singles skaters who came back in that same Olympics as Torville and Dean didn't do quite as well (Katarina Witt borderline embarrassed herself, though all the Tonya and Nancy drama kept that from being as big a deal as it might have been), but the pairs skaters who came back after being pro won (though they were much younger than the others to begin with). Anything that requires that much jumping is killer on the joints, and it's even worse today because they've upped the levels since then. Tara Lipinski had to retire very young even from pro skating because all the heavy-duty jumping she did killed her joints and she had to have hip surgery. Someone coming out of retirement to skate in a pro show that focuses on artistry would be more believable than someone in her mid-20s coming out of retirement to skate at an Olympic level. That would have made for an interesting movie -- the skater turned coach who explores her artistry away from the requirements of competition and who gains the courage to perform her new style of skating thanks to the love of a supportive man.

But I'm just happy they're making happy skating movies now (I guess we can thank The Cutting Edge). In the 70s and 80s, I think just about every skating movie was tragic. There was Ice Castles, with the skater who went blind, and does anyone remember a TV movie called Champions, A Love Story, about a pairs team that fell in love with each other, and then one of them was killed in a plane crash?