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

[JasminePhyllisia]

Okay I'm starting to enjoy this and will DVR some of the faves mentioned above.  I watched "The Christmas Bucket List" with Alicia Witt and noted so many of the clichés mentioned in this thread: girl from the city finding Christmas enlightenment in a small town, cozy log cabin decorated to the hilt, female lead has an astonishing number of winter coats...etc.

When her date took her to sled on a section of the mountain that was "special" to him, I just knew that his reason why it was special would be "I used to come here with my dad," and sure enough he spoke nearly those exact words.

The most annoying (and surprising) thing to me about this movie is that we're supposed to believe the female lead who is (at least) 35 is utterly shocked when this single man who's been taking her out on all types of Christmas-themed dates reveals he is actually romantically interested in her, not just doing it to be friendly, and he actually tries to kiss her!   

Edited December 30, 2017 by JasminePhyllisia

[chitowngirl]

Crown for Christmas is on! I finally get to see it!!!

[catrice2]

Is this only about the holiday movies? Is there another thread for the Mystery movies?  

[chitowngirl]

31 minutes ago, catrice2 said:

Is this only about the holiday movies? Is there another thread for the Mystery movies?  

It's for all Hallmark and HMM movies. It's just that it's been Holiday movies 24/7 for over a month now. I can't wait until HMM mystery movies start again!

[GaT]

44 minutes ago, catrice2 said:

Is this only about the holiday movies? Is there another thread for the Mystery movies?  

 

11 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

It's for all Hallmark and HMM movies. It's just that it's been Holiday movies 24/7 for over a month now. I can't wait until HMM mystery movies start again!

They start again on January 7th, there's an Aurora Teagarden movie. No more Christmas!!!! Whoopee!!!!

[chitowngirl]

Really liked Crown for Christmas. "You had me at sewing kit" ❤️ 

Didn't last 10 minutes into Switched for Christmas. Looking forward to Royal New Year's Eve. 

[Enero]

I absolutely loved Royal New Year’s Eve until the end. It was arguably one of the best new holiday movies this season. 

The leads had wonderful chemistry. I smiled throughout nearly all their interactions. 

I enjoyed the friendship between Caitlyn and her roommate. 

Caitlyn’s boss was stupid though and her villainy cartoonish, which her daughter thankfully called out. If she was smart she would’ve promoted Caitlyn to designer on her staff and therefore claimed her dress design as originals for her company. 

It was also a nice surprise that the fiancé didn’t turn into a villain trying to hang on to her relationship with the Prince. She wasn’t thrilled with their breakup but she handled it with maturity. Though I did think her giving him her blessing to move on was a bit much. 

I didn’t think the dress assemble was all that great. It look nice enough on the mannequin but when worn with the gloves. It was just ok. 

Now about that ending, after all that wonderful build up, the ending IMHO felt rushed and in turn fell flat. I was expecting more, thinking the movie went for a full two hours, very disappointed that it seemed to end prematurely, but I’d still say this was one of the best holiday movies this season.

[chitowngirl]

When it's reaired, it will probably be in a 2 hour timeslot. There was very little commercial interruption, but you can tell where commercials were supposed to be.

I loved it too! I do love how these princes from small European countries all have English accents, never French or Germanic. And I was glad the Prince didn't propose at Midnight after knowing each other for 5 days. There's a New Year's Eve every year!

[AnnaRose]

On 12/24/2017 at 1:08 AM, TVFan17 said:

It's a movie that squeaked into Hallmark's line-up just as the Countdown to Christmas is coming to an end, but... I thoroughly enjoyed Christmas Getaway (with Bridget Regan and Travis Van Winkle).    They were great together.  The child was pleasant and not annoying.  The music/soundtrack was good.  As expected, the cabin was gorgeous.  Yes, as always, the plot was nothing all that different or unexpected, but sometimes everything just blends together and works better than in other movies that are similar in plot or setting.  It's worth watching (and rewatching for me).

I just finished watching Christmas Getaway, and will definitely watch it again.  It is one of my favorites.  I will probably make a Christmas movie wrap up list of Loved, Liked and Disliked movies, but I watched so many and I have no idea which ones are from this year.  I may post it in a couple days anyway, if y'all don't mind, because I did keep a list so I could keep track of these crazy, similar names.

On 12/24/2017 at 4:35 PM, Shanna Marie said:

...Let me guess, the guy she broke up with at the beginning of the movie showed up half an hour before the end, throwing a temporary monkey wrench into things with the new guy. And her article probably read like some "how I spent my holiday" essay written by a sixth grader, something all about falling in love at Christmas, even though it's a travel publication.

As someone already mentioned, that guy never showed up again, and also, I don't think we ever really got the article.  It was more that her experience inspired her to start working on the book she wanted to write.

On 12/28/2017 at 1:18 AM, twoods said:

Christmas  Getaway was very pleasant. The chemistry between the leads was good and they both could act!  The kid was not annoying, and Bridget Reagan is absolutely gorgeous. I hope she's in some more movies. The usual annoying misunderstanding at the end nearly ruined it, but I will watch it again.

Yes, Bridget Regan is stunning.  (Except when she was wearing that horrible red lipstick.  That is not a good look on most women.)  I only know her from her evil Rose character on Jane the Virgin, so this was quite a departure.  She is very talented.

I don't normally like facial hair on a man, (not a good look for a woman either, heh,) but Travis Van Winkle was downright dreamy in this movie.  I looked him up on IMDB, and he played Bo in two episodes of Happy Endings - the Pilot, and Bo Fight.  I didn't recognize him, but the years have been very kind to him. ;)

He had terrific chemistry with Bridget, and I really enjoyed the way their relationship developed.  Scott's mom was great too.  And I think the young girl in this was probably my second favorite child character in the movies I watched, after the young princess in A Crown for Christmas.  Excellent casting!   I also liked the guy who worked at the candy store and goofed up the reservations.  It was nice that there was that little side story with Scott's mom.

On 12/28/2017 at 2:18 AM, TVFan17 said:

Yes.  If I had to pick any one thing to gripe about in Christmas Getaway, it would be that completely unnecessary misunderstanding that popped up.  Now, we all know that there will be a misunderstanding of some sort in almost every movie, but this one seemed so out of left field because it was clear all along that the other woman (Alice) was not anything to worry about.  Scott/Travis wasn't into her.   He never acted like he was into her.    He kept insisting he was not going on dates with her.   He acted like he was interested in Emory/Bridget, so Emory should have known better.

But other than that little bit of silliness, it was a really enjoyable movie.   I  liked that their previous attempts at kisses had been interrupted, and she finally just grabbed him and planted one on him.  And I chuckled at the little almond bit at the end of the movie. 

I also liked Teryl Rothery as Scott's mom.  And I liked Alvin Sanders as Hal -- the candy and travel guy with the ATV.

One of the writers (but not the only writer) of this movie is Tracy Andreen, who wrote the delightful Snow Bride (she is Katrina Law's sister-in-law in real life).  And she wrote the new UP movie,  Christmas Princess.   She was one of the writers on All for Love, with Sara Rue and Steve Bacic, from earlier this year.   So she has some talent and potential to write more good stories.   But, then again... she also wrote Switched for Christmas (not one of my favorites this year), so, I don't know how to explain that one away.  LOL

I could see how Bridget's character could convince herself that the woman with the young son was a better match since they had that in common... especially after having just broken up with her boyfriend who made her think that her life as a travel writer made her basically unfit for a regular relationship.

I'll admit the misunderstanding was frustrating, but I loved the resolution - especially when she finally grabbed him and kissed him after they kept getting interrupted - so in retrospect, it doesn't bother me too much.

Interesting that the writer also wrote Snow Bride, which was one of my favorites.  (I watched the last fifteen minutes of Switched for Christmas and couldn't tell the twins apart... so it went on my do not watch list.)

On 12/29/2017 at 9:15 PM, MissyPoo said:

...As for the left field misunderstanding, I totally agree. I think with this particular movie, since I enjoyed it so much (the characters were great, story was really good, chemistry was on point, and the comedy quips were funny). I headcannoned that part away because Emory was already scared of commitment and settling down that she made up this reason to distant herself until she was called out by her friend/editor/boss/BBF. Then she had to finally face her fear, not the made up relationship/attraction between Scott and Alice. Anywho, this was one of my faves of the year. A nice treat to round out the end of the marathon.

That's a really good point!

Edited December 31, 2017 by AnnaRose

[twoods]

I also enjoyed the New Years movie a lot. Great chemistry between the leads and Sam's accent didn't be annoy me as much as I thought it would. It was also refreshing that the fiancé wasn't a cartoonish villain as well as the boss's daughter. Definitely will watch it again. 

[Jaded]

10 hours ago, GaT said:

 

They start again on January 7th, there's an Aurora Teagarden movie. No more Christmas!!!! Whoopee!!!!

According to HMM's website their regular programming starts again on Monday Jan 1st at 5am est/4am ct (I thought I had read Jan 3rd when it all started in Oct) with them bringing back The Rockford Files. They showed a few episodes earlier this year, pulled it and wouldn't give a straight answer to anyone who asked why on FB. I see they are going to start showing Psych too.

Looks like regular Hallmark channel is back to regular programming on Monday Jan 1st too starting at 10am est/9am ct with Countdown to the Rose Parade. After that the actual Rose Parade will air followed by a Full House marathon. 

FYI: HMM will air Darrow & Darrow at Saturday January 6 9:00 PM / 8:00c.

[JasminePhyllisia]

I watched a few more Christmas movies, here are some observations:

Rocky Mountain Christmas: This wasn't as schmaltzy to me as some of the others, such as The Christmas Cottage which I bailed on after 15 minutes.

Points for the female lead Sara wearing the same coat (red wool with fur-trimmed hood) multiple times, even though she did have more than one.

Sara learns her uncle may be selling the ranch, leaves the ranch for her daily trip to town and where she meets up with her friend and says "Did I tell you my uncle might be selling the ranch?" Well, you just got here, so no.

Crown for Christmas: Held my interest through the end, and for once the kid (Theodora) wasn't precocious, a bad actor or impossibly perfect.

Danica's makeup was a bit heavy-handed but it did balance the prim uniform. Plus her purple eyeshadow matched the engagement ring.

A governess is a private teacher, right? But the only academic lesson I saw Theodora get was the fractions while baking cookies which was unplanned. Good thing she'll never have to work anyway. It seemed like they misused the word governess, and what they really meant was nanny.

Those sketches weren't very good, in fact some of them were downright unflattering.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Must be a fan fave because it's from 2008 but Hallmark has repeated it several times just in the past few days. 

The few scenes of violence (Henry Winkler knocking down a thief, Morgan fighting with the toy store owner for the bike) show how dated this one is. Those scenes wouldn't be in the sterile 2017 movies.

Henry Winkler brought some character and after a quick look at IMDb boy is he in demand. This guy does not say no to anything!  I loved him in Holes. In this movie I liked the part where he recorded the weather forecast from a few days earlier to make it seem like Denver was still snowed under.

Kid was annoying, poor acting, seemed to be reading from cue cards.

Morgan the stray visitor and love interest had that distracting (to me) hairstyle--overly gelled and coiffed--that seems to be a favorite of the Hallmark film stylists.  And it was even that perfect after he had just stepped out of the shower!

I actually laughed at the name of Morgan's sort-of girlfriend in Denver, I think it was "Morning Mist" or something like that. I liked the exchange where Jennifer laughed in his face and he embarrassedly mumbled some excuse about it being her parents decision, not her fault.

Effed-up Christmas timeline that seems to be a hallmark (no pun intended) of these movies.  Much emphasis was made of Jennifer being super organized, but she is just getting to her Christmas cards at 1:30 am Christmas Eve day?

Edited December 31, 2017 by JasminePhyllisia

[TVFan17]

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 6:15 PM, MissyPoo said:

Btw, does anyone else have any faves or disappointments this year? Surprise faves or stuff that you were looking forward to but ultimately was let down?

For me:

My faves are: 

Magical Christmas Ornaments

Christmas Getaway

The Perfect Christmas Present

The Mistletoe Inn

A Bramble House Christmas

 

I Liked it:

Wrapped Up in Christmas (Lifetime)

Snowed In Christmas (Lifetime)

All the Lifetime Short Films

Christmas in the Air

Christmas Homecoming

A Gift to Remember

Maggie's Christmas Miracle

Coming Home For Christmas

 

Surprises:

Magical Christmas Ornaments - I didn't expect to like this one that much but I've watched it multiple times and it's become a fave I'll play over and over again.

Coming Home for Christmas - I expected to add this to my faves list. From the description, I was really looking forward to it and liked it upon first viewing but haven't watched it much since then.

 

I definitely enjoyed a lot of them.  I am thinking that I will enjoy them even more in 6 months or one year, if I watch them again after some time away from Christmas movies (which is what happened for me with many of the movies from 2016 when I watched them again this year). 

But I found that in this year's group of new movies, for me, all of them -- even the ones that I liked best!! -- lost momentum or steam somewhere in the middle.   Maybe they started out with a really good premise, or a solid cast, or the movie moved along at a nice pace and kept things interesting -- and then, somehow, somewhere along the line, things fizzled.  Sometimes they would pick up steam again and bounce back, and sometimes they would just kind of linger in that so-so area.   Or there may have been just one segment of a movie that I didn't like, and it kind of ruined the rest of it that I did like.    I didn't flat out hate any of them, but  it was really hard for me to say "I LOVE that movie" about a lot of them because of that 'loss of momentum' issue.

I must add that all of the assorted inns, lodges, cottages, cabins and charming towns were gorgeous.   Someone stepped up the set decoration game this year, because the Christmas trees were more beautiful, and the décor was amplified.  I would love to get "stuck" in one of those Christmasy towns, and stay in a room that was fully transformed for Christmas!

 

The movies that I watched more than once (whether it was planned, or it just happened to work out that way) and enjoyed quite a bit were:

Christmas Getaway (that is probably the one that I liked most this year, and had the fewest issues/problems with)

A Gift to Remember

The Mistletoe Inn

Christmas at Holly Lodge

The Christmas Train

Marry Me at Christmas

Coming Home for Christmas

Christmas Next Door

A Bramble House Christmas

Engaging Father Christmas

 

 

I would put these into the "Better than I expected them to be, but nothing that I have to see again right away" category:

The Perfect Christmas Present

Home for Christmas Day

Christmas in the Air

A Joyous Christmas

Rocky Mountain Christmas

Maggie's Christmas Miracle

Christmas Homecoming

Christmas Connection

Christmas Encore

Romance at Reindeer Lodge

Royal New Year's Eve

 

 

Expected to like them more, but was a bit disappointed:

Miss Christmas

The Sweetest Christmas

With Love, Christmas

Christmas in Evergreen

The Christmas Cottage

Sharing Christmas

The Christmas Cure

Finding Santa

Christmas Festival of Ice

A Song for Christmas

Christmas in Angel Falls

Magical Christmas Ornaments

 

 

I am not counting the When Calls the Heart movie, because... it is what it is, and it is connected to a series.

I did not see all of Enchanted Christmas (only maybe the first 40 minutes of it), and have to try to catch it again in July.

I was not expecting to like Switched for Christmas because I generally dislike those "twins switching" stories, and it did not win me over.

 

 

On ‎12‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 3:50 AM, emjohnson03 said:

Looking forward to the "Winterfest" line up and can't wait to see Daniel Lissing's one with Rachel Boston, if only because he gets to use his natural accent. I think it was going to be a Valentine's movie but I heard it got pushed back so maybe not till spring.

 

 You know, you are the second person (in the last week) that I have seen make a comment about the Rachel-Daniel movie being delayed until spring, but I have no clue where that info originated.     I have not seen "spring" mentioned anywhere else.   Do you happen to remember where you saw it, or who mentioned it?  It's not that I don't believe it -- in fact, I thought it might have been delayed again because it hasn't been filmed yet -- but I am just curious who put that "delayed until spring" info out there, to where people are now picking up on it!  LOL

The Rachel-Daniel movie was originally supposed to be a summer installment -- at least, when the writer, Nina Weinman, first talked about it in an interview a long time ago, she said she hoped it would be a summer movie.  At some point it got delayed and re-themed to a Valentine movie.   The Valentine theme was confirmed just recently.  

But now, Nina is saying (I found an interview with her from November of this year, on YouTube) that she is not sure when the movie is going to happen.  She said it keeps getting delayed because of "scheduling" issues.  She has to keep tweaking the script because the themes keep changing!  She did not mention spring, specifically, so I am thinking the spring development is very recent?

 

16 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

Interesting that the writer also wrote Snow Bride, which was one of my favorites.  (I watched the last fifteen minutes of Switched for Christmas and couldn't tell the twins apart... so it went on my do not watch list.)

 

 

Candace Cameron Bure has been in two of my favorite Hallmark Christmas movies:  Let it Snow and A Christmas Detour.   And there were some parts of last year's Candace movie, Journey Back to Christmas, that I enjoyed, although the idea of a Christmas comet and time travel (via sitting in a barn) is questionable for a Hallmark movie, and I kept imagining that Oliver Hudson was thinking the whole time, "Why did I sign on for this?"  

But as soon as I saw the synopsis for Switched for Christmas, I knew that I was not going to like it.  I don't like those kinds of storylines -- especially since they "switched" for no good reason in the movie, and nothing really all that wonderful or terrible came from the switch.  The leading men were not compelling in this story either.   I hoped to like it because it was written by Tracy Andreen, but... not so much.  I will probably try to give it another chance in one year, but I don't think my opinion will change too much.

 

14 hours ago, twoods said:

I also enjoyed the New Years movie a lot. Great chemistry between the leads and Sam's accent didn't be annoy me as much as I thought it would.

 

The accent was unsettling in the commercials -- especially when they would focus on him saying "Oh dear!"  LOL  But, as the movie rolled along, I got used to it.  Realistically, it's probably still a silly accent, but it just didn't bother me after a while.  

I did find it very amusing that he was so obsessed with coffee and the hot dog he tried for the first time.

 

57 minutes ago, JasminePhyllisia said:

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Must be a fan fave because it's from 2008 but Hallmark has repeated it several times just in the past few days. 

The few scenes of violence (Henry Winkler knocking down a thief, Morgan fighting with the toy store owner for the bike) show how dated this one is. Those scenes wouldn't be in the sterile 2017 movies.

 

It is, indeed, a fan favorite.  It's one of the movies that many longtime Hallmark movie viewers name as a favorite.  But you're right -- I don't think either of those scenes would be in today's movies.   Those two scenes were the weak points in the movie for me -- not because of the suggestion of violence, but because they seemed silly and unnecessary, like out of a slapstick comedy routine. 

Otherwise, I like the movie a lot!

[ButterQueen]

On 12/30/2017 at 0:45 PM, JasminePhyllisia said:

Okay I'm starting to enjoy this and will DVR some of the faves mentioned above.  I watched "The Christmas Bucket List" with Alicia Witt and noted so many of the clichés mentioned in this thread: girl from the city finding Christmas enlightenment in a small town, cozy log cabin decorated to the hilt, female lead has an astonishing number of winter coats...etc.

When her date took her to sled on a section of the mountain that was "special" to him, I just knew that his reason why it was special would be "I used to come here with my dad," and sure enough he spoke nearly those exact words.

The most annoying (and surprising) thing to me about this movie is that we're supposed to believe the female lead who is (at least) 35 is utterly shocked when this single man who's been taking her out on all types of Christmas-themed dates reveals he is actually romantically interested in her, not just doing it to be friendly, and he actually tries to kiss her!   

Alicia Witt is my least favorite actress in the Christmas movies.

[voiceover]

I had just finished the Royal... film, and -- as is my wont -- picked up the remote to scroll through the next 24 hours (always holding out hope that Crown for Christmas will pop up).

And, as I read the programming through Wednesday, I felt a twinge I didn't expect:

The Holiday Marathon is over.  How I will miss it!

It had me at "sewing kit".

[Kaoteek]

Quite enjoyed Royal New Year's Eve... aside from the dodgy accents, and the ugly dresses. I think I'll keep an eye on Rick Garman's next movies, I like his writing style.

[magpye29]

I'm having Hallmark Holiday movie withdrawal!  Sigh.  Back to Food Network default mode.  I could just cry...sob.

[kirinan]

On 12/30/2017 at 10:47 PM, AnnaRose said:

Yes, Bridget Regan is stunning.  (Except when she was wearing that horrible red lipstick.  That is not a good look on most women.)  I only know her from her evil Rose character on Jane the Virgin, so this was quite a departure.  She is very talented.

I don't normally like facial hair on a man, (not a good look for a woman either, heh,) but Travis Van Winkle was downright dreamy in this movie.  I looked him up on IMDB, and he played Bo in two episodes of Happy Endings - the Pilot, and Bo Fight.  I didn't recognize him, but the years have been very kind to him. ;)

He had terrific chemistry with Bridget, and I really enjoyed the way their relationship developed.  Scott's mom was great too.  And I think the young girl in this was probably my second favorite child character in the movies I watched, after the young princess in A Crown for Christmas.  Excellent casting!   I also liked the guy who worked at the candy store and goofed up the reservations.  It was nice that there was that little side story with Scott's mom.

I still have this one on my DVR to watch, but if you can get hold of Magic Stocking, a Hallmark movie from 2015, Bridget Regan was beautiful in that, too--and she and Victor Webster, the male lead (whose character is also named Scott, come to think of it)--are an absolutely breathtaking couple. Plus I just love the movie itself.

I also had only ever seen her as a villain before Magic Stocking--not only in JtV, but also on Agent Carter as the deadly Dottie, and I was quite surprised by how likable I found her. I'm off work the next couple of days, and hope to watch Christmas Getaway then. She's become a must-watch-or-DVR actress for me.

[ButterQueen]

1 hour ago, magpye29 said:

I'm having Hallmark Holiday movie withdrawal!  Sigh.  Back to Food Network default mode.  I could just cry...sob.

We still have about 31 movies on the DVR to watch.  I recorded everything.

Edited January 1, 2018 by ButterQueen

[Irlandesa]

It's hard for me to know whether or not I'd watch any of this year's movies more than once except for Lifeime's Snowed Inn.  But what I find is that this burnout happens every year and it isn't until the next year when I find myself rewatching some of the movies that I remember thinking were okay that I realize they have more enduring value than I originally thought.

I will probably watch The Misteltoe Inn, The Perfect Christmas Present and Coming Home for Christmas. 

[LexieLily]

5 hours ago, ButterQueen said:

We still have about 31 movies on the DVR to watch.  I recorded everything.

I've got 82.

[TVFan17]

52 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

It's hard for me to know whether or not I'd watch any of this year's movies more than once except for Lifeime's Snowed Inn.  But what I find is that this burnout happens every year and it isn't until the next year when I find myself rewatching some of the movies that I remember thinking were okay that I realize they have more enduring value than I originally thought.

I will probably watch The Misteltoe Inn, The Perfect Christmas Present and Coming Home for Christmas. 

Yep.     I don't know if it's burnout for me, or just a matter of not having the necessary focus and concentration when I watch.  But somehow or another, I end up not appreciating certain movies too much upon first viewing, and then, when I see them during the next holiday season, I like them so much more.  It doesn't happen with every single movie, but it has been happening with quite a few.  As I was watching a bunch of the 2016 movies again during the holidays of 2017, I was thinking, "I wonder why I didn't realize that this was a good movie?"

I think that there are so many movies across so many channels that it just becomes a big maelstrom of madness trying to keep up with them after a while, and for me it ends becoming a matter of just getting through them to clear off the DVR, or to move on to something else, to go run an errand, etc.   So if I am just trying to get through them, I am probably not really focusing too much.

[Irlandesa]

13 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I think that there are so many movies across so many channels that it just becomes a big maelstrom of madness trying to keep up with them after a while, and for me it ends becoming a matter of just getting through them to clear off the DVR, or to move on to something else, to go run an errand, etc.

Exactly.  It feels like a challenge.  Sometimes a chore.  But if I'm laying in bed or lounging and a movie I remember thinking was decent the previous year comes on, they often play much better.

[AnnaRose]

I finally watched A Royal New Year's Eve and didn't like it as much as others seemed to.  The prince's manner of speaking was strange and distracting.  (Maybe the actor was struggling with the accent?)  And I didn't like the lead actress/character.  I looked her up on IMDB later and realized she played Cash on Nashville, right before I stopped watching it.  I absolutely despised her character on that show (along with Maddie), and I think that really colored my opinion of this movie. 

If I look at it objectively, the story was a standard Hallmark fairy tale romance, but still pretty cute... so I could see how a lot of people enjoyed it.

I did like the roommate, however, and the actress who played her.  That character was a saint and did most of the construction of the wonder-dress.  Speaking of that... it didn't look very impressive to me... and Jessy is just too bony to give it any shape.

One other thing I liked was the magazine editor's daughter being ethical and calling out her mom.  What did she say?  Something like that she was acting like a cartoon villain?  Whatever it was, I thought it was great.

[magpye29]

So both Hallmark channels have movies all day today!  My DVR is going to get a workout.  I'm so happy to be in the land of overly-Botoxed 90s TV stars and outlandishly long hair extensions!  Color me happy!  (Seriously, though, what is with all the bad cosmetic work on these people?  I hardly recognize some of them!)

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, magpye29 said:

So both Hallmark channels have movies all day today!

And there are definitely some movies that I enjoyed like Love's Complicated which put a realistic twist on why someone would get engaged without wanting to.  Good chemistry between the leads too. And I think even Love In Paradise.

[twoods]

Not liking the lead in Love On the Slopes so far. Maybe it gets better once Thomas comes in but I'd rather watch Veronica Mars right now. How disappointing.

[TVFan17]

I'm probably going to be the only one -- the sole voice -- with a positive opinion, but I really enjoyed Love On the Slopes!   I thought it was a good start to Winterfest.   The scenery was fantastic, for one thing.   Some of the scenes of snowy fun were just very happy and joyful, and they made me smile.  There were some things that were unnecessary in the movie, as usual, but in general it was an uplifting story with a good 'message' about facing fears and getting out of your own way to be who you should be (although it was a bit heavy-handed in its delivery).

Edited January 7, 2018 by TVFan17

[Suzysite]

The winter coat situation was pretty crazy in Love on the Slopes.  She brought about 8 coats/jackets with her (for a week-long trip) and still wore an unbuttoned leather jacket in the chairlift scene. Oh haha, we get it, she's a ditz.  That suitcase couldn't have held all those coats, either. 

Lead actor's French Canadian accent came through fairly often.  Otherwise, I enjoyed this one.   Need to give it a rewatch since I fell asleep for a few min toward the end.

[Luckylyn]

I enjoyed Love on the Slopes but was annoyed with the unnecessary boyfriend subplot.   He could have been removed, and it would have made very little difference.  Her being a reporter  whose afraid of risk and him wanting privacy combined with his post break up issues was enough of an obstacle for them to work through to be together.  I also hated the city=clueless about the elements cliche.  I liked the theme of facing fears and the leads had chemistry.

On a random note, whoever put the co-worker friend character in that horrible illfitting outfit at the beginning of the movie should have been taken to task.  

[twoods]

Glad you guys liked it. Will give it another go tonight- just need to get past the lead and her annoying "city ditziness" and stuffy boyfriend plot. 

[sistersledge]

I had a flashback to this thread last night when the boyfriend *at the end* just turns front and goes “okay”.... no tears, no arguing... I don’t want to spoil it but if you watched it, you know what I mean... 

Edited January 7, 2018 by sistersledge

[Luckylyn]

1 hour ago, sistersledge said:

I had a flashback to this thread last night when the boyfriend *at the end* just turns front and goes “okay”.... no tears, no arguing... I don’t want to spoil it but if you watched it, you know what I mean... 

Me too!  That was just lame and reinforced his character's total lack of purpose.  It was a major eye roll moment.

[VartanFan]

Quote

On a random note, whoever put the co-worker friend character in that horrible illfitting outfit at the beginning of the movie should have been taken to task.  

I came to post this exact thing.  At least, I'm assuming you're referring to the maroon (P)leather skirt?  Awful. 

I found the female lead to be a bit annoying but I thought the male lead was competent and easy-going-ly charming.   

Side note:  Was that....REAL SNOW???  It's a post-Countdown-to-Christmas miracle!

Edited January 7, 2018 by VartanFan

[GaT]

Well, that was disappointing. I watched the new Aurora Teagarden movie tonight, & knew who the murderer was right away. Also, they got rid of John, & Aurora's house for some reason, & it looks like Martin is gone now. Book spoiler:

Spoiler

in the books she marries Martin & he dies & then she starts up with Robin again & I seem to remember she marries him, so maybe that's the direction they're going in now.

Was the police chief pregnant IRL?

Edited January 8, 2018 by GaT

[Jaded]

I saw that movie aired when I was looking at the Titan TV listings to see what was on earlier while I was watching the Golden Globes. I figured it must have been bad or not many people watched considering what it was airing against. Not just the GGs but new episodes of other shows. 

[Irlandesa]

Love On The Slopes had nice snow.  That's about all I can say about it.  The leads were fine, although I honestly felt more of a connection with the dumped boyfriend, but...meh. 

Next week's movie, Frozen In Love, where it sounds like two people date because he has to repair his image intrigues me.  It's a total romance-novel cliche plot and I am here for it.  Rachel Leigh Cook hasn't been my favorite but I have higher hopes since she's opposite Niall Matter.

[Shorty186]

1 hour ago, GaT said:

Well, that was disappointing. I watched the new Aurora Teagarden movie tonight, & knew who the murderer was right away. Also, they got rid of John & Aurora's house for some reason, & it looks like Martin is gone now. Book spoiler:

  Hide contents

in the books she marries Martin & he dies & then she starts up with Robin again & I seem to remember she marries him, so maybe that's the direction they're going in now.

Was the police chief pregnant IRL?

I was wondering why they didn't have normal supporting characters Sally and John. I know Aurora explained, but was it because the actors weren't available or turned them down? They were definitely needed as they expanded Perry's character and brought on the new Mayor character. 

Spoiler

I hope so because I have hated Martin since he first showed up and I think Candace has much more chemistry with Robin. However, I looked up the book plot descriptions and Martin should have died in the last movie. Also, he and Aurora should have married already, so they may be taking liberties and think killing him off will be too sad, but I'm crossing my fingers that they do anyway.

[mikeb]

5 hours ago, Shorty186 said:

I was wondering why they didn't have normal supporting characters Sally and John. I know Aurora explained, but was it because the actors weren't available or turned them down? They were definitely needed as they expanded Perry's character and brought on the new Mayor character. 

  Reveal hidden contents

I hope so because I have hated Martin since he first showed up and I think Candace has much more chemistry with Robin. However, I looked up the book plot descriptions and Martin should have died in the last movie. Also, he and Aurora should have married already, so they may be taking liberties and think killing him off will be too sad, but I'm crossing my fingers that they do anyway.

I checked IMDB and Lexa Doig, who plays Sally, had recurring roles in 2 different series in 2017, so hoping she was just unavailable and will be back.

[EyewatchTV211]

7 hours ago, mikeb said:

I checked IMDB and Lexa Doig, who plays Sally, had recurring roles in 2 different series in 2017, so hoping she was just unavailable and will be back.

I didn't read the books but read some other things online and thought 

Spoiler

Aurora married some other guy that came into the books later, not Robin or anyone else we've seen yet. I think people were disappointed. I could be thinking of another series though...

But I actually thought she had more chemistry, at least early on, with Martin. I only saw friendship chemistry with Robin, nothing romantic.

[dalek]

I thought the most recent Aurora Teagarden movie was better then the previous two movies, although I guessed the murderer pretty early on, and I almost never manage that.

I missed Sally and Jon and was a little surprised that Aurora had sold her house, but I guess they blew all the budget on the film set in the film?

I think Candance Cameron Bure and Marilu Henner make a believable mother daughter pair.  Loved it when Aida took out the psycho stalker with what I think was a fire poker. 

[mikeb]

2 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

I didn't read the books but read some other things online and thought 

  Reveal hidden contents

Aurora married some other guy that came into the books later, not Robin or anyone else we've seen yet. I think people were disappointed. I could be thinking of another series though...

But I actually thought she had more chemistry, at least early on, with Martin. I only saw friendship chemistry with Robin, nothing romantic.

Spoiler

I haven't read the books either, but my understanding in them Aurora first marries Martin (who ends up dying) and then Robin.   I think you are thinking of Murder She Baked series where Hannah ends up marrying someone other the two suitors featured in the movies.

[EyewatchTV211]

3 minutes ago, mikeb said:

  Hide contents

I haven't read the books either, but my understanding in them Aurora first marries Martin (who ends up dying) and then Robin.   I think you are thinking of Murder She Baked series where Hannah ends up marrying someone other the two suitors featured in the movies.

Spoiler

That's it. You're right. Oops! I knew Martin ended up dying but hadn't read about Robin. That must be what they are setting up without having Martin die in the movies. 

Edited January 8, 2018 by VMepicgrl

[MerBearHou]

On 1/7/2018 at 10:30 AM, twoods said:

Glad you guys liked it. Will give it another go tonight- just need to get past the lead and her annoying "city ditziness" and stuffy boyfriend plot. 

I turned it off when she was such a complete ditz getting on the chairlift so as you can see, I cut and run from this movie pretty early.  Cannot handle that in anyone, especially a woman.  To me, it is not “cute” or appealing at all.  Cut.It.Out.

Edited January 9, 2018 by MerBearHou

[MissyPoo]

Whoa. I was wondering how they were going to handle the whole Martin and Robin thing in the movies. From the previews, I was sketchy they have't showed him, but it appears

Spoiler

he just disappears instead dying like in the books?

I still need to watch it, but that's kind of a weird angle along with the house thing.

 

As for the Love on the Slopes movie, it wasn't too interesting to me but it was good background noise as I tuned out halfway through. I agree with everyone about the annoying lead and the boyfriend angle. As soon as I saw him, I knew he was going the way of the dinos and only cared to see if they did anything different with the dumping and reactions. Nope.  Plus some of the dialogue had me side-eyeing the whole movie. It felt badly dated from the cultural references stuck in the 90s with the Spice Girl and Britney Spears talk.

Dude: You're not really sporty are you?

Chickie: I'll have you know I dressed up as Sporty Spice for Halloween last year. Okay, it was really Posh Spice.

Cringe doesn't even begin to describe it.

Edited January 9, 2018 by MissyPoo

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

I still need to watch it, but that's kind of a weird angle along with the house thing.

He doesn't just "disappear." He was in this movie.  He just goes away at the end to find someone.   It felt like there was some mystery there that I'd be surprised if they totally let go.  But then they did bring Robin back. 

Spoiler

I wonder if they're going to do a triangle since he didn't die like he did in the books. Or maybe he will be presumed dead in the next movie.

 

It would surprise me if Martin is gone and Robin is staying, though.  I would think they'd take some liberties and stick to one love interest kind of the way they did in Murder She Baked!  Even though Norman was a character, I thought it was pretty clear in the movies that Mike was her intended end game.  From the one book I read, it was more of a triangle. 

Spoiler

And then she didn't end up with either of them which, if I read more than one book, might have irritated me.

[mikeb]

I noticed an attempt at an inside joke at the beginning of the new Aurora Teagarden movie.  When she is recommending mysteries to a library patron, she first mentions Agatha Christie and then Charlaine Harris, who is the author of the Aurora Teagarden books.  I also noticed a continuity error - she talks to both Martin and her mother about going to dinner before the Real Murders club meeting that night and then when they switch to the meeting, there is a sign that says the meeting is at 5:00 pm. 

Edited January 9, 2018 by mikeb

[Mountainair]

Caught up with the Aurora movie and the Love on the Slopes movie last night. I usually like the Aurora movies so there was nothing out of the ordinary here. I liked it well enough. I'm never good at guessing the killer so I was mildly surprised at the ending. Her mom was awesome with the assault at the break in and that took me by surprise. I figured the producer boy friend of Aurora's mom was responsible. Martin's leaving seemed to come out of nowhere and be anti- climactic. I thought they were engaged but maybe I too am confusing this series with Murder She Baked. 

I really liked Love on the Slopes. The boyfriend was really a non entity and I assumed she bought all the coats after the other lead (Cole? I'm as terrible at names in real life too) took her shopping before they went rock climbing. My first and only time skiing was when I was 19 and I had no trouble getting on the ski lift but getting off was another story. Talk about human pile up- I took out my mother in law and sent her careening down the side embankment so I actually got a laugh out of that in the movie. 

[susannot]

I liked the new Aurora movie too.  Didn't guess the killer until near the end because there was a wide array of suspects.  I liked Martin more than in any other movies.  He seemed better looking: face more chiseled, more tan.   I agree that Robin will be Aurora's new love interest because that is the direction the books go.  Really hope we learn whether Martin finds that CIA family.

Edited January 10, 2018 by susannot

[MissyPoo]

23 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

He doesn't just "disappear." He was in this movie.  He just goes away at the end to find someone.   It felt like there was some mystery there that I'd be surprised if they totally let go.  But then they did bring Robin back. 

  Reveal hidden contents

I wonder if they're going to do a triangle since he didn't die like he did in the books. Or maybe he will be presumed dead in the next movie.

 

It would surprise me if Martin is gone and Robin is staying, though.  I would think they'd take some liberties and stick to one love interest kind of the way they did in Murder She Baked!  Even though Norman was a character, I thought it was pretty clear in the movies that Mike was her intended end game.  From the one book I read, it was more of a triangle. 

  Reveal hidden contents

And then she didn't end up with either of them which, if I read more than one book, might have irritated me.

I gotcha. That makes sense then. I like the idea that was suggested of him showing up later in a twist. From what I saw on FB, it looks like the actor chose to leave the show. I wonder if it's because he's focusing on The Artful Detective in the meantime.