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

[Happywatcher]

On 11/23/2018 at 2:31 AM, Shorty186 said:

I ended up liking Reunited at Christmas, but thought it was so weird that I didn't find any chemistry between the leads until the ANGST came in - which is super odd considering Nikki Deloach and Mike Faiola played a married couple for 4 seasons on MTV's "Awkward." I actually wasn't even sure their characters were even a couple since all they did was hug until they got to her hometown.

 

There is a limit on kissing in Hallmark movies. (I read here it is either one or two)

Just saw this on DVR. They did seem like friends until the angst. My main issue is that the mom and dad broke up...dad being nice but mom was being a bitch...which made daughter break off the engagement...blah....yuck...

1. We all get enough of that type of drama in our real life holiday family get togethers. A large family event always has one or two people acting out.

2. The couple wasn't young and wasn't being played as being young. There was no reason for her to act that way

[MissyPoo]

7 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:

Hi, guys.  I've been snarking, er, I mean, commenting and reviewing, these Hallmark movies on the Shopping Channel board.

The titles of the "royal" Christmas ones are beginning to get mixed up in my head, lol -- forget the plots and characters who sound alike -- even the titles are the same.  I don't even know which names are real and which my brain is screwing up trying to remember -- My Christmas Prince, My Winter Prince, A Prince for Christmas, A Royal Christmas, A Prince to Remember, lol.  Which is the one where the Prince falls for a girl who works in Manhattan as a writer but her home town is "Maple Falls", Wyoming?  His parents initially disapprove of their son's choice and send the Queen's assistant to Wyoming for some straightening out.

Any help would be appreciated.

It seems every one of these Hallmark movies employ a singular hair stylist, as EVERY woman, even down to the female toddlers, sport that "mermaid" look.

Hot chocolate must be mentioned in every Christmas movie.  Marshmallows are optional.  Cider and eggnog come in second and third.

The characters always talk about "the pitch".  Almost all the characters are workaholics employed in advertising and marketing.

Every sentence begins with a slowly drawn out "So...……."   (i.e. "So...….tell me how you and Santa met"; "So.....tell me how things are going with you and the Prince in Bumfuck, USA"...…)

 

5 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:

I accidentally found the movie -- "My Christmas Prince", and the kingdom is "Madelvia".  But it's Lifetime, not Hallmark.  No wonder I was having such trouble....

Haha. Yep that was the one. Man, that was horribad.  

[AnnaRose]

On 11/15/2018 at 8:15 PM, Sara2009 said:

Are there any good Hallmark movies that don’t have romance as the main focus?

Hey Sara2009, I have one more recommendation for you, except this one is on Lifetime instead of Hallmark... but it has only a tiny bit of romance and the rest is more about family dynamics and life choices.  Kristin's Christmas Past turned out to be one of my favorites, and a welcome break from the same ole', same ole' romantic plots:

Quote

Kristin's Christmas Past
Fri, Nov 30, 2:00 PM  EST  on  Lifetime
A feisty woman who's cut ties with her family prepares for a lonely holiday season, but after falling asleep on Christmas Eve, she wakes up to a Christmas from her past and realizes that she's been given a chance to alter her future for the better.

[bijoux]

9 hours ago, CherryAmes said:

Anyone who has seen Christmas Next Door can you answer a question for me?  Do they explain how a woman who plays the violin in restaurants and gives private lessons to children can afford the lovely house that she appears to own in what seems to be a very upscale neighbourhood?  I know plausibility isn't always a big thing on Hallmark but I'm thinking maybe I missed an explanation.  

No. Maybe it was the parents’ house and she wasn’t sharing it with her sister because the sister was Living with her boyfriend? There were some other plot holes and dropped threads, like their mother, who they mentioned was coming for Christmas never showing up and that not being touched upon at all. I mean, the hero’s sister and brother-in-law made it over from Norway where the airports were shuut down, and the mom didn’t make it from Florida?

Overall, though, I liked this one. It had some nice touches, like the sisters dragging the hero’s book covers. What is that I smell? 😁 And the woman he was dating realized that they wanted different things and broke it off very maturely. That was dope.

[mikeb]

14 hours ago, CherryAmes said:

I wonder if they take into consideration how many people PVR these movies?  I rarely if ever watch when they are actually aired.  I'm a bit of a luddite where things like ratings are concerned so perhaps this is a dumb question!

Nielsen actually releases at least three sets of ratings/viewership totals.  One is based on live viewing, one on "live+3 days", and one is "live+7 days" where the + days totals include PVR/DVR viewings up to the number of days indicated.  The reason they limit number of days included is because some advertisers care about when their commercials are seen.  Given how quickly how the wikipedia page is updated with viewership numbers, guessing the totals shown are just the live viewing totals, which could be misleading during this time of year when there are so many new Christmas movies to try to keep up with.  Having said that, it is a little surprising that Road To Christmas did not do well - could be there was a lot of tough competition that night or could be Chad Michael Murray was not the big draw they were expecting.

Also, since these movies are repeated so often, I am guessing that Hallmark also cares how well movies do in ratings in repeat viewings to try to maximize advertising revenue.  Probably affects which movies from previous years are shown, as well as how often and what time of day.

[Jenniferbug]

I was at Walmart on Black Friday (later in the day so not any crazier than a normal weekend) and saw they already had DVDs of Christmas at Graceland and It's Christmas, Eve, which was disappointing since I didn't enjoy either of those movies and would have rather had others released on DVD (like Road to Christmas which I loved, or some older movies). So while i do think ratings play a role, it also seems like Hallmark decided what movies to back a long time ago.

[Kaoteek]

Didn't like Christmas in Evergreen II as much as some of you here, despite enjoying the first one for what it was : here, the continuity was nice, the diversity was a nice touch, the production side of things wasn't cheap (once again, they seem to have blown the entire snow budget of the network on this one, having left nothing for the other movies ^^), and overall it was perfectly fine (albeit über-predictable), but something bugged me in the way everybody, including the leads, just felt a little too intense and enthusiastic in their reactions (The pipes ! THE PIPES !!! ^^).

It didn't make or break the movie for me, but still, every now and then, the overall lack of subtlety was distracting.

[Bronx Babe]

12 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

 

Haha. Yep that was the one. Man, that was horribad.  

I love how these monarchs wind up in American small towns.  No strain on credibility at all, lol.

[kirinan]

Did anyone watch Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane on HMM last night? If so, what did you think of it? I liked it, but I can't be objective about anything that Colin Ferguson's in. I will watch him in ANYTHING (Lake Placid 3, looking at you, and I've even been known to repeat his Maytag Man commercials several times when they show up in things I've DVR'd). But what makes me wonder is that I--gasp!--even liked Alicia Witt in it, and I thought the story was sweet and simple. Which makes me suspicious that I was watching it through my Colin-colored glasses, and that it was actually awful. So I'm curious--did others like it?

Edited November 25, 2018 by kirinan

[bijoux]

I haven't seen it, but I just had to go check out Colin's and Alicia's ages because I was convinced there was a big awkward age gap between them. They're the same age?! I'm shocked, I don't know if it's that Alicia's reads much younger, or that I still see her as Cybil Shepherd's daughter on Cybil. 

[Chippings]

Not a usual participant here, but I wanted to chime in about two I saw this weekend, comparing 'chemistry' between the principals.  One was the older one A Very Merry Mix-Up (perfectly dreadful title), but the chemistry between Alicia Witt and [insert nice-looking fellow here] was absolutely charming.  It had to do first with the script they had to work with, but they really made it work marvelously.  I've watched it a few times in bits and pieces.

Then, oh what a disappointment - I had seen Merritt Patterson (yes?) and Andrew Cooper before and I actually recorded Christmas at the Palace on Thursday, and whew -- was entirely let down.  As someone wrote above, odd script, weird motivations &c - and I just got no chemistry between them.  The writing was so largely to blame.  I had loved him with Cindy Busby in (was it Royal Hearts)? --  but his character was such a poop here that he had nothing to work with.  And hers (as noted above also) was entirely rude to him at the beginning, and never seemed much into the relationship after that  Further, I had been a huge fan of hers in Royal Winter, which was a somewhat similar story.  (Also the same bit about sneaky paparazzi / photographers &c) But despite the beautiful Romanian scenery and castle, it just never got off the ground for me.  

Incidentally, speaking of cliches, is there a single one in which the two principals don't bump into each other inadvertently and are surprised ..  ?  (It was a part of both of the above movies .. spilled coffee in one, no coffee in the other.  I think coffee is involved in about 40 % of them.)  

Those complaints aside, these movies are my fall-back viewing these days, when I'm bored to pieces with HGTV.

[TVFan17]

2 hours ago, kirinan said:

Did anyone watch Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane on HMM last night? If so, what did you think of it? I liked it, but I can't be objective about anything that Colin Ferguson's in. I will watch him in ANYTHING (Lake Placid 3, looking at you, and I've even been known to repeat his Maytag Man commercials several times when they show up in things I've DVR'd). But what makes me wonder is that I--gasp!--even liked Alicia Witt in it, and I thought the story was sweet and simple. Which makes me suspicious that I was watching it through my Colin-colored glasses, and that it was actually awful. So I'm curious--did others like it?

Well, speaking as someone who usually loves Alicia in these movies -- she is one of my top 3 favorites in the Hallmark family of actresses, and I have enjoyed all of her previous movies to some extent, with a  few of them even being all-time Hallmark favorites -- I was bored with Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane.   It moved too slowly for me.   All of Alicia's quirks fit better in lighthearted fare or comedic situations, in my opinion, and this one was too dramatic and sluggish for me.    I just prefer "fun" movies over serious, heavier movies.

As you can imagine, my favorite scene in it was when she and Colin were about to build the snowman -- because there was some actual banter and levity involved.  lol

We probably need a completely objective, unbiased 3rd party -- someone who neither loves nor hates Colin, and someone who neither loves nor hates Alicia -- to weigh in on this movie!  lol

[Kaoteek]

Tbh, I'd be hard-pressed to say if Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane was particularly good or bad.

It felt like was your typical HMM movie (ie heavier, not particularly original and with a predictable "mystery") with added touches of awkward, lighter misunderstandings, an unmemorable supporting cast, pointless ex-boyfriend angst... but it seemed watchable.

Except for the fact that these days, I struggle so much with Witt's acting choices, expressions & affectations (especially the "look into the distance with a vacant, vaguely sad/concerned look on your face" moments) that overall it annoyed me more than anything. Thankfully, Colin Ferguson was there.

(also, i'm starting to get tired of the "children get together one last time in the family home before selling it" trope)

[Darlin]

Did anyone see Christmas Everlasting? I liked this movie a lot and I'm glad it aired on the regular Hallmark Channel and not HMM (which I do not have). 

I haven't been too impressed with the 2018 batch of Hallmark Christmas movies.  Granted it's still early, but Christmas Everlasting is easily my favorite of this (very) short season.

I tried to watch Christmas at the Palace but I didn't like the plot or the actors.

I like Nikki DeLoach and tried to watch Reunited At Christmas with enthusiasm but the energy of the movie was too stilted for me and I ended up not finishing it. Luckily for me, A Dream of Christmas is re-airing tonight and I plan to watch it AGAIN for the 50th time. 

I need to give Christmas at Evergreen II a second chance.  l actually liked what I saw but I got distracted and didn't see a good chunk of it.  

Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe was a bit blah to me but it wasn't dreadful. I wish I could have seen Darcy get back at her co-workers. I do wish this movie had more elements of Pride and Prejudice.  I am trying to like Lacey Chabert Hallmark movies but it's a struggle for me. I legit think it's the scripts, LOL.

[Bronx Babe]

@Darlin, I agree with you about Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe.

Apart from everything you mentioned, I found it quite a slog.  So dull even Lacey Chabert looked bored.

[Jenniferbug]

Getting caught up on movies...

Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe was pretty bad. I wanted to like it because Brendan Penny is a pretty likeable love interest, but the plot was just blah and uninteresting. Aside from a few names, this movie bore no resemblance to P&P which is annoying.

I couldn't get into Reunited at Christmas at all. I kept getting up to do other things or reading instead.

Christmas at the Palace seemed like it was written to be a winter movie that was revamped to take place at Christmas at the last minute before filming. I do like Merritt Patterson, and I'd love to see her in a movie with a better plot. It seems like she gets cast in a lot of B movies for the Hallmark channel so their go to faves can have the "best" ones. 

I really liked Christmas Everlasting! The cast was great, the story was pretty solid, I bought into this small town community, and the chemistry between the leads. I guess my only question towards the end of the movie was why 

Spoiler

If Maeve and her adoptive parents were so open to her meeting her bio family, why they hadn't ever reached out to Alice before? It seemed odd that she had all these questions about her birth mom and her family seemed to be ok with that, but then never pursued it. Also I thought it was a little odd that Alice tried to tell her sister about the baby once, and then never mentioned it again in the next 15 or so years. I know she had her accident, but it's not like they were estranged and she clearly thought about Maeve often. 

But even with those questions, I still really enjoyed this one and would watch it again. It's probably my second favorite of the new movies this year. 

[kirinan]

9 hours ago, Jenniferbug said:

I was at Walmart on Black Friday (later in the day so not any crazier than a normal weekend) and saw they already had DVDs of Christmas at Graceland and It's Christmas, Eve, which was disappointing since I didn't enjoy either of those movies and would have rather had others released on DVD (like Road to Christmas which I loved, or some older movies). So while i do think ratings play a role, it also seems like Hallmark decided what movies to back a long time ago.

I'm not a bit surprised those two movies are selling at Walmart. I'm going to guess to a great extent, the same demographic that shops there LOVES Kellie Pickler and LeAnn Rimes. I'm smack in the middle of the suburbs of a large city in the Midwest--not what you'd think of as a country music mecca at all--and our local Walmart is ALL about the country stars. Their stuff is always highlighted on special displays, etc. I wonder if you'd be able to find the other DVDs at your local Hallmark store eventually?  

Edited November 26, 2018 by kirinan

[sistersledge]

Christmas at the Palace was terrible. Zero chemistry and what kind of butler? King’s closest confidant? Gives up this cushy job in a “European” country to move to NJ? I mean.... I say that as a Jersey girl too (who left a year ago after 43 years). Why on earth wouldn’t this skater w dark eyebrows want to stay in the country and work it out there? Just wrong on all counts.

[JasminePhyllisia]

My small town had its annual tree lighting ceremony today. I don't know what percentage of the population shows up every year but it certainly makes me feel like I'm living in a Hallmark Christmas movie!  Not to mention the quaint, independently-owned downtown coffee shop.  

I'm bored with this year's formulaic offerings from Hallmark, however I did DVR "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" which I watched and enjoyed last year--I'll save that one for gift-wrapping entertainment.

Edited November 26, 2018 by JasminePhyllisia

[Enero]

5 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

Tbh, I'd be hard-pressed to say if Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane was particularly good or bad.

It felt like was your typical HMM movie (ie heavier, not particularly original and with a predictable "mystery") with added touches of awkward, lighter misunderstandings, an unmemorable supporting cast, pointless ex-boyfriend angst... but it seemed watchable.

Except for the fact that these days, I struggle so much with Witt's acting choices, expressions & affectations (especially the "look into the distance with a vacant, vaguely sad/concerned look on your face" moments) that overall it annoyed me more than anything. Thankfully, Colin Ferguson was there.

(also, i'm starting to get tired of the "children get together one last time in the family home before selling it" trope)

I enjoyed this one as well. The acting was solid by all and the casting for the siblings was great. They all looked like family. Also, it was good seeing Laura Leighton. I’ve always enjoyed her acting. 

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, kirinan said:

Did anyone watch Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane on HMM last night? If so, what did you think of it? I liked it, but I can't be objective about anything that Colin Ferguson's in. I will watch him in ANYTHING (Lake Placid 3, looking at you, and I've even been known to repeat his Maytag Man commercials several times when they show up in things I've DVR'd). But what makes me wonder is that I--gasp!--even liked Alicia Witt in it, and I thought the story was sweet and simple. Which makes me suspicious that I was watching it through my Colin-colored glasses, and that it was actually awful. So I'm curious--did others like it?

As someone who doesn't have passionate opinions on either Alicia or Colin (although I have more positive than negative feelings for both), I was somewhat mixed on it.  I thought having them try to solve a mystery, even if it was pretty obvious, was kind of fun.  I really liked their banter in the beginning.  I just wish they had kept up the banter rather than having the movie go so serious.  I didn't need the usual Christmas fluff (i.e. the snowball fight was a negative for me, personally) but the the actors did the banter over the blue wreath really well.  So for me, If I ranked the movies at the end of the season, I'd expect it to rank amongst the top half over the bottom half.  The fact that I'm likely to remember what it was about is already a win for me.  Most of the time I'm trying to remember what movie is about what.

5 hours ago, Darlin said:

Did anyone see Christmas Everlasting? I liked this movie a lot and I'm glad it aired on the regular Hallmark Channel and not HMM (which I do not have). 

It's a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie so I'm kind of surprised it didn't air on both channels the way the HOH normally do.  Honestly, the Hallmark Hall of Fames have been somewhat disappointing for me for a while.  I wanted to love this movie because it has such a great cast but it was perhaps too sappy for me.

I even feel that way about Christmas With Holly which many here seem to like.

[TVFan17]

I will probably be the only one with this opinion -- and it is unexpected, as I was not thrilled with her Christmas movie last year -- but I thoroughly enjoyed the new Candace Cameron Bure movie (A Shoe Addict's Christmas) tonight.    That's the kind of story, pacing and tone that I like.   It was fun, frothy, and formulaic -- the kind of movie that many people wish Hallmark would stop making -- but I loved it.   Jean Smart was great.     It was a refreshing change from the other new ones that I have not been very  excited about this year.  

Candace has made two of my all-time favorite Hallmark Christmas movies in the past -- Let it Snow and A Christmas Detour -- but everything else she has done has been just sort of so-so for me.  So I was not expecting much from tonight's movie, and it was a nice surprise.

[LexieLily]

And here I am with the exact opposite opinion as @TVFan17, lol! I thought this offering was easily one of CCB's weakest Christmas movies if not the weakest. Two of my issues are with the synopsis of the movie Hallmark and the DVR chose to use because Noelle didn't seem to hate the holidays so much as she wasn't able to take chances and the "locked in the department store" portion of the movie was at the beginning and lasted all of five minutes before the fire crew got her out. Her guardian angel alternated between acting creepy and like a bumbling idiot, and didn't seem to help Noelle all that much. And I kept thinking that whenever Noelle had scenes with Alex and Mrs. Fulton that Alex needed to put on his big boy pants and stand up to his mom.

CCB has made better movies, IMO.

Edited November 26, 2018 by LexieLily

[catrice2]

All I can say is I'll be glad when we get back to the mystery part. All these Christmas movies are too much for me. Maybe if they just did in the month of December it would be okay.

I like romance novels so I really have never figured out why I don't too much care for the Hallmark romance movies. I might watch a few now and then but they are not must see TV for me

[AnnaRose]

I finally watched Rocky Mountain Christmas all the way through, mainly because my love for Kristoffer Polaha knows no bounds... but I'm sorry to say that no matter how sincerely he tried to sell it, I just couldn't buy that such a gorgeous, wealthy, famous, successful movie star would be so attracted to the lead actress.  I'm sorry to be so shallow, but I thought the casting was terrible - they didn't look like they belonged together at all to me, which made it impossible to believe that he would be so into her after spending a few days making decorations, drinking hot chocolate and have the requisite snowball fight.  It seemed even more over the top than usual for Hallmark in the fantasy-fulfillment casting aspect.  (I'm trying hard to buy that the people on my screen are falling madly in love in a few days or weeks in these movies... can you help me out and at least make it look a little more believable Hallmark?  Thanks a bunch!)  Lindy Booth did look more attractive in the second half of the movie though, so maybe they were having lighting and makeup issues in a bunch of the scenes.

Full disclosure: I have had a terrible migraine for the past two days, so it may be coloring my opinion. 

I also didn't like A Shoe Addict's Christmas as much as I hoped I would, either.  Jean Smart was great in it though, Candace looked beautiful, and I liked the actor who played the firefighter.  I thought they had nice chemistry and looked like they belonged together, so that was nice.  There wasn't really anything I hated about it... I just got kind of bored halfway through.  I'm not sure if that's because I've already exceeded my tolerance level for these kinds of movies (and it's not even December yet!) or because I feel so awful. 

One last note:  I feel you firefighter-guy... I don't get the shoe thing either!

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, AnnaRose said:

I also didn't like A Shoe Addict's Christmas as much as I hoped I would, either.  Jean Smart was great in it though, Candace looked beautiful, and I liked the actor who played the firefighter.  I thought they had nice chemistry and looked like they belonged together, so that was nice.  There wasn't really anything I hated about it... I just got kind of bored halfway through.  I'm not sure if that's because I've already exceeded my tolerance level for these kinds of movies (and it's not even December yet!) or because I feel so awful. 

I had no problems with the cast and Jean Smart was especially wonderful but it just felt really long.  So long. I don't know if it was the fact that they didn't add enough to the story to make it worth 2 hours or if it was the very weird structure where she kept popping into new shoes.  (Honestly, I'm not sure I totally followed what was happening with all the time jumps.) 

And I can't understand why they gave their Hallmark Hall of Fame movie--one of their few non-white movies--competition by airing the Honeysuckle movie on the Movies & Mysteries channel but didn't give the new Candace movie competition on HHM.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Irlandesa

[mikeb]

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

 

And I can't understand why they gave their Hallmark Hall of Fame movie--one of their few non-white movies--competition by airing the Honeysuckle movie on the Movies & Mysteries channel but didn't give the new Candace movie competition on HHM.

I think they make it difficult for the HMM premieres when they are on the same night as a Hallmark premiere due to the staggered start times.   The new HMM movie typically starts an hour later than the Hallmark movie, so imagine lots of folks start watching the Hallmark movie and if holding their interest, don't switch over to the HMM movie at least until the Hallmark movie is over.   It does some strange that they would schedule the Honeysuckle movie, which was one of their more heavily promoted HMM movies and starred Alicia Witt, one of their more well-known regulars, the same night as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie premiere.

[Jenniferbug]

6 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

And I can't understand why they gave their Hallmark Hall of Fame movie--one of their few non-white movies--competition by airing the Honeysuckle movie on the Movies & Mysteries channel but didn't give the new Candace movie competition on HHM.

I wonder if they wanted an excuse if Christmas Everlasting didn't have high ratings. It does seem a bit odd that the first movie with a black cast has stiff competition on their other channel. I don't remember how they handled Christmas Train last year which was their HMM but it seems like it was on a few times. I've barely seen it this year which is odd too.

 

11 hours ago, kirinan said:

I'm not a bit surprised those two movies are selling at Walmart. I'm going to guess to a great extent, the same demographic that shops there LOVES Kellie Pickler and LeAnn Rimes. I'm smack in the middle of the suburbs of a large city in the Midwest--not what you'd think of as a country music mecca at all--and our local Walmart is ALL about the country stars. Their stuff is always highlighted on special displays, etc. I wonder if you'd be able to find the other DVDs at your local Hallmark store eventually?  

I'm in a somewhat small midwestern town, so it didn't shock me to see those movies on sale...just disappointed me that Hallmark chose to release those to DVD instead of some of their better offerings (in my opinion which is clearly not the majority if Graceland was their highest rated movie!). They did have some DVDs of last year's movies too- Christmas Train, the Royal one with Lacey, maybe another 1 or 2 that I'm not recalling right now. So there's hope I'll get some next year!

[mikeb]

1 hour ago, Jenniferbug said:

I wonder if they wanted an excuse if Christmas Everlasting didn't have high ratings. It does seem a bit odd that the first movie with a black cast has stiff competition on their other channel. I don't remember how they handled Christmas Train last year which was their HMM but it seems like it was on a few times. I've barely seen it this year which is odd too.

I

Last year, Christmas Train premiered on both Hallmark Channel and HMM at the same time, so had no competition from another Hallmark movie.

[AAEBoiler]

9 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

... Candace looked beautiful

Haven't seen that movie yet but I though CCB was looking really gaunt and harsh in her commercial pop-ups during Pride, Prejudice, & Mistletoe. It was a big contrast to some of her earlier movies "Christmas Under Wraps" and "Switched for Christmas" where she looked much healthier a few years ago.

[Irlandesa]

40 minutes ago, mikeb said:

Last year, Christmas Train premiered on both Hallmark Channel and HMM at the same time, so had no competition from another Hallmark movie.

Yep.  And that is pretty standard for HOF movies...until this one. 

So I don't get their programming decision.  Is it, "don't worry, we'll give you a white people option"?

Edited November 26, 2018 by Irlandesa

[Kaoteek]

I really wish I had liked A Godwink Christmas more than I did : I enjoy both leads, they had chemistry, the snow was nice, production values were there, and all in all, it was a decent movie, but... man it was so low-key and understated that it bordered on being flat and boring. Too bad.

 

(also, the bland boyfriend drama wasn't necessary)

[ShelleySue]

I'd hate to be a real estate agent in a small town.  You know that when someone returns to sell the house of a relative that died, that house will never be sold.  The person returning will decide not to return to the big city and will live in the house.  Big commission down the toilet.

[Bronx Babe]

Beau Bridges plays a heavenly messenger in "Christmas in Angel Falls" where his eyebrows looked like they were going to take over the town.

[catrice2]

11 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Yep.  And that is pretty standard for HOF movies...until this one. 

So I don't get their programming decision.  Is it, "don't worry, we'll give you a white people option"?

So am I to understand that Hallmark showed a non white movie opposite the Lifetime movie that tried to find every black female sitcom star? 

[EyewatchTV211]

9 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

I really wish I had liked A Godwink Christmas more than I did : I enjoy both leads, they had chemistry, the snow was nice, production values were there, and all in all, it was a decent movie, but... man it was so low-key and understated that it bordered on being flat and boring. Too bad.

 

(also, the bland boyfriend drama wasn't necessary)

I agreed with all that you liked. I also really liked the scenery, both outside and in the house that they used for the inn (which was different from Hallmark's usual indoor locations that get reused so much). It was pleasant, but nothing elevated it. And it happened so quickly. I saw at the end that it was based on a true story - I don't know what the actual timeline was for them....

[MissyPoo]

On 11/25/2018 at 12:46 PM, Kaoteek said:

(also, i'm starting to get tired of the "children get together one last time in the family home before selling it" trope)

Yeah Hallmark kind of overdid it with that trope this year. That and the whole bodyslamming meetcute they love to do. Some of these Hallmark heroines would have gotten something broken in real life crashing into dudes twice their size.

On 11/25/2018 at 1:06 PM, Darlin said:

Did anyone see Christmas Everlasting? I liked this movie a lot and I'm glad it aired on the regular Hallmark Channel and not HMM (which I do not have). 

I haven't been too impressed with the 2018 batch of Hallmark Christmas movies.  Granted it's still early, but Christmas Everlasting is easily my favorite of this (very) short season.

I tried to watch Christmas at the Palace but I didn't like the plot or the actors.

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way. I'm surprised even the HMM movies have been underwhelming this year considering last year's entries are some of my faves. I loved Christmas Everlasting and plan to watch it again. A really good production all around with acting and setting although I thing some of the lighting on the characters were a little harsh at times. I had a few plot q's that I may have missed the first time around (one of which Jenniferbug mentioned) but overall, it was enjoyable and gave me tons of feels. I think the overall quality of Hallmark flicks have definitely gone down this year. 

Of the ones I did enjoy, I really liked:

Christmas Everlasting

Hope at Christmas

Christmas at Pemberley Manor (I still had problems with this one but it was pleasant enough)

I've watched the last two more than once already. The other ones I've watched have been snoozers and not very memorable.

13 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Yep.  And that is pretty standard for HOF movies...until this one. 

So I don't get their programming decision.  Is it, "don't worry, we'll give you a white people option"?

Yup, they also played A Heavenly Christmas two years ago on both channels as well. I didn't want to think this, but it was definitely in the back of my mind as to why they changed it this year. *grumble*

2 hours ago, catrice2 said:

So am I to understand that Hallmark showed a non white movie opposite the Lifetime movie that tried to find every black female sitcom star? 

For Saturday, I think the Lifetime movie with Toni Braxton was about an hour before Tatyana's HHOF movie. I ended up DVRing Toni's movie for later. For Sunday, CCB's movie started an hour later than Tatyana and the Huxtable sister's Lifetime movie (still on my watchlist).

[AnnaRose]

I tried to watch Reunited at Christmas, and though I like the cast, it was just so boring.  I made it through about 70 minutes (which felt like three hours) and then fast-forwarded to the end.  I agree with the poster above that dad was nice, mom was a bitch, and grown daughter was being pretty ridiculous toward her boyfriend of one year who had just proposed.  And the family was so pushy about everything.  Other than that, it was almost as boring as my real life holidays... plus I think I just saw this same basic plot in several other movies recently... so Bah Humbug! 

Then I tried to watch Christmas on the Coast, which had some glowing reviews here... I don't know if I am in a bad mood from forcing myself to sit through so much of the first movie, but the female best-selling romance author is such a biatch that I don't know if I want to finish watching it.  Bonnie Bedalia is great as usual, but I feel sorry for her character having to put up with such an arrogant, entitled, awful daughter.  The guy who I presume will be the love interest is cute, but I want him to run far away from rude, nasty author.

ETA:  I was interrupted very early on while I was watching Christmas on the Coast (company stopped over) and I had only gotten to the part in which the main character was extremely obnoxious about the marshmallows in the store and at her mother's house... but I've so far watched the first half or so, and she has already started acting like a decent human being, so I will probably finish it tomorrow.  (Also, apologies - I just realized this movie was not on Hallmark like most of the ones I watch.  Sorry for putting my comments in the wrong thread.)

Edited November 27, 2018 by AnnaRose

[Myrrhine]

2 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

I agreed with all that you liked. I also really liked the scenery, both outside and in the house that they used for the inn (which was different from Hallmark's usual indoor locations that get reused so much). It was pleasant, but nothing elevated it. And it happened so quickly. I saw at the end that it was based on a true story - I don't know what the actual timeline was for them....

Nothing elevated it? I beg to differ! What about Kimberly's character's beautiful scarf??? ;)

But seriously, I enjoyed watching the film, just appreciating that the actress was finally the lead in something else and also admiring that scarf. The male lead was also likeable, but I was not quite swept away by their 36 hour romance. I feel like the point of the movie, "All of these coincidences are bringing you together!!!!"  was somewhat underwhelming since they are the exact same coincidences that occur in many other Hallmark movies. You meet someone going to the same place you are and then when you get to the town you run into them again. And again. 

 And then that the supporting characters had to band together to bring about yet more "coincidences" to actually get them together. And like maybe the main character wanted a week or two to recover from her break up? I also thought Kathie Lee was perfectly fine in it. 

I just finished Christmas at the Palace or whatever it's called. I liked the king, so that kept me going through the whole thing, but I couldn't believe both of the skaters just absolutely BAILING on the pageant they were meant to be producing and performing in. Not to mention abandoning the young princess who was obviously bonding with them. Skipping the performance of your protege / love interest's offspring is a common trope on Hallmark. And it's usually treated like a federal offense. Even if it's for an unavoidable reason like car broke down or person was in coma. I couldn't believe it was dismissed so easily here. 

And how many people auditioned or were actually cast in a role for that pageant only to be dismissed because the lead / the king / the princess would be taking over the role? 

[Shorty186]

Regarding non-romantic Christmas movies, there is The Christmas Hope, starring Madeleine Stowe. However, it is so incredibly sad. You either have to have romance or death at Christmas, apparently. 

[Irlandesa]

13 minutes ago, MissyPoo said:

Yeah Hallmark kind of overdid it with that trope this year. That and the whole bodyslamming meetcute they love to do. Some of these Hallmark heroines would have gotten something broken in real life crashing into dudes twice their size.

They really did go heavy on it.  SO many movies with that theme.

14 minutes ago, MissyPoo said:

For Saturday, I think the Lifetime movie with Toni Braxton was about an hour before Tatyana's HHOF movie. I ended up DVRing Toni's movie for later. For Sunday, CCB's movie started an hour later than Tatyana and the Huxtable sister's Lifetime movie (still on my watchlist).

Christmas Everlasting and Every Day is Christmas were indeed aired at the same time.  The Hallmark and Lifetime movies start at 8 Eastern.  Hallmark Movies and Mysteries starts their movies typically at 9 p.m. Eastern.  My issue with Hallmark isn't what Lifetime had on their channel.  They can't control that (unless they moved their Hallmark Hall of Fame movie to this Saturday after seeing Lifetime's schedule).  But they can control whether or not they air a new movie on HMM.  

14 minutes ago, AnnaRose said:

I don't know if I am in a bad mood from forcing myself to sit through so much of the first movie, but the female best-selling romance author is such a biatch

But I think the movie sees her as this so I don't mind that kind of character.  Not every can be nice from minute one and this allows for character growth.  However, I also really liked Reunited at Christmas (probably my fave of the year) so what do I know?  

[AnnaRose]

8 minutes ago, Shorty186 said:

Regarding non-romantic Christmas movies, there is The Christmas Hope, starring Madeleine Stowe. However, it is so incredibly sad. You either have to have romance or death at Christmas, apparently. 

Usually both - it seems like the vast majority have at least a spouse or parent that is recently deceased and sometimes more than one.  It's starting to bum me out.

8 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

They really did go heavy on it.  SO many movies with that theme.

Christmas Everlasting and Every Day is Christmas were indeed aired at the same time.  The Hallmark and Lifetime movies start at 8 Eastern.  Hallmark Movies and Mysteries starts their movies typically at 9 p.m. Eastern.  My issue with Hallmark isn't what Lifetime had on their channel.  They can't control that (unless they moved their Hallmark Hall of Fame movie to this Saturday after seeing Lifetime's schedule).  But they can control whether or not they air a new movie on HMM.  

But I think the movie sees her as this so I don't mind that kind of character.  Not every can be nice from minute one and this allows for character growth.  However, I also really liked Reunited at Christmas (probably my fave of the year) so what do I know?  

True.  But these kinds of movies are so disposable and ubiquitous, that I think I have a much lower tolerance for unlikable characters.  I find myself calculating whether I want to keep spending/wasting my time while I'm watching these, unless they really grab me from the start.  Not fair perhaps, but that's my response to the deluge of Christmas movies.  On one hand I can handwave and forgive a lot because they are light-hearted, cheesy movies, but on the other hand I am probably less tolerant of annoying characters and other grievances.

[MissyPoo]

23 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

They really did go heavy on it.  SO many movies with that theme.

Christmas Everlasting and Every Day is Christmas were indeed aired at the same time.  The Hallmark and Lifetime movies start at 8 Eastern.  Hallmark Movies and Mysteries starts their movies typically at 9 p.m. Eastern.  My issue with Hallmark isn't what Lifetime had on their channel.  They can't control that (unless they moved their Hallmark Hall of Fame movie to this Saturday after seeing Lifetime's schedule).  But they can control whether or not they air a new movie on HMM.  

Truth. I've been side-eyeing them over that since I saw the schedule. Especially since like someone mentioned above, there was no new movie scheduled opposite CCB's Sunday movie. Funny, I didn't realize that at the time but now I'm feeling some type of way about it.

 

7 minutes ago, AnnaRose said:

Usually both - it seems like the vast majority have at least a spouse or parent that is recently deceased and sometimes more than one.  It's starting to bum me out.

Yeah I hear ya. I saw Honeysuckle Lane after Every Day is Christmas and the back to back parental deaths were bringing down my mood. I may have to put on Just in Time For Christmas for a boost. That always puts a smile on my face.

 

As an aside, watching some of my faves like Fir Crazy, Naughty or Nice, Mix-Up and the like, it's a stark difference in quality and care. It feels like Hallmark on auto-pilot this year. I'm hoping the competition from Netflix and Lifetime will hopefully shake them up next year. I couldn't even stand Lacey's movie this year and although I wasn't too crazy about her entry last year, I don't mind watching it in the background. Her new one nearly put me to sleep. I'm still looking forward to Memories of Christmas, Christmas at Grand Valley, Gingerbread Christmas, A Majestic Christmas and A Midnight Kiss besides any that you guys may recommend.

Edited November 27, 2018 by MissyPoo

[JAYJAY1979]

Hallmark Hall of Fame airing on Hallmark Channel is a bad idea... because a quality apple will turn rotten if paired with other rotten apples (99 percent of Hallmark Channel movies).

With that said, I did try watching Candace C. Bure's new holiday movie... and I found my mind wondering.. and realized this was the 1st holiday movie that I could't watch of hers from start to finish... and ended up watching Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas (that I taped years ago) instead :)

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, AnnaRose said:

True.  But these kinds of movies are so disposable and ubiquitous, that I think I have a much lower tolerance for unlikable characters.  I find myself calculating whether I want to keep spending/wasting my time while I'm watching these, unless they really grab me from the start.  Not fair perhaps, but that's my response to the deluge of Christmas movies.  On one hand I can handwave and forgive a lot because they are light-hearted, cheesy movies, but on the other hand I am probably less tolerant of annoying characters and other grievances.

Oh I totally agree.  And with the number of movies, I too am trying to force myself into just letting movies go quickly when I'm not into them.  And I agree about how disposable they are but that's probably why I appreciate movies with a character whose flaws go beyond "nice woman who just needs to rediscover the spirit of Christmas." Especially when I thought the script had actual humor. But I understand having the opposite reaction.

[Suzysite]

Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe felt like it was about 8 hours long.  I kept looking at the clock... only 45 minutes have passed?  I beg you Hallmark Channel, stop using Austen's stories in a mixed-up, gender-crossed muddle.  Darcy was the girl, Luke was Lizzie, Pemberley was something (the town, maybe?) and none of the rest of the story had anything to do with P&P.  I know it was based on some Austen rip-off book, but it was just terrible.

[llewis823]

The Candace Cameron Bure movie about the shoes - it was okay - but do you notice how ever since the TV show "This is Us" became so popular, EVERY show has to have time-hopping now. This movie had a lot of it too and that is not the usual Hallmark Christmas movie formula. I've also noticed it in the Netflix show "The Haunting of Hill House" - that one has alot of it too. I like the aspect but it can get confusing when used too much.

Edited November 27, 2018 by llewis823

[Crs97]

I am watching My Christmas Love, which is really pretty ridiculous - girl is getting the twelve days of Christmas gifts from an anonymous “true love” and chases every guy in town rather than realizing she loves her best friend.  

Gregory Harrison is making the movie as her dad, though.  When the hero gives advice to a prospective boyfriend rather than making his own move, he says, “You’re just all day dumb, aren’t you?”  Best line ever!

Edited November 27, 2018 by Crs97
Because Greg Evian and Gregory Harrison are not interchangeable

[Jenniferbug]

1 hour ago, llewis823 said:

The Candace Cameron Bure movie about the shoes - it was okay - but do you notice how ever since the TV show "This is Us" became so popular, EVERY show has to have time-hopping now. This movie had a lot of it too and that is not the usual Hallmark Christmas movie formula. I've also noticed it in the Netflix show "The Haunting of Hill House" - that one has alot of it too. I like the aspect but it can get confusing when used too much.

Yes! I didn't even really follow the time hopping near the end- so she was seeing the future? Or a potential future if she had changed things in the past? I don't know- by the time it got to that point, I was only half paying attention. 

 

15 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I am watching My Christmas Love, which is really pretty ridiculous - girl is getting the twelve days of Christmas gifts from an anonymous “true love” and chases every guy in town rather than realizing it’s her best friend.  

Greg Evigan is making the movie as her dad, though.  When the hero gives advice to a prospective boyfriend rather than making his own move, he says, “You’re just all day dumb, aren’t you?”  Best line ever!

I'm watching this one too. It is kind of ridiculous the way she's chasing around trying to figure it out, but I appreciate that it's mostly a fun, silly movie. I love Bobby Campo in it, and I think the relationship between the actresses is actually believable as sisters. It didn't end up being as predictable as I thought either. Not my favorite, but definitely one I enjoy.

[AnnaRose]

9 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Oh I totally agree.  And with the number of movies, I too am trying to force myself into just letting movies go quickly when I'm not into them.  And I agree about how disposable they are but that's probably why I appreciate movies with a character whose flaws go beyond "nice woman who just needs to rediscover the spirit of Christmas." Especially when I thought the script had actual humor. But I understand having the opposite reaction.

I totally get what you mean about having a character with flaws that improves.  I actually edited my post above last night (pasted below) because I did go back to watching it, (I haven't finished it yet) and the character made a very quick improvement right after the part where I had stopped and complained.  I should not have posted so hastily!

11 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

ETA:  I was interrupted very early on while I was watching Christmas on the Coast (company stopped over) and I had only gotten to the part in which the main character was extremely obnoxious about the marshmallows in the store and at her mother's house... but I've so far watched the first half or so, and she has already started acting like a decent human being, so I will probably finish it tomorrow.  (Also, apologies - I just realized this movie was not on Hallmark like most of the ones I watch.  Sorry for putting my comments in the wrong thread.)

Of course if I didn't read reviews and feedback here, I probably would have just deleted it. I do appreciate that it is something a little different from the standard Christmas movie formula.