UP TV Movies - General Discussion

[Was-MArsenault]

Christmas Angel from 2012, which starred Kevin Sorbo, Teri Polo, and Della Reese is going to be on today from 9 until 11 AM.

Tamera Mowry is also in it as well.

[kirinan]

I just watched A Christmas Switch, which I recorded  a couple of weeks ago. I really liked it; it was a nice take on the "switching bodies" trope (which, I admit, I always like anyway). Nothing massively different, but everyone was likable, and it made me tear up a few times. And am I the only one who thinks Julia's husband the attorney looks so much like Colin Jost from Saturday Night Live that they could be brothers?

I have to give UP TV credit. I always thought their movies were low-rent versions of Hallmark (and some are, but hey, some of Hallmark's are low-rent), but the ones I've watched so far this year I have enjoyed tremendously. 

Edited November 11, 2019 by kirinan

[In2You]

[Jaded]

7 hours ago, In2You said:

I might watch this to see Scott Thompson  and what kind of character he'll play. I also like to add eyeballs to the more diverse movies because they always seem more interesting to me. One Xmas movie I really liked on UP last year was the one with Sarah Lancaster who separates from her husband, she along with her two friends decide to open a restaurant and other more realistic events occur while it still came across as holiday related.

Edited December 10, 2019 by Jaded

[Direwolf]

8 hours ago, Jaded said:

One Xmas movie I really liked on UP last year was the one with Sarah Lancaster who separates from her husband, she along with her two friends decide to open a restaurant and other more realistic events occur while it still came across as holiday related.

Christmas on Holly Lane! I watched part of this while channel surfing over the weekend. It seemed interesting enough that I want to go back and watch the whole movie at some point. Gina Holden is in the movie as well. She has been in a few holiday movies over the years, including Christmas Comes Home to Canaan (with Billy Ray Cyrus). 

[MissyPoo]

^^Gina Holden also played a funy, upbeat goth girl on the Blood Ties tv series. Such a good show.

I'm definitely checking out Snowbound for Christmas. And you guys just reminded me I needed to check Christmas on Holly Lane since I missed it last year. Adding A Christmas Switch to that list as well.

[In2You]

UP will be doing movies every day starting in January. I noticed they picked up alot of the movies that aired on Pixl as well as some filmed for Pixl that never released and they'll be having premieres on Sundays.

Edited December 16, 2019 by In2You

[twoods]

Yeah, I saw that one of my faves It Had To Be You was going to be on the 4th of Jan. For Michael Rady fans I highly recommend this movie. 

[In2You]

I'm watching The Wedding Do-Over again.

[twoods]

Two of my favorite Pixl movies are on this Sunday for anyone interested- Casa Vita (or Love Throws a Curve) at 6pm followed by Brimming with Love.

[Was-MArsenault]

UP showed a movie yesterday called Keeping Up With The Randalls that had Roma Downey in it.

Too bad I won't be able to watch it until the 25, because the next airing will be on at 1 in the morning.

[twoods]

Pixl’s Late Bloomer is on next Saturday for those interested. This weekend is Hopeless Romantic which isn’t my favorite Pixl movie but decent. Hoping they play Diagnosis Delicious soon. 
Saw both Brimming with Love and Casa Vita today and after the crappy Hallmark movies I’ve been subjected to, they are such a breath of fresh air. Decent storylines, good chemistry and diversity!

[In2You]

1 hour ago, twoods said:

Pixl’s Late Bloomer is on next Saturday for those interested. This weekend is Hopeless Romantic which isn’t my favorite Pixl movie but decent. Hoping they play Diagnosis Delicious soon. 
Saw both Brimming with Love and Casa Vita today and after the crappy Hallmark movies I’ve been subjected to, they are such a breath of fresh air. Decent storylines, good chemistry and diversity!

It's been awhile since I watched Casa Vita and Late Bloomer but I have them saved to my Google Drive along with Diagnosis Delicious so I can watch anytime.

[Irlandesa]

I've been watching the UP Network movies and while I like the diversity, I also haven't really been invested in them.  The ones I've seen all have some sort of weird serious soundtrack to them that makes them less fun.

But looking through the schedule, UP is going to be airing a lot of movies which originally aired on Hallmark.  Accidentally In Love with Jennie Garth (she's a single mother who runs over a children's show actor who is kind of a jerk but they have good chem), A Crush On You (a bit of a Cyrano de Bergerac thing where a man emails the wrong woman--love the lead actress) and Taste of Love (Teri Polo runs a French restaurant next to the American casual restaurant run by novice restauranteur and fireman single dad widower).

[Suzysite]

I tried to watch Brimming with Love but the constant background music made the dialogue so hard to hear.  I just gave up on it.

[kirinan]

On 1/16/2020 at 11:50 PM, In2You said:

It's been awhile since I watched Casa Vita and Late Bloomer but I have them saved to my Google Drive along with Diagnosis Delicious so I can watch anytime.

I watched Casa Vita--except they called it something like Love Throws a Curve--last night. Wow, did I enjoy it! I've always liked Esai Morales, but I thought they did an excellent job of casting everyone. The story made sense and had good tension without seeming like manufactured drama, I LOVED the Latin flavor (heh), and the acting was uniformly good. Even the inevitable "heroine sees the hero kissing another girl" plot crisis moment wasn't just pulled out of thin air; Ariana was upset about her restaurant, so her jumping to a conclusion actually made sense.

I think the actor who played Early (and btw, I liked that he was the main character, not Ariana; it was a nice change) looks very much like a young Josh Lucas, with darker hair. 

I am impressed, UP TV. I know it's not original to the channel, that it's from Pixl (I think...?), but really, really good choice. Keep it going, please! 

Edited January 22, 2020 by kirinan

[MissyPoo]

^^^Agree, this is one of my faves and so well put together. I need to give it a rewatch soon. I'm glad Pixl movies are making waves onto Uptv. They had some good movies in their catalog that have sadly gone unnoticed for a while.

[In2You]

On 1/22/2020 at 11:56 AM, kirinan said:

I watched Casa Vita--except they called it something like Love Throws a Curve--last night. Wow, did I enjoy it! I've always liked Esai Morales, but I thought they did an excellent job of casting everyone. The story made sense and had good tension without seeming like manufactured drama, I LOVED the Latin flavor (heh), and the acting was uniformly good. Even the inevitable "heroine sees the hero kissing another girl" plot crisis moment wasn't just pulled out of thin air; Ariana was upset about her restaurant, so her jumping to a conclusion actually made sense.

I think the actor who played Early (and btw, I liked that he was the main character, not Ariana; it was a nice change) looks very much like a young Josh Lucas, with darker hair. 

I am impressed, UP TV. I know it's not original to the channel, that it's from Pixl (I think...?), but really, really good choice. Keep it going, please! 

It was also nice to watch a romance set in a large city instead of a small town and not have small town ideals forced upon us.

[twoods]

I forgot about that! It was nice that Arianna loved LA and Early wanted to stay there. All this talk about Casa Vita makes me want to watch it AGAIN. 

[Was-MArsenault]

I'm watching Keeping Up With The Randalls on UPtv right now, and it sounds like Roma Downey has an American accent.

[MissyPoo]

^^^Indeed. Although I think her Irish accent kept slipping here and there on some words. 😉

Love that movie, too. The fam annoyed me and I wish the boyfriend stuck up for the MC more but I loved how she turned things around and played to her strengths to be her own person no matter what they said. Another one I need to rewatch!

[Was-MArsenault]

17 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

^^^Indeed. Although I think her Irish accent kept slipping here and there on some words. 😉

Love that movie, too. The fam annoyed me and I wish the boyfriend stuck up for the MC more but I loved how she turned things around and played to her strengths to be her own person no matter what they said. Another one I need to rewatch!

I did notice that, yes.

[redpencil]

On 1/19/2020 at 7:26 PM, Suzysite said:

I tried to watch Brimming with Love but the constant background music made the dialogue so hard to hear.  I just gave up on it.

I did the same. Not so much that I couldn't hear it, but that it's incredibly annoying in EVERY. SINGLE. SCENE. I've now also done this with at least one other movie on UPtv. I think they are all PixL movies? Is this incessant background music there in all PixL movies? If so, I may just give up on recording any more of these movies.

[EyewatchTV211]

I watched Mr. Write, but it was a struggle. The way the female lead talked bothered me so much. It was like she was purposely holding back and trying to speak gently/quietly, and at the same time she sounded very nasal. I also did not think the leads had chemistry, and it was just not a good movie.

I did enjoy Late Bloomer.

[Irlandesa]

2 minutes ago, VMepicgrl said:

I watched Mr. Write, but it was a struggle.

It was but it was kind of mindless bland until the end when I just loathed it.  She dumps her fiance for kissing the wedding planner?  That's fine...even though she too was lusting after the author.

But then she takes him back...actively chooses to take him back.  So I'm not sure why I should have felt bad for her moping at her own darn wedding even though 1) she CHOSE to marry him 2) she CHOSE to walk away from the author and 3) she could have walked away at any time but waits until the author "rescues" her and doesn't bother to tell anyone?  Not even her fiance? I don't care that he kissed the wedding planner or was seen talking to her again (seriously, why did they keep the wedding planner?), she needs to adult.  She did owe it to her fiance to tell him she was not going through with the wedding instead of trying to escape.

I wanted to tell the author dude to run.

[EyewatchTV211]

2 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

It was but it was kind of mindless bland until the end when I just loathed it.  She dumps her fiance for kissing the wedding planner?  That's fine...even though she too was lusting after the author.

But then she takes him back...actively chooses to take him back.  So I'm not sure why I should have felt bad for her moping at her own darn wedding even though 1) she CHOSE to marry him 2) she CHOSE to walk away from the author and 3) she could have walked away at any time but waits until the author "rescues" her and doesn't bother to tell anyone?  Not even her fiance? I don't care that he kissed the wedding planner or was seen talking to her again (seriously, why did they keep the wedding planner?), she needs to adult.  She did owe it to her fiance to tell him she was not going through with the wedding instead of trying to escape.

I wanted to tell the author dude to run.

Yeah, all of that was really bad. I'm just amazed I even got that far since her voice bothered me so much. And I am usually not one to particularly notice voice quirks that bother other people. 

[twoods]

I hated Mr Write. It was one of the Pixl clunkers (there were many). I’m hoping they play Diagnosis Delicious or Sisters is the Groom soon because they are pretty good.

[MissyPoo]

Dang fam. The pitchforks are out! LoL.  Not gonna lie, Mr. Write is one of my faves probably it hits my weak spots that are my auto faves (writing, publishing). Though there were times I was like "uh uh, that's not cool" (like when Christie's character says "we should break up" and dude is like "no" and her expression is abject horror. I still love watching it over and over. But It's interesting seeing it through the opposite spectrum through everyone's eyes and I can agree with some of the missteps (not to mention the sis-in-law's bad accent).

For a long time, the lead female actress bugged me because I'm used to her playing villains (Sci-Fi Channel's Alice) and psychos (Lifetime's Unstable), but she's grown on me a bit since then.

[redpencil]

21 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

For a long time, the lead female actress bugged me because I'm used to her playing villains (Sci-Fi Channel's Alice) and psychos (Lifetime's Unstable), but she's grown on me a bit since then.

Whoa, I had no idea she was in Alice (which I ADORE). I know she wasn't the main character in that, but I really don't remember her being so soft-spoken/whispery in that, like she was in Mr. Write and whatever Christmas movie it was that I saw her in.

[In2You]

[In2You]

I liked the secondary couple in Once Upon a Date more than the main couple.

 

UP is already working on a new Christmas movie. It was in their latest survey.

Emily Nichols, a successful business consultant, has missed every family gathering this year, so getting home for Christmas is very important to her. But when a series of mishaps – from delayed public transport to diverted flights and broken down trains and finally, a lost wallet – put her holiday plans in jeopardy, she’s forced to find a way home with a fellow road warrior, Simon Allein. While Emily is more a Type A planner who hates disruptions and inconveniences, Simon is a go-with-the-flow type who sees the bright side to any misfortune. So, having to rely upon one another to get to their final destination tests their will, but also provides ample opportunity to get to know each other and, perhaps even, fall in love.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, In2You said:

I liked the secondary couple in Once Upon a Date more than the main couple.

I did too.  In fact, I thought for a second that the theater director should be the main love interest---until I realized it was her dad.  Oops.

But the secondary couple made me feel more genuine emotion than most of the couples in these movies.

[kirinan]

18 hours ago, In2You said:

While Emily is more a Type A planner who hates disruptions and inconveniences, Simon is a go-with-the-flow type who sees the bright side to any misfortune. So, having to rely upon one another to get to their final destination tests their will, but also provides ample opportunity to get to know each other and, perhaps even, fall in love.

Sigh. Why is the woman always the Type A planner? I know I've probably said this a hundred times on the Hallmark thread so I apologize for saying it again, but I am SO tired of the trope where the woman is always an uptight near-beeyotch. C'mon, UP, one-up Hallmark and make the woman the free spirit for a change! 

[twoods]

Sisters of the Groom, which is a PIXL movie, has the lead actress be a free spirit while the guy reigns her in. It was very refreshing.

[In2You]

35 minutes ago, twoods said:

Sisters of the Groom, which is a PIXL movie, has the lead actress be a free spirit while the guy reigns her in. It was very refreshing.

Yes she had to teach the male lead to loosen up a bit.

[redpencil]

I'm watching Twist of Fate from this weekend, and it's another movie with really overwhelming background synth music in too many scenes. So far I'm sticking with it, but I really want to yell at whoever is making these decisions in so many of these (I assume) PiXl movies. Good gravy is it annoying.

[Irlandesa]

On 2/17/2020 at 6:28 PM, redpencil said:

I'm watching Twist of Fate from this weekend, and it's another movie with really overwhelming background synth music in too many scenes.

Yeah. I get they feel the need for music but there's a fine line between adding it to create ambiance and overdoing it to the point that it's distracting.

But in spite of the music. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit.  For a couple that didn't really have many scenes together, I thought they had good chemistry.  They also worked as characters I cared about.  I like that I didn't see how they'd run into one another again at the end of the movie. I should have seen the little twist coming but I didn't.

The lead actor looked so familiar to me.  After looking at his IMDb page, I realize it's because of Major Crimes.

In addition, the best friend, Zack, was jaw droppingly gorgeous.

[In2You]

Alexa PenaVega's sister Mackenzie stars in Tomboy

 

[Was-MArsenault]

Look what’s coming up!

 

[In2You]

Anyone watch Diagnosis Delicious?

[twoods]

I DVRed it so haven’t watched it but I absolutely love that movie so am excited to see it again.

[DanaMB]

On 3/23/2020 at 12:18 AM, In2You said:

Anyone watch Diagnosis Delicious?

I did. I enjoyed it. 
 

Right know I’m watching Mr.Write. I don’t think I’m going to last. The lead actress’ breathy voice and delivery is driving me insane. 
 

Stuck with it and it was awful. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by DanaMB

[EyewatchTV211]

On 3/24/2020 at 12:34 PM, DanaMB said:

 

Right know I’m watching Mr.Write. I don’t think I’m going to last. The lead actress’ breathy voice and delivery is driving me insane. 
 

Stuck with it and it was awful. 

Thank you! That's what I said after watching when it first aired on Up. It was torture, but I stupidly stuck with it, too. 

[In2You]

On 3/24/2020 at 12:51 AM, twoods said:

I DVRed it so haven’t watched it but I absolutely love that movie so am excited to see it again.

I really liked it when I first watched a few years back

[ECM1231]

Saw Instant Nanny which I recorded a few days back. I liked the lead Jessy Schram whose mom was Alley Mills. Her mom seemed flaky and quite the cold fish; I didn't like her. Aaron Hill the male lead, wasn't familiar to me. The kids were cute and the young boy had such an expressive face.  It had the typical schmaltzy ending but of course I cried. 

[DanaMB]

I am watching my recording of In-Lawfully Yours. Even with the hero being a Pastor, this movie is still more adult than any Hallmark movie.

I'm really enjoying it.

[ECM1231]

Slim pickings lately but I watched a movie I hadn't seen before:  The Wish List  with Jennifer Esposito and David Sutcliffe. Circa 2010. I enjoyed it!

[Fostersmom]

I've been watching a ton of Little House on the Prairie repeats and that brings about a million ads for UP TV movies. If I had to see the Groomzilla moron one more time, I was going to go borrow his grandma's bat and hit him myself. Nothing about that at was in any way making me want to watch an UP movie, let alone that one. 

[In2You]

I wasn't a fan of Groomzilla when I originally watched it

[sistersledge]

I loved In-lawfully Yours too! I thought I was lowering my bar by switching to watching Up movies vs Hallmark but gotta say, I'm liking them so much more!