Cellar Door

Just watched this and while I enjoyed it, I do agree to some degree with your criticism. Their conversation in the cafe was weird--she went from blaming him to saying "I'm sorry--it was all my fault" for no apparent reason. And the whole thing about his military service was poorly developed and felt like pandering. Also, the 'mean' dance mom's sudden change of attitude didn't feel earned.

So, yeah, the story was a mess, but I really liked Acker in it and she looked great in the tutu!

ETA: Oh, and Catherine Mary Stewart playing a grandmother makes me feel really old.

PhantomStranger

I believe Acker has professional dancing experience from before she became an actress. This is like the third time I've seen her play a ballerina or dancer.

Cellar Door

I just watched Christmas in Homestead. This was a much better take on the "celebrity falls for average Joe" story than the one with Shannon Elizabeth as a pop star. And, good lord, Taylor Cole is gorgeous. I remember her from The Event.

Inhumans99

I just watched 4 films this weekend...crazy (all 2016 Countdown To Christmas films).

- A Christmas To Remember
- Sound Of Christmas
- My Christmas Love
- Love You Like Christmas

davidh777

I saw the end of that one the other day and will catch a rerun so I can watch it in full. I started watching the Shannon Elizabeth one but didn't feel compelled to finish it.

Inhumans99

Folks, i recommend checking out Sleigh Bells Ring. I thought it was one of the best Hallmark films I have seen in years.

Cellar Door

This was on Lifetime, but I just watched Love at the Christmas Table, with Danica McKellar and Lea Thompson.

It's about a guy and girl (McKellar) who are friends from the same small town. He leaves to go to school and then work, but they see each other every year at an annual Christmas party thrown by a friend of their families (played by Thompson). They go together like peas and carrots, but he always leaves again and doesn't come back until the next Christmas party. So the movie spans 20+ years, and every new scene is another year at the Christmas party.


I liked the first 2/3 of it a lot. Having each scene be another year gone by and another Christmas party works well. McKellar is awfully cute--playing the girl-next-door type (definite shades of Winnie Cooper here), and Thompson is good as a maternal figure for her. But I think it goes downhill in the final act. First, they start having an argument and the guy says some really cruel and hurtful things to her. Like, unnecessarily mean-spirited. Totally soured me on their romance. And you find out at the end of that scene that he had intended on proposing to her! WTF? Then he comes back after five years of not seeing her and plans again to pop the question? Jeez, how about asking her on an actual date or something first? And when did he have time to set up all the lights on the table and everything at the house? Made no sense. Plus, the scene where she proposes marriage to her dad on behalf of Thompson's character was really weird. Again, maybe let them date each other a little before bringing rings into the equation.

davidh777

Just watched it myself

mphtrilogy

Ive fallen behind, can you guys give me your top 2 new ones that you watched this season, so i can catch up before christmas....

Thanks!

TheBigDave

I'm still behind a few movies. So far, these have been my favorites this year. I don't think there was any 1 or 2 movies that stood out as a classic. But if I had to pick two, it would be the first ones on the list.

Love Always, Santa
Looks Like Christmas
Sound of Christmas
A Wish for Christmas
A December Bride
Journey Back to Christmas

Cellar Door

Just watched Sleigh Bells Ring. It was cute, but pretty standard fare. I was not familiar with Erin Cahill, but I liked her.

TheBigDave

I remember seeing her in the 2005 Disney Vacation Planning DVD. My family was planning a major vacation that year, and we watched that DVD over and over.

Here's the video if anyone's interested. She doesn't show up until about 4 minutes into it.

Inhumans99

Fair enough, I enjoy watching a ton of Hallmark/UP/Ion Christmas films, and yet a lot of them are easy to forget about a day after watching the film. This one stood out because the situations in the film did not feel as forced/contrived as they usually are in quite a few holiday tv films. The ending also did not feel rushed, which is a big knock against many Hallmark films (Christmas themed or not) in general (even against the ones I like).

PhantomStranger

Erin Cahill has been in a slew of these Christmas movies made for television.

davidh777

Yeah, I just saw Sleigh Bells Ring, and it was good but not exceptional. Cahill is supercute, though, and I'd watch her again.

I haven't seen them all, but my favorite new ones have been Love Always Santa and Sound of Christmas.

Bluelitespecial

Well I finally got my vudu copy of A Wish for Christmas, kind of sad I didn't here back from VUDU customer service for that long, but better late than never. I guess Hallmark is almost done with new Countdown to Christmas movies. Except I think there is a new Rachael Boston movie coming out, but I might try and watch Love Always Santa. That one sounds good.

DJariya

I just watched Christmas Cookies

Premiered about a month ago. Stars Jill Wagner.

Thought it was okay. Nothing really original or memorable. Jill Wagner plays a corporate woman, who is asked by her boss to visit a small town where there is a long-time cookie factory in danger of going under. She's there to buy them out. But, she starts liking being in that town and is charmed with the factory's owner even though she has a boyfriend. Eventually a romance blooms and she works on a plan to save the factory.

Pretty predictable and by the numbers, but watchable.

Cellar Door

Watched a couple of Christmas movies starring Marla Sokoloff, whom I remember as the young hottie on The Practice back in the day. She's still beautiful.

The Gift of the Magi - a modern retelling of the classic O. Henry story. Not a very good one. The husband is a real doofus. I may have missed it if he has a job, but it sure looked like he was just sitting around working on his car while his wife was working two jobs to afford to make ends meet and to be able to buy him a present. Then he jumped to conclusions really quickly about her cheating on him. He was not sympathetic at all, which is kind of a problem for the story. Plus, he's a terrible actor. The subplot where they try to hook up their best friends is also kinda cringey.

A Christmas Wedding Date - This one was better. It's basically a Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas version of Groundhog Day. A woman (Sokoloff) returns home to attend a friend's Christmas wedding and finds herself reliving the same day over and over again. Ripping off the premise of Groundhog Day is not a bad idea, but the execution is kind of lacking. A bit watered down in terms of how she used her knowledge of what was going to happen each time the day repeated. It lacked 'punch' though there were some good scenes between her and the 'mean girl.' I liked George Wendt as the sort of guiding angel, though he didn't look terribly healthy. One thing I noticed is that Marla looked a little 'fuller' here and that she was usually wearing loose, dark clothes and she was often holding her hands in front of her, sometimes while holding a purse. Then I was looking up the cast list later on IMDB and saw a trivia note that she was pregnant during filming. Makes sense now.

PhantomStranger

Wish Upon A Christmas was the best Hallmark movie I newly watched this holiday season. I really liked how it mixed several different Christmas tropes, from the small-town Christmas ornament factory to Santa's Christmas magic. This was a very enjoyable Christmas movie.

The 2015 movie also features Alan Thicke, which I didn't know before he popped up in the role. He plays an elderly father that needs to take things easier in life, due to his age. It may have been one of his last roles.

DJariya

Hearts of Christmas


The intentions were good, but honestly I didn't really care for this one. Pretty by the numbers cookie cutter Holiday romance. Nurse is charmed with a Hospital CFO even though he's forced to make some hard financial choices due to a budget crisis forcing him to lay off a bunch of staff before the Holidays. The lead actress Emilie Ullerup is attractive and had charisma. But, I found the male lead Kristoffer Polaha is boring as they come for generic male love interests. He's been a journeyman guest star on many TV shows and TV movies over the years.

I may watch a few more that I have recorded before calling it a Holiday on these Christmas movies.

PhantomStranger

Apparently Hallmark had some of their highest ratings ever for this deluge of Christmas movies over the past month.

davidh777

Just saw this, and thought it was pretty standard, but it was nice to see Martin post-ER (and Jewel Staite!).

Cellar Door

^Staite was the reason I watched. Wish she would play the lead in one of these.

TheBigDave

She was in Call Me Mrs. Miracle a few years ago. That's one of the better Hallmark Christmas movies. It'll re-air on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on January 1st at 5:00AM

http://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysterie...me-mrs-miracle

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Pu55fZZahQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's also available at Amazon Video for $5.99 (HD).

https://www.amazon.com/Debbie-Macomb...dp/B00BMHCMRO/

davidh777

Cool--I'd watch that for Staite, as would any Whedon fan who'd watch one for Amy Acker.