Apparently it's very hard joining MA - Hollywood is trying to keep it exclusively to the biggest studios. Hallmark would never qualify for MA unless something changes.

Interesting

And I think Hallmark uses so many different distributors for their releases...Cinededigm, Gaiam, others.

Me too. I'd prefer to buy on Vudu as well but if Amazon price matches Vudu's holiday sales prices and the sales prices are good price wise, I may just buy them on Amazon going forward. I love Vudu and hope that if it sells...the new buyer will continue the service. I think it's superior to Amazon and even iTunes.

Anyone have a favorite yet among the new movies? So far, I have watched a few and they are nice but not great. Just watching Merry and Bright for the first time.

So how are the new Hallmark movies so far? I'll be checking Walmart every week to see when their exclusive dvds start showing up in stores.

They are not deviating from the formula but so far this crop of movies is to echo mk1 pretty good. I think there are a couple of films I have seen that while not instant classics (like I consider Trading Christmas to be one of the great Christmas films from the past 5-10 years) would definitely have me continue to watch them if I happen upon them when they air again next year.

Okay, I was just about to use Always and Forever Christmas as a film I would be happy to watch again in 2020, but that is a Lifetime Christmas film, lol. Still, a good reminder that Lifetime has some enjoyable holiday films playing right now that are worth a watch.

I just watched the Hallmark film Holiday For Heroes and I actually felt that was one of the better Christmas Countdown films I have seen in quite some time.

So far I have kinda been underwhelmed by this year's Christmas movies so far. On another note, Christmas Getaway is a MOD DVD release. It's not currently noted as such on Amazon but it was formerly stated as a MOD title. All retailers that are selling the title don't ship it right away. Amazon had noted that this was a Manufacture-on-Demand title but removed this from the description.

The Christmas movie this year that I am most excited about is Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2. I can't wait to see this sequel to last year's A Gift to Remember. It'll also be interesting to see Autumn Reeser and Jesse Metcalfe paired again in Christmas Under the Stars. They were the cast in A Country Wedding a very popular Hallmark movie.

Of the new movies, I gave Two Turtle Doves a watch this weekend. Nikki DeLoach is the star in this serviceable Christmas movie. It wasn't a complete homerun because the characters had depressing lives - the female lead is coping with the death of her NaNa who raised her, while the male lead is a widower with a little girl.

Watched my first new one, Picture a Perfect Christmas with Merritt Patterson. It was pleasant, but interestingly it was set on Bainbridge Island, which is just a ferry ride away from Seattle. Not that the scenery looked any different from all their locales, though.

Should be some good movies this weekend both on Hallmark and on Lifetime. I watched A Christmas Miracle with Tamera Mowry-Housley and it held my interest. Good cast, writing was also good. I have started watching a bunch of other Christmas movies but never bothered finishing half of them.

Yeah, Hallmark is rerunning a bunch of the new ones today (Sunday). I’m recording a couple.

Lifetime Christmas Movies $0.99 at iTunes.

A Christmas Arrangement
A Christmas Country Store
A Christmas in Tennessee
A Gift Wrapped Christmas
A Very Merry Toy Store
A Very Nutty Christmas
Christmas Harmony
Christmas Pen Pals
Every Day is Christmas
Finding Mrs. Clause
Four Christmases and a Wedding
Heaven Sent
Jingle Belle
Last Chance for Christmas
My Christmas Inn
My Christmas Prince
Poinsettias For Christmas
Santa’s Boots
Snowed-Inn Christmas
The Christmas Consultant
The Christmas Gift
The Flight Before Christmas
The Santa Con
Twelve Trees of Christmas
Wrapped Up In Christmas

Any recommendations on these? I want to get a few. Won't be spending $25 to get all of them. E

Snowed-Inn Christmas and Gift-Wrapped Christmas are good.

Twelve Trees of Christmas has one of my Hallmark faves, Lindy Booth, but I can't remember much about the movie. I expect I liked it because of Booth.

Just watched one of the new ones, Christmas Under the Stars. I like Autumn Reeser, but Jesse Metcalf came across as kind of smarmy. It was fine but not one I’d rewatch.

With Love, Christmas was the umpteenth variation on the secret-pen-pals device. I like Emilie Ullerup, though, and the dude was fine, so it was pretty good.

Chuckling over your review of With Love, Christmas. Yes, I liked that one. Thanks for the recommendations on the $.99 cent titles.

I mean, e-mail already seems like an outdated way to hold a conversation, but I guess it’s harder to have an anonymous cell number when you already know someone.

Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses was fine. Jill Wagner is kind of the quintessential generic Hallmark star to me, so her stuff doesn’t really stick with me.

I like Wagner but admit most of her Hallmark projects have been fairly generic. They are watchable but rarely compelling.

Gave A Merry Christmas Match a go with lead Ashley Newbrough. It inverted the usual city-girl-goes-to-the-country premise. This time a wealthy businessman becomes enamored with Ashley's small-town character, running her mom's dying Christmas shop in the boonies. The leads have decent chemistry but the romance is haphazard. Didn't really enjoy how their romance unfolded. A decent enough movie but I've seen much better.

I really like Ashley Newbrough..but agree with your assesment Phantom Stranger re this year's Christmas movie A Merry Christmas Match. I liked her much better in Small Town Christmas with Kristoffer Polaha from last year's Xmas movies. Lindy Booth and Jen Lilley are my favorite female leads..with Jen as my favorite. I also really like Ali Liebert. Can't wait for Cherished Memories: A Gift to Remember 2.

I didn't go through the whole list, but it looks like most of them are available at Amazon for the same price.

One I like not in the list but available on Amazon for .99 is "Christmas around the corner ".

I went ahead and bought this one on your recommendation. Looking forward to watching it at some point.

My favorites include Lilley, Booth, Rachel Boston, Amy Acker, and Lacey Chabert. For some reason, I never watched Lilley till last year’s Mingle All the Way, but I liked her so much that I’ve watched a bunch of hers in the year since, and Winter Love Song was the best of the 2019 movies.

In fact, I had watched all of this year’s new movies I had recorded, so I rewatched my recording of Mingle All the Way, which included a promo for a Lori Loughlin movie. How quickly things change!

I haven't really watched these Hallmark or Lifetime Christmas movies much in the last few years, but I was big into them a while back. The NPR radio show "On Point" devoted a whole hour to discussing the Hallmark Christmas movies a couple of weeks ago. The guests included actress Lacey Chabert, a Hallmark Movies executive, and a TV critic, along with the show's regular host. It might be of interest to some of you.

Here is a link to the episode on the show's home website. You can stream it from there or you could also download it in your podcast app on your phone. It's the Nov. 01 episode of "On Point."

https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/11...ristmas-movies