Bluelitespecial

I thought I'd make a recommendation this morning. I bought "A Perfect Christmas List" off of Vudu yesterday for $4.99. It aired on the Ion Channels but I haven't seen them being scheduled to show it this year. I like the story and the most prominent names in it are Marion Ross and Richard Karn.

Quote:

As a last wish, a recently hospitalized grandmother, Evie, tasks her daughter and granddaughter, Sara, with a list of festive accomplishments to do together before Christmas, hoping that the adventure of the experience will repair their relationship. Along the way, Sara discovers an unlisted Christmas adventure of her own.

https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/...s-List/1323307

You Tube

PhantomStranger

I found Lacey's Christmas Waltz fun and pleasant. A rock-solid story and the male lead was very convincing as a pro dancer, despite the wish fulfillment ending that seemed a little too fantastical.

davidh777

Heart of the Holidays was fine, nothing special. Vanessa Lengies was new to me, and I guess this is her first Hallmark, though she was a villain in the late stages of Glee. From the plot summaries, I remember her character but not really her.

TheBigDave

Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas Movies are on sale at Vudu. They're in the Mix & Match (2 for $9.99), and some of them are available individually for $4.99

https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/mixandmatch/41268

mphtrilogy

Picked up Christmas in Tenn on the.99 Sale, was pretty solid, enjoyed the two leads and the storyline was pretty good. Overall Solid B.

PhantomStranger

Walmarts have their Hallmark DVD displays up, usually on an end cap. I saw older movies for $5 and $10, some coming in multi-packs. Didn't see any inducements like digital copies or credit included.

mk1

Thanks. Want to get a few of the older ones cheaply tho primarily buy digital copies!

mk1

Also a few of this year's new Lifetime Christmas movies are available for free to watch with your library card if your public library participates on Hoopla.

mk1

Hallmark Movies and More is a new free AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) channel featuring Hallmark content available on the also free streaming service XUMO. It's channel 256.

Here's the article on Cord Cutters.

Bluelitespecial

I just bought two movies off of that sale. I always liked Christmas with Holly and I got November Christmas based on the recommendations here. I'll watch November Christmas sometime today.

davidh777

If I Only Had Christmas was fine. Not a huge CCB fan, but she’s pretty good in the comedies. This was riffing off a famous film, and I have to say I wasn’t really paying attention to the clues. Then midway through she did some hosting talk and revealed it, and then every reference was like a 2x4 to the skull.

The Christmas Doctor was fine. Holly Robinson Peete and a pretty obvious twist. Kinda weird that kinda weird in that the character made a major decision in the end, and I don’t think it was ever shown, not even in like a “light bulb going off” look in her eyes. Maybe I just missed it, but I went back a few minutes just to check.

Also watched the 2009 Debbie Macomber’s Mrs Miracle with James “Dawson” Van Der Beek. Emotions ran heavy, but pretty good overall. I guess Erin Karpluk has been in Fixer Upper Mysteries, but she was new to me.

DJariya

https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/jingle-bell-bride

I watched Jingle Bell Bride yesterday that I DVRd a few days earlier. I liked it. It was cute and wholesome entertainment. I also like Julie Gonzalo, who is the lead in this. Most of you probably remember her from Supergirl, but I watched her on the TNT reboot of Dallas.

I've always found her very likeable and she's also very pretty.


I'm being a little more selective on which ones I watch as I don't have time to watch all of them and some of the ones I've read about have tired and goofy premises.

davidh777

I haven’t seen any of the HOF titles in the 2/$9.99 sale.

In the regular sale, I bought Rocky Mountain Christmas (because of Polaha and Lindy Booth) and Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas, which I think was pretty good last year? My answer is probably in this thread, but I already bought it so no use checking now.

I watched a couple of the Godwinks last year and thought they were pretty good. I’ve seen The Christmas Note a couple times. It pushes hard on the tearjerker buttons, but it worked for me.

PhantomStranger

I'm fairly sure there is a third Godwink movie that has aired this year.

PhantomStranger

Kind of related, I absolutely adored Mistletoe Magic over on UP. I think the movie actually made its debut in 2019, but loved the story and characters. A weather girl that doesn't enjoy Christmas goes hunting for a family heirloom she gave away by accident. Didn't recognize the female lead, Jessica Sipos, from anything I had seen before.

Cellar Door

I haven't watched any of these types of Christmas movies in the last few years--since I dropped cable--but decided to record a few from the OTA channel ion. I started a few and turned each one off after the first ten minutes they were so bad.

One I did stick with and liked was Country Christmas Album. The lead actress, Hannah Barefoot, was very charming and a good actress and has a nice voice. She looks like she could be Jena Malone's hotter sister. The male lead was okay--his voice was not really good enough for the role, but at least he didn't look like a Ken doll like a lot of the actors in these movies. The general plot structure was pretty formulaic, but the individual scenes were nicely done.

mphtrilogy

I purchased Christmas with Holly on the vudu sale, from 2012, and recommended above, it was really sweet and totally worth the $5, highly recommended.

I see the two leads are in veterans Christmas on this week, and will record that one....

looks like a lot of mediocrity this year....

davidh777

Yes, there was, and I just watched it. I was commenting on the earlier ones because the first was in the sale.

The third one was fine. It’s mostly a standard Hallmark plot with sone wildly fortuitous coincidences thrown in just to fit the theme.

I also watched the new Christmas in Evergreen, thinking it was the threequel, but it’s actually the FOURTH one. Also fine, and shifting to a younger protagonist, but I’m sure they’ll have a different lead again if there’s another sequel, so it’s not like they’re going younger for an extended run like a Bond lead. Nice to have Ashley Williams still making cameos.

PhantomStranger

I wanted to like One Royal Holiday starring Laura Osnes but found it rather dull. I don't think she was at fault. The script was tediously pedestrian and there was almost no chemistry with the British-accented male lead.

Inhumans99

Phantom, that is funny because Laura and the male lead know each other well from their Broadway work. I found it to be a pleasant watch but nothing special. Djariya noted that quite a few films this year have tired and goofy premises and I would agree, but with the increased volume of holiday films the past several years from the likes of the Hallmark, and to a lesser extent, Lifetime, that was always going to be the case. Still...goofy, and cliché Hallmarks films can indeed be fun to watch. Goofy ones like Never Kiss A Man In A Christmas Sweater clicked with me this Holiday season, and it looks like others enjoyed Jingle Bell Bride as much as did as it is one of the better ones.

Considering that next year's slate of Hallmark originals will probably be around half or less than what we got this year (and I include the seasonal blocks of originals that are sprinkled throughout the year, like their Springtime films, ones tied to Valentines Day, etc.), maybe much less than half, I will enjoy what we are getting now. I am curious how many were in the can before production ground to a halt on a lot of films (granted, some have probably started back up but it still takes time get a film to the point where it is ready to air).

Bluelitespecial

I don't know if this movie has aired on any tv network, but its free to watch on VUDU. It's pretty much a joke on every tv christmas movie ever made.
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/...istmas/1288321

DJariya

A Christmas to Remember (2016)

This re-aired recently on Hallmark. I really liked this movie. Mira Sorvino played a TV cooking personality who takes a trip, gets into an accident and suffers amnesia. She meets a family who helps take care of her and then grows close to them.

It was such a sweet and emotional movie. Totally made me smile. Mira and Cameron Mathison had good chemistry.

davidh777

I joined the Christmas with Holly party! First-time view. I wasn’t thrilled with poor man’s Tom Cruise, but the female lead was really cute, and the kid really got me.

Watched Christmas She Wrote, which is kinda the standard “sensitive employee battles cold corporate budget-cutter.” It was done better in Christmas Hearts, but this one was fine, though I don’t go out of my way to watch Danica McKellar. Funny how after this summer’s controversy, they’re including a number of gay relationships.

A Christmas Tree Grows in Colorado was also fine. I was unfamiliar with the leads.

The Christmas Waltz is still my favorite of the year so far, but I admit I’ve been kind of nibbling at the edges of my stack of recordings so I can delete them for DVR space and saving the ones with my favorite leads.

PhantomStranger

Christmas Tree Lane with Alicia Witt was fondly enjoyable with a very smooth screenplay. Always enjoy the holiday movies with a few musical touches. Never thought I'd hear someone extolling the virtues of vinyl in a Hallmark movie, but here we are. Without giving too much away, I liked how they paced the romance.

It was one of her movies years ago that first got me stuck watching Hallmark's Christmas line-up. She always approaches these Christmas roles a little differently than Hallmark's other leading ladies.

Christmas Spirit ****
Christmas Swag ***
Christmas Theme ****

mphtrilogy

I also just watched Alicia Witt in Merry Mix up, from the vudu pack I purchased last month. First time seeing this one, and it was a lot of fun.... Highly recommended.