davidh777

Color My World with Love focuses on characters with Down Syndrome, and Erica Durance is the anguished mom struggling to trust her daughter with independence while also keeping her safe. There was controversy in that the end of this movie was included in a seasonal promo trailer, which aired *during this movie*. Not like it was a huge spoiler, but unexpected nonetheless.

Caribbean Summer was a breezy (ha!) romcom with a splash of intrigue. New-to-me leads.

Both were fine and immediate deletes.

davidh777

davidh777

Vudu bundle sale has some $6.99 two-packs and When Calls the Heart bundles for $14.99.

Saw Moira’s Wedding with Luke McFarlane. Nice French scenery, and the story was fine. Two Tickets to Paradise with Ashley Williams and Ryan Paevy had some funny moments.

davidh777

I guess I forgot to watch the GAC preview.

Grown-Up Christmas List had Kevin McGarry again with his girlfriend, Kayla Wallace. Highly sentimental as is usual for their military-themed fare, but it worked for me. Commenters hated his non-military hair, his uniform decorations, and other stuff.

Campfire Christmas with Tori Anderson and post-High School Musical Corbin Bleu was entirely forgettable.

davidh777

Not a fan of Vanessa Lengtes, but Christmas in Toyland was fine.

A Splash of Love takes place in a fictional port town somewhere in the islands north of me. Fans thought Rhiannon Fish was too ditzy to be a PhD candidate, but I just figured she was a book learner without much field experience. I guess she’s been on a few shows and Dancing with the Stars.

Not a fan on the Penavegas either, but Love in the Limelight was fine. I don’t think I’ve seen them in the same movie for a while.

davidh777

Groundswell has Lacey Chabert as a frustrated chef returning to her Hawaii roots. As solid and pleasant to look at as you’d expect a Lacey-Hawaii movie to be.

14 Love Letters—entirely forgettable.

Unthinkably Good Things was the big kickoff to their new Mahogany brand, so big that they showed it on both channels at the same time. The movie was… fine? Nothing wrong with it, but felt way overhyped.

Game Set Love had Davida Williams as a prematurely retired tennis pro who gets a gig coaching current superstar Richard Harmon. Williams didn’t move like a real tennis player, and Harmon had some funny lines as the jerk, but his dead eyes make him fall flat as a romantic lead. There was also one unbelievable scene where they decided to play tennis in the rain.

The Journey Ahead was yet another odd-couple-road-trip story, but a little different in that it wasn’t a romance. Holly Robinson-Peete played an aging actress (sheesh, her husband’s NFL career ended in 2004), and Kaylee Bryant was funny as the annoying young person. Also forgettable, but not bad.

Many new leads in these movies, all quick DVR deletes.

Inhumans99

Like David, I pretty much have been watching and enjoying all the Hallmark films that have been coming out. Also, around the end of this month is when the deluge of Hallmark Holiday originals starts up again with originals on Friday/Sat/Sunday. Up Network is already advertising they will have a fresh batch of Holiday originals starting in November, and I presume Lifetime, and GAC will as well.

A lot of films are forgettable but still nice to watch, oftentimes in the background of your surfing the web or something like that. I only delete the films from my DVR due to space concerns, my xfinity dvr can quickly fill to 100% if I am not careful. I just figure that I can catch a re-run of a film I really enjoyed. For example, I really enjoyed The Journey Ahead because while the story beats were fairly familiar to many other road trip Hallmark films, I did enjoy the mix of a Hallmark mainstay actress and a newbie. It made the film work.

One of the new films airing this past weekend on Hallmark Movies and Mystery channel under the Mahogany banner was Girlfriendship, and while it is nothing groundbreaking, I genuinely enjoyed watching this film.

The one thing I miss about the airtimes for all the new Hallmark films from the past few months is that being in CA, films that would start at 5 pm pst for me now air at 8 pm pst, or on Sunday a film would air at 6 pm pst and now they air at 9 pm pst, which makes it hard for me to stay up and watch a film as it airs all the way through. I am aware that if I am seeing a film at 8 pm it is not airing at 11 pm est, rather that for a long period of time the Hallmark Channel shifted the time when the originals would air on the West Coast making it easier for me to watch. I wish they would go back to this because it will be next to impossible to catch up on the upcoming batch of films if they always air late into the evening and just pile up on my dvr.

Or maybe this is more of an Xfinity thing, and they are the ones who monkeyed around with the airtimes for the films on networks like Hallmark. It is odd, because UP films that have been airing at 4 pm pst for me are still scheduled for that time, and back to Hallmark, shows like Chesapeake Shores have a set airtime so Chesapeake Shores will not start airing at 8 pm for me when it always is recorded on my DVR starting at 5 pm pst, it is just the film schedules that are out of whack with I was used to, and had found to be convenient.

Bluelitespecial

I pre-ordered the Nine Kittens of Christmas dvd and it comes out on Nov 8th. Anyone seen in any sales on Vudu or Amazon for any of the Hallmark fall movies?

Inhumans99

So it begins, tonight's Noel Next Door kicks off this years slate of Hallmark Holiday films. Of course, I will be watching.

PhantomStranger

They'll often push a few of their better Christmas movies in these early slots even if they don't star their big names. Today's Hallmark schedule is filled with very good Christmas movies from the past few years.

skatefan20

It's a Candace Cameron Bure-less Hallmark Christmas. Break out your hot cocoa mugs, set your DVRs/TiVo.

Hallmark's 2022 Countdown to Christmas schedule:


Secondary channel:


Lifetime's schedule found here:
https://cdn.watch.aetnd.com/sites/5/...2-Schedule.pdf

davidh777

Oof, it's been so long since I posted, and I have so many that I was going to mention, and we're already into Christmas season. Most of the ones over the last few months have been pretty standard--enjoyable but not particularly memorable, and some I remember watching but not much about them.

-Big Sky River
-Dating the Delaneys: The comedy antics of Rachel Boston and Paul Campbell carried it.
-Romance in Style: Interesting and welcome angle of fashion design for plus-size people. It had attitude, and I think it deserved it.
-Marry Me in Yosemite: Standard Cindy Busby vehicle with nice scenery.
-To Her with Love: A title-play on the Sidney Poitier movie (and they watch it), meant to be an inspiring teacher take, and was OK doing it.
-Marry Go Round
-Wedding of a Lifetime: Brooke D'Orsay and fiance decide to call off their wedding when they find they were entered into a reality-show contest for an all-expenses-paid wedding. Kinda different and fun.
-Secrets of Bella Vista: Mystery about long-lost family relationships--fine I guess.
-Fly Away with Me: Screwball pet-owner comedy with Natalie Hall, light and fun
-Francesca Quinn PI: Probably an attempt to start a new mystery series, complete with noir voiceover, but kinda ordinary for me.
-Pumpkin Everything: New one with Taylor Cole, pretty ordinary
-Nikki and Nora Sister Detectives: Comedy mystery with Rhiannon Fish (who seems to be popping up a lot lately) and Hunter King. I'd watch another but it wasn't particularly special.
-Mid-Love Crisis: Teri Hatcher trying to date at 50 (she's actually 58) and kinda being a jerk to her full-on-gay-relationship daughter, but ultimately it worked because of the people around Teri. Wife actually watched this with me because we used to watch Desperate Housewives, and she did not hate it.
-Autumn in the City: Aimee Teagarden, one of my faves, tries to find a career in New York City and carries the movie with her charm.

davidh777

I haven't seen any Vudu sales recently, but I believe that last year's fall movies were available before the end of the year.

Yeah, I remember some gems right off the bat last year. Polaha is the big name this weekend, but Erica Durance and Natalie Hall are also notable.

TheBigDave

Peacock streaming service has added a Hallmark Hub. There's about 90 movies available on demand, mostly older stuff. And the 3 Hallmark cable channels are streaming live.

This year's new Christmas movies will be available the day after they air. But they'll only be available for 3 days.

davidh777

I just finished the first weekend of movies.

Noel Next Door was ok. The male lead was a crank and a little hard to take as a romantic lead. It was part of his character who’s struggling to recover from a stroke (which I think is an interesting and worthwhile thing to explore), but it felt a little strained.

A Kismet Christmas was better than I expected, with a light fantasy flair and new-to-me lead Sarah Ramos.

Polaha is the headliner of We Wish You a Married Christmas, and it’s a little heavier with a couple having relationship problems. Polaha probably liked the chance to stretch his dramatic chops a bit, but it didn’t really appeal to me.

We Need a Little Christmas is another dramatic one, with Smallville-turned-Hallmark-stalwart Erica Durance dealing with grief. A little tough to watch sometimes, but I thought it worked.

I also caught up with Perfect Harmony. Meh overall, but surprising to see James Denton (looking old these days) actually singing—at least it sounded like him. The co-lead sang as well but seemed just adequate to me.

PhantomStranger

I really enjoyed A Kismet Christmas, which was right up my alley with its magical Christmas Romcom formula. The female lead has done a couple things for Hallmark before. The romantic leads shared great chemistry and the story was sweet about childhood friends reconnecting.

davidh777

I need to start posting more frequently because I forgot what half of these were.

A Cozy Christmas Inn: With Jodie Sweetin, and I can't remember it at all.

Jolly Good Christmas: Will Kemp plays an American in London who hires a personal shopper to find a present for his girlfriend. Resma Shetty is an addition to their POC lineup, and they lean into her Indian background, which makes sense in London. Kemp, though, is British, so it's a little weird to have him fake an American accent.

Ghosts of Christmas Always: Comedy take on A Christmas Carol, of course.

A Magical Christmas Village: Alison Sweeney and Luke McFarlane, with Marlo Thomas as the meddling mom. Not bad.

Lights Camera Christmas: Kimberly Sustad plays a clothes designer pressed into duty when a movie starts shooting in town. This has been one of the better ones, and the second-banana romance was pretty good too. There's also a secondary actor named Veronica Long who is quite stunning, and I'd watch her in her own movie.

All Saints Christmas: This one didn't really work for me. Couple gets mistakenly reported as engaged, and they decide to roll with it just because it's good publicity. Lead actress is not great, presumably because she's a singer, but if so they should've had more music, especially with the New Orleans setting.

Maple Valley Christmas: Pretty ho-hum plot with a beloved town landmark and an evil developer, and Andrew Walker as the corporate type with a conscience.

I also remembered GAC is a thing and watched a couple new ones. Unfortunately I'm behind and need to record a bunch this weekend.

Destined at Christmas: Couple meets then gets separated without knowing each other's names, so they spend the rest of the movie trying to find each other. Silly hijinks, of course, but more entertaining than I expected.

Catering for Christmas: Merritt Patterson has come over to GAC and plays a caterer working a big foundation gig. Fine.

Also watched a couple oldies:

Christmas Scavenger Hunt from 2020 with Kevin McGarry and Kim Snow, who I don't know but apparently she was also in Cozy Christmas Inn.

My Family Christmas Tree with Aimee Teagarden from 2021 is probably one I'm going to watch every year.

PhantomStranger

Royal Nanny - This new Hallmark movie which just premiered did nothing for me and it really never felt like a Christmas movie beyond a few set decorations. An MI-5 agent is sent undercover to guard the handsome prince while pretending to be the nanny to his nieces and nephews. Rachel Skarstens of Batwoman and Lost Girl fame puts on a thick British accent for the role. She turns the movie into a comedy more than a romance and it never completely works. Skip it, there are too many good Hallmark movies to waste on this bland reverse-Bodyguard formula.

Unperfect Christmas Wish (UP) - I loved Unperfect Christmas Wish...for the first hour before they use a tired plot device to keep the romantic leads apart. What I most liked were the male and female leads, perfectly cast together. Santa himself even makes an appearance, always a plus. A woman friendzones a guy since high school and is currently in a relationship with someone else. But the writers dropped the ball in a tangled second half. Worth watching for the leads but expect a little disappointment in how they handle them getting together in a messy final act.

davidh777

Lifetime sale on Vudu. Often that’s paired with a Hallmark sale, but I haven’t seen one yet.

Interestingly the sale includes Reindeer Games Homecoming, which just came out this year. I guess that’s why it’s $4.99 instead of the usual Lifetime sale price of 99 cents.

Inhumans99

Phantom, I agree that the final half of Unperfect Christmas Wish used a plot device that is quite hoary to split up our romantic leads, but as you note the movie worked and Alys Crocker had great chemistry with the guy who played Cooper. They really make an adorable pair of elves.

I am not as down on Royal Nanny as you are but the more that I think about it you are not wrong that this movie could have just been dropped into rotation on Hallmark at technically any time of year. It does not lend itself to a big desire to re-watch.

So many Holiday originals, I just see a commercial or Preview for an upcoming film on Lifetime, Hallmark, UP, GAC, etc., and I just speak the name into my xfinity remote and record it. I need to catch up on stuff from the networks, the regular shows like Quantum Leap, and other streamers like Disney + where I have fallen way behind on Star Wars: Andor.

I believe in this very thread I would always chime in the past few years complaining about too many Holiday Originals to keep up with and then back track and seem to fit them all in to my schedule and get caught up. The thing is, in years past you really did have slightly less Lifetime films to work through, and GAC was not going as hard at presenting Christmas originals as they are this year, so the glut of films is especially noticeable this year.

I may end up watching some of these films in the background while playing games on my tablet well into the new year, lol. There was a time where unless it was a Hallmark original that was supposed to debut on New Years weekend, that I really was all caught up with the Holiday films from the usual suspects like Hallmark, Lifetime, UP, GAC, and even an original or two from the ION network at least a few days before New Years day.

PhantomStranger

GAC alone is having 18 new Christmas originals this year. My guess is something like 90-100 new Christmas telefilms will be aired this year across all channels.

Angel Falls Christmas (Great American Channel) - Former (?) Hallmark star Jessica Lowndes leads this excellent film which is mostly a new spin on the premise from the great Cary Grant flick, The Bishop's Wife. Chad Michael Murray plays an angel helping Jessica's character while falling into a bit of a romantic triangle by accident. The script is high quality by the standards of television. Definitely recommended. Funny because I always thought her Hallmark movies were usually underwhelming and I almost skipped this movie.

davidh777

I think Angel Falls Christmas was on last year, as I remember Lowndes and Murray.

I mentioned earlier that I had to record a bunch of GAC last weekend. Hot Cocoa Christmas had Susie Abromeit as an entrepreneur trying to hide the fact that she has a famous mother. I was trying to figure out where I had seen her before, and oddly her IMDb page didn’t list this one. Turns out they had released this LAST YEAR under the name Much Ado About Christmas! It was actually pretty good as I remember, but I wasn’t going to watch it again. Love at the Christmas Contest, A Royal Christmas on Ice—generic, low budget, and quick deletes.

A Merry Christmas Wish had Jill Wagner and Cameron Mathison, and it felt bigger budget and had the stars. Still a quick delete, but it was better than the others.

Christmas in the Pines on UP was pretty decent. The plot was a little different—two people bought the same house and need to stay on the premises in order to not lose possession. They didn’t milk it as much as they could’ve, but it was still fine.

Italian Christmas Memories was this month’s addition to Hallmark’s stable of Italian family movies. Beau Bridges is a big name but didn’t seem that Italian despite saying some food names with an accent. It was ok.

PhantomStranger

They are literally running out of names for these movies, lol. I noticed Lifetime has already begun airing Christmas movies round the clock as well. They've never started this early in the season.

Bluelitespecial

There's five of the GAC Christmas movies available to watch for free on Vudu.

davidh777

Candace Cameron Bure was asked if GAC was going to include gay storylines, and she said it’d center on “traditional marriage.” And then of course she was hurt when people criticized her for it.

As we speak, the interns are combing Christmas songs for lines they haven’t yet used as movie titles.