Bluelitespecial

I'd say good for her in standing up for what she believes in. I hope she sticks to those words.

davidh777

Networks are free to show whatever movies they want.

ViewAskewbian

As previously mentioned here, looks like Candace Cameron Bure is getting the social media backlash for comments she made regarding making Christmas movies featuring "traditional marriage" families. It's been taken that she left Hallmark earlier this year (where she's done 10 Christmas movies) because this year's line-up movies feature more diversity including LGBTQ relationships which don't align with her faith.

Anyway, she's now issued a statement on the backlash that was also mentioned here. Here's the full statement:"I would like to address my comments on Great American Family's programming as reported in the Wall Street Journal. All of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people. It absolutely breaks my heart that anyone would ever think I intentionally would want to offend and hurt anyone. It saddens me that the media is often seeking to divide us, even around a subject as comforting and merry as Christmas movies. But, given the toxic climate in our culture right now, I shouldn't be surprised. We need Christmas more than ever.

I am a devoted Christian. Which means that I believe that every human being bears the image of God. Because of that, I am called to love all people, and I do. If you know me, you know that I am a person who loves fiercely and indiscriminately. My heart yearns to build bridges and bring people one step closer to God, to love others well, and to simply be a reflection of God's huge love for all of us.

To the members of the media responsible for using this opportunity to fan flames of conflict and hate, I have a simple message: I love you anyway. To those who hate what I value and who are attacking me online: I love you. To those who have tried to assassinate my character: I love you. To everyone reading this, of any race, creed, sexuality, or political party, including those who have tried to bully me with name-calling, I love you.

I have long wanted to find a home for more faith-based programming. I am grateful to be an integral part of a young and growing network. I had also expressed in my interview, which was not included, that people of all ethnicities and identities have and will continue to contribute to the network in great ways both in front of and behind the camera, which I encourage and fully support. I've never been interested in proselytizing through my storytelling, but in celebrating God's greatness in our lives through the stories I tell.

The God we serve is a wildly creative and loving God. He didn't just capture a small part of my heart, He has captured all of my heart. He will be reflected in everything I do and say; in my family, my work and my interactions with people from all walks of life, God's love and God's compassion is front and center. All of that comes from the LOVE that God himself showered upon humanity when he gave the gift of joy and forgiveness on the first Christmas morning 2000 years ago. It is why I love Christmas stories and sharing true joy and true peace with millions of people around the world. And in the sole motivation of pure love, I hope you'll join me in sharing God's hope for all the world this Christmas season. Call that my Christmas wish."

Inhumans99

I actually passed on bringing up the Bure story I saw at AV club yesterday and even commented on the AV Club post, because I did not want to derail this thread, but her comments went viral anyway, lol.

I wish her well, and Hallmark is.doing fine without her. If going all in on diversity was hurting Hallmark they would adjust, but lots of folks are still avid Hallmark watchers.

​​

davidh777

CCB can blame the media, but she was asked a simple question and her answer was a lot more notable than probably anything else she said in the interview. As I said, GAC is free to make whatever movies they want, and people are free to watch or not. And it’s not like she surprised us. I think we speculated about the same thing when GAC first started. The only thing we don’t know is whether the other stars who went over did so because of the same reasons or because they were offered a lot of money (or both). It hasn’t stopped me from watching GAC movies, but it’s just kind of funny how hard Hallmark has leaned into diversity after being criticized for so long for homogeneity. Their movies also have a noticeable budget difference from GAC’s.

Anyway, back to the movies. I thought The Royal Nanny was fun and different but agree that it really didn’t need to be a holiday movie.

Christmas at the Golden Dragon bragged in its promo trailer about eight different storylines, and they weren’t lying. It actually felt chaotic to have that many characters flying around, yet all interconnected in a sort of Love Actually way. I did eventually settle into it, though, and it turned out kind of satisfying. I did go back and rewatch the beginning, and that helped me figure out who all the characters were exactly

Inhumans99

I really liked Christmas at the Golden Dragon, glad to hear you also enjoyed the film.

So the following is too funny, I watched Three Wise Men and a Baby, but since I did not pay that much attention and what I saw looked fun, I did the rare thing of keeping it on my xfinity streaming dvr and planned to watch it again because I felt like I missed quite a bit of the film. Deadline notes that this film was a breakout for Hallmark drawing one of, if not the largest audience to date for a Hallmark film in 2022.

davidh777

The fake-dating scenario Christmas Sweethearts was pushed by GAC as a premiere, but the internet shows it as a 2019 production, so either it's being mismarketed, or it was buried for three years. It may have been the latter, because it was pretty bad. The lead character is completely unlikable.

Also on GAC was Christmas in Pine Valley, which is a "we have to lie or we'll lose the business!" thing, and it actually wasn't terrible, but the lead guy has the charisma of a dead tree stump.

The Christmas Retreat on UP has Rhiannon Fish, who has been in a few Hallmarks this year. She's cute, and the movie is kinda fun.

In Merry Measure is Hallmark's version of Pitch Perfect, and as a choir singer I thought the music was pretty credible (movie conducting, for one thing, can be pretty bad). It's Hallmark, so it's heavier on the romance than the music, but I liked it.

Long Lost Christmas has Taylor Cole searching for her mom's brother, who hasn't been heard from in decades. A little frustrating, but ultimately it worked out ok.

Christmas Bedtime Stories has Erin Cahill as a soldier's widow trying to move on.





davidh777

Black Friday DVD sales

https://smile.amazon.com/deal/e7ef8e08

https://smile.amazon.com/deal/d9b82dcd

davidh777

The ratings news gets better! Top Hallmark film since 2019, and top cable movie of the year. I thought it was entertaining, and as an all-star film, it’s what The Wedding Veil should’ve been had they not split it into three movies.

PhantomStranger

A Lot Like Christmas (Great American) - Maggie Lawson leads this warm Christmas movie which was well-done in all phases except maybe a lame sub-plot concerning a petty feud between the brother and his friend. I give this movie high marks, the familiar leads from Hallmark understand how these movies tick. A slight inversion of the usual Hallmark formula, Maggie's character is struggling to save her father's Christmas tree farm while a hotshot executive from Manhattan competes against the small town business, falling for her in the process. I think Lawson's actual mother played her mom in the movie, she's a dead ringer for Lawson if she was 30 years older.

A Hot Cocoa Christmas (Great American) - Fondly enjoyable romance about a young woman embarrassed to tell her new boyfriend she comes from wealth. All-Brit cast aside from the female lead, there's a nice energy to the cast which clicks. The movie is a bit cramped, there's enough story for probably three hours with a little padding. The director speeds through the first act with quick edits and musical montages when necessary. Hallmark probably wouldn't allow this fast of a storytelling pace in one of their movies.

The Case of the Christmas Diamond (ION) - I sat through this one despite realizing about ten minutes in the Christmas theme was quite tenuous and an afterthought. Mostly a whodunit mystery with a dash of light romance and comedy. It is set at a Christmas dinner party but the plot barely has anything else to do with the holiday. Not terrible for what it is but passable at best, certainly not worth chasing with the massive slate of new movies for the season. William Baldwin is the only actor I recognized, who makes a fleeting cameo.

And I'll note the guide data for many of the Great American movies is off - they'll often list a similar-named movie from a different channel for them.

davidh777

I’m hoping we’re on the verge of a Vudu Christmas sale. Last year it hit on the last Tuesday of November.

mk1

I have seen what's coming up for sale tomorrow on another site and they requested do not repost. It's not this week... Hopefully next week.

davidh777

Maybe the biggest surprise for me so far was #xmas, which I assumed would be a terrible as its title, but it was actually good and funny. It’s another “caught in a lie and have to roll with it,” but not as cringe-y as those can be.

Danica McKellar’s Christmas at the Drive In on GAC was a very standard plot (girl comes home to save famous landmark) but pretty good.

I happened to watch an older Lifetime title, Christmas on the Menu, with Kim Shaw, who’s been in a Hallmark or two. Maybe the most distinguishing part of it was a redemptive arc for the villain.

Your sources were spot on, and I’m glad we heard it from you rather than going to Vudu and being disappointed. I hope it’s soon, as we’re hitting December, and I’m tired of seeing their Lifetime sale.

mk1

I looked at what they tentatively have for next week and thus far no sale for next week either. Waiting...waiting...

davidh777

mk1

I agree with your sad banana!

davidh777

A Tale of Two Christmases is one of those sliding-doors scenarios. Pretty standard, but not bad.

I’m Glad for Christmas (GAC) has Jessica Lowndes and Gladys (get it?) Knight. Lowndes is a singer and has sung in Hallmark movies before, but they really lean into the music for this one (she’s a struggling Broadway performer), and I enjoyed it more than I expected.

Royal Corgi Christmas is what you’d expect: Commoner/royal romance, and cute dogs. It works.

Hail Out the Holly is Lacey, and I guess she doesn’t usually do comedies? At least that’s what she said in her intro, and I mainly can recall her dramatic roles. Anyway, this one was pretty good.

My Southern Family Christmas has Jaicy Eliot, who had debuted in a movie earlier this year specifically as a plus-size designer. Here she’s just a character regardless of size, so that’s good. I sometimes roll my eyes when they try to court their demographic with Southern- themed movies, but this one was pretty good. The plot is based on deception like so many of this year’s movies have, but it was satisfying in the end.

Christmas Cooke Catastrophe is a light mystery, and Rachel Boston does light and zany well.

Inventing the Christmas Prince was pretty good.

A Christmas… Present was CCB’s movie this year, and following our previous discussion, it’s the most faith-based movie of this genre that I can recall seeing in a long time. That’s not a surprise with CCB, of course, but it felt a bit preachy, and it didn’t help that her character is supposed to be annoying. I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t watch it again either,

PhantomStranger

The Real St. Nick (???) - This is an older Christmas movie from 2012 and I'm not sure which channel it originally hails from, I don't think it was Hallmark. It stars Torrey DeVitto, who would later become a regular Hallmark lead and turned in several excellent Christmas telefilms before disappearing of late. This is a cute movie about Torrey as a doctor who meets a guy in her psych ward who was in an accident and believes he is Santa Claus. More comedy than romance but it's heartfelt and sincere. Could have been forgettable but both leads make the story work.

JeffTheAlpaca

CBS has a holiday movie tomorrow with Amanda Kloots one of the hosts on the Talk.

They had two Xmas movies in 2021 too.

Maybe it is inferior to a Hallmark, GAC, and Lifetime production?

Inhumans99

Jeff, thanks for clueing me in on the CBS films, recording them now. The other CBS film is Must Love Christmas, which stars Liza Lapira who I like a lot as an actress.

Hallmark had another Asian American focused movie, A Big Fat Family Christmas, which was another winner.

GACs film Christmas On Candy Cane Lane was actually good and one of their better offerings this year. The film stars Andrea Barber, who I liked when she came back to participate in the Netflix show Fuller House.

PhantomStranger

Five Star Christmas (Hallmark) - Fantastic Hallmark effort from a couple years ago starring Bethany Joy Lenz and Victor Webster. Nice ensemble which neatly mixes comedy and romance without a second thought. The opening act had me almost laughing on the floor. And it's worth seeing just for how badly Victor Webster sings Elvis's Blue Christmas. He clearly has no singing talent but belts it out like a trooper.

A Fabled Holiday (Hallmark) - I've seen better, I've seen worse Christmas movies. Strange title when Wunderbrook would have made far more sense. I wanted to like this one more than I did thanks to its premise of two childhood friends being transported to a mythical Christmas town via magic. Stars Brooke D'Orsay and the male lead are familiar Hallmark regulars, who both turn in serviceable jobs. The actual problem is a script obsessed with the movie's gimmick and deconstructing it. They take the idea and run it into the ground. A hat tip for trying something a little different with the Hallmark formula but the execution could have been tighter.

A Tale of Two Christmases (Hallmark) - A Christmas movie made strictly for the ladies, methinks. The movie follows a woman who experiences two different versions of the same Christmas, meeting different men. One a childhood friend she rejected years ago, another a hunky co-worker she's been crushing on. No recognizable Hallmark faces as leads, who likely thought the premise was a little far outside the boundaries of good taste. Pass on this one.

mk1

Finally, a Countdown to Xmas sale next week!

will travel

I love me some Lacey Chabert but her newest Hallmark Christmas movie is total garbage. F

JeffTheAlpaca

How could it be trash when she has been annointed the new queen of Hallmark movies?

davidh777

Great to hear about the Vudu sale!

A Holiday Spectacular aka “The Rockettes Movie” was pretty good. A period piece with a fair amount of dancing, as expected.

The Holiday Stocking and Undercover Holiday were both OK.

Christmas on Candy Cane Lane (GAC) was ok. I was unfamiliar with Andrea Barber.

Jen Lilley’s B&B Merry was probably her best GAC movie yet, which isn’t saying much. It was fine and one of the better GACs this year, but far short of her best Hallmarks.

A Fabled Holiday with Brooke D’Orsay and Ryan Paevy was fine.

A number of cameos this year: Kim Sustad in the movie she co-wrote (Three Wise Men), Wes Brown, Polaha.