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The Most Colorful Time of the Year (2022)
Storyline is creepy
I like both the leads in this movie, but the script left so much to be desired. The mother/optometrist is so wildly inappropriate and unprofessional, it is really off-putting. She doesn't just overstep boundaries, she blows right past them, and they disappear in her rearview mirror. Her daughter's teacher is color blind. I get the woman wants to help, but she doesn't know for sure, and rather than discuss it with the teacher, she "outs" him to her daughter. Did it ever occur to her that perhaps he wouldn't want his students to know? Does she have no concept of things like HIPAA? Would she want someone telling people about some medical issue she might have? It was really hard to get past her obnoxious behavior, and it was clear it was rubbing off on her daughter. Boundaries, people! Show some respect for other people's privacy.
I was watching with my son, who was recuperating from surgery at our house, and we both had the same reaction to her taking him to the church. This beautiful old church with these gorgeous stainglass windows, and she doesn't bother to point them out. She just wants to help wrap presents. LOL Talk about a missed opportunity. Son and I both thought that's why she'd taken him to church - for the windows. We just shook our heads at the stupid wrapping thing.
Anyway, there were some terrific new Christmas movies in 2022. This was not one of them.
Love in Glacier National: A National Park Romance (2023)
Nope. Just nope.
I am a Hallmark junkie, and it's hard for me to really not like one of their movies. This one was a mess. I hate that he was so disrespectful about her expertise and career yet he was cute, so he gets mostly a pass for being a jerk. She said but never really showed how much that annoyed her.
But what really killed me was the subplot with the sister. Could they not be bothered to do even a modicum of research? That was just insulting. Sister is having IVF treatments, and they're joking about encouraging "his swimmers." With IVF the egg is fertilized outside the body, so, no, there are no "swimmers" at that point to deal with. Two seconds with google would have told them that. But worse, they make a big deal out of the fact that this was their last attempt. They didn't have the money to try again. Yet Heather (our protagonist) leaves her sister all alone on the night she's supposed to take her pregnancy test in favor of going to a party. Then Riley (the sister) takes the test, and it's negative. She is not going to have the baby she so desperately wants. What does she do? She looks a little sad. In reality a woman would be devastated by that news. Then Heather apparently doesn't even care enough to ask her how the test went, and the story just pretends like it never happens. Riley is all excited for Heather to get together with the hot guy and get a bonus daughter while she is not going to have the child she wants. Not being able to get pregnant is absolutely heartbreaking, and instead it was played practically for laughs with zero sensitivity. I get that it was a subplot, but that was just horrendous to make so light of what is such a real tragedy for people. I never expected a Hallmark movie to show such a lack of sensitivity and respect. Do better, Hallmark!
The story with Sonia also seemed superfluous. It never went anywhere. She never actually caused an problems between them and was easily sent packing by a child. There didn't seem to be any real point to it.
The movie gets points for beautiful scenery, dogs and puppies, and the actor who played Eric. He's always a delight. It was also nice to see something a bit different as far as professions. The leads are both likeable, the supporting characters were good (for the most part), and this could have been a good movie. It just wasn't.
Love's Portrait (2022)
Best as background
I love Hallmark movies, and it's rare that I find one that really disappoints. This one did. There was no real chemistry between the two leads for me, and the whole "he saw her in a dream" thing seemed to give them an excuse not to really have to do any work to show them getting closer. I didn't really buy the love story. I'm not a big fan of the mystical "destined to be together" stuff either, and the whole story really revolved around accepting that. It was pleasant enough, although some of the effects (particularly the bike riding scenes as someone else mentioned) are bad, but there just wasn't enough story there to require your full attention. Put it on to keep you company while you're doing something else.
Big Sky River (2022)
A little different for Hallmark
The story was a bit different than your usual Hallmark fare. A bit darker with the stepdaughter and such. I really enjoyed this one for the most part. Good story, likeable leads, good child actors. Loved the raccoon known to everyone in town. Really liked that they avoided the typical city girl dresses inappropriately, can't do anything for herself, knows nothing about the outdoors stuff. That was nice. I have two "gripes" about the movie - both probably really superficial. One is that the main male lead is supposed to be the town sheriff but apparently it's a real part-time job?? Because we only see him in uniform twice, I think. For most of the movie, he's just hanging out at home. My other gripe is one that detracted from my enjoyment of the movie, and it's a post-production thing rather than anything wrong with the actors or the story. But it absolutely drove me crazy - the sound effects for walking. Good grief! It didn't matter if the character was male or female, adult or child, wearing boots, heels, slippers, or walking on a wood floor, grass, carpet or dirt. Every step was the same volume and heaviness. And inappropriately loud. It got to the point that all I could hear were those darn footsteps!! Don't know what happened, but it bugged me horrendously. Other than that, it was a good movie, and I especially loved the dynamic between the stepmom and stepkid and how she stood up for her daughter with her ex-husband. Nice to see.
Marry Go Round (2022)
Nothing more than pleasant
I wanted to love this one since I'm a huge fan of Brennan Elliott. One of my favorite Hallmark guys. But this just didn't grab me. Maybe because I'm just not a fan of the "one that got away" trope. They got married at 18, were married one month, then hadn't seen each other for 20 years but apparently they're still exactly the same people they were 20 years ago and it's the love that never died! It's all very romantic but just too much of a stretch for me. Or maybe it's just too lazy. No need to try to show us these two re-connecting or what made them so good together. Just give us a couple of anecdotes from the past and handwave away all the intervening years. It's pleasant enough, for sure. No big dramatic or romantic tension or pretty much anything. Just a pleasant diversion for a couple of hours but not a movie I'd ever want to watch again.
Boyfriends of Christmas Past (2021)
Light and fluffy holiday fare
It looks like I'm in the minority of people who really enjoyed this movie. The visits from the boyfriends were sweet, the lead actress was engaging, loved the actor playing Nate and most of the supporting actors. It was not one of Hallmark's finest, but it was just cute and fun to watch. It was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours and wasn't your typical Christmas movie.
Love Strikes Twice (2021)
Just Delightful
I love Hallmark movies, but lately I have found myself disappointed in most of their offerings. They feel a little stale, a little too formulaic. Then along comes this little gem. The "time travel" thing has been done several times already by Hallmark, but this one felt fresh. The actors were all engaging, some nice little twists, and a really cute ending. It was absolutely delightful from start to finish. Hallmark has a winner in this one.
Mystery 101: Deadly History (2021)
What was that?
I usually love these, but I have no idea what happened here. It's like they were going out of their way to make it complex but forgot what balls they had up in the air. The most egregious was the whole story with the TA. At one point she says it's the first time she's been back to her apartment and the next she says she had the other professor over for dinner a few nights earlier. Then she insisted the documents were stolen and she never asked the other professor to help her when in fact that's exactly what she did. But nobody seems to even notice those lies let alone explain why she lied. And I'm sorry but you don't jump overboard and swim halfway across a cold lake. I don't care what kind of swimmer you used to be in your youth, unless you keep up with it, you're not automatically a strong swimmer 2 decades later. I give them credit for throwing us a curveball at the end, but I have mixed feelings about it. Not sure how they'll explain them breaking up and Amy meeting someone else and getting engaged all in 11 months. I'll wait and see how that plays out. But this entry could have benefitted from a lot more attention.
A Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020)
Not off to a promising start
I wanted to like this new series. I like Jesse Metcalf, and setting it on Martha's Vineyard is different. It showed some promise with a halfway interesting story. But first off, I hate the female lead. Who names their kid Zee? And will we someday meet her brothers and sisters, A, B, C, D, and the other 24 letters of the alphabet? Minor thing, but it's a stupid name. If it's short for something, they didn't tell us what. Or I completely missed it.
Anyway, the bigger issue is that trying to shoehorn her into the movie is just ridiculous. She's allegedly a doctor, but she seems to have no actual patients outside the Jesse Metcalf character. We never see her dealing with any patients, and she is always available at the drop of the hat to run off to do something stupid.
I'll buy that she is the island's coroner because she spent a year or two working in a coroner's office. That's fine. But apparently she is not only capable of doing an autopsy, but she is a forensic expert as well. Because I guess they needed someone and why not her, even though it doesn't make any sense.
But I guess the writers needed a damsel in distress, so she trips along after Jesse, and they do dumb things so that she needs to be rescued by him. They go down to the wharf because this lady saw someone on the dead man's boat, and Jesse sends the dumb doctor to wait on the dead man's boat while he goes looking for the woman who called him. And naturally the suspect is still on the boat and attacks the silly doc. And then later on towards the end she once again needs to be rescued. But she never really seems to add anything to the investigation. She doesn't come up with any clever insights or anything. She's just there, wearing ridiculous shoes both for a doctor and for running around an investigation.
Anyway, in the end it was more annoying than really intriguing. I'm still trying to decide if it's worth giving it one more shot to see if it gets better.
True Love Blooms (2019)
My new favorite Hallmark Movie
I was so surprised to see so many half-hearted or outright negative reviews of this movie, as I absolutely loved it. This is a Hallmark movie after all, so there are some givens, and if you watch Hallmark movies, you know to expect them (interrupted first kiss, misunderstanding with 20 minutes to go, etc.) and just go with it. But the writer managed to make the Hallmark formula seem fresh and new. Yes, Chace is a developer who wants to tear down the garden. But he's not the usual hard-hearted corporate type who needs to be shown the light by the lady. He's a good guy with good intentions who believes in what he's doing and is helping a lot of people with his work. She gets to see that, even though it conflicts with what she wants. The dialogue was witty and fun, and the two leads had great chemistry producing some of the sultriest (in a Hallmark kind of way) moments ever in Hallmark history. This pairing is so natural together and work so well that I would love to see more of them, whether it be a sequel to this movie or just another movie where they work together. And going by the comments being made during the live tweet of the premiere, I'm not the only one who felt that way. This is my new favorite Hallmark Movie. I've already watched it twice and will be keeping it on my dvr until it comes out on dvd where it will promptly join my Hallmark collection. This movie is definitely a keeper. Just a really wonderful movie.
Butterfly (2018)
Must see for those who don't understand
This is a subject that is so misunderstood by so many. Wonderful to see a well-written story that accurately depicts the subject matter.
Unleashing Mr. Darcy (2016)
A very rare Hallmark miss
I had heard good things about this movie, so I was looking forward to it. But this is the first Hallmark movie that I can remember where there really is nothing redeeming about it.
First off, as someone who used to show dogs, their entire depiction of dog shows was just absolutely laughable. There was nothing even remotely realistic about it. There are some dogs in the ring, but then the female lead gets called in separately by number? And then leaves again and then comes back for final review? Yeah, no, that's not how it works. The so-called judge barely touches the dog. And why are there several different types of dogs in the ring at once? And no, they don't hang the ribbons around the necks of the handlers. Oh my gosh. Just no. Completely absurd.
Now I've got that off my chest, this is a rare Hallmark movie where there is absolutely zero chemistry between the leads. And the story itself was so poorly crafted that it was impossible to believe these two were falling in love. They barely spent more than 5 minutes together at a time; they never really talked in any kind of depth to get to know each other; he was supposed to be the rude one, but he came across as being fairly polite while she was always rude, so why the heck would he fall in love with such a witch? Even the subplot with the privileged dad who got her fired was absurd. It started out okay with him getting her fired. I can believe the board taking the side of the rich patron over a teacher, but the idea that he would sue her was beyond stupid, and having him show up at the party was nonsensical. The man got what he wanted when he got her fired; the rest of it was just overkill and just lazy writing.
I generally love Hallmark movies and can forgive a lot in them because they're usually just fun, but this one was a waste of my time. I was so disappointed in it. Just nothing unfortunately to recommend it. :(
Holiday Engagement (2011)
Enjoyable light holiday movie
Let me start off by saying that the whole idea of hiring someone to be a 'fake' fiance for the weekend is absurd, but I also know people who are so anxious for their parent's approval that nothing seems out of bounds, so I choose to go with the flow. Once you accept the premise, this is a fun movie to watch. It's got likable, charismatic leads who work well together. Shelley Long is good as the overbearing mother who just wants what's best for her daughter and doesn't get that what she thinks is best may not actually be best. There is the typical awkwardness of the situation with fake Jason sometimes forgetting who he is. There's a sweet scene where Hillary and the fake Jason sing a Christmas carol while he plays piano. And another cute scene where Hillary tries to explain to fake Jason that he's the "get back" guy while he thinks the other guy is that guy.
This is one of my favorite holiday movies. If you're willing to just go with it, it's a very pleasant, highly enjoyable movie that has not diminished for me with repeated viewings. If you're looking for great art and grand cinema, well, honestly, you shouldn't be looking at this type of movie in the first place!
Enjoy it for what it is, and it's a great little movie.
Christmas at Holly Lodge (2017)
Fun fluffy holiday fare
I love Christmas movies. I especially love Hallmark Christmas movies. This was no exception. I've watched this movie several times now, and I enjoy it every time. There are a few inconsistencies that you need to overlook (for instance, Evan is able to drive the sleigh from town to the inn and then from the inn partway out to the woods but then is suddenly unable to drive it and Sophie must take over????) but they're minor and don't interfere with your overall enjoyment of the story. And I like that, while still being formulaic, it manages to avoid some of the typical cliches (Evan doesn't have to quit or be fired in order to help Sophie) I've come to expect. And I liked the way the ownership of the inn was resolved.
All things considered, this was for me I think the best of the new Christmas movies this year. Loved everyone in the cast, loved the subplots with the different characters, and I really wish that Jordan Bridges would become a new member of the Hallmark "stable." He makes a great Hallmark leading man.