Hallmark Movies ❤️ comfort & joy

[bobbiwoz]

I caught the last hour of this last night. I thought it was great! Fast paced. Liked all the characters.

I’m not sure about any inappropriate teacher behaviour. Maybe it was in the first hour? But what do I know. I’m gonna cut loose with my teacher friends tonight. Lol.

I think inappropriate is probably not what I meant, immature is how I felt they acted. I was a teacher too, they were just silly, IMO.


We both enjoyed My Christmas Guide!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

I was NOT a fan of Everything Christmas. The sets were so cheap and looked like it was shot on an iPhone. Not to mention the acting was below high school theater.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I was NOT a fan of Everything Christmas. The sets were so cheap and looked like it was shot on an iPhone. Not to mention the acting was below high school theater.

I agree. Cindy Busby often gets on my nerves, and I either love or can't stand Corey Sevier, depending on the performance. I felt like she was overacting, and he was phoning it in. Blech.

This could have been cute with an actress who knew how to balance the magical with the excitement carefully. The costars were as bland as could be. I won't be rewatching this one. Turns out Cindy should stay in the National Parks with Christopher Russell.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Christmas Time Capsule.

Well, I didn't get hooked early in the movie, but I thought it ended well.

One thing, for someone who's (apparently) been in the military for a while, he didn't seem very confident about what to do in life. And I thought the woman he was going to propose to was kinda flat in character development.

But I'd probably watch it again, depending on what's on at the same time.

 

[Evinrude21]

Yeah everything Christmas must have had a 200$ budget as did the Christmas Island movie with the stranded rich family and the pilot. But I liked that one way more than Everything Christmas

Currently watching Heidelberg Holiday

 

[Imzadi]

Great American Family (GAF):
A Dash of Christmas at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Starring: Laura Osnes and Christopher Russell.
Description: To apply for her dream job at a foodie startup, an executive (Laura Osnes) must learn to bake. When she recruits a handsome baker to help her (Christopher Russell), she inadvertently ends up entered in a Christmas Bakeoff.

I watched a A Dash of Christmas on GAF. It was okay. Laura Osnes overacted playing inept a bit too much. But she and Christopher Russell did have chemistry.

I actually liked that at the end he was actually rooting for her to get her big break. He was all for her having her dream and living a great life. He wanted that for her.

Doesn't everyone want a partner who actually wants the best things for you? Is rooting for you? Wants you to be happy even if it means it's not with him?

No, not Laura Osnes' character. She was like one of those women from the 1950's who was told they only went to college to find a man to marry. She PLEADED with him in a wispy voice, "Ask me to STAY!"

Even he had a line like, "Really?!? I want you to have your big dream that you've been working for. I want you to be happy."

It doesn't occur to them to try to compromise. To find ways to make things work. To have BOTH the dream and the love. That there are other ways of spending time and attention with each other. To take the time to get to know each other via Zoom, Facetime, texts, email, phones & planes. That she could actually be doing her dream for a while and find the reality of that situation isn't what hope she hoped it would be. But, they don't even do that. They automatically want to give it up for the person. Scenes like these always annoy me.

Of course, this is coming from me, who lives in NYC, the city that Hallmark & GAF loves to bash, as we DO believe in working toward our dream, and we hope to have both the dream and a person who will be happy to support us getting our dream.

What surprised me more was that Laura Osnes would even play her part that way. She lives here too. She has successfully gone after and had her dream come true by being on Broadway, in the lead role multiple times and was nominated for a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical as Cinderella and as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde. I thought, "Seriously Laura?"

(Of course, they do work it out in the end. So you may watch the movie with a different perspective than what sticks out to me.)

 

[Evinrude21]

I haven’t heard anything about GAC movies

 

[Imzadi]

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries:
My Christmas Guide at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Starring: Amber Marshall and Ben Mehl.
Description: After losing his eyesight, a college professor adopts a guide dog from a trainer. As they all begin to spend time together, his confidence returns and his heart begins to open.

Watched it last night. I liked it. They felt very natural with each other.

We both enjoyed My Christmas Guide!

Thanks for the recommendations! I watched My Christmas Guide because of them.

I really liked this movie. I thought it was going to be like the cutsey guide dog movie Hallmark did a few months ago, which I also liked.

Instead, this movie is really down to earth. The situations are natural and realistic, not cutsey, as the actors took their time in being together, having moments, and letting things flow naturally.

On a similar note, I work or go to events that have bomb sniffer dogs patrolling around and sniffing the buildings, bags and items. I even watched at the American Kennel Club expo where the NYPD K-9 unit did couple live demos of one officer hiding some bomb scented material in a dog obstacle course and then a dog handler sets the bomb sniffer dog loose and it happy detects the material so it can get a treat afterward.

I'm always intrigued by these work dogs as our lives literally depend on their noses and them properly doing their jobs. This movie showed how a man was devastated after losing his eye sight and shared how he is barely emotionally hanging on to life in the aftermath of it. Likewise, seeing eye service dogs quietly give back a more full life to the new, individually owners that depend on them knowing how to do their jobs.

I hope a lot of the info we learn in this movie about service dogs is correct. There are no reviews which have bashed them for erroneous stuff.


I've never watched Heartland, which the female lead in this movie, Amber Marshall, is a star. Now, she makes me want to watch Heartland after the Christmas movies are over, if all the acting is that good, natural and down to earth.

The free streaming service, BYUtv.org seems to have many seasons of the Heartland seasons. (No need for an app to watch online.) Also the FrndlyTV app has UPtv which airs the series.

https://www.byutv.org/heartland/episodes/season-1

 

[Imzadi]

I was NOT a fan of Everything Christmas. The sets were so cheap and looked like it was shot on an iPhone. Not to mention the acting was below high school theater.

I agree. Cindy Busby often gets on my nerves, and I either love or can't stand Corey Sevier, depending on the performance. I felt like she was overacting, and he was phoning it in. Blech.

This could have been cute with an actress who knew how to balance the magical with the excitement carefully. The costars were as bland as could be. I won't be rewatching this one. Turns out Cindy should stay in the National Parks with Christopher Russell.

Thanks. I just deleted this one. MY DVR is getting full. AND there are older movies I want to have time to watch again too.

 

[Imzadi]

I watched a A Dash of Christmas on GAF. It was okay. Laura Osnes overacted playing inept a bit too much. But she and Christopher Russell did have chemistry.

I actually liked that at the end he was actually rooting for her to get her big break. He was all for her having her dream and living a great life. He wanted that for her.

Doesn't everyone want a partner who actually wants the best things for you? Is rooting for you? Wants you to be happy even if it means it's not with him?

No, not Laura Osnes' character. She was like one of those women from the 1950's who was told they only went to college to find a man to marry. She PLEADED with him in a wispy voice, "Ask me to STAY!"

Even he had a line like, "Really?!? I want you to have your big dream that you've been working for. I want you to be happy."

It doesn't occur to them to try to compromise. To find ways to make things work. To have BOTH the dream and the love. That there are other ways of spending time and attention with each other. To take the time to get to know each other via Zoom, Facetime, texts, email, phones & planes. That she could actually be doing her dream for a while and find the reality of that situation isn't what hope she hoped it would be. But, they don't even do that. They automatically want to give it up for the person. Scenes like these always annoy me.

Of course, this is coming from me, who lives in NYC, the city that Hallmark & GAF loves to bash, as we DO believe in working toward our dream, and we hope to have both the dream and a person who will be happy to support us getting our dream.

What surprised me more was that Laura Osnes would even play her part that way. She lives here too. She has successfully gone after and had her dream come true by being on Broadway, in the lead role multiple times and was nominated for a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical as Cinderella and as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde. I thought, "Seriously Laura?"

(Of course, they do work it out in the end. So you may watch the movie with a different perspective than what sticks out to me.)

I just watched an older movie again for the fourth time, Just In Time for Christmas with Eloise Mumford playing a college professor who has just been offered a job at Yale University, on the day her boyfriend proposes to her. She meets William Shatner in the park and goes through some alternate lifetime.

When she comes back, she says this to her boyfriend, "I'm not going to lie. There are things I want to do with my life, and Yale and publishing a book are part of it. I don't want to have to throw that all away. But, Jason any success that I have, and I will be successful, it won't matter if I can't share it with you."

Yes! A woman who has a big dream. Is willing to be strong and fight for her dream of having a big career, a big life, a big love. I am affirmed again that these types of ending DO happen in Hallmark movies and I didn't just imagine them or wish they happen. Such a more satisfying ending than A Dash of Christmas. All is all right again with my Hallmark movie watching.

 

[Imzadi]

Oops! Posted late. Still getting used to the Christmas scedule with a movie on Thursday night. I have listed the re-air dates if you missed it.

New Christmas movies premiering Thursday & Friday:

Thursday:
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries:
A World Record Christmas
Re-airs: Sat 11/18 at 10pm ET
Sun 119 at 6pm ET
Sat11/25 at 4pm ET
Wed 11/29 at 10pm ET
Starring: Nikki DeLoach, Lucas Bryant and Aias Dalman.
Description: This is based on a true story. Charlie (Dalman) is an autistic boy determined to set a Guinness World Record by stacking 1400 Jenga blocks. His mother Marissa (DeLoach) and stepfather Eric (Bryant) encourage him to reach for his dream and they all celebrate when he gets the good news that he’ll have get his chance on Christmas Eve. In the spirit of the holiday, they organize a fundraiser giving the townspeople an opportunity to donate and decorate a Jenga block, with the proceeds going to benefit kids with autism. Charlie’s journey to setting the Jenga world record gives them all the chance to learn more not just about themselves, but about what family really means.

Friday:
Hallmark Channel:
Navigating Christmas at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Re-airs: Sat 11/18 at 10am ET
Wed 11/22 at 10pm ET
Thurs 11/30 at 6pm ET
Starring: Chelsea Hobbs and Stephen Huszar.
Description: Recently divorced Melanie and her son Jason visit a remote island for Christmas, only to find themselves running a real working lighthouse where she connects with the curt but cute owner.

 

[Imzadi]

Christmas Movies that start streaming this week:

Netflix:
Best. Christmas. Ever! (premiered Nov 16)
Starring: Heather Graham, Brandy Norwood, Matt Cedeño, and Jason Biggs
Description: A movie inspired by something we've all received: the boastful Christmas newsletter. Jackie (played by Brandy) sends one every year, but Charlotte (Graham) doesn't buy it. When a twist of fate lands Charlotte and her family on Jackie's snowy doorstep just days before Christmas she is determined to prove that her friend's life can't be quite as perfect as she makes it out to be.

Freevee:
EXmas (premieres Nov 17)
Starring: Leighton Meester, Robbie Amell
Description: Coming home for the holidays is never a dull experience, especially not for Graham (Amell) and Ali (Meester). When Graham decides to surprise his family by traveling home for Christmas, he is shocked to discover them already celebrating with an unexpected guest of honor — Ali, who also happens to be his ex-fiancée. The two exes battle it out to see who the family will pick to stay through Christmas Day, and who must go. Let the hilarious holiday chaos begin!

Disney+:
Dashing Through the Snow (premieres Nov 18)
Chris Bridges (a.k.a. rapper: Ludacris,) stars in this original Disney+ movie about a social worker for the Atlanta police department and the Christmas Eve journey he goes on with his estranged daughter. The adventure ultimately helps him remember the magic of the season.

Hulu: (These 2 movies premiered Nov 1.)
A Christmas Frequency
Starring: Denise Richards, Ansley Gordon, James Hyde, Jonathan Stoddard
Description: Denise Richards is a morning radio show host, who is struggling in both her personal life — secretly separating from her husband (James Hyde) — and at work, with the ratings of her show dropping. When she's set up on a series of blind dates as a way to save the show, things get interesting when one man (Jonathan Stoddard) is both a man she's actually interested in and someone who has also applied to be her date.

Reporting For Christmas
Starring: Tamara Feldman, D.B. Sweeney
Description: Mary (Tamara Feldman,) is a serious reporter who's forced to take a break from her political beat when her boss Hank (D.B. Sweeney) assigns her a puff piece about a small-town toy company. While on assignment, she meets the handsome and charming toy manufacturer Blake (Matt Trudeau).

 

[elgerber]

Christmas Movies that start streaming this week:





Disney+:
Dashing Through the Snow (premieres Nov 18)
Chris Bridges (a.k.a. rapper: Ludacris,) stars in this original Disney+ movie about a social worker for the Atlanta police department and the Christmas Eve journey he goes on with his estranged daughter. The adventure ultimately helps him remember the magic of the season.

I am going to give this one a try. I adore Ludacris

 

[Imzadi]

Lifetime TV starts their Christmas movie season tonight!

Older movies start airing tonight at 6pm ET.

NOTE: While scrolling the channel Guide, it seems Lifetime's Christmas movies will only be airing on the weekends, Friday night - Sunday. (Thanksgiving added as a full day.)

PLAN YOUR DVRing accordingly. These movies may not re-air as often to catch later.

Also remember to add on an extra minute to the END of your recording time as Lifetime movies recorded tend to get cut off as their movies usually run about 30 seconds later than DVRs record.

Many of the better, older Christmas movies (IMO) are ON DEMAND for Lifetime on Spectrum Cable and maybe other services.


There are only 12 new Lifetime Christmas movies this year. Down from their usual 20+ Christmas movies. It's likely, due to the Writers and the SAG Actors strikes that Lifetime just didn't get enough time to film their usual amount of Christmas movies this year. They usually film their movies in the U.S. (For example, the fourth installment of their Merry Liddle Christmas movie series, Merry Liddle Christmas Vacation, has been put on hold as they couldn't finish filming due to the strikes. Their new air date will probably be 2024.)

Hallmark & GAF were able to continue filming up in Canada as they have a different actors union in Canada and SAG gave special permission to some smaller film companies to keep filming. Although, that happened after the SAG strike already started.

 

[Imzadi]

New Christmas movies premiering this weekend:

Saturday:
Hallmark Channel:
A Merry Scottish Christmas at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Re-airs: Sun 11/19 at 6pm ET
Fri 11/24 at 10pm ET
Starring: Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf.
Description: When estranged siblings, Lindsay and Brad Morgan travel to Scotland at Christmas to reunite with their mother Jo, a big family secret is revealed.

Lifetime:
Christmas Plus One at 8pm ET and 4 hours later
Re-airs: Sun 11/19 at 12:01am ET
Sun 11/19 at 6pm ET
Sun 11/26 at 2pm ET
Starring: Emily Alatalo, Corey Sevier, Vanessa Smythe and Andrew Bushell.
Description: When sisters Cara (Emily Alatalo) and Amy (Vanessa Smythe) make a pact to find their soulmates by next Christmas, they’re not expecting anything to come from it. However, one year later, Amy’s winter wedding is approaching, and Cara finally finds her own perfect man, Chase (Andrew Bushell), who agrees to attend as her plus one. But after immediately losing his number, all hope is lost. Will she find him in time to make her Christmas wish come true? Or does love have other plans for Cara when magazine writer Michael (Corey Sevier) signs on to help her in her quest?

Great American Family (GAF):
Santa Maybe at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Re-airs: Sun 11/19 at 4pm ET
Mon 11/20 at 2pm ET
Wed 11/22 at 2am ET
Wed 11/22 at 10pm ET
Thurs 11/23 at 12pm ET
Sun 11/26 at 12am
Starring: Aubrey Reynolds and Samuel Whitten.
Description: Can theater director Lila (Reynolds) rise to the challenge of putting on the perfect Christmas ballet, while also discovering her office Secret Santa in the process?


Sunday:
Hallmark Channel:
Holiday Hotline at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Re-airs: Thurs 11/23 at 4pm ET
Sun 11/26 at 12pm ET
Weds 11/29 at 10pm ET
Starring: Emily Tennant and Niall Matter.
Description: After leaving London, Abby connects with an anonymous caller while working at a cooking hotline. The caller is single dad "John" who Abby unknowingly has become smitten with in real life.

Lifetime:
Planes, Trains & Christmas Trees at 8pm ET and 4 hours later
Re-airs: Mon 11/20 at 12:01am ET
Sat 11/25 at 6pm ET
Starring: Kathryn Davis and Olivier Renaud.
Description: During a business trip to Indiana, event planner Kayley (Kathryn Davis) and sports agent Brett (Olivier Renaud) find themselves unable to fly home for Christmas due to a terrible snowstorm. Determined to get back to New York by Christmas Eve, the two team up and try to make their own way home, but when the storm hits, they’re forced to seek refuge in the sleepy town of Redwood, Ohio; a place that ignites some much-needed Christmas magic in their hearts.

Great American Family (GAF):
A Paris Christmas Waltz at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Re-airs: Tues 11/21 at 8pm ET
Wed 11/22 at 8pm ET
Fri 11/24 at 4am ET
Fri 11/24 at 6pm ET
Sat 11/26 at 2pm
Starring: Matthew Morrison (of Glee) and Jen Lilley.
Description: Emma relinquishes her job so a colleague with a family will keep his. Contemplating life’s next steps, Emma meets a professional dancer, Leo whose love for competitive dancing is waning, until a once in a lifetime opportunity arises for the novice to join the pro and sweep all of Paris off its feet.

UPtv:
Country Hearts Christmas at 7pm ET
Re-airs: Sun 11/19 at 11pm ET
Sat 11/25 at 7pm ET
Sun 11/26 at 1pm ET
Starring: Chris Jericho, Lanie McAuley, Katerina Maria, David Pinard, and Craig Strickland.
Description: It’s days until Christmas, and the Jameson Family are all off chasing their dreams. Tori and June are in Nashville recording their first album while Bones is home on the farm getting everything ready for the whole family to be together at Christmas. But when the sisters get a chance to be on a live Christmas Eve show, one that will supercharge their budding career, they are faced with a difficult decision; they could do the show and get a much-needed boost in the industry, but it means not spending a very special Christmas with their family. Added complications arise when Tori’s heart doesn’t know if she should choose an old flame or an old friend, and June is struggling with a long-distance marriage. In the end it’s remembering that family, faith and love is the answer to any big decision.

 

[elgerber]

I am going to give this one a try. I adore Ludacris

This actually premiered today. I just watched it. Very silly. Very much a kids movie. But I enjoyed it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

A HEIDELBERG HOLIDAY

I thought it was cute. I had to miss the last 15 minutes, so I'm watching for it to rerun.

 

[disney4us2002]

I just watched an older movie again for the fourth time, Just In Time for Christmas with Eloise Mumford playing a college professor who has just been offered a job at Yale University, on the day her boyfriend proposes to her. She meets William Shatner in the park and goes through some alternate lifetime.

When she comes back, she says this to her boyfriend, "I'm not going to lie. There are things I want to do with my life, and Yale and publishing a book are part of it. I don't want to have to throw that all away. But, Jason any success that I have, and I will be successful, it won't matter if I can't share it with you."

Yes! A woman who has a big dream. Is willing to be strong and fight for her dream of having a big career, a big life, a big love. I am affirmed again that these types of ending DO happen in Hallmark movies and I didn't just imagine them or wish they happen. Such a more satisfying ending than A Dash of Christmas. All is all right again with my Hallmark movie watching.

I loved this movie so much that I actually bought the DVD of it from Hallmark. I have watched it multiple times every year since it aired! Eloise is adorable. I do wish the boyfriend did another HM movie.

I decided to watch The Christmas Guide tonight rather than the new movie about the lighthouse. I really liked the guide dog movie.

Tomorrow I'm decorating and will likely watch Christmas movies all day. A few non-Hallmark favorites like Elf and Love Actually but also some HM like Shoe Addicts Christmas and Never Date/Kiss a man in a Christmas sweater (I forget). I have several I DVR'd over the years.

 

[sasywtch]

I really liked tje World record Christmas movie. Since I really like both the actress and actor (especially since he played the CFO for gobble with Rachel Leigh Cook), I enjoyed that it deviated from Hallmark's standard format. I'm having a hard time with this lighthouse one. It's hard since the main actress has played a "not so nice" person in other movies. (The girlfriend in Nine Lives of Christmas and the assistant that wanted the son in the Marilou Henner movie June to January or something like that).

 

[PrincessShmoo]

EVERYTHING CHRISTMAS
I liked the 2 female leads and their interactions. But I thought there were times that LJ was just a bit TOOOOO animated.

MYSTERY ON MISTLETOE LANE
I thought it was OK. It was a bit distracting because I had the feeling the audience was supposed to be playing along, with the clues being printed out on the screen as they went along.