Hallmark Christmas in July 🎄 comfort & joy ❤️

[PrincessShmoo]

The Snowball Effect.

I found this one kinda "meh". No real highs or lows. The Tara character seemed to be one dimensional. Only thinking about her job life and not much else.

 

[Kennywood]

 

[Imzadi]

Yes, I agree that many of the ION movies suffer from the same problem. Unfortunately, since I am antenna only for tv right now, they were the majority of the holiday movies I could watch. It’s not just the acting though. The writing also seems rather amateurish as well. I guess everyone has to start somewhere, and they did provide some holiday background in the house.

It wasn’t all bad though. One channel was playing A Christmas Carol (George C Scott version) multiple times through the month and I think I caught every one of them. It’s my favorite non-musical version (all time favorite is Scrooge with Albert Finley).

I wish I had known that some here are just using an antenna. I posted a Christmas movies list once that I nicknamed the "penultimate" Christmas movies list. As this entity, SleepyKittyPaws, (not sure if it's a human or a cat ) stayed on top of EVERY single Christmas movie and special and updated the list daily if there were changes or additions. S/He/It posted the antenna channels as well as all the free streaming services. I would have reposted it a couple more times for those that missed the list. And I would have included a list of just the antenna channels in my posts.

I got almost all the info I posted from that penultimate list. It made copying and pasting so much easier than going to the individual websites, as S/He/It did all the work.

If you have Internet and a ROKU, there are a lot of free ad supported channels you can add to watch Christmas movies. PlutoTV is an example, and they were running Christmas movies.

Or if one has a Google Chromecast. Actually, any way that one can mirror (also called casting) a screen with the Internet to the TV works for a lot of the free streaming services. Almost all of them have a website where one can watch the movies directly on their websites.

It works like watching a YouTube video. Nothing extra to install, add-on or plug in to watch. One can watch directly from their PC, tablet or phone. Or if one has the ability to mirror/cast the device to their TV, to watch on TV.

I have one of the oldest models of "Smart TVs." I can't download any streaming apps to it as the Smart TV technology changed and upgraded to that stuff the year after my TV came out. However, I can hook up my TV to my PC, tablet or phone with an HDMI cable. OR since I also got a Google Chromecast, to beam the movies directly from my devices to the TV wirelessly via WiFi.

I use an older smartphone that I no longer use as a phone to bring up the movies on the phone's screen (via using my phone's browser, i.e. Firefox or Chrome,) and then mirroring it to my TV. (All of a Smartphone's features and apps still work even if doesn't have active cell service. ) I prefer watching through the browser than downloading a ton of streaming apps on my phone. And this way, my PC screen stays free to surf other stuff. I like to multi-task while watching many of these movies.

 

[PollyannaMom]

The 12 Days of Christmas Eve. I liked it. I thought Kelsey Grammer was a bit stiff/odd at the beginning, one minute an old, miserly curmudgeon, the next smiling and benevolent. It sort of evened out as the story progressed though. The end was very nice.

And I liked the multi plaid outfits.

I just watched this one this morning and really enjoyed it!

The back and forth didn't bother me - I thought it kind of fit the mix of emotions the whole "Groundhog Day" plot entails - from not believing it, to embracing it, to being annoyed by it, to "getting it"...

The kid who played the granddaughter was good, too.

I was definitely a little concerned near the end the writers were going to ruin it, but then I was happy with the actual ending.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The other one I watched since my last post was Finding Mrs. Claus, and I loved it! Not quite "leave in the DVR and watch all year" status, but one of the closest of the new batch for me. It was nice to see the guys from the Postables movies again, and I loved that they made Mrs. Claus's name Jessica - I assume in tribute to old Rankin-Bass cartoon. I liked all the actors in the family she came to help as well.

 

[RamblingMad]

Gonna watch a Dog Named Christmas again before it goes away. Love this one. All ways makes me cry.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I just watched Christmas at the Drive-In. I enjoyed it, and I’ve come to the conclusion the GAF movies with an actor I recognize are generally at least good. The ones with no one I’ve ever heard of just don’t capture my interest.

 

[RamblingMad]

I just watched Christmas at the Drive-In. I enjoyed it, and I’ve come to the conclusion the GAF movies with an actor I recognize are generally at least good. The ones with no one I’ve ever heard of just don’t capture my interest.

Doesn't bother me. What does is that actors I should recognize but I don't because of all of the plastic surgery, fillers, and botox. It's been off the charts this year.

 

[Imzadi]

I just watched Christmas at the Drive-In. I enjoyed it, and I’ve come to the conclusion the GAF movies with an actor I recognize are generally at least good. The ones with no one I’ve ever heard of just don’t capture my interest.

I felt the same way. I was planning on getting the FrndlyTV app to watch the GA Family movies. I waited a few weeks so that there would be enough of their Christmas movies premiered, then I could catch more of them during reruns. But then, I noticed they were showing a lot of movies they acquired from elsewhere with actors I don't recognize, and only every few weeks would they have an actor that I knew.

Later, when I found out the few movies I wanted to see were posted on YouTube, I didn't feel so bad about not getting the FrndyTV app, but watch those few on YouTube.

Recently, I checked the IMDb .com ratings for the movies with the unknowns. Only a couple got decent ratings of 6/10 or higher. I may watch those two to really see if they are worth the higher ratings, or did all their family & movie crew vote on their behalf.

 

[Imzadi]

Reindeer Games Homecoming. I thought Sarah Drew was just so right for the part and the story was well thought out.

we did watch Reindeer Games Homecoming. I like Sarah Drew and Justin Bruening together but I think having the secondary character played by Brian Sills really brought it all together. Sarah can be both goofy and serious and Justin usually more serious so I liked the addition of a more light-hearted character to round out the cast.

I finally watched Reindeer Games Homecoming. I liked it. I'm glad I saved this one to watch. It is so nice watching actors who can play subtle nuances, not just the broad strokes. Sarah Drew, Justin Bruening were great in their roles. Brian Sills brought a vibrancy to the movie.

Sarah Drew wrote the movie, which explains why she was so perfect for the role.

+1/2

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just did a quick count of the 2022 Christmas movie list I have. I managed to catch 71 of them this year. Plus several older ones.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I watched My Southern Family Christmas this morning and really enjoyed it. I knew the lead actress from Greys Anatomy, it was interesting to see traditions from a different part of the country, and I liked that the romance was just one component of the story.

 

[elgerber]

I watched My Southern Family Christmas this morning and really enjoyed it. I knew the lead actress from Greys Anatomy, it was interesting to see traditions from a different part of the country, and I liked that the romance was just one component of the story.

I really liked that one too.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Over the last week I've watched a few more.

My husband and I watched The Holiday Fix Up from Lifetime 2021 season (deleted due to space, re-recorded this year) and I thought it was a 7/10.

Two movies that I was surprised I didn't completely dislike because the ratings were low were The Dog Days of Christmas/Sit.Stay.Love and Wrapped up in Love both from Lifetime and both presently rated 5.2/10. I rated both 6/10. There were minor problems I had with both but I didn't find myself skipping through them or turning them off. You could probably skip them and be quite fine but just thought I'd mention I didn't rate it quite as low as I thought I probably would.

I also watched When Christmas Was Young (CBS) rating it 7/10. The base premise of convincing someone who obviously (and vocally) had too much emotional connection to a song to allow someone else to sing it I didn't like but I did like the chemistry between the leads and I did appreciate the groveling/seeing error of the ways the male lead did. The movie started off very weak IMO but got better throughout it.

Hannukah on Rye (Hallmark) 8/10: One of my favs this season. I loved the matchmaking part, the families antics and mannerisms and even though I thought the twist at the end might have been a bit corny/too easily tied up loose ends I didn't knock the movie for that. The leads were sweet together.

Long Lost Christmas (Hallmark): 7/10--While I rated it high enough I found myself annoyed that she was mostly confident but didn't know for sure for sure before she inserted herself into this other family's lives and her prodding felt like too much. But overall I still liked the movie

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just did a quick count of the 2022 Christmas movie list I have. I managed to catch 71 of them this year. Plus several older ones.

You're braver than I in actually counting

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just watched Christmas at the Drive-In. I enjoyed it, and I’ve come to the conclusion the GAF movies with an actor I recognize are generally at least good. The ones with no one I’ve ever heard of just don’t capture my interest.

I find myself liking actors and actresses I haven't seen before or at least pairings I haven't seen before but when the plot is just not there or isn't working seasoned actors and actresses help make up for that and without well known actors and actresses it's too glaring.

I think it's more apparent with GAC because they are newer to the market this being their second year. Everyone pretty much expects ION to bomb (although imzadi's comments make me think this year may be a change for once; those movies are still recorded yet not watched for me) and UP was usually seen as above ION below Lifetime (depending on the year) with Hallmark dominating. Now that stars have left Hallmark for GAC there might be more blending into what you expected from Hallmark to a point.

 

[Imzadi]

I find myself liking actors and actresses I haven't seen before or at least pairings I haven't seen before but when the plot is just not there or isn't working seasoned actors and actresses help make up for that and without well known actors and actresses it's too glaring.

I usually cringe when I see a pair of unknown actors as I usually think that means a low budget, bad script that ends up being an unwatchable movie. Although, Hallmark has surprised me a few times lately with some really good movies. They've been casting movies with actors unknown to me. My favorite movie this season is Ghosts of Christmas Present. (The lead actor was in Pretty Little Liars, a show I've never seen. And Jaicy Elliot, who was in My Southern Family Christmas, was in later seasons of Grey's Anatomy, years after I stopped watching.)

GA Family & UPtv, from my little bit of research, often get pre-made movies that have premiered somewhere else around the world first. I guess those movies are at a cheaper rate than if they haven't premiered already, especially in the U.S. Unfortunately, these movies may have have been passed over by Hallmark & Lifetime, because they just aren't as good.

As for ION, I question the choices their head of programming makes for Christmas movies. Maybe s/he just isn't into Christmas movies? But, it's still their job to research them and find decent ones people want to watch.

For some reason they keep buying movies written by the screenwriter who wrote The Christmas Card. That was a fantastic movie. One of Hallmark's best. Then she wrote a string of decent movies for the next 9 years. But in the next 7 years after that, she's written mediocre movies. I guess she's still trying to ride on having written The Christmas Card even though her latter movies haven't been in that league or even close. It's basically a one hit wonder. But, last year and this year, ION bought her scripted movies. And they weren't good.

And last year, ION went with some Australian production company that just made weird, bad movies. Probably because the movies were cheap to acquire? Does ION even watch the Christmas movies they get? Or are they just bought to fill in the time slots?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

GA Family & UPtv, from my little bit of research, often get pre-made movies

They do although I expect GAC to do more in-house movies with high profile actors and actresses switching over and as the years go on...well I hope lol. You're right that UP does that although they do have their own too.

Hallmark and Lifetime do this as well in terms of purchasing movies. I think 2020 was a bigger year for this due to the pandemic.

For Lifetime this year A Christmas Savior (aired as Serving up the Holidays), Wrapped up in Love, Dog Days of Christmas/Sit.Stay.Love, A Playful Romance (aired as A Show-Stopping Christmas), are all ones that came out last year technically but aired this year for Lifetime. I'd say all of these are ones ultimately Lifetime should have passed on this year but they aren't as bad as they could be so I'll give them that lol.

The networks have opted to do more quantity and with that they have to pad their movie count so I don't blame them necessarily. This is often why you see movie title changes too on your tv guide (in addition to working titles that get changed). I think Hallmark only fills in movies every so often with buying already made movies being the least of offenders at the moment and I can't see them doing it too much. Their rep relies on "Hallmark..original".

As for ION, I question the choices their head of programming makes for Christmas movies.

Right there with you, they only do these movies for Christmas time could they not figure out a way to get better ones!?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Holiday for Heroes

I know, it's an old one (2019), but I just watched it for the first time. Any movie that makes me cry gets a big thumbs up from me.

 

[Imzadi]

I finally watched Reindeer Games Homecoming. I liked it. I'm glad I saved this one to watch. It is so nice watching actors who can play subtle nuances, not just the broad strokes. Sarah Drew, Justin Bruening were great in their roles. Brian Sills brought a vibrancy to the movie.

Sarah Drew wrote the movie, which explains why she was so perfect for the role.

+1/2

Reindeer Games Homecoming and other Lifetime Christmas movies are still On Demand on Lifetime. (I'm in shock, I thought for sure they'd switch over to their obsessed murdering nanny movies and such, since they couldn't switch to their regular programming fast enough.) Maybe they will stay On Demand through New Years Eve?

 

[Imzadi]

Holiday for Heroes

I know, it's an old one (2019), but I just watched it for the first time. Any movie that makes me cry gets a big thumbs up from me.

I love this movie. I've watched it a gazillion times.

I love the military movies. Yes, makes me weepy too, watching each time.