Hallmark Movies ❤️ comfort & joy

[Imzadi]

Hallmark Channel:
Catch Me if You Claus
Starring: Luke Macfarlane and Italia Ricci.
Description: The holiday song, "Jingle Bell Rock" is performed by David Foster and Katharine McPhee in the movie.
Avery Quinn's shot at anchoring news clashes with a Santa-suited intruder, Chris, who insists he's Santa's son on a first Christmas mission. They unravel a career-making story together.

I watched Catch Me If You Claus and it was cute. That make out scene in the truck was steamy! Sadly I fell asleep and missed the last 10-15 minutes

I enjoyed this one, also.

I liked Catch Me If You Claus too. It's a light, fluffy magical/fantasy movie. But, the two leads weren't winking at us as in, "We know you know being Santa's son isn't real, but we'll all play along." Instead, they played it full out (and a little over the top in a light, fun way,) as though it was a real and believable situation, and that kept the movie from going to a silly place. I recommend this. It's one of Luke Macfarlane's best performances.

 

[Imzadi]

The LAST New Christmas movies premiering this weekend:

Saturday:
Lifetime:
Mom's Christmas Boyfriend at 8pm ET and 4 hours later
Re-airs: Sun 12/17 at 12:01am ET
Starring: Jeananne Goossen and Zach Smadu.
Description: Single mom Emma always puts others first, especially her daughter, Lily, whom she adopted on her own. But when the precocious Lily wins a contest to have her Christmas wish granted, Emma's life gets turned upside down.

Great American Family (GAF):
A Royal Christmas Holiday at 8pm ET / 7pm CT
Starring: Brittany Underwood and Jonathan Stoddard.
Description: An ambitious reporter tracks down a prince who is in town for the dedication of a naval museum honoring his late grandfather. She convinces him to show his followers that his work is more than just a job, and the two begin to fall for each other.


Sunday:
UPtv:
A Christmas Letter at 7pm ET
Starring: David Lipper and Glenda Bragzana.
Description: Leslie has done everything right in her life except find Mr. Right, until the spirit of Christmas leads her there in an unusual way. This movie was originally released in 2021 in Canada and is making its US television premiere in 2023.

 

[Imzadi]

I just tried to watch Haul Out the Holly - Lit Up. Like most of you who wrote about it earlier, it was unwatchable. The style of the movie was already over the top. To add in the new TV family neighbors that were even more over the top was just too much. They were annoying, and then we see everyone being annoyed by them, and then they were annoying each other. Was was an originally a fun movie idea became just one note annoying.

 

[snowwite]

We don’t have Hallmar anymore but we watched 3 movies today on Paramount that are the exact same style. The Scottish Christmas one was cool for us because it was filmed in Culross in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland and we’ve been there.

 

[Imzadi]

We don’t have Hallmar anymore but we watched 3 movies today on Paramount that are the exact same style. The Scottish Christmas one was cool for us because it was filmed in Culross in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland and we’ve been there.

I have Paramount. Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To All a Good Night (Hallmark) 8/10 An enjoyable movie, some parts serious but mostly just cheesy cute movie. The jokes as corny as they were made ya laugh.

Round and Round (Hallmark) 8/10 My husband always enjoys groundhog day-style movies. This was a fresh feeling kind of one. It felt retro and fun and I really enjoy the twist at the end. Some parts reminded me of Just Like Heaven movie.

Holiday Road (Hallmark) 9/10 So this is probably one of the very few movies that I would recommend not watching for the leads. I didn't really feel the chemistry between the leads and didn't like their plot points together-separately yes I liked their stories but together it just didn't work. However all the side characters? I LOVED them, so funny, so relatable, and ordinary people feeling which worked so well. I would absolutely re-watch this movie and darnit if it didn't tug at the heartstrings. Some things I guessed were the secrets of the side characters others I had no idea. A sweet movie for sure.

My Norwegian Holiday (Hallmark) 9/10 I enjoyed this movie a lot, sure some parts didn't make as much sense and felt thrown in there for conflict/secret unveiling but I liked the warm and welcoming feeling of the family and the snippets you got of traditions. I'd rewatch this one.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We both enjoyed “Miracle in Bethlehem.”

 

[Imzadi]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries:
Miracle in Bethlehem
Starring: Laura Vandervoort, Benjamin Ayres and Teryl Rothery
Description: This is a Dayspring presentation: focusing on a family friendly, Christian inspirational story that reflects positive values, joy and the true meaning of Christmas.⁣⁣

Just before Christmas, Mary Ann adopts a baby girl to raise alone. She and the infant spend Christmas stuck in Bethlehem, PA, due to bad weather. Her only choice when the inn is full is to stay with Joe, the brother of the innkeeper.

We both enjoyed “Miracle in Bethlehem.”

We did too. It was also nice to see Benjamin Ayres in a different type of role for him. He usually plays such staid type of roles. He looked like he had a good time playing this role.

 

[snowwite]

We discovered with Prime you can get a free week trial of Hallmark. We watched 3 Wiseman and a baby and now watching Haul in the Holly. Just thought I would share in case anyone else wants to get the free week.

 

[disney4us2002]

Merry Christmas friends!

Please share what was your favorite movie this year. I know many of you record/dvr them and may not have watched all of them. Of those you have watched, which stood out as one you will look for again next year.

I'm not sure I have a favorite per se, but I enjoyed and will rewatch the following (in no order):

Where are you Christmas?
The Santa Summit
Merry Scottish Christmas (for the actors rather than the story if I'm honest)
Catch me if you Claus
Biltmore Christmas
Round & Round
Sealed with a List
To All a Good Night

Looking over that list, I have already watched Where are you Christmas and To All a Goodnight both at least 3x so I suppose, those are my faves this year.


Let me also say that I am thankful to have shared this season with all of you and that I truly appreciate each of you.

I hope Valentine's and wedding month movies are entertaining!

 

[PollyannaMom]

We both enjoyed “Miracle in Bethlehem.”

I watched part of that one yesterday and finished it this morning. I enjoyed it.

Please share what was your favorite movie this year. I know many of you record/dvr them and may not have watched all of them. Of those you have watched, which stood out as one you will look for again next year.

I do have several still in the DVR, but I think my favorite so far was Christmas on Cherry Lane.

Runners up - Holiday Hotline and Love, the Coopers.

 

[snowwite]

We watched one last night called the Ghosts of Christmas Always. It was nice.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I just got to Biltmore Christmas yesterday, and it’s my favorite of those I’ve watched

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Did anyone see the Hallmark hunks article in New York Magazine? It was Tyler Hines, Andrew Walker, and Paul Campbell. They did a nice job and I appreciate the photo shoot in Central Park

 

[Imzadi]

Merry Christmas friends!

Please share what was your favorite movie this year. I know many of you record/dvr them and may not have watched all of them. Of those you have watched, which stood out as one you will look for again next year.

I'm not sure I have a favorite per se, but I enjoyed and will rewatch the following (in no order):

Where are you Christmas?
The Santa Summit
Merry Scottish Christmas (for the actors rather than the story if I'm honest)
Catch me if you Claus
Biltmore Christmas
Round & Round
Sealed with a List
To All a Good Night

Looking over that list, I have already watched Where are you Christmas and To All a Goodnight both at least 3x so I suppose, those are my faves this year.


Let me also say that I am thankful to have shared this season with all of you and that I truly appreciate each of you.

I hope Valentine's and wedding month movies are entertaining!

I do have several still in the DVR,

I also have several saved on my DVR. My cable and Internet went down a couple weeks ago. And I finally made the switch away from Spectrum Cable & Internet, which I've had nothing but technical problems and high prices.

I switched over to YouTube TV which has unlimited DVRing. My Spectrum problems turned out to happen at the perfect time as I was able to DVR most of my old Hallmark favorites as well as all the new movies. Whereas, if I cut the cord in January, I would have missed out on DVRing all the Hallmark movies, as well as missing out on the cord-cutters' price specials.

Also, Spectrum gave limited DVR space, so I was always under the gun to have to watch new movies sooner than I wanted, to free up the DVR space for other new movies. (I had a LOT of older favorites saved taking up the majority of the space. )

This year, I have been able to watch differently as I now have been able to DVR and save everything. I've been rotating between some of the new movies which haven't gotten a very high IMDb .com rating, with some of my older favorites, and only sporadically watching a new movie that a lot of people here and on the IMDb have said they really liked. (I know our own likes may be radically different from the IMDb ratings. I have a couple movies that only got a surprising 5.8 that are personal favorites, and others I wonder what was everyone else thinking that their ratings were so high??? )

However, a lot of the better liked movies I've been saving for this week, as the holiday season winds down and there are no more new Christmas movies. I want to end this season with some of the more, generally well liked movies. So, I actually haven't gotten to a lot on everybody's well-liked lists yet.

I did really like Where Are You Christmas? and Catch Me if You Claus.

I just got to Biltmore Christmas yesterday, and it’s my favorite of those I’ve watched

A lot of others here said this is a really good movie, so I'm saving this for my last new Christmas movie.

 

[Imzadi]

Let me also say that I am thankful to have shared this season with all of you and that I truly appreciate each of you.

I couldn't have said this any better or reiterated this MORE!

ALL OF YOU bring this thread to life at Christmastime.

I appreciate all your thoughts, comments, opinions, observations, added info and updates about movies, the networks and the stars. I love hearing how some of you have been to the Biltmore, or Scotland, or some other place in a movie, and how the movies stand up to or are reminiscent of your experiences.

I notice the people who may not want to post but will still weigh in with a reaction at the bottom of posts.

And all of you who just peek in to read what movies others are recommending or not,

those peeks are invaluable. This thread has 3000+ posts, yet it has 192,000 views. When we were on old servers which used to record and list out the individual views as it went up, in numbers instead of in "K" for each thousand, it was really noticeable as the views went up significantly every several days at Christmastime. It tells us all of our posts and contributions matter. (There aren't enough Hallmark haters who click just to see what the heck are we all posting about to equal 192K views.)

Thank you for ALL the ways all of you participate on our thread.
Our Hallmark thread is successful due to all of you.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I just watched Miracle in Bethlehem, PA.
I was skeptical of the premise, and I still really enjoyed it.

Did anyone else notice as Benjamin Ayre’s hair switches from very to not at all curly throughout the movie? That cracks me up. It feels like he filmed in different times, but of course they do it over 2 weeks. I did enjoy seeing him as a very different type of character than he usually plays, and thought the entire movie was very well done.

This could have been unwatchable, and instead I will catch it again.

I’m just whiplashing from seeing Laura Vandervoort and Teryl Rothery in non-SciFi roles, but in a good way

Also, I could not agree more with the posts about what a special community and group this is — everyone is honest but generally positive, and it’s a pleasure to hang out here with you all year-round

Massive thanks to our own @Imzadi, who keeps us chugging along with grace and style! Thank you so much for all you do!

 

[Imzadi]

To piggyback off of my last post, you never know which post or few posts may make the difference in someone watching a movie they were going to pass on.

I am that example. Some of you know I can't stand Erica Durance. It's not Hallmark related. It goes all the way back to her days on Smallville. In my opinion, she was miscast as Lois Lane, especially as the actress that had been cast as Lana Lang was so much more charismatic and effervescent. Her portrayal of Lois didn't help. Normally, I skip her Hallmark movies.

Yet, last year, some of you recommended seeing We Need A Little Christmas, not for Erica, but for Lynn Whitfield. How Lynn's performance just made the movie really worth seeing. On your recommendations, I saw it. And I totally agree. What an absolutely wonderful role for her. And Erica was tolerable (for me) as she had less focus than a regular female lead has.

This year, Erica Durance is in another movie, Ms. Christmas Comes to Town. No one here mentioned seeing it. Granted, it could also be the subject matter, which sounds like a real downer. One of the characters, at the start of the movie, is diagnosed with an incurable illness. Not the happy, lighthearted, holiday fluff we'd rather watch.

I really like Barbara Niven. She was the mom in Chesapeake Shores and in the Murder She Baked/Hannah Swensen movies. She plays the character with the incurable illness. Yet, I kept skipping past this movie as I have TWO reasons why not to watch it now.

But, I saw a couple reviews on the IMDb .com, (which rated it at a fairly good 6.8,) that said this movie is actually Barbara Niven's movie, not the regular two "leads." That the movie is so worth seeing for her.

It made me remember back to how Lynn Whitfield made the other movie. And also, recently @Mackenzie Click-Mickelson recommended to not watch for the leads in Holiday Road, but for the other characters.

Could Ms. Christmas Comes to Town be another movie to watch more for Barbara Niven and not the leads?

I can clearly say: YES! I actually recommend this movie.

Barbara is clearly the star of this movie. She magnetizes us every time she's on screen. This isn't a downer of a movie, as she always knew her illness may come back and she was already reconciled with that possibility. There's that saying, "Tomorrow is not promised to any of us." She is a wonderful example of squeezing the juice out of every day she has. She lives with purpose with the time she has left. We do not see her die at the end, so no sad ending we have to sniffle through. It's kind of hopeful with the time she has left.

As for Erica and Brennan Elliott, while they are the leads, they are more supporting characters for Barbara. I actually felt kind of sorry for Erica. This is the second Hallmark movie where she may be the female lead, yet she's clearly not the female STAR of the movie. It's quite a long fall from being Superman's love of his life as a young actress, to an older lead who isn't really a star. And we don't watch the movies for her. (And again, I felt she was miscast, in terms of age by 10 -15 years, being an "apprentice.")

This movie is definitely re-watchable for Barbara Niven. Hallmark gave her a role she can really be proud of. She hit this one out of the park.

 

[Imzadi]

Did anyone else notice as Benjamin Ayre’s hair switches from very to not at all curly throughout the movie? That cracks me up. It feels like he filmed in different times, but of course they do it over 2 weeks. I did enjoy seeing him as a very different type of character than he usually plays, and thought the entire movie was very well done.

Yes, it was like his hair was confused, he's so used to playing the straight-laced, straight haired role, it would go back to being straight.

Massive thanks to our own @Imzadi, who keeps us chugging along with grace and style! Thank you so much for all you do!

Thank you!

 

[elgerber]

The last two nights I finally watched A World Record Christmas and To All a Good Night. I thought both were excellent, and Record made me sniffle a little, which is very very rare for a Hallmark movie. From the cover photo I expected a Good NIght to be a serious movie, so I was pleasantly surprised to laugh out loud many times.