Reviews

Jocelyn Hudon is just incredibly alluring here. And not just her blue jeans. She fills out her top more than most Hallmark heroines. I can't overstate just how incredible this woman looks. Her acting skills? Who cares?

Basically, like many Hallmark movies, they picked a location and applied one of their ten scripts to it.

The real star here is the Niagra Falls travelogue. The characters bounce from one tourist attraction to another. And there's great footage of the Falls. And look for the cameramen in the boat ride. Apparently they couldn't hide them.

Oh, and the sister is pretty too. The leading man? More boring than oatmeal.

I'm crushed by how bad this show is. I loved Elsbeth on the Good Wife. This show demonstrates how important it is to have a strong cast around the goofy characters.

The girl who plays the cop assigned to follow Elsbeth around is very strong, but the constant Elsbeth is tres annoying.

This show is the traditional Reality Show episode that every show resorts to eventually.

The guy from Modern Family chomps on scenery and prances around until you pray for an electricity outage.

Three episodes in and I want to watch anything else. In fact, I'd rather watch hours of Ms Rachel than another second of this drek.

Alice lives! But not for long. You get the amazing Linda Lavin to appear on your show. So you decide to kill her character off five minutes in? Dude, get some writers!

Instead you decide to build the episode around the girl from Ally McBeal and 30 Rock to build the show around?

Linda Lavin is 86 and you kill her right off? There's a reason this show is DOA despite all the fuss and advertising. The writing is awful.

The Good Wife was awesome. The character of Elsbeth was awesome. Why is this show so miserably awful?

Thank goodness it's only ten episodes. I can see why CBS is burning it off two episodes at actime.

I know that Ms. Lohan is married in real life, but there were sparks galore between her and the actor who plays James. Like steamy!

Lindsay is super pretty here, as is the girl from Emily in Paris as the best friend.

And of course, the amazing Jane Seymour is just stunning here, and she gets to show her comedic skills.

And the accents? Of course they're all over the place. That's part of the fun.

It also blew my mind that the movie was produced by Michael Damien.... Danny from the Young and the Restless.

Don't believe the haters here. This movie is fun and heartwarming. And the twist at the end is mind lowing.

The guy from the Hallmark Christmas movies playing a real life Amish murderer? Just incredible!

Luke McFarlane plays Eli, the Amish Stud. And yes, it's a BOATS. Based on a true story. Because, frankly, you couldn't make this up.

And the best part? Penelope from Criminal Minds is the killer! Didn't Kristen make enough from CM? Or is she doing this just for fun? Enquiring minds want to know. No matter, she is absolutely incredible here.

And to see Luke butching it up with all the ladies here is so much fun.

Find this movie and watch it. This is an all time great Lifetime mivie. Just don't tell Hallmark that's he's moonlighting.

Wait, yes I do. Kelly Rowland is hands down one of the worst actors ever. She has the same basic expression no matter what emotion her character is supposed to be feeling .

And the writing..... non-existant. This was just a google AI generated piece, right?

A high class attorney walks in on her client putting to amother woman, and just lets him climb on her? Gross!

And the stereotypical evil mother in law is..... the only caucasian in the movie?

My wife loves many Tyler Perry movies like Mr. Deeds. Luckily she fell asleep about twenty minutes in.

The best part is about an hour twenty in when Kelly Rowland wears a suit straight out of a Talking Heads video. And she still wears her omnipresent mono-pout.

Laura Linney continues her story arc that started with The Big C, extended to Ozark and goes on here. Her amazing ability to portray a woman who is just holding on to the edge of reality, while trying to just keep everything together, is an absolute work of art. And she has fabulous legs.

The dynamic between the actress that plays her daughter and Woody from Cheers is also incredibly well done.

Dancing around all this is the real story of Teri Schivo. Whether you support assisted death or not, both sides are explored here.

And now we are keft with this websites minimum character bull, so I ramble on.

It's awesome to see the return of one of the prettiest actresses on television! Amy Carlson was amazing as Danny Reagan's wife Linda on Blue Bloods, and returns here as the wife of SVUs boss, Terry Serpico. Of course, he's better known from his time on Army Wives.

This episode was unfortunately dragged down by the boring ongoing storyline that has ruined this whole season so far. Multi story arcs are best left to those rarely watched boutique series on bizarre streaming services.

Can some network please stand up and build a series around the amazing Ms. Carlson? Please and thank you.

I just need 7 more characters.

Take a show starring a former star of Grey's Anatomy, add in a guest star from Virgin River and Code Black, and top it off with my favorite actress from the Postable movies. All of my favorite shows connected. Canadian made television shows are the best.

And if course, the costar of this show, Vanessa Morgan, is one of the prettiest actressses on all of television.

Watch it. This show is a cute and entertaining way to spend 42 minutes, (and if course add in the endless commercials that the CW app lards in).

Now I have to pad this review to get to the minimum 600 words. Take the Niners and the points.

The problem with streaming sevices is that bland, predictable, boring drek like this is just waiting for you to stumble upon.

Four tedious well to do white New Yorkers obsess over the most mundane problems. And talk endlessly about them. Watching Julia Louis Dreyfuss try to do dramatic acting is more painful than having a tooth pulled without Novacaine.

Remember when David Cross was funny? It seems that was decades ago. Here he's dreadfully boring and just sad. And the girl from Joan of Arcadia has gotten old. Really, really old.

My wife is sleeping in her chair right now while this movie never ends. Send help.

Scott Bryce, better known as Craig from As the World Turns, made his second appearance in the Law and Order universe. Unfortunately, he is killed off in the first few moments.

Law and Order likes to pretty to be hip by hitting the latest headlines, so of course, they attempt to jump into the curent crisis of anti-semitism. And they bungle it miserably.

It doesn't help that the current pair of detectives are a bland pair of poorly acted duds. And the returning prosecuters are similarly boring and unwatchable.

Law and Order's biggest crime? Wasting the incredible Camryn Manheim. Build the show around your best actress!

Hey look, I'm Paul Rudd and I'm acting! I'm a real actor.

No, no you are not. You are the fourth guy in a good comedy, standing behind the really funny guys.

It doesn't matter if Netflix dumps a bunch of money on you and says go to it. Paul Rudd is possibly one the the worst dramatic actors in history.

Look, he's destroying the credenza that we spent two hours talking about! Wow!.

Really, this could have been a good hour and a half movie, but it's so obviously padded out.

And it's really unfortunate, because the female lead is so hot. How about she gets her own movie?

From now on this actor will be known as Paul Dud.

So a diplomat has no time to wash or brush her hair? Keri Russell looks like a homeless person with her dirty and ragged hair. She's the star of this hopelessly muddled mess, but is in fact the least attractive woman in the cast.

There's one actress that looks like Sandra Oh, and oh my, does she rev my engine.

The one actor who really rings true in his role is Ato Essandoh from Chicago Med. He has amazingly emotive eyes.

The rest of the cast are a step below the average bunch that Hallmark uses in one of it's foreign prince Christmas movies.

Okay, 45 words left to meet the minimum characters.

Okay, stop me if you've heard this one before. A notororious show killer and the star of Men in Tights end up together in one movie.

Brooke Shields, who has joined the cast of many series, only to immediately see them cancelled, (Remember Army Wives among others?) joins the artist best known for wearing green tights.

Okay, the scenery is gorgeous, the townspeople are quirky and inviting, and the Scottish Whiskey looks amazing. Brook Shields looks ancient, and Cary Elwes had to be close to seventy.

But Netflix had a couple of million to dump into their bank accounts, so here we are.

Thanks for wasting my time. I'm out.

Did I say that Ali Liebert is cute? No matter who her character is romantically pursuing, she is an absolute sweetheart. And best of all, here her character is after another woman. And should I say, a much younger woman!

Usually though, Ms. Liebert portrays a woman filled with much more lufe and whimsy. Maybe because she is an executive producer on this movie, she thought she had to be more reserved. C'mon Ali, let it loose!

Okay so now this website says that I have to add over a hundred more characters to pad out this review. How about that Taylor Swift? I don't care much for her, but don't mind if you do.

Netflix spends a lot of money on these Spanish productions, then about ten cents dubbing them into English. The over dub actors are flat and lifeless, and suck all the joy out of the performances.

This is a three part miniseries, each set years apart. The first episode was actually very dramatic and fun to watch, but the other two are a hard to follow mess.

That's all I have, but this website demands a lot of characters to fill out every review, which is pure horse plop. I still have a hundred characters to go before they let me post this review. Have you seen the new Wonka movie? Hugh Grant is amazing.

Three different households trying not to muddle up Christmas. Apparently written by a hundred different writers with really no idea what they're doing.

Stop me if you've heard this one before.. A Scientolgist walks into a Christmas movie.... How about, The Good Witch walks into a Christmas movie, with the same husband. Yeah, this movie is a confused trash heap of cliches and poorly conceived plotlines that meander towards a flat and dissapointing ending.

Poor Erin Cahill waddles around this film 10 months pregnant and never gets a chance to show a lick of her beauty.

This has a been a great Christmas season for Hallmark, but Cherry Lane is a bust.

What a good wife you would be. But an actress? Nope. But Brandy's lack of any discernable acting skill is the least of the problems with this soulless steaming pile of bah humbug.

The writing is dull and lifeless and the special effects are clumsy and dated.

And watching Roller Girl make out with the dweeb from American Pie is just stomach turning.

On a positive note, the children are cute and Brandy adds some delightful music.

It's sad that Netflix spends so much on casting actors, and apparently has been rummaging through the dumpster behind Hallmark for scripts.

Now I have to fill space to reach minimum characters.

Have I been transported to an alternate universe? Hallmark is suddenly putting effort and creativity into it's Christmas movies!

There have been three or four Hallmark Christmas movies this year that throw the tired Hallmark Christmas formula out of the window and and celebrate creativity! Some of these movies could have been released in theaters.

This movie , of course, has the amazing Bethany Joy Lenz adding her energy and humor, (and beauty,) stirring the pot.

The guy from Life Unexpected has been phoning it in the past few years, but here he is absolutely perfect.

The costumes and sets deserve an Emmy.

Thank you, to whoever at Hallmark shhok things up!

Literally, Emily Tennant's attempt at an English accent is the worst you will ever hear. Remember Lindsay Lohan's in the Parent Trap? Worse than that.

Luckily, Emily is super cute, and has a great sense of humor. I'd watch her use any kind of horrible accent.

Niall Mater does his usual great job of portraying a widowed father. (How many TV wives has he lost on Hallmark movies? I'd have to guess a dozen.) Of course, he has an awesome comedic touch, and tremendous chemistry with Emily.

I'd say this is for sure one of the ten best Hallmark Christmas movies this season. Now I'm switching over to GAC to see what they have.

It's about time that Amber Marshall and Hallmark hooked up for a Christmas movie! And of course, she plays an animal trainer! This time instead of training horses, she is training guide dogs for the blind.

And apparently the male lead playing a professor who has recently lost his sight, is not actually blind, but does suffer from low vision.

I also love that the dog is named Max, a nod to the scrappy dog in the Grinch!

Other than that, this movie is remarkably similar to one that was on Hallmark about a month ago. Luckily, this movie stands out thanks to Amber Marshall.

BTW, the new season of Heartland is streaming on a different network.

Yes, really, a movie for adults. No explosions, no sex... just two great actors talking. Meg Ryan and David Duchovny do a great job as the only on screen cast actors with dialogue. No sassy precocious child, no mopey teenager, no sassy grandma. Just Willa and Bill talking out what happened years ago in their relationship.

There are certainly details that you just have to buy in on. The coincidence of their meeting, the fact that it is snowing so hard in Bentonville, Arkansas. And during a dance scene late in the movie, Bill's shirt goes from being untucked to tucked in over and over.

And the ending..... it's up to you.

This was a fun movie, but for me, the plot was overshadowed by the appearance of Parks and Rec legend Jim O'Heir. He's the dad here, but his character resonates with echoes of his classic Garry, Jerry bumbler.

His wife is played by another legend, Julie Warner, from Doc Hollywood and Tommy Boy.

As for the story, I appreciate Hallmark taking a risk going with black and white for large part of the movie.

The female lead, Lyndsy Fonseca, has that girl next door charm that works well here.

The male lead, Michael Rady, does his usual steady job in the second fiddle spot.

I would put this in in the above average category.

Disclaimer: I'd watch Rachel Boston read the phone book for two hours. She's still one of the cutest stars in the Hallmark roster.

It's delightful here to watch her character bond with other Mothers in the PTA that are so much different than her.

Benjamin Ayres from Saving Hope makes his 900th Hallmark movie appearance. As usual, he does a great job as the male lead.

Did I say how say how awesome Rachel Boston is here? She just absolutely breaks your heart as her character watches a video of her dead husband.

The only problem I have with this movie is that it takes place on the first week of school, but there is already snow on the ground. WTF?

How do you reboot one of the greatest sitcoms of all time? The Conners is doing pretty well, but rebooting Frasier without most of the greatest cast of actors in decades. (The Night Court disaster anyone?) Well, this works. Partly because Grammer as Frasier is just a powerhouse actor. Also, the directors and writers are amazingly talented veterans. And the decision to go with a live audience was genius.

Remember the first episode of the original Frasier? The characters were over the top and forced. Yet the show quickly found its way.

There are lots if belly laughs here, even as the characters set scenes. And the roomate of Frasiers son is amazingly hot. Smoking.

Next up, (hopefully), Scrubs?