Hallmark Movies ❤️ comfort & joy

[disney4us2002]

I think they used to do more Fall-centric but the Christmas movies have moved up and up and up so they start running on Halloween now. I love their Christmas stories best but I also enjoy the June wedding themes too.

 

[Imzadi]

Cross-posting. I just posted this on the Broadway show thread. I thought we could use a little Disney joy on this thread.

This is a FULL clip of the Broadway cast of The Lion King finally reassembled again at the Minskoff Theatre for the first time since March 2020, singing Circle of Life. The show is set to re-open on Sept 14. Director, Julie Taymor is talking at the beginning. Tshidi Manye who plays Rafiki, has been playing that role since 1997.

I get teary-eyed

every time I watch this.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I watched the rest of "The 27 Hour Day" today. - Predictable, but in a good way. It was just what I wanted, and I enjoyed it.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I watched “Sweet Pecan Summer,” this evening. I thought it was well done and not the exact typical plot, but still familiar enough. I’d love to see more of the actress who played the aunt, she made her character so vivid!

 

[elgerber]

I watched “Sweet Pecan Summer,” this evening. I thought it was well done and not the exact typical plot, but still familiar enough. I’d love to see more of the actress who played the aunt, she made her character so vivid!

Lauren Tom? She was Julie on Friends

 

[Disneylover99]

I watched “Sweet Pecan Summer,” this evening. I thought it was well done and not the exact typical plot, but still familiar enough. I’d love to see more of the actress who played the aunt, she made her character so vivid!

She was in the series Andi Mack. Which is kind of like Hallmark for tweens. Lol.

 

[Imzadi]

She also played Mrs. Tran, Kevin Tran's mom on Supernatural.

 

[elgerber]

She also played Mrs. Tran, Kevin Tran's mom on Supernatural.

She was also in Bad Santa which is about as far as you can get from a Hallmark movie

 

[Imzadi]

Tonight's Hallmark movie is Journey of My Heart, starring Rhiannon Fish and Darien Martin, two Canadian actors who have been in various Hallmark movies, but in supporting roles.

The movie's original working title was "Love on the Wings of Eagles," as it's about a wildlife biologist who goes to a remote part of Alaska to study some bald eagles.

Sneak Peek:

Darien needed some help with dating. He got some from Jes Macallen, (who was in the Amish Hallmark movie An Uncommon Grace.) She got him cleaned up, had all his back hair shaved off, and he was finally Tinder ready. Apparently it worked, as he landed the romantic lead in tonight's movie.

 

[NWOhiogal]

WAY back in 1985 Hallmark did a TV-movie adaptation of Dumas' "The Corsican Brothers" starring Trevor Eve and Olivia Hussey. I taped it off the TV and a good thing too because as far as I know it's never been available on VHS or DVD.

 

[Imzadi]

Tonight kicks of 6 weekends of Hallmark's Fall Harvest movies with Roadhouse Romance. It stars Hallmark newcomer, Lauren Alaina and Tyler Hynes.

Here's some fall background foliage from the movie:

Lauren is a country singer, an American Idol runner-up, and placed fourth on Dancing With the Stars.

Lauren will sing two songs from her newest (and third) album, Sitting Pretty on Top of the World, in Roadhouse Romance.

The story is: "Lt. Callie Jackson (Lauren Alaina) returns home from her tour of duty and must come to terms with everything that’s changed while she was away, especially at her family’s iconic BBQ establishment, Tucker’s Roadhouse.

She is determined to continue her late grandfather’s legacy at the roadhouse, which has always been a destination for great food and discovering new country music talent. Callie steps up to help her mother and aunt prepare for the fall festival at Tucker’s Roadhouse, which also means searching for her late grandfather’s special barbecue sauce recipe which was lost while she was away.

After a chance run-in with TV director Luke (Tyler Hynes), who is passing through town, he helps Callie determine what is worth hanging on to and when it’s time to let go."

Sneak Peak:

Fun trivia:
Here is Lauren and her Dancing With the Stars pro partner, Gleb Savchenko, dancing one of her better dances:

 

[Imzadi]

The plot of Roadhouse Romance sounds like the same plot as Love Blossoms, in which the female lead was looking for her deceased father's recipe for a new perfume he had been developing. And she needs the help of the leading man to move on.

Are you guys aware that the two stars of Love Blossoms: Victor Webster & Shantel VanSanten met on that movie for the first time, fell in love in real life and got engaged this past February!

From People.com

"The actress, 35, got engaged to boyfriend Victor Webster on Feb. 9. The pair dated for four years after first meeting on the set of a Hallmark movie, Love Blossoms, in 2017. Now, they're ready to "begin forever."

"It was the most perfect, wonderful day of my entire life," VanSanten tells PEOPLE of Webster's proposal. "And I can't wait to marry my best friend."

"Relationships aren't easy — you have to fight for it, you have to work at it," the For All Mankind star adds. "We've done that and we've put in the work and now feel settled. I'm excited that we get to begin forever together."

VanSanten says the secret to the success of her relationship with Webster, 48, is that they "balance each other out."

"He has this childlike wonder when it comes to adventuring and exploring and pushing the limits and getting me to sit on the top of a 500 foot waterfall in Bali, to jump out of helicopters," explains the One Tree Hill alum. "There's just such a zest for life, and I would say I'm a little bit more of a homebody. I'm not as social as he is."

"He's the head and I'm the heart," the actress continues. "And when it comes to making decisions, we can be fire and fire, but in the end, the way that we both come to the table with different things has allowed me to grow and to see a different perspective in life."

Last summer, the couple took a road trip across the country to visit family, and VanSanten says they're thinking of recreating it to celebrate their nuptials.

"If you can go on a 42-day road trip with your partner and not kill one another, I think we're good," she jokes, adding that her lasting romance with the Days of Our Lives alum is still a "total surprise" to her.

"I would never have known it was going to be him," she says. "That's the biggest surprise to me — I never had a picture for what I wanted in my life, and my heart has always been very open. But I remember meeting him and now looking back on our journey to where we are now, and it's a total surprise. I love him more and more with every breath."
​

 

[Imzadi]

There is a new mystery tonight on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. I think it's a single movie and not part of a series. It's called Redemption in Cherry Springs, starring Rochelle Aytes, Keith Robinson and Frankie Faison.

The executive producer is Judy Smith, a former consultant and “fixer” for Fortune 500 companies. Smith entered the entertainment industry as the inspiration for the character Olivia Pope on the ABC drama Scandal. Smith was also an executive producer on that show.

Redemption filmed in the Hudson Valley, NY, between 70-90 miles north of NYC. They filmed in Newburgh, Beacon, Woodstock, Middletown, and High Falls, NY. (Some really beautiful areas. ) According to a local radio station, Q105.7, extras were needed to play crime scene investigators and uniformed police officers. Extras with dogs were also needed!

I'm glad to see Hallmark filming in more U.S. locations. Although, they are probably back to filming around Canada, now that the borders have re-opened. I think having had to quarantine all the stars for a couple weeks before filming, when they arrived in Canada, really killed all the budgets of all the networks which usually film up there, if it was actually cheaper to film in the U.S. instead.

Sneak Peek:

 

[Imzadi]

The new Hallmark movie tonight is Raise a Glass to Love starring Laura Osnes & Juan Pablo Di Pace.

“An aspiring sommelier, Jenna, returns to her family vineyard to study and is intrigued by the natural methods of the handsome new, Argentinian winemaker, Marcelo. Master Sommelier Jennifer Huether consults and appears as herself in a cameo role.”

While the movie takes place in Sonoma, CA, it’s actually filmed in Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, an area known for wineries and orchards and it’s one of the warmest regions in Canada.

Laura wrote on her Instagram: “What an unforgettable three weeks filming in the picturesque vineyards of Kelowna, British Columbia… particularly because I got to play alongside the captivatingly charming and brilliantly generous Juan Pablo Di Pace. … Yup, JP stole all of our hearts the moment he walked on set! So, so grateful for this gorgeous experience."

On Location interviews:

It's nice to have some eye candy as the male lead.

Juan Pablo was in Dancing With the Stars a few years ago. He had received perfect scores of 30 for 5 dances and the 6th was a near perfect score at 29.

Here are all of Juan Pablo's performances on Dancing With the Stars:

 

[Imzadi]

There is a new movie tomorrow night on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries called Finding Love in Mountain View. It's not a mystery. It's pretty much the same storyline as Lacey Chabert's recent movie, Sweet Carolina, where a relative dies and the female lead is entrusted to take care of the kids.

This must be one of the new cookie cutter storylines for Hallmark movies now. It took Lacey 2+ years to develop her movie, and it took weeks/months(?) for Hallmark to copy it once they realized Lacey's storyline was so successful.

We should have a contest for new movies: Which other Hallmark movies are similar to this new one?

Finding Love in Mountain View:

Sweet Carolina:

 

[nycdisneygal]

I love that I have you guys who love hallmark movies too.. This is whats keeping me out of pandemic depression. Cant wait for the fall ones and oh yeah christmas ones are around the corner! just a month until the new Signed sealed delivered!!!
Totally missed Journey of my heart. Need to DVR it.
Liked Roadhouse Romance. It was cute. I like tyler hynes but sometimes I cant understand his mumbling!!!
Cant remember if I posted this but my cranky teen has started watching Aurora Teagarden mysteries with me. glad we can do that together. she used to watch when calls the heart with me.

 

[Imzadi]

oh yeah christmas ones are around the corner!

I saw my first Hallmark Christmas movie commercial already.
Hallmark Christmas movies start Oct 22.

 

[Imzadi]

Totally missed Journey of my heart. Need to DVR it.

I only watched 20 minutes of Journey of My Heart and had to turn it off. The lead actors have pretty much only done supporting roles for Hallmark. There's a reason why. I couldn't stand their acting, nor the female lead's best friends acting. I thought they were all doing bad, generalized, stereotypical acting, like what would be done in a scene for an acting class.

The dialogue was badly written, not natural, free-flowing conversations - which probably didn't help the actors. They couldn't fill in between the bad writing. I kept thinking, "How would Lacey do that line?" She's got enough acting and life experience that she can really personalize any line, fill it and say it from the heart, even if the dialogue is badly written. (Although she isn't usually given bad scripts.)

Maybe I'm getting too old, but I found the whole cast rather young. The female lead character seemed very insecure and had to be buoyed up by her friends to make a tremendous journey into the wilderness for the lofty goal she had. A goal the male lead didn't believe in she could do, at the beginning. He seemed kind of rude & dismissive to her. It seemed like a coming of age type of movie about 20-somethings growing, finding themselves and finding each other along the journey. Bad acting 20-somethings at that. I just wasn't interested in going along this journey. Maybe this would work more for a movie on Freeform, which has a younger demographic.

 

[Imzadi]

The new Hallmark movie tonight is Raise a Glass to Love starring Laura Osnes & Juan Pablo Di Pace.

“An aspiring sommelier, Jenna, returns to her family vineyard to study and is intrigued by the natural methods of the handsome new, Argentinian winemaker, Marcelo. Master Sommelier Jennifer Huether consults and appears as herself in a cameo role.”

I watched this movie tonight. I liked it.

I hope Juan Pablo does more Hallmark movies. Then maybe they can slide one in to replace Jesse Metcalfe's A Country Wedding. It was on AGAIN this afternoon. Do they show it EVERY Saturday afternoon?

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I just stumbled upon this thread and I love it!

I will watch anything with RP in it but was surprised that Sam Heughan (Outlander) was in one some years ago (Forgive me if this was mentioned before I did not read the whole 38 pages of the thread). He was so hard to recognize and a far cry from "Jamie" that I had to look up the cast of the movie to find out it was him, only his voice gave it away.

I usually just binge on the Christmas Movies and to be honest, I do not know the titles. I read an article once that called this genre "fairytales for adults" which it is. I love the predictability and also the settings especially when the main character is supposed to be struggling financially and lives in a multi-million dollar fully restored Victorian.

. This being said, I am always on the hunt for red coats. I swear that Hallmark has done more for the sales of red coats than anyone else. There is a site which tells the shopping information for the clothes one sees on TV and especially Hallmark. Does anyone remember what it is?