Tag Archives: Hallmark

A Novel Romance books being the latest Hallmark Channel movie!

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A Novel Romance Hallmark Channel

Wait, is this A Novel Romance or the latest Lifetime movie, Library Creeper???

[adrotate banner=”7″]With A Novel Romance, we run deep into the world of romance book writers and bloggers, a world filled with drama and suspense. I fully admit that I follow several romance book blogs (Dear Author, Smart Bitches, even The Cultural Gutter’s romance section). I don’t even read romance books (except a few Urban Fantasy books that cross over), but reading about romance books is addicting. So watching movies about romance books is also of interest to me, even if it follows the standard “someone’s lying about who they are” plot, complete with someone who has given up on love. And there is a book reviewing journalist, which it will be hilarious if she does that as a full time job and not as a write for hire deal as media companies cut content generators in favor of trying to get people to write for free. Not that I’m going to start a rant about that, but 2014 was RIP several awesome sites and lots of people got fired from other places, making the good content out there even more harder to find. That’s pretty much why I read mostly blogs now, as that’s where the good writers are.

Anyway, about the movie:

Romance novelist Liam Bradley (Dylan Bruce) has already found massive success with three books written under the pen name Gabriel August, but he’s mysteriously unknown to his legions of readers. With his first book written as a way to heal after a broken relationship, Liam has slowly become disheartened with writing strictly for romantic fantasy, something evident to a sweet, but honest, journalist who reviews books, Sophie Atkinson (Amy Acker), whom he meets by chance on a plane. The two begin a tentative relationship in Sophie’s home town of Portland, Maine, where Liam has come to find inspiration for his newest entry.

Liam’s agent puts him on the spot with a long-planned reveal of Gabriel August’s true identity, but Sophie doesn’t know of his public persona. The longer Liam avoids telling her the truth, the deeper a hole he digs for himself. Will their romance survive once his true identity comes to light?

A Novel Romance stars Amy Acker (Person of Interest) as Sophie Atkinson, Dylan Bruce (Orphan Black) as Liam Bradley, Camille Mitchell (Smallville) as Jackie Billick, Tammy Gillis (Blood Brothers: Reign of Terror) as Nina Gibson, Emily Tennant (Battle of the Bulbs) as Tabitha Weeks, Casey Manderson (Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever) as Drew Clayton, Milo Shandel (Zapped) as Phil Berkman, Chris Shields as Ted Gordon, and Charles S. Dutton (Roc) as Michael Harris.

It’s directed by Mark Griffiths, who directed Hardbodies 1 and 2, the Au Pair trilogy (Yes, it’s a trilogy now with Au Pair 3: Adventure in Paradise!) The story is by Beverly Nuako (her first film) and Hanz Wasserburger (High School Possession), and Wasserburger did the teleplay.

A Novel Romance premieres Saturday, January 10th on Hallmark Channel!

Photo via Hallmark/Bettina Strauss

Surprised By Love prepares the Twinkie hijinks on Hallmark Channel!

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Surprised by Love Hallmark

More like Surprised by Twinkies!

[adrotate banner=”7″]When in the history of ever have ridonkulous plans to con your in-laws into liking you ever worked? Luckily for the romantic comedy business, the answer is never, and the antics have fueled a bajillion movies. Surprised By Love features a successful guy that the in-laws don’t like, setting his girlfriend up with a “loser” so he’ll look better, except the loser might just be a winner. How much agency does the girlfriend have in this situation? Because she’s described as no-nonsense yet she’s putting up with this nonsense.

Whatever the reasons, expect a bunch of madcap misunderstandings and antics that are straight out of a Frasier episode.

Josie Mayfield, a no-nonsense businesswoman working at her father’s successful cookware company, thinks her boyfriend Richard is the perfect man – handsome, successful and driven. The problem is that Josie’s parents, Joseph and Claire, do not agree. When Josie meets up with Gridley, an underachieving, old high school flame (who still has a crush on Josie), Richard dreams up a plan to make himself look good to Josie’s parents: Gridley will be Josie’s date at Joseph and Claire’s upcoming anniversary party. When Joseph and Claire see Josie with a “loser,” they’ll give anything to have Richard back in the picture. At least, that’s the plan.

Over the anniversary party weekend, the plan goes awry in every way, and Josie must decide which direction her life – romantic and otherwise – is going to take.

Surprised by Love is directed by Robert Iscove (who helmed the immortal films From Justin to Kelly and Whiskey Business) It’s written by the husband and wife team that brought us A Royal Christmas, Neal Dobrofsky and Tippi Dobrofsky.

Surprised By Love stars Hilarie Burton (White Collar) as Josie, Paul Campbell (Billy from Battlestar Galactica) as Gridley, Malcolm Stewart (Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore) as Joseph, Wanda Cannon (Heartland) as Claire, Leanne Lapp (Snowmageddon) as Mindy, Aaron Craven (Independence Daysaster) as Richard, and Tim Conway (What’s a Tim Conway?) as Grandad.

Surprised By Love premieres Saturday, January 3rd on Hallmark Channel!

Photo via Hallmark/Eike Schroter

One Christmas Eve (Review)

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One Christmas Eve

One Christmas Eve Hallmark
2014
Written by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Directed by Jay Russell
One Christmas Eve Hallmark
Ever have one of those crazy nights where all sorts of weird stuff happens, and then you pick up a bunch of new best friends and a dog? Sure, we all have many times, and One Christmas Eve celebrates that phenomenon with Christmas flair! One Christmas Eve is a comedy movie which I didn’t know Hallmark even did, but I guess so because here it is! One Christmas Eve is an uneven holiday film that jumps around tonally and has some major missteps, but also does a few things surprisingly well that worked out enough to win me over in the end.

Nell Blackmore (Anne Heche) is freaking out trying to ensure the first Christmas after her divorce is a magical one for her two children. Opera-obsessed bad singer Emma (Alissa Skovbye) and video gamer Alden (Griffin Kane) are less than worried that Christmas won’t be special, because kids will be kids. Cesar Cortez (Carlos Gómez) is a worker looking to get him and be miserable during Christmas break, only to find someone dumped a puppy in front of his store. With no one around as it’s late at night on Christmas Eve, he looks for a happy family to dump the dog on the doorstep of to pass the buck. He picks the Blackmores, but his attempt to flee after buzzing the doorbell is foiled when he slips on a sled and injures his leg. Nell suddenly has to deal with someone injured on her property while a mystery dog entrances her children.

Thus begins the troubles for the night, as they go to the hospital. Nell parks the van in the loading zone, thinking it will just be a minute, but ends up taking forever (as someone who has been to the ER several times, you should expect to sacrifice many hours waiting around). She also first meets Dr. Chen (Brian Tee), who will take care of the family during each of their visits tonight. Alden takes the dog for a walk and ends up falling down a hole in a building under construction. Emma wanders out to go find him, and their van gets towed thanks to Reggie (Kevin Daniels) the security guard. Thus as soon as Cesar is free to go to the hospital, they’re back, with Alden having a broken wrist and Emma having cold exposure. That was rather poorly executed, her coat gets caught on a fence so she just leaves it, and suddenly is hospitalized even though it doesn’t seem that cold, and she’s fine a short bit later.
One Christmas Eve Hallmark
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A Cookie Cutter Christmas (Review)

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A Cookie Cutter Christmas

A Cookie Cutter Christmas Hallmark
2014
Written by Barbara Kymlicka
Directed by Christie Will Wolf

A Cookie Cutter Christmas Hallmark

Hi, I’m the Thicke that doesn’t sing rapey songs! Watch me eat lots of cookies!


If you enjoy scenes of Alan Thicke eating various cookies, you will love A Cookie Cutter Christmas! For everyone who isn’t one of those four people, let me tell you about A Cookie Cutter Christmas. Hallmark delivers a tale of female rivalry that becomes a Christmas miracle because that’s just how they roll. Thus, A Cookie Cutter Christmas has us follow a woman who constantly loses to her rival in a battle for the only eligible guy in town as well as learning how to cook. The rival aspect might turn some people off, but it’s not that unusual for life. Some people are constantly comparing themselves to others and have to be better than them. The keeping up with the Jonses mentality can be self-destructive, cause financial ruin, and it’s also pretty annoying when someone keeps beating you again and again. That might not seem very Christmas, but like it or not, competition is a big part of Christmas. Displays, gifts, cards, arguing with relatives over Christmas dinner, the true meanings are often lost, and those with competitive streaks can get sucked right in.

Christie Reynolds (Erin Karkow) has been competing with Penny Miller (Miranda Frigon) since they were children, Penny stealing her verses in a Christmas pageant long ago and the rivalry living on decades later with both women as teachers at the same elementary school forever engaged in proxy battles. Penny Miller seems to win almost all of the conflicts, her students raise more money and she even organizes the big Christmas fund raiser now. Thus, Christie is in a down point in her life, forever stuck in second place.

A Cookie Cutter Christmas Hallmark

Worst pot cookies ever!


Enter hunky single dad James Thompson (David Haydn-Jones), whose wife thoughtfully died off long enough ago that dating again is a possibility. His daughter Lily (Genea Charpentier) ends up enrolled in Christie’s class instead of Penny’s, but soon both women are working for the affection of the new hunk in town. James is super charity man, having moved to their small town specifically to start a charitable organization, thus now Penny alters the big fund raiser to help him out. Penny also organizes a bake off competition at the school, the winning teacher getting a fat sack of cash to use for a class trip. Christie enters the contest, both because her students would love a field trip and because it’s another thing to compete with Penny in. The only problem is that Christie cannot cook. At all. Her mom, Bev Reynolds (Laura Soltis), tells her point blank to her face that her food sucks. In the first round of the competition Christie doesn’t even get her food cooked before judging! Thus she’s going to need a crash course in baking, and guess which new hunky single dad in town once wanted to be a chef?
A Cookie Cutter Christmas Hallmark

I like the Christmas lights in the shape of a hamburger in the background!


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The Nine Lives of Christmas (Review)

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The Nine Lives of Christmas

Nine Lives of Christmas Hallmark
2014
Written by Nancey Silvers
Based on the book by Sheila Roberts
Directed by Mark Jean

Nine Lives of Christmas Hallmark

Hello? Morris auditions?


Christmas is that time of year when one thinks of cat based romance tales (or tails), and finally someone has made a film about the thoughts that every normal person has during the season. The Nine Lives of Christmas is a nice fun film that lets the charisma of the actors and lead cat overcome a weaker script. At points things come together a bit too easily, which lessens the impacts of the personal insecurities both Zachary and Marilee are feeling. But those objections are largely inconsequential as the film is charming enough to rise above that to deliver some holiday cheer.

The best part of The Nine Lives of Christmas is that it is pretty much a reverse Garfield movie. Instead of a sassy fat cat, Ambrose is a sweet friendly cat. Instead of a dorky cartoonist, Zachary Stone is a dreamy firefighter. Instead of a vet who constantly rejects his advances, Marilee White is a vet student whose life goals give her the excuses she needs to reject a social life. And the cat doesn’t talk. Before I knew anything about the film except for a rough plot outline, it was already the film from Hallmark’s 12 Movies of Christmas event that I was most interested in.

Nine Lives of Christmas Hallmark

The Cat that Defeated Superman!


Zachary Stone (Brandon Routh) – Firefighter who lives the single lifestyle of not wanting to get married or even have a serious relationship. He’s the envy of some of his coworkers, but Zachary’s habit of doing good deeds results in him getting a stray cat that plants the seeds of responsibility, and spending all his time with Marilee plants the seeds of romance. Also, he’s freaking Superman!
Marilee White (Kimberly Sustad) – Marilee White is a sleepy but brilliant vet school student who has no time for a love life, what with all the studying and the working at a pet supply store, where she is the designated employee that deals with the problem customers. Her apartment complex is run by one of those evil landlords who are all up in your business, and if you have a pet, you are immediately evicted, which probably violates the law but will be important for plot purposes. Marilee does have a clandestine cat named Queenie, and Marilee spends most of her down time dodging questions from her friends and sister about when she’s going to get herself a boyfriend.
Ambrose (???) – Ambrose is a smart cat looking for a home, and Zachary saves him from a dog, so now he’s his new owner. That’s how it works in Ambrose’s world. Ambrose finds keys, understands complex human emotions, and gets adopted as the official firehouse cat. He’s also the catalist that cause Zachary to rethink his unattached lifestyle. Becomes best buds with Queenie.
Queenie (???) – Marilee’s secret cat that she can talk to to unwind after a long day or work and study. Queenie is against her apartment rules, but once evicted she can move into a spare room Zachary has.
Jaclyn (Stephanie Bennett) – Marilee’s sister, Marilee raised her after their parents died, Jaclyn is now a successful real estate agent along with her husband, and is now focused on finding her sister a man.
Blair (Chelsea Hobbs) – Zachary’s spoiled model girlfriend who hates hates hates pets because they interfere with her lifestyle of pretending she’s going to leave the country for a few weeks. Gets people fired and tosses out Ambrose as well. As you can imagine, she’s not the heroine of the film. Chelsea Hobbs is also in Confessions of a Go-Go Girl
Ray (Sean Tyson) – A goofy fireman who knows the score with regards to Zachary’s metamorphosis into being capable of love.
Mark (Dalias Blake) – A married fireman who lives vicariously through Zachary’s lifestyle and becomes concerned when he starts showing actual feelings.
Chief Sam (Gregory Harrison) – The wise mentor fireman who loves cats (his wife is allergic) and saved Zachary from a burning house when he was a kid.
Sarah (Jen Cheon) – Marilee’s friend who also is obsessed with getting her a date, even though she can’t get a date.

Nine Lives of Christmas Hallmark

Screw this, I’m driving to Vegas!


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The Christmas Parade marches forward on Hallmark Channel!

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Christmas Parade Hallmark Channel

Santa and Upgrade Mrs. Claus prepare the dazzle this town with the Christmas lightiest float ever!


[adrotate banner=”7″]Just when the world has got you down, suddenly a parade happens and makes everything all better. That’s the premise of The Christmas Parade, as a hotshot reporter takes off from her troubled personal life and ends up embroiled in the affairs of a small town thanks to the magic of community service. Luckily, the local Christmas parade will solve everything, and she’ll learn life lessons and stuff, all without the help of magical angels or magical dogs! Shocking, but a parade is just as good as an angel, according to this statistic I just made up based on this movie!

Hailee Anderson (McCord), a well-known entertainment reporter for a network morning show, is humiliated when her oft-absent investment banker fiancé, Jason (Scott) is revealed to be linked to a Beverly Hills socialite coming her way to the Big Apple. Hailee takes off in her car to find peace, abandoning a Christmas special she is due to host for her producer, Monica (Gibson). After running over a small town judge’s Christmas display, she instead finds herself stuck in the town of Carver Bend with a $100 fine and sentenced to 25 hours of community service. While there, she’s befriended by Beck Thomas (Brown), a budding artist. He asks for her help to save the local community art center he runs for the town’s kids, by helping them build their float for the annual Christmas Parade – the winner will receive enough money to save the center from a pending sale. Short on Christmas spirit, due to an experience in her past, Hailee has to find a way to inspire both the kids and Beck – as well as herself – to bring back the spirit of what Christmas is all about, love.

The Christmas Parade is directed by Jonathan Wright (Baby’s First Christmas) and is written by Robert Vaughn (not that Robert Vaughn) and Carley Smale. The Christmas Parade stars AnnaLynne McCord as Hailee Anderson, Jefferson Brown as Beck Thomas, Jennifer Gibson as Monica Wilson, Drew Scott as Jason Keppler, Frank Moore as Judge Joe Morris, Brian Mifsud as Roy, and Michael Hanrahan as Mayor Richard Braverman.

The Christmas Parade premieres December 14th on Hallmark Channel! It’s one of the 12 New Movies of Christmas as part of their Countdown to Christmas celebration.

Photo via Hallmark Channel Press/Peter H. Stranks