Reviews

Ok, this is yet another variation on Its a Wonderful Life, but it's a good one. The two leads have great chemistry. The writing is crisp and smart. The plot has a nice combination of comedy and pathos. One of the big pluses for this movie is the female lead, Vanessa Lengies. Have not seen her in a Hallmark movie before. Her acting was certainly a cut above the usual journeyman performance. The emotions engendered by the performances are real and powerful. A thoroughly enjoyable outing. Hope to see more of Lenzies in futureHallmark projects. As a side note,I see that Hallmark is finally giving the audience a nice scene of a shirtless male lead. Not the first time. It's a welcome addition, whether it's Corey Sevier or Andrew Walker.

IFinished season 1, I see lots of reviewer 10s, which I think is way too generous. Found the characters interesting, and mostly likable. The writing let them down at times. Too many wide emotional swings.

At the end of season 1, I had two questions.. I sort of understand why the one girl suddenly went on stage with evil guy ....she was desperate for her parents approval. Dixon should have understood her motives, and not acted like she cheated on him.

As a gay guy, it was nice to see a couple of gay characters. Wondering why Luka was gay? His sexuality had nothing to do with his storyline or his character's motivations.

Maybe these questions will be answered in Season 2. Overall I liked season 1. It reminded me of The Breakfast Club, a truly superior movie.

UPDATE:

I tried finishing season 2. Couldn't get through it. While I mostly liked season 1, thought season 2 was dreadful. I lowered my overall score from 6 to 4. Season 2 put the bad in "bad melodrama." The writing was terrible.. Likeable characters were turned into a**holes. There was hardly anyone left to root for except Dixon. The new creative director of the music department was a ridiculous character. If any administrative personnel spent 10 minutes in his classroom, he would have been fired. The ridiculous character mood swings of season 1 became more numerous, bigger, and louder.

I didn't make it to the end of the season, because I found myself fast forwarding through episodes. A promising start turned into a mess.

Some interesting ideas, but sloppy execution prevents this series from being as good as it could be. The acting is ok. The writing isn't. Lots of yelling and lots of secrets. Characters have lots of resentment at secrets kept, while keeping their own.

Episodes 1-6 seem pretty straight forward. A husband and wife team hunts and destroys monsters. Their teenage twins don't know. The family moves back to the husband's home town. While the parents carry on, their kids navigate a new school and the angst of being teenagers. I found the kids, and their story lines, to be more interesting. Strange things occur. Vampires, warlocks, magical creatures, obnoxious kids, annoying adults, a secret organization. It's a lot to take in.

Episodes 7-10 take a radical turn. Some of the good guys are revealed as the real monsters. Some of the monsters are good. Others are bad, but they have good reasons. Who will prevail? It's got kind of an ending, but clearly they expected to go on to another season. Thank goodness they didn't.

Really liked this one. Don't understand the really bad reviews. It's about a recently divorced Mom who moves back to Los Angeles, where she had grown up with her director father and actress mother. She's a bit lost as she turns 40. While out celebrating with friends, she meets three young aspiring film makers. They all party together, and end up the next morning at her really cool Hollywood home.

The three young guys end up moving into her guest house. They bond with her two daughters, and end up caring about Mom as well. There's a bit of romance, but that's not the main focus. I'd describe it as a Dramedy. It's a sweet little movie with some very nice performances.

I really liked the movie. The plot is very good, with a gay twist. The title is a play on Touch of Mink, with Cary Grant. The movie uses Kyle McLaughlin as a sort of Cary Grant imaginary friend of our hero, who is in a relationship with another man, living in London. When his Muslim mother visits from Canada, he pretends he's straight, and his boyfriend is his roommate.

I could do without the Cary Grant plot device. It gets in the way of a nice story, and the movie doesn't need it. The cast is wonderful; and, like all romcoms, the ending is a happy one.

I loved the original series. The whole concept was inventive. Some of the musical numbers were amazing. The story lines interesting and fun, and at times emotional.

The storyline of this special was so obvious and predictable that watching it was kind of boring. Some of the numbers were OK, but most were forgettable. The characters and actors we have come to love deserve better. An exception was the black and white version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. That was a keeper.

It's good that Netflix made a Christmas movie with gay characters in the lead. The story is predictable, which isn't news for any romcom. Two roommates visit one's family for the holidays. Urie and Chambers make a cute couple, and of course you know they'll end up together.

I did have a number of quibbles. Once home, James is set up on a blind date by his mother. It's with Luke Macfarlane, one of the hottest gay actors around. James reluctance to explore the relationship possibilities is pretty unbelievable, considering his complaints about being single. The supporting cast of characters tend to be cartoonishly written,which detracts from the movie.

This could have been much better, but I suppose baby steps are better than nothing.

I was enjoying most of the movie, until it spiraled down an inexplicable rabbit whole. The main character was likable, sweet, and scared. He was bullied by some classmates, and trying to deal with his same sex attraction. The chief bully was over the top in his cruelty and mood swings. Still, the movie was interesting.

Suddenly, the main character's actions became too strange to believe. The script writing was really terrible. First he made up a story about being molested by his favorite teacher, who had been nothing but supportive, if a little overbearing. From bad to worse, when he ended up murdering said teacher for no logical reason. As he pushed and held his injured teacher's head under water, he kept repeating that he had no choice. Spare me.

The premise is cute. The two leads are attractive and have some chemistry. The writing isn't very good. Of course we all know that Sloan and Jackson will end up together. Getting there was kind of painful. We're just friends, we had a moment, I hate you, my finger blew off (really), my horny Aunt took my date (Kristen Chenowith deserves much better), I really hate you, we had sex, now I really really hate you. Maybe I love you. The ending was nice.