mcarneil-09882 Reviews

Wedding Every Weekend (2020 TV Movie)

Its been a long time since I enjoyed a Hallmark film this much

[10/10 · 19 August 2020]

This was an amazingly sweet film. Kimberley Sustad and Paul Campbell have fantastic chemistry. These films end up even better when the chemistry is there and those two were off the charts. I hope Hallmark has them do another film. The story and script was great. I did not feel like my intelligence was being insulted. All the secondary characters were well developed. It was just an all around entertaining film. I also really appreciate the diversity and representation. Its four months away from 2021. Its the 21st century. I remember the complaints surrounding interracial couples being in tv shows despite the Supreme Court having ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The majority of people primarily ignore it now and eventually it will be the same way for Same Sex Couples. People always fight change but bigoted and archaic thinking always fades away. I hope Hallmark continues to move forward and not cower to the small minority of people trapped in the past and who were taught to hate people who are not like them. Thanks for the great film Hallmark. Keep it up!! :)

Love Under the Olive Tree (2020 TV Movie)

Too reminiscent of another previous Hallmark film

[4/10 · 22 June 2020]

This film has a rehashed plot of the 2016 Hallmark Film "Autumn in the Vineyard". The female leads in both films are both neurotic and start off closed off in the beginning until the male lead helps them "open up". In both films the female and male leads have a "History" and are competitive. Both films had competition where the one of the leads gets the land if they win. The only difference this time around is that its olives/olive oil and not wine. The few occasional cutesy moments were not enough to redeem this film. The rehashed plots are getting more and noticeable. Hallmark films are a fun guilty pleasure but not when you can recognized a rehashed plot. "Autumn in the Vineyard" did it better. Hallmark needs to stop taking its audience for granted.

How to Train Your Husband or (How to Pick Your Second Husband First) (2018)

Unlikeable Female Lead and Distracting and blinding stark white sets made this unwatchable

[1/10 · 17 May 2020]

I've always enjoyed the films Julie Gonzalo has done for Hallmark except for this one but then I realized this originally was not on Hallmark and it goes back to 2017-2018 and was made for another channel. Hallmark only purchased the rights to air it and they were were hoping the name recognition would get people to watch it. Well they were right. I did watch it. And I thoroughly disliked it. The Jillian James character came off as elitist and arrogant. There was little chemistry between the leads. The other characters were flat. The minimalist all white sets were extremely distracting. When I first saw the commercial for this I thought ot was great that Hallmark was doing something different but buying bad films is not going to impress the majority of the audience. Hopefully this will be one of the films that will not be rerun much because I will be changing the channel whenever it comes again.

Nature of Love (2020 TV Movie)

Rehashed Plot of a past Hallmark film

[5/10 · 20 April 2020]

First the good....... The scenery was absolutely beautiful. I was shocked when I read that this was not a real resort/camp. The set design was gorgeous. The one thing this film accomplished was make want to go to a place like that.

There are times though I actually think the powers that be at Hallmark considers their viewers to be too dumb to notice. I noticed and a apparently a few others did as well. The plot is fairly similar to the 2018 film "Love on the Slopes". The personalities of the characters were nearly identical. The only real difference in this film was the lead female character did not have a boyfriend. Hallmark films have a lot of rehashed plots but this was glaringly noticeable. Its almost like the writers did not care.

I love a good escapist Hallmark film, but I'm starting to get tired of the retreads and rehashes.

The Nine Lives of Christmas (2014 TV Movie)

A beautiful yet simple story of two everyday (but fragile) people finding love with two cats that help along the way

[10/10 · 24 November 2019]

I love the majority of Hallmark films. The Christmas films are especially a guilty pleasure but I do have a certain type of Hallmark film I am drawn to as well as those I roll my eyes to. This is not only the type of film I am drawn to, its the type I prefer. This movie features two fragile people damaged by loss and afraid of the possibilities of finding love. One character survives the loss of her parents but still believes in true love yet hides behind her studies and work while the other character starts off as cynical and hides behind a massive shield of bravado due to the breakup of his parents. These two come across each other by accident, circumstances bring them together and they learn love only plays by it's own rules. This film was so simple yet so lovely. There was no ostentatious displays of wealth. There was no typical Christmas Festival. There was no over abundance of fake snow. It was a simple and sweet story and it succeeds by NOT over doing it. I love Hallmark films but I really wish there were more of these type of films.

Christmas Under the Stars (2019 TV Movie)

An Excellent film and the type of film Hallmark should do MORE of

[9/10 · 22 November 2019]

This was an amazing and beautiful movie that was not just about a holiday romance. This film was also about spreading kindness/helping people and how simple acts can change a person for the better. This film had an amazing amount of depth for a Hallmark Holiday film. Autumn Reeser, Jesse Metcalfe and Clarke Peters were absolutely wonderful. This is the type of film I wish Hallmark would do more of.

Winter Castle (2019 TV Movie)

Beautiful Scenery...Weak Story/Shallow Characters

[1/10 · 18 November 2019]

Movie in a nutshell...Aspiring writer attends her vapid younger sister's wedding at beautiful Ice Castle Hotel-Resort. Younger sister wants to set up her sister with her boy-faced groom's best man who is a weak willed man with an overly perky daughter. He takes along his dead wife's friend who has been helping them out. She is interested in him and loves the little girl but the man while loving the help his wife's friend has given them....gets interested in the aspiring writer but it is also too cowardly to tell his late wife's friend he is not in to her. Wife's friend figures it out at the end and leaves. The Shallow vapid younger sister gets married with the aspiring writer as her maid of honor. Their mother, who looks like she had them in her early teens sheds some tears. The Aspiring writer gets her wish and ends up with the weak willed man.