Thursday, December 19, 2019

Yule Logged: Timepiece, Holiday in Your Heart, Mary, Mother of Jesus, George Gently, Mount Pleasant, Worst Week, Fresh Fields





Timepiece (1996)

How did they ever make movies over at Hallmark before they had their cadre of former child stars. soap stars and random local day players? How much better could this Richard Paul Evans adaptation have been if it had starred Danica McKellar, Lacey Chabret, some handsome guy from a random soap, another guy who's had guest shots on Supergirl and Law and Order SVU and that guy who used to play the dad in that show years ago who your pleased to see hasn’t died yet. Instead, back in the nineties they had to suffer with James Earl Jones, Naomi Watts, Ellen Burstyn, Kevin Kilner, and Richard Thomas.

Terrific period melodrama, a prequel to The Christmas Box. My only complaint, it’s not really a Christmas movie.





Holiday in Your Heart (1997)

LeAnn Rimes and Bernadette Peters star in this semi-autobiographical film set against a holiday background.Pretty good, though I never really bought Peters as a country star/





Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999)

Christian Bale likely felt typecast in his role as the Son of God in this imagining of the life of Mary. From the director of such diverse fare as Motel Hell, The Land That Time Forgot and Annie Claus.Also starring Shameless’s David Threfall.

Bale doesn’t show up until about halfway in the film and it's a pretty standard TV movie up until then. Even after the coming of Christian it’s merely a decent, workmanlike effort.




George Gently - Son of a Gun (2015)

A mediocre installment of an increasingly mediocre series.






Mount Pleasant - Christmas Special (2012)

Ensemble comedy/drama. Coming in cold I’m not sure who any one so it takes a while to get acclimated. It feels like one of those shows where everybody’s slightly horrible. Not a fan of the genre. Nice cast though. Happy ending, so that helps.

Christmas Episode or Special? Special

Am I familiar with the series? Not at all, odd for me considering it’s got seven seasons worth floating about.

Is it Christmassy? Sure

Would I Rewatch?  Maybe if I start at the beginning and warm to the characters...we’ll see.





Worst Week of My Life -  Two Days to Christmas / Christmas Eve / Christmas

Not a fan of the series, despite liking most everything else the cast has done.





Fresh Fields - A Dickens of a Christmas (1985)

A lovely slice of holiday comfort TV. Not, despite the tile, a Cristmas Carol parody.