eapepin-01129 Reviews

The Big Bang Theory: The Tenant Disassociation (2018) Season 11, Episode 19

Someone needs to work on continuity

[5/10 · 5 January 2024]

First there's no way a single tenant could decide to make themselves president of a tenant's association and get away with it. And regardless of the idiotic stunts Cooper gets away with, this would never happen. Secondly, drones record video. They do not record audio. All you would hear are the sounds of the propellers so there's no way she could listen to anything being said. Even commercial production drones don't record audio. Audio is always recorded separately to capture natural sound and added in post production. There are so many inaccuracies in this program it's unbelievable. In real life Sheldon wouldn't have survived the first week before being beaten to a pulp. But not by Leonard. He's the biggest wimp on the show.

Falling for Vermont (2017 TV Movie)

Dejavu all over again....

[1/10 · 9 October 2018]

I clicked yes on the spoiler question, but I'm not sure there is one. The HC is getting so desperate to keep feeding their seasonal movie machine, they've started rehashing previous movies with different actors in different locations. 2016 A Christmas to Remember. Same plot. Same scenario. Same degree of unbelievability. Same kids. Same circumstances. Same canoe. Same blah blah blah. They didn't even try to make it different or believable. Waste of time. 15 minutes I realized I'd been had.

The Bronze (2015)

It would be enjoyable if Melissa Rauch wasn't in it

[2/10 · 14 March 2018]

Her over-the-top 'acting' got so tedious that I never did watch the end. She tried way too hard to be the exact opposite of her Big Bang Theory character that she only succeeded in becoming obnoxious and totally unlikable. Poorest acting outside a high school senior play. You found yourself not only disliking the character, but actually wishing she would disappear. Now, if that was the point of the movie, then congrats. They got it right. But if they expected the audience to have any empathy for her, they definitely blew it. She's played the 'Bernadette' character of TBBT for so long, she doesn't remember what acting is supposed to be.

Sharing Christmas (2017 TV Movie)

Stop me if you've heard this before.....

[4/10 · 21 December 2017]

A beautiful woman takes over the family business (in this case, a Christmas shop, of all things, although it could be a cookie factory or a Christmas village or a tree farm, or a lodge) and then gets a letter from the landlord saying the building has been sold and they have 30 days to vacate. Of course, this takes place on December 1 so they have be out by the 31st. Surprise Surprise... the landlord just happens to run into the tenant (quite literally) and finds himself in her shop buying a Christmas ornament, or a tree or eating a cookie, although he has neither use nor need of Christmas or holidays or relationships. . She has no idea he's the man kicking her out and tells him about the eviction notice. Now, he could tell her who he is, but doesn't, and we're really not sure why. (Jake didn't tell Hannah who he was in 'Christmas Cookies', either). Instead he gives her options, one of them is to fight it the eviction and then even comes over to her side to keep the shop or the village or the lodge or the farm or the cookie company from having to close down or move or be taken over.... Well, you get the drift. How am I doing so far?

Ok, Let's start a drinking game. For every hallmark Christmas movie that shares the same theme, plot line, characters, last minute twist and outcome, chug a brew of your choice. If you've really been paying attention to the movies, you will put away a couple of 6 packs. Yes, dear readers, of the recent crop of HMC movies to incorporate the exact same plot line, you'll have to count to 11. (Possibly more. I haven't watched all of them. I actually do have a life... of sorts). There is always the couple who start out hating or disliking or having some conflict with each other in one way or another, yet 30 minutes into the movie they seem to magically become drawn together. The man is usually a no nonsense businessman who sees money above sentiment (or in the case of the movie Christmas Cookies, that character is played by a woman). I could go on ad nauseum, but you get the point.

Oh, by the way, care to venture a guess as to how it ends? Yup, you're right. That's how it ends, because that's how ALL HMC movies end... happily ever after. This one is no different. There are no surprises. There never are. For the marathon Hallmark Christmas movie junkies, this is pleasant enough fare. The actors are pleasant; the dialogue is pleasant; the scenery is pleasant; the music is pleasant; the ending is pleasant; and, as usual, the snow is fake.

The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019)

Gone on way past its 'best by' date

[2/10 · 11 December 2017]

The success of this show has always amazed and confused me. How anyone could ever believe these characters would survive past episode 1 is beyond my ability to comprehend. In the real world, especially in the Southern California 'real world', these nerds, who possess the inter-active social skills of a speed bump, would not have the slightest chance of establishing a relationship with hot girl Penny, regardless of the fact she happened to live across the hall. She (Penny) would have left this crew behind after the first conversation ended with Sheldon saying, when asked what they did for fun, "Well today, we masturbated for money." It would have surely ended after Sheldon felt it was perfectly acceptable behavior to enter her apartment, while she was sleeping, to clean. The first encounter with Howard and his constant sexual harassment, which is exactly what is is, dear fans, make no mistake, would see her, in all probability, moving away. The addition of characters like Amy (the semi-lesbian who makes more sexual harassment comments to Penny than she ever does to the man she is, allegedly, attracted to), and Bernadette, who you spend more time looking at wondering what's wrong with the shape of her body, with a voice that makes you want to poke your eardrums with an ice pick, to Stewart, a (once) minor character, who must be related to, or who has blackmailed someone on the production crew, who has evolved into a full-blown credits worthy main character, but who has way out-lived his usefulness to the show, assuming he ever had any to begin with. You just want to slap wimpy-kid Leonard and tell him to grow a pair. His character is THE most obnoxious of them all. I'm not certain he's even acting. That's just the way he's played all his roles. The only 'real' actors in the cast are Jim Parsons and Simon Helberg. If you've seen Parsons in other roles, you understand his range (Hidden Figures is a good example). Same with Helberg. He's an accomplished musician and actor. He's just an obnoxious womanizer on this show. The writers/producers assume way too much regarding what these geniuses are capable of doing and understanding. Because you are a physicist, does not necessarily mean you spend your days playing Dungeons and Dragons, can recite dialogue from every Star Wars movie ever made, have such a fetish for comic books that you own thousands of them or are capable of reformatting computer hard drives and installing partitions and separate operating systems, or, for that matter, can speak Klingon.

In reality, the BBT should have ended after season 3. There was just nothing believable in any of the writing of this show. Episode after episode the brain-washing continued to the point where you find yourself watching (and applauding) Penny marrying Leonard.

And yet, here we are going into season, what? 11? 12? With the primary cast making $1 million an episode. Really? $1 million Dollars?? People who have jobs that actually make a difference in the world don't make that kind of money. I guess it's best I'm not the head of programming for CBS. This show would not have survived beyond the pilot.

Christmas in Evergreen (2017 TV Movie)

I could just copy & paste one review for all of these

[2/10 · 8 December 2017]

Unlike some of our more paranoid reviewers who seem to think that one review constitutes the presence of movie production company mole among us, I actually think the opposite. Some people just feel strongly about one movie over the other. If our paranoid reviewer spent more time working on his grammar than he did trying to convince us everybody has an agenda but him, I'd have a greater tendency to believe him. As it is..... But I digress...

I used to look forward to these. A few years ago, Hallmark Channel actually produced some pretty good holiday films. But, sadly, the more they do, the less creative they get. There are only so many ways you can tell the same story over and over and keep it fresh. As usual, this one has all the essential elements for its boilerplate plot line. Local girl in long distance romance with the usual unlikable fiancé, who is way too busy to appreciate the small town or the holiday spirit it spouts like a Mentos in a Pepsi bottle; The new guy with the kid, who's in town for one of many implausible reasons; some magical object (in this case a snow globe) that seems to grant wishes; your typical Santa Claus lookalike who may or may not, in fact, actually BE Santa Claus; the parents of said local girl who provide the understanding and patience that you know will ultimately give said local girl the wisdom to follow her heart. Now throw darts at the list of available actors, pick the first 4 or 5 from the stable of standard Hallmark Channel contract players, and start the cameras rolling. I'm not even certain they use a script anymore. The actors are so familiar with the plot line they can just ad lib the lines and the movie will end exactly the way you know it's supposed to. There are no surprises any more. The more you watch, the more you realize there will be the unlikable boyfriend/fiancé who shows up unexpectedly to disrupt the new, blossoming romance between said local girl and handsome new stranger (See The Christmas Card/Christmas Cookies/Christmas in Evergreen/Road to Christmas/A Royal Christmas/Christmas in Homestead/Christmas Under Wraps/Sleigh Bells Ring..... The list goes on and on and on..

If you watch enough of them, you start to get confused as to what movie you're watching. The daughter in this movie played the daughter in "A Heavenly Christmas"... actually, she played it exactly the same way. She was also the daughter is 4 other Hallmark movies, as was many of the supporting cast and the 'stars'. They just rotate them through the system. I can't remember how many men Candace Cameron Bure has said 'I Love You' to. Or Alicia Witt or Taylor Cole or Danica McKellar or Catherine Bell or (fill in the blank). It gets to the point where, by December 10th, you stop being enchanted by them and one just does a soft fade into another and you don't even notice there has been a cast change. They become background noise you stop concentrating on. It's really too bad, because the premise is quite good. Hallmark Channel needs to broaden its horizons and start picking its actors from a wider pool. I'm sure they pay the minimum union scale (which is even less in Canada, where most of them are made, and it only takes up three weeks of an actor's time to shoot them), so I'm guessing the choices for quality talent is limited, but when the reaches the point where the same actors are starring in 3 different movies that are playing on both channels at the same time, you do get a bit of acting overload watching the same person be three different people. They need to expand the talent pool and get people who don't seem to be mailing their performance in. It must be hard for these actors to get excited about doing the same movie over and over bundled up in jackets and pretending to be cold day after day. It gets hard for the viewer, too.

Let It Snow (2013 TV Movie)

Stop me if you've heard this one

[1 December 2017]

The movie begins with a woman, young, head strong, beautiful, ambitious and alone, who gets placed in a situation where she meets up with/is forced to work with/gets introduced to a similarly characteristically endowed man and they immediately butt heads/disagree/have an instant dislike for and generally go out of their way to avoid and make each others' existence as unpleasant as possible while trying to do whatever it is they have to get done before Christmas. In this case, her family bought the lodge and she has arrived to take it over and re-make it into the image of her family's image. Invariably it involves some form of having to work together when they would obviously rather not. But you know what? They always seem to find some way of working it all out and fall in love in the process while the mom or the dad or the boss or the other protagonist involved sees the error of their ways and becomes the understanding mom, dad or boss they should have been.

Plot sound familiar? It should. With minor variations, it's exactly the same plot the Hallmark Channel has used in all of these:

12 Gifts of Christmas; A Boyfriend for Christmas; A Christmas Detour; A Cookie Cutter Christmas; A December Bride; A Holiday Engagement; A Novel Romance; A Rose For Christmas; A Royal Christmas; A Royal Winter; Annie Claus is Coming to Town; A Wish for Christmas; A Very Merry Mix-Up; Broadcasting Christmas; Christmas Cookies; Christmas Festival of Ice; Christmas Getaway; Marry Me at Christmas; Christmas in Homestead; Christmas Land; Christmas Under Wraps; Let It Snow; Miss Christmas. (The list is much longer, but 1, you get the idea, and 2, I got tired of typing.)

Sometimes, it's the mother of the man or the father of the woman who resents the arrival of the other, and who cause the conflict, but it's pretty much the same plot with different faces. The couple always get together in the end, because, after all, it's Hallmark and this is what they do. The movies are sappy, feel-good, live-happily-ever-after pieces of fluff that warm you like hot chocolate on a cold winter night. They leave you, probably, teary-eyed and smiling and believing the world is full of magic, no matter how behind you are on your credit card bills or how obnoxious you ex behaves. It's a 2 hour blanket you can wrap around you and forget about whether your car will start in the morning. Of course, 2 minutes after it's over, the feeling is lost and reality invades, but you are comforted by the fact that you're watching The Movie Channel and there will be another, just like this one, coming your way right after this commercial break.

God Bless You, Hallmark Channel.

Miss Christmas (2017 TV Movie)

As with all Hallmark Christmas movies, you know how it will end.

[5/10 · 29 November 2017]

This one is no different. Hallmark churns these out like they have an assembly line. Grab a producer; then a director. Look thru the inventory of available actors (they pretty much use the same pool of about 25) and take the next three in the queue and book them. Make sure at least the producer or the screen writer and one of the movie leads is from Canada. That way you get the tax breaks from the Canadian Film Commission. That's why They shoot these in Canada. This one takes place in Klaus, Wisconsin? Don't think so. Doesn't exist. Unfortunately, they shoot their Christmas movies (like this one) in July and August. Hardly the snow season, hence the wet streets, free of snow and the fake stuff sitting on bushes and sidewalks. In this one, stock footage is used for wide shots of snow-covered towns and forests, except where the son is finding and cutting his first tree. Look at his feet and you can see the soap suds blowing around his feet. Hallmark does shoot some of its movies in cold locations, where you can actually see the actor's breath frosting as they speak. The movie "Christmas Cookies" is a good example, but that was shot in Utah.

Nothing new happens in this movie. There are no surprises and there really is no drama. You know exactly what's going to happen and it does. Slight twist at the end, but nothing that's going to make you spill your milk and cookies while you watch. The only technical glitch was when he showed her the initials carved in the tree by his parents some 30 odd years ago. Just as clear and crisp as if they have just been carved, when, in reality, the chemical makeup of the tree would have treated that carving as a wound to its bark and would have secreted a chemical to heal itself, and after 30 years, made the carving unrecognizable.

But hey, it's Hallmark, and if you watch the credits roll, the one crew member you don't see is a continuity director.

BTW, it's "Fair", not "Fare". 'Fare' is a fee you pay for travel. And "Steal", not "Steel." 'Steel' is what you get when you add carbon to molten iron.

Crown for Christmas (2015 TV Movie)

It is Hallmark, after all, so you have to suspend reality

[8/10 · 27 November 2017]

Okay, where do I start. First of all it's a pleasant enough movie with the usual feel-good Hallmark ending, but there are some items that just poke at the continuity director instinct in me that make me fidget.

Fergus, the king's assistant shows up at her apartment (how?), has had her investigated (how?), and nobody seems to notice or care. The next day she's in Europe, driving up a snow-covered road with Fergus, who asks, "Would it be fair to say you've never traveled abroad?" Her response? "Does Staten Island count?"... So, how exactly is she flying out of the country, the very next day without a passport? She obviously doesn't have one, and I'm guessing from her back story, never had a reason to have one. Just one of those minor details that should not have been overlooked. Fergus would have asked her if she had one, and there would be some plausible reason given as to why she did.... or, if not, he would have suggested his embassy (or consulate) would make a special request to speed up the process. Instead, it is not mentioned at all, leaving detail-oriented viewers like me shaking their heads. Speaking of continuity, what exactly are they doing in the greenhouse? Why are they putting worm-filled dirt in glass jars? I'm guessing that's just a vehicle to create a scene showing them getting to know each other, but it seems like an odd activity. Her character transition keeps shifting from the overwhelmed, out-of-her-league bewilderment to the aggressive super-confident women who stands up to the king yet cowers from the head of the household staff. Too many little things get in the way of the flow, that keep bringing up more questions than they answer.... Like where did she get the frames for the pictures she drew at the end? And the boxes she wrapped them in? She never left the castle. Anybody think about that? Where did she find the time to do them? You don't crank those out in a few minutes and it looks like she drew a dozen of them.

The one bright light in the movie was the girl who played Theodora. She is an absolute delight, and hopefully, she will have a long and successful career. Hallmark is very good at casting thoroughly unlikable characters, like the fiancé and the king's councilor, and they played the role very well.

Overall, it was and enjoyable diversion. The Hallmark Movie Channel Christmas spirit machine at work.

A Heavenly Christmas (2016 TV Movie)

I could have done without Kristin

[5/10 · 27 November 2017]

Overall, the movie concept was interesting and well plotted, but Kristin Davis was totally mis-cast for this role. First, she was way to old for the person she was playing and I think she knew it and tried to compensate by acting, talking and constantly smiling like a teenybopper. Her constant over-the-top expressions and voice made me think she really needed to lay off the caffeine. Basically, she just completely over acted the role. Shirley Maclaine was pretty much reading from the same playbook. Her chin to floor cover up outfits were very distracting. I'm guessing the wrinkles were not supposed to show. That being said, take her and MacLaine out of the roles and replace them with almost anybody else and the movie would be up there with some of the Hallmark Channel's best. This time, though, not so much.

The Christmas Train (2017 TV Movie)

Problem was I read the book....

[25 November 2017]

Having watched many Hallmark Christmas movies and reviewed a few of them, I realized my mistake with this one was that I read the book first. Well, listened, to be accurate. I use Audible and I listened to this book over the course of a two day drive. Hallmark is good, but trying to edit a David Baldacci book into a 2 hour movie and still keep the plot and the characters true is impossible. If you've ever read Baldacci, you know his plot lines are very, very detailed, convoluted and constantly shifting. So are his characters. You can read for two hours and be on the same character. By the time the book is over, you feel an intimate connection with all of them... even the truly nasty ones. None of that works in the movie. Had I not listened to the book, the movie would have been adequate. Not the most entertaining they've ever produced, but adequate. The fact is I did, and you can't go back and un-know what the movie left out. You can't realize how badly the plot line has been chopped and characters replaced and some not appearing at all. Casting wasn't bad, although Danny Glover didn't seem the right fit for the director. Conspicuous by his absence was a pretty main character, that of Danny Glover's assistant, who, by the way, end up with Lelia at the end. He is completely written out of the movie. Scenes that are glossed over or last no more than fleeting minutes take up hours in the book's plot Line. I found myself shaking my head wondering what parallel universe I had just been shot into. The snowshoe scene in the movie lasts 2 minutes and plays like an afternoon tea party with the most dangerous event being snowflakes landing on his nose. In the book, it spans into 30 pages of an overnight adventure that almost costs Tom and Elanor their lives. Everything item, character, and event is compressed, and granted, had you not read the book, you probably might not realize that fact. What you might notice is how the threads don't weave into a story that has any continuity. The long threads were shortened, cut and tied to the ends of other threads that were similarly cut. Character development, one of Baldacci's strong suits, is completely eliminated. You find yourself not connecting with any of them. Agnes, Roxanne and Regina make up 30% of the plot line. Their characters are so fully developed, you feel every emotion she possesses. In the movie they are almost an afterthought. In fact, I don't remember Regina having any dialogue at all. If you read the book you would have realized Berta, from Two and a half Men, would have been the perfect Agnes. Joan Cusack didn't come close to capturing her.

I'm usually a pretty big cheerleader for Hallmark Christmas movies, but this one just didn't make the cut. I tried watching as if I had not read the book, but even in that mindset, there were too many holes and too few interesting characters. Actors too wooden; dialogue too basic and too many Christmas songs that just had no bearing on the movie or the plot. Sorry Hallmark. The commercials you ran during the movie were produced better.