jamesflannery-85698 Reviews

Love at Look Lodge (2020 TV Movie)

Snoozefest

[4/10 · 25 May 2021]

From what I had gathered from the movie info guide this was supposed to be about a wedding at a resort lodge. The first hour of the movie however was full of useless banter and lacking the snappy dialogue one comes to expect from a Hallmark movie. If you're like me you'll probably be so bummed out that you'll change the channel. A complete waste of time.

All Summer Long (2019 TV Movie)

Need a bigger boat....

[6/10 · 29 April 2021]

Tia (Autumn Reeser) is a lawyer who would like to spend more time sailing and less time in the courtroom. She gets her chance when she becomes the captain of the Pacific Yellowfin a gorgeous dining and cruising vessel which only needs a chef. Unfortunately it seems for Tia that chef is her ex- boyfriend Jake. Having broken Tia's heart years earlier he redeems himself by cooking up some serious French cuisine. They try to keep their past under wraps but everybody is eavesdropping on their conversation including Bennett, a friend of Jake's who hooked him up with the gig aboard the Yellowfin. He's interested in Tia but soon realizes he has no shot. Things start to cozy up between Jake and Tia but Jake's overhears part of a phone call which causes him to believe Tia's going back to the city to resume her law career. Jake reveals that the reason he broke up with her is he hated long distance relationships. Tia lets him in on the rest of the call where she turned down the partnership at the law firm.

The Yellowfin is clearly the star of the show even as it coughed and sputtered to a halt on the debut of LaMer. Reeser was her charming,cute self but looked out of place steering such a large vessel. Brendan Elliot was ok but has much more chemistry with Lacy Chabert in Crossword Mysteries. All in all a nice movie but did not offer that agonizing plot twist we've gotten so used to in rom- coms. Give it a 6.

Valentine Ever After (2016 TV Movie)

Delightfully Dumb

[6/10 · 24 April 2021]

Gotta admit I like Autumn Reeser in anything but I got a chuckle out of her and Vanessa Matsui bumbling their way through this rom- com. Out of their element in Wyoming, these Chicago girls end up having to do community service for becoming mixed up in a bar fight. Ben is a rancher who puts them up at his place. They fail at several jobs before they finally get it right at a nursing home. The movie moves on quickly from there as the girls scheme up a fundraiser to save the ranch from foreclosure. In the meantime Julia rides a horse like she's been on one all her life but we'll ignore that. It's clear that sparks are flying between Ben and Julia and why not? So we're now approaching 1hr :30 mark and it's time for that plot twist that will ruin everything......at least until the 1hr;55 mark. Sydney, banished to Chicago to sell raffle tickets, video calls Julia with a favorable report. Dancing ensues at a cowboy bar when suddenly Julia's fiancee shows up. This guy is a conceited creep and their 3 year courtship is baffling but he's filthy rich which Ben isn't so will Julia choose Chicago over Wyoming? And will they save the ranch? Complicating things further is when fiancee Gavin mentions that he can help with the failing ranch financials which Julia hadn't even told him about.

So now even after Julia has resigned herself to returning to Chicago there's a Valentine's gala for the raffle fundraiser. Julia overhears Gavin talking to someone about his distaste for Julia's charity work. Julia has an epiphany and sends Gavin packing at the 1:53 mark. Ben has no idea what's happened which leads to some tense moments at the charity auction. Thanks to some help from her father and Ben's mom Julia wins a dance with Ben and gets to tell him the good news. Who doesn't love a happy ending?

I wish Sydney had been involved more but I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Vanessa Matsui. A solid 6!

Matchmaker Mysteries (2019–2021)

Lackluster

[4/10 · 19 April 2021]

I've enjoyed Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel for the most part but this series which features Danica McKellar as Angie Dove ,a matchmaking tv show host who moonlights as a amateur detective doesn't deliver. The problem I have right off the bat is while the other mystery series manage to make a connection between the day job and the sleuthing in this case I fail to see what one has to do with the other. Add to that the slow moving plots and McKellar's lack of screen presence and what you end up with is nothing more than 2 hours of meaningless dialogue mixed in with commercials. It's my belief that Hallmark could whittle these series down to 3 good actresses and maybe put Danica in a role where she might have a shot at success. Otherwise the viewer probably might want to look at ' When Calls the Heart' for their Sunday night choice.

Right in Front of Me (2021 TV Movie)

As Premieres go.......

[5/10 · 18 April 2021]

Carly is a dress designer for a major firm who is on vacation at a resort at which name and location don't seem to matter to the story. What does, apparently is food, which Carly is only too happy to consume for free courtesy of her newfound friend Nick, the assistant chef at whatever this place is. Having all kinds of connections in the fashion biz she agrees to help Nick get investors for his dream of owning his own restaurant in return for advice on how to impress Matt who she's trying to land a date with in her spare time when she's not helping with a wedding or gorging on food samples. Nick tries to help her be less awkward in her first impression and sets up a date which features what else?.....more food. The date fizzles from the start ,her conversation is ditzy and he's distracted by a phone call. Meanwhile Nick fixes her her favorite dessert with a tiny fork to savor before bedtime. She's blows off a nightcap with Matt and the bridesmaids and hurries to her room to romance the cake. After Nick cooks a special meal for a well connected friend of Carly's that results in him losing his job, Carly dejectedly returns home. 3 years later her friend from the resort takes her out to eat at this new restaurant downtown and wouldn't you know it....it's Nick's! The location and the name (The Tiny Fork) should have been a dead giveaway but Carly is stunned. She finally realizes that this man is the key to fulfilling her wildest dreams....eating tons and tons of food. All in all an inauspicious Hallmark premiere for this actress but she does manage to put some com into this rom- com so there's always hope.