Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast
Just two guys talking about Hallmark Christmas movies. That’s it—nothing else.
No other channels, no series, no reality TV, and no detours into Loveuary, Spring Into Love, Summer Nights, or Fall Harvest. If it’s not a Hallmark Christmas movie, we’re not covering it. Each week on The Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast, we review a favorite from past years and keep up with the current films from Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas every October through December.
Christmas... all year long!
*** The Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast is not affiliated with Hallmark Media.
Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast
Crashing Through the Snow
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Hallmark Christmas in July gets a little hotter with Crashing Through the Snow! Starring Amy Acker as Maggie - a divorced mom invited to spend Christmas in Aspen with her ex and his soon-to-be fiancée Kate - the movie takes off when Kate’s charming brother Sam (Warren Christie) unexpectedly arrives home from Japan. The chemistry between Maggie and Sam? Off the charts… and not exactly your typical Hallmark romance.
Rich and Rene rave about the sharp script from Tamar Laddy, heartfelt conversations, gorgeous Christmas décor, and Maggie’s endless ability to trip over absolutely everything. Rene wonders why everyone in this town is so unbelievably nice - and why nobody seems more excited that Sam is finally home. Rich, meanwhile, has questions about Maggie’s miraculous ice-skating improvement… and whether Gremlins really belongs on a “best Christmas movie” list.
The guys also break down the unforgettable hot springs scene, debate the movie MVP, and react to a final kiss that may rank among Hallmark’s all-time best.
Bottom line: this might be one of the steamiest, funniest, and most emotionally honest Christmas movies Hallmark has ever made.
For the love of Hallmark!
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Email: ForeverHallmarkChristmas@gmail.com
*** Not affiliated with Hallmark Media.
Hey everyone, welcome to the Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast. That's right. We are a movie review podcast where we talk about one thing and one thing only. That is Hallmark Christmas movies. My name is Rich. As always, joined by my Hallmark partner in crime, Renee. How's it going, buddy? It's going very real well, Rich. Hope you're doing well too. I'm doing well too. Ready to talk a little uh crashing through the snow, but let's uh let's do a little Hallmark news first. What do you think? Sounds great. All right. First news choice. Uh, congratulations to Hallmark actors Kevin McGarry and Kayla Wallace, who welcomed their first child into the world. They made the announcement about 10 days ago on Mother's Day. Uh, of course, these two actors are both stalwarts from When Calls the Heart. And uh they were also the two leads in the 2022 Hallmark Christmas movie My Grown Up Christmas List. And Renee, I started thinking if you're a kid and you have not one but two parents who are Hallmark actors, you're you're almost guaranteed to be a listener of the Forever Hallmark Christmas podcast in the future, right? I mean, it's a no-brainer.
SPEAKER_02No-brainer. As soon as they're old enough, they get introduced to this.
SPEAKER_01And my second news topic here, uh, the Kansas City uh uh the Hallmark Christmas Experience, Kansas City 2026. They've announced who's gonna be at the different four weeks uh this coming November and December. And it's basically a dozen or more Hallmark stars every weekend. You can't go wrong. Um, it looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun. And they've also announced there's a new package, a new ticket package called the Make Memories ticket package. And Hallmark has described it as its most immersive option yet. And pretty interesting, Renee. This one comes with a pretty hefty price tag, $1,800. But for that, okay, I just want to I want to put this out there. You get an incredible amount of stuff. You're getting all of the uh uh the all-stars on stage shows with designated seating. That's 12 different shows, a ticket to the Saturday showcase, Hallmark movie watch party, include a ticket for a group photo op with Hallmark Stars, then a couple really specific things. You get a lounge with other Make Memories ticket holders, you get a commemorative art print signed by Hallmark Stars, and really cool, you get an exclusive meet and greet breakfast with Hallmark stars, in addition to a whole bunch of other stuff. Now, let's be honest, $1,800, that's a lot of money. But at the same time, I think in this day and age, people are willing to pay for experiences. And I started thinking, okay, what else could you do for $1,800 in the next few months? And I started thinking about that, okay, if I wanted to go see the World Cup and the USA play they're opening around up in Los Angeles, tier two tickets, not the best, but kind of the next level up, you're looking at about $1,800 for one ticket to one game. Okay. If you want to go see the Eagles in Las Vegas at the sphere, incredible, sit anywhere kind of in the 15th to 20th rows, you're looking at $1,800. And for that, you're not getting breakfast with Don Hamley, Renee.
SPEAKER_02So no, you're not.
SPEAKER_01I if you are a huge Hallmark fan and this is something you've saved up for, I mean, what a what an incredible experience. So cool that Hallmark's offering so many different packages. And uh yeah, I think the experience is gonna be obviously another great, great experience there uh in Kansas City this year.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if you've checked our email lately, but I'm sure we must have uh comp tickets for the Forever Hallmark Christmas podcast. Co host and co-host, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Hallmark, if you're looking for any MCs for any of those uh those shows uh during the experiences, you let Renee and I know. Thank you. All right, let's talk a little crashing through the snow. Uh, this movie aired in 2021. It stars Amy Acker and Warren Christie. This was written by Tamar Laddie. Uh, as I mentioned last week, only two Hallmark credits, but they're two good ones, this movie, uh, as well as Round and Round in 2023. And here's our little holiday hook on this one. Two divorced parents survive holiday chaos, competitive Christmas spirit, and one very long road trip to Aspen, Colorado. But when Sam proposes to Maggie that they team up against his sister's perfect holiday itinerary, neither are prepared for the blended family challenges that lie ahead. IMDB rating on this one, very solid, 7.1. And out of 2000, uh, excuse me, out of 40 movies in 2021, this ranked number six. And if you're if you're curious, where does a 7.1 put you? Uh out of 478 movies since 2000, this rank's tied for 26, tied with popular movies such as Holly and Ivy, Round and Round, uh, Christmas by Starlight, Take Me Back for Christmas. And for whatever reason, the Canadian market really loves this movie. It's uh 7.6 uh up in Canada.
SPEAKER_02So how did you even find that?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's uh, you know, I have my ways, Renee. I have my ways. And uh let's talk a little fun facts. Uh there's a lot of uh interviews that uh that I found that Warren Christie had done, Brooke Nevin had done, who played Kate, uh Amy Acker had done. So it's it was really fun to find some information about this movie. Uh this movie was not part of Countdown to Christmas, it was actually Hallmark's Christmas in July programming, and it was shot in Winnipeg, and the mountain scenes were filmed in Banff, Alberta. Uh so everything shot up in Canada, as Hallmark movies often are. I read an article with uh Amy Acker who played Maggie, and she said that it was still snowing in Canada when they filmed this movie. It was mid-April, and the scene that they filmed in the hot springs, they filmed that around midnight on their very last night in Winnipeg. She said it started snowing, these snowflakes, the size of tennis balls. And she said it was the most magical thing she'd ever seen. And she felt like she was in a real Hallmark movie. So when you see that snow coming down, that was real stuff.
SPEAKER_02That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh Amy Acker and Warren Christie, who played the two leads, Sam and Maggie, they've known each other for 15 years and are very good friends in real life. Uh, and before this film, they worked in two series together called Happy Town and October Road. And I think when you do have actors, uh, spoiler, I thought they had really good chemistry in this film. And I think when you have actors that have known each other for a long time, um, sometimes that chemistry shows a little more.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I saw some of that for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh Warren Christie said the the fantastic script and also getting to work with Amy Ackergan were the two big reasons he signed on to do this movie. And if you're wondering about, you know, we have two fictional locations here, uh Austin and Aspen, Colorado, Austin, Texas. And the Austin connection is in reference to the writer, Tamar Laddie. She lives in Austin, and at the time she was teaching a course in writing for television series at the University of Texas at Austin. So that's a reference to her. And speaking of the writer to Marlattie, she attended Princeton for uh for her undergrad, where she got a degree in geology. So, in addition, in addition to being a great Hallmark writer, I guess she's a geologist. So just a few fun facts about this movie. There's a whole bunch more, but uh yeah, it's uh is uh pretty cool to read some of these uh interesting little tidbits about this one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that sounds fun. All right, let's get right to it. What do you think of this one? I thought I was engaged in this movie. Um, I enjoyed it a lot. There was a couple of moments, I I don't want to say dislike because that that's kind of a strong word. A couple of moments in this movie just were not for me, I can say. But overall, I I've I was engaged with this movie. I I didn't I did like it and enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm gonna be a little more bullish than you on this one. I I thought this was a fantastic movie. I I really liked everything about it. I I liked the acting, I liked I thought it was a great script, I thought it was written very well, I thought pacing-wise, it it wasn't too fast, wasn't too slow. I thought our leads had great chemistry. It there was parts that didn't feel like a Hallmark movie. It felt very uh adultish, if you will, some of the dialogue, some of the scenes, and you know what, every once in a while I'm okay with that. I I think it's a nice change of pace, but overall, I thought it was a a really, really good movie. Wow, I'm still you always surprise me. All right, we always talked about some things that we liked about a movie, and uh tell me some of the things you you were fond of in this one.
SPEAKER_02Sure. One of my you know, there's two or three things that you can kind of link together. There was a lot of great dialogue and conversation um that was very heartfelt. There's at least two or three three scenes that I wrote down. You know, Kate and Sam talking about being part of the family. It was honest and real talk for both of them. It's a nice moment. The mom and daughter talk was lovely, uh, very heartfelt. It's actually the the the stepmom and um the dad and son talk in the kitchen. A lot of deep talks in this one. That's kind of uh you know, you usually get one in a hallmark movie, but you had three different things going on here. And uh I really appreciated that. It made it this is what made it seem less of a hallmark movie than just a normal movie that you would see out and about, which I liked it. Um the lighter things that I liked is the the fake chariots of fire music that occurred during the when she did the hocke when she did the hockey slap shot. Yeah, that was great. I mean, at first it's like, is that really chariots of fire? And then it's like, nope, that's not chariots of fire, but I get what they're trying to do. I thought that was funny. You know, I liked the almost kiss in the racquetball court, that was lovely. And uh, you know, I noticed that they held hands often, not walking, but sort of like they reached forward and held each other's two hands. You saw that they do that a lot. You know, I like the conspiracy sort of aspect in the beginning where Maggie and Sam are like he's gonna help him, uh help her, you know, win out against his sister, I suppose, or whatever they were trying to do there. I thought that was kind of funny. And Maggie immediately falling at her ski lesson was hilarious to me.
SPEAKER_01I I like some of the same stuff you did. Well, not only Maggie falling at the ski lesson, but you know, falling over those boxes of presents, right in the very first scene there, uh, wiping out on the ice ring. She was constantly tripping and falling over everything, which I found hilarious. Uh, I like the fact that Maggie and Jeff still have a good relationship. Uh, I like when I say this was kind of an adult movie, nobody was really working against anybody in this movie. Everybody was really trying to help everybody else along in kind of a tough blended family situation. I loved the estate with all of the decorations, the parties with all the decorations of the Christmas trees. It reminded me a little of A Kiss Before Christmas that was also shot in Winnipeg, and I looked it up real fast, and some of the same set decorators worked on that movie as worked on this movie because I remember in that movie there were Christmas trees everywhere. So I especially liked that. Um, I like you, I liked those heart-to-heart talks, kind of talking about, you know, obviously we had two blended families here on both sides, and like the the brother and sister talk with Sam and Kate talking about that. I did mention some of the uh the adult kind of dialogue in line in this when Sam and Maggie first meet and he's kind of flirting with her and he says, Hey, let's you want to jump in the sauna together? I'm like, excuse me? Am I watching a Hallmark movie here? And then a little bit later in the movie, you know, Jeff is poking there, Jeff and Maggie are together, just the two of them, and she's he's kind of poking fun at her that she's flirting with Sam. And he says, Well, you know, he probably doesn't want to settle down anyways, and she fires back at him. You know, who says I'm looking for anything anything serious? And I said, Ooh, way to go, Maggie, and also again, you don't hear that in a Hallmark movie very often, and every once in a while I think that's okay. Um, I love the helicopter flight to cut down the tree. Uh, that was cool. I liked Nutcracker Cocktail Party. Maggie just kept crapping glasses of champagne, and Sam kept taking it away from her. Um, there's a whole bunch I liked in this movie, but those are those are a few.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there was quite a bit to like here.
SPEAKER_01All right, we always keep things real, talk about what uh anything we'd fix in a rewrite. It sounds like you might have uh something on your mind. So what do you think?
SPEAKER_02I I wrote down here that I should always have at least two or three, but there was only one for me this time, like a glaring one. I didn't want to nitpick it. I don't know if I put too much of myself in this. Like when the ex-husband's telling Maggie that he thinks Sam is one of the good ones. Um it's so foreign to me as to what like I would do. I felt genuinely uncomfortable watching that scene. I was like uncomfortable. The whole talk when he says to her, at the risk of overstepping, and from there on, that whole conversation, I I I was like putting my hand in my face, like I can't believe he's saying all this. I just don't see it didn't feel like a real conversation, but that could be my sort of more pessimistic side of life. Um, I just I was like, dude, what are you doing? Like I I don't think I would have said much if I was that guy, but I think like I said, I'm putting myself into this in this situation. I I really had a hard time with that scene. I did not I did not like it at all. I don't know why I'm I I did just was so displeased with that scene.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't I didn't have any problem with that scene. I mean, I think that that you know I what I said before, nobody's working against each other. It's a movie, everybody's hoping for the best, and obviously, you know, Maggie is hoping for the best when it comes to Jeff and Kate. And I think Jeff really does want Maggie to be happy and and he sees the connection between her and Sam. So yeah, yeah, I I I I had no problems with that scene at all.
SPEAKER_02I guess like the sort of the theme for me that was kind of threw me off was that everybody was so understanding and so supportive of each other. I think that threw me off. It's like I get it, it's a Hallmark movie and it and it's nice that way. But I thought, in real life, I don't know how how much of this would work out so positively. I expected to see a little bit more uh conflict or negativity somewhere in there, and it was really quite the opposite, which is nice. It just threw me for a loop.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a nice shash of paste. Everyone saw there was no forced conflict, which sometimes we get. People think you have to have this huge argument or something that's gonna or somebody working against somebody else to make the movie work, and we didn't have that here. I I really don't have a heck of a lot I'd rewrite. There's only one scene that I I wasn't crazy about, and it's around 15 minutes in. It's it's when Jeff and Maggie got into that argument after Maggie took the helicopter flight and they were late back and ruined Kate's snow tubing morning or something like that. Um, I think he got a little bit nasty and you know, basically accused her of coming in and like, you know, trying to jump into their big, you know, Christmas time and they're in Aspen. And really, obviously, it wasn't she didn't want to go. I mean, she only went because Kate was pushing her, or her girls really wanted her to go. She didn't want to be there. And he got a little over the top, nasty, and and a little out of line. And I I think one of the really cool things about this movie is it was showing how important good parenting can be. And the fact that I think he just got a little out of line there and didn't need to, I think it kind of soured that whole that whole aspect a bit of good parenting. I don't think it needed to be. I mean, they could have had a little argument. I still don't think it needed to be quite that over the top. That's really the only thing in the entire movie. If I had to rewrite, I think I would have just toned that scene down just a tad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I thought, okay, the here's the conflict scene in the movie. I was like, yeah, I thought it was like, uh, okay. Because he was pretty laid back most of the time. And obviously his his girlfriend invited his ex-wife to go, so it's like, why are you yelling at her for it? You know, she didn't know not to come. Yeah, yeah. It made no sense. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Favorite moment of the movie, what you got?
SPEAKER_02Uh the hot tub scene. The flirting is like way ratcheting up there. They're having a nice talk as well. Uh-huh. And we get a mid-movie kiss in this one right here. And I actually thought, I was gonna put this on my overall thoughts of the movie. This was kind of a steamy movie in several places, I thought. I saw I've I put on here this whole scene was kind of steamy. I enjoyed it. Uh, it was nice.
SPEAKER_01It was hands down my favorite moment of the movie. Uh, they both looked fantastic, like you say, steamy. I almost put a little edgy to it. Uh, they had a very deep personal talk. Uh, the ambiance was great. You had you had all these lights around. I love them when the lights flashed out. She goes, Was that your big move? Right when they were about to kiss and the lights popped on, you know, like every guy has a move and that was his move. I thought that was funny. Obviously, they had fantastic chemistry. And then they had a very sweet, tender mid-movie kiss. And at first I was looking at the kiss, going, God, it was it was really nice. It was tender. I wanted a little bit more at the moment, but then we'll talk about the final kiss. Once we got the big kiss at the end, I go, okay, now I can understand why they didn't go more than they did in that scene. It all kind of came full circle and it totally makes sense. Uh, now that uh when you finish watching it the entire movie, but yeah, the hands down, that was one of my of all the movies that we've covered, that we're at number 15 now. That was one of my favorite scenes ever. It was just so different than any normal scene in a Hallmark movie you would usually get. And like I say, now that I also know that it was really snowing, these big snowflakes of science of tennis balls, even cooler.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was a very well-written scene overall. Yeah, shot well, written well, acted well, well done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, when he when he talks about, you know, with the hat when excuse me, when Maggie's talking about, you know, how her and her and Jeff were best best friends when they got married, but they never had that thing. And Warren Chris goes, You gotta have that thing, you know. And she's oh yeah, you do. So yeah, it was it was very well written. Yeah. Okay, best supporting character who deserved more screen time. Who he got on this one?
SPEAKER_02I went with Charlie, uh played by Eugene Baffo. Um, he was the the other cook, I guess. Yeah, right. I didn't see very much of him. Um, but I thought he was kind of uh I don't know why I picked him. He just seemed interesting and the kind of go-with-a-flow kind of a guy. I just wanted to know a little bit more about him. I thought he, I thought he had some charm, you know, some presence. So I would have liked to seen a little bit more of him. And hopefully he's in other Hallmark movies. I didn't look that up, but I hope he's having a successful career. He looked like a, you know, like a nice guy, nice character.
SPEAKER_01I won't with Maggie's friend Ginny. Um, we really saw her like in the first scene of the movie there at the the curls choir concert or player or whatever it was. And then once she got to Aspen, she gave her a quick call, and Maggie was using her as a sounding board, and like we never saw her again. So I think maybe they just ran out of time. You know, you only have 86 and a half minutes to work with. Maybe she was in some scenes later on, but they just had to cut it out. But I yeah, I think if we saw her so early on and then we never saw her again, I think I'd like to see her at least in maybe one scene, a little bit maybe when when Maggie needed a little help or was struggling with, you know, should I, shouldn't I with Sam? Uh, Ginny could have been somebody she could have called. So I think I would like to see just a little bit more Ginny.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sometimes a friend shows up as backup, you know, hey, I gotta play some downtown or whatever, something like that.
SPEAKER_01But that was cool. The segment where we always call out a little uh uh logic checks. Uh are we sure? What do you think on this one? Any uh any are we I I know I have a few here. Any any that you got?
SPEAKER_02I I'm sure you have this exact same one. Like, there's no way the new girlfriend would invite the ex-wife for a Christmas trip to Aspen. No way, but her character's so understanding, so mature, so adult. Uh, I think no way would I invite uh you know my girl's ex to come with us. I don't care.
SPEAKER_01Well, I have I didn't have that one on my list, but I got a whole bunch of others.
SPEAKER_02And I thought it was really weird, like when when Sam arrives at the house, no one's excited. I'm just like, oh hey, you're here. Like he's been gone in Tokyo how many months? No, and I was just like, oh hey, you're here. Okay, that made no sense to me. And I just thought Kate would be so well, I thought she was so understanding. She seemed impossibly nice. Like this, like I thought this person does not exist. Maybe they're out there. Uh, I haven't met them, you know. I just thought she's too nice. I would have no way. I'm not are we sure she's that nice? There's no pettiness at all in there. I was shocked by that.
SPEAKER_01So I have a few here. Are you are we sure that Sam would come home from Japan and he wouldn't tell anybody he's coming? He literally just shows up and nobody knows he's even coming home. So that's my my first. Are we sure? I'm sure you can probably relate to this one, but or I definitely can to somebody that has two daughters. Are we sure that that Jeff, who knows how much the ear piercing day means to Maggie, would really not include her in that experience? I mean, I'm sure this is something they talked about when they were married because their daughter's supposed to wait till she's 13 years old. I yeah, I'm I'm very leery about that one that he would really do that. Are we sure that Maggie would go from not being able to skate at all, she's falling all over the ice, and then in no time she's like doing a hockey scope spraying snow all over the ice and she nails a slap shot? Yeah, are we sure about that? Yeah. Ice skating's not that easy. And last one here, are we sure that Maggie and Jeff are good judges of what constitutes a great movie? Because they say that Gremlins is the best Christmas movie of all time. Now, I don't think I've heard it, I don't think I've seen Gremlins in over 40 years, but I don't know if that would make my top 50 Christmas movies of all time. So movie and all, but uh yeah, are we sure that Gremlins is the best Christmas movie of all time?
SPEAKER_02You know, as a kid, I really loved that movie, but I never thought, oh, it's Christmas time, time to watch Gremlins.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. It's like it's like elf, um, you know, uh Christmas story, Gremlins? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Gremlins. I mean, diehard, of course, but I know we disagree on that, but aside from that, gremlins, no way.
SPEAKER_01Something we always do here. We say, Would the couple last 12 months? And we're talking Maggie and Sam, of course.
SPEAKER_02What do you think? This might surprise you. I said, Nope. I said they don't know anything about each other. I think they have a chemistry. I think they're into each other that way. But aside from that, I don't see it. There's no way. I just don't see, I don't see how they they would relate after their initial like honeymoon phase of attraction. I don't I don't think so. Not even close.
SPEAKER_01We are definitely opposite on this one. Wow. Now let me start by saying that so I think Tamar Laddie, she must have watched The Most Wonderful Time of the Year a couple times before writing the script because Warren Christie plays a very similar character. He's this guy who's traveling all over the place. He's a chef in both movies. And when we reviewed that movie and we came to this segment, I said no, that he, and I can't remember the Brooke Burns character, that they would not last. Because at the time Warren Christie had just turned 30 years old in that movie. And I said, you know, he's still he's just still too used to kind of, you know, bouncing all over the world doing his thing. He wasn't ready to settle down. And at the time I said, you know, give him 10 years, more life experiences. And yeah, I think they would have made it. And I think this is similar. I think the fact that he's in his mid-40s, um, obviously they have incredible chemistry. Man, this is this is the hallmark. I mean, these two, I mean, the chemistry is just off the charts here. We'll we'll talk about this final kiss here in a in a minute. Um, but yeah, I mean, how can I not say these two are gonna make it? Uh, I think he's I think he's at the point of his life where he is ready to settle down. I I just can't ignore that chemistry between the two of them. I mean, you you don't get chemistry like these two had very often in in any movie. So sorry, Renee, there these two are gonna make it absolutely 100%.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just I just can't get past the fact that like I think this chemist it's just chemistry and not you know life philosophy and thinking about you know all that that comes with being together for a long time. But I wish that we could do they would do follow-ups on these for us. That'd be cool.
SPEAKER_01I know, I know. We do need a uh uh we need a sequel to this movie so we can find out if they made it or not. Uh I guess your your Evergreen movies are really the only time we ever get to find out. That's right. Uh if if if people make it or not. Okay, so it's time for the mistletoe meter. And uh, I'm gonna give a shout out to uh our friends Amy and Gary. Pour the wine, it's rom com time podcast. They recently did a review of Andrew Walker's Kentucky Roses movie, and they loved the kiss in that movie. And they when they went on their podcast and they said that they'd be curious as to what Rich and Renee would grade the kiss in that movie. They mentioned our mistletoe meter. So we must be getting word out there that we're grading these kisses and stuff like that. So I had a little fun and I went in and onto their Instagram page and I kind of broke down the kiss for them in that movie and gave it a grade. But uh obviously uh people are enjoying the mistletoe meter here. And I started thinking, Renee, what kind of graders are we if we're teachers? And I think we're tough but fair. Well you think you think that's about right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, totally tough but fair. All right, so I I'd heard about this kiss. Uh let me let me know what you thought of this one.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so there were two kisses, like the one in the hot tub, uh not hot tub in the pull scene. Right. It was well done. I gave that one a B. She went in for it. Nice. It's B because it's a short and it's not meant to be the main kiss, right? It's a teaser to the end. Sure. The final kiss, it's an A plus. This was one of the one of the steamiest, if not the steamiest kiss I've ever seen in Hallmark. Like they were making out. It was a very steamy kiss. They have obviously they have, I think they have now, you know, you said they'd known themselves each other for 15 years. I didn't know that about them. So obviously they're comfortable with each other, they trust each other. They might even have a friendly attraction towards each other. I don't know. But uh, this was a great kiss. It was one of the best I've seen, if not the best I've seen so far in Hallmark. It was really good.
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna break this one down and I'm gonna skip the hot springs kiss. I I think at the time I saw it, I probably said B B plus, but now kind of understanding how big the final kiss was, I know they had to kind of tone that kiss down. They didn't want two huge kisses. So uh I'm just gonna jump straight to the final kiss here. And because, first of all, both of them looked great. She was wearing this black dress and he had on kind of this suit and jacket with with the white shirt unbuttoned, no tie. Yeah, and then the music, Renee. Uh I go, what is that music? It was this soulful, bluesy, jazzy kind of music. And I go, Oh, it is like the perfect backing. It's a song called Dreaming of Christmas with You by an Australian band called the Tesky Brothers from 2017. And it was just the perfect song. Sam walk walks up this beautiful lit staircase, and then we had a little bit of dialogue where she tells him, you know, that she that he'd missed out on her wearing her classy pajamas the night before, which I thought was really funny. And then, of course, instead of the I love you, which you and I hate, we got a I like you a lot. I want to see you again, very adult, very real versus the I love you that I know you and I have talked about before. Like writers never do it. Good job, Tamar Laddie, on that one. Great job. I love that she made the first move towards the kiss. She had her hands on his face, and it started out face to face, nose to nose, Renee, which you know I don't like, but then within like a second, they gave me that perfect head tilt that I like. Great camera work. It was a hot kiss, and I'm with you. A plus on this one, Renee. I don't know what else to give it. It was fantastic. Yeah, it's as good as it gets. It was really good.
SPEAKER_02And that whole scene was great. Her up on top of the stairs and him at the bottom. It was a really lovely scene. Really enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01She wasn't gonna walk down to him. She made him come up to her. As he should. Everything about it was fantastic.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Who or what won this movie?
SPEAKER_02I had a hard uh I kind of had a hard time. But for me, Warren Christie, someone uh Sam won this movie. He was likable from the start. Total charmer. When he's on screen, you know, I gravitate towards seeing him and seeing his facial expressions. He made some funny behind the scenes, not behind the scenes, but not so obvious facial expressions sometimes. I found him interesting to watch. I really for really, if I could say their interactions together was what won the movie. But if I had to pick one person, it's Warren Christie for me.
SPEAKER_01For me, uh, this is a Maggie movie. It's it's it's about Maggie and Sam, it's about Maggie and Jeff, it's about Maggie and her kids, it's about Maggie and Kate. And I really didn't know Amy Acker that well. I know she's done a couple Hallmarks, I think this was number four for her. Uh, she hasn't done one since. I'd love for Hallmark to put her in again, but her acting, her just very natural acting, good, good uh physical acting when she's fallen all over the place. Um, I I just found her so charming. Uh, everything about her, I'd love to see her on Hallmark again. She played the character of Maggie great. I'm going with Amy Acker in in her portrayal of Maggie in this movie.
SPEAKER_02That's not a bad call.
SPEAKER_01Time for the rating. Boy, I I'm I'm a little worried about this one, Renee. Uh I I have a feeling we might have a uh a repeat of last week where we were so far apart. But uh let me know what you got.
SPEAKER_02I don't think we'll be that far apart. I gave it a 3.75 because I looked at what I gave a 3.52 before, and which was uh you know, Christmas under wraps, and one other one I think we did, but um I said, well, I'm gonna give this one a 3.75 because I did enjoy it. I just had a hard time, I think just because it's so opposite my character of some of those how understanding and some of those talks went. I would never engage in that way. I think that's what bothered me about it. But overall, this movie's a 3.75. It's a good, enjoyable movie. And if it was on the TV in the background, I'd I'd put it on the background and you know, go about my business.
SPEAKER_01Okay, we are we are definitely off on this one. The only reason that this didn't get a five for me is I I just think I needed some uh things a little bit more outside of the box, you know, out of the box, a little some more twists and turns. It was a little bit on the predictable side, but it was close, Renee. I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I I thought about a five. I enjoyed this thing so darn much. I thought the writing was so good. I the chemistry, the leads, that incredible scene. That being said, I I don't think it's quite to a five, but I gave this a four, seven, five. I I would absolutely re-watch this one again. In fact, I did go back and re-watch a couple of those scenes. Uh, the hot spring scene, the final kiss I watched a couple times as I knew we were going to break it down. Um, I I really, really like this movie. And that's your second highest rating of the season. I mean, it's well, third highest. I mean, I have Ghost of Christmas always and A Kiss Before Christmas, both at a uh a 4.75, but I I like this better than It's Christmas Eve. And I gave that a four and a half. I like it better than the most wonderful time of the year, which some Hallmark fans might find absolutely crazy because I know there's a a huge uh huge loyalty of fans that love that movie, but I I think it's better than It's Christmas Eve that we did a couple weeks ago. And I have no I have no problem saying a 475 on this one. I thought everything about it was absolutely fantastic. Um, I had one little tiny rewrite. Other than that, I thought the script was great. Warren Christie and Amy Acker, Incredible Chemistry. Two of my favorite scenes in any Hallmark movie that's been a long time. That hot spring scene and the final kiss. I love the dialogue in this movie. Uh and again, while it was predictable and kind of flowed like a Hallmark movie, there was so much in here that didn't feel like a Hallmark movie, and that's I think probably what attracted me to it as much as it did.
SPEAKER_02So I think I just had a hard time with uh everybody being so positive and friendly and accommodating. It just threw me for a loop. I had originally put this down as a four, but then I was like, man, this is really bugging me. So I went, sorry, I looked at what was a four, and I was like, no.
SPEAKER_01You gotta keep it, you gotta keep it real.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I mean, the most wonderful time of year to me is better than this one, so I couldn't give it a four. So I understand. All right. All right, you're up next. What's on deck? Oh, I have a movie with now. I don't want to say I'm not pandering here to the Heinies. This movie has Tyler Hines in it and uh, you know, BJL, Bethany Joy Lance. Uh the next movie is an unexpected Christmas. I'm gonna give you a hint. Something at Christmas unexpectedly happens.
SPEAKER_01That's our hint, huh? That's right. This is this is uh no doubt, this is a favorite uh for a lot of Hallmark fans out there. Um and no doubt this will be uh there'll be a fun one. And I love both of those actors. I mean, they're they're fantastic. This is another one that's early on in Tyler Heinz's career, and yeah, this should be fun. Unexpected Christmas. Ready for it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I didn't go looking for one for him specifically because I know he's very popular, but I just kind of came across it. Uh I was just looking at, you know, I was just googling movies movies that are kind of funny and you know, whatever, or similar to the one we just watched, and this one popped up. So I said, All right, that sounds good. I like both of them a lot.
SPEAKER_01We'll try we'll try and do the Heinese Proud for sure. For sure. All right, you know where to find us, Instagram Forever Hallmark Christmas. And if you want to send us uh an email, Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com. And until next week, let's keep it for the love of Hallmark.
SPEAKER_02For the love of hallmark.