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
Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy
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Evergreen… Part Three! This time we’re heading back to Hallmark’s beloved Christmas town for Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy (2019), featuring a star-studded cast led by Maggie Lawson and Paul Greene in their second Hallmark movie together. Joining them are Ashley Williams, Jill Wagner, Holly Robinson Peete, and Barbara Niven.
A 50-year-old time capsule takes center stage, Evergreen’s magical snow globe suffers an unexpected mishap, and three intertwined romances keep the Christmas spirit alive as the town once again works its holiday magic.
Hallmark writer Zac Hug was finding his stride with the network, delivering an ambitious script packed with memorable characters, multiple storylines, and plenty of star power—yet somehow making it all come together very nicely.
In this episode, we cover:
• Behind-the-scenes movie fun facts.
• Our favorite moments.
• Scenes we’d rewrite.
• The best supporting characters.
• “Are We Sure?” — our ultimate Hallmark logic check. And we’ve got a bunch.
• Ben and Katie… will their relationship last?
• The Mistletoe Meter – Katie and Ben with FIVE kisses… which might be a record! We’ll give them a letter grade.
• Who (or what) truly won the movie.
• We rate the film and talk about what movies are coming up next!
For the love of Hallmark!
Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/foreverhallmarkchristmas
Email: ForeverHallmarkChristmas@gmail.com
*** Not affiliated with Hallmark Media.
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast. We are so glad you're here and listening. We are a movie review podcast where we talk about one thing and one thing only, that is Hallmark Christmas movies. Uh my name is Renee, and I'm joined today by my friend and co-host Rich. How are you doing, Rich?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing good, Renee. We're uh what three days uh from Christmas in July. Uh we got four new Hallmark movies uh to review here coming up in the next month. It's uh it's gonna be a lot of fun, and we're I I think you sent me a little we're we're a little bit more than halfway to Christmas, right?
SPEAKER_00Uh Monday is halfway to Christmas. So well, you're listening to this on Thursday, so yeah, three days ago.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is that is crazy. We record on Sunday, yeah. Renee, I don't know about you, but I'm still coming down off of a little bit of a Hallmark high after our interview eight days ago. So lovely. Uh it uh so for those of you who didn't know, uh we did a crossover podcast, our last one uh that we dropped a couple days ago, uh with the for the wine, it's rom com time. Our friends Gary and Amy there. They do a Hallmark uh podcast covering Hallmark content year-round. They invited us onto their show to it, it was called a crossover, where basically you know, people that listen to our podcast could find them and vice versa. And we were just gonna do a normal movie review of the 2022 Hallmark movie, a holiday spectacular. And one thing led to another, we ended up having Julie Sherman Wolf, not only the writer of Holiday Holiday Spectacular, but One Royal Holiday, Hanukkah on Rye, uh Holiday Touchdown, a Chief's love story, so many great Hallmark movies. And she joined us for 75 minutes, uh, talking all about her Hallmark career, uh, a holiday spectacular. Just amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had a lot of fun doing this, it was really cool.
SPEAKER_01And I I mentioned so most of our podcast, kind of you know, 30 minutes, 35, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Uh, this one was a lot longer. Uh 75 minutes, but go back and give it a listen. It is so worth it. I I I researched a lot about that movie, Renee. I found out so much that I had no idea about. Um, and one of my favorite things, so we we did 75 after we ended the podcast, she stayed on with Yumi, Gary, and Amy for about another 20 minutes, just talking about our lives, talking about families. Uh we were talking to her about some of her other movies that she wrote that are some of our favorites. I was asking her questions about Hanukkah and Rye. Gary and Amy love always Amori. She was just talking all just just off the record, just having fun. Uh, you never got to hear that kind of stuff. But thank you. Thanks so much for Julie for doing that. It was incredible. Um, it's a podcast we'll never forget. And definitely go watch a holiday spectacular and and listen to that podcast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's my favorite podcast that we've done so far. We've done some good ones, but this was really lovely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and I kind of mentioned the first, you know, we've we've talked with a lot of other Hallmark writers like Ron Oliver and Janet King and and Marcomato, but Julie Sherman Wolf is in a on a different level if you know Hallmark writers. She, if there's a Mount Rushmore, she's definitely on it. Um, I think she's written about 30 Hallmark movies, so yeah, yeah, it uh it was my favorite as well.
SPEAKER_00What are we talking? What are we talking about this week? I picked the movie from 2019. It's the third movie in the Christmas and Evergreen kind of series. Uh it's Christmas and Evergreen Tidings of Joy. Uh, this one stars Maggie Lawson as Katie Connell, Paul Green as Ben Baxter, and you have a super supporting cast. You got Holly Robinson Pete, Barbara Niven, uh Rikia Bernard, who I wasn't that familiar with, but uh great job. Uh Ashley Williams makes a return, and even my beloved uh Jill Wagner does a small couple of small scenes, which is lovely for me to see. Um, this one's uh directed by Sean McNamara, uh Letters to Santa, Sister Swap, uh the couple movies he did there. So um he's definitely done a few things. Written by Zach Hugg, who's done tons of stuff. Uh from what I saw, he's written over a dozen Hallmark movies, including The Homecoming for the Holidays and Jingle Around the Clock, which are very popular ones.
SPEAKER_01Don't forget about one of my favorites, Ghost of Christmas Always.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, we can't forget that one. And spoiler alert, I may be bringing that up at the end of this episode. So our FHC log line for this movie is uh a writer arrives in Evergreen to prove the town's Christmas magic is mostly good branding, but between a time capsule, a handsome local, and a community running on Cocoa and Destiny, she may be forced to admit the Snow Globe has a point. Um, this movie has an IMDB rating of 6.5 uh out of uh I saw two 2,100 reviews over that. It's uh the average Hallmark movie is about a 6.4, so this movie kind of got just barely above an average rating, which uh I think you guys will hear what we talk about and probably uh assess it somewhere similarly. Well, let's get to the fun part of the show. Rich, let me hear some fun facts.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, not a ton, but uh definitely a few today. But uh of course we have Evergreen back. We've talked about before. Evergreen is a fictional town, but if you would like to see what is portrayed as Evergreen in the movies, head up to British Columbia and visit the Burnaby Village Museum uh in the town of Burnaby, just outside of Vancouver, and you can see what Evergreen is all about. That's what they used as the backdrop for it. Paul Green and Maggie Lawson, they are two leads in this movie, but it wasn't their first time leading a Hallmark movie. They were the two leads in the 2017 Hallmark movie My Favorite Wedding, so not their first rodeo in this movie. Uh if you are a big Maggie Lawson fan, you might have watched the television series Psych. I'm gonna be honest, I did not watch Psyche, but apparently there's an ongoing kind of running joke about that television show where there's a hidden pineapple in many of the episodes that Maggie Lawson was in. And she was one of the leads, she did 119 of them. And around the 25-minute mark of this movie, you'll see a little pineapple ornament uh in the background. And of course, that is uh in reference to Maggie's uh longtime running on uh the series Psych and that whole little pineapple storyline that was part of that series. Uh we had 39 Christmas movies in 2019, in case you're wondering where this movie ranked in terms of all those other 39. Hi for 17th, so kind of right in the middle there. This is one that I didn't catch the first time around, and I'm guessing most people didn't. But Ezra talks about his long distance romance as the reason he's not staying in Evergreen. He also mentions that he's moving to Boston for this long-distance romance, and the person in question was introduced uh by Lisa to him. Well, if you start thinking, the one character who we really don't see from Letters in Santa is Oliver. And we know that Oliver lived in Boston, and we know that Lisa would have introduced the two of them because they were business partners together. So maybe a little something sneaky that uh Zach Hugs uh snuck in there. He wrote both of these movies. Uh, I don't think that's a coincidence, um, but a little fun fact there, uh, with Ezra's long distance romance possibly being Oliver from uh Christmas and Evergreen Letters to Santa.
SPEAKER_00That's a good one. I think you're right.
SPEAKER_01And those are the fun facts.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. I always love those. They're so good. Well, let's get right into it. Um, what are your overall thoughts on this movie?
SPEAKER_01I found this one enjoyable. I I don't think it was overly complicated. I thought the time capsule concept was unique and different. Um, it did have a lot going on, kind of like Letter of Santa, but I found this one an easier watch, better paced. Um, I really liked a lot of the visuals in this movie. And you mentioned all the different actors we had in this movie. We had a ton of star power. Ashley Williams, uh Jill Wagner. We had Mark Declan and Teddy Sears back uh towards the end, uh Holly Robinson Pete, Barbara Niven, uh, in addition to Paul Green and Maggie Lawson. So I think Zach did a really good job of handling all that star power, giving them the right amount of time. Um, so yeah, I think he did well with that. And for the most part, found it a pretty easy watch. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00How about you? Yeah, I'm right with you on this one. It was very just easy to watch. Um, nothing um gonna I wasn't too surprised by too many things, but nevertheless, uh it's an enjoyable watch. You know, nothing, I mean it's not like uh a Chris a kiss before Christmas or something like that, but enjoyable. If it's on, you should definitely catch it and watch it and enjoy it. All right, Rich, tell me some things uh you really like about this movie.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got I got a whole bunch. First of all, we have the town of Evergreen back, and we we've said before if you want a movie with tons of Christmas vibes, the Christmas and Evergreen series are perfect because there's just Christmas everywhere. I like the train visuals, especially at the beginning of the movie there, that kind of train cutting through the mountains. Uh really cool. I like the I like the visuals overall in this movie, as I mentioned, uh when I talked about just kind of my overall impressions. Of course, we had some Christmas magic. We had the magic snow globe back. Of course, it broke, but and then we got it back again. So, of course, the magic snow globe. I kind of like the black and white flashbacks. That's something we don't always see in a Hallmark movie, uh kind of separating when they were going back the 50 years, uh putting it in black and white so we weren't confusing as to where we were in the movie. Good job on that. I usually don't like the cookie montages, the cooking baking. For some reason, I I really liked this one. It was quick, it was snappy, it was well shot. Um, I I I like this one a lot, so that's just something different. I I really don't that that's usually not my thing, but this one it kind of kind of caught my eye for some reason. Uh of course, my favorite scene in the last movie was a skating rink, and we had the skating rink back with that beautiful bridge on the back. That was kind of neat. And one thing I noticed we didn't have a misunderstanding in this movie. You know, that usually happens with about 15 minutes left in the movie. There was that one earlier on where he found the note that he thought she was gonna write a hit piece about uh about the town, but they kind of got over that real fast. But that was way earlier in the movie, so we didn't have that, you know, in the third act misunderstanding, you know, right at the end of the movie there. And I kind of that's kind of refreshing because every I think some Hallmark fans think you have to have that in every single movie. You don't. It's it was kind of nice just to not have that and and be a little different. So well done, Zach Hog on that. Yeah, he's a good writer for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I liked a few things about this movie too. Um, like Hannah and Elliot almost kissing when they found the wedding ring. I'd like I like that. I like their one of my favorite things in this movie was their chemistry. The scenery was lovely. Uh I like the Christmas tree lot scene. I'm you know, I'm a sucker for those. And I I got something kind of I got sidetracked listening to that Christmas tree lot scene because he talks about you know the trees releasing terrapines and it fights off bugs and feeds the clouds to bring back snow. So I kind of channeled you a little bit here and I had to fact check this. Okay. So I did some research. We're name doing research. I love it. That's right. So according, I had to source it, right? Because you write some. According to the source, uh Paul Scherer Institute, also known as PSI, trees release volatile organic compounds. Please stay with me, everybody, including terpenes and sesquitines sesquiterpenes into the air. Those compounds can react in the atmosphere and help form tiny aerosol particles. Some of those particles can contribute to cloud formation. And research from this cloud project at CERN found plant-emitted seskyprenes, somebody tell me how to say that, can be an important factor in forming atmospheric particles relevant to clouds. Make of that what you will. I just thought it was excellent writing by Zach Hugg. And yes, the the smell also helps get rid of bugs. So I was just blown away that I just I like that sort of attention to detail that he had. I especially like the little Easter egg in the beginning of the movie where there's a they show the mailbox and it says letters to Santa on it from the previous movie. Uh, nice to see Ezra back in there. Uh cute to see Ashley reprising her role. The old red truck is there. Yeah, I like all the Christmas music, the snow globe scene, and like you said, it was broken, but it was very key to the movie, so it worked out well. And uh, yeah, one of my favorite things, the chemistry between Thomas and Hannah. I could not get over it. And uh, you know, David is a key finding machine, apparently. He finds everything, so he is, yeah. So quite a few things to like about this movie. Now, those were some of the things I liked in this movie. Now let's get into some of the things we'd fix in a rewrite. What do you have, Rich?
SPEAKER_01Yes, you kind of mentioned the uh the relationship between Elliot and Hannah, and uh I I was really into that secondary relationship more than I was uh Michelle the Mayor and Thomas. I was I was more into the Elliott Hannah relationship. And I but it felt like a little awkward. Obviously, there it's kind of a friends to lovers in our secondary love interest here, but it just felt like a little awkward and all the way through kind of through the entire movie, and I don't think it necessarily needed to be. Um you kind of mentioned that almost kiss uh after she found the ring didn't quite happen, but we we should have gotten a big med movie kiss there at the piano, um, and we didn't get that either. And then the final kiss didn't do much for me. I didn't think it was good at all when they did during the whole little candle ceremony there when they finally did have a kiss. Um I I'd like to have seen a little bit more of those two. I mean, it it didn't have to feel so awkward. I would have loved to have had a mid-movie kiss there at the piano, that would have been the perfect spot for their first. And then give me a I mean, Renee, I'm gonna talk about the the the scene at the end of the movie with the candle walk and everything like that. Everybody was kissing, and we had some really good kisses, but their kiss seemed to be the most lackluster of all of them, and I really liked their relationship. I wanted a better, better kiss between the two of them. 100% agree. But that's that's really the only thing I thought about rewrite. Another thing I saw, no fault of Zach Hugs here, so this isn't a rewrite, but they needed to fix this. Is you remember when they were all sitting around the fire pit and having their little multiple people were having conversations? They were using a glass like propane fire pit, like a gas fire pit. This is a Hallmark movie. Let's get like a real wood burning fire pit for if they're gonna do s'mores. Are you are you literally telling me you can't spend a little money and get a real wood fire pit for the s'mores there? Um but other than that, uh, and like I said, that is no fault of Zach Huggs. That's on that's on the direction or whoever there. But uh other than that, yeah, really I just like to see Elliot Hannah, that relationship, you know, let them flirt, let him have a mid-movie kiss, and give me a better kiss at the end.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for me, you know, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more romantic chemistry between them. I don't know how to explain it, but I don't get why he would not have already been snatched up by some local lady, number one. But okay, that's part of the story.
SPEAKER_01Well, we we I think we, you know, we Evergreen might only have 500 people to live in that we don't know.
SPEAKER_00So he did say that the single field was very limited there. I understand that, right? Maybe everybody's related to who.
SPEAKER_01Well, hold on, hold on. How did how did him and Allie grow up together in that town and not end up together? You know, that's uh there you go. I don't know. That's a good question.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you know, you know, I guess that you know they're both writers on some level, maybe there's a connection there. I just needed a little help or nudge, no pun intended, as you'll might later hear from me, as to why they would be into each other for me, especially since he knows she's not staying. So who who like falls in love with someone and they're gonna you know they're gonna be leaving in a week? I just felt that Hannah and Elliot had way more chemistry in the movie. I would have almost have watched referred to watch them as the movie, but I know that's a little harsh to say.
SPEAKER_01But oh no, I mean I thought as I mentioned, I really was really into the Elliott Hannah relationship.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, and the other thing, there was a scene where uh Michelle says to Tom, she says that she is happy because she loves him, and it is you know, and then she's essentially telling him that she loves him, and then the scene he doesn't speak. He just the scene is just him smiling and doesn't say anything. It's just like I was watching, I was like, what the heck? Can you imagine you just say to someone, you know, the first time I, you know, I love you, and they just sit there and they just smile and don't say anything, and then it cut to the next scene that just blew me away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I think I think a lot of times that relationship would be over for the woman.
SPEAKER_00That was like the major just like scene rewrite, and the and I I guess the overall was a little bit more more chemistry between Katie and Ben. Um, those are it for me. I mean, there's little things like uh I'll just say it real quick. You know, most I get it that the truck is owned by uh Allie, I think was so most people name their vehicles in a feminine, right? So my my truck, she's doing well, she's still she's up and running. So that's how, but maybe it's because I always hear from guys, and I thought, well, maybe it makes sense that a lady would refer to her vehicle as a he. I just thought that was an interesting thing because I always talk to guys about cars, and we always call them her. So if you know, if any ladies out there have name boy names for their cars or whatever names, I'd be curious about that. You can write us.
SPEAKER_01Well, my my wife calls her car the beast, so I guess you could go, uh, I don't know, uh, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, her car is a beast for sure. Yeah, so you know, I just thought it was a little funny thing because most mechanic, you know, maybe because I used you know used to work on cars a little bit. We always think of you know, working on the old girl or whatever. Sure. Anyways, do you have a favorite moment?
SPEAKER_01I do. I it was at the very end of the movie. It's kind of that candle walk. Uh everyone's got the candles in their hands. It was beautifully filmed. You had lots of everybody was kissing. Yeah, uh, it was great. Uh, and of course, you had Teddy Sears and Mark Declan both back with Ashley Williams and Jill Wagner, respectively. Um, you had a Carrie Underwood song, Do You Hear What I Hear playing? Um, I'm sure Hallmark had to pony up a little bit of cash for that one for the rice of that song. Uh, it was just a really good scene. Visually beautiful, like I say, everyone's kissing, having a good time. It's evergreen. Everything about the scene would just just just spoke to me uh in a great way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I I went some in a different direction with my favorite moment. This would normally not be the kind of favorite moment that I would pick. Normally it's me picking a conversation between a you know uh an older parent figure with a younger person and some sort of advice. But this time I picked um David finding the key and the revealing of the advent calendar. And the reason I say that is because that set the whole movie and tone in motion for me. It's pretty neat how like the movie had so much Christmas spirit, which is what I want to see in the movie. So when he found that, it just pushed this Christmas spirit level up, and that's why it was my favorite moment because sometimes in some of these movies we've been reviewing, and you know, the movies aren't meant to just be Christmas spirit, but I like seeing Christmas Spirit, and that was uh the very instrumental in this movie. So that was my favorite moment. I know it's a little bit different than a normal that I normally would pick, but I think it was uh a good moment for the movie. So having said that, uh, who's your best supporting character who deserved more screen time?
SPEAKER_01Wow, we have we have a whole bunch of choos from, don't we? Yeah, we do. I went with Nan the librarian. I thought I thought she was just a little sneaky, a little sly. She's been keeping this secret for 50 years. I think whenever she was in a scene, she was just killing it. And every scene she was in, obviously um, you know, she's been keeping this secret, which I I had a little question about like could we really keep a secret for these 50 years? But uh yeah, I think she uh I think she just really did a really good job every scene she was in. Um I I I don't know what else to say. I like Nan the librarian. I'm not gonna go with one of the uh the the superstars, you know, the the Joe Wagners and the Ashley Williams. Uh I'm gonna go with Nan the librarian.
SPEAKER_00You know, that's exactly who I picked as well. Wow, all right. Yeah, we're on the same page. Um, you know, she was cute and you know and sweet, and she's also a little bit, you know, had a little bit of fire to her. I just want to see more of her and know more of her backstory. So yeah, we picked the same thing here.
SPEAKER_01I'm uh surprised because I'm kind of surprised because we had so many supported characters in this, and we usually don't pick the same one.
SPEAKER_00So in this, you know, for sure, you know, I could always say, Oh, I want to see more Jill Wagner, which I always do, but uh you know, I just from a character standpoint, I really wanted to see more of her. So that's who uh I went with. Rich, do you have any? Are we sure?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we got some logic checks we need to call out, and I have a couple here. Uh the first one that hit me so when they reveal the time capsule, that thing looks immaculately clean. Like there's not a speck of dirt anywhere on it. It looks like it was painted yesterday. Um are we really sure that thing would be 50 years behind that wooden wall and and still be so clean? That's my my first are we sure? Uh are we sure that Hannah would really find the wedding ring in a jar of glitter? I wasn't sure how that would end up in a jar of glitter. So of course you know me, right, Renee. I'm always calling out anything that has to do with a train coming into a town. Are we really sure that there would be a train from Evergreen to Penn Station in Manhattan? Um, Evergreen, maybe population of a thousand. Penn Station, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, uh train station in New York City. I'm guessing it's either Penn or Grand Central. So yeah, I'm not sure there would be a train from uh from Evergreen to Penn Station. And my last if you remember when Ben comes to the city, he and Katie have blueberry pancakes, and each of them have a big glass of red. Wine in front of them. Are we sure that's the best combination of a meal? Don't get me wrong, Renee. I love me some pancakes, I love me some red wine, uh, but not together. No, thank you. Are we really sure that's uh red wine and pancakes is really a thing?
SPEAKER_00You know, I I thought the same thing. I said, Well, maybe that's just how they roll over there.
SPEAKER_01I spent a lot of time in New York last year and I never saw blueberry pancakes and red wine.
SPEAKER_00My are we sure is are, you know, would Lisa Joe Wagner would she give away a beanie for free? She said this one's on me, but she did not charge her for the cable either. Isn't she trying to get more business for her shop? She has Christmas spirit and says, hey, it's Christmas. Uh, but you know, she's trying to run a business. The other one I have is uh Nan and Nick. I don't know how they kept that secret for 50 years. It's such a long time. I mean, that is a very, very long time. I have no idea how they were able to do that. I don't know that I can keep a secret for more than 10 minutes myself. Uh and then the last one is, and I think this is a more a heavier are we sure is that are we sure that she would bring her mom to meet her new boyfriend so fast? And then, you know, she's offering him, you know, she's gonna run his article, but then she's also offering him a shot at interviewing off of that one article and just a brand new boyfriend. That really seems like a stretch to me, but it is hallmark, and we do believe in the hallmark spirit of love. One of our more popular parts as well. Would the lead couple last 12 months?
SPEAKER_01Yes, would the lead couple last 12 months? And obviously, you are the optimist. I am usually the pessimist on this one, but not this time. I think, yeah, they're gonna last. Uh they're both writers. Good chemistry, not great chemistry, but good chemistry. You know what? I'm in a good mood, Renee. Yeah, I think they're gonna last. Uh, they seem they look good together, pretty good chemistry. Let's give them 12 months and we'll see how it goes after that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, the good news is we might find out when we review when we eventually get to the fourth movie in the series.
SPEAKER_01We might I can't believe there's four.
SPEAKER_00You know, some people can't believe there's four, and some people can't believe there's only four. So, you know. Yeah. So people love evergreen. So the lead couple last 12 months, yes, I think so. Uh they got along well. They're both writers, like you said. I don't see they didn't see anything really a reason not for for them to last. I don't know how exciting their life is gonna be together, but I think they they're a good match for each other. So yeah, another successful couple pairing by Homework, so that's nice. Our most popular part.
SPEAKER_01By far the most popular segment.
SPEAKER_00By far. Everybody loves this. Let's rate the kiss or kisses from A to F. The mistletoe meter.
SPEAKER_01I I don't I'm not sure we've ever had more kisses by our two leads, and obviously we had other kisses by other characters movie, but there were five kisses between the two of them, between our two lead characters. So I'm gonna try to break it off. So when he visits in New York, we had two kisses. Um, and I gave both of those an A- I thought they were really good. And what I found interesting, this wasn't a just we're seeing each other for the first time kind of kiss, or we're saying goodbye, or an end-of-the-movie kiss. It's just because they wanted to kiss each other, like it's just been building up, and hey, we want to kiss, and we're just gonna do it. And I thought that was kind of refreshing and neat to see. We had another kiss after she was reading the book to the kids. I gave that one a B. Good kiss, not great, but solid. Um, another kiss during the candle walk. I gave that one a B, probably the weakest of the five. And then the final kiss at the end of the movie, again, really good kiss, kind of on par with the the two kisses in New York. I'm gonna give that an A minus. So I go, Oh, my final rating between five kisses, either you're in A minus or B plus, but I'm in a good mood, so I'll go with an A- overall for the five kisses.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you caught more kisses than I did because I only caught three somehow. But, you know, uh the first two kisses, I was exact same as you. I gave the they were the they were both they were an A minus for me, both of them, because they were number one, she initiated, which I love, right? And she seemed very, you know, I I I loved that enthusiasm. That was lovely. So the third kiss, or what I thought was the last kiss, I thought it was a B. It was like it was okay, it was a B. Uh this time he went for it, right? So he initiated the final kiss. But uh nothing too I overall, I gave this a B, B plus. I wasn't blown away, but the you know the first kisses were nice, nothing crazy, but I it was it was nice.
SPEAKER_01And I I I I mentioned I really like that New York kiss uh because the two of them they had no idea if they were really gonna see each other again. They no idea if they were gonna be in a relationship, no idea if she was ever gonna go back to Evergreen. It's just like, hey, uh let's let's kiss, let's just do it. Let's just let's just have our kisses in this moment. Everything around them is beautiful. New York at night around Christmas. Let's just kiss. And uh, I I really like that. Just something different from a Hallmark movie that you usually don't see, just kissing for no reason.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and and even if it was just ended up being just that, it's a lovely memory for them, I think. So that was a nice kiss for sure. So for you, who or what won the movie?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was struggling on this one. I ended up going with Paul Green. Um, I know he hasn't done uh anything with Hallmark since 2021, and he's been doing stuff uh with another network who shall not be named, but I I really liked his character. I I think he did a good job. I I I think he kind of stole the movie for for me. He was just super charming, really smart guy. I liked every scene he was in, a lot of stuff with him and Nan, the librarian. Um, I'm going with Paul Green.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for me, it was um the love story between Hannah and Elliot. I thought it was so sweet. I wanted to see more of them. Honestly, I felt their chemistry more than the leads. Uh so Hannah and Elliot, they they won the movie for me because it kept me interested in like what's going on with them. I want to see that resolve. And the honorable mention the set designers, the decorations were lovely and awesome. So really good, really well done, as always, for Christmas and evergreen setting. It's awesome. What is your overall movie rating on a scale of one to five?
SPEAKER_01So I kind of found this very middle of the road. I liked it way more than I did Letter of Santa. Um, but I didn't like it quite as much as the original Christmas and Evergreen, somewhere in the middle there. And I think this is a very just easy watch, easy watch, enjoyable movie. I'm giving the 3.5, just kind of that middle score. I think the IMDB rating this on this movie is pretty much exactly where it should be. Sometimes I think they're way off, sometimes I think they're they're spot on. And I think this one is is right. I think this is just like a very good middle-of-the-road movie. It was a 17th ranked movie out of 39, I think I said, in uh in 2019. I think that's that's about perfect. So yeah, 3.5 is where I have this one.
SPEAKER_00I we were I was vacillating on this. I I was thinking 3.5, 3.75. I landed on a 3.75, and I think that was just because of the push of the secondary love story. Uh, I found this movie sweet, not overly complicated, and it was like predictable. So 3.5 sounds right to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean I was kind of vacillating with these 3.5, 3.75. I and in the end I said 3.5 just felt felt right for this one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I wouldn't just, you know, I wouldn't push back on that at all. So every 10th episode, even though last episode was technically the 10th, but this is our 10th movie rating, let's say, in our format, we do we started a movie re rate. So I got a lot of heat from some of my rents, some of my rankings recently. So let's see, we're reviewing past movies. What do you have that you would re-rate? Well, and we have to say that we only allow up to a 0.5, right? A plus or minus? Yeah, is that what it are? Quarter point, a quarter point or a half a point, either up or down. That's it. Okay, which is yours?
SPEAKER_01So my wife is, I think so. I like she's our biggest fan. My wife is your cousin. Uh, she's our biggest fan, but she's also my biggest critic when I say something that she doesn't agree with. She will let me know. And like, for instance, when I said that uh Ryan Pavey and Aaron Cahill weren't gonna last as a couple in Timeless Christmas, she let me have it, man. Oh, she she was not kind because she definitely thought they were gonna make it, and so did you. So I was out on an island on that one. But one movie, uh, it was Christmas in the air, and I gave that a 3.5. It's the one that uh Janna King, the writer, gave us a whole bunch of fun information on. My wife looks at me, she goes, 3.5, that was a 4.0 easy. And I started thinking about it. So I went back and I looked at my notes. I had like 15 things I liked about that movie. There was a ton. The whole professional organizer with Catherine Bell was a really unique spin on a storyline. That I thought they could have had better chemistry. I think you and I both got really turned off by the final chase in that movie because it was so bad. But I should have let something like that determine my score. I'm gonna give that an extra quarter point. I'm gonna bump it up to 3.75. There was a ton I liked about that movie. I'm gonna give Christmas in the air a 3.75.
SPEAKER_00I'm looking, like I gave that movie a 3.25. And that's that's not what I picked for this re-rank. Mine is as you might have guessed, I have to re-rank Ghost of Christmas always. Because I got so much heat for that. And I understand it because I think maybe, you know, as I've said before, sometimes you watch movies and you're in a in a your day's been different or you're in a different mood. I find that if I watch the movie in the evening versus during the daytime in the morning, I have a different impression of them. So this is the one I'm gonna push uh initial review. I think I had a 3.0. Uh so I'm gonna move it to the max. I'm gonna give this a 3.5 because it is a better movie for sure than my initial ranking. And it might be a better movie than 3.5, but that's our limit for this. So 3.5. Ghost of Christmas always uh bumped up.
SPEAKER_01All right, fair enough. I'm uh I'm glad you came around it. I figured it might be I figured it might be Ghost of Christmas Always or Crashing Through the Snow. I thought you were a little low on both, but uh uh then again, you know, I gave your Jill Wagner movie a 2.75 a couple weeks ago, so you you never know. Uh we're sometimes uh we it's just it's just how we're how we're feeling on any certain day.
SPEAKER_00I know that's sometimes I feel like okay, maybe I should watch these on two different times to get much sort of a secondary vibe. But uh, you know, we'll see. Time is time is precious. So what's our next movie, Rich? I'm we can't wait. Oh, well, we know.
SPEAKER_01Well, we're in it. It's I mean, it's just kind of spoken for us. We're starting Christmas in July. So uh our first movie that we'll be covering is Christmas under construction. Uh so that'll be the first hallmark in July. It uh debuts on July 4th. It'll drop on this uh podcast a couple weeks later, or excuse me, a couple days later. Uh so yeah, Christmas under construction. Let's uh annual listening, let's get ready for it.
SPEAKER_00All right, I can't wait. Well, even though we know what'll be next, we'll still announce them and we'll switch off hosting just to keep it fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we'll we'll we'll switch off hosting for sure, and then in terms of our our older movies, I guess uh early August, I'll uh it'll be my uh my movie that's up next.
SPEAKER_00Sounds good to me. So uh follow us on Instagram at uh Forever Hallmark Christmas. And the same thing for Gmail, Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com. That's all we have for this week. For the love of Hallmark.
SPEAKER_01For the love of Hallmark.