michael_sluka's reviews

I decided to watch this because I think Jordan Frank could become a top male lead for vertical romances, but rarely does he pick a good script and rarely does he get a female lead that creates an attractive pairing with him. Such is the case here. The most watchable verticals have two well-paired leads with decent acting ability and usually a couple of supporting actors that can act credibly as well. This film doesn't have either. There's neither chemistry nor spice to the romance. It is a pretty forgettable watch.

....for a vertical romance drama. While the storyline has a lot of elements shared with other verticals, the details are different enough to make it come across as its own movie.

Anna Stadler and Marc Herrmann make for an attractive lead couple and are pretty good at not acting over the top like so many other vertical actors. The story and the leads both drew me in, making it a mostly enjoyable watch. I say mostly because, as usual, there is the typical antagonism from surrounding characters, most of which is unrealistic and over-acted. But, on balance, one of Marc Herrmann's more enjoyable verticals.

I disagree with the bulk of the reviewers here. This 'holiday romance' has the romantic tension surface right at the beginning. It comes in the form of the sarcastic snippets as the two ex-lovers are thrown together on a decorating project. Steve Lund actually does a very good job of delivering them with a sort of gentle, but pointed snark. Far better than most Hallmark male leads who are casted to act silly or naive for most of the movie. Merritt Patterson starts out stand-off'ish, but then rather skillfully starts adding warmth and romantic receptivity to her character as the plot arc progresses. Starting with notable tension and then progressing to palpable warmth is a better than average Hallmark acting job and pretty good evidence of acting chemistry to make this work like it does.

Reel One Entertainment tends to produce the same lightweight romance fare as does Hallmark.....and this one is no exception. Marc Hermann and Lisa Wilson make an attractive romantic pair, but the storyline/scripting just doesn't make this anything really engaging. They throw in a very brief love triangle/quadrangle, but it is about as juicy as a dried prune. Is it hard to watch?....no, ....but is it a good watch?...no as well.

This vertical is romance from start to finish, although the plot arc makes it quite the choppy romance. The conflict is both the current husband's infidelity and the presumed lack of commitment from the hot celebrity boyfriend of the past who shows up again.

Marc Hermann creates one of his more credible and engaging characters in this one. Sarah Moliski, who is the vamp queen of vertical antagonists, actually keeps the silly theatrics somewhat in check here. The husband and the son are pretty ugly dudes, so no love lost for them. But, the female lead, Sarah Brooks or Sarah Evans, makes her debut vertical appearance in this film and I think she is great for the role, both in her forlorness as a rejected spouse, but also in her sexiness when the scene calls for it. Hopefully, she will appear in more romance verticals.

I saw there was some level of pre-release promotion of this film and thought maybe this might be something above and beyond. But, it wasn't that level. I did not read the 'acclaimed novel' this was based on, so I don't know whether the screenplay does not do the novel justice or the novel is just a slow-paced 'reluctant romance' that doesn't move along until the last chapter or so.

I was looking forward to Trevor Donovan maybe taking on something with a more challenging role and script than the usual lame Hallmark/GAF stuff. While the story was different with some drama/mystery/suspense, it moved slowly along with an even slower moving romance. It does not really offer much to pull the viewer in emotionally.

Even though the storyline sets up a romance to occur, it is frustratingly slow and the leads did not really ring much tangible chemistry to their interactions.

I suspect I would have liked this movie better if I didn't come into it with expectations.

This mafia family rivalry movie actually comes across as reasonably credible in the screenplay. It held my interest as you couldn't tell exactly where it was headed. Marc Hermann does a decent job portraying a revenge-seeking mafia up and comer, struggling between some sense of reason and all-out revenge. He goes through a parallel struggle with his personal feelings for a hated rival's daughter conflicting with a feeling of duty for complete scorched earth revenge.

Let's start with one positive.....Marc Hermann acts through an 81 episode vertical on pretty much a one-actor basis. Kudos to him for taking on what was clearly not a fun role....he plays a delusional manic depressive for about 80% of the entire runtime. That challenge is where the 3 stars comes from.

The rest of the movie is an exercise in watching someone who is supposed to be a genius business person act as if he has no brain capacity to remember things as they actually happened, deny reality as it unfolds before him and be as gullible to insincerity and ploys as a 3 year old.

Despite the acting challenge, it was infuriating and painful to watch.

The story premise of an 'estranged couple' going through the motions of continued marriage for appearances is interesting since it allows for an oscillation between affection and dislike between them as the story progresses. This creates a very natural lovers' conflict without having to resort to the usual vertical trope of introducing all sorts of silly antagonism from a supporting cast. Here the only silliness is from Sarah Moliski repeating her customary role of a devious and mean-hearted vamp.

Sarah Noelle and Marc Hermann played their dual roles as sometimes-lovers, sometimes-haters with very good finesse and engaging chemistry throughout. They were well-cast together and did a great acting job together. Sarah Noelle has one of the most natural acting personas I have ever seen in a vertical.....right up there with Mariah Moss and Nicole Mattox.

While there were some less than smooth parts to the script and the original reason for the marriage was never well explained, overall it is more well put together than most verticals.

This title has been used a few times already in 3 or 4 different regular length movies. They were not specifically Hallmark films, but had a similar feel. This is reappearing now this fall as an installment series on something called SparkTv on YouTube. Chris Reid, I believe the very first movie's lead, is reprising his role as the aloof and brusque billionaire. Fortunately, the writing is a touch more serious than the Hallmark style stuff, so far creating sort of a crime thriller premise. The female lead is not the attractive Sashleigha Hightower this version, but the attractive Emily Sweet of Enchanting Christmas fame. It is early on, so if there is going to be a romance element to this version, it hasn't quite materialized yet.

Seriously, you've got a little girl making a Christmas wish for her and her widowed father, a pretty blond princess coming alive out of an ice sculpture and all in time just before Christmas. Throw in a Santa Claus character and the 'magic' of Christmas, both figuratively and literally, and it's as sweet as the hot chocolate the ice princess can't get enough of.

Of course, this fairytale movie is not going to have a complex plot arc or Shakespearean scripting. It is sweet, light and engaging....and the casting choices were spot on. If your critical of this film, you're critical of fairytales.

This is not your typical cheesy, trope-filled Christmas movie. This is hardcore faith-based sincerity throughout and exceptionally well-acted by just about everyone who has dialogue in this movie. Christopher Russell's usual handsome charm is edged with a sadness which he plays well. Shae Robins plays an understated heroine that continues to grow on you as the movie progresses. The holiday romance element is way underplayed here, although the suggestion is there from the beginning. This was more 'moving' than 'entertaining'. It was very well done, both in story writing and acting.

I will agree the 3 principal actors all acted their screenplay roles well. However, given that 90% of the movie consists of Nicole Mattox enduring and then trying to escape a toxic relationship with a downright deranged (ex-) husband , I found the good acting wasn't enough to make this an engaging watch. It is not a love triangle movie since there is actually no 'love" moving from any character to another character. The old relationship is clinically psychotic and the new one is simply at the phase of initial interest. The new 'romance' is more a thought of mind than something tangible. I guess the actors wanted to try something different...which this was.

For the percentage of runtime devoted to stupidly repetitive antagonism in one film. In fact, there is almost no plot arc development for the protagonist characters....they have one scene at the beginning where they meet and one half scene at the end. Just about everything in between is a film devoted to having the supporting cast act stupidly while they just stand there. Some of the supporting cast are quite theatrically good at being idiots, but idiots nonetheless. The protagonists looked attractive together, but the romantic element in the screenplay was virtually non-existent. And when they finally are in position to exact their revenge at the end, the antagonists are allowed to just walk away. A totally unsatisfying watch in its entirety and a waste of 2 attractive leads.

Let's start with some positives: 1. Seth Edeen seems to have finally found the ability to act as a bit more naturally and less frenetic in body movement and speaking his lines. Makes him a much more charismatic lead.

2. The female protagonist offered an attractive pairing with Edeen and even though her role called for her to play a persecuted person for the most part, she came across as quietly engaging.

3. When the script actually allowed for some romance, I thought the leads had some nice chemistry (either natural or well-acted) and the romance scenes looked more credible than in most verticals/

Now for an all-too-often negative element: 1. When are the vertical story writers going to realize there is no such thing as a 'mystery CEO' in the modern world? Even Ren Zengfen, considered to be the most low profile CEO in the world, has at least 350 photographs in a simple Google search. The idea that so many short films run on a plot premise that no one can recognize the CEO of their own company is utterly childish and off-putting writing. Find some quality writers for this industry.

This is a vertical drama short, so a 'good' rating means it is not 'oppressively bad'. This particular film's genre is best described as revenge....and the revenge herein is not clever, but rather banal...more befitting teenagers more so than adults. Nonetheless, the antagonism written in here at least makes some sense once you understand the plot arc.

The positive is that both leads and principal antagonists turn in credible acting, nothing too over-the-top. The lead chemistry, although severely muted by the revenge theme, did eke through around the edges, which is about as good as could be expected in the given plot premise.

Probably not something to watch multiple times, but good enough for a one-time watch.

This vertical features a young, bland female actor in the lead using the long lost heiress as the so overdone trope. She rediscovers her family including 3 adopted brothers. Only one of them, Jordan Frank, brings any good looks. But clearly this set-up foregoes any actual romance. The drama is the usual antagonistic disbeliever trope, offering nothing new nor interesting. The only partial saving grace for this uninspired film is Abigail Stanton as one of the principal antagonists....she is a cut above the usual acting ability in verticals and she is nice to look at.

Despite the fact this film features Noah Fearnley and Molly Anderson for the lead roles, it is the most stupid screenplay ever conceived. I have to wonder why these two prominent vertical actors agreed to participate in such a farcical production? What this film actually is is a parade of clownish supporting actors filling up 98% of this film delivering the most idiotic lines imaginable and continuously acting like low IQ people in the face of common sense.

In a nutshell, we have something like 20 actors portraying company employees and related family members all constantly denying and insulting the CEO of the principal business in the town because they can't believe he is who he says he is. As the script itself eventually reveals, the company has a website and what company website does not have a photo of the CEO? The audience has to endure 90 minutes of not one moron in the cast looking up the photo yet constantly accusing him of being a phony. It was actually infuriating to have to watch such dumbness continually portrayed.

First of all, there is an exact replica of this storyline in a vertical with Jarred Harper titled "The Queen strikes back with 3 tycoons". I reviewed and rated that film a "1" because it provided no story and 98% of the content is a ridiculous stream of antagonism against the 'lead' female. Be assured, this is the same script. I understand vertical writers have a fascination with grade school antagonism, somehow thinking this meets the definition of 'dramatic writing'. However, it simply showcases their inability to write the least bit creatively.

Only 40 episodes to this vertical....and the storyline is relatively uncomplicated and to the point. Divorced woman hires random guy to be pretend boyfriend...then pretend boyfriend and her actually fall in love and to help sweeten the pot, pretend boyfriend turns out to be billionaire fashion house owner.

There are 73 episodes to this vertical and 71 of them are probably the most juvenile and banal pieces of script-writing ever concocted. Many vertical dramas waste a lot of bandwidth focused on brainless antagonists disbelieving that the protagonists are who they say they are. This one takes it to a new level since 98% of the script is literally nothing more than giving voice to the accusations even when the accusations are shown to be false. There actually is no story being written....just variations on the same scene over and over again. Pure rubbish.

Every once in awhile, Hallmark writers forget to dig into the file folder of repetitive storylines and pen something relatively fresh. This film is generally devoid of tropes and cringy scripting. The plot arc of the romance actually felt realistic. The lead actors were attractively matched and delivered their lines with emotion that fit the scripted lines.

This was more drama than cutesy story telling...it seemed like a main stream movie.

The basic premise of rescuing the old line business in the smaller town in time for Christmas is quintessential Hallmark, but if you don't like their constant resurrection of Christmas-past that actually no longer exists, don't pick a Hallmark movie.

I don't blame them for their devotion to Christmas-themed stories, but I do blame them for so often writing scripts with no punch. Steve Lund and Shania Beech make a reasonably attractive pairing and as actors, seemed to act and deliver their lines credibly....its just they were handed such a weak script and storyline. Steve Lund's position of CEO was scripted as useless. Except for buying remaining toy inventory at the last minute with his own funds to launch a toy give-away, he sat on his hands for the entire movie. Shania Beech as his brand new assistant showed 10 times more business savvy and moxie. Unrealistic.

And as usual with Hallmark, the romance plot arc offers has much romantic thrill and speed as a jar of molasses. If all males in the world acted as haltingly as Hallmark leading men, there actually would be NO romance in the world....the females would take a hike halfway through.

As other reviews make mention, the storyline itself is pretty good for a vertical. The melodrama and over-the-top antagonism that so often shows up in these vertical dramas is held in check in this one. That's the plus side.

However, I don't think Hannah Record is a great casting match for Noah Fearnley. The chemistry between them was perhaps ok, but not to the point of passionately engaging. Something to watch one time, but nothing that would draw you back for a second time around.