The Swamp

So I think I agree but then I wonder if I'd agree if there were no Mila Kunis.

mister d wrote: ↑Sat Dec 12, 2020 7:40 pm So I think I agree but then I wonder if I'd agree if there were no Mila Kunis.

She’s the linchpin but I am a Kathryn Hahn Stan too. I hadn’t seen it and it was fun.

And we've come to our last full review of the season - A Cross Country Christmas

This is the first one of these that I sat down and watched from beginning to end. My wife caught me taking notes on my phone and for the first time I felt a little emasculated by myself, but I shrugged her off and ignored her questions and did what I needed to do for my boys (and girl(s?)).

I know I already awarded Bethany Joy Lenz my cutest female lead of the season award and I'm sticking with that but Rachael Leigh Cook can fight it out for second and maybe win.

Trailer:


Cable guide synopsis: "Former classmates Lina and Max are traveling home for the holidays, until a storm hits and they have to work together to make it home in time, no matter the mode of transportation."

Location: NYC->Terrance OH->Cedar Falls(?), IN->Holland’s Pass, MO->Kansas->Colorado (Bridge-something? is the name of the town?)

Realism of location: Establishing shots of NYC only, on the ground could have been anywhere. They did a good job at least of making sure the license plates changed as they made their way across the country.

Primary setting: N/A!

Relationship categorization: traveling across the country together from NYC to CO

New Love or Rekindled Love: New Love (though they were casual HS aquaintances)

How the couple meets: they are shown almost crossing paths three times before they speak to each other (and it turns out that they live in the same general area in NYC) but they first interact on a plane leaving NYC when they recognize each other from their hometown

Female lead physical profile: short (commented upon a couple of times in the script), short hair (Caucasian)

Female lead signature look: Sweater and jeans and a cute winter hat, winter jacket (their luggage was misplaced when their initial flight to Denver was diverted and landed in OH due to a storm) though she picked up a sweater dress at some point for a Christmas carol party thrown by the male lead's cousin and it was pretty cute

Female lead personality profile: Professional Problem Solver (Conflict Resolver?, she had a specific term for her job), very confident and very willing to help anyone she meets, sometimes to the determent of her stated mission to get home by Christmas Eve

Female lead confidant(s): I guess her mom and/or sister, but this movie spent a lot of time with just the leads and the supporting cast changes as the movie moves across the country

Male lead physical profile: light beard, a haircut that I didn't like (Caucasian)

Male lead signature look: flannel shirt and jeans, winter jacket

Male lead personality profile: grew up on a farm but his brother eventually took over the family business (RLC states that she thought he would be a hometown lifer), he is a software developer and self-released an app that allows farmers to track (or trade or buy?) farm equipment that got bought out by a larger company that gave him a job (Shirley??)

Male lead confidant(s): see above, but he does have a bit of a heart-to-heart with his cousin in Kansas

Admittedly shallow rating of the appropriateness of the relationship based on purely physical terms: she's cuter but I think it works

Snow: yes

Quality/realism of snow: OK (sometimes looked a little weird on roads while at the same time fine on yards), there numerous scenes where it was raining

Diversity: numerous supporting roles played by POC, including a substantial one by the male lead's cousin's wife in Kansas (they were a cute couple maybe worthy of a spinoff next year?)

Precocious child: they end up staying with a family on a farm in MO (after accidentally catching a freight train and sleeping with their cows hobo-style on the way from IN), and the family has a young son and daughter (somehow RLC fits snugly into one of the daughter's sweaters)

Pets: no

Baking: yes, RLC's mom and sister are shown baking and cooking when she calls them from the road

Source of conflict/break-up after the leads fall for each other: Nothing really, they just make it home and go their separate ways. But luckily they unknowingly switched up their luggage at the airport so the male lead brought RLC's suitcase to her on Christmas Eve and they realized then that they loved and missed each other.

Open mouth final kiss: Not really, but was passionate enough regardless

General observations: Jesus Jones sold "Right Here, Right Now" to Hallmark as some sort of anthem for their upcoming slate of movies in 2021!

Recently deceased relative: male lead's father died 6 months ago, this will be the first Christmas without him

Alcoholic consumption: there is a scene at a bar in NYC where the leads are seated separately from each other with their respective friends

Obviously fake cups/mugs of hot liquid: Yes, gas-station coffee

Snowball fight: no

Ugly Christmas sweaters yes

RLC in a tiny sweater? Sign me up! Haven't seen anything like that since Josie and the Pussycats.

We watched that the other night. She is adorable and it's one of the better holiday movies I've seen this year.

henley!

Yes!

The most enjoyable thing I've read this year is either this thread or Duran Duran's bass player's autobiography. Great work, rass.

Obviously fake cups/mugs of hot liquid

This has always bothered me. Your hands move differently with an empty cup. Seeing this just takes me right out of a scene. If a prop master doesn't want to fill a cup with liquid, why not just a couple of inches of sand?

Some things are meant for a very limited audience and it’s nice to know when they land.

And Gilmore Girls ruined fictional hot drinks for me forever.

Nice to see you around bapo!.

A mini-thread, but the last one is the best one.

bapo! wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 2:42 pm

henley!

Yes!

We've identified the Bapo! signal! Welcome back, Bapo!, we miss you.

It’s a Christmas miracle!

Welcome back bapo!

Hell yeah, bapo's back! Really puts a smile on my face. Missed ya, bud.

(Hi, guys.)

I was going to mention that my friend developed an unhealthy attachment to Lacey Chabert while watching Christmas movies a couple of years ago. I didn't think that I could mention that here because I thought they were Lifetime movies, which would go against thread rules. But I just checked, and they're actually Hallmark movies, so I'm in compliance.

I think you can even mention them if they appear on your local ion Television affiliate.

bapo! wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 8:23 pm (Hi, guys.)

I was going to mention that my friend developed an unhealthy attachment to Lacey Chabert while watching Christmas movies a couple of years ago. I didn't think that I could mention that here because I thought they were Lifetime movies, which would go against thread rules. But I just checked, and they're actually Hallmark movies, so I'm in compliance.

Is this possible?

A_B wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 11:16 pm Is this possible?

Is Lacey Chabert problematic? Is she an anti-vaxxer? Anti-coal? A Chelsea fan?

Pretty sure the amount of green screen she was exposed to in her Hallmark movie set in Rome last year was unhealthy.

And “detriment.” Dammit.

Never reread your own posts.

I correct half the posts I put up and still see obvious mistakes a week later.

My Irish-o'phile wife has been waiting for an Ireland set HM movie for years, and this Saturday we get to the end of the rainbow:




Review to follow?

Bro that's Nick Swisher's wife bro.

I'm legit looking forward to that one. We are putting our subscription on hold after we watch.

Dude from Downton and the actress falls in the Amy Adams/Jenna Fischer category of cute. Can't go wrong.

Struggling because no one would ever raze a castle dating from the 1300s to build some modern looking monstrosity. In Ireland or anywhere else.

Mrs Swisher is cute.

Diversity: there are some Australians

I have every intention of doing a 2021 version of this thread. Looking forward to it even. But the 'mark is starting their "Countdown to Christmas" slate of new movies this evening (with a Winnie Cooper joint!), and even for a grizzled and disillusioned deserter of the War on Christmas, that's too early.

I'll try to catch up with Ms. McKellar and friends next month.

Fuck pumpkin spice, the real start to the holidays is when rass bumps this thread.

Three Hallmark channels added to YouTube TV

I started 11/6 last year, huh? Ok…

Saw this on the rack at the grocery store and imagine this is what rass takes into the bathroom shortly after informing his wife he's going to be busy for a while:

Oh boy, Terri Hatcher!

Who's the most likely famous recent-ish actress to one day become the Christmas movie queen? Is it Jenna Fischer or is she not quite right for this?

She seems not quite right? But I think that's on her side, not HM. I mean they'd take her if she made herself available, right?

I think I publicly pushed for Rachel Bilson last year. I think I have a gap in teen actresses starting somewhere around the time my kids were born through now but can make some suggestions from prior to that. Rory Gilmore. Just about any actress who had a major role on Buffy. The Jessica's (Biel and Alba) seem perfect but I think they got pretty wealthy outside of the acting biz so they'd be doing it for the love of the art form.

rass wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:26 am Oh boy, Terri Hatcher!

James Denton wrote:: (

Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:47 am Who's the most likely famous recent-ish actress to one day become the Christmas movie queen? Is it Jenna Fischer or is she not quite right for this?

What's the mom from HIMYM doing?

LOHAN

ETA: Apparently has a Netflix Christmas RomCom Coming out.

It really should be Jodie Sweetin, right?

Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 10:36 am It really should be Jodie Sweetin, right?

She should go Lifetime just to differentiate herself from big "sis".

rass wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:26 am Oh boy, Terri Hatcher!

Ryan wrote: ↑Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:47 am Who's the most likely famous recent-ish actress to one day become the Christmas movie queen? Is it Jenna Fischer or is she not quite right for this?

My first thought was Abigail Breslin. She's worked somewhat steady since Little Miss Sunshine, but this seems ripe for her.

Oooo … what are Sophia Bush and/or Amy Smart up to?