Movie #3045 ........................."Love Under the Rainbow" (Hallmark)

 Movie #3045 "Love Under the Rainbow" (Hallmark)  Jodi Sweetin is cute and bubbly usually, and she brings her energy into this film about a teacher who welcomes a new girl into her classroom.  The new girl becomes even more important to the teacher when she finds out her widowed dad and she are still grieving over the dead mom who loved rainbows.  The teacher gets the little girl (who played a younger Jodi Sweetin in the t.v. show "Full House") to move on from the tragedy by making a rainbow project that would make her feel closer to her mother in a different way --- and that worked.  And the little girl is cute.  It just took so darn long --- and they always used the little girl for the stage business --- he was supposed to be building bridges (that story went nowhere) and she was a teacher --- how can she take so many walks and have so much free time?  Both stories seemed hard to believe --and phony.  And then the end came too quickly ---- It's like as long as his daughter likes her, she's the one!  I'd give this a 3 for that reason.  

"LOVE UNDER THE RAINBOW"       2019    1 hour,  20 min (see?  they had 4 more mins to use on end)

Lucy wasn't sure if she would find true love, until Jack moves to town with his daughter Sophie.  Together they teacher her it's never too late to start chasing rainbows.  (ugh!)

Director:  Tony Dean Smith

Writer:  Kirsten Hansen

Actors:  Jodie Sweetin, David Haydn-Jones, Dakota Guppy

Movie #3044 ........................." A Pinch of Portugal" (Hallmark)

 Movie #3044 " A Pinch of Portugal" (Hallmark)  The title suggests this might be something different, and it was --- first of all, it was in Portugal (a place I might like to visit some day, so I watched it for that reason), and the pinch refers to a food metaphor because it is about a woman who is supposed to help set up a cooking show that a famous on -air chef runs --- but he's cranky, and he hasn't shown up, so she is forced to do it all ---- and, surprise!  surprise!  She can!  Well, with the support of her photographer and friends.  There are drop dead gorgeous shots of Portugal,  But the girl is a bit bland --- too hesitant and slow for me.  Her photographer assistant is cute, but he spends too much time telling her sh'e pretty and awesome, that it gets to be lame.  Food is the stage business here which kept me watching --- that and the scenery.  I'd give it a 3 out of 5

" A PINCH OF PORTUGAL"        2023     1 hour and 24 mins.   

A prep cook is elevated to the spotlight on a cooking show after the celebrity chef quits.  The cute cameraman plays a key role both in her love life and work life.  (Aw!!!!)

Director:  Clare Niederpruem

Writer:  Nicole Baxter

Actors:  Heather Hemmens, Luke Mitchell, Amy Louise Pemberton

Movie #3043 ........................."A Summer Romance" (Hallmark)

Movie #3043 "A Summer Romance"  (Hallmark) You can't tell by the title, but this is a cowboy romance --- she knows all about running a ranch, riding horses, etc. , and he's a fish out of water. He is just a business guy who is trying to buy this place for possibly condos or a modern extravanga piece of property out in nowhere land that would make money?  I don't know because the stage business falls by the wayside, and he forgets why he's there --- just enamored with living off the "fat of the land" and looking at the stars --- there must have been 5 scenes  with those stars --- doesn't it ever rain?  Anyway, this has very few sparks in it and lots of talking....about stars....and it's tough to believe that a city slicker like him in 2 or 3 days becomes John wayne, but that's what the film expects us to believe.  Its positives include beautiful scenery and a lot of information on running a ranch.   The long talk they have at the end and the fact that this film takes its time to develop the relationship saves the film, in my opinion.   So I'd give it a 3.8.  Less scenes with stars in it would have helped boost it to a 4.

"A SUMMER ROMANCE      2019    1 our and 27 mins.....(the extra 3 mins here for that long talk!)

Richard flies to Montana to buy a 2500 acre ranch with money problems from Sam, and build a resort.  Sam turns out to be a cute, single woman.    (who wrote that?)

Director:  David Winning

Writer:  Robert Tate Miller

Actors:  Erin Krakow, Ryan Paevey, Sarah Strange

Movie #3042 ........................."My Summer Prince" (Hallmark)

 Movie #3042 "My Summer Prince" (Hallmark)  He was cute, but she was iffy  --- it bothered me that she took all this verbal abuse from her female boss, and when it got to the point she was fired, I thought "good", but she came back to work for her --- ugh!  I liked the idea that the prince was getting in trouble because he disliked all the rules he had to follow and he was more liberal thane what his mother hoped him to be --- he seemed to have a more caring nature and was very creative, and I'm glad to see that he was valued by the end of the film.  But what I didn't get was that the public relations lady he wanted by the end of the film wasn't a princess or anybody, and the fact that she wasn't one never popped up as a problem --- the ending, therefore, was up in the air to me.  I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

"MY SUMMER PRINCE"    2016     1 hour,  27 mins (why couldn't it end better?  it took 3 extra mins.!)

PR crisis manager Deidre and her assistant Mandy fly in when rebellious royal Prince Colin is arrested in small-town Idaho.  But when Deidre faces her own fiasco, Mandy finds herself with unexpected career (and romantic) opportunities.

Director:  Peter Sullivan

Writers:  Jeffrey Schenck, Peter Sullivan, Topher Payne (all male writers, hmmm)

Actors:  Taylor Cole, Jack Turner, Lauren Holly

Movie #3041 ........................."The Wedding Cotrage" (Hallmark)

Now for a few Hallmark movies, non Christmas, but still not bad.... they keep me busy while I walk in my living rooms (no matter what house I'm in)  at night  --- we cut the cord on cable t.v. and use You Tube TV now, and it will dvr ad infinitum of any movie I miss..... you should check it out.  

 Movie #3041 "The Wedding Cottage" (Hallmark)  Speaking of missing, I'm glad I didn't 't miss this one because I liked it, and it seems to be quite memorable because I saw it several weeks ago.  The stage business was fixing up a very old, historic home in need of repair, for a wedding.   It belongs to this artist who just wants to find a quiet place to work and  who couldn't care less about the house he's inherited (so he's hostile from the get-go), but the woman relentlessly pursues him until he gives in ---- and because he's a sculptor , they share values of the old home and art, and find a middle group, and even though the work is noisy next door when he is trying to creative, the act of falling in love feeds his creative juices.  They kissed a bunch of times through the whole movie, which seems to break the rules for the xmas hallmark movies, I noticed.  Working with the house creatively was interesting to watch, and they had a small conflict which, of course, came out of a small (almost too small) misunderstanding.  However, it same to a satisfactory conclusion, and the couple was likable, so I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

"THE WEDDING COTTAGE"     2023      1 hour and 24 mins

A wedding guide creator must convince an uninspired artist and owner of a special wedding cottage to renovate the run down cottage to host a contest winning couple for their dream wedding.

Director:  Terry Ingram

Writers:  Judith Berg, Sandra Berg, Laurie B Turner

Actors:  Erin Krakow, Brendan Penny

Movie #3040 ........................."Air" (movie theatre)

Movie #3040 "Air: (movie theatre) This was a fun watch for a number of reasons.  Being from Chicago, there isn't a bigger athlete in our history than Michael Jordan, so to have the whole story revealed to us about how Nike got Jordan to use his name to step into their shoes.  In addition, the cast is a fun watch : Matt Damon's scenes with Ben Affleck actually make Affleck work more than he usually does in films; Jason Bateman is always entertaining to me, and Chris Tucker and Chis Messina and of course Viola Davis, playing Jordan's mom, and the main person that has to be convinced this is a good deal.  Finally, the film has a good, solid storyline with rapid fire dialogue -- sometimes hard to keep up with, esp. when it is done using basketball references, or code words for their shoe business.  Then, I muddled through, and that is reason i would give this a 4 out of 5, but all around a fun watch!

"AIR"      2023     R      1 hour and 51 mins

Follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan.

Director:  Ben Affleck

Writer:  Alex Convery

Actors:  Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Chris Messina, Voila Davis, Chris Tucker 

Movie #3039 ........................."Blue Jean" (Wisconsin Film Fest)

Movie #3039 "Blue Jean" (Wisconsin Film Fest) We had never tried to go to the Wisconsin Film Fest, never really knew the dates, but this year there was a big display in  the Isthmus newspaper in Madison, so we picked this one to see early tonight. And we were both glad we did.  A very involved story of a gym teacher/coach in the UK by day, and a lesbian bar frequenter by night.  Since Margaret Thatcher, extreme conservative, is in office, gays are forbidden to be teachers, so she needs to cover that part of her up most of the time --- her family isn't supportive, and her school makes her confront what she is hiding, esp. when a new student who the teacher picks up all the clues that she is a lesbian has an incident that the teacher must take a stand.  And she does, and the teacher feels like she has failed the student.  It's a really good story about what it is like to keep the truth of what you are from your friends &  colleagues & students.  It's a daily battle.  The woman who plays jean is OUTSTANDING --- it's a haunting portrayal of a very unhappy woman who searches for love.  The high point got a big laugh and a congratulatory response from the audience (the theatre was filled) and that says something about the film, for sure.  I'd give it 4 out of 5 and recommend it, if it gets close to where you live.  I just wish there were less love scenes -- got to be a bit gratuitous after a while because we knew how she felt for Viv, the biker, already and really didn't need more scenes to prove it.

"BLUE JEAN"    2022   1 hour and 37 minutes      RATED R

In 1988, a closeted teacher is pushed to the brink when a new student threatens to expose her sexuality.

Director:  Georgia Oakley

Writer;  Georgia Oakley

Actors:  Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday