chuck-509 Reviews

Next Stop, Christmas (2021 TV Movie)

Reminiscent of the TV Christmas movies of yesteryear

[8/10 · 9 November 2021]

Back during 70s, 80s, and 90s and into the early 2000s, ABC, NBC, or CBS used to have a new Christmas movie during the holiday season, usually showing up on a Sunday night somewhere between Thanksgiving weekend and mid December. Sometimes they were Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas movies, but mostly they were made for TV Christmas movies. For the most part, those movies had more thought and creativity put into them than most of what we see now on the Hallmark networks.

This movie reminded me of those movies much more than those Hallmark networks Christmas movies that we see now. It's a little "Groundhog Day", a little "The Family Man", some "Back to the Future", and a healthy helping of "Eve's Christmas", although there are original twists to this particular story. Lyndsy Fonseca, who just recently co-starred in the Disney Plus series "Turner and Hooch" does a great job as Angie as she travels 10 years into her past and then has to figure out what she needs to do to get back to the present. Along the way she learns things about the people she loves that she should have known if only she had opened her eyes to the world around her. Christopher Lloyd also puts on a nice performance as the ticketmaster/train conductor.

Yes, the last few minutes are predictable, but so what? It's not the destination that makes or breaks this movie, it's the journey that puts this movie quite a few notches above the standard Hallmark Channel Christmas movie and one that makes it well worth watching.

The Republic of Sarah: The Criminals It Deserves (2021) Season 1, Episode 5

For a history teacher, Sarah sure doesn't learn much from it

[6/10 · 19 July 2021]

I like this show, but the way that Sarah is being presented makes her a really crappy leader. For somebody that's supposed to be a history teacher, she sure doesn't seem to have learned anything from history, or at least that's the way the writers have presented her so far.

The real problem for this show up to this point is that the writers rely too much on dramatic effect and not enough on showing Sarah as a realistic character, someone who as a history teacher really knows and understands American history and can build upon the foundation that our forefathers had in writing the Constitution instead of being somebody who's continually bringing up the Town Charter. Seriously, relying on a document that is over 400 years old? Even our Constitution has been updated with Amendments. As a history teacher, Sarah knows that or at least she should.

Sarah does say something regarding the laws for the new nation in this episode about "the joy of starting a new nation is fixing the things that America got wrong", which sounds nice except that it's been 3 months and there's been no laws that have been fixed nor have there been any new laws established. There's only been her Executive Orders. And how is it that after 3 months of Independence, Greylock still doesn't have a functioning Federal Government? There's a Judicial branch (SIDE NOTE - From a pre-independence standpoint, given how small Greylock is population-wise, why does it have a courtroom and how does it afford it?) And with Sarah leading things along with a small group of friends as advisers, there is some sort of semblance of an Executive branch (even though there are NO Departments (State, Commerce, etc) because Sarah would rather tackle everything herself rather than appoint someone to any of those positions), but there's still no Legislative body. Maybe there's a Town Council, but we either never hear about them or Sarah ignores them. Either way, that's on the writers of the show. Apparently there will be elections in the next episode; elections that should have been held right after independence was declared.

And the bad writing isn't just reserved for Sarah. Some of the characters are fine (Corrine, A. J., Grover, the teenagers). Other characters not so much. Liz comes across as being anti-Sarah simply for the sake being anti-Sarah ("I voted for independence; I didn't vote for you!"); no explanation as to why she has such a hostile attitude. And then there's Sarah's brother, Danny; exactly what is Danny still doing in town? Lydon now has it's operations up and running in town; his part in that particular project should be finished. Doesn't Lydon need him elsewhere? Or was his only job was to get the project up and running and now Lydon has nothing else for him to do?

Overall, I like the show despite the flawed premise that it's built upon. I'm hoping that the writing improves, but given that this show has already lost half it's viewers since the pilot episode, I don't think that this show will be around long enough for the writing to improve.

The Republic of Sarah: Pilot (2021) Season 1, Episode 1

Interesting premise even though it's faulty

[5/10 · 15 July 2021]

This show could turn out to be decent. The characters are interesting enough although the whole big bad corporation trying to step on the little people has been done to death. The idea for this show, that of trying to figure things out as the townsfolk start a new nation has promise as long as there isn't too much family/friends drama to overshadow that.

The problem is, the entire premise for Greylock declaring itself it's own country is faulty. Maybe the writers thought they had found a loophole for an area to declare independence. Maybe the writers were trying to pull a fast one and wanted to get through the whole "Greylock declares Indpendence" thing as quickly as possible before anybody noticed the problem.

In this first episode, according to Sarah, the town of Greylock was embroiled in a border dispute when the U. S.-Canadian border was mapped in colonial days. Because the local IMAGINARY bordering river shifted (I say imaginary because there is no river bordering New Hampshire and Canada), neither U. S. nor Canadian maps showed the town as part of the country. Sarah thinks that she has found a loophole, a pathway to Independence.

If this was the real world, she'd be looking for another answer because she hasn't found a loophole at all.

The International Border is where the U. S. and Canada have reached agreement on where the border should be. Greylock's town limits would not matter in determining the International border, therefore whether the town is shown on the maps or not has no bearing whatsoever on where the U. S. and Canada have determined the border to be. As far as the river shifting goes, the International Boundary Commission is in agreement that if the channel of the river shifts and the river finds a new course, the international border is shifted. As far as that border goes, the town of Greylock would have absolutely no say in the matter. Greylock's borders within the U. S., whether they abut against unincorporated private land, another town's limits, or county, state, tribal or federal property are a different matter, none of which would ever provide a path to independence.

Had Sarah actually spoken to an attorney, preferably one who specializes in land law, she would have been told that she had no legal leg to stand on, but then again it wouldn't make for much a TV series if it ended after the first 15-20 minutes.

A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, First Love (2020 TV Movie)

Brooke D'Orsay and Sam Page deserved better...

[5/10 · 25 November 2020]

So apparently Hallmark is going to ride this "Godwink" franchise as long as possible. I'm sure that there are lots of "Godwink" stories out there waiting to be told...but that doesn't mean that they should all be made into a movie.

This was one of them.

This story probably looked really great on paper, but that didn't translate to film. It's not the actors' fault. Brooke D'Orsay and Sam Page were fine, given what they had to work with. This story was just not worth being made into a movie. The entire storyline for this movie was dull and predictable. The only real plus for this movie was that Kathie Lee wasn't in it this time. I kept waiting for her to make an appearance.

I really didn't get the romance between Margie and Scott. They supposedly had a long distance relationship before he moved to Boise, but it sure didn't look like they had one. They really didn't come across as friends either. It felt more like they were....I don't know.....pen pals? Just weird.

I'm guessing that Hallmark will have another "Godwink" movie. I just hope that it's a story worth telling.

A Christmas Tree Grows in Colorado (2020 TV Movie)

Eminent Domain? Seriously?

[5/10 · 25 November 2020]

This movie is essentially a re-imagining of "Miss Christmas", except this time, the tree that is wanted for the City of Brooklyn's Christmas Tree Lighting sits in the front yard in a neighborhood because why wouldn't you want somebody to cut down your perfectly healthy 40 foot tree that poses no danger to any of the houses around it and leave this big stump in your front yard? I guess this is what happens when you wait until the last minute to locate a tree for a tree lighting ceremony.

Speaking of which....this movie suffered from the same problem that "Miss Christmas" did. Only in Hallmark land would somebody be looking for a Christmas tree for the city a couple of weeks before Christmas. In the real world, nobody in that capacity waits until December. They don't wait until November either. This is done months in advance of Christmas.

Also, only in Hallmark land does any town or city have a Christmas tree lighting a couple of days before Christmas. In the real world, these lightings happen no later than about 2 weeks before Christmas. People come to see the tree and hopefully do some shopping while they're there. Why would any city or town wait until a couple of days before Christmas to take advantage of that? That's bad for business. Even worse, Erin is trying to revive the tourism industry in her city. Why she (or the city for that matter) has waited so long to do that is beyond me.

And then there was the city employee that used eminent domain to try and obtain the tree. Apparently the writers for this movie don't understand what eminent domain actually entails. The City can't just say "eminent domain" and claim the tree. That's not how the law works. There has to be fair compensation paid to the property owner, and given the fact that the City in this movie was in financial trouble, paying for the tree made no sense at all (fortunately for the City, Kevin ends up donating the tree). The City would also have to show just cause for eminent domain; using it to claim a tree for a Christmas display wouldn't fly in the eyes of the law.

In the end, you're better off rewatching "Miss Christmas" than to give this one a viewing.