Au Pair II ( Au Pair II: The Fairy Tale Continues ) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great story. It has it all - suspense, romance, and entertainment.

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In Love and War (Hallmark Hall of Fame) Review

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(More customer reviews)The two leads in this (apparently true) tale of love, courage and sacrifice in war are very attractive and well suited to their roles. I had never heard of either Callum Blue or Barbora Bobulova but I would like to see more of them. The story of how an Italian village (or many of its inhabitants) hid a young English commando from the German occupiers is inspiring, if a little too neat in this presentation, and the photography of the surrounding Italian mountains and the village itself is lovely. I found it interesting that here, as in"Capt. Corelli's Mandolin", a recent movie,is presented the incongruous situation in which the Italians,part of Hitler's Axis presumably, are only too happy to lay down their arms at the first news of Allied successes and make common cause with the Americans or English, as the case may be, despite the presence of the Germans. At any rate, this makes for an interesting love story between the English commando and the young Italian girl whose family first befriends him. Worth watching.

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Annie's Point - Hallmark Channel Original Movie Review

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(More customer reviews)I have searched for the movie Annie's Point starring Betty White, Richard Thomas and Amy Davidson for over a year. I recorded it before trying to make a purchase. There is no suggested dialogue, language, violence or sex. It is funny and also serious. It will be aired January 15, 2008 on Hallmark Channel at 9:00 pm. If enough people will write reviews maybe the studio that made this film will make it available on DVD.

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Fallen Angel (Hallmark Hall of Fame) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the movie you reach for when you want a heart-warming holiday theme that has more meat to it than fluff. As the movie opens you see a young boy, Terry McQuinn, eager for his father's attention and approval. But his father is so focused on his work as a caretaker for the vacation homes of the wealthy that he has little time to realize how much his motherless son needs care-taking. One of the families for whom he works is coming to their vacation home, Serenity Cottage, for the Christmas holiday and Terry's father has reluctantly allowed him to come along as he prepares the home for their arrival. The Wentworth family shows up while Terry and his father are still at the home--a happy little girl named Katherine, her adoring father, and her seemingly cynical, unhappy mother. The father has a tradition of taking gifts to children in a hospital at Christmas and he invites Terry to go along with him and his daughter to the nearby hospital. It is a very snowy evening and there is an accident which takes a life. Mr. Wentworth blames himself and wanders off, never returning home. Mrs. Wentworth takes her daughter, gets a divorce, and never returns to the vacation home.
As time passes and Terry has grown to be a teenager, the tension between his father and himself has also grown. The final straw is when Mr. McQuinn fails to come to his son's graduation because he is doing some work for one of the wealthy families. He and Terry have bitter words between them and Terry takes off.
Flash forward many years. Terry is a successful attorney in L.A. His father, from whom he is still estranged, dies and Terry returns home to settle his affairs. While there he sees a note his father had made about the current owner wanting Serenity Cottage opened for the holidays. He calls and explains that his father has died, he is just there to tie up the loose ends and will be leaving soon so he can't help them, but will find someone who can. After he learns that the owner is the daughter of the former owner, the little girl that he had known, he stays on and is there to meet Katherine and her very unique daughter. She has forgotten that one visit she made as a child and has no memory of ever having known Terry. He does not tell her otherwise. The story takes some interesting turns from there.
Throughout the movie it deals with some serious issues--dysfunctional families, grief, homelessness, adoption, disabilities, and deception. Of course, there is romance in the air--and also intrigue, as you learn the fate of Katharine's father. The storyline holds your interest and the characters are not one dimensional. The acting is good and the movie is well worth the viewing. I highly recommend it, but if you have young children it might be a little deep for them.
At the time of this writing the price of this movie through the marketplace sellers started around $35. If that doesn't drop you should be able to get it at a Hallmark store for around $20 or from their website for an additional $7 in shipping.


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Candles on Bay Street Hallmark DVD Review

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(More customer reviews)Candrles on Bay Steet was a very good story about a single parent rasing a child alone and returning home when she learns she is sick & finding some one to take care of her daughter. It was very well made!

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What the Deaf Man Heard (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)What the Deaf Man Heard is a poignantly funny story about a boy abandoned on a bus by his mother (telling you why spoils part of the plot), who tells him not to talk to anyone. When he reaches the end of the bus line, he doesn't talk, so everyone in the town assumes that he is deaf and dumb. The bus station manager (Tom Skerrit) allows him to live at the bus station and becomes his surrogate father. There are too many funny parts to mention here, but the events leading up to the boy, now a man (Matthew Modine), revealing that he really can hear and talk are funny and touching. James Earl Jones is fantastic (as always) as the only person in town to figure out the truth, though he keeps the secret for his own purposes. You'll laugh, you'll cry. It's better than Cats. You'll want to see it again and again.

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Love Is Never Silent (1985) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been looking for Love Is Never Silent for a long time. I finally found it on DVD. I recorded it on when it came out on TV, but recorded over it. I loved it when I was a child when the movie was first shown. I still love it as an adult. It's a great story about a hearing child with deaf parents in the 1930s and 1940s America.

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A Stranger's Heart (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)I too saw this movie on the Hallmark Channel. It was recommended by a friend of mine who had a transplant 10 years ago. I also have a daughter who had a bone marrow and kidney transplant, 19 yrs and 3 years ago. This movie brought back memories I had forgotten. The feelings of helplessness, of living in hospitals, seeing other patients pass away, withdrawing from life ... so many conflicting emotions. I felt it was an accurate portrayal of what a person experiences. The characters could have been more developed and some of the details seemed a little bit stretched, but still believable. It is a heart-warming story and makes you want to truly treasure your health and the blessings you've been given.

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Item Name: A Stranger's Heart; Studio:Rhi Entertainment

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Gulliver's Travels (1996) Review

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(More customer reviews)Contrary to popular belief, Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" was never intended to be simply a children's fantasy / fairy tale. Although the Lilliputans are cute as heck, this story has some serious overtones. As a matter of fact, although more subtle perhaps, there are aspects of this tale which are as dark and bitter as the commentaries on humankind written by the likes of Dostoevsky, Camus and Kafka. Jonathan Swift never was a very happy man.
This rendition of Swift's classic is, in a word, fabulous. It reaches to the heart of the message Swift was trying to convey while at the same time is accessible to all. It is also appropriate for a family to watch. I cannot remark enough on just how well done this film was; it would have been so easy to do a half-baked job and let it be yet another ambitious television movie that somehow went awry. I'm so glad that didn't happen here.
In truth, I have never cared too much for Ted Danson. However, in this film he delivers a surprisingly exceptional performance. So much so, in fact, that looking back I can't imagine anyone else as Gulliver. The rest of the cast did a superb job as well, and the inclusion of Peter O'Toole as the king of the Lilliputans was a great touch. (Then again, when can having Peter O'Toole in the cast of a movie ever HURT?) The direction and the way they chose to tell the story was wonderfully done. The soundtrack (written by Trevor Jones, who co-wrote the soundtrack to "The Last Of The Mohicans" among other things) was right on the $$$ for emotionally gripping scenes.
This is the type of ambitious, fervent film-making that studios can be proud of. If one Jonathan Swift were around today, I have no doubt that he could not and would not have asked for a better adaptation of his prose. A GREAT movie!

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Silver Bells - Hallmark Hall of Fame Dvd Review

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(More customer reviews)'Silver Bells' is a Hallmark Production made for television movie which is available for purchase only at Hallmark stores.
It's a story about two people who have lost their soul mates by unfortunate deaths and are afraid to try again. Christy Bryne (Tate Donovan) makes the journey from Nova Scotia every year with his two children to sell Christmas trees on the streets of New York. Despite his remakable talent for selling trees to all that pass by he has never been able to sell one to the recluse young blonde who works across the street from his tree stand. As you might guess Christy makes it his goal to sell a tree this year to the unapproachable Catherine (Anne Heche).
Meanwhile his oldest son is ready to move on and leave his old life in Nova Scotia and runs away from his Father to seek a career in photography in New York. Catherine happens to run a photo gallery and encourages the young man to pursue his dream. Between helping the son and fighting off the advances of the father things diffently get complicated and emotions run rampant.
However as you might have guessed by now eventually everything works out when Christy returns the following year and true love is discovered just in time for Christmas!

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My Sister's Keeper (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)NAMI: The Nation's Voice on Mental Illness (www.nami.org) honored this movie with a 2001 Outstanding Media Award. it's excellent. A non-stereotyped portrayal of a person with mental illness and an at times difficult, but loving relationship with her sister. A true story. Book by the same name. It both opens minds and entertains. Great acting by Kathy Bates: an informative contrast to her role in the movie Misery.

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Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent.Release Date: 05/22/2007Run time: 99 minutesRating: Nr

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Love Letters (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)LOVE LETTTERS has been on making the boards of theaters large and small across the United States (and translated into many languages and performances throughout the world!) since A.R. Gurney first wrote it in 1989. It is still a popular theater piece for actors from film who want to have public exposure on the stage, for benefits, for young actors in training. Why? Because it is an unassuming, interesting easy to perform in reading fashion by just two actors on a small stage, ultimately fine exploration of the variations love has in the periods of each of our lives. It is unpredictable, clever, well written and very meaningfully tender.
In this teleplay, revised for television screens in 1999 by A.R. Gurney, Stanley Donen directs this fleshed-out performing version with a cast that would be difficult to better. Simply stated, this is a epistolary love story that begins when Andy meets Melissa in second grade and progresses through their very different lives (art school, Yale, Vietnam, alcoholism, divorces, politics, affairs, etc) until Melissa ultimately dies (we know this from the opening scene so this is NO spoiler!).
The technique of mixing actual interaction between the two characters with remembered responses works very well. Part of the reason this small play becomes important is the extraordinary performance by Laura Linney as Melissa. The breadth of her characterization is richly detailed, subtle, vulnerable, and wholly credible. Steven Weber as Andy takes a while to warm to his character (the more difficult of the two with whom to identify) but in the end he gives his best work to date.
This is really a fine little movie, interrupted only by the obvious splices of time where commercials were probably inserted in the original television version. It flows naturally and never ceases to hold your attention and your heart as it is lovingly enacted by Linney and Weber. Grady Harp, February 2005


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Alice in Wonderland (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)In 1999, NBC broadcast a new version of Alice in Wonderland, created by the same folks who produced Gulliver's Travels, Merlin, and Noah's Ark. This star-studded version had Tina Majorino (from Waterworld) as a winsome Alice, and other stars like Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat, Miranda Richardson (Crying Game) as a rather high-pitched, shrill Queen of Hearts, and Martin Short as a very amusing Mad Hatter. There are plenty of other stars, of course, but these are the ones you will notice the most.This particular production is a loose adaptation, really. It incorporates portions of both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. And it adds a new twist - Alice runs after the White Rabbit not out of curiosity from boredom but rather to escape from having to sing a song in front of many strangers at her parents' party. Her adventures in Wonderland as thus partially about how she summons the courage to overcome this stage-fright, and when she does, she returns to the real world. In the meantime, we see the usual interesting episodes in Wonderland - the Mad Tea Cup party, the croquet match, Twiddledee and Twiddledum, the trial of tarts, the Duchess and her baby pig and cheshire cat, etc. There are even a few songs scattered here and there in the film - the songs, for the most part, are nothing special but they do not distract much from the movie (some folks may also remember a 4-hour TV miniseries on the Alice books, filled with songs, from the 1980s; this was also star-studded and probably more faithful to the books but the songs were annoying).
The best thing about this new Alice film are the special effects. They are amazing and create a most bizarre, surreal, and colorful version of Wonderland. This makes the film great fun to look at. Also, Tina Majorino does a great job as Alice, and we really grow to really like her and sympathize for her as the film progresses. Martin Short, as I mentioned, is pretty funny, too. This is definitely a film the whole family can enjoy, and there is nothing offensive in the film at all. If you liked this film when you first saw it on TV, purchase it! I did! Currently, it sells for less than 10 dollars on some internet sites! Quite a bargain.
Finally, just a few words on the DVD itself. The colors are superb and the picture quality is clear and outstanding. Sound quality is quite good - it won't give the subwoofers any workout, but nonetheless, it sounds very good for a TV broadcast. Extras on the disc include the usual suspects - film production notes, cast notes, trailer, close captioning (instead of subtitles). There is also a small section showing the original illustrations of the Alice books, and lastly, a small section about the inspiration for the Alice books (quite informative for those who do not know about the real-life inspiration for Alice).
So, all in all, the DVD is worth the purchase and makes for many fun re-watching sessions for the kids. A good family recommendation!

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The Love Letter (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)This wonderful Hallmark Hall of Fame television film was adapted from a short story from the master of time travel novels, Jack Finney ("Time and Again", "Time After Time", "About Time", "From Time to Time", just to name a few). This story by Finney delves once again with time, in that a modern-day young man named Scott (played by Campbell Scott) discovers a letter hidden in a secret compartment of an antique desk that he had just purchased. The letter (as well as the antique desk) belonged to a woman named Elizabeth (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) who (at the time of her writings) is living during the civil war.
Scott becomes so enchanted by the letter that he ends writing to her, and after some obsession, and on a lark, actually decides to mail his response at a post office with historical significance using an authentic-period one-cent stamp. Shortly thereafter, and to his utter astonishment, he discovers a second letter in the hidden compartment. This letter turns out to be her reply to his letter...and thus begins a fascinating relationship of two people falling in love, but separated not by distance, but by 130 some odd years of time.
Although this may seem to be a "You've Got Mail" with a time twist, it is really more similar to "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and "Somewhere in Time". Believe me, if you liked either one of those films, you'll love "The Love Letter". This fantasy/drama pulls you in and keeps you pleasantly entranced all the way to the end. While this film does suffer a bit from situations handled too simplistically, I'm such a sucker for this type of film that I quickly forgave these missteps.
Both Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh were pretty good in this film, but the standout performance (and the one most believable) was Daphne Ashbrook who played Scott's fiancée.
While this small film may pale in comparison to the typical big budget Hollywood films, it is, nonetheless, a film I think you will be delighted to have in your collection. My main concern, however, is the quality of the dvd. I've had difficulty with dvd's by Artisan Entertainment before, and so I did with this one (blurry on certain scenes and pretty jumpy). If you've had good luck with them (could be my player), by all means go get it (or maybe it might be wise to get the VHS instead). Between 1 and 10, "The Love Letter" (which feels like a breath of fresh air) deserves a solid 8.

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