steve1620-638-301414 Reviews

County Rescue (2024– )

Awesome Show

[10/10 · 31 March 2024]

We so appreciate Great American Family's shows that they both curate and produce. This new show by GAF started out with only five episodes. These were well cast, well scripted, and well acted. The cast is sincere, believable, and interacts well with each other. The writers of the show have not compromised their Christian values, as have so many other shows, nor have they made Christianity to look only like perfect people. This show depicts real people with real struggles - with interactions between Christians and non-Christians, with parents and their offspring, with employees competing with each other for the same employment positions, and with Christians struggling to find their purpose and place in God's Kingdom. The people of the United States need to see more shows like this one to turn around the moral decline that we are in. I hope that Great American Family will renew this show for the second season with more episodes, as well as continue it for many more seasons. We feel that the GAF network is the best of any offered in our area. Please don't fail us, and continue great shows like this one.

War Room (2015)

Best movie I've seen in years!

[10/10 · 7 January 2024]

Let me first address the disparity between the 10 ratings and the 1 ratings. This movie was made for CHRISTIANS who are either not walking in close relationship with God, or who already have a close relationship with God but are not discipling other people to do the same. This movie is not an evangelical "come to Jesus" film for those who do not really know God. I can see that it would not make much sense to them, and they would not really understand the concept of the grace God gives to those who have chosen Him. This movie is NOT about a man who avoided conviction, but about a man and wife who were indeed convicted, but by God, and who then received His grace in return. So those who have really received the saving grace of God will understand this movie perfectly, and will read its message loud and clear. Some Christians may have felt a bit of guilt for not having the same intensity of faith and trust in God as was depicted in the film, and therefore scored it a bit lower.

As far as cinematic perfection, the Kendrick brothers started slow with their earlier movies and learned along the way. Each of their films has gotten better than the last. But this movie is their crown jewel! It has smoothed out the bumps and dips that plagued their past movies and pretty much gotten everything right. This is a Kendrick Hall of Fame quality film!

Heaven Down Here (2023 TV Movie)

Another great Hallmark Christmas Movie

[8/10 · 29 December 2023]

For some reason, the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Christmas movies are considerably better this year than the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. This is yet another HMM movie that has beat out all the other 2023 Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. Although it seemed to start a bit slow, I really got into the characters. Those characters that were not particularly likable early in the movie became likable by the end. This was because these characters were touched by the Christmas spirit and opened themselves up to developing warm relationships. And the spirit of Christmas centered around God being in the lives of the characters. This the movie was heartwarming in spite of the difficulties experienced by the various characters throughout the storyline. It was not a trite or formulaic script like so many of the Hallmark Channel movies. This is a feel-good movie that was perfect for Christmas! Keep making these types of movies, Hallmark!

Miracle in Bethlehem, PA. (2023 TV Movie)

Good Job, Hallmark! Keep up the good work!

[9/10 · 28 December 2023]

This was remarkable for a Hallmark movie! The characters were well-cast, and the acting and interaction between characters was truly believable. The story line was different enough from so many Hallmark movies so as to not be trite and formulaic. The sets were not over-decorated like so many Hallmark Christmas movies of late. And I believe, because this was a Dayspring movie (the Christian side of Hallmark cards), that the script writers were allowed to included some of the real meaning of Christmas. Those reviewers who rated this movie low because of its "Christian content" need to realize that this is a CHRISTmas movie. The celebration is about Christ and His coming to the earth as God the Son and Savior of the world. These characters depicted that they authentically believed and embraced this - the true meaning of Christmas. Other Hallmark movies depicting families fighting and quarreling over Christmas light displays on their homes don't have the intimacy, love, caring, trusting, and faith that this movie depicts. This was heartwarming. Keep your Christmas movies telling the real Christmas message, Hallmark. Get back the the Hall of Fame status that you were always known for in the past!

Christmas on Windmill Way (2023 TV Movie)

Ho-Hum - we've heard this script too many times before

[4/10 · 4 December 2023]

This movie's too much like one of the Hallmark Rom Com's with their "template scripts." This one had the couple who dated in high school who broke up because of a misunderstanding. And the guy comes back to his hometown with a grand plan to "revitalize the town" with a resort. But then he rekindles his relationship with the girl, turns against his company's plans, and works on saving the town. The girl thinks he is against her priorities, but learns at the last 3 minutes that he's quit his job at his company, the town is saved by an historic preservation restriction, and the misunderstanding from high school gets cleared up. There is the kiss is followed by the credits. Sorry for the "spoilers," but this is a tired script that we've all heard too many times before, so I'm not really revealing anything you haven't already seen many times. I'd skip it.

Note to GAC Family - Stop following Hallmark's lead and write some original scripts!

Luckless in Love (2023 TV Movie)

Better than many recent Rom-Coms

[8/10 · 17 October 2023]

I am pretty critical of some recent romcom movies, especially Hallmark's cookie-cutter template scripts. These have about five or six different plots, five or six different ways the couple meets, five or six different reasons for dating, five or six reasons for the couple's almost-break-up, and five or six ways that the couple gets back together in the last 11 minutes of the movie. Hallmark seems to think that changing a couple of these options makes an entirely new and different movie script. But they are so predictable they are boring. But this movie was surprisingly refreshing. The acting was believable, the main characters were endearing, and I just really enjoyed this movie. It had its flaws, but in light of the competition's rom-com movies, this one rose higher in my ranking.

Aloha Heart (2023 TV Movie)

Aloha Heart, AKA "Cougar On the Prowl"

[3/10 · 13 October 2023]

Great scenery in a destination movie (8 stars). Typical Hallmark mediocre story line (3 stars). Casting (1 star). Hallmark used to make some great movies!. But this one...perhaps a better movie title would have been, "Cougar On the Prowl," with the movie's closing music during their kiss playing Simon & Garfunkel's, "Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson...". Having a 39-year-old woman pursuing a 24-year-old guy was not only unbelievable, but kind of distasteful. Hallmark, you need the likes of Larry Levinson back on your writing staff. The movies you are mass producing now pale in comparison to what Hallmark used to produce. Let's raise the bar back to the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" genre, instead of the current "Hallmark Hall of Shame."

A Harvest Homecoming (2023 TV Movie)

Good storyline, bad set design

[7/10 · 3 October 2023]

Good storyline, good acting, appreciated the prayers before meals, good sharing of feelings between Drew and Aiden. The downfall was the REALLY overdone autumn decor - EVERYWHERE, in EVERY scene in EVERY location. The paper leaves in the yards, on the chairs, on the stair bannister, bed headboards, walls, in the school classroom, on the porch, on the fences, on the curtains, all over the kitchen, doorposts, shelves, door wreaths, etc., etc. They even included trashy-looking brightly colored flowers at the fishing lake - they looked like litter sitting on top of the bushes. It's the same stuff everywhere, and WAY TOO MUCH. The set designers need to realize that a little goes a long way, and that the same red and orange decor just gets boring if it's seen everywhere constantly in every scene. And to add to the insult, the house gutter was painted bright orange, which didn't match the red door color - but just over saturated the house scene. No one paints their home just for autumn! Tone it down, folks. This is so unrealistic it's a distraction from the storyline.

I could be wrong, but it also seemed that the photographic saturation in the red, orange, and yellow tones was being enhanced in many scenes. Even the orange basketballs in the gym seemed to be "glowing."

Hallmark is the master of plastic colored fake-looking flowers stuck everywhere in their rom-coms. Don't copy their mistakes (which go way beyond decor). We want better for GAC family. Rethink the need for overdone decor before making future movies and tone it down! (I subtracted 2 points for this, I'd rate the movie a 9 if the decor was more tasteful and less of a distraction).

The More Love Grows (2023 TV Movie)

Certainly not a "Hallmark Hall of Fame", more like the "Hall of Shame."

[1/10 · 19 September 2023]

Hallmark rose to notoriety with their feel-good movies that used to promote family, faith, and commitment. They've taken a nosedive in the last few years, and this is yet another example. This movie's message is that the commitment of marriage is not worth the investment, and is easily and (very) quickly replaceable. No reasons for a breakup are necessary for discussion, but it's a good idea to: 1) Shut your spouse out of your life in anger.

2) Within a day or two, flirt with a replacement for your spouse.

3) Befriend others who will encourage you that the commitment of your marriage is passé and not in your best interest.

4) Realize that your personal independence is so much more valuable than working on oneness in marriage.

5) Put more effort into finding your runaway dog that in even starting to try to reconcile with your spouse.

6) Reject all apologies from your spouse and embrace your feelings that your commitment is simply over.

Hallmark, this wasn't a feel-good movie! It was a downer! Perhaps that's why several rival TV networks have arisen to take your place because you have abandoned your values. And fortunately, many of the actors and actresses have left Hallmark and followed networks embracing these family values. We're watching many more Up TV and GAC Family shows that Hallmark movies now. Sad, but true...

A Christmas Crush (2019 TV Movie)

Stupid, unbelievable, poor acting

[1/10 · 23 July 2023]

This script was awful. Nearly anyone could put a stop to an annoying and uncouth bore and tell him to leave you alone or you'll get a restraining order. These script writers were desperate to extend a painfully boring and inane issue that should have taken 3 minutes to resolve, and drag the resolution out to 90 distressingly stupid minutes. I rated this movie a 1, which indicates it has SOME value. It should be a -10, in that it sucked the life and fun out of 90 minutes of my life. There is nothing positive to say about this movie, and I'm really disappointed in GAC Family for allowing it to waste their viewers time.

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Til Death Do Us Part (2021 TV Movie)

Hallmark is Missing the Mark!

[2/10 · 8 July 2023]

Hallmark has taken another dive in quality. This is the 19th episode of a series with nearly ALL new actors replacing those who played in the previous episodes. The ages of the new actors are about 20 to 30 years younger than the previous actors. The Aurora Teagarden character is no longer a married woman, but is still a college student. And the only actor left from the previous episodes, the 71 year old Marilu Henner (complete with a new face lift), is still playing the mother of the now college-age Aurora Teagarden, Skyler Samuels. Casting of the series is in question, and especially when the acting is not really believable. The real mystery of this show is why Hallmark didn't just create a new and fresh mystery series, rather than asking viewers to transpose the memories of multiple characters into new personalities with the same names. The most plausible theory for this crime is that they are trying to get back at Candace Cameron Bure, their star lead in the first 18 episodes of the series, who left Hallmark several years ago to join another production company. Shame!

Written in the Stars (2021 TV Movie)

Same Hallmark Hackneyed Movie-From-A-Template Script

[2/10 · 17 June 2023]

Hallmark used to produce some great movies, especially the Hallmark Hall of Fame specials. They were unique, moving, emotional, interesting, and they pulled on your heartstrings and made you feel emotionally connected and really good by the end - you didn't want the movie to end. But in the past few years, Hallmark seems to follow a trite love story template. And "Written in the Stars" follows the same boring template perfectly! Two people who don't know each other accidentally meet in the first 20 minutes of the story. This movie used the "tried and tried and tried again" storyline of "bumping-into-each-other-and-spilling-something-on-the-clothes" meeting scenario. The movie continues the Hallmark template, building the "love interest" with two people pursuing opposing motives while the feelings for each other grow. And they always have the "almost kiss" moment which is interrupted before the kiss can really take place. But then the original motivation is exposed, always about 20 minutes before the end, resulting in a "seeming break up." But in those last few minutes, the "real feelings" come out, the actual kiss occurs, and the credits roll up the screen - another emotionally-deficient and boring Hallmark movie is finally over! Plastic characters, trite plots always scripted from the same template with just subtle differences, and no emotional closure. The only "fun" of watching these movies is being able to guess what's next - to finish some of the actors' lines before they are spoken because they have been used so many times before by Hallmark, or guessing which of the 7 choices the script writers will use for the couple's first meeting, or which of the 3 choices the writers will use for the interrupted kiss, or how the "truth" will come out to get the couple back together. Now I'm not revealing spoilers - Hallmark's movies are so predictable the previous Hallmark movie is a total spoiler for the next Hallmark movie! Sad, but true! And my rating is sad but true.

Love in Zion National: A National Park Romance (2023 TV Movie)

Illogical story line!

[3/10 · 26 May 2023]

The whole premise of the story line is illogical and totally unbelievable. First, the Zion Park ranger tells the museum archeologist that she cannot remove native artifacts from Zion Nat'l Park. Then he gets a "permit" for her to go "looking" for artifacts. Then a permit is given to someone to do a high-level photo flyover, but the ranger witnesses the helicopter make an illegal landing in the park, remove the said artifacts, load them in the helicopter, and fly away with them. He is talking with the thieves, watches them make off with the treasure, and says nothing - other than acknowledging that it was too bad that they got to the artifacts before the museum archeologist. (The viewer is wondering why he didn't tell them that removing artifacts from a National Park is illegal.) Then, the "only way" to save the artifacts is - no, not to charge the thieves with a crime - but rather to have to prove that that artifacts are "owned" by a relative of the ancestral native that originally crafted them. Where's the logic? Should Hallmark really portray National Park Rangers as stupid? Or think that their viewers are this stupid?

I would give this movie's story line a 0, but I generously gave the movie a 3 just for the beautiful Zion scenery throughout the movie.

Journey of My Heart (2021 TV Movie)

Gaffes are Unbelievable

[2/10 · 13 September 2021]

Does Hallmark think that we're all stupid? I guess we are if we continue to watch movies like this one.

When the producers show the "Alaskan mountains," they include a view of the face of Half Dome in Yosemite! Don't they realize that almost everyone whose been to Yosemite will recognize this?

Abby and Eric are backpacking in the Alaskan mountains of tribal lands where no one is normally allowed to go, yet they always seem to come across picnic tables and fire pits! They are carrying rather small backpacks, yet out of those backpacks they produce camp stoves, several tents, multiple lanterns, several different large coffee pots, metal cups, thermos, etc. I guess the producers think we'll regard these as the new "fold-up, light-weight models."

When Abby is fly fishing, she is using bright yellow "fishing line" that looks to be about 1/8 inch diameter that would certainly scare a fish and would be too large to even attach the fly. Yet she catches a fish as she is "guided" by the moves of her guide Eric's "training."

And Abby's camera is somehow capable of receiving internet signals in virtually unexplored tribal mountains so that she can transmit photos back to her office! And Hallmark had the audacity to repeat this "unauthorized photo location publication via Internet" storyline from one of their previous recent movies as the hook to "temporarily break-up the romance."

This was really a weak and boring movie, so if you're going to watch it anyway, do it for the gaffes!

Nature of Love (2020 TV Movie)

Plastic flowers everywhere!

[5/10 · 19 April 2020]

The storyline of this movie is fine. The scenery is spectacular, although all of this beauty could not naturally all be contained in one local. (The featured couple is in the middle of a lake, and magically spots river otters in the middle of the lake - I think not...) But the most offensive aspect of this movie was the "planting" of artificial flowers in way too many scenes. We've seen this in a number of Hallmark movies, usually in street scenes along sidewalks, or in front of homes. But this was a nature movie, and they show a mountain lake with a typically rocky/sandy beach, and fake flower stuck in the sand! These weren't even imitating wildflowers; they were fake garden flowers! Hallmark - let nature's beauty speak for itself. Cut the plastic flowers!