jfsc-04207 Reviews

Rancher 101 (2023 TV Movie)

Great on-screen chemistry

[9/10 · 22 February 2024]

I really liked this romance. The actors portraying the hero and heroine have genuine chemistry. MacKenzie Porter, who is country music singer, plays the movie star very well. Tony Levins plays the down-on-his-luck cowboy well.

I liked that they used a real ranch and used its real name in the movie. The scenery was beautiful.

I could totally see the cowboy and the movie star having their happily ever after. There could even be a plausible sequel for more conflict and tension between them.

The only thing that might have been better developed was the backstory of how the cowboy's ranch fell on hard times. Without knowing what went wrong, we're left to wonder how he'll be able to turn things around.

I also liked that the movie star didn't let him off the hook when he got angry at her for interfering. And he knew he'd messed up.

Christmas Together (I) (2020 TV Movie)

Male lead mis-cast

[3/10 · 8 December 2020]

Biggest problem is the actor cast as the male lead and father of the young daughter. He looks like he's 24, which is problematic with an 11 year old daughter. Why did they cast him in this role? Ridiculous. As someone else noted, he doesn't act affectionate with his daughter. Zero chemistry. Female lead does a much better job, as does the actress playing the daughter. I'm no head of casting, but I could have done way better in creating a father that the audience would accept. I'm all for other networks doing Christmas movies (Hallmark re-uses the same actors too many times), but if you're gonna dip your toe into the romance genre, get your casting right. Actually, as I think of it, why not write the story with the male lead as her older brother, struggling to raise his younger sister on his own. Easy fix and a compelling backstory that would intrigue the female lead and the audience. Holy cow, I think I just came up with a new career for myself. Head of casting or executive producer? Hmm. I couldn't do worse than whoever did this.

Rescuing Madison (2014 TV Movie)

Alona Tal is perfect in her role as the singer on a comeback.

[9/10 · 11 February 2020]

Sure, maybe this has the familiar trope of famous celebrity girl meets a normal guy and sparks fly. But romance movies are more about the characters and the chemistry, and Alona and Ethan Peck have it. Alona just lights up the screen with her smile. Her portrayal of the pop star seems effortless. Madison's manager is a little one dimensional (nothing much to like a about this guy), but he's not the focus of the story. I do agree with another reviewer who suggested that the movie could have been a bit longer to provide a little more character development - we learn a little about her fears about him, but it would be interesting to have our firefighter John get into some concerns he might have about a serious relationship with a famous singer who is about to embark on a comeback tour. But all in all, this is a very satisfying romance movie, void of some of the goofy, gooey stuff that seems to be, dare I say, the hallmark of a lot of current romance movies.

Grounded for Christmas (2019 TV Movie)

Fun Christmas romance

[9/10 · 13 January 2020]

I really liked this movie. The lead characters had great chemistry, and I thought Julianne Guill played her part perfectly. I think perhaps Lifetime is trying to do more realistic Christmas movies than Hallmark. Nina is a commercial airline pilot who has had to struggle to be accepted in her industry (she's not a bookstore or bakeshop owner, thank goodness). She meets Brady, a fellow pilot recently joining her airline, who admits that rumors have unfairly painted him as a player, and he hates it. Even Nina realizes that she is pre-judging him without even knowing him. You can always find some leaps of faith, so to speak, in these Christmas romance movies, such as the airport being closed for several days. And the fake boyfriend ruse has been probably overused in romance movies, but it's still a popular premise (even in books), and I thought it was handled well. So many Christmas romance movies are goofy (lead males named Nick drive me nuts and the town having a Santa character who magically intervenes), and kudos to this movie for avoiding some of that typical sap. I enjoyed getting to know Nina and Brady. I even thought a sequel (never done in these romance movies, it seems) would be interesting.