Hallmark For All Seasons

In the interest of saving time (and my own sanity), I have decided to post some mini-reviews for a few movies that I finally had a chance to watch this weekend, notably, “Eight Gifts of Hanukkah,” “Every Time a Bell Rings,” and “A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love.”

Two of the three movie posters (“Eight Gifts” and “Bell Rings”) are fantastic and original.  The “Godwink” poster is completely generic, nearly colorless and boring.

In a nutshell

“Every Time a Bell Rings” stood out despite some flaws. “Godwink” was schmaltzy and over the top, while “Eight Gifts” bored me to tears.

Every Time a Bell Rings

A tale of three adopted sisters who have grown apart as adults but come home for Christmas after the death of their dad. While there, they find he left them one last scavenger hunt for them to complete to find the family’s wishing bell. Erin Cahill, Ali Liebert, and Brittany Ishibashi played the sister, with Dee Wallace as their mom and Wes Brown as Erin Cahill’s childhood best friend.

The cast was fabulous, and the script by Alys Murray and Audrey Shulman was good. I appreciated that these three sisters each struggled with their own perception of success – and worked through feelings of failure as a result.  One sister was depressed over her business failing, while another had doubts about immediately jumping into parenthood.  The last sister wanted to find her birth mother despite loving her adoptive parents. As this was Hallmark, all was resolved in the end, but I appreciated the emotional journey of each sister during the movie.

Eight Gifts of Hanukkah

I was really looking forward to this movie and I can’t believe how disappointed I was by it.  It had two things that I loved – Jake Epstein as Daniel, the childhood best friend, and the fact that the movie was 100% dedicated to Hanukkah and all its traditions. I had an issue with leading lady Inbar Lavi, who didn’t sell the movie for me. She was so low-key about all these men being interested in her that I really wasn’t invested in her search at all.

With the exception of two scenes, the script by Karen Berger was lackluster and it was all I could do to watch the entire movie. The two scenes I loved were the scene where the family played dreidel together, and the other was Daniel’s love confession. I have read online that other people loved this movie, so perhaps I was just tired when I watched this, but I doubt I will be giving it a second chance, despite Jake Epstein being generally awesome.

A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love

I confess I enjoyed the first Godwink movie, starring Paul Campbell and Kimberly Sustad.  In the years since, my scores for those movies have declined.  And this one is no exception.  Now, I do think this is the 2nd best of the four, but I’m ready for Hallmark to stop making these Godwink movies. With this one I kept waiting for the “gotcha” moment to the point where when it finally happened, I was pretty “meh” about it.  And I’m not a fan of emotional cheating, which Katherine Barrell’s character, Joy, did for most of the movie. Despite not liking some aspects of the movie, it was still better than two other Godwink movies.

Re-watchability of the Movies

The only one I’d rewatch is “Every Time a Bell Rings.”

The Rankings

These movies were all over the map, but “Every Time a Bell Rings” was the best of the three for me.

1. An Unexpected Christmas (air date: Nov 26) – 736 pts – weighted score: 123.0 (86.3%)
2. A Dickens of a Holiday! (air date: Dec 11) – 735 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
3. The Santa Stakeout (air date: Oct 24) – 730 pts – weighted score: 122.3 (85.8%)
4. A Christmas Family Tree (air date: Nov 14) – 730 pts – weighted score: 121.9 (85.5%)
5. You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
6. Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
7. The Nine Kittens of Christmas (air date: Nov 25) – 690 pts – weighted score: 116.5 (81.8%)
8. One December Night (air date: Nov 13) – 695 pts – weighted score: 116.3 (81.6%)
9. A Mrs. Miracle Christmas (air date: Nov 6) – 688 pts – weighted score: 116.2 (81.5%)
10. Every Time a Bell Rings (air date: Nov 1) – 687 pts – weighted score: 116.2 (81.5%)
11. Boyfriends of Christmas Past (air date: Oct 23) – 673 pts – weighted score: 116.1 (81.5%)
12. Next Stop, Christmas (air date: Nov 6) – 682 pts – weighted score: 114.7 (80.5%)
13. It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
14. The Christmas Promise (air date: Oct 30) – 675 pts – weighted score: 114.1 (80.0%)
15. Gingerbread Miracle (air date: Nov 5) – 671 pts – weighted score: 114.0 (80.0%)
16. Christmas In My Heart (air date: Oct 23) – 675 pts – weighted score: 113.9 (79.9%)
17. A Kiss Before Christmas (air date: Nov 21) – 671 pts – weighted score: 111.9 (78.5%)
18. Open at Christmas (air date: Nov 12) – 658 pts – weighted score: 111.6 (78.3%)
19. You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
20. A Christmas Together With You (air date: Nov 20) – 645 pts – weighed score: 110.9 (77.8%)
21. Five More Minutes (air date: Nov 21) – 645 pts – weighted score: 110.8 (77.7%)
22. Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
23. A Very Merry Bridesmaid (air date: Dec 4) – 644 pts – weighted score: 109.5 (76.8%)
24. Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
25. Christmas in Tahoe (air date: Nov 28) – 653 pts – weighted score: 108.7 (76.3%)
26. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
27. Christmas at Castle Hart (air date: Nov 27) – 639 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
28. Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
29. As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
30. Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
31. Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas (air date: Nov 27) – 638 pts – weighted score: 106.8 (74.9%)
32. The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
33. South Beach Love (air date: Oct 9) – 615 pts – weighted score: 105.8 (74.2%)
34. Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
35. A Holiday in Harlem (air date: Nov 7) – 628 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
36. Christmas Sail (air date: Oct 31) – 606 pts – weighted score: 105.1 (73.7%)
37. Christmas in Harmony (air date: Oct 29) – 605 pts – weighted score: 104.8 (73.5%)
38. A Christmas Treasure (air date: Nov 7) – 625 pts – weighted score: 104.6 (73.4%)
39. A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
40. A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love (air date: Dec 11) – 610 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.2%)
41. Coyote Creek Christmas (air date: Oct 30) – 614 pts – weighted score: 104.3 (73.2%)
42. Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
43. Christmas CEO (air date: Nov 26) – 596 pts – weighted score: 103.5 (72.6%)
44. Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
45. Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
46. Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
47. Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
48. Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
49. Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
50. Eight Gifts of Hanukkah (air date: Dec 3) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
51. Nantucket Noel (air date: Nov 18) – 585 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
52. Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
53. Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
54. Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
55. Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
56. Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
57. Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
58. A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
59. Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
60. A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
61. Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
62. Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
63. Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
64. Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
65. Snowkissed (air date: Jan 31) – 402 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)

To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!

What did you think of these movies?  Comment below and let me know!