Rueben's Ramblings

On December 7, the Lifetime holiday movie Christmas Lost and Found will debut at 8 PM.

After years of missing family gatherings, New York City event planner Whitney Kennison (Tiya Sircar) is off to Chicago to spend Christmas with Grandma Frances (Diane Ladd). Excited that her granddaughter is finally home for the holidays, Frances decides to bestow Whitney with the precious Kennison family Christmas ornaments.

But when Whitney mistakenly throws out the box of ornaments, Grandma Frances must stealthily devise a fun Christmas scavenger hunt to remind Whitney what the holiday is all about. It’s a race against time as Whitney reclaims the family ornaments, finds romance and learns the lesson Grandma Frances imparts.

The film also stars Ed Ruttle.

[Photo Credit: Entertainment Weekly]

Read Full Post »

The HBO original telefilm Icebox will debut on December 7 at 8 PM.

Óscar (Anthony Gonzalez), a 12-year-old Honduran boy, is forced to flee his home and seek asylum in the United States, only to find himself trapped in the U.S. immigration system. As Óscar attempts to reach his uncle, Manuel (Omar Leyva), in Arizona, he is apprehended by Border Patrol and placed in “the icebox,” a processing center for Hispanic migrant children. Faced against a seemingly impenetrable immigration system, Óscar struggles to navigate a path to freedom, with a journalist (Genesis Rodriguez) and his uncle, himself a recent immigrant, as his only lifeline.

The film also stars Johnny Ortiz, Matthew Moreno and Jessica Juarez.

Here is a trailer for Icebox:

Read Full Post »

The original holiday movie Christmas Cupid’s Arrow will debut on November 25 at 9 PM on ION.

Holly (Elizabeth Harnois), a professor at a small college, has had a long history of finding the wrong guy. She’s accomplished quite a bit in her life, but after her younger sister announces she is pregnant, Holly decides she is going to make an effort to meet Mr. Right. Meanwhile, David (Jonathan Togo), another professor, is a single father, very smart and kind, but not the type that Holly takes notice of when the two are assigned to plan the Christmas Formal.

At the insistence of her best friend, Holly signs up for the dating website “Cupid’s Arrow,” where she meets Josh (Chad Michael Collins), an attorney just hired by the school. He’s everything she wants on the surface, but has little to say beyond his work and good looks. Josh and David were roommates in college, so Josh recruits David to write poetic messages in an attempt to win Holly over. Eventually, Holly notices that Josh’s spoken words don’t match the glowing, beautifully written texts and emails she’s grown to adore. After confronting Josh, she begins to realize that the man she fell in love with may just be the one who wrote those words to her.

Here is a compilation trailer for the ION holiday movies, including Christmas Cupid’s Arrow.

Read Full Post »

The Christmas Pact is the latest Lifetime holiday movie that will debut on December 2 at 8 PM.

Can best friends fall in love? That’s the question next door neighbors Sadie (Kyla Pratt) and Ben (Jarod Joseph) will answer as they keep the spirit of Christmas and the magic of their childhood pact alive. When they were eight years old, they planted a scrawny 3-foot tall Christmas tree behind their church and the Christmas Pact began.

But as life gets in the way the pact is threatened to be broken. Ben and Sadie need some Christmas Magic to recommit to each other and promise to keep their special holiday traditions. With each Christmas that passes by, Ben and Sadie’s Christmas tree grows taller and stronger; and so does their love. The pact bearing fruit to the magic of Christmas and the undeniable answer. Yes, friends can fall in love!”

The cast includes Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison.

Here is a trailer for The Christmas Pact.

Read Full Post »

On December 2, the Hallmark Channel holiday movie A Majestic Christmas will debut at 8 PM.

Christmas in the charming town of Briar Falls will be bittersweet this year when architect Nell goes back to her hometown having been given the job of turning the historic Majestic Playhouse into a modern multiplex, much to the town’s objections.

This job is Nell’s (Jerrika Hinton) first promotion, and one she wishes she hadn’t been chosen for, especially when she meets the new owner of the theater, Connor (Christian Vincent), whose vision and ideas clash with Nell’s. Since Connor hasn’t had much experience celebrating Christmas, Nell hopes that if she can give him a crash course in Christmas during the town’s Twelve Day Festival, that he might just change his mind about modernizing the Majestic.

Here is a trailer for A Majestic Christmas.

Read Full Post »

On December 2, the UP TV holiday movie Christmas Catch will debut at 7 PM.

Detective Mackenzie Bennett (Emily Alatalo) loves Christmas, but her plans to spend the holidays with her family, friends – not to mention a handsome new stranger who just moved to town – are put on hold when the FBI tells her that her gorgeous new friend is a suspect in a diamond heist. Now, under cover (and under tight supervision), Mack finds herself getting close to a man who might be a criminal, but who also might be the man of her dreams.

The cast includes Franco Lo Presti, Yanic Truesdale, Lauren Holly and Genelle Williams.

Here is a trailer for Christmas Catch.

Read Full Post »

The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries holiday movie Once Upon a Christmas Miracle will debut on December 2 at 9 PM.

The film is based on real life couple, Heather Krueger and Christopher Dempsey. Dempsey, a former Marine, donated his liver to Krueger, who had been diagnosed with stage 4 liver disease in 2014. The two of them were strangers at the time of the transplant but Dempsey’s good deed led to a whirlwind romance that eventually led to the couple tying the knot in 2016.

The cast includes Brett Dalton, Aimee Teegarden, Steve Bacic and Lolita Davidovich.

Here is a trailer for Once Upon a Christmas Miracle.

Read Full Post »

On December 1, Christmas Wonderland is the new holiday movie to debut on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries at 9 PM.

Heidi (Emily Osment), who initially left her small town of Pleasant Valley with the dream of one day becoming a successful painter, has put her own art on hold to excel as an art gallery curator. Now, a week before the gallery’s big Christmas party, she must return home to watch her niece and nephew. She comes face to face with her high school love (Ryan Rottman), who is in over his head after he must find a new last-minute location for the Christmas high-school dance. Heidi offers to help him and together they discover a beautiful place for the dance, capturing the Christmas spirit. With Christmas fast approaching, Heidi soon becomes torn between the life she built in the city and the life she is surprisingly charmed by back in Pleasant Valley. The movie also stars Kelly Hu.

Here is a trailer for Christmas Wonderland.

Read Full Post »

On December 1, the Lifetime holiday movies A Twist of Christmas will debut at 8 PM.

In the frenzy before Christmas, two single parents – busy working mom Abby (Vanessa Lachey) and her son, and overwhelmed lawyer Ryan (Brendon Zub) and his daughter, accidentally mix up their toys at a crowded department store. As a result, both of their Christmases appear to be ruined. Although the two can’t stand each other, the only way to get things back on track is to help each other salvage their holiday plans not realizing they’re falling for each other in the process.

The cast includes Sarah Smyth and Rick Fox.

Read Full Post »