You Cast A Spell on Me (Ion TV 2015)

You Cast A Spell on Me (aka A Kind of Magic) is a surprisingly good supernatural romantic comedy from a smaller channel. It stars Nikki Deloach, Ryan McPartlin, Jonathan Patrick Moore, Briana Lane, and Harley Jane Kozak. This is the first movie I have watched on Ion and I really liked it.

This stars two actors who, if you watch a lot of TV, you may recognize. Ryan McPartlin is from the TV Series Chuck where he plays Chuck's brother-in-law. Nikki Deloach is from the series Awkward where she plays Jenna's mother.

Matt Andover (Ryan McPartlin) is a gifted warlock working for the coven's family business - a juice company. But with his 36th birthday approaching his mother and the Witches Council intervene in his life and decree that he should wed his childhood friend Lizzie by Halloween. There is a tradition that all witches must wed before their 36th birthday or they loose their powers and Matt's birthday is fast approaching. Neither Matt nor Lizzie are particularly thrilled at the idea but they are good friends so they are willing to go along with it for the good of the coven, the business and to keep their powers.

When Sara (Nikki Deloach), a psychiatrist with a long distance boyfriend, attends a Halloween party dressed as a witch she meets a handsome guy dressed as a fireman and sparks fly. Little does she know but her fireman is actually a real warlock and the son of a prominent magical family. Matt mistakenly thinks that Sara is also a witch and they spend the whole night talking about their respective romantic predicaments. In the morning he realizes, belatedly, that she is human. They acknowledge their attraction but know that they can't really act on it due to their circumstances so they agree to part ways after one magical kiss without exchanging numbers.

After this encounter soon Matt finds his magic failing him and Sara discovers she has gained some strange powers (although she thinks she may be going insane).

As I mentioned I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I thought it had a pretty good story line and it was a bit different from the average Hallmark movie. As much as I like Hallmark movies if you watch enough of them they all tend to stick to a similar script. While this one does have many of the same elements I still found it a refreshing take. There was a lot more going on than just the main romance and I actually thought that it could have made a good TV series. I also thought the two supporting characters Lizzie (Briana Lane) and Colin (Jonathan Patrick Moore) were really cute together. 

If I was being hyper cryptically then I might say that the plot was thin in places. There was not much in the way of dramatic tension because stakes really did not seem that high. Loosing your magic would suck of course however, Matt's best friend is from a witch family but never developed powers. He has made a life for himself without magic and is mostly okay about it. There is also the fact that they don't really know if its actually true or not (no one is willing to risk their magic and not marry to test the theory).

The cinematography and acting make it seem stiff at times so I do think that it could have been better in that regard. I think they probably did well for the kind of budget they would have on this type of project. They had some very small special effects for the magic and it was reasonably well executed. It was basically just moving things around so it was not extremely technical or anything.

One issue I had with it is just a random thought about the morality of Matt and his powers. Matt's magic is charm and he can basically hijack a woman's brain and make her do what he wants. He demonstrates this early on when he sees a pretty girl walking with a guy and makes her turn around to look at him. Basically a device to show us his powers but kind of douchy really. Then five minutes later he uses his power to make a barister who is not serving them quick enough jump to his whims. She gives him the coffee on the house and her phone number. Luckily his friend is there to mention that this is not a great thing to do to someone but really at 35 he has obviously been doing this a while. As soon as he meets Sara he tries to do it to her too. Later he mentions to his friend that his charm didn't work on her, he says it was kind of nice that she liked him for him, this makes me think that he is pretty lazy and just uses his charm to get whatever woman he wants. Again this makes me think that Matt is kind of a douche at best and a predator at worst.

The movie has a bit of french kissing and and holding but that is about it for adult content. It's a pretty tame one for watching with the family.

I don't think this is the best TV Movie I have ever seen but I did think it was a lot of fun if a little cheesy at times. It had some good parts and some not so good parts. I liked that it was not too serious but there were also time line issues that I have with most romances; like how they meet and fall in love in less than a week. I guess the thing here is that it's magic so you can chalk it up to that and give it a pass.

Final score 7/10 - watch if you are looking for something romantic and a bit whimsical. With Halloween coming up it could be a lighthearted alternative to a scary movie.

IMDB link to You Cast a Spell on Me

Red: Werewolf Hunter (Syfy 2010)

Red: Werewolf Hunter is from the SyFy Channel and stars Felicia Day, Kavan Smith and Stephen McHattie.

Virginia (Felicia Day) or Red as her family call her is an FBI agent who brings her fiance (Kavan Smith) home to introduce him to the family. However, she hasn't told him some important truths about herself and her family - that she is a descendant of Little Red Riding Hood and that her family are all werewolf hunters. When they arrive they find that the long standing peace between the hunters and the werewolves is being threatened by a new and powerful werewolf leader - Gabriel (Stephen McHattie). Gabriel is something they have never seen before with the power to transform at will without the full moon.






I'm a fan of Felicia Day (who isn't right? She's all cute and quirky) but unfortunately she is probably the best thing about this movie. Kavan Smith and Stephen McHattie also do pretty good jobs, the latter more than the former but the rest of the cast is average at best. Unfortunately the character development was just not there so I feel like they did the best with what they had. As for humor, usually a staple of Syfy movies, this film took itself rather seriously but I liked that. I thought it worked in this case and I'm not a fan of the more camp type movies.


This had a fairly predictable story line and like most Syfy movies was not particularly well made. They just don't have the slickness and style of bigger budget movies. It just feels really cheap and the thing is that we all know good movies don't have to have big budgets; plenty of quality horrors have been made on a shoestring. One major issue I had was the wolves, they were CGI and not very scary at all. I've seen better in low budget movies so it's not like it can't be done. I also didn't like that they showed the wolf really early; it feels like that could have been a slow reveal to build some tension.

The connection to the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood was confusing and didn't really feel like it added much to the plot. It seemed like just an excuse to call her Red but she had red hair anyway. I did like the idea so I wish it had been woven into the story more. There were a lot of issues with the story but there were also some things that were interesting. It was one of those movies that you can see the potential but somehow they just failed miserably in the execution.

So overall not a particularly good movie. Was it the worst movie ever? Certainly not - there was a story line and some aspects which made it watchable. I could see some glimmers of hope in there but unfortunately just not really enough to save it. I would probably give it 3 out of 10 but I am inclined to give it an extra point for Felicia Day. I think that if you go into it with realistic expectations then you will be able to see some of the good things about the movie that made it watchable despite its flaws.

Final Score 4/10, watch if you like Felicia Day or have a thing for bad horror movies.

IMDB link to Red: Werewolf Hunter

Snowglobe (ABC Family 2007)

Snowglobe is an older one from ABC Family. It stars Christina Milian, Erin Karpluk, Josh Cooke, Matt Keeslar and Lorraine Bracco. I watched this a while ago so I'm not sure if it is still available on the renamed ABC Family - Freeform. I think they usually include it in their 25 days of Christmas special so you might be able to watch it then.

This movie is about Angela (Christina Milian) a girl from Brooklyn who wants the perfect Christmas with all the trimmings. Unfortunately she has a large annoying family who often interfere with her life and cause chaos. They are also always trying to set her up on dates (because apparently being 25 and unmarried makes you a spinster). Angela gets sent a magic Snow globe and is transported to a world within the globe where everyday is Christmas and everyone is permanently in the Christmas spirit.

This is a cute (kinda saccharine) story but be fair warned it's one with an obvious fantastic element to it. I know some people don't like those ones so I thought I would point it out. It's not the best movie out there but it's not the worst either; I have definitely seen much much worse. I think Christina Milian was a singer or something right? I don't really know as I don't like pop music but I recognize the name, I'm guessing this was something she did as her star was waning.

There is a little bit of chaste french kissing in this at the end but not much more than that and some hand holding if i remember rightly.

It obviously has a bit of a message too, most of these movies do. This one is about reaching for perfection at the expense of living your life. It's a little on the heavy handed side but it's not too bad.

I give this one a 5 out of 10 which basically means it was okay but had its issues. I found it watchable and I liked some of the supporting cast who are from TV shows I know. Erika Karpluk from Being Erica and Rookie Blue, Lorraine Bracco from Rizzoli and Isles, Josh Cooke from Hart of Dixie and Longmire and Ennis Esmer from The Listener also has a small role. Judging from all the Canadian actors I am guessing it was filmed in Canada.

Final Score 5/10 - watch if you like Christmas TV Movies, don't have really high standards (or like good bad movies) and don't mind a fantastical element.

IMDB link to Snowglobe

The Lost Valentine (Hallmark 2011)

The Lost Valentine is a TV movie I watched recently and really liked. It's from Hallmark and stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sean Faris and Betty White. 

It tells the story of Susan, a reporter, who is doing a human interest story Caroline Thomas (Betty White). Caroline's Navy pilot husband went missing during WWII and was never found. Every year on Valentine's Day she returns to the train station where she said her last good byes to him all those years ago.

I thought this movie was one of the better ones from Hallmark. It had a lot more substance than many of their romances. It was quite sad too as it was about a woman whose true love went missing during the war. It also has some cute moments between the reporter (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Caroline's grandson Lucas (Sean Faris). 

Definitely made me cry a few times (although I'll admit that is not hard). I also liked that the timeline was stretched out. Many Hallmark romances take about a week to fall in love and decide to get married;those always annoy me. This one has weeks in between that you don't see but are mentioned as having passed.

There is some light affection shown in this movie; hugging and such and some french kissing.

I give this 7 out of 10. OK I'll give it one more for Sean Faris and his amazing smile. So sue me I'm a sucker for a pretty face.

Final score  - 8/10 worth checking out if you like more dramatic TV Movies and don't mind a tear jerker.

IMDB Link to The Lost Valentine

What is Crazy TV Movie Lady?

I watch a lot of TV movies! I got in to them a few years back; it was Christmas and I was overseas away from my family (which I still am). I live in Asia and Christmas is not really big over here so I decided to watch some Christmas movies to get myself in the Christmas spirit. Of course most of the ones I found were Hallmark so I watched a ton of them and  and I've been doing that for the past three years now. I also branched out to other Hallmark movies; I especially like their mystery ones. I'm also a fan of Disney movies too.

I decided to start this blog and do some quick reviews of the movies that I am watching or have watched in the past. These include Disney, Hallmark, Lifetime, ABC and anything else I can find. Feel free to comment and let me know what TV movies you think are the best and if there are any that you think I should watch.