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dianereneew
Reviews
The Perfect In-Laws (2023)
Lifetime at it's most self-aware!
If you love the over-the-top plot twists and over acting of a true Lifetime Movie as much as I do, this is the movie for you. The premise was simple but, my goodness, every time I thought I knew what was going on this movie added 1 curveball after another. I literally laughed out loud a few times at the absurdity - yet it was done in such a self-aware way that it didn't ruin the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment down to the final scene.
Without giving anything away, this is the story of a whirlwind romance and marriage between 2 beautiful and successful people. He gets summoned home by his domineering father, and tells her she should stay at home to finish the project she is working on. He tells her that she will meet his family at a later date but he wants to shield her from them a bit longer as they are very dysfunctional. Her project ends sooner than expected so she decides to surprise him by showing up at his father's estate. That, my friends, is where the real fun begins ;)
I highly recommend this movie for pure entertainment purposes. If you are looking for a serious, based-on-a-true-story movie, watch something else!
8/10 stars.
To Kill a Stepfather (2023)
Too contrived
This felt, to me, like Lifetime was trying this out as a pilot for a new series. The plot was basic and very contrived. All back stories were thrown in as single sentences, explained in a throw away conversation. No real character development, as if writers wanted to save that for "when the show got picked up". Because of this, I found none of the characters interesting or even terribly likeable.
The conversations were all just ones liners that were meant to show (I think) how smart/clever/witty the characters were but there seemed to be no real conversations. The chemistry between the 2 lawyers was so bad that I didn't realize until halfway through the movie that they had previously been in a relationship - I thought they just went to school together.
I love a " bad" Lifetime movie, but this was just a bad movie.
A Date with Deception (2023)
Awful, even for a Lifetime movie
Let me just preface this review by saying that I love Lifetime movies, even when they are "bad". Sometimes its fun to watch a mini soap opera for a couple of hours. That being said, I have found that the 2023 originals have been very disappointing so far.
This particular movie had a very confusing narrative - switching back and forth between recent- past and present - that made it hard to follow the actual story line. In addition, I found the acting to be really flat. The " love interest" story line seemed like it was thrown in as an afterthought as it made absolutely no sense and there was zero chemistry between the two actors.
Bad Nanny (2022)
Awful in every aspect
As a long-time Lifetime movie fan, I have been disappointed by this year's offerings of new movies. Bad Nanny is, in my opinion, the worst so far. The plot "twist" is spoiled in the description of the movie and that acting... I would not be surprised if this was a first role for everyone involved. Not entirely their fault as the script is just bad.
I love a cheesy-bad Lifetime movie with over-the-top acting, outlandish plots and terrible scripts but there is a huge difference between those classics and this particular type of bad movie. The acting was wooden, at times with no inflection at all. There was no "twist" as you knew going into it the "why".
While We Sleep (2021)
Not in English
Movie started out well enough - good production value, interesting story. Was enjoying until about 10 minutes in when there was an entire scene where the actors were all speaking Ukrainian, with no English subtitles. Since I don't speak Ukrainian I had to stop watching. Very disappointing.
V.C. Andrews' Landry Family: Hidden Jewel (2021)
Bad, even 4 Lifetime movie
I read VC Andrews books years ago, so I was expecting "hokey" but this was honestly one of the worst movies I've seen on Lifetime. Horrible acting & dialog... but the worst part was the "aging" of the characters. Jason Priestley just had his hair dyed silver, and they just added a ton of hairspray to Ruby. Pearl & her parents looked exactly the same age.
A Mother on the Edge (2019)
I love Lifetime, but this was bad
I have a chronic illness, so I will admit that I watch a lot of movies and I love Lifetime movies, the cheesier the better ;) My favorites are the mystery/moms in distress, so this sounded perfect. Boy was I disappointed.
The lead actress was very appealing, but that's as far as I can go with positive things to say. You always know where these movies are going but this one was just ridiculous. And the fight scene... I'm all for female empowerment but that was just ridiculous.
Also, I know that a lot of Lifetime movie are made in Canada and star Canadian actors, but a HUGE pet peeve of mine is when an actor (the husband in this case) slips out of their American accent. He even asks to use the washroom instead of the bathroom. I actually laughed out loud when he said that!
The Break-In (2016)
Flawed but good
Not much chemistry between the cast members, but it still worked. The story dragged, and yet I still watched, curious to see where this would go (I don't give up when it comes to not-terrible horror movies; you can find some real gems that way!). I'm so glad I didn't stop watching because the last 10 minutes turned really turned this movie around. I literally had a WHAT THE...moment. Should have seen it coming but I didn't. Would I recommend it -- on a rainy afternoon, why not. Am I sorry I watched it-- not at all. I loved the ending.
Deadly Presence (2012)
Truly boring
I chose to watch this movie based on the 7.3 rating. I should have known better since there were absolutely no comments at all.
The first fifteen minutes of the movie seems like it is right out of a crappy 80's movie, then.... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING happens. At all. For the next hour plus.
The acting is atrocious. The actress playing the main character has obviously never taken an acting class and definitely does not have natural ability.
The sound editing was also very strange. There were moments where you were tuned in to the background sounds and then the sound would go completely blank. It was as if the sound engineer was focused on dubbing sounds into the movie and then just turning the mic off.
The only reason I gave this a 2 out of 10 was that the concept had potential.
All in all this movie was like a very bad student film. Little creativity and no skill in acting or editing. Very disappointing.
Shadow Island Mysteries: Wedding for One (2010)
Please don't waste your time
I watched this because it was billed as a follow-up to Harper's Island(which I loved, BTW). This however, was horrible. The story was so poorly written that you knew the entire time who the "bad guy" was. Acting was so bad that I was kind of hoping everyone would get killed, to be perfectly honest! The main character was not even remotely likable, neither was the bride. Both actresses seemed to be too old to be playing their respective characters. There was absolutely no character development or background, so it was really difficult to care about any of them. The only thing that made this bearable were a few scenes that were unintentionally funny.