Love You to Death – Review

Love You to Death – Lifetime – 2 hours and 3 minutes

In 2013, police arrived at the home of Camile and her daughter Esme.  Esme is a sick, wheelchair-bound teenager who has a feeding tube and a gargantuan amount of medications.  The police find the pantry full of medication, pools of blood, and Camile dead on the floor but no Esme.  The people in the town know the pair because they have been on the news asking for pledges and going to Disneyland.  Esme recently bought her daughter a laptop and took her to a comic book convention.  Everything was beautiful.  Unless you ask Esme.  Esme tells a story of abuse, lies, manipulation, and Munchausen by Proxy.  She was forced to take medication, stay in a wheelchair, and lie to doctors.  She grew tired of her mother’s control and found love on the internet.  A love that would kill for her.

Inspired by the real-life story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose, this movie is about child abuse and its horrifying end (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer).  While some may look at this movie and believe Camile got what she deserved, some will wonder why Esme didn’t just leave.  It’s a sad reminder that abused spouses/partners take 7 tries to leave their mates.  So how many time would it take a child to leave an abusive parent?  With those questions aside, be forewarned the first 40 minutes are told from Camile’s point of view.  The rest is told in Esme’s.  It can be confusing to see Camile walk out on people and an hour later, the same person is back.  Also, this isn’t a full re-telling of the real story.  So Lifetime added some drama.   However, if you know the real story, it didn’t need drama added.  It had more than enough.  This still gives a strong account of what happened between Camile, Esme, and Esme’s boyfriend Scott.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars

She will always be my baby girl – Camile

Esme, you will fly – Travis

You gotta let her spread her wings a little – Denise

I gotta go. I gotta go – Scott

I’ve never been in the front seat before – Esme

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SnowComing – Review

SnowComing – Hallmark – 2 hours and 0 minutes

Samantha recovers from the news that her dream job has changed its focus.  Instead of promoting young authors, they are focusing on cookbooks.  She starts to wonder if she should find new employment when her best friend Diana calls.  Diana asks her to come back home for the SnowComing.  It’s a New Years ball will a bonfire, wishes, and a football game in the snow or Snow Bowl.  Samantha asks if her ex-boyfriend Jake Gillette will be attending and Diana says no.  So Samantha agrees to attend.  Next, Samantha calls her dad to tell him about the visit and he has a surprise for her too.  He has decided to retire from teaching and coaching.   Before she can respond, he says bye and hangs up.  Samantha arrives at her father’s home to find cocoa but it’s not hers.  It’s Jake’s.  In order to stay out of the public eye, Jake is laying low at coach’s home.  Jake sees his football career coming to an end but he doesn’t want the celebrity life.  He wants to settle down and be normal.  And he is still in love with Samantha but he hurt her 3 years ago.  He wonders if she will ever love him again.  Can she get past the hurt?

This love story follows the format but adds a coach-loving town to the mix.  Jake is touted as the celebrity but Coach Kerrigan is the man on the pedestal.  He has done so much to guide the young men and everyone is sad to see him go.  It’s his retirement that has inspired Samantha to go forward with a new career.  Her story of growth is more compelling than the love story.  Although, the SnowComing does sound like a lot of fun.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

They know I lost yesterday, right? – Jake

We consider it a good year if nobody goes to the hospital with hypothermia – Samantha

It’s gonna take me forever to clean up this mess – Coach Kerrigan

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Seduced by a Killer – Review

Seduced by a Killer – LMN – 2 hours and 0 minutes

Jess has a thriving hair salon, an intelligent daughter Tessa, a suave boyfriend Christian, and a lawyer-to-be best friend Nancy.  Her life is on cloud nine.  To make matters better, her daughter got news that she was removed from the waitlist and accepted to VIT.  Now, Tessa can stop worrying about having a long distance relationship because she and her boyfriend Will will be attending the same college.  Jess likes Will so much that when she hears he got a full ride scholarship to VIT, she takes the happy couple to dinner.  Later that night, Jess, Tessa, and Will watch movies on Jess’s couch.  After Jess goes to bed, Will leaves.  Just as he gets to his car, Will realizes he forgot his keys.  Minutes later, Jess finds Will dead on her doorstep.  Doctors believe he had a heart attack.  Tessa’s world falls apart and Jess gets her into therapy.  When Christian hears of Will’s heart attack, he requests more test to be run.  The results reveal Will was poisoned with oleander.  Christian contacts the police because he knows no one would intentionally take that poison.  Jess tells Tessa but Tessa has changed.  She has become colder, started hanging with a new group of friends, and started dating a much older guy.  Jess hates the changes but offers to meet with Tessa’s new guy.  Eric is nice enough but Jess feels he is too old.  She asks Eric to break up with Tessa.  Normally a daughter’s dating life is a huge priority but Jess has been chased, stalked, and attacked several times.  She has no idea why or who is doing it.  But she believes it has something to do with Will’s attack.  Jess has no idea it all started with her.

This movie does provide a few jumps and a decent twist but the mother-daughter relationship is too buddy, buddy.  It’s easy to see why and how Tessa believes she can walk all over her mother.  Seeing their arguments is mind-numbing.  And there is no real mystery on who the attacker will be.  This one can be skipped for other Lifetime movies.

I give it 2 out of 5 stars

This isn’t the time to chill. This is a time to freak out – Jess

Why don’t you make up your damn mind – Tessa

Bye Ms. Taylor – Eric

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Bixler High Private Eye – Review

Bixler High Private Eye – Nickelodeon – 1 hour and 30 minutes

Xander uses flashy clothes to get information from a car dealership about his father’s car before he is apprehended by the police.  They return him to his mother Ellen and she has had enough.  Xander has missed too much school since his father disappeared because he has been playing detective to find his dad.  She wants him to change school and spend the rest of the school year with his Grandfather in Bixler.  Xander thinks to say no until his computer displays his dad’s car’s last known location to be Bixler.  Xander says yes immediately.  He likes his Grandpa, he just doesn’t see him that often.  However, he knows his Grandpa was a detective and lost his leg on a case.  When Xander gets to Bixler, he starts looking for clues immediately.  The quest for clues leads him to Margaret.  She is a smart, school reporter who keeps everything on the record.  After a display of skills, Margaret and Xander decide to work together to find his father.  Their search leads to a lost dog, a clock tower, and C.R.A.T.E.R.

This adventure is perfect for the Nickelodeon audience to watch with their family.  It combines a mystery with science.  Xander and Magaret are both smart but tend to work alone.  They learn that teamwork fairs better results.  It has plenty of laughs, disguises, and cunning detective work.  This movie could become a TV show or a franchise.  It’s up to Nickelodeon and their fans to decide.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

You guys still don’t do that thing where you throw a kid in a jail cell to set them straight – Ellen

Whatever you kids are doing in there, you’re doing it wrong – Grandpa

It’s much easier to get along when there are presents – Xander

The ace detective fears commitment – Margaret

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Deadly Match – Review

Deadly Match – Lifetime – 2 hours and 3 minutes

Trina works two jobs while attending college full-time.  After witnessing the death of her friend Jade, Trina still keeps up with her studies.  She is shocked when she learns her scholarship is being phased out.  Although she has straight A’s, the school still can’t help.  With the help of her friends, Lacy and Zack, she launches her class project app as a real dating app.  Lacy introduces Trina to her friend Rochelle.  Both have been using the app successfully but tells Trina that she must be a member to promote faith in the product.  They start to dress Trina up for a better profile pic and reveal they are both sugar babies.  Trina is stunned because she thought they were born with money.  Lacy and Rochelle were introduced to the life by Jade.  Trina never thought Jade could do or start something like that.  The next day, Trina gets a date via her app.  However, the guy thinks she is a prostitute. Zack learns that while the women on the app are young college students, the men are much older.  Lacy and Rochelle tell Trina they are using the app to find clients because it’s safer and has a digital trail.  Trina wants to take down the app but they convince her to leave it up.  She could use it to track the man who killed Jade.  Zack warns her that every day it’s up, she could go to jail for soliciting, human trafficking, and other crimes.

You will have no idea how this movie will go until the end.  This mystery doesn’t spoon feed you potential suspects like most movies. Instead, you don’t know the potential killers to the very end.  The clues are misleading and sometimes they are not really clues.  It does get annoying watching the main character make rookie mistakes like going into a place alone.  Or seeing Lacy and Rochelle justify and try to talk Trina into being a Sugar Baby.  With a few flaws, this is still a good movie.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars

I know what I saw. I have to see it over and over again in my nightmares – Trina

I’m a hugger – Rochelle

Oh, what? Do you, like, hate us now – Lacey

Sorry, the world’s got a weird way of twisting things – Zack

The most shocking thing about it is that it’s not shocking at all – Prof. Savoy

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Ruby Herring Mysteries: Silent Witness – Review

Ruby Herring Mysteries: Silent Witness – HMM – 2 hours and 0 minutes

Ruby Herring is a reporter with a segment called “News You Can Use”.  She fights to help the little guy when they have been swindled and gives helpful advice about the latest products. She finally takes a break for her sister Charlotte’s wedding.  Even though Ruby is only a few miles from home, she relishes in the break.  Ruby and Charlotte meet with their parents and their mom’s old friend Sugar.  Sugar is the face of the Sugar and Sam’s bakery empire.  Sugar has agreed to make the cake for Charlotte’s wedding.  During dinner, Sugar excuses herself for a phone call.  When Charlotte and Ruby walk into the bathroom, they hear Sugar having a heated argument with someone on the phone.  Sugar brushes it off and tells them she needs to leave dinner early.  The next morning, Charlotte and Ruby decide to spend some sister time while jogging.  Then, they hear someone screaming for help.  Ruby sees Meagan (Sugar’s niece and business partner) in the water trying to pull Sugar from under a log.  Ruby is able to help free Sugar while Charlotte calls the police.  Unfortunately, its too late and Sugar drowns.  Some of the police on the scene want to label it an accident but Detective Jake and Ruby believe something heinous happened to Sugar.  After digging, the learn Sugar was not so sweet and with so many enemies, anyone could have killed her.

With a joke on the name Red Herring, Ruby Herring is a good start to a strong series.  It gives you a backstory for Ruby’s investigative skills and her love for family.  She is very determined and forges ahead in the sign of danger.  Det. Jake Killian is the hard-nosed detective that must find his footing.  Even though he is from the area, he left for a while.  Now his boss is expecting results.  Like all detectives in these movies, he urges Ruby to stay off the case and let him do his work.  His character is different because he notices Sugar was murdered.  In other crime shows, the detectives believe it was an accident and the lead female must prove otherwise.  This adds intelligence and wisdom to his character.  It’s only a matter of time before they fall in love, but that will have to wait for a new episode.  This movie did provide plenty of suspects by having a mean victim.  So you will guess multiple times before realizing you were right.  The comedy is working itself out but as the characters fall into step, this great new mystery series has the potential to be astounding.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

Sometimes big things can come from little moments – Sugar

This whole crime thing is like a twisted game of ping pong – Ruby

The only thing sweet about that woman is her fake name – Marian

I will neither confirm or deny that I’ve read Nancy Drew – Jake

Maybe you two should move this to my office. I don’t like tension in front of the victims – Tommy

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