Deck The Hallmark

It's Tuesday which means there's a new Hallmark movie to review!

ABOUT NOTHING BUT LOVE

A TV director returns to her theater roots for a Shakespeare festival and runs into an old flame, rekindling a merry war of wits in this modern retelling of "Much Ado About Nothing."

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR NOTHING BUT LOVE

August 29, 2026 | Hallmark

CAST & CREW OF NOTHING BUT LOVE

Director: Shamim Sarif

Writers: Ramona Barckert, Neal Dodson, William Shakespeare

Cast:

Ashley Williams as Bea Bishop

Niall Matter as Benny Gersten

BRAN'S MOVIE SYNOPSIS

It's time for the Summer Shakespeare Festival and Bea Bishop has arrived ahead of the show she's directing - The Taming of the Shrew. She is pumped, or should I say WAS pumped until she finds out Benny, a popular actor, is going to be the love interest for the play. She's not thrilled because clearly they have a history. Her mom is the one who runs the festival but she's going to retire. Bea says that SHE wants to take it over and her mom is thrilled.

The cast gets together for the first time for pizza that Benny brings. Benny meets his leading lady for the first time. Her name is Hannah and it's clear that Hannah has a thing for another guy in the play, Clay. When Benny sees them, he tells Bea to make Clay the lead instead, which she does.

Bea finds out that there are some more hoops to leap through before the board approves her to be the new director of the festival. Apparently, there's a buyer interested in purchasing the festival. If the play isn't a success, they need to sell. SO THE STAKES ARE HIGH!

She tells Benny about this and they agree to a peace treaty to work together to save the festival.

So turns out, Benny was right about Clay and Hannah....a little too right. Bea and Benny follow them into town and see them kiss big ones! Bea is worried that this isn't going to be great for the play - it's going to distract them.

So Bea goes to talk to her about it and Hannah is like we're falling in love. Bea is like it's not real love, it's festival love. Hannah disagrees. Bea says this happened to her once - she fell for Benny during their play together and got a bad review, calling her distracted. That's why she ultimately became a director. She tells Hannah if all you're thinking about is how much you're in love with Clay, it's going to affect your performance. Benny ends up having the same conversation with Clay.

Hannah and Clay decide they should try to get Bea and Benny together. It gives us a couple of great scenes.

Benny and Bea end up getting coffee together and talk through some changes they want to make to the play and then they're getting ready to talk about their feelings but they get interrupted. They begin to wonder if splitting Hannah and Clay up is doing more harm than good.

There's a party where everyone is in Shakespearean garb and Bea and Benny try to reverse what they've done and get Hannah and Clay back together, but they end up slow dancing together in the process.

The next day, Benny asks if she wants to go for a bite. She's like did you say date? And he's like no I said bite, but yes a date please. She says yes. And they tell each other that they like and love each other via crayon on the table. The SPARKS are flying. On the walk home, they both talk about how they overheard the other actors talking about how they are into each other. IT WAS ALL A BIG TRICK?!

This is quite the misunderstanding and she's like well thank goodness we didn't kiss!

This argument gets interrupted with a text - Hannah is leaving. She can't handle the pressure of saving this festival.

So they all agree it would be best if Benny and Bea took over the lead roles and it's going great! But THEN she hears that Benny told Clay that whoever takes over running the festival has impossibly large shoes to fill. She's like you don't think I can do it!

He realizes he done goofed. He needs to figure out a way to show her that not only does he believe she can run this festival, but show her that the love wasn't a trick.

He runs to the airport to stop Hannah from leaving and get her to come back and do the show, which she does!

The play is going great. The run is sold out. Bea goes to talk to her mom backstage and her mom tells her that her only regret in doing this is that she only focused on her job, not her heart. She encourages her to be sure she tends to her heart.

The show is a SMASH hit! After the show, she finds out that they don't need to sell. The board approves of Bea running the festival moving forward!

She goes to find Benny. She asks how he got Hannah to come back, and he says "I told her that all she needs to know is that Bea believes in you. When I know that Bea believes in me, I feel like I can do anything." He says I also knew I couldn't play this role with you because I wouldn't be able to hide my feelings for you.

She says I wanna be with you and I wanna run this festival with you. She says kiss me you fool and kiss they do, followed by a spin and dip!

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It's Marvel Monday and we're diving into the Quantum Realm!

ABOUT ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne are dragged into the Quantum Realm, along with Hope's parents and Scott's daughter Cassie. Together they must find a way to escape, but what secrets is Hope's mother hiding? And who is the mysterious Kang?

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

February 17, 2023 | Theatrical Release

CAST & CREW OF ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

Director: Peyton Reed

Writers: Jeff Loveness, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber

Cast:

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man

Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp

Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym

Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne

Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror

Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang

BRAN'S MOVIE SYNOPSIS

Scott Lang has settled into a pretty comfortable life. He's a successful writer, he's dating Hope van Dyne, and things are going pretty well. His daughter, Cassie, is now a teenager and has become an activist, helping people who were displaced by the Blip. This has caused some tension between her and Scott, who isn't exactly thrilled with her getting herself into dangerous situations.

While visiting Hope's parents, Cassie shows them a device she's been working on that can communicate with the Quantum Realm. Janet freaks out and shuts it down, but it's too late. The device has already sent a signal, opening a portal that sucks Scott, Cassie, Hope, Hank, Janet, and a bunch of Hank's lab ants into the Quantum Realm.

Scott and Cassie are separated from the others and are taken in by a group of people who are rebelling against the ruler of the Quantum Realm. Meanwhile, Hope, Hank, and Janet find themselves in a massive city where they run into Lord Krylar, an old friend of Janet's. Unfortunately, Krylar is now working for Kang, the guy who currently rules the Quantum Realm, so they steal his ship and get out of there.

The rebels explain to Scott and Cassie that Janet played a role in Kang becoming so powerful. Janet eventually admits that she met Kang during her previous time trapped in the Quantum Realm. Kang told her that he could get both of them home if she helped him repair his multiversal power core. They fixed it, but Janet discovered that Kang was actually a complete psycho who had been conquering and destroying entire timelines. She turned against him and used her Pym Particles to make the power core too large to function. Kang eventually regained his powers and took control of the Quantum Realm anyway.

The Langs are eventually captured and brought before Kang, who threatens to kill Cassie unless Scott helps him retrieve his power core. Scott shrinks down and heads into the core, where he encounters a probability storm that creates a bunch of copies of himself. Things get pretty chaotic, but Hope shows up and helps him get the core.

Kang captures Janet and has M.O.D.O.K. destroy the ship carrying Hank. Thankfully, Hank is rescued by his ants, who have spent their time in the Quantum Realm evolving into giant, super-intelligent ants.

With Hank's help, Scott and Hope head back into the fight. The rebels launch an all-out uprising against Kang and his army. During the battle, Cassie manages to convince M.O.D.O.K. — who turns out to be Darren Cross, the guy Scott thought he killed in the first movie — to switch sides. Cross helps them fight Kang but ultimately sacrifices himself.

Janet repairs the power core and she, Hank, Hope, and Cassie make it through a portal back home. Scott is almost left behind when Kang attacks him, but Hope comes back for him. Together, they manage to throw Kang into the power core, seemingly destroying him.

Cassie reopens the portal, allowing Scott and Hope to make it home. Scott goes back to his normal life, but he starts thinking about Kang and whether or not it's actually over with him. But he decides he's just not gonna worry about it.

Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtube
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Let's hop in the DTH Time Machine for today's DTH Classic.

It's almost Fall. What better way to get into the Fall spirit than by revisiting some of our Fall movie reviews! This week, it's time journey back to 2020 when we review a CLASSIC Fall movie from 2015 - October Kiss . This episode originally aired on September 8, 2020.

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We're back with some more Gilmore Girls! Join us in this journey on social media - @gilmorethemerrierpod.

ABOUT: GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 2 EPISODE 18)

Rory's simple request for her grandpa's assistance in creating a first-aid kit designed for teenagers sparks an unexpected turn of events. The project reignites her grandfather's passion for work, leading him to reconsider his retirement.

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR: GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 2 EPISODE 18)

April 23, 2002 | The WB

CAST & CREW OF: GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 2 EPISODE 18)

Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore

Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore

BRAN’S GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 2 EPISODE 18) SYNOPSIS

It's Friday night dinner and Richard is late. He's been working hard on a car. Emily refuses to let them eat until Richard is at the table.

The next day, Lorelai is giving Luke a hard time about his new omelette special. Rory says that's Jess' handwriting. Lorelai is like how do you know his handwriting? She's like he's written stuff in my margins. Dean shows up and crashes their breakfast and Rory seems kind of annoyed.

Later at school, Brad is back. He's here to face his fears - Paris. Rory, Paris, and company are in a group together for this school project. They need a parental advisor with business experience. They all want to pick Lorelai.

Sookie gets her wedding invites and they're wrong. She's so not a Soozie!

Rory asks Lorelai if she's willing to be the group advisor! She's like well....how about your grandfather? I bet he'd love to be your advisor!

So she goes over to ask him and he is like I'm not sure if I'll be much help. He's like things are a bit hectic right now and it's short notice. But when Emily hears about this, she's like YOU MUST HELP! So obviously, he will help.

Michel's mom is in town. It's a lot.

Richard shows up to hear the students' pitches on their made up invention they want to create. Paris pitches her idea - tricked out first aid kits. Richard presses her on it but she doesn't back down and he loves it.

She gets home and has a billion Dean messages. Lorelai seems like something is bothering this boy. She's like I don't know what his deal is.

Richard has all the kids over to his house and he is absolutely eating this project up!

Dean comes over to wash Rory's car. Lorelai is like hey bud maybe tone it down a bit. You're not losing Rory but if you keep this up, you will.

Michel gets mad at Lorelai for telling his mom that he doesn't eat carbs!

It's time to find out the winner of the project and...Rory's team doesn't win. Richard can't believe it! So he goes to talk to Headmaster Charleston and gives him a piece of his mind and demands a recount. Headmaster Charleston is like ok I just recounted and you still lose. Your project was in the running. Richard is like it's not my project, it's theirs! Charleston is like well they're not the one causing a scene, you are and he storms out.

Unfortunately, it's also Friday night dinner. When they get there, it's clear that Emily has had herself a day. She says that Richard hasn't come out of his room since he got home. Lorelai tells Emily that maybe Richard should go to therapy. Emily isn't having it. WE DON'T GO TO THERAPY! Just then, Richard comes out of his study and he seems perfectly fine. He has news - he doesn't want to be retired.

They head back to Stars Hollow and Rory asks to be dropped off in town. She'll call Dean later.

But when Lorelai gets home, Dean is there and he says "she's in love with Jess, isn't she" and Lorelai doesn't know what to say.

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It's Festive Friday and we've got a legal-minded holiday romance!

ABOUT ASPEN CHRISTMAS CONSPIRACY

Justin, a lawyer, clashes with social worker Mercedes over a prosecution case, leading to romance, conflict, and a shared quest for justice.

AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR ASPEN CHRISTMAS CONSPIRACY

November 25, 2025 | Streaming

CAST & CREW OF ASPEN CHRISTMAS CONSPIRACY

Director: Graham Northrup

Writer: Graham Northrup

Cast:

Lyon Hamill as Justin

Maura Fawley as Mercedes

BRAN'S MOVIE SYNOPSIS

Mercedes is a social worker who is helping one of her clients - an elderly woman named Darla - deal with the growing uncertainty of the future of her trailer park, Shady Vista.



We then meet Justin - a lawyer who is leaving his current firm in Texas and moving to Aspen, Colorado, where the snow is snowy and the montages are montagey. He's moving in with a roommate...it's Mercedes! They see each other for the first time and the sparks start to SPARKKKKK. They both try to impress each other but it ends with spicy food and a trip to get ice cream.



That night, someone with a wrench shows up at Shady Vista and turns off the water. Darla heads out to figure out what the heck is up. She goes out and padlocks the meter. Well, apparently you can't do that and she ends up getting arrested when she refuses to take the locks off.



The next day in court, guess who the state's attorney is - it's Justin. As he's giving his opening statement where he makes it clear he wants them to throw the book at her, Mercedes comes in and she's shocked to hear him talk this way. Darla believes there's a conspiracy afoot - the city is trying to force her to sell. Justin thinks that's laughable.



Afterwards, Mercedes gives Justin a piece of her mind and then tries to kill him on the ski slopes.



So Darla is definitely correct about her conspiracy theory, especially after someone shows up and tries to blow up Shady Vista's pipes.



He ends up looking into the situation and realizes that the company that is wanting to buy Shady Vista has been paying this guy, Bruce, to do all this stuff.



Mercedes and Justin argue about how to handle this situation. Mercedes wants to work with Bruce to take the bad guys down. Justin is like Bruce is the bad guy. Ultimately they make up and make out.



They do some digging and figure out that the company didn't actually hire Bruce - rather, a lawyer that they hired to make the deal happen by any means necessary. That lawyer? JUSTIN'S OLD BOSS! The company is like we didn't mean criminal when we said any means necessary! They get him arrested.



And then Justin and Mercedes go to a wedding and he ends up proposing.

Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtube
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