Movie: Not Cinderella's Type (2018) **

I thought Not Cinderella's Type was going to be a gentle romantic cheesy movie, but it turned out be an after-school-special-like-film about emotional abuse with a storyline that went all over the place. Let me tell you how it went:

Girl's mom dies when she is little and her uncle and aunt, who already have two daughters, take her in.

Flash forward to 16: A boy runs over the cat her deceased mother gave her (That's the only thing left of her mother).

Boy tries to apologize, but she refused to hear him, so he kind of stalks her at school and beyond.

Boy asks her out, she considers.

When talking about boy to her bestie, she discovers that her male best friend thought they were boyfriend-girlfriend.

Seeing both boys at the same time.

Weird neighbor who never says anything all of a sudden calls her aunt to tattle that the girl is making out with male best friend on the soccer field.

She finally gets fed up with the mean uncle and aunt who treat her like a maid and she speeches at them about how mean they are to her.

Boy comes over and picks her up and takes her back to his house because his dad is certified to host foster kids.

After her uncle and aunt are investigated, she ends up living with boy and his family.

Male best friend failed to be there when she needed him, now he's in the friend zone.

Boy and her go to prom and start dating. Yes, she still lives in his house, but moved out to the pool house.

The end.

• Cheesy or sentimental: The production was cheap, but not cheesy. Its like they used the producer's house and maybe the director's parents' house for locations.
  
• Production value: Low
  
• Suspension of belief: High
  
• Trope: Cinderella-like story
  
• Diversity: Nope. Nada.
  
• Paranormal: None.
  
• Clownish character: None.

Rating: Not Fun; Two stars because I made it to the end **

I wasted on of my Hoopla credits to watch this. 

Movie: Love On the Rise (2019) *

Nineteen minutes in and not only am I bored, but I’ve come upon a storyline much like True Love Blooms. A local baker is working hard to make a name for herself when she meets a cute “waiter” at a wedding she created a cake for. Turns out the “waiter” is really a developer who was in the wrong place at the right time to meet her. It also turns out his development company is planning to bulldoze the building where her shop is so they can build condos. Her and her bestie plan a protest. This is where I pressed stop.
Love on the Rise is a Mar Vista production, meaning that it has a 85% chance of being a good quality b-level romance movie. This one was not. The writing was boring. The production looked and felt thrown together and I just didn’t like it.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Cheesy 
• Production value: Bad Mar Vista production 
• Suspension of belief: high 
• Trope: Enemies-become-lovers 
• Diversity: I didn't see any in the 19 minutes I watched. 
• Paranormal: None 
• Clownish character: None

Rating: Not Fun; One star*
I watched this on Hoopla.

Movie: Falling Inn Love (2019) **

Falling Inn Love It is about a woman who suddenly looses her job, then wins an inn in close order. The inn is in New Zealand and when she gets there she finds its in terrible disrepair and has way too much pride to hire the local, handsome contractor to help her to restore it. 

I've had this movie saved on my Netflix watchlist for a while as a potential movie for my spring romance movie marathon. When I finally watched it it was a slapstick silly mess with people rolling off beds, dropping things down stairs, an intrusive goat, and of course the standard shelf that falls when someone leans in it. The story was interesting and I was getting into the characters, but the silliness was way too distracting. I was supposed to be amused, but I was just greatly annoyed.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Cheesy
• Production value: Good Mar Vista production 
• Suspension of belief: high
• Trope: Enemies-become-lovers-ish. Like I said, the story was interesting and I haven't been able to identify a trope that fits this movie well. 
• Diversity: Afro-Latina lead, interracial gay couple. They represented!
• Paranormal: there was a mention of a ghost, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out if it played into the story. Although I suspect if i waited long enough the antagonist character would somehow fake a ghost so as to scare the main character away only to be foiled by the pesky goat. 
• Clownish character: About half the cast was silly and clumsy.

Rating: Not fun; Two stars **

I watched this movie on Netflix. 

Movie: True Love Blooms (2019) *

True Love Blooms is a Hallmark production about a happy woman named Vikki who loves plants and community. She runs a community garden and soon finds out the owner of the land has sold it to a developer who plans to build condos on the site. She meets the developer, Chase, played by Jordan Bridges, and clearly they are going to fall in love. She decides to get the other gardeners together to protest.
Boring acting, bad pacing, transitions between scenes were milder than jolting. The lines that are supposed to be kickers are so bad:

Vikki George: When I put my mind to something it usually happens.

Chace Devine: Well when I set my mind to something it happens as well.

Vikki: Well good! We have one thing in common.

Chace: Yes, but that means we have an impasse, too.

Vikki: But there a way over any impasse (she says with a confident smile as she walks out the door. He watches her leave with a smitten and impressed chuckle.)

At 27 minutes in I didn’t see any way this movie could improve so I pressed stop. I was sad it didn’t work out because I am a fan of Jordan Bridges.

• Cheesy or sentimental: Cheesy 
• Production value: Low-ball Hallmark 
• Suspension of belief: high 
• Trope: Enemies to Lovers 
• Diversity: colorful supporting characters 
• Paranormal: None 
• Clownish character: None 

Rating scale: Not Fun; One star*

I checked this DVD out from the library. 

TV: Yellowstone Season 2 (2019)***

John Dutton: If you find anything call the sheriff. We want everything by the book.
Kayce: I don’t know the book.
John Dutton: That’s why you call the sheriffs. It’s their book.

Despite this hilarious exchange, Yellowstone season 2 is not a comedy. At some points this show is as cheesy as I imagine a Hallmark-style drama would be, but especially, in this season, Yellowstone showed its good bones with good storytelling.
In season 2, the enemies that formed in season 1 have to come together to defeat a common foe. Plotting, assault, murder, militias, an armed posse, masked mercenaries and kidnapping abound.
Kevin Costner plays, John Dutton, the patriarch of the Dutton family, who at times struggles with being a good parent and ruthlessly keeping control of the ranch and land his family has owned in Montana for many years.
Cole Hauser plays Rip, the Dutton's ranch manager, and his scenes are the best. I've seen him on TV and in movies here and there, but in my mind his most memorable role is in Dazed and Confused, that is until Yellowstone. Hauser is impressive in this role as he has to go from cutthroat right-hand man in ranch-related matters to an orphan-born-of-a-violent-past longing for a father, then to a man standing by the woman he loves despite not being able to love her openly. Hauser carries this season.
Jaime Dutton, the sniveling and brooding son of John Dutton, is played by Wes Bentley. His scenes are the cheesiest and his storyline is almost detracting from the rest of the story. He is trying to be serious, but in TV reality, he's just a hot mess with several big secrets that are haunting him.
I finished watching Yellowstone season 2 and I was pleased. Season 1 was okay, but I'm invested and excited to see what happens next. I give it three stars*** because I want to continue watching and I wouldn't mind rewatching episodes of season 2. Read my review of season 1 here.
I checked DVDs of Yellowstone season 2 out from the library.