Lawbolisted Powerful

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Reno Rangan Another year, another November, it's time to pick a new film series and I have chosen Aurora Teagarden. This is a fictional character based on the series of a crime novel published in the last three decades. The book series is not over yet. There are ten books total for now, but only six films were made so far. All of them a television production, made for Hallmark channel.They have chosen a second book to open the account for a new film franchise. I haven't read the original source, but I did not find any difficulties in the introduction of the characters. Once I watch the next film, which was actually based on the first book, I'll know the reason why. It all started off nice and slowly. Aurora is divorced young woman, works in a library. Decent life with one best friend, rent paying mother and people likes her. She's enthusiastic in unsolved crimes. A member in one of those kind of clubs where people gather and talk about stuffs.So it all begins when an old woman died and leaving behind all the wealth and property to her. They were never known well each other, but soon she finds there something behind it. Then she discovers a potential evident. And using that, she tries to find what actually happened and who did. The attempt fails, though she never gives up. Finally decides to go on an alternate way where the truth must come out. Does it all go accordingly! And how the rest of the story progresses were told with a twist.❝Reading it won't help you solve every mystery, but it might help with one or two.❞There's a difference between cops solving crimes and ordinary people doing the same. Aurora is not one of those ordinary women. She just misplaced with her profession. Even her ex husband was a cop. That tells why they had married in the first place, even though they never truly loved one another. Despite her passion to solve the crimes, seems nobody around her encouraging enough. That's including her best friend and her own mother. Then there is no give-up attitude, that makes her to take wild decisions, not worrying about the consequences.Being a crime-mystery, they have included some nice moments. Overall decently written. Nothing like that you haven't seen them before. But interests enough to hook up for an 80 minute. Especially for a television quality, it passes. But, there's no clear picture what was the objective. Was it a murder-mystery or any other crime. Yes, the opening few seconds had given a big clue, but the real crime scene was never revealed in pictures like how it all happened. I was very curious to see it rather hear about it. That's why I watch films instead of reading books.It was just a first film, fairly familiarised the universe. Going to the second, surely I would find more comfortable. Especially anticipating other characters to contribute in the main story stream. Not everything's about the crime, I hope the romance part would be progressed well in the following films. As usual the television world is ruled by women, this is also a woman oriented tale. But for all ages. Just don't expect big, like Hollywood level. This little Canadian film definitely worth a watch.7/10

jeannel2003-618-511281 I am a mystery buff (favorite authors include Sue Grafton, Paretsky, Kellerman (Faye), Braun, Evanovich, Cannell, Christie, George and Hammett) who enjoys a wide range of genres. I appreciate cozies because they offer relief from blood, gore and rough language and usually are very witty. Thus, I enjoy the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries offering of the Aurora Teagarden installments. I have not read these books, but the movies are fun and uplifting. I also love romance and there's some of that in these movies as well. The series launches with "A Bone to Pick," which focuses on a mysterious inheritance for our heroine, consisting of a house, a human skull and murder mystery to solve. While Aurora ("Roe" to her friends) is a librarian she is also a passionate member of the Real Murders Club, so she is a dedicated amateur sleuth who is not above circumventing the law on occasion to solve a murder mystery. This, of course upsets her proper and professional mother who is a well-known real estate broker with her own successful agency and hates the Real Murders Club; her best friend, who is a newspaper reporter; her former boyfriend who is a detective along with his very pregnant detective wife who is no fan of Roe's; and the police captain who is even less a fan. However, Roe has an ally, another who is also a member of the Real Murders Club and who is in love with Roe's mother, who hates the Club. Roe's mother also is interested in helping her daughter to find "Mr. Right," and settle down. So we have a fun and feisty collection of characters against which background Roe sets out to solve the murder mystery she inherited.

Robert W. Okay I am well aware that I am not the demographic for this film. I also had very meagre expectations given it is a Hallmark film, stars Candace Cameron-Bure, and was being turned into a Hallmark series. Those things in and of itself don't make this a bad film. Hallmark can be entertaining in a very cheesy way. I watched this with my 70+ year old mother because I knew it would be squeaky clean and perhaps fun. Clean yes but this was the furthest thing from fun. The film had no chemistry anywhere. It was plainly dull, made no sense and by the time the "mystery" was unravelling, I literally didn't care. I couldn't even tell you the ending now because it was completely and utterly forgettable. It is quite simply a miracle that this sort of D-Movie making gets made and watched and serialized. Its silly. I'm desperately trying to find some good points because I am all for clean movies that are for certain demographics but there just wasn't anything enjoyable about this at all. I'm actually amazing that this came from a series written by Charlaine Harris, while I've never read anything from her, this doesn't seem to fit the style.I like Candace Cameron-Bure, I'm a HUGE Full House fan but I've never really seen her in much else. She does have some chemistry but this role is so silly and simple that she can't seem to really give it enough to make it captivating. The best thing I can say is that she is the highlight of this cast because literally everyone else is completely and utterly forgettable. The most talented name in the group is Marilu Henner and she is completely underused as Cameron-Bure's mother. Another reviewer said that they were setting up these characters for future instalments but I didn't see any set up here. This was a film made with the absolute bare minimum in everything. They squeaked by and squeaked it out to make a little money which is Hallmark's thing really.Martin Wood is far from a newcomer in the director and producer's chair. He has been working on Television for ages and has done a lot of Science Fiction which begs the question why he took this on? And more-so it begs the question as to why this wasn't made with far more care than it was. I think the problem is I'm over-analyzing a Hallmark production. I've only seen a few but they all have the exact same earmarks and are made for a list of reasons that don't translate to great movies. I certainly won't be tuning in to any future instalments of this series. I'll wait for Fuller House for my dose of Candace Cameron-Bure. 3/10

boo288 Here we have yet another movie made in Canada, pretending to be the United States.There's also the star, a 39 year-old woman, pretending to be 17, and a good detective.Everyone in this movie acts other-worldly "Cute," including the men. The entire upper middle-class town is just too perky and cute. The predominately white folks have immaculately clean homes and gardens. They posture, deliver perky lines and act like the Stepford wives and husbands. There's not a bit of clutter in any of their homes (or someone would mistake it for a real town and not a movie set.With the cute name of "Aurora Teagarden", she has to be called something cuter, so call her "Roe." She's something of an older and plumper Barbie doll with unsuitable clothing for a mature woman her age, perfect makeup and a beautifully made up Braid. At one point she buys a dreary green-colored dress which clings to her stomach and between her legs. Everyone who sees her goggles at her in this drab dress and gives her lavish praise on how good she looks! At this point my daughter, age 13, practically fell on the floor laughing.The police force is so stupid that it takes the bumbling of an amateur to find the real killer. Of course it's because she breaks multiple laws, such as breaking-and-entering and tampering with evidence. She even plants some. Everyone she knows warns her not to get involved but she gives off a sweet smile and totally ignores good advice.So what to do? Use evidence as "bait" to trap the killer.Not to worry....it's a Cozy mystery and she'll be back. Otherwise, it would stop being cute (and remotely realistic).