A Bone to Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery (2015)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Awesome Movie

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Being English, the title of this movie threw me at first... "The Aurora Teagarden" sounds like a place you would go for a nice cuppa cha while sitting in beautiful floral surroundings... But no "Aurora Teagarden" is the name of the leading character - poor girl.That aside, this is a good way to pass an hour and a half. Aurora "Roe" Teagarden, played nicely by Candace Cameron Bure. is a member of a mystery group dedicated to "Real Murders". One of the members, Jane Eagles (Barbara Wallace), invites Roe round to her house so she can borrow a book on female killers, as this had been her "Real Murder" discussion subject. A few days later she learns of Jane's death and is surprised to find herself in the will as the beneficiary of her house. It's when she finds the hidden human skull that a mystery starts to reveal itself to her... and her friends...It's hard to say why I enjoyed this film because some things annoyed me, such as Lexa Doig's character, Sally Allison, who is grating on the nerve and at times I wondered why the two were friends, let alone besties. This isn't Doig's fault though as she did a more than an admirable portrayal of a strong, independent, and intelligent woman on Andromeda. But here, she's not such a likable character. Though that may be the strong point of this series as it's not relying on characterisations as much as others do in this genre; they're a little more like everyday people, rather than "feel-good" representations.Another thing which was annoying was how simple the mystery was, I had pretty much had it solved at the skull, as I would think most would since previous scenes are so heavy handed at giving you the clues. I couldn't really believe that it took Roe so long to figure it out. This is more like a Columbo movie as it's not really about the mystery it's more about the trip to get to the reveal. At least there's still some mystery here, unlike Columbo.All of the cast give a solid and equal performance and portray their characters well; none outshines any of the others. Director Martin Wood does a nice job of keeping the pace steady throughout, which works well with this type and style of story.If you like your characters to be more "normal" in your mystery movies then you will like this; if you don't mind about the easy solve mystery because you prefer the drama more then this will really be your cuppa cha'. At least worth one viewing... on a wet and miserable day - English Summertime - when you can't make it out into the Teagarden.

An Aurora Teagarden Mystery: A Bone to Pick from 2015 is my first foray into these mysteries after seeing some of the Garage Sale Mysteries.The Garage Sale Mysteries have antiques and collectibles going for them, as well as the familiar face of Lori Loughlin.I admit not being familiar with Candace Cameron Bure as an adult actress. She's a little too cutesy for me and makes faces, but she's pretty and has lots of energy. Marilu Henner plays her mother, and the rest are Canadian actors, some of whom are pretty good.The plot concerns an elderly friend of Aurora who dies and leaves the librarian and amateur sleuth her house. The house is broken into, so Aurora attempts to find out what someone was looking for, and finds a skull with a hole probably made by a blunt instrument.Being a member of a mystery club, Aurora starts her own investigation, not telling the police about the skull. When the body is found, the police become involved. Unfortunately, the detective is the pregnant wife of Aurora's old boyfriend.The woman who wrote the Aurora Teagarden books, Charlaine Harris, also wrote True Blood. She has quite a range! This is lighter than air, unoffensive entertainment at least in the TV movie adaptation.Realize that you're getting into a Hallmark movie, not Citizen Kane, and you won't be disappointed.

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

Librarian and amateur sleuth Aurora Teagarden's elderly friend dies and leaves Aurora her house. After a break-in, Aurora starts poking around the old house and discovers the skull of a murder victim. She begins investigating the crime but this puts her at odds with the police, including the detective assigned to the case -- who just happens to be the pregnant wife of Aurora's ex-boyfriend.This is based on a book from a series written by Charlaine Harris, the author of the books True Blood is based off of. Don't worry (or get your hopes up?), this is nothing like True Blood. Haven't read the books so I can't compare but this is a light, upbeat mystery with some humor and even a hint of (completely sexless) romance with a minister. It's Candace Cameron Bure and Hallmark. You didn't expect Hannibal Lecter to show up, did you? A cop pointing a gun at someone says "get your dang hands in the air." So yeah, I think it's safe to call this 'family friendly.'Candace is likable and pretty as usual. The rest of the cast is good. Fairly typical for TV movies -- mostly little-known Canadian actors with a couple of recognizable standouts (TV vet Marilu Henner and the lovely Lexa Doig). Henner is enjoyable as the mom meddling in her daughter's love life and Doig is fun as the sidekick who gets most of the good lines. The scenes between Candace and Lexa are the movie's highlights. Altogether it's a fun movie. Nothing challenging but entertaining. I imagine fans of the books will be more critical than those like me who aren't familiar with the source material. If you're a fan of the kinds of movies Candace makes, you'll most likely enjoy this.