What Time and What Channel Does Highway to Heaven Come on
Highway To Heaven was Michael Landon's concluding series; for four years, he and Victor French rode around the state giving heavenly assistance to those in need. Now the popular series is being revived every bit a series of Lifetime movies. This fourth dimension, Jill Scott plays Angela, an angel of a unlike sort than Landon'south Johnathan Smith. Read on for more.
HIGHWAY TO Heaven: STREAM It OR SKIP It?
The Gist: Angela Stewart (Jill Scott) walks into a middle school in Bedrock, Colorado, looking to fill a temporary opening for a guidance counselor. The primary, Bruce Brooks (Barry Watson) loves her credentials, but wonders why she's applying for a temporary spot. But he hires her, and right abroad she'southward put into service to assist Cody Grier (Ben Daon), a bright 8th-grader who has been doing cipher simply getting himself in trouble since his mother died the year before.
We already know that Angela has help from "the boss," who does things like help flowers bloom when she looks at them. And then she tries to get Cody to open upward almost how his mother's death has affected him. She gives him a ride dwelling house in order to introduce herself to his dad Jeff (Robert Moloney). He's a chef who was going to open a eating house with Cody's mother Melissa (Ashley Ross), and never revisited those plans later she died. He has put all signs of Melissa in a utility room closet, thinking that's the best for Cody.
Through several of Angela's actions, she discovers that Cody wants to come across these things, and in the process of getting the closet open, a bunch of former vacation presents spill out. One of the latest ones has the return accost of a math tutoring website. He is failing math, so she signs him up. There, he is taught by a 12-yr-former prodigy named Kaia (Sasha Rojen).
As she probes Cody and Jeff to find out more about why the 2 of them take both shut down in their own ways, she arranges Kaia and Cody to meet in person and create a robot for a school robotics tournament. It'south there that Cody sees the same photo of his female parent that he saw in the utility room closet.
This is when he finds out for the offset fourth dimension that Kaia is his cousin and that Kaia'southward mom, Vanessa (Victoria Bidewell), used to be close to his mom until her initial cancer diagnosis when he was a baby. Later on Vanessa panicked and abased Melissa, Jeff cutting off contact.
In the concurrently, Angela and Barry are speedily becoming buddies. After a fun 24-hour interval at the "batting field," as she calls it, they go back to her apartment (but for him to use the bathroom), and he sees that there is no baggage or anything else; this is later he couldn't find her on the alumni list of the college where she said she went.
This is when she admits to Barry that she'due south an angel, sent not only to help out Cody but also Barry. Of form, Barry doesn't believe her, and looks to fire her after he witnesses her using Cody's school e-mail to invite his aunt and cousin to the tournament. Will he come around, and will Angela be able to bring Cody's family dorsum together?
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: While this is a remake of Michael Landon'sHighway To Heaven, which ran from 1984-89, this new version of the series feels a piffling more likeTouched Past An Angel, for reasons nosotros'll explain beneath.
Performance Worth Watching: Jill Scott is incredibly charming equally the perpetually positive Angela. She doesn't make the role too saccharine, and gives her celestial grapheme a lot of heart and just the right corporeality of wiseacre attitude to brand her every bit homo equally whatsoever of the human characters in the picture show.
Memorable Dialogue: Nosotros kept fixating on the "1996 BASEBALL" pennant behind Barry's desk. We know he was on the baseball team of his college, and almost went pro. But that pennant is and then generic, we wonder why they didn't cheer "YAY SPORTS!" at some point during the movie.
Sex and Peel: None. The film is rated TV-M, and is definitely OK for kids 7 and up.
Our Take: This new Highway To Heaven serial, written by Angelica Chéri and Cathryn Humphris — Landon's estate produces it along with Scott and Howard Braunstein — is intended to be the commencement of a series of movies on Lifetime. It'due south pretty obviously an introduction to Angela, Barry, and how the ii came to work together to give people around the country some heavenly assistance in their troubled lives.
The xc-minute film (without commercials) establishes this origin story well, only for the nigh part, the story'southward throwback experience made us just want to watch the reruns of Landon's version again. It'south such a lightweight story, despite the fact that it involves a dead mother, a disaffected teenager, and an estranged sister, that without the amuse of Scott and her chemistry with Watson tying information technology down, it would float out of our memories nearly instantly.
One thing we have to go out of the manner before we continue: This version ofHighway To Sky comes dangerously close to perpetuating the trope where a "magical" Black person comes and gives wise counsel and aid to a largely white cast. Well-nigh of the time, information technology'due south a supporting role player. But here, it'due south the star. Scott's aura and free energy overcome this trope, and we hope subsequent films accept more than various casts, but the unfortunate choice to make the rest of the bandage by and large white may invite some backlash.
And another thing: Where is some of this "magic" that Angela is using, where she can ship emails, make flowers blossom or shut and lock doors without touching them? Is this the same as "The Stuff" that Landon's angelic character had at his disposal? It feels like Angela has more direct "powers" than Johnathan Smith did, which makes the bear witness experience more mystical, akin toTouched By An Angel than the more down-to-earth Landon series.
Merely all that being said, if Scott and Watson can display the same chemistry that they did in this offset movie, the newHighway To Heaven volition still exist very watchable, despite what'south likely to be a broad quality swing for each story.
Our Telephone call: STREAM It. The newHighway To Heaven isn't highbrow by any ways, but it's good family unit entertainment, with a really winning lead performance by Jill Scott.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes virtually nutrient, entertainment, parenting and tech, only he doesn't kid himself: he'due south a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Visitor and elsewhere.
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Source: https://decider.com/2021/11/08/highway-to-heaven-lifetime-review/
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