Better than most people think

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Great acting. Great storyline. A pretty good mystery for antique dealer Jennifer Shannon (Lori Loughlin) and her business partner Danielle (Sarah Strange) to sink their teeth into. There are also a few sub-plots that allow Ms. Loughlin's supporting cast to share the film's screen time with. Mrs. Shullivan and I thoroughly enjoy this family added value made for television film that ignores most of the other mainstream over glorified phony Mission Impossible action themed films with their over used CGI and plastic surgically induced bimbos that spew profanities in an effort to maintain their audiences attention.A robbery takes place at the opening of the film in which a handful of pristine large diamonds are stolen and shortly thereafter the two jewel thieves are murdered and the jewels are never recovered. Fast forward five years to the present time and at an auction of some commercial self storage containers where Shannon and Danielle outbid their competition for a storage container filled with "who knows what?"You guessed it, the mystery diamonds re-appear, the owner of the commercial storage units is murdered and the mystery killer is out to get their diamonds back, and Shannon and Danielle are smack dab in the middle of this fun mystery to solve. There is also a touching scene near the end of the film in which Shannon, her husband and son are digging for real buried treasure in a senior citizens front yard that is very touching.We loved this family mystery and therefore give this "diamond(s) in the rough"a perfect 10 out of 10 rating.

This is the second movie in the Garage Sale Mystery series, and while I enjoyed it, I had two big issues. The first is there is a different actor for the husband. Now I may not have even noticed if I watched these on the Hallmark channel, since there was some time in between before the second one came out, but since I watched them the same weekend, I noticed.I really enjoyed the dynamic between husband one and Jennifer a lot better. The new husband is much more protective of her, and not as helpful. Of course, this is just how the story was written, but it made for another reason why I don't like him as much. Hopefully in future episodes he chills out a bit.The other issue was that this one was just so easy to solve. There was really only two suspects, and early on the first suspect gets cleared (at least in my mind). In most cozies there at least four of so new characters every book that can be suspects, but when there's only two, it's not hard to figure out who the bad guy is. There was a little more mystery as to the Why?, but that was not hard to figure out either. And the other part that really annoyed me was the flashback to the words one of the characters said that was incriminating. I hate, hate, hate when shows dumb stuff down so much. I have stopped watching TV shows (Leverage and The Catch), because they dumbed them down so much.Even though the movie had these two big sticking points for me, I did still enjoy it. The acting was done well, especially Jenny, her son, and her business partner, Dani. I hope the future movies in this series have a stronger storyline. And I checked, the husband doesn't change again, so that's a good thing.

A whole lot of Canadian players got work in this inaugural Garage Sale TV movie All That Glitters. That is except for lead Lori Loughlin late of Full House. She's our protagonist whose eye for the valuable and even unexpected valuable looks like it will get her into trouble.Loughlin owns an eclectic store called Rags To Riches and it's built on the premise that people discard some really interesting and valuable things when they do spring cleaning. It's what makes her business, profitable, interesting and fun. She and partner Sarah Strange purchase the contents of a storage unit which is up for auction as the person who stored whatever there failed to pay the agreed upon fees.Later on though the manager of the storage unit location is murdered and that turns into the homicide that our antique dealer has to solve. Like that other female sleuth Jane Marple, she's up to the job. There is something truly valuable involved and it's hidden in a most ordinary place.There's also a side plot involving her son and the discovery of a pirate treasure map in another antique purchase. You never know what will turn up and I suspect this is the plot premise of the future Garage Sale movies.It looks like an enjoyable series.

Lori Loughlin, Sarah Strange, and Steve Bacic star in Garage Sale Mysteries: All That Glitters.The show opens in 2009 with a jewelry store robbery of diamonds by two people pretending to shop for an engagement ring like Kate Middleton's, except she wasn't engaged yet. I don't know - I'm a writer and I have to look up things all the time. You'd think someone would have verified that.Anyway, we fast forward five years later when Jennifer and Danielle (Loughlin and Strange) are shopping for collectibles and antiques for their store. Then they venture into bidding on storage units and win one. Then the owner of the storage place is killed, after Jennifer overhears an argument between him and a man. Their shop is burgled of costume jewelry. You begin to get the picture.I liked this. It moved at a good pace, I loved seeing all the antiques and collectibles, and the acting was okay. It sure beats Mystery Woman or Jane Doe, both of which move much more slowly. Looking forward to seeing more.