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Reviews
Maggie (2015)
A meditation upon life
Having begun my own journey of more freely allowing myself to empathize with others, I was surprised at how deeply this movie touched me. More than once I found myself imagining the pain and horror that characters must have felt (the terror of being bitten, the self loathing after an incident with a small creature), as well as the intense desire to live (being with friends). Perhaps with current events (see date stamp for a globally recognizable context), the thought of quarantine and losing loved ones allowed this film to settle into me more than it might have when it was first released. During the viewing, I wondered what it would be like to face, as the necroambulists in this film did, a roughly two-week life expectancy. Thus I itched to hasten to the end of the film to plan my purging of things I do not need and would hate to leave to others to sift were I to die in two weeks; itched to prioritize things I would like to and need to do before I myself face the unexpected. And yet I did not want the film to end; a meditation on life, yes, a meditation on the love we feel for our children, our parents, our friends; an acknowledgement that when we are faced with death, we can love others by doing what is most painful for us. Why it took a film to do this when my context could not, I cannot fully answer. It may be that our isolation from one another made me forget others' value while this film brought that value and brevity and sacredness into my living room.
This is a thoughtful, if not completely rewatchable, film which within my context gives me an enormous amount of hope. Hope for me - hope for you.
The Downer Channel (2001)
I hate to say this, but- no I don't, I don't mind saying this at all. I like this show.
This show reminds me of SCTV with John Candy and Catherine O'Hara, only... funnier. Variety, sketches, oddball humor, I love that stuff. I like this show. I'm not terribly fond of the real people on the street, but I really liked the takeoff on Antiques Roadshow. I like Jeff Davis from "Whose Line is it Anyway" (he's quite ripping, by George, spiffing great stuff, that), and Wanda Sykes is quite the goofball herself.
This is a corking good show, chaps. I'm glad it's on, and I wish there was more of the likes of it on TV.
Have a crummy week!
Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999)
In a word, marvelous.
This show was absolutely hilarious. I sat there, watching it, laughing my rear off every three seconds. I regretted not recording it when it was on Fox. I can't even tell you how hilarious it was. Does it have schmaltz, you ask? that terrible plot ploy that has made several family films into absolute terrors to watch? Heck no! It's simply a funny, adroit film that should be on everyone's shelf. Watch it. 'Nuf said.