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Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968)
We'll miss him
February 27, 2003-
I have just now heard the sad news of Fred Rogers' death from stomach cancer at age 74. It came as more of a blow than I would have expected.
I can add nothing new to the accolades heaped on his program. While some would draw divisive contrasts between his show and other children's educational programming, I can only say that "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" was as important to my development at a certain age as any others. Sandwiched (in my PBS market) between "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company" (both of which I also adored) on weekday afternoons, it was the first television show I responded to, and the first of the three I outgrew. For very young children, there was no more valuable an introduction to the use of one's imagination.
His shows are in the vault, and his work will live on, for now, but I know that as time wears on, he will gradually fade from public consciousness, as reruns of the show fail to get scheduled. Sad but perhaps inevitable.
Mr. Rogers helped raise me. My childrens' upbringing will be the poorer for lack of that nurturing.
Exiled (1998)
Had a great time
My wife and I are rabid Law and Order fans, so when they reran this the other week on my day off, I was excited to see it for the first time. I think the series is generally as good as ever overall (some ups and downs), but I agree with several other reviewers here that the classic years were those with Chris Noth and Jill Hennessy.
I have to say, having skipped it when it premiered, I really enjoyed the film. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to see the familiar settings with a new pair of eyes (Noth's), to the point that I could forgive it some character inconsistencies (e.g., I had a hard time recognizing Lenny Briscoe). It also explained for me where Profaci went (other than over to the Sopranos).
Some remarks on comments by other viewers:
1) The latina maid
The numerous cast changes this series has undergone has given ample opportunity to show that cops don't like having to work with new partners. Logan didn't know there would be a spanish-speaking maid, and he didn't know Rey, so why would he bring him along?
Also, I can't speak for New York, which I wouldn't be surprised to find has a realistic policy for dealing with multilingualism, but we must remember that the L&O franchise is overseen by Dick Wolf from Los Angeles. Here in Occupied Mexico, a shocking number of the non-latino minority (particularly cops) display what I can only describe as clueless pride in knowing NO spanish whatsoever.
2) Staten Island
Having never been there, I can't speak to the endless disdain other New Yorkers express toward S.I. as a boring backwater. It's immaterial to the plot, however. From early on in the movie, it's made clear that the reason Logan is working petty crimes is that in his banishment, HE WAS NOT ASSIGNED TO HOMICIDE. 'Kay?
If you are a huge Law & Order fan, I recommend catching this film when it comes around again. Otherwise, I don't know what your interest would be.
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Painfully Awful
I remember it like it was yesterday...
This film arrived at the tail end of the eighties. The spin doctors of the time implied to us that the nineties were going to be some grand orgy of sex, drugs, violence, and detatchment, and films tried to jump the gun on all this. Many filmgoers, especially critics, seemed to be engaged in a kind of "extreme viewing" competition. If you could sit through the most vile hunk of garbage and comment artistically on it at the end, you apparently scored points. If you couldn't, well, you probably didn't belong in the theaters during this daring new wave of creativity.
"The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover" was controversial at the time because the MPAA would not give it an "R", forcing it to be released with no rating, with the result that many theaters would not show it (it was actually this film that inspired the creation of the NC-17 rating). Critics howled that our conservative and antiquated rating system was preventing the mature filmgoing public from seeing important work suitable for adults only. It generated huge publicity. People went to it just to see if it was as daring and artistic as it sounded.
Confession: I lost points on this one. I've seen over 1000 films, of all budgets, genres and nationalities. I've groaned my way through hundreds of terrible works, films that offended me to my core, all the way to the end, in the name of some artistic dedication.
This is the ONLY film I have ever attended theatrically where I stood up from my seat, kissed my money goodbye, and walked out, reminding myself that it was a small price to pay for such a valuable lesson: I'd been had.
Read the descriptions of other reviewers that spoil bits of the plot. Tell yourself that this film is worth checking out because there has to be SOME redeeming quality to it. Waste your cash.
It's not well produced or well acted enough to be art, not fun enough to be a decent gross-out film, not important enough to make it worth sitting through.
It's just a well-marketed piece of crap.