Russellings

Miscellaneous musings from the perspective of a lefty (both senses) atheist with a warped sense of humor.

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Location: Madison, WI, United States

I am a geek, but I do have some redeeming social skills. I love other people's dogs, cats, and kids. Snow sucks, but I'm willing to put up with it just to live in Madison.

Friday, December 26, 2008

But suppose you really WANTED to see a holiday movie ...

Short-attention-span synopsis: Best film of the holiday season.

Marley & Me (PG, 2:00) — 9

I felt bad having to deliver the news about what a poor crop of SF&F films you have to pick from this holiday season, so let me make it up to you by giving a totally unqualified recommendation for Marley & Me! It's not science fiction. Heck, it's barely fiction at all, since it's drawn from the real-life experiences of newspaper columnist John Grogan, his wife Jen, their kids, and their yellow labrador retriever, Marley, "the worst dog in the world".

I do some database work for the Wisconsin Academy of Graduate Service Dogs, and I have to say that Marley would have washed out of the academy in 15 minutes. He'd be a terrible service dog, but he makes a wonderful friend.

This film is utterly realistic. It never strikes a forced or false note. There are lots of laffs, but they all arise organically out of real life. John and Jen are good, decent people (like virtually all Americans), and they behave naturally, without any visible "acting". It's a little slice of Americana. If a big-budget spectacular like Benjamin Button had been able to muster a quarter of the heart of this modest film, they'd already be rolling Oscar's red carpet up to its front door.

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