Category: Emmy Nominee/Winner

When Bill Murray’s live Christmas special is cancelled because of a massive snowstorm, various celebrities help him cope with the disappointment. It’s firmly a riff on celebrity Christmas specials of the past and enjoyment relies solely on how much the viewer appreciates an array of ‘coincidental’ celebrity cameos where everyone breaks out in song at the drop of a hat. Some parts work better than others with my favorite bits including the large group Fairytale of New York sing-along and Murray light-heartedly performing Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin with George Clooney as backup.   

Years before the release of Toy Story comes this Jim Henson-produced Christmas tale of toys who talk and move, but only when humans aren’t around. As last year’s celebrated new toy, Rugby the tiger is looking forward to this year’s holiday until he discovers that there is a new space toy waiting under the tree. The characters here are a bit creepy looking, particularly when they are humanoid, and the incredibly sad plot line that mobile toys discovered by humans become frozen forever makes this not a regular watch for me. It does work as a shorter and more heartfelt version of Toy Story, so it’s a good stand-in for that film especially at Christmas time.  

As a 1980s made for television film, this is noted for being one of the first to deal with the topic of AIDS, particularly for a mainstream audience. Aidan Quinn is a closed gay attorney living in Chicago with his partner. After an illness takes a turn for the worse and he discovers that he is HIV positive and that his partner had cheated on him, he travels back to his family home, coming out to them simultaneously regarding his sexual identity and his medical diagnosis. It’s a bit of a sanitized version for what many were experiencing at the time, but they do a fairly good job of providing medical information, particularly through Terry O’Quinn’s doctor character, and pulling away from blaming any one individual. There’s also a great supporting cast in his family members (Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, Sylvia Sidney) who provide a mirror to the complicated feelings loved ones, particularly those accustomed to being bigoted on the subject, can experience and how even allies can turn their backs unexpectedly.

I watched this film, based on the Stephen King novel about a supernatural murdering clown who terrorizes the children of Derry, just for the cast. Tim Curry is perfectly wonderful as the clown Pennywise. The horror is mostly not there, but having a creature that only appears to those who believe in it has some powerful psychology. I enjoyed the bits of bonding between the outcasts of the Losers’ Club as children in the 1960s, but really loved them as adults rediscovering that bond. And that cast of adults is great: John Ritter, Tim Reid, Harry Anderson, Richard Thomas, Annette O’Toole, and Richard Masur. It’s definitely TV level fare, but not a bad way to spend 3 hours even with some goofy special effects.  

As the titular character, Sally Field is a young woman who, with the help of her psychiatrist played by Joanne Woodward, discovers that her body harbors at least sixteen other personalities. Aside from obvious commercial breaks, it’s hard to believe that this was made for television. I really enjoyed the creative ways the personalities were shown to being distinct. Field is incredible portraying them all differently, from a self-assured French woman to a pre-lingual baby, while also presenting Sybil herself as a complete, unique character who goes from not even knowing that there are others inside her to full integration with all the personalities. Woodward is also wise and kind in leading Field’s various characters through coming to terms with the events in her life. I love that Joanne was cast in that role after herself starring in The Three Face of Eve.

While technically a miniseries, the version I watched was one DVD long and under 3 hours so seems close enough to be included here. The pacing on the set is a bit odd, spending a good chunk at the beginning on Oprah Winfrey’s character and all her life experiences that led to her living on Brewster Place before finally bringing in stories of the other women. I really enjoyed the portrayals of the various women of different ages and experiences and how they interacted with each other and their environment. There is amazing talent throughout the cast, including Cicely Tyson, Leon, Mary Alice, and Lonette McKee. I had a really hard time figuring out in which era the production was supposed to be set. There were some parts that seemed like a nod to the 1960s but the rest all seemed of the modern era. The ending is atrocious and unfortunately leaves a bad taste after superb earlier acts. I wish there was a way to reshoot those last couple of scenes to make for a perfect film.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Alan Rickman and Yasiin Bey in this HBO film about heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas. It’s a fairly standard biopic portraying the years long partnership of the two, but also does a decent job of detailing the numerous racial injustices Thomas experienced as ‘just’ a researcher. There are a handful of small, mostly underutilized roles played by some strong actors, like Kyra Sedgwick, Mary Stuart Masterson, Merritt Wever, and Gabrielle Union, but the film is really between Rickman and Bey.

This HBO production made me exceptionally glad I live in a right to die state. It follows Jack Kevorkian during the most famous parts of his medical career. He’s a peculiar character and Al Pacino does quite the work to bring his personality to the screen. It becomes fairly obvious how Kevorkian was both the best and worst representative for the assisted suicide movement and the witch hunt that the Michigan government pursued against him. Pacino is joined in the film by a number of strong performances (John Goodman, Danny Huston, Susan Sarandon) portraying many of Jack’s closest supporters.