It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Urkel

Since our last Christmas with the Winslows, the opening credits of Family Matters has gone from nine to ten credited actors. In season four, the underappreciated Waldo Geraldo Faldo was bumped up to the main cast, although he does not appear in this episode. Telma Hopkins, who played Aunt Rachel, would no longer be a full-time cast member after season four, though she would still return to the show from time to time. Judy Winslow, played by Jaimee Foxworth, would be written off the show after season four. And, like Chuck Cunningham, Judy would never really be mentioned again. Even though I feel bad for the actor, it's hardly surprising that they would drop Judy from the cast. She appears at the beginning and end of the episode, but she doesn't have any lines. With Richie getting all of the precocious kid material, there's really nothing left for Judy. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Urkel" takes a page from the It's a Wonderful Life playbook. Laura gets a visit from her guardian angel after she hurts Steve's feelings for the millionth time. Tyrone, her angel, shows Laura what it would be like if her and Steve's roles were reversed. In the angel's vision, Steve becomes Steve Winslow while Laura becomes the nerdy neighbor Laura Urkel. Tyrone gives Laura the chance to go back and be nicer to Steve, resulting in her inviting Steve to spend Christmas Eve with the Winslows. It's not groundbreaking television by any means, but Kellie Shanygne Williams does a great job in nerd form.

Rating: Crystal Vase%

It's a Wonderful Life

There's nothing new I could tell you about It's a Wonderful Life. It has been praised and parodied for decades. And it has been dissected and discussed to the nth degree. What I can tell you is that, if you like old movies, it's definitely worth a watch. It's a movie brimming with post-war optimism. It's a tribute to the honest, hard working, salt of the earth, American everyman. And they couldn't have cast a better lead. It's one of the quintessential Jimmy Stewart movies. His performance practically carries the entire film. Donna Reed and Thomas Mitchell are also very good in the movie. It may be too earnest or melodramatic for some, but that's probably part of the reason why the movie has endured. It's a very uncynical movie.

Rating: 74%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Hellraiser

This movie is about a magical box that whisks its users away to a fanciful dimension where pleasure is pain and pain is pleasure and gumdrops are, like, scarabs I guess and rainbows are the screams of a thousand dying soldiers. A girl's uncle gets the box and then these painlovers, cenobites, rip him apart with some chains but he manages to escape and needs fresh blood to get his body to not just be guts or whathaveyou so he gets his lover/brother's wife to kill people for him. Eventually (practically the whole movie later) the cover dude, Pinhead, and his cenobite pals show up and save the day. I had this movie as a kid on one of those bargain cassettes where the movie would be recorded in EP to save the company money so I always thought it was bland and boring as a result of the tape quality, but to be honest it was kind of bland and boring even in hi-def. A+ for mythos building, D+ for execution.

RATING: 58%