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IN THE
Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Page A—25
Hallmark Christmas movies have made a science of sentimentality '
KirkiBoxleitner I
kbox/eitner@masoncounty com
As much as I
want to see cin-
ema and television
provide venues for
avant-garde art
that challenges au-
diences, I’d be lying
if I tried to claim
that I don’t also en-
joy entertainment
that aspires to be as
I formulaic as possi—
ble, in all the. most comforting ways,
which is why I love the Hallmark
Christmas TV movie genre without
any trace of irony.
When I lived in Europe and Ja-
pan, I took advantage of every oppor-
tunity to savor the local cuisine, but
sometimes, I just craved the plain
familiarity of an American-style fast-
food cheeseburger, and as much as I
revel in the more experimental out-
put of David Lynch and Cronenberg,
I will always be a mark for the Mar-
By KIRK
BOXLEITNE
”
DEN:
“THEATERS
vel Cinematic Universe’s superhero
formula.
That’s why I call it the Hallmark
Christmas TV movie “genre,” since
Hallmark has spent so many years
churning out multiple Christmas TV
movies per holiday season that its
writers have made a science out of
sentimentality.
It’s reached the point Where
streaming services such as Netflix,
and even full-fledged film studios
such as Universal, have been able
to appropriate and adapt the code
that the Hallmark Channel cracked
to begin with, with clever subver-
sions such as Netflix’s “A Christmas
Prince” and Universal’s “Last Christ-
mas.”
The platonic ideal of a Hallmark
Christmas TV movie is a nine-act
play starring a former child actress
you’re likely to recognize from the
19805 and/or 19905, engaging in
a meet-cute plot pairing an ambi-
tious, career-minded, big-city busi-
nesswoman with a more humble,
bestubbled, salt-of-the-earth handy-
man who’s a born-and-bred native of
Bremiér Road'o Shelton
360-426-4707
www.SkyLineDrive-ln.com
Gates Open 6:00 pm,
Show at 7:00pm
Showtimes for the week of 12/11 17
Friday 8: Saturday 12/11 & 12
Croods: A New Age (PG)
followed by
Half Brothers (PG-13)
"Sunday Switch"
Sunday 12/13
Half Brothers (PG-13)
followed by .
Croods: A New Age (PG)
V Monday, 12/14
PRIVATE RENTAL
Tuesday & Wednesday 12/15- 16
CLOSED
Thursday, 12/17
PRIVATE RENTAL"
whatever Christmas—themed small
town she suddenly finds herself stuck
in for the duration of the holidays.
'Candace Cameron Bure and her
costar from both “Full House” and
“Fuller House,” Jodie Sweetin, prob—
ably qualify as the reigning queens of
this particular roost, although Lacey
Chabert, who built her career on her
roles in “All My Children” and “Party
of Five,” has made a strong showing
of her own in the Hallmark stable.
My favorite, though, has to be
the fire-haired Alicia Witt, who ap-
peared in David Lynch’s “Dune” and
“Twin Peaks” before co-starring with
Cybill Shepherd in her 1990s sitcom‘
“Cybill,” since Witt infuses her per-
formances with a puckish playful-
ness and just a hint of mischievous
self-awareness — complete with a
smirk and a sparkle in her eye, akin
to the pinches of nutmeg and cinna-
mon that one should add to any good
eggnog or pbsset —— that a number of
her fellow female leads lack.
As, reductive as the formula might
sound, it’s like a haiku, or a tone
poem, or a three-chord song, in that
l" LUNHH ’.
lHHlHJH-r run 0
its limitations themselves become
part of the creative challenge that
makes the execution of the formula’s
latest iteration so faScinating.
Will our driven, no-nonsense lady
and her more rustic, take-it-easy
beau be complete strangers, or will
we learn that they grew up together,
before her desire to climb the corpo-
rate ladder took her away from her
festive, cozy hometown? .
Likewise, will it be the guy or the
gal who’s the single parent, either
via divorce or their spouse passing
away, to an adorable moppet who
still believes in Santa?
In more recent years, Hallmark
has gotten really daring with its for-
mula, by casting some of its female
leads as the keepers of their home-
towns’ Christmas cheer, charged
with melting the hearts of the hand-
somely square-jawed Scrooges who
would otherwise bulldoze over be—
loved local landmarks in the name of
industrial development.
see MOVIES, page A-26
Book now at
littlecreek.com
Ll‘T’I‘H}, (Emu
‘ CASINO'RESORT
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