The Thanksgiving Film Fest Extended Cut

Folks had a lot of opinions about my lineup of movies for the self-hosted Thanksgiving Film Fest. Before I get into the suggestions for other movies to watch this week, I revisit a different tangent.

In July, I wrote about Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma in Monsters Galore. For readers who want the tl:dr on Monsters, author Claire Dederer considers artists who engage in monstrous behavior and whether we can continue to love their art. She reflects on who monsters are (think R. Kelly and now, Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs) and what constitutes monstrous behavior.

Currently, comedian Matt Rife is being “canceled” because of a domestic violence joke he makes at the beginning of his new comedy special. I’d never heard of Matt Rife until I read a review about handsome comedians written by Jason Zinoman. I tend to follow JZ’s recommendations because he’s an old friend and also he has the hardest writing job on the planet, which is writing about comedy without being insufferable and not-funny. I watched about 6 minutes of Matt Rife’s special and then shut it off because it was not funny. The DV joke wasn’t funny and neither was anything else. It also made me wonder about JZ’s opinion (handsome men could be funny). Matt Rife was neither handsome nor funny.

Anyway, I didn’t give Matt Rife a backward glance until this new brouhaha came to mind while I was listening to Johnny Cash’s album At Folsom Prison. Specifically, Matt Rife came to mind while I listened to Cocaine Blues, which is an absolute banger. One of the best songs on the album. It’s also about a man who “shot that bad bitch down” because “I thought I was her daddy but she had five more.” He was also helped along with the whiskey and cocaine he consumed before doing the deed.

Let me repeat: One of the best songs on the album. Sure, the narrator is penitent. He “hollers Lordy Lordy have mercy on me,” but that’s mainly because he gets 99 years in the penitentiary. So why is Johnny Cash not canceled but Matt Rife is? Is it because Johnny’s song is good and Matt’s joke is bad? Is it because, with hindsight, we know that Johnny was himself not an abuser and that the real point of the song is the reminder to “stay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be”? Should Matt Rife NOT be canceled because that’s precisely why he made the joke, so he can seem like the victim of the woke mob and make more money off the hate watchers and the Roganoids who love woke mob victims?

I really don’t have an answer to all of this. I just think it’s so interesting that my reaction to Johnny Cash is to belt it out with him every time I hear the song and my reaction to Matt Rife is (blah). There are a lot of Johnny Cash movies/documentaries and maybe I’ll watch one of them. But I’ve also never seen Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, so maybe I’ll watch that instead.

Okay, turning to The Film Fest. Let me say that this triggered A LOT of comments. Many of them were emails, some were phone calls. Got a few texts. People are jazzed for this film fest and have a lot of great ideas. I’m not grabbing links for all of these, because I trust all of you know how to use a search engine.

My sister sent me this list from Vanity Fair. Please note that they agree with me about Fantastic Mr. Fox. Also, I think Knives Out is a good suggestion.

From a friend in Massachusetts: He and his family will be rewatching Broadway Danny Rose and/or Hannah and Her Sisters. He argues that these Woody Allen classics transcend Allen’s personal monstrousness and are perfect for the holiday.

From my stepfather: Dances with Wolves and The Quiet Man (starring John Wayne). In fairness, this is my stepdad’s answer to any question about movie recommendations. He can also do the entire dialogue of The Outlaw Josey Wales, so if you can’t find it on streaming, give him a call.

From my friend/friend’s daughter: The Omen. Okay, this is a weird one. This is from a young woman (24) who is a cinephile. I haven’t seen this movie but there was a copy of the novelization of the movie at my grandparents’ house when I was a kid and I was scared of the pictures in the middle of the book, so I don’t think it’s a Thanksgiving movie. No horror movie is unless you are terribly estranged from your family, which this reader is not. Anyway, if you like old horror, The Omen is for you. The rest of you should read on.

From my uncle: The Dead of Night. This is a British film from 1945. I hadn’t heard of it so I read the Wikipedia entry. It’s a psychological thriller/horror movie. The only thing it shares with a Thanksgiving movie is that people are gathered together in a big house and weird shit goes down. But since it’s British it de facto cannot be a Thanksgiving movie. Our holiday is about being thankful for surviving our escape from Britain’s tyrannous shores.

These last two (somewhat exasperating, I’m not gonna lie) suggestions caused me to consider what the required characteristics are for inclusion in the film fest. Here’s what I came up with:

1. You’ve seen the movie often enough that you can dip in any time and know what’s happening;
2. Anyone entering the room in the middle will similarly be comfortable watching, whether they’ve seen it or not.
3. The inverse is also true: whether you’ve seen it or not, you’ll be comfortable watching it if you enter the room in the middle; or other people have seen it often enough that they’ll know what’s happening and can bring you up to speed.

Using these criteria, I’m adding The Muppet Movie to our big watch. It instinctively feels like a T-giving movie and indeed could be the substitute for those of you who don’t like Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Okay, I’ve beaten this horse to death pardoned these turkeys. One last thing. Even if this holiday has at its roots a terrible colonizing history, it’s still a good idea to pause and be grateful with/to the people you love for all the abundance we have in our lives. I am particularly grateful to you, my readers, whose very existence pushes me to keep writing. Thank you for opening this email or clicking this link. I am grateful that I can write, have the time and space to do it, and that it makes other people happy. Mwah! Have a great week and a happy Thanksgiving.