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Reviews
Born to Be Mild Starring Rita Rudner (1990)
Make Mine Mild
Rita Rudner has been steadily working as a comic for several decades now, never quite splashing in the mainstream spotlight but remaining consistently funny. Her slightly spacey delivery is perfectly suited to the joke, which you always suspect is just a bit on her as well. All-time favorites include how she ran out of gas on the way to a formal event and had to tank up ("I looked like the gas fairy") and her admonition to never use a plastic surgeon with prints by Picasso hanging in the waiting room ("You might wake up with your nose in a guitar").
Rita Rudner has been under the radar for a long time, but she's worth seeking out.
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977)
All I want for Christmas is to forget I ever saw this
I'm not overly sentimental--didn't cry during ET or Old Yeller--but this traumatized me beyond belief. I was in graduate school when my roommate and I sat down to watch some Christmas specials and get nostalgic. Ah Frosty, oh there's Kris Kringle, and Rudolph...and then came Nestor. Golly, never heard of Nestor before. And then we found out why.
In the first five minutes, we were treated to a vivid account of poor little Nestor's abusive childhood, his banishment from the stable, and then how his mother FROZE TO DEATH while trying to protect him. We found ourselves, two well-adjusted adults in their 30s, crying uncontrollably and frantically punching the remote control to change the channel to anything, anything at all, even QVC.
So, admittedly, the rest of the movie might be terrific and if so, then enjoy it by all means. But honestly, if it's too brutal for grownups, then it's probably too brutal for the little ones.