John Candy: I Like Me

  • Title: John Candy: I Like Me
  • IMDb: link

Colin Hanks‘ documentary examines the life of John Candy through friends and family while featuring a number of clips from TV and movie performances, interviews (both archival and new), and home videos of Candy with his family. The film works as a celebration of Candy’s life and work, rather than a more critical delve into the man, while also examining into demons he struggled with before dying of a heart attack at the age of 43.

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Meridian

  • Title: Meridian
  • IMDb: link

One of several B-movies Sherilyn Fenn made during during the late 1980s, Meridian was released originally on home video in 1990 (the first of many releases under a variety of titles over the years). Part sexploitation thriller and part fantasy horror, the script adapts ideas from the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, while also weaving in ghosts along with its curse. While problematic, for a number or reasons including our lead falling in love with her rapist, the film has impressive production values for a B-movie with the castle, and the various statues and gargoyles across its lawn, making for a visually interesting backdrop to the proceedings.

Fenn stars as Italian-American Catherine Bomarzini who returns to her family’s castle for the first time in years, also reuniting with her more adventurous college friend Gina (Charlie Spradling) working nearby as an art restorer. Talked into seeing a traveling carnival just outside the castle grounds by Gina, who also invites the performers to dine with them in the castle over Cathehrine’s reservations, the night ends with the twin brothers (who hide the fact that there are two of them) drugging and each raping one of the women.

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