Christmas with Cookie (2016)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Alan Maxson, Dana Austen, Justin Armao
Directed by Alan Maxson and Shawn Schminke
Out of all the off-the-wall holiday presentations that you could lay your eyes upon this year, what would be the one that stuck out in your mind the most? For me, I thought that the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony had taken the cake (WHAT in the blue hell was up with Neil Diamond)? Anyway, there’s usually one program, film, or musical exhibition that gets some airtime during this festive season, that makes you want to scratch the skin off of your brain-bucket in pure perplexity…aaand welcome to Christmas With Cookie.
Constructed on the tiny budget of just $1000 greenbacks, this completely lunar (and looney) 53-minute display tells the tale of Cookie the Elf (Maxson, who also co-directed), and he’s living in the year 3978. Turns out that global warming has reduced the planet Earth to nothing more than a dusty parking lot, and he’s reminiscing about the last Christmas on our blessed planet – in the year 2016, no less! Following a couple of angry gift-receivers (Armao and Breeanna Judy) that decide the best remedy for getting the shaft on Christmas day is to get back at the jolly fat man, revenge-style. What follows is a completely insane near hour-long mindbender jammed to the rafters with aliens, zombie skeletons, and even a visit from some Abominable Snowmen (and no, I’m not making this up).
Concocted with a blend of decent-for-the-dough practical fx, and some ultra-low-on-the-dough CGI, it all adds up to a watch that might have some reaching for the “pause” button, either to clear their mind, or hope for some debilitating form of amnesia to erase what their eyes have allowed into their psyches. Maxson doesn’t short anyone on the fun-factor, however it does hinge on what you deem as entertainment – while not for all, Christmas With Cookie might serve you better than downing Grandma’s fruitcake, or that eggnog with the chunks in it.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
