Catastrophe, wittily, depicts the whole gamut of love and sex

Since I resubscribed to Netflix I have discovered, after the rest of the world, binge TV watching. But the question I have is – how could people sit through these TV series week after week, year after year, when now you can just sit down and watch them continually? Such is the case with the hit series, Catastrophe, which originally ran on Britain's Channel 4, a network that tends to broadcast edgier content. As is my rule of thumb with Netflix, I pick a show that looks interesting, watch it for one or two episodes, and if it doesn’t grab me, put it aside. But Catastrophe grabbed me straight away and turned into an almost weeklong delight of 24 episodes over four seasons, keeping me awake late at night. The series ran from 2015 – 2019 and has a pre-Covid feel about it. It stars Sharon Horgan, an Irish comedian, and Rob Delaney, an American actor, who both co-wrote every episode. Delaney as Rob is a Yank businessman in London who meets Sharon, a schoolteacher. They have a torrid fling without hardly getting to know one another. Sound familiar? That’s the likability of this absorbing story – the sort of honesty between two people, manifested in emotions that range from “love” to confusion, disorientation and sometime flat out stupidity as the characters try to understand one another, or don't. They are both alike and unalike. Sharon has more a bohemian streak while Rob is a stiff white-collar business type. But both are opinionated, witty and determined to put their own stamps on a relationship which generally meanders well but has its declining loops as they confront their own sometimes impossible personalities and forces around them - work, family, friends, the world. Sometimes they’re their own best friends, sometimes their own worst enemies. The dialogue is superb. So is the acting. And I wonder if in part it’s because the pair co-wrote it. Horgan and Delaney's characters are so in sync, regardless of their differences. It’s like they really are brother and sister or intimate partners. You can also tell the series was filmed in the pre-Covid era because it has guest appearances by Carrie Fisher (who died in 2016) and Chris Noth (Mr. Big of S&TC who got cancelled in 2021 due to sexual harassment allegations). Catastrophe screened on Netflix in Britain, where I watched it, and Amazon Prime bought the rights. Catastrophe - spare the gritty talk and references to bodily functions - just might be the  most searing, honest and funny television you’ll watch in awhile.

Good news! New theatre proposed for Silver City site

Anyone who has passed by the old Silver City site (photo left) in south Windsor lately knows how depressing the look of the former cinema is,  with giant boards now presumably bocking a gash in the side of the derelict building, which has been heavily vandalized. But there's hope for the site yet - and as a new first class theatre! Prominent Windsor developer Joe Mikhail is proposing to revitalize the building and has been speaking with another theatre chain of doing just that. But that chain won't come to Windsor unless there are substantial financial incentives. So Mikhail is asking the city to waive the increased taxes that would result if the buiding is redeveloped - amounting to almost $2 million over 10 years. The city offers just such an incentive through its Community Improvement Plan (CIP) grants. Mikhail said he would offer some free rent to the cinema chain as well. Mikhail has developed the big box retail area that surrounds the site and is worried that if a new "first class" cinema is not built those other retailers, including several restaurants, will pack up and vanish. In  a letter to the city he makes an emotional plea. “We would be much better off to simply take down the property and reduce the property taxes to vacant land,” he said.  However, “it would be the wrong one for the city and its need to have a second venue for entertainment” other than Devonshire Mall's Cineplex. (Tecumseh/Lakeshore also has Imagine.) Mikhail said the theater in fact was a catalyst for attracting other commercial to the south Windsor "big box" retail district more than two decades ago. Who knew cinemas could be such magnates? “The theatre introduced Costco to the area, which lead to a majority of huge boxes to follow," he says. "Its draw created a reason for Walker Road to become the dominate retail sector in the city, which then allowed residential growth to multiply.” Ominously, Mikhail said a current “major retailer” has already indicated that “if the theatre is not open, they will move their store outside of Windsor.” And more would follow. “With the relocation of this space, all restaurants in this area will also move or be forced to close," he said. "Other big box in the area will likely look at following this move towards Tecumseh. It would not be difficult to see the city’s tax base on Walker Rd. would diminish considerably.” The developer has the support of city planning staff. Now the matter goes before the city's development committee and then city council. 

The Media City Film Festival, Windsor’s internationally renowned experimental film festival, moves to mid-autumn this year, almost immediately following the city’s more mainstream (not quite the right term but you get my drift) film festival, the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF). The experimental festival, now in its 26th year, features filmmakers from around the world, many renowned in the genre of inventive and creative cinema. The festival runs Nov. 7 – 11 and more than 50 films and digital works will be screened. WIFF runs Oct. 26 – Nov. 5. Last year Media City was held earlier in the calendar year. Both festivals stake out the Capitol Theatre downtown as their home bases.

As I puruse Netflix's movie lineup for the first time in two years my opinion is mixed. Perhaps it's my choices but I'm watching films that straddle a middle ground between made-for-TV flicks and theatrical cinematic efforts. I'm calling them "Netflix films" though I know Netflix has peoduced weightier works. Examples are Plus One (Jeff Chan & Andrew Rhymer, 2019) and Can You Keep a Secret? (Elise Duran 2019). There's nothing wrong with them, it's just that you'd like a little more to chew on.