And I briefly thought the show finally Stockholm Syndrome-ed me. This was a terrific, grade A, episode. It was exciting, the emotional stakes landed, the action was good, it was scary with the nice visuals of the spectors, and it did feel like an epic. There was great character work. Terrence Stamp playing Obi-Wan!…

This was a riveting and intense hour, in part because the show was smart enough to slow down these events so we could feel the full shock and horror of them as the characters did. I liked the clear marker that this was going to be a genre show instead of something more realistic and literary (exempting the ludicrous…

Also she makes sense if you know she palled around with Hannibal Lecter for a time.

The real Thatcher wasn’t this hot, young people.

Vegetarians are all awful people.

I had the sane thought that the movie not having a theatrical release mitigated Milioti’s star power if not properly seen and heralded by the masses. But not intentional of course by the filmmakers and studio. Just bad luck and a pandemic.

This is the latest literary example of Isaac Asimov’s line about the pervasiveness of anti-intellectualism, when you falsely think that living in a democracy means your ignorance is equal to my knowledge. Otherwise known as the virus that has affected politics for decades. I’ve done the “I know more than you” line…

I recall Roger Ebert putting Juno at the top of his 2007 list. He wrote that while other movies may be formally better, Juno won his heart. This is how I feel about Paul Springs, my favorite film of the year. It’s such a feel-good movie, and, at the same time, melancholy too since it has to do with love and time,…

Get Tilda Swinton to play Coppola. And Cate Blanchett to play Pacino. I’d watch that for a dollar!

I look forward to the 10-episode Hulu miniseries about this, with Brian Cox playing the titular role.

Whoa! Looked her age up and she was born in 2005. But she looks like a 20 something there.

Man, Ruth Wilson has a magnetic quality. Loved the close-ups of her face. She looked fab in that red outfit.

Hey, at least I’m not defending the Ready Player One/Two books.

“Oh my God", I said out loud, after reading the Depeche Mode line.

I liked the aesthetics and filmmaking. I see the problems in the writing. Jonathan didn’t make much sense. We needed more time with him to understand how he suddenly turned murderous. The reveal of his sister’s death and his reaction should have come earlier in the series. As is, he wasn’t plausible as a good husband…

A better show that talks about the ambiguous themes of history, now that Ethelrida mentioned it: True Detective S3.

Breakout star of the series: Noma Dumezweni. This mini-series could have been a backdoor pilot for the continuing legal adventures of Hailey. I’d watch that.

“Multiple sources called this election differently.”

The Star Wars franchise is like the Republican Party: it’s totally amazing both are still popular and somehow still exist/have viably lasted this long.

Loved it. I’m glad the numbers confirm an idea I had that a columnist—like David Brooks or Ross Douthat—could write an op-ed about it bringing Red and Blue America together. Because it celebrates classic, ideal American values like hard work, developing great skill and talent, turning competitors into allies and good…