Good point. Their religuous faith combined with a long history and culture of individualism that makes many of them think they could resist the immorality brought on by mass wealth and systemic cutthroat capitalism. (I should say I’m not American but have lived in the US most of my life.)

I couldn’t believe the contrived extortion plot. Wouldn’t it illegal, and if the guy sues he would have no case since his brother was burglar who broke into Larry’s property, robbed him, and tried to get away. It was all his fault. Larry honestly could plead ignorance on the fence (he acted like he truly didn’t know).…

I read that they grew up in this unforgiving cauldron of wealth and vulture capitalism so their humanity was warped from the beginning. Logan himself gre up poor, wanted to succeed like everybody else is told to, and became the tyrant he is because of his environment too. I’m not completely dismissing their moral…

My main reaction after watching this outstanding episode: Man, these poor, all too human, bastards—trapped in this terrible world. I feel for all of them, including Logan. What Armstrong and his writers do so masterfully is make people who do awful things feel so empathetic; make a family living in a very…

Just noticed the title is—save for the article—the same as the terrific Lulu Wang directing, Awkwafina starring movie. That film also had a plot where a dying character was not told of her death by her family. She was a bit more beloved than Colin Robinson. I await Season 4: The Search for Colin. Given he’s an energy…

So “TV experts” from 43 countries and over 90% of the picks are English-language. Interesting that in 2o21, Western cultural imperialism reigns still. Not that I’m complaining about this list, which has fantastic shows. But hopefully ten, twenty years down the line, we’ll get more English-language speakers in Western…

I read only my second Kim Stanley Robinson novel, Red Moon. (The first was the start of his near future climate change impacts the East Coast trilogy, which I liked but didn’t pick up the other books.)

I’m only a couple of episodes in and agree about the unnecessarily complicated structure, but it’s a compelling show nonetheless and communicates a lot of information about the drug, the epidemic, and the criminal malfeasance that most people may not have known. (Another show with multiple timelines, The Serpent, I…

Don't forget his breakout in A Serious Man.

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised at the supporting players getting main opening credits. They're all wonderful.

Greg having no clue how to do media analysis was hilarious. “The Pope liked/followed you. Oh, wait. That’s a Pope, not THE Pope.” (This would be me if I suddenly got this job.) Same with Kendall not knowing how to do publicity and talking over the pros.

So it’ll teach young kids the important life lesson of how to hijack ships and take hostages?

What the hell is a "Mel Magazine?"  That's obviously a made-up name. 

Nice pun in the title.

Simon Rex looks like Sean Hayes and I had to stop the trailer to read that it was the former and not the latter ( my memory is shite).

You’re not nuts. Tenenbaums for me is fine. Granted I haven’t seen it in years, but I saw it for the first time after I had seen the brilliant Grand Budapest Hotel and Rushmore (my #1 and #2). If I were to rank the others: 3. Moonrise Kingdom. 4. Isle of Dogs. 5. Fantastic Mr. Fox. 6. Life Aquatic. 7. Royal…

First time reading the offending comment. If anything it’s insulting to regular-looking people. Let me guess what Ken meant: that very attractive people are afforded more opportunities in our society than the rest of us, and so have more success and better lives—see, every successful actor and sports star. But being…

On Marc Maron’s podcast last week, Steve Buscemi said he was about to start directing a one-character movie about a woman counselor at a mental health crisis hotline center. He couldn’t reveal the actress, so probably a big name. I was hoping Tilda Swinton ( in the great one-woman Almodovar short, The Human Voice) but…

I just checked—The Strange Little Cat is playing on Kanopy. It has a Metacritic score of 80. So I’ll be a’watchin it. I do need to work on my close reading skills, so a movie that demands concentration is nutritious.

I had no idea she had this family background. What strength and resiliency she’s had for almost all of her life.