Arthur C. Clarke made it way more straightforward in the novelization (this is not a misstatement - the book version of 2001 was written in collaboration with Kubrick while the screenplay was in development; both the movie and the book were based on Clarke’s short story The Sentinel). Kubrick, of course, being Kubrick…

I will be the only person - absolutely the only person - who will wonder why Balloon Shop wasn’t included in this list.

I regret that I have only one star to give for that acronym.

Brad Bird is the guy who was able to turn this into a franchise. Until then, the M:I films were all something of auteur films, very reliant on the director for their feel. But Bird helped the franchise find its footing and establish the formula that made everything from Ghost Protocol onward into perfect popcorn…

I’m thinking it wasn’t G’iah who died, it was the other female Skrull who saw the “Comms Breach” screen and went to sub in. A contingency plan, if you will.

John Cleese and Jeremy Clarkson are both cut from the same cloth - men whose combination of ability to play the clown and inner conviction that they are smarter than everyone else turn them into offenders-for-hire, always looking to profit from outrage.

Well, he wouldn’t to THR, but once Fox asks about it...

Yep - the debris field is from the sub’s exterior, according to the company, which means they suffered catastrophic depressurization and implosion at depth.

The show I went to, you definitely had to be drunk, because otherwise there was no fun to be had.

Does anyone else remember when Pixar was known for creating environmental art that had people just gobsmacked about it as much as for the narrative?

Here’s the thing - the whole “good time” aspect basically depends on how far out of your mind you are. A lot of truly stupid and inane shit is mistaken for a “good time” because the people in question are drunk off their asses or higher than a fucking kite.

I went to a midnight show of Rocky Horror in high school back in the mid-’80s, and my experience was pretty similar. I went because it was the “it” thing to do if you were a high schooler in the ‘80s - one of the more transgressive outings for the nerd set in an environment of roller skating, dances with Def Leppard…

I am the world’s only Man With One Red Shoe stan, and even I think the movie is mediocre. What absolutely saves it is not Hanks, but Dabney Coleman and Thomas Newman’s career-best score.

I’m not arguing that with you!

I wish there had been a mention of The Money Pit. Truly an underwhelming remake/reboot of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and Shelley Long is titanically miscast. But it’s a real tour de force for Hanks and physical comedy, and his hysterical breakdown after a bathtub breaks through the floor to the hardwood…

Agreed. A real portmantoops there.

J.J. wanted to make Star Wars, so when he got the Trek franchise, he just made Star Wars movies out of it. That should have warned the whole world about what was going to happen to Star Wars when he got his paws on it...

That’s what the largesse of a TV season (or in this case, multiple seasons) gives you. I don’t think anyone’s been able to pull this same trick off cinematically yet, though.

Kind of like when they handed the keys of Star Trek to J.J. Abrams.

Even in the Christopher Reeve Superman days, they basically glossed over the Kents’ influence on Clark - they portrayed them as basically passive and astonished observers rather than influential teachers of ethics, wisdom, and kindness.