I was thinking the movie could be remade fairly easily — you don't need the specificity of the Great War, you don't even need a war, bandits would do nicely (although as @avclub-b750f74544cb00c138079607276995e9:disqus points out, that's similar to Jewel of the Nile). But you do need middle-aged people to make it sing…

George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman On The March. I picked it up because commenters here (who I think are no longer here) went on about it and hey, found one of the series in a used book store. Roguish rake Flashman gets sucked into 19th century combat, this time the British invasion of Abyssina — he's tasked with…

Read it last year. Basic structure of the book: struggle, hopes raised, hopes dashed — not in a melodramatic way, which would be easier to deal with, but in a very realistic and depressing way. It is a good read and Stegner writes nature beautifully, but it's a downer.

If you haven't, check out Consider The Lobster for more great essays and more Rosetta Stoneage. There is an excellent lengthy review of a Doesteovsky biography that turns into an argument for more grand ballsy novels, which is rather amusing seeing how the review came out right around the same time the…

The air battle is also one of the best action sequences of the last several years.

There's funny stuff in Ted but yeah, that Airplane! bite is bizarre. Do not remind me of one of the funniest movies ever made, MacFarlane, your film will just pale in comparison. (And he doesn't even have the fighting Girl Scouts!)

Oh man, now I want a Girls/Always Sunny crossover.

Whoops, should've scrolled down. Co-signing all of this, I'm still amazed at how those books have not been turned into at the very least good movies.

My standard dig on Hot Rock is Redford is no Dortmunder, but Segal is an excellent Kelp.

I think there is a moral of sorts to many Seinfeld episodes — no good deed goes unpunished, no selfish deed can't be justified. I forget which book of the Bible that comes from though.

Great point about how it gets funnier as it goes along, a rarity in comedies. Awesome cast too.

The best bits I recall were a good chapter from the blind guy's point of view and a mention of awesome band Slobberbone. Beyond that, not very good and the tone/narration was annoying.

I've moved to @avclub-35a00215eb3d273078fbdeeadb3dfe10:disqus 's camp but yeah, I used to be in the same boat as King.

There ARE plenty of Stark books out there, though…

My theory for a while has been that him being doped and boozed up meant that his editors could use a heavier hand — obviously you have The Stand going from the uncut 1100-page beast to 500-some pages (and I like the uncut one a lot), but in general books like Cujo, Pet Sematary and The Shining are tighter than books…

@avclub-55e3810d28d3d3b098f2405b29602eea:disqus only if he's just a humble country hyperchicken.

Uh, I don't. This makes me worse than Todd, doesn't it.

Ugh. Sounds like Black House, which took another young King (and Straub) protagonist into adulthood and did not find much to say there.

Movies with boats:

I'm always eager to get here and spout off in the comments and yak with people about the show, but I'm just as eager to read the reviews because they're always so insightful. I'll miss them.