And another killer piece from A.A. Dowd. Nice to know the level of old craft didn't leave with the old management.

Boo. Boo Diabolik. Boo.

He's not far off on THE LONE RANGER. And I'm pretty sure that the majority of people who actually saw it would agree that that opening train-robbery/jail-break sequence was a Mouse Trap-style blast—a full-on Rube-Goldberg-meets-Chuck-Jones setpiece as good as DEAD MAN'S CHEST's most madcap moments. Really, it ups the…

(Whoops. See above.)

(Fucking luddite. Nevermind.)

Yeah.

As great as that "video" is, YouTube's transcript technology makes it my new favorite thing ever.

And earlier in the movie when we're introduced to Catherine Martin, we meet her driving on the highway late at night, singing along to Tom Petty's "American Girl." With just that tiny bit of information, we know and feel everything we need to about her.

Because the Warren Commission totally makes sense.

Doesn't it?!

From the publisher's description of James Franco's upcoming novel, ACTORS ANONYMOUS:

This isn't Dallas — this is NASHVILLE!

The sun struggles up, another beautiful day.
And I felt glad in my own suspicious way.
Despite the contradiction and confusion,
Felt tragic without reason.
There's malice and there's magic in every season.

In the 1990s, when the line between studio and independent movies was growing fuzzier – it’s now virtually invisible – some pretty remarkable stuff was going on at the multiplex. Movies like DRUGSTORE COWBOY and TRAINSPOTTING were able to get away with portraying drug use with something like ambivalence. Even PULP…

My favorite part of Burt Bacharach's "I Say a Little Prayer" is that it's his anti-war song: the moment the girl wakes up, before she puts on her makeup, she says a little prayer for her boy in Vietnam. She runs for the bus thinking of them. At work she takes time, and then all through her coffee-break time, she's…

Fantastic list.

…in bed.

…in bed.

You know, in an alternate universe, if it were 1975 and network TV, granted contemporary production values and seriousness of approach, looked like 2012 HBO, Nashville would make a killer primetime soap/drama.

You know, in an alternate universe, if it were 1975 and network TV, granted contemporary production values and seriousness of approach, looked like 2012 HBO, Nashville would make a killer primetime soap/drama.