Lonesome Dove is pretty amazing. I have to admit that I was glad I'd seen the mini-series first because I think I might have been caught off-guard by how unconventional the story is. Any normal western would climax with a showdown between the hero and the antagonist, but Lonesome Dove takes a much more realistic…

@avclub-3be42d8a3412057f79af152555e39bd4:disqus Yeah, it's on DVD: http://amzn.com/B00028G75C

Interesting that you would think of it as exploitative because I'm currently about a third of the way through, and I find it to be kind of the opposite. One of the things that fascinates me most about it is how unsensationalized the whole thing is. I also really love the way Capote gets to the humanity of everyone…

The Shining is my favorite Stephen King novel ever. Honestly, I think his first three (and The Dead Zone) are pretty tough to beat. He's done good work since then, but he was at his best when his editors still had the balls to actually do their jobs.

I absolutely loved Hyperion, but I kind of petered out on Fall of Hyperion. I got really bored with all the long chapters of military strategy meetings, and I just wanted to get back to what was happening with the pilgrims. I keep meaning to go back and read the whole series (starting with Hyperion again), but I…

I absolutely loved Hyperion, but I kind of petered out on Fall of Hyperion. I got really bored with all the long chapters of military strategy meetings, and I just wanted to get back to what was happening with the pilgrims. I keep meaning to go back and read the whole series (starting with Hyperion again), but I…

I had a HUUUUUGE problem with President Palmer's subplot.I was completely unrelated to the main plot, mainly because I couldn't really buy that it would just so happen to occur on the same day as this major terror attack. Sure, this wasn't a problem that was unique to season three, but it felt the most egregious.…

Stephen Sommers films are my entertainment equivalent of junk food. I highly enjoy the empty calories of his two Mummy films and Deep Rising. I like Van Helsing and G.I. Joe to a lesser extent, but still find them fun.

@avclub-0f2aab038be93ff407d92af691001e73:disqus Interesting that you compare Van Helsing to DuckTales, as I remember a friend of mine doing much the same with The Mummy Returns. He mentioned that the ending reminded him a bit of the "Treasure of the Golden Suns" five-parter, what with the collapsing pyramid.

It's from the painting that appears on the cover to the original US printing of the book. Not sure if it was an original or if they appropriated a preexisting piece.

Kind of, but it places a lot more emphasis on the man vs. nature element than The Thing did. (Plus, I'd say it's a little more like The Thing From Another World, since the monster never disguises itself as a human.) It's based on an actual historical event.

I'm hopeful this is a ten-episode mini-series at most. I don't see any possible way to squeeze any more out of this. (Also, I'd really like to see more intentionally one-and-done series that tell a complete story.)

Is it just me, or does the tone of this article sound incredibly negative, especially when one considers that the novel in question was named by this very site as one of the best books of the last decade?

@avclub-c701a997d9bef627835b036efb4eca63:disqus One more question: I was going to try to persuade my girlfriend to watch Nikita since she was a fan of the USA series. What she enjoyed about the Peta Wilson character is that, even thought she was constantly going through horrible shit, she sucked it up, didn't whine…

Did the "CHIPCHIPCHIPCHIP and DALE!" part of the chorus remind anyone else of the theme to Macgyver?

@persia2:disqus Yes, the racist stereotypes are unfortunate, but I always put up with it as a product-of-its-time sort of thing because the rest of the show is so well done. It's kind of like reading Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels. (The N-word gets dropped more than a few times in both Live and Let Die and…

http://harkavagrant.com/ind…

Tyler Perry sews socks that smell!

The murderer isn't really a serial killer, and I actually thought Jack Reacher was pretty decent for a ridiculous '90s throwback tough-guy movie.

Correct. DragonHeart is the movie featuring an actual dragon (with the voice of Sean Connery) that Rob Cohen directed. I enjoyed it at the time, but I was also sixteen and stupid and liked other movies that were dumb at the time (e.g., Independence Day, Twister, Mortal Kombat).