Ah, gun play: America's proudest current export to the world!

Yeah, the schtick went on too long, but one of the later seasons did have a genius moment when Julian tells Ricky that they can't go into the US with as much dope as they have, since they'd get 15 years in prison for having that much marijuana.  Ricky shoots him the most hilarious look of disbelief I've ever seen and…

Where do James T. Farrell Irish-Americans fit in your theory?  I guess, chronologically, they'd be post-Joyce, et al.  I would say, that Studs Lonigan is definitely Dennis Duffy's grand- or great-grandfather.

Cats have those poisonous claws (that bring cat-scratch fever; a girl I knew in grade school almost died from that, and was kinda-sorta brain damaged by it). 

I agree that The French Connection ends on a really nihilist note, which was probably why I reacted much the same way you did to the movie.  I liked it, but there was something about it that kept me from being totally absorbed by it.

I don't know if it came up in your class, but the ending (where the Klansmen race to what's-her-name's rescue) apparently contributed the cross-cutting technique to film's vocabulary as a method of ratcheting up suspense.  I'd say that that alone makes the film noteworthy, even if we don't like the politics being…

I haven't seen United 93, but I'm glad to hear that it's not built around "Let's roll!" rah-rah stuff.  I've avoided the movie half because I feared that kind of thing, and half because the reporting about people on the various planes (once they figured out what was happening) calling their loved ones to say good-bye…

"this [the setting for Midnight Cowboy] hardly seems like the same New York where Mad Men takes place."

Definitely check out Caligari!

When I watched The Outsiders for the first time a few years ago (after reading the book, also for the first time), I noticed how Coppola had filmed some parts of it in a style reminiscent of the 1950s and early 1960s, when the movie was set.  Something about the color film stock he used put me in mind of a Rock Hudson…

So, Malinger-Her and I celebrated our Eleventh Wedding Anniversary on Saturday night!  Since we're old and parents now, we don't go out very often, which means that our budget for a night out is a bit skewed in relation to others around here, I'm sure.  What I'm saying is, we dropped about $100 on dinner, and another…

It's been a while since I lived there, and even that was only a year, so I would say definitely see Westport and the Plaza, if you only have one day.  They are a big part of what makes KC unique, the Plaza, especially.  I don't say that because of the shopping, but because it was the first large-scale place in the US…

My first movie-related thought concerning Pope Francis was, "Wow, he looks like he's played by Alec Guinness."

I get annoyed when he pronounces classical Latin like Italian.  That "C" is always hard, Trebek!

I'm enjoying a Brita avatar replying to a Brita avatar.

Italian women can seduce even uptight Anglo-Celtic men (like yours truly) with a nonchalance that appears effortless, but must be the result of millennia of sexiness getting passed on from generation to generation.

Omnes vestrum amo.

These things need to be corrected.  If we let them slide, we move ever closer to anarchy and a pig in the Oval Office.

Man, if you think Alton Brown is insufferably smug, I'd advise you to stay far the fuck away from Christopher Kimball.

Good luck, @avclub-e463f97ca6bc46b1ba706474e108c7e1:disqus .  KC is a pretty neat city, too, so have some fun while you're there.