I saw them both back to back as well—"12 Years" Sunday, "Dallas" Monday. "12 Years" is very well done,but its cool distance hurt it—for me, it should've been more shattering/disturbing (aside from one late whipping scene) and definitely felt like it pulled a lot of punches. For my money, "Dallas" is one of the best…

I checked, and you are indeed correct, that's what she said. Interesting.

There may also be a male-female dynamic at work here where a man (Samberg) is much less willing to look "less than" in the eyes of his peers,compared with Amy Pohler's fearlessness about playing the less-attractive qualities of Leslie Knope—which is especially brave of Pohler in the face of a society that always wants…

"Parks and Recreation" is insidiously brilliant in the way that Donna, played with staggering aplomb by Retta, is the smartest, sanest person in the office—she's just so slyly circumspect about how in-charge she is. However, at this point, "Brooklyn 99" has at least 3-4 non-white characters who either actually run…

"My Man" was a Fanny Brice number they used in the movie—it's not in the show. The play ends with a reprise of Fanny, unbowed and unbroken, singing "Don't Rain On My Parade." ("Let's give 'em hell Brice/We'll cry a little later/Well Brice/That's life in the theater!") Arguably more true to Fanny Brice's character and…

Two observations: one, no film has ever made lovelier or more appropriate use of the song "You Don't Know Me" (and yes, that includes La Steep in "Postcards From The Edge"). Two, Bill Murray's sad-eyed monologue in the diner to McDowell about how much he knows about her ("You like boats but not the ocean…") is the…

The AV Club had an excellent article awhile back about why "Zooropa" is an incredibly underrated album—it's uneven, but it takes serious risks artistically that you might not expect from a band that, at that time, was the biggest in the world. And "Stay" is almost unbearably haunting.

If you're that big a Cocteau Twins fan, pick up the soundtrack to "Mysterious Skin" ASAP. Some of the most gorgeous music I've ever heard.

The most twisted—but funny—bit of the night: Warren: "This guy wants to know if we're single!" Bert (cheerfully):"We ARE!" That made me snort hard.

And then the capper: "I don't eat bread, I'm gluten-free." THAT'S when I lost it.

Well, "Psycho" is the obvious choice here—no film has given me more continuous nightmares. That final image of Norman/Mother in the holding cell….brrrrrr.
But since lots of people are going back to childhood stuff, here are six words guaranteed to scare the pants off of you if you were a kid in the 70's: (Chilling…

I think the point of the look of "Oz the Great and Powerful" is that it's meant to be an homage to the original film. "Return to Oz" tried to do its own look (which was actually much closer to the tone and visual style of the books), and got pilloried for everything not looking bright or colorful enough (and for not…

Has anyone heard of the cult Seattle trio Uncle Bonsai? They had a great song called "Lois Lane" in which they cheerfully excoriated the superstar reporter for her myopia and cluelessness. ("If only Lois knew/Clark Kent could see through dress/She could've torn off his trousers/And uncovered his 'S'/She could've had…

"Happy Days' became a lot more interesting once I discovered there was slash fiction out there pairing up Richie and Fonzie. For some reason, I could totally see this.

In high school, I was BOTH.

In Dan Fogelman's script for "The Guilt Trip," Barbra Streisand has a nice little monologue to Seth Rogan about the secret to a happy romantic partnership: find someone who doesn't mind that you like to eat M & M's in bed. (And really,as long as you're not losing them amidt the bedding and getting bits of chocolate…

Laurie Anderson's art isn't always my cup of tea (see: "Home of the Brave." Or don't, uness you're jacked up on 5 Mexican mochas with an espresso chaser). However, I'll be the first to say that she, like Yoko Ono, is a singular talent with a unique voice and perspective that is sorely lacking America, especially…

SJ, you're right on about comedy—"The Aristocrats" proved that. Men (especially straight men) tend to rely on violent or crude humor, and when women don't laugh, they fall back on the tired trope of "chicks aren't funny." (John Belushi regularly tried to have the women of "SNL" fired using that excuse; Lorne…

I think Stephanie Meyers deserves credit for that idea, and it was inspired: she supposedly Googled what was the most overcast city with the least amount of sun in the United States, i.e. where vampires would be happiest. Voila, Forks, Washington! (Now, if only she didn't have the weird psychosexual stuff about…

I liked the original quite a bit, so this is good news. However, can they not kill off the one gay character this time, despite the oh-so-poetic flock of birds shot buttressing it in the first movie?