woody allen, everyone in monty python (especially john cleese), pj harvey
though defending woody allen these days is exhausting.

My life… is one… big… dark… room.

Oh yeah Cedric's dad, "That's my son!!" pushes me over the edge, embarrassingly.

Absolutely, Children of Men was brutal.

No justification for comparison other than happening to see them on consecutive days
I saw this at the cinema the same weekend as Eternal Sunshine etc, which it completely eclipsed. I've always felt vaguely guilty over my indifference to Eternal Sunshine when everyone else thought it was so fantastic and sensitive and…

I want one of those shirts that says "I [heart] BIG."

Are you sure it was dubbed? There is both French and English in the movie originally.

I could listen to the non-instrument Triplet/Mme Souza performance on repeat forever. I always start looking forward to that scene as soon as the movie shifts to Bellville, and when it's on agitate for whoever is in the room to be quuuiiiieeeet, because I'm annoying.

After the first two or three times seeing this movie, I too stopped even considering thinking it through and just let the aesthetic wash over me. I've seen it so many times I can anticipate every change and nuance in texture and tone, but I can never grow tired of it. I actually get kind of weepy at the end of it…

Woody Allen and Monty Python
and BBC adaptations of Jane Austen.

Yeah I can only take my ironic right-wing political material consumption in very small doses.

New Classic
Would Zadie Smith be too well-known? I never got around to reading On Beauty, though I got it out of the library the second I finished White Teeth.

I never finished Jonathan Strange & Nr. Norrell, this would be an excellent opportunity to do so.

Or Guns, Germs, and Steel?

No you're right; after a few listens it was firmly under my skin, and I still get chills at a couple of tracks.

Peaked with The Last Broadcast?
Lost Souls was the last and only coherently lovely thing they did.

But weird vocal ideas form the foundation of her awesomeness!

I think PJ Harvey is one of those artists who inspires loyalty out of the sheer awesomeness of her oeuvre, so that it's very difficult to admit that any of her recent stuff is anything less than OMG AWESOME.

Also, I welcome back waily stompy PJ Harvey—I very loyally loved White Chalk, but found it excessively stifling and boringly twee at times.

I don't care what grade you give
I'm still totally buying this.