I'm a huge Woody Allen fan, and generally liked Vicky Christina Barcelona, but agree that at times the dialogue came off as VERY stilted. That's true of a lot of his recent films, though he didn't always have that problem.

Agree with most of your points, except:

I remember Casino Royale got some flak for being "Bourne-like" by a few critics. An exaggeration, in my opinion. Oh sure, maybe it was somewhat influenced by the Bourne films, but it was still very Bond-like, particularly the whole middle of the film (which felt like it was lifted straight from Flemming's novel, even…

Tubalcain!
"The court rules in favor of Mr. James and sentences the defendant to a month in a juvenile ward for psychiatric evaluation. Case dismissed!"

Woody Avenger
My choices would be:

Personally, I like the idea of the Da Vinci Code (the book), if not the execution. Solving puzzles, running around deciphering clues in old books and artwork, sound like a neat idea for a story. I actually finished the book, but it was a tough slog. The chapter-ending cliffhangers really are as stupid as everyone says…

Just re-watched Blood Simple, and it may still be my favourite Coen brothers film. I don't like saying that, because it implies it was all downhill from there (which it certainly wasn't), but that film contains so many fantastic scenes, it really is perfect.

I saw it in the theater. Liked it, of course, but while it was a great movie, it was not a great movie-going experience.

Yes, what a strange comment. Mann is one of the most consistently excellent directors working today. He's only had three films in the "oughties": Ali, which was less than perfect, Collateral, which was very good, and Miami Vice, which seems to attract a lot of negative attention (mostly from people who expected it to…

@ paintedwaco

Creed's little story with Jim highlighted just how little we know about him. In most episodes he gets one or two bizarre lines, and that's it. Spending thirty seconds on a chess game between him and Jim feels like an autobiography compared to what we normally get.

The number one enemy, from TNG onwards, was more insidious than the Borg, more sneaky than the Ferengi, and killed more Starfleet officers than the Cardassians. They infiltrated every ship and starbase, trapping and killing people at random, and Starfleet seemed helpless against them.

Adelle went to some dark places this week, and I'm not just talking about her torture and mindwiping of a federal agent.

Absolutely nobody said the Dollhouse was a "lovely place".

I'm in agreement, JH. When I first started watching the show, Penny seemed like Bland Hollywood Blond Stereotype #5, not particularly interesting as a character and I was not impressed by the actress. The more I watch, the more I'm impressed by Kaley's comic timing, and the more Penny gets interesting.

A couple people have mentioned Smoke, by Donald Westlake, as a good invisible man story, and let me add to the chorus.

p.s. And to moderate my above comments, I was getting a little bored with Caroline's flashback scenes (never a good sign) so it's possible I missed some of the hints of bigger things to come, Magnus. I don't think that excuses the weak parts of this episode, but I suppose it should give me hope for the future.

Well, one can fanwank all day about potential future payoffs of exciting action and intrigue that may or may not turn out to be true in later episodes. Only Joss knows where this is heading. I hope that there is more exciting revelations about Echo's background ahead as well.

Wow, you sure are reading a lot into a couple of VERY ambiguous scenes…

This show walks a fine line between being "a clever comment on how people are exploited" and being exploitive itself. And it crosses that line quite frequently.