I missed the few (sold-out, I believe) screenings the Siskel Film Center held of this movie earlier  in the spring. Susanna Hoffs was there! In person! Gracious! Good to see it's gotten a DVD release.

I missed the few (sold-out, I believe) screenings the Siskel Film Center held of this movie earlier  in the spring. Susanna Hoffs was there! In person! Gracious! Good to see it's gotten a DVD release.

Wait…what?

I was surprised that people had no idea about this movie until I realized that I subscribe to Texas Monthly and most other people who live in Chicago do not, so it's been on my radar for some time.

I keep seeing the trailer for this at the Music Box Theatre and it always makes me tear up a little bit in spite of myself. I think foreign classroom films must hit some kind of sweet spot for me - I'm no real fan of 'Dead Poets Society' but 'To Be and To Have' and the cheesy-as-hell 'The Chorus' really got to me.…

Can't wait for 'Midnight in Warsaw,' y'all!

I view the Clinton years as a golden daydream (Our President played the sax! We had a surplus! A fucking surplus!) but I should state that I was all of 4 years old when he was elected so I'm not in any way qualified to give a real answer.

Very well-put. 'Amarcord' is my favorite Fellini movie, and one of my favorite movies period, and I'm also very very fond of 'And The Ship Sails On.' Sad news indeed about Mr. Guerra but he certainly left behind one hell of a body of work.

I absolutely HATE sentiments like this. Just because something is ostensibly designed for children/young adults does not make it inherently less worthwhile than something "literary." There's plenty of shit literary fiction, just like anything else. If something's good, it's good, regardless of genre or supposed age…

Hear, hear! I'm a giant Dan fan (at least '70s Dan) and Countdown To Ecstasy and Katy Lied are the two albums I return to the least often. Royal Scam is spot-on from beginning to end. It may not have any of the hits, but fuckin "Kid Charlemagne," "Haitian Divorce," the title track, "Caves of Altamira," I mean, come ON.

Asking the tough questions.

I am very much enjoying the Bresson retrospective currently playing at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago. Never seen a single Bresson film before this and have already had some very moving cinematic experiences (at several points during 'Four Nights Of A Dreamer,' I wanted to embrace the screen, I was so…

Great write-up of a fantastic episode. I once came close to actually purchasing online a DVD copy of the spaghetti western 'The Forgotten Pistolero' simply because it's the source of the epic music that pervades this episode. Glad you quoted Artie's "melty melty" line; his delivery of "Problem! ProoobLEM!" is beyond…

I quote the "chalice of victory" line from this episode a lot, usually to no reaction.

Wasn't that nurse played by the same actress who plays Peggy Olson's mother? Am I hallucinating AMC character actors? Has someone else mentioned this yet?

I've been seeing ads for this all over train stations here in Chicago for the past weeks, and every time I wonder what the hell Paul Reubens is doing in a show created by J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan.

Jens Lekman is the only famous person I claim to have kissed, and I'm sure he remembers it.

Yeah, I live in Chicago now, in an area with a lot of Puerto Ricans. Not a lot of country music 'round here. Great food, though.

I enjoyed the hell out of this column, especially the stuff by George Strait (one of my favorite voices in country), Miranda Lambert, and that rightfully praised Ronnie Dunn song. As a native Texas now living in more northerly (well, really midwesterly) climes, I pride myself on maintaining at least a passing…

Great interview
and kudos on snagging it. Such a pleasant surprise to open the AV Club homepage and see Norton Juster. I would call "The Phantom Tollbooth" and "The Dot And The Line" two of the most perfectly composed books in 20th century American fiction. Smart, hilarious, honest, and ultimately life-affirming in…