I'll second the love for 2010. Damned fine book and decent movie. It's admittedly not half as ambitious or artistic as 2001, but I don't think it pretends to me.

I can't agree enough with Morning Wodehouse. When I saw it in the theater, I thought it was the paradigmatic self-parody of an art film. I very much got the impression that Terence Malick felt that long stretches of nothing happening, ponderous narration, and vistas of nature was profound, rather than boring and…

One more for the record
I have something to add to the list - in the last Dirty Harry film, 1988's "The Dead Pool", the Dead Pool serial killer kills a Pauline Kael-type critic. It was pretty clearly revenge from the filmmakers for Kael's having labeled the original "Dirty Harry" film a fascist work.

I must admit that I was frankly surprised that the hillbilly set chose Calvin of all people for the dubious pissing honor. Seriously - what appeal could that fairly cerebral comic strip have for the trucking set? Wouldn't they tend to gravitate more towards something like Garfield, Beetle Bailey, or fucking…

MYOF, we hardly knew ye…

Elizabeth II: Electric Boogaloo

I never got into Harry Potter (possibly too old), but I adored "The Dark is Rising" series as a child. It had all the elements of a great fantasy; believable, compelling characters, settings of quiet intimacy followed by epic confrontations, and the highest stakes. (OK, I was bored silly by "Over Sea, Under Stone",…

While "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad" can be (somewhat fairly) criticized for its simplicity, it is rare that a sitcom can invest its characters with the sheer humanity that it seems to be able to routinely pull off. Its protagonists are flawed; its antagonists sympathetic.