Let's play the Watergate tapes.

The other week I watched Affliction, the Nick Nolte film, and Prez and his jutting chin were in that.

@avclub-f7c512eb7665bf289ccf9608050e4bc3:disqus ^ ^ ^ Is this the kind of answer you were hoping for?

I fear I'm too late with this cry from the heart, but isn't it about time Hemingway's stuff was revived for the movies? A Farewell To Arms would be good for a start.

I sometimes drop the phrase 'hipster douchebag' into conversation, but it never gets any reaction.

Play the Watergate tapes.

Search out The King of Comedy. It's not just funny, but it is funny.

And they don't even say c-

'Bump uglies'

Plug for a British band along these lines - The Jim Jones Revue. Their first, self-titled album was recorded in 48 hours, with everything deliberately turned up too loud. The sound distorts, splashes, cracks up, and it's the most exhilarating thing I've heard for years.

I really liked From A Buick 8, and reread it a few weeks ago to see if I was wrong. I don't think I was. I still think it's one of his more unusual and arresting stories, though it's not universally loved.

Try the books he wrote as Richard Bachman, particularly Blaze, which was actually written at roughly the same time as 'Salem's Lot, but lost out to that one when it came to publication. He dug it out in about 2006. It's a tough little crime novel, really punchy and enjoyable.

That's more like it.

Illusions … allusions …

British TV used to show their censored version - 'Shut the hell up!' 'He's peeved!'

He also dies brilliantly in it - just kind of fades out while Samuel L Jackson is talking. No going for a big moment at all, you barely notice he's gone. He's a really generous actor with things like that.

Come on now … House of Meetings and Lionel Asbo are pretty solid, and the others have moments of brilliance that more than make them worthwhile.

There are a few short stories still to be rounded up. The Howling Fantods website seemed to think they'd be out this year, but then heard differently.

The King of Comedy being a good example of the comedy that's not just a comedy. Hilarious, and as serious as Taxi Driver.

@avclub-0f0d67e214f9fef69b278e3d08114da9:disqus What you say about DeNiro 'subsuming' himself is exactly right. I always thought that was a small, bit-part role, and he transformed himself somehow into a small, bit-part actor for it.