Yet another Phantom Menace tale…
…but this time, a member of my group was the ruiner, not the ruinee. We had just gotten out of the midnight show, opening day, The Cinerama in Seattle. A ton of slightly-less-devoted-than-us nerds were lined up to get into the 3am show. We were engaging in a post movie smoke in front…

Seriously phel? Have you even seen it? I know Gibson may be a jackass and all, but this is one of the all-time great action movies. It isn't just empty calories you'll hate yourself for later - this is the good shit.

All hail the mighty Vern! Now there's someone the AV Club outta interview…

In addition to all the aforementioned roles, I especially loved him in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; the movie isn't perfect, but he's great as Chuck Barris and makes it worth a second look…

Bananas < Zelig OR Sleeper
I'm a little surprised at Bananas making it onto the esssentials list, rather than Zelig or Sleeper, both of which I enjoy more on both an artistic and comedic level.