I'm glad that Todd Hates Joy brings up the fact that the creators could not have imagined people watching several episodes back to back. This ties in to the recent column about how watching TV has changed, but also a concern I've always had about reviews of old shows and films, which is the lack of context.

I'm guessing that I was about 13 years old when Riptide came out and it was hugely popular with the guys at my school. I think it was a combination of great male wish-fulfilment (manly men instead of Hasselhoff or Benedict, great boats/cars/helicopter, sunny locale) and a self-aware sense of humour. Not sure that I'd…

Having only seen the (North) American version I would say it might be worth a $2 rental. It was a very frustrating experience; some really nice performances destroyed by direction so inept that it astonished me. The early scene of trying to substitute lovers in the dark was the most incompetently directed comedy scene…

@ Conan:

I can understand Jackson's (or anyone's) aversion to getting tied into this. Given MGM's financial woes, who knows when this will ever get made? Surely Jackson wouldn't be free to make any other film until this one gets started, and what if that's four years from now?

I agree with Defender of the Cruise-Iverse above - Cruise could have coasted his whole career but chose to work with some quality people and to try new things. Can't fault him for that, regardless of his religion. The man has made a lot of good films.

My girlfriend is a huge Kylie fan, and was shocked that I didn't know that she had released several CD's between Locomotion and Can't Get You Out of My Head. One night we went to a party at her friend's place and for two hours he played nothing but Kylie Minogue singles (did I mention he's a DJ in a gay dance club? As…

My first thought was…
…what is Tony Montana doing in this movie?

Regardless of what you think of his past films…
…the fact that he's doing what he's doing now, instead of Sober House or I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, speaks well of him. I was sure that he'd end up on some washed-up has-been show with Corey Feldman…

I have mixed feelings about Friends…

Wow, I'm remembering a lot of ST trivia today…

@ BadHorse:

But the real question is…
…does he wear a toupee too?

Holmes vs Jack the Ripper
It's been done many times but I loved The Last Sherlock Holmes story by Dibdin (though I haven't read it in twenty years). Great take on it and the author does very well by making it fit roughly halfway through the Doyle canon.

I thought that Jude Law was very well cast as Watson. He's a war hero and ladies man, and presumed to be quite handsome (Holmes comments that Watson has "natural advantages" with women). And as mentioned, in the books he's portrayed as very brave, resourceful, and intelligent in his own way.

Should have mentioned why Ford did this movie…
If it hasn't been brought up elsewhere, Ford and Speilberg passed on the chance to do Big. When it became a huge hit and Tom Hanks got rave reviews, Ford was apparently super-pissed. So was Speilberg, who said in an interview "Well, I certainly would have pulled a few…

I think that Ford needs to realize that starring roles in big releases may not be the best choice for him at this point. I read a great line about movie stars, saying that anyone who is popular with the audience for more than ten years is a true star. Ford had at least twenty, but the younger generation now views him…

@ Kirk Van Houten:

I absolutely love Smith's characterization of The Doctor but for one thing. Since the second ep (Beast Below) he seems extremely "out of it" sometimes, and I don't recall him being that way in the first ep. Given how clueless this Doctor can be it seems to really contradict the experiences and knowledge of his…

Great. My coworkers are going to believe this and…
I'll be reading this as an email for weeks, with every subject line starting with fwd:fwd:fwd etc, etc.