Oh man, that really reminds me how great this is going to be. Grease is sort of the ultimate musical in terms of being super lighthearted and fluffy and so having a significant patina of nostalgia on it, but when you think about it a bit is actually pretty fucked up in all sorts of ways. And unlike Peter Pan you can't…

That is sort of the eternal problem with Tarantino, isn't it? Is he being satirical, or is he just incredibly un-self aware? I think sometimes the skill with which he makes movies can make it easy to forget that he is a B-filmmaker through and through (not that there is anything wrong with that!).

Hmm, you might be right, the only major shows i couldn't find with a quick search are Sherlock and Downton.

The whole thing is kind of weird, really. Netflix has a pretty good gig being the primary distributor of British stuff in the US, you would think they wouldn't jeopardize that.

It is generic, but the production is immaculate and at least the first season is very well written. Not much happens, which is really all for the best because this is really a show to just sort of sit back and adsorb rather than get super engaged in. the problem with the later seasons is that the pacing got thrown off.

Amour was so much better than Argo that it is a little embarrassing they were even at the same award show. I realize opinion is split on this, but I felt Life of Pi was also brilliant. less controversial would be Zero Dark Thirty and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

That was a weird case, though, because somehow the Hollywood establishment as a whole convinced itself that Afflack deserved to be Best Director over, eg, Ang Li and Michael Heneke, and the entirely deserved absence of Argo was a snub.

I actually have a lot of difficulty watching 80s sitcoms, I think the beats are just too different for me.

I know we all like to make fun of pre 1990 sitcoms, but I binged watched some Andy Griffith recently and I don;t think I have ever seen a more, I don't know, comfortable show. The plots have stakes, but they are low and realistic, the setting feels lived in, as if there are things going on when the camera isn't…

I'm willing to call the AFI Top 100 a good jumping off point, despite its (necessarily) limited pool. But the IMDB poll? It is a good jumping off point if you want to be somebody who loves movies—but only if they were made after 1980.

They are basically mirror images of each other. Both are blatantly manipulative emotion porn, only Shawshank is up while Requiem is down.

I love the Godfather, but it is basically a movie about exclusively and very definitely male relationships.

Eh, I can never get behind the idea that Citizen Kane is basically appreciable only for its influence today. The writing is still whip smart, varying easily from the sort of rapid fire witticisms that modern screenwriters are incapable of today with lines that are legitimately and unironically deep. the…

Hey guys, does anyone else hate Great Job, Internet? Am I right or what? Up arrow is down and to the left, folks.

Different strokes, I suppose. I thought the rest of the episode was alright but nothing special. I mean, compare it to "Asspen", which so packed to the gills with great moments that no one bit stands out.

I think the Imaginationland arc is the best for me, because I think it hits the right blend of social commentary, low-brow gross out humor and the dash of mawkish sentimentality that makes the show what it is. I think for sheer humor "Asspen" might have the best joke density but I am a sucker for low concept bottle…

Cool illustration, by the way. Very New Yorker.

My issue with that episode is that while the ending is brilliant and hilarious, the rest is kind of meh. I think just for sheer bravado the "made you eat your parents" bit (and the funniest part, Thom Yorke laughing at him for crying like a little baby) may make it South Park's finest moment, but the entire episode is…

Which is a real shame, because Chinese cinema—Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwanese—went through a period of incredibly fertility in the 90s. I mean, keep in mind that 1994 (to pick a year at random) saw the release of "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman", "Chungking Express", and "To Live", all on the short list for best film of…

I just want to find out how the goddamn fish got in the peculator.