One False Move is staggeringly good, every last actor in it. I remember when Siskel called it the best movie of that year.

Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?

Sigur Ros— Svefn-G-Englar. I know the violin bow on guitar has been around a long time (The Song Remains the Same) but I felt like I was hearing that tone anew. And that singing was out of this world.

Saw him in Dallas last summer; he seemed a bit stiff with canned comments, I was hoping for more anecdotes about creating his scores. But they genuinely enjoyed playing live, and the music greatly benefitted from the extra kick of a real drumkit. And the movie clips added to the lovefest. I quite like both of his…

Stir Crazy was my family's first ever rental (Beta) with our first ever VCR.

Josh, you are the only other person I know who even heard of Lullaby For the Working Class. I still adore the lush instrumentation of their first album.

Love it! Had a beta copy back in the day. Spader and Gibb are both awesome. This is one of those sweaty movies like Body Heat that you can only watch on a 100 degree night.

Disturbing because it leads to predictable plot lines— it happens so often it has become a device to inject dramatic tension. "Let's spare this character, and then later we can put them in precarious situations and watch them fumble about." The priest is a prime example— by all rights he should have died long ago, but…

The Wolf with a gun at the end was spared by Morgan. He remained a threat and almost killed Rick. This is another disturbing theme, people who are spared who continue to endanger others later on.

I say he looks like John Carpenter.

Thanks. I like both versions so far. Low usually has interesting alternate takes and live versions. It's been 10 years since the Lifetime box— maybe another B-side compilation is in order. They put out lots of split singles and such.

The Best:
Things We Lost in the Fire—confident and unimpeachable from start to finish, In Metal could be their single best tune
The Curtain Hits the Cast—so damn slow and quiet, I still want to see Laugh played live
Secret Name—lush and orchestral, lots of great live tunes
I Could Live in Hope— I came to this late but…

"Sway" is my all time fave Stones tune, all bluesy swagger. That opening riff, I always picture Keith and the boys staggering into a bar, about to take it over. And the theme of Sway, trying to wrestle with the dark side, seems to address their post-Altamont mentality. Alejandro Escovedo does a great live cover of…

Jurassic Park is my go-to example for a book and movie both being equally good, but for very different reasons. Spielberg predictably delivers childhood wonder and cinematic action. I read the book afterward, and thought the focus was mostly on the mathamatician ranting about the irresponsibility of science. I now see…

This reminds me of my favorite Gene Siskel rant, from their '86 Oscars show, about dumb song nominees. He was sore all the way back to 1978, when no song from Saturday Night Fever was even nominated. Here's the video at about the 22:00 mark

How did that wallet monogram translate into other languages? Was there a subtitle?

That'll always be Saturday Night Fever— a great dramatic arc, but he still has some of the funniest lines from the 70s.

Travolta was cast perfectly in PF, but I'm equally impressed with his acting in Get Shorty— the inner confidence and physicality of Chili Palmer was a wonder to watch.

Saw it that opening Friday, a matinee. That earlier, older audience had the biggest gasp when Travolta appeared shirtless while getting hosed off. He had obviously filled out a bit in middle age, and the last image people had of him was the buff 19-year-old speedo in Saturday Night Fever.

Saw them open for Shearwater a few years back. I kinda liked their separation of roles, especially when Andy seemed to play 3 instruments at once: drums with one hand, keyboards with the other, and some bagpipe sound effect thing. Come back to Albuquerque, please!