"Too On-The Nose"
…pretty much sums up all of Niccols' movies for me. He's a good idea man, but hes never met a point he can't drive into the ground with hamfisted imagery (see the "eye" clip above). And he sees his characters and plots as metaphors, not as reflections of real life. Hence the many, many, many…

Also:

His T-shirt said "Jesus is my Episco-pal", so yeah, presumably Episcopalian.

Television tends to draw actors from a certain pool, so it's not neccessarily pandering. You've probably noticed certain actors who pop up again and again in small roles. Think about Terry O'Quinn before Lost—he must have been on just about every TV show made in the late 90s. But he didn't break out until Lost.

How did you feel about Heroes, then? They were the worst for that. (Also, how is Kim Dickens a "nerd celebrity"? Isn't she just a recognizable character actor? She was on Deadwood, but that's about the least nerdy show I can think of.)

You're weird, Todd
I found this to be a big step down from last week, personally. The execution was a huge mess, which is a shame because this show was intriguing from a thematic point of view. (It's not just about "forgiving a monster"—it was about how easy it can be to screw up when you think you have a destiny.)

You're weird, Todd
I'm the opposite of you, Todd—I thought this episode was a big step down from last week (which, in turn, was not as good as the pilot). I do admire how much they bit off thematically—it wasn't about forgiving a monster, it was about how easy it can be to make a horrible moral screw-up when you think…

Yeah, constantly showing us the flash forwards is annoying as hell…but I have to figure that's a network mandate. I get the feeling they're trying to repeat the success of Lost but want to avoid (what they see as ) its mistakes, so they're making very sure to keep it accessible to new viewers. I'll roll with it for a…

His argument is that the culture encourages certain people to become gun nuts. There's no reason whatsoever Target and Walmart should be selling guns, particularly since (as is my understanding) their licensing and registration processes are far more lax than those of gun stores, who are specifically set up to handle…

State, I actually thought that's what was interesting about Bowling—Moore at no point seemed to be making an argument for gun control per se, and the stats he presents do seem to make a good case that gun ownership isn't the problem. And I don't think that's inconsistent with his thesis at all—rather, I think it's…

People are nitpicking this show because of the supposed inability for someone to pass out into a urinal? Seriously? I mean, the show has problems, but yeesh.

Showgirls?
I think you mean Dreamgirls. Although it would be pretty damn hilarious if you didn't.

Uh, I thought Kinski was Herzog's Kinski.

Yeah, Um, You're Wrong
I've seen A Serious Man. It's great. And right off the top of my head, I can think of a minor character who behaves surprisingly. (The hero's neighbour turns out to be surprisingly supportive in the scene with the Chinese student's father.) There's also the hilarious discrepancy between Larry's…

Robert Anton Wilson's "Illuminatus Trilogy" also features a numerological obsession in the Rule of Fives (everything comes down to five) of which "23", 2 + 3, is the most common extension of 5. But the whole point, it's eventually revealed, is that the REAL rule of fives is that everything comes down to five if you…

Neither Good Nor Bad News
This is kind of weird news, but I seriously doubt it'll directly impact Marvel's comic output. Disney's a huge corporation that owns dozens of lesser companies, not all of whom are "Disnified". Like Miramax—meaning the bulk of Quentin Tarantino's output was released by a company owned by…

I dunno…
I agree with most of the actual cliches being presented, but a lot of the actual examples being cited are kind of weird and off. For instance, Bulworth doesn't feature the kind of scene Nathan describes. In the opening sequence, Bulworth (a politician) is watching his OWN CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS on an endless…

I confess…
"And some Skittles" made me chuckle a bit. Does that make me a bad person?

I thought the reason the Chinese guy was letting off firecrackers was because it was Chinese New year, hence Molina's "He's Chinese" comment. See, it all makes sense.

"The Place Where Stuff Happens"
See, I feel like Buffy, especially post-S3, really did need more "everyday business" to keep it grounded. Seasons 5-6 especially had an aimless feel. Sure, demons, world-saving, but the original point of the show was that that stuff was a metaphor for regular life. Buffy stopped being…