I think a lot of people hate Shawshank for the ridiculously undue canonizing that it has somehow garnered over the past ten years or so. But I don't see how you can see it's a bad movie. I'd definitely rate all of the movies I listed above as better than Shawshank, but I still like it a lot, even after like a million…

Have books really fallen this far down the pop cultural ladder?
How does this not supplant the NCC Reservoir Dogs entry as the number one feature of the day?

I agree, PTA is a better director than Quentin Tarantino, but Magnolia still blows chunks. And so does Boogie Nights, sorta. I don't think QT has made an out-and-out bad movie yet except probably Death Proof.

And yeah, the swimming pool dive in Boogie Nights is stolen directly out of I Am Cuba

Magnolia is a complete and utter Nashville/Short Cuts reference-o-rama that it really does physically pain me. PTA even has the abject audacity to cast people like Julianne Moore or Michael Murphy in his films, as if he takes some sick pleasure in taunting the beleaguered Altman fans.

Boogie Nights isn't quite as bad as Magnolia, but the whole thing directly cribs tonal, stylistic and aesthetic choices from better Scorsese and Altman films. Especially Scorsese, because if you watched Boogie Nights without knowing who directed it, you would think Scorsese directed it but forgot to snort a ridiculous…

Worst Rip-Off Artist Working In Movies Today?
My vote goes to Paul Thomas Anderson. I actually think he's improved a lot and TWBB, Punch-Drunk Love and Hard Eight are all great movies, for me at least.

1994 really was was an amazing year for movies. One of these jokers at the AV Club picked it as their favorite year in film, ever, I believe.

Death Proof
I really do hate to be a QT apologist, but whenever I see people ragging on Death Proof, I always feel bad. It is a sucky movie, but it was supposed to be a sucky movie. I think, with Grindhouse, QT made a loving recreation of the horrible movies he loved as a kid and Robert Rodriguez made an overblown,…

He also killed a girl with a rock in Short Cuts. And, in that movie, he gets to fuck the shit out of Jennifer Jason Leigh in her prime.