I once watched a compilation of quotes from the Ancient Aliens meme guy, Giorgio Tsoukalos, and I swear his hair has grown progressively longer and more unkempt as time has gone on, in direct proportion to his own craziness.

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh, man, I'm always so torn when I read these interviews with him. On the one hand, it think it's genuinely cool that he's got this thing with the wine that he feels is more down to earth than being a rock star and is affecting the landscape and all that, and I respect how anti-celebrity it is. On the…

[MILD SPOILERS but no plot details spilled]

I remember thinking when Azkaban came out: 'Hmm those sound a hell of a lot like the Spectres from The Subtle Knife.' I don't think the gap between the two books was long enough for her to rip it off exactly, but they do function in the exact same way. That seems like the bigger resemblance for me.

I know your question was more about plot than character significance, but I was definitely getting some romance vibes from those two. The way she seems to want to protect him, plus in the opening sequence she grabs onto him when the
ghosts appear and hugging him after he's almost killed by them. I don't
know if it's…

"I completely understand why it was difficult not to get captured"

I agree with you about ambiguity but I think there's a difference between what Lindelof's doing with The Leftovers and what Lindelof did with Lost, though. Like I have no problem with the Leftovers not answering the rapture question because a) It's only one issue, b) They've repeatedly said they won't answer it and c)…

They played a gig at a music festival in Taiwan a few weeks back, and managed to piss off everyone- organisers, audience, everyone. IIRC the problems were:

Nice try, internet, but allow me:

Includes an epic, non-CGI sequence in which Vin Diesel's character stunt-jumps a plane from LAX… all the way to Tokyo International!

I would also add the season-two finale is better than this one. I'm not usually a fan of the kind of resolution it has, but the episode pulled it off well.

I think the downward spiral of the show strongly correlated with the writer's obvious loss of interest in the patients of the week.

I think there's a certain element of what you said (the character putting on airs) but there are also times when better acting was called for - such as the scenes when he's with his wife - and Vaughn didn't really deliver on that. So the problem can't entirely be written off as clever character development.

The initial section with baiting the Quantum members, I agree. Afterwards, though, I guess I'd have preferred a straightforward scrappy action scene instead of what we got. Wasn't too sure what they were going for there, to be honest.

The opera house scene too. A good, more espionage-y set piece followed by what could have been a good old-fashioned shootout, except that they try to make it all artsy by intercutting it with the opera scenes and playing the opera music all over the action.

Agree with the assessment of the films but I never really thought that was Brosnan's fault. He was always quite good in his films but I doubt there's an actor alive who could make the Die Another Day script work.

My chief memory of License to Kill is being freaked out by the head-exploding scene halfway through the film. Definitely the franchise's most brutal film.

Definitely agree - when he gave that line about 'It stymies my vengeance,' or whatever, I felt like he was trying really hard to deliver that seriously. But it's the kind of line that would work if it was delivered in a bit more of a manic, twitchy style. Doesn't have to be much, just not quite so restrained.

My understanding is that 'specious' refers to an argument that is superficially plausible but ultimately false, whereas 'truthiness' refers to an argument that is true because someone believes it so much, actual facts be damned.

Me too - although what annoys me more is the thing in every TV show/movie ever where someone tries to shoulder-barge a door open. KICK IT, FOOL!