I imagine it's hard to hold the drill steady while you're going into shock

The drilling a hole in the forehead to help "force out mental images" isn't nicked from Cronenberg. It's called trepanation and it's a practice that goes back to prehistoric times. It was believed to be able to cure what we'd now refer to as seizures, migraines, and schizophrenia / psychosis. And as the late, great…

oh wow. oh wow.

you do know that people have been saying that since at least the mid-60s, right?

there are so many problems with that scene it's hard to know where to begin. for starters he's having a "flashback" to an event he never even witnessed. I also think it's incredibly offensive to intercut staged re-enactments of actual killings with footage of a man orgasming. (and why was he orgasming if he was having…

I think the argument is that with both filmmakers the use of emotion is one dimensional and rote. I happen to love Spielberg (my mileage with Nolan varies) but I understand the argument and don't think it's inherently hypocritical

there's a difference between evocative and manipulative. when he's at his best Spielberg is the former, but there's no denying there's been many many times throughout his career where he's slipped into the latter. that shouldn't discredit all the incredible work he's done, but it shouldn't be ignored either - he's a…

if more contemporary blockbuster directors studied Spielberg's directing style closely, we probably wouldn't have so many shitty movies

I've read interviews with Lucas (I think these were from before the prequels) where he said that after he retired he wanted to go back to making non-narrative experimental films like when he was a student. that might have been interesting.

the pessimism and coldness of Munich (which I happen to think is one of Spielberg's best) I think comes largely from co-writer Tony Kushner. it's funny that you mention the sex scene though, because it nearly ruins the movie for me, and I see a lot of Spielberg's worst flaws reflected in it. maybe "sentimental" isn't…

True.

I've always wished that part of the movie had been cut out. It just seems goofy to me.

I think Dowd's point wasn't that Body Snatchers is a more accomplished film, but that it better encapsulates the paranoia of the era (which I think is a correct assessment)

I went to a Jesuit high school and one of the teachers there played one of the priests in The Exorcist (Father Dyer). according to him they were filming the scene after Karras tumbles down the steps, and Friedkin didn't think he looked shaken up enough, so he took him aside, slapped him in the face, and he nailed it…

@avclub-4645aaea95ece4efbef8cb9251a5ac3a:disqus do you know which scene? I need to find this myself.

every time I hear Tyson speak or read anything that he's said it just makes me miss Carl Sagan that much more. a great science advocate should use science as a way of opening people up to the wonder of the universe, not use it to cynically shit all over everything with a smug grin on your face.

@avclub-b78501aaad511cb25326896139533cb9:disqus because they don't want his nitpicky ass whining about every single creative decision

yeah I wish there were more Gould-Altman collaborations - they both did some of their best work together. I guess I'll just have to be content to watch this and The Long Goodbye over and over (not such a bad fate, really)

I think it's a little bit different of a situation when someone is making a biopic of your life

and as for Pynchon: the guy quotes a Nelly song in his latest novel for crying out loud. he voiced his own parody portrayal on the Simpsons. "recluse" has always seemed a tad ridiculous of a label.