I would like to strongly second Horsecow's suggestion for WKRP. Like NewRadio, it was a traditional sitcom that still feels surprisingly modern in sensibility, and (seventies trappings aside), it holds up beautifully when seen today. It's also worth watching for the distinct vibe created by the studio audience—the…

Would You from Singin' In The Rain
We see (and hear) the song being recorded, we see Lena Lamont's game attempt at recording the song herself, we hear the song (which has played continuously on the soundtrack) now being used as playback for a scene being filmed, and in the middle of filming, the image fades to black…

Yeah, and McGilligan wrote a Clint Eastwood bio that repeats every salacious rumor as Absolute Truth, while consistently denying that the man has any talent whatsoever. (Everything good in one of Eastwood's films is the result of something someone else did.)

Yeah, but…
Very persuasive piece of writing, and I kind of agree with it, but the sad thing is, this album was really all Steinman had. His subsequent work with Mr. Loaf was more of the same with diminishing returns, but by the time he started churning out crap for Bonnie Tyler and Celine Dion, his overwrought…

Yeah, "The Albert Brooks Show" is pitch-perfect.

A Star Is Bought
Shame that it's long out of print, as it's the most flat-out funny thing Brooks ever did. While it qualifies as another of his explorations into showbiz opportunism—Brooks attempting to record singles that will fit every conceivable radio format—it's mostly a series of spoofs and parodies, all…

I've said this before here, but to me, the fact that Lorne Michaels had Albert Fucking Brooks and Jim Fucking Henson on staff and couldn't figure out a decent way to showcase their genius says a lot about his ability as a comedic kingmaker.

Ross MacDonald
I can trot out The Chill or Sleeping Beauty any old time, and they're always great. Also, anything by Donald Westlake.

Zach is correct. Laserdiscs appealed to a more discerning audience than VHS, and would never become the next big thing, but the system was extremely popular among cinephiles. It did become obsolete, of course, with the introduction of DVD, but so did VHS, and nobody considers it a "failed" format.

No matter how crappy the vehicle—Home Alone, for instance—Catherine O'Hara is always awesome.

Look, I don't watch this, OK?
…but, sadly, my girlfriend does, so I've seen more of this than I want to admit. And Todd is absolutely right about how well-directed the dance segments are. Even when the staging itself is overly-busy or the performances are flat-out embarrassing, the lighting and camerawork have the…

@Jorge—He did, and it was great. He seemed to be pissed about something—the small crowd, maybe?—but his voice has never sounded better.

Just saw Freedy Johnston last night
and he did a killer version of Wichita Lineman. It got me to wondering what Jimmy Webb has been up to lately—and when I came here this morning, I found out. Cottonwood Farm sounds like exactly the type of album I'm looking for.

I paid to see Knock Off in the theater!
OK, it was a cheapo second-run theater, but still. The only reason I wanted to see it, Tsui Hark's involvement aside, was because it featured a score by Ron and Russell Mael. The title song was, safe to say, not one of their better efforts.

Crime Story!
Hate to be all correction-y, but Michael Mann didn't direct the pilot episode. That was Abel Ferrara. Mann did direct the first season's penultimate episode, and it was fantastic.

I'd actually heard decent things about it, though less as a Mackendrick film than as a surprisingly good late-sixties Tony Curtis comedy. Although given that he was cranking out the likes of Boeing-Boeing and Not With My Wife You Don't, the bar was set pretty low.

Cannabalism?
Why emulate small-timers like that guy from Delicatessan? Better to get a gig with the Soylent corporation. You help decide what (and who) the world will eat, and maybe be able to afford a really nice apartment.

Yes, but I put it in quotation mark, thus showing my ironic detachment from the term. Or something.

Amen on "Real Life"
That movie seems more amazingly prescient with each passing year, and more influential. It's one of the few fake documentaries (I will not use the term "mockumentary") that cuts as deep as the real thing would, that becomes downright uncomfortable to watch at times. Plus, it's funny as hell.

One of the all-time greats!
I first got hooked on Rockford when I stumbled across a syndicated episode while flipping channels. It was in the middle of the show, a dialogue scene between Rockford and his long-suffering lawyer/girlfriend. The dialogue was basically exposition, but it didn't feel like it, rendered as…