No "Devil in a Blue Dress"? Came out the same year as "Strange Days", and he was equally good, and sleazy, in that role. The scene where you realize just how dangerous his character is is pretty terrifying to watch. It's amazing he had that, "Strange Days" and "Heat" come out in the same year.

I loved "Robbery Homicide Division". Not always a Mario Van Peebles fan, but he was excellent and creepy as the villain of the show, and I liked the camaraderie of Sizemore and the other cops, best shown in one of the show's few funny moments; they've found out a bunch of washing machines have been stolen, and at the…

My father hated most culture that happened after about 1960, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions was Calvin & Hobbes, and as my father and I had an increasingly contentious relationship when I was growing up, it was one of the few things we could agree on. And my mom and one of my brothers didn't get the…

Okay, the voice was a little funny, but that's still one darn sarcastic kid we're raising.

I didn't mind the Santiago subplot as much, because they handled it about as well as they could have (plus, it was nice to see Francis Capra show up), but the whole Matt/Carlotta story was awful - and yeah, much worse than the murder story. I remember having an e-mail conversation with a friend of mine about the…

I liked Julie, though I agree her character became one-note. My problem with seasons 3 and 4 is they tried to make Meghan, one of the great deadpan snarkers on TV, into a "normal" character, and her whole romance with Sean felt tacked-on. Plus, the show also marginalized Elena in the final two seasons. So I disagree…

I'm also one of those who, despite a love of books, never got into poetry when I was in school. I have learned to appreciate it more as I've grown up. My favorite poem is probably "The Raven" (I once wrote a parody of it in describing the final scene of the first season finale of "Veronica Mars"). Curiously, I have…

"Van Damme promoted/sullied the reputation of another Hong Kong legend a few years later with Tsui Hark, who did the one-two of Knock Off and the previous New Cult Canon entry Double Team.) "

Which is why Face/Off, to me, is the best of Woo's American films; it's the only one that has the right combination of big action and big emotion.

She's actually not bad in Drop Zone, surprisingly. She, the parachuting stunts and Kyle Secor are the only things worth watching in that one.

Only in the United States government is more attention paid to a movie's depiction of torture than the actual practice itself.

I'm amazed Bowie and Swinton never worked together before this; they just seem so perfect together.

One of these days, I need to give it a re-watch as well. I liked how well developed the characters were, but maybe the movie wore the weight of expectations to me, because all my horror movie friends were saying this was one of the scariest films they'd seen in years, and…it just wasn't that scary to me (whereas…

No, I actually do think Martin was better than all of them (though Abraham comes very close, admittedly). Bridges is a great actor, but he came across as flat in Starman, Waterston was actually my least favorite member of the cast at the time (Ngor and Malkovich both act rings around him), and while Finney is good, I…

Hard Target isn't bad - as much trouble as Woo apparently had with Van Damme while filming, it's one of the only films where I don't find him insufferable - but it's brought down by Yancy Butler (to be fair, it's not much of a part, but she's awful) and Wilford Brimley (whose Cajun accent was ridiculous).

I saw this movie in theaters right after seeing The Last Samurai. Maybe it's because that movie was so (unintentionally) ridiculous, but I never minded this film the way others did at the time (admittedly, I never read the PKD story, so I don't know how it works as an adaptation), because at least it seemed to know…

"It's not that he doesn't like science fiction."

Romulan ale is a great memory restorative; it makes me remember why I never drink it.

Remake of a Hong Kong thriller, actually. And yes, even though I like The Departed a lot, Friends of Eddie Coyle is much, much better.

I saw Paths of Glory either in college or after I graduated, and it freaked the hell out of me when Richard Anderson showed up. All I could think about was, "That's Oscar Goldman!"