At least it was shot using 3D cameras, instead of being converted after the fact, like certain other pieces of crap I could name.

Another major offender, by the way, is the New Yorker's James Wood. I enjoyed his book "How Fiction Works," but his contempt for genre—even literary realism—is palpable. He quotes a passage from a John Le Carre novel, for example, says that it is "magnificent" by the standards of contemporary thrillers, and then…

I like Harold Bloom, but his commentary on popular fiction is pretty embarrassing. His infamous takedown of Stephen King, for example, doesn't mention a single book or story by King, but criticizes J.K. Rowling instead, which is sort of like saying that Steven Spielberg can't be a good director because Attack of the…

If I've learned anything from Mad Men at this point, it's to trust Matthew Weiner with the long game. As far as I can tell, the show has made only one major misstep—they revealed Don's true identity way too early, probably because they didn't know if they would get past the first season.

This is still my favorite photo of January Jones:

@wolfmansRazor: I remember that Ebert review, which I also read when I was a kid. I was especially impressed by the last sentence: "This movie is the worst piece of shit I have ever seen." (He was quoting another viewer at the screening he attended, but still…)

Blue Velvet
My parents were big David Lynch fans, and while I was allowed to watch Twin Peaks at an inappropriately young age—I was still in grade school when it premiered—my dad's VHS copy of Blue Velvet was clearly off limits. I was already obsessed with Lynch's other work, though, so when I was thirteen, I secretly…

Tatum O'Neal has evidently not received satisfaction.

Richard Alpert
Yes, it's a character on Lost, but it's also the real name of guru Ram Dass, who worked with Timothy Leary on LSD research at Harvard. Not a bad joke, as these things go, but Lost got there about three years earlier.

@m0nit0rman: Crazy as it sounds, I can almost see your point. Hudson Hawk isn't a great movie by any measure, but it's fun and inventive, and the vein of absurd schoolboy humor it tried to open up was a promising one. As far as fiascoes go, it's harmless and sweet, and it's interesting to wonder where a successful…

Yeah, that was pretty good.

I was recently reading an article about the debacle of The Good Son (screenplay by Ian McEwan, by the way), which had this quote from an anonymous studio source: "Mack can't act. He just mimics. He does single clauses. And that isn't what this movie needs."

I think the homepage taglines for this and Max Headroom were switched.

I haven't seen 50 First Dates, but I hear good things.

Cruise's career is a repudiation of the entire "lifetime pass" theory: he's made a ton of awesome movies, but it sure hasn't earned him any goodwill.

I used to know his literary agent, and yeah, apparently Rodney was a real pothead.

In Bruges
1. If you grew up on a farm, and are retarded, Bruges might impress you, but if you didn't, it won't.
2. If you're looking for prostitutes in Bruges, you need to look in the right places. Brothels are good.
3. There are a lot of alcoves in the Astridpark.
4. At the Basilica of the Holy Blood, if you don't want…

Vertigo
Psycho
North by Northwest
Rear Window
The Birds/Rebecca/Notorious

@Dr.Robuttnik: Totally agree about the downside of CGI. When everything is possible, the impossible is no longer interesting. (Which is why the practical special effects in Inception, say, are so effective.)

Awesome
This guy was pretty amazing. In those days, being a production designer also meant a lot of work with miniatures, mattes, and practical special effects. He created the effect of Norman Lloyd falling from the Statue of Liberty in Saboteur, for instance, and used a toy truck and plane for the climax of the…