The Life Aquatic I love because it's the Anderson movie I wished I could be in the most. It comes off as a bit ragged around the edges, but I kind of like it as a counterbalance to Anderson's micromanaging style. Also, it's the funniest for me. "Who the shit is Kingsley Zissou?"

"Lost in Translation may not have had a traditional plot, but there was a sense throughout the film that something potentially life-changing was happening to these characters. " I don't understand how this fairly generous statement is allowed to be applied to LiT but not Frances Ha, which has arguably even more going…

I have to flat-out disagree, because although I do love myself a good meaty drama, there are so many good stories told about people's interior lives without much at stake and avoid the conventional dramatic arc. Lots of filmmakers love making movies about nothing (Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola, Fellini, half of the…

"There’s no shame in being repelled by all of this relentless debauchery."
Isn't that the point?

""Watch this awkward girl act awkwardly while these people be mild dicks to her?' I feel like there was really nothing substantial being said there."

I'm still in college, but I loved Frances Ha. It is hilarious, like you said, and it was personally spectacular for me to see any movie more interested in a woman's relationship with her best friend than her romantic other. There are also a few scenes near the end, in my opinion, that elevate it to something more than…

"features a main character that the audience isn't half as enamored with as the director is."

"Amour"

Ugh. And even those complaints are usually so illegitimate. I remember some assholes whining about the "dumb feminist agenda" behind Brienne, not realizing that she is only one of some 20-odd female characters on the show who can effectively wield a sword, and she is far outnumbered by the number of women on the show…

"I don't know that there's an undue emphasis on feminism per se in 'Game of Thrones,' outside of Dany's story and to an extent Cersei's and Brienne's — it's more an honest look at women both capable and fallible in a world often dominated by men equally so, at least in my eyes." That is feminist, though, and the best…

YES. Also, the fact that she's not entirely engaged with him in her first shot, either—she's on a phone call regarding her job and career. (more foreshadowing!) But it's still a quietly thrilling shot because we see how comfortably, normally integrated they are as a couple. No wink-wink romantic looks exchanged here.

The scene of the escape pod(?) and shuttle bits hurtling back to Earth like bats out of Hell was one of the most beautiful and cathartic things I had ever seen. I was so emotional at that point.

My three scenes:

I liked it for its double dose of irony—her roommate is right, to some extent, but he's also speaking from a place of privilege himself, since he's more well-off than Frances and even responded flippantly, "It's cool to be fired," after Frances tells him about being laid off. I just love that little clash of hipster…

That was great.

The irony is that an expensive, private liberal arts school is exactly the kind of place where kids would recognize his surname. If he wanted to rebel or find privacy, he should have gone to state or business school.

This comment coming on the heels of Gravity, a sci-fi movie starring a actress nearly 50 years old, but okay. This is the case with all prequels—they cast younger people to rope in a newer, younger audience. Also, because we've already exhausted all the material for these characters' middle ages, so the only direction…

And she kills the monster and finds her agency, etc. Those are all hallmarks of a conventional "strong young woman," a personality evidently so ludicrous and hilarious in conception that it needs sarcasm uppercase initials.

Uh, pardon me, but was the original Sarah Connor also not a Young Strong Female Character?

In years? You should check out their Girls parody.