I saw sex, lies, and videotape in its initial release (why yes, I'm old) and have been following Soderbergh ever since.  Along with David Mamet, he was my favorite artist-to-follow for a while, and he's retiring (or claims to be) and Mamet lost his mind.  (sigh)

What do you consider the most visually beautiful films?  And what's your favorite musical work?

Strange thing is, if he'd just said he didn't like The Big Lebowski, I'd have been cool with that.  When he says, though, that it "falls apart in the second half in a similarly lazy way," that's not objectively wrong, but it's definitely challengable.

@avclub-09dbda0ec297f8e1fb8fa397efd0f70a:disqus :   "For the first time, Joel and Ethan Coen have based a script upon actual events — a botched kidnapping in Minnesota in 1987 — and this, I believe, was their undoing"  Wow.  He managed to misunderstand the first joke of the movie.

Respect the cruller!  And TAME the doughnut!

A lot of tumblr owners (tumblrers?) have said:  they can't, so they'll either massively alter it or shut it down.

The dream in Prince of Darkness still haunts me (which of course makes me wonder if it's a dream at all GAAAAAAAAH).

It was completely followed through!  Chekhov clearly states if a character tongues a bowling ball in the first act, said bowling ball (or a similar one) must be hurled into the gut of a nihilist in the third act, causing him to reveal minor man ass.

"falls apart in a similarly lazy way"—yesterday I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, but now I just have no idea what the fuck D'Angelo is saying. Unless he's taking the William Goldman line and really wanted to see the bowling match with the Jesus.

Watch the whole thing again. In the second half, some plot points get paid off, some characters get developed further (Walter in particular), and there's some real melancholy and heart in how it all ends. (We all know what I'm talking about.)

@avclub-4f8bc5ac1dc2b49434efe9e72f183de8:disqus :  I'm still not clear why you think subtext is fundamental to drama.

SPOILER

The Act of Seeing. . . should be seen as one-third of a trilogy about death, where death isn't heroic, or spiritual, or a gateway to another world, where it's just the end; the feeling I get all through watching it is "this is what we will all be one day."

Now I want to see the Adult Swim/Ryan Murphy mashup Rubber Man: Attorney at Law.

"Drama is fundamentally subtextual"—hm. Could you elaborate? It sounds interesting but I'm not sure I agree. I'd say that drama is fundamentally about conflict, and it doesn't matter whether the conflict is subtextual or right there on the surface (The Dark Knight, The Shield). But I do agree with you about the…

This would have worked better with your old avatar.

Only if it maintains the complex eroticism of the French original. (I like the way they think.)

I think I came in last fall on the enormo-comment board and I've been trying to follow you guys around as you move from board to board.

OH. FUCK.  YEAH.

Hey.  Hi.