I dunno, I thought Stone really stole Stardust Memories as "Pretty Girl on Train".

Here's my requisite comment about how Emmanuel Lubezki shot The Birdcage. There, there it is.

Also, if you, like me, are an insanely devoted Lubezki fan, check out his Instagram page if you haven't. The images he puts on there as a throwaway are better than most of the images that make it into movies these days.

Everyone here seems to hate it, but I quite liked Blackhat, which if nothing else was a solid showcase for Mann's experimentation with jittery digital photography (I love the way it, Collateral, and Miami Vice look).

SpaceCamp: Harmless, forgettable (I seriously barely remember it as I'm writing this, and I watched it earlier today) 80s cheese whose main appeal to me was the prospect of seeing a startlingly young Joaquin Phoenix. Indeed, it's strange to see him as a cherubic, cute kid who starts a friendship with a literal-minded…

What I like about V. thus far is how it seems like PTA unconsciously took some of the ideas and images and symbols from it to use in The Master (Freddie Quell is more than a little like Benny Profane, and Pig Bodine's Harley-Davidson is directly mirrored with Dodd's own motorcycle).

I've read Lot 49, Inherent Vice, Vineland, and Bleeding Edge. I loved the first three books when I read them, but Pynchon really clicked for me with Edge, and I want to go back and reread those three with more experience. I'm currently reading V., although I've stalled a bit.

You should be fine for most of A Most Wanted Man (which I thought was excellent), although all bets are off with the ending.

What Pynchon have you read thus far?

I've been dragging my heels on They Came Together because of the mixed response, but I'm going to need to watch it at some point just to experience (presumably) one of the two cameos you mention.

The Immigrant was one of my favorites from last year too. I guess we'll have to see if Irrational Man turns out to be worth its weight in salt (it'll definitely look nice, because it's shot by The Immigrant's DoP Darius Khondji, and it'll definitely be well-acted).

I feel like I'm the only one ever to not only like Paul Schneider's character on Parks and Rec, but honest-to-god miss him when he left.

The best thing I could say about Inherent Vice as an adaptation is that it got the feeling of reading Pynchon exactly right (the scene where Doc and Shasta are sent by a Ouija board to score dope is almost Pynchon's approach in miniature; send the reader down a blind alley not knowing what's coming and watch them have…

Synecdoche, New York: I've been sitting on this one for a while now, and I can certainly say I'm glad I didn't watch this closer to PSH's death (Jesus Christ, it's been over a year now), as I would have been utterly fucking destroyed by it (even now, even knowing the final line ahead of time, I was not prepared for it…

Seriously, how great was Clouds of Sils Maria?

Criterion will be releasing Chimes and Othello this year, so it won't be the cinematic equivalent of Dry Land pretty soon.

If you were sad when Andrew Lesnie died, you're a human being. Also, there's no excuse for disliking Babe, retroactive or not.

Hawkins was also really good in a potentially worthless role in Cassandra's Dream.

There was also Hazelle Goodman in Deconstructing Harry. Not that that solves the problem, of course.

Babe: Anyone who doesn't like this movie is a fucking monster.