He's great as Belize in Angels in America.

I like the guy they hired to play Hoover, too; he looks more like the Hoover I imagine than DiCaprio, a pipsqueak little shit who nevertheless is much smarter and more "scrupulous" than the agents around him.

There was a Slate article that just came out that said Narcisse had proto black power overtones but never mentioned Pan-Africanism, which I thought was pretty ridiculous (my cousin's fiance is actually writing a dissertation on Harlem jazz clubs in the 1920s and will get a kick out of the themes of Chalky White's…

Richard II is very, very good. Patrick Stewart should also be mentioned for his brief but fucking awesome performance as Bollingbrooke's father. As much as it is a relatively straight interpretation, the depiction of Richard's kingdom as a detached paradise of inexplicable entertainments and luxuries makes his…

I just meant dramatic acting; I love both those movies.

I'm a fan of Cusack, but I think the best acting of his career is in this movie, especially when Myra figures out his deal.

Was convinced to watch this by Ebert's enthusiastic review (as with so many underrated movies), and it is pretty damn great, especially Bening as a sleazier, darker version of her character in Bugsy. Pat Hingle is also scary as hell. As much a con movie as it is a film about people trapped by their compulsive behavior…

No.

Dennis and Charlie is probably my favorite for their weirdly sibling like relationship - Dennis is the sociopathic, guiding older brother Charlie never had.

Good word choice of tepid, actually.

YOUR PHONY ROCK N' ROLL

Pleased to Meet Me might be knocked off by Hootenanny if not for the brilliance of Valentine (I have a theory that if that had been pushed as a big single, they migggghhht have gotten a relatively popular hit). The demo of it with Stinson with guitar is also great.

Hey, where are the twinkies?

Lili Taylor played an insufferable if sympathetic woman, but she was always, always great doing it. My crush on her from Say Anything continues.

See, SPOILERS dumping Brenda made sense to me, though; it was a shitty marriage, they were both clearly unhappy, and he had just cheated on her. If Nate's tragic flaw is his inability to do what makes him happy or what he actually wants (while simultaneously being deeply selfish), then I though that was kind of a…

Is that in this episode or the finale? I don't remember.

Watched the Departed ending on YouTube, and forgot how weirdly funny and dark "Sweet Dreams" by Roy Buchanan makes that final shot.

You have a point, and I'm sure Whedon would have pointed this out in a sequel, but from what we see, it's broadcast everywhere around the galaxy, not quite the same as the Snowden leaks. But Mal is absolutely right that people have to know what their government was doing.

Well, Fox aired it out of order and put it on Friday night, the guillotine of television scheduling.

I don't think they would either, but I think it's pretty uncanny how much Whedon's themes link up to a sort of existential anarchism.