Wind That Shakes the Barley is definitely a great one, both as an examination of the practical and moral challenges of waging guerrilla warfare and of the complex social/economic elements of the Irish War of Independence that are sometimes overlooked.

Ninja II: Were it not for the enthusiastic review posted over at The Dissolve I likely would have never given this movie a second-glance, but I couldn't be more glad to have been shown the error of my ways. The plot is utterly silly of course, but it makes for a fine and efficient showcase for some extremely…

A solid B for me. I definitely agree with some of the tonal issues that many other posters have mentioned but I did really enjoy the episode's dedication to the visual aesthetic and central conceit, and overall attention to detail.

I think Jay was referencing that the film wasn't shown to Germans in the immediate years after the Holocaust and not implying that it needs to be rubbed in the faces of today's Germans.

And even though this particular style of bloated historical mini-series has fallen out of favor, many of the broad strokes and the cliches of the genre live on in other forms that are more immediately familiar.

I hope Archer has to water-ski over a shark.

In theory this is certainly true, but it'd actually work better if he were more of a generalized asshole. I agree he's actually very serious minded about much of his criticism and not merely a troll, but those trolling tendencies dilute his better elements.

I can't offer a definitive answer but the Instant thumbnail for the movie does carry the Criterion logo last I saw, so I'd wager it's probably in the correct ratio if they're streaming that version.

I'd be more sympathetic to this line of argument if he didn't also exhibit the kind of behavior discussed in this article with some regularity.

It's the AMC of features!

Outrage: A good but uneven Yakuza picture from eclectic director Takeshi Kitano. On the positive side, from a level of pure craftsmanship this is an extremely well made movie.

Agreed. I don't imagine it's what Miike had in mind in a particular sense, but that character's behavior reminded me most of certain Wehrmact generals of the Second World War.

Money.

13 Assassins: An expertly crafted and thoroughly entertaining Samurai picture in the classic mold. The film's structure bares significant similarities to Seven Samurai and other films in the Men-on-a-Mission genre but never becomes derivative, elevated by Miike's directorial hand and excellent character work and…

This review makes me slightly less embarrassed for wanting to see this. I mean, objectively I realize it's probably not any good but I find the idea of a weird, genre mashup Samurai movie to be oddly appealing.

The charming nature of Redditor's personalities makes me think they'll manage that all by themselves without our intervention.

Nevsky won't save you this time!

A light weekend for me as I spent the bulk of the time preparing for the holidays, playing the usual slate of games and meeting up with a friend in NYC. Based on said friend's recommendation I did start watching Bob's Burgers on Netflix however, and so far I've been entertained.

Finding the N64 under the tree in the morning is certainly my best remembered gaming-related holiday memory, though there's certainly no shortage of them.

The obsession in these sort of circles with EMPs is particularly perplexing to me. It's such a weird, ripped from techno-thrillers detail to hone in on but among these types of folks it's discussed endlessly.