I saw this in LA with HH in attendance and he said that he wanted to make the "ultimate Hal Hartley movie". I think he succeeded.

Maybe I didn't read this closely enough, but it seems like an impressive feat to review this show without mentioning Wild, Wild West as the obvious inspiration.

Great. Direct me to that quote.

So you're saying he "directed" her in the adaption process, right? Which makes him… the director. It still doesn't make the script HIS adaptation of her novel. Directors get enough love and credit for work they don't do… we don't need to credit them with scripts they didn't write as well.

Nice list, but I take (nitpicky) issue with this:

I graduated from Bard in 1987, and I vaguely remember hearing that one of the MFA program students was making a film with Barbie dolls.

I think Schell's character is less generic-mad-scientist and more specifically a second-rate-Captain Nemo. Given the Disney of it all, 20,000 Leagues probably contributed as much — if not more — to the overall thing than any other influence.

I didn't read all 1,875 prior comments so I'm not sure this has been covered but… the character's name is Ginsberg, right? There's a famous Ginsberg, particularly famous in this period, and the thing he's most famous for saying is, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving
hysterical…

No argument there. He was, anyway.

I just want to see Paxton with Garrett's trademark mustache and floppy hair. Is that too much to ask?

My dad came home from the ETO with a Luger. Some time in the late forties my grandfather hocked it, along with all the other souvenirs dad collected over there.