Thirded!  I have a completely unreasonable love for that movie.  It's truly a hidden gem I think.

I generally don't love her either, but she's also really awesome in Living In Oblivion.

I actually don't think Superman Returns is a terrible movie, either, and is deserving of some amount of critical re-appraisal.

Thanks, I'll definitely give Perdido a try.

Love the show.  My only comment, other than to add my voice to the chorus of those complimenting Lake Bell's incredible, incredible boobs and ass while simultaneously expressing apathy for her face, is to wonder: is having sex while listening to music on your ipod a new thing the kids are doing nowadays?

Thanks… I'll give one of those a try.

I'm going to re-post this here, because I genuinely am curious:

Having never read any Mieville, I tried "The City and the City," and really did not care for it.  But so many people continually recommend his other work, I wonder if perhaps that book is just an outlier.  Would you suggest giving "Perdido . . ." a try?

Yeah, if you go back and watch this movie again, it's difficult to ignore the very strong possibility that the ending is not "real."  It's pretty tough to ignore Gideon's extremely conspicuous statement to Anderton that you "have visions" etc. once you go under.

A few of us discussed this at length in some newswire post about Stephen King last week, but it bears repeating here: the end to Pet Semetary is absolutely perfect, and one of the increasingly rare times he actually nails an ending.

Woah, that story is really awesome. Having just watched JC's The Thing a few nights ago, I think it makes a very nice compendium to one of (if not the) best horror movies ever made.  Thanks for the recommend.

Strange things.

TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!!!!

I guess I'll give you that the movies generally concern the same topics - although I don't believe Anchorman specifically fits into the arc you describe - but we'll have to agree to disagree about the difference in quality.  And, possibly, about the meaning of "San Diego."    

I don't want to start the one million-th "Judd Apatow Sucks/Is Awesome" thread, but I have to seriously ask you: do you really, really equate Adam Sandler's output over the past, say, 10 years next to Judd Apatow's?  I can understand if you don't like Apatow's work, but come the fuck on.  You're talking about…

Great article, thanks for the recommend.

Genuinely curious: has Ebert ever written a column or longer piece where he revisits films that he concedes he may have misjudged on initial review?  God, I hope that Ebert might soften up the opinions you cite above, if he ever decides to write such a thing.  I still generally really like his work, though.

You should listen to more Pavement.

Fair enough points, both.  Yankee Deer, I do agree that people tend to want to identify and elevate the "best band" of whatever genre or sub-genre of culture, for some odd reason - we're naturally inclined towards ordered ranking of things?  - at the expense, potentially, of other great bands in that same area.  This…

I mean, I guess I see the point you and UMD are making, but I choose to take the optimistic view that quality does wind up playing a much larger role in cementing "pantheon" status for bands like Pavement over the long term.  My question to you would be, what peer bands are you considering when evaluating Pavement's…