Point taken. I guess what I am saying is I don't think there was much story advancement if any. There were a lot of storylines that felt like dead ends or filler. This is a season that could be skipped without missing much in the way of the overall story. Misha coming to America to meet Matthew Rhys's character, only…

To each their own. I do not need car chases and explosions every week to be happy. I watched Mad Men throughout its entire run and dug every minute of it. This season was boring and did not advance anything. Enjoy the show all you want. I am entitled to my "limited" view. Oleg spending a season investigating grocery…

Who's God's running mate?

Granted, I stopped watching after season three, but I would be totally okay with a House of Cards cancellation.

Yes, this is a great show and I dig it, but I often finish episodes feeling like nothing much actually happened. I am not expecting 007 shenanigans, but plot and pacing could be stepped up.

That's true. That can complicate things. I have a buddy who grew up the son of academics in a mid-size college town around here, and this fact has him convinced he's not a real Southerner or at least that he's inoculated from whatever bad connotations Southern-ness implies. Even though we taught in the same department…

As a lifelong Southerner, I have heard some outlandish accents in my time that were like something overdone in a movie, so I don't think they are completely out of the realm of reality, especially if the people involved have Southern roots. Isn't Soderbergh, for all his Hollywood bona fides, originally from Atlanta?…

I must say this movie looks fucking fun. I had envisioned Daniel Craig as some slick heavy antagonist that Tatum and Driver would have to contend with when I first heard about this, but this is much better. The cast seems very into it too. It's like a Kenny Powers daydream.

TOP MEN.

Killing Them Softly was a flawed movie, but Brad Pitt was great in it.

It seems like John Cusack looked at Nic Cage's downward trajectory as something to aspire to. Also, while he still works occasionally with noted directors, Adrien Brody seems to be heading in that direction a lot lately.

And we've got top men working on it.

I dig The Americans a great deal, but sometimes its deliberate pacing gets to me in a way that Mad Men's slow, casual pacing did not. It's a great show with wonderful acting and I don't mind a slow burn, but it could be a little more propulsive at times. That admission might make me a phillistine around these parts,…

This reminded me a little of Breaking Bad when Walter let Kristen Ritter's character choke on her own vomit because, much as it pained him to watch, things would be easier in the long run.

I feel a little silly now for being down on season 3 in the early going. I guess it's still possible for this season to be a disappointment, but, holy crap, the wonders these last two episodes have done.

That is a shame. I was really hoping this would be good. I was hankering for something like The Wolf of Wall Street or The Big Short in desert camouflage. I guess Three Kings and Buffalo Soldiers remain the best military satires of the last 20 years.

Sadly, I thought that movie was awesome when it came out. However, that was largely due to Alan Rickman's extremely fun villain turn.

It always looked more like a Robin Hood movie to me, save for the Giant elephants.

A buddy of mine who's a fun buff says a great filmmaker has both creativity and good judgment. Ritchie has style to spare but lacks good judgment re: artistic choices and occasionally casting.

He's what we would get if we melded McG and Michael Bay together and gave him a Brit accent.