This is true.  Real boxing is like 90% clinching and blocking punches.  Which, sure, of course it is because anybody who fought like Rocky in real life would die, but it also makes Rocky Movie Boxing a hell of a lot more entertaining.

“Rocky II is better than Rocky.”

One thing that really makes the “Gonna Fly Now” sequence pop is that there is hardly any music in the whole movie before that point. At all. A little quiet piano noodling in a couple of scenes to illustrate Rocky’s loneliness, and that is about it. And then Conti’s horns burst out of the movie and it is tremendously…

I didn’t think I cared enough about Star Wars for a new movie to make me angry, but this twist makes me angry.

Well, the whole decision to basically repeat the first trilogy undercuts it, badly. Yay, the good guys won...except that they have to do it all again 25 years later so their victory meant jackshit.  And obviously having Palpatine be not really dead makes the best part of “Return of the Jedi” completely meaningless. …

Stop whining.  No one cares.

Noticed how the reset button had Daisy back in the kitchen when she was supposed to be inheriting her father-in-law’s farm.  Also, Carson’s tremor disappeared.  They were still all servile peasants, though.

In fairness, it’s been a good 20 years since any “Simpsons” episode had a reason to exist.

Well, made me not want to watch this episode.

>all because Amazon didn’t get 3 billion to provide a headquarters

Putting children in cages is a crime against humanity.  Try harder, MAGA guy.

Oh, I wasn’t arguing that the majority isn’t terrible. Most ‘70s TV was shit.  All the variety shows!  I was just providing a few examples of wheat among the chaff.

Six movies, IIRC, and all of them got Best Picture nominations.

Richard Dreyfuss was a rising star after “American Graffiti”.  Robert Shaw had been in a lot of stuff.

Good call.  This reminds me of when Ebert called “Out of the Past” the greatest cigarette-smoking movie of all time.

Yup, I read it once.  The only thing I remember being different is that the sheriff, not Sam Loomis, is the one who comes to Lila’s rescue in the basement.  Otherwise, as you say, pretty much straight-down-the-line.

>while I find Chrissy Watkins’ or Quint’s death to be as close as it gets to stomach-churningly unwatchable: they’re both dying slowly, and are both clearly in agonizing pain.

“The Shining” is a fascinating example. Both book and movie are brilliant (despite Stephen King’s whining) and they are very very different.

“Barney Miller” is great ‘70s TV that plays very well today.

We could talk all day about genius moments in “Jaws”. I vote for the moment when Brody is flinging chum and the shark leaps out of the water.  “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” is one of the all-time great movie lines, but right before that--Brody is pissed off and muttering, then the shark surges into the screen,…