I wasn't trying to sound dismissive of short stories at all, although I guess it came off that way. Sorry about that. I just happen to think "novelistic" is an apt description for what Weiner and the writers were doing, and the carefully structured narrative they told with each season.

Sure, maybe they felt like short stories, but every episode in every season was very carefully put together in order to tell a larger story. In my opinion, Mad Men is as novelistic as TV shows will probably ever get. To compare it to an "anthology of short stories" actually does a disservice to the enormity,…

Evidence that Shia was once seen as a promising dude who could maybe become a star? Evidence of what? This little thread is a fucking mess. Im signing out.

I kind of agree with you, but I guess one could say the way studios bet on Shia with Transformers and Indiana Jones 4 is somewhat reminiscent of how Chris Pratt was pulled out of TV to headline Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic Park 4.

Ha! I was just about to write how even War Horse is better than anything Bay has ever done.

He's pointing out how LaBeouf was once seen as a lovable and promising movie star, much like Chris Pratt is right now. It's a point of reference. What exactly is wrong with that?

What a strange career Van Sant has. It's an interesting one, though. He's one of those rare filmmakers that has managed to come back from creative lows with something genuinely interesting.

That's some pretty wonderful pattern mixing, actually.

I agree filmmakers are free to take as much liberties with history as they want in order to make their art, but if history has taught us anything is that they mostly do it for the sake of convenience and due to lazy and contrived writting.

For pop-pop in the attic, obviously.

Since no one will read this now I will just go ahead and say it: Nicole Kidman deserved an Oscar for The Paperboy. The woman was robbed. She transformed into that insane character and it was fucking awesome.

If anyone other than Daniel Day-Lewis deserved it it was probably Joaquin Phoenix for The Master, no? I mean, Jackman was good, but not THAT good.

I know nothing about him but I find him more annoying than Shia Lebouf and Jared Leto combined. That being said, watch Rabbit Hole. He's quite relatable in that.

I think he's awful in The Spectacular Now. One of the worst "praised" performances and screenplays in recent memory, in my opinion.

Naked Lunch and A History of Violence are right up there as well. In my opinion, he's been the most fascinating North American filmmaker for almost 30 years now.

It's fun to watch each individual performance. They're… not great. Nice shot, though.

What is it with people not considering anything slightly dramatic a comedy? Silver Linings Playbook is most definitely one. A mediocre one with a good Bradley Cooper and an awful Jennifer Lawrence, but a comedy by all means.

The trailer for this really blurs the line between loving homage and blatant rip-off. They seem to capture Spielberg's early sense of wonder to the point of immitation, but I'm not complaining; I could use a lot more sense-of-wonder-by-way-of-Spielberg in my life.

Exactly. People keep saying she plays stereotypes like they were enforced onto her. She's been carving her comic persona for years. It's what she does.

A Serious Man.