1997: year of both Dig Me Out and OK Computer. Arguably, the best albums by those bands. And MMMBop, which was absolutely everywhere. The world was made safe for/by Chumbawamba.
And Missy Elliott. Bob Dylan showed up to remind people he existed. Belle and Sebastian. Homework, which I didn't latch onto for a couple…

I am going through the better Bond films with my kids. The only Roger Moore film I am choosing is The Spy Who Loved Me. It easily makes my top 10 and maybe top 5. The others? They are average to crap. I admit it has been a few years for some of them, but I don't really need to see Octopussy again to confirm it blows.
…

I just showed Goldfinger to my early teen and pre-teen daughters. It would be difficult to accurately capture their reaction when Connery tells the bikini-clad woman he is with at the pool to go away so he can speak to an American agent. I believe he uses the words "Man Talk" and then slaps her in the ass with the…

See, I always thought that being "dumb as fuck" was as dumb as you could get. But apparently you can be dumber than that. I guess I should be feeling better about myself now, as past insults were not as serious as I assumed.
The More You Know.

I'm surprised no one has used him in a comedy before. I suspect he could do deadpan comedy like Leslie Nielsen if he was given half a chance.
It is hard to say anything bad about Lance Henriksen. Even the roles he dislikes sound fun/funny.
Plus, such expert use of the word "shit"!

The third or fourth best Fast and The Furious movie is best of 2001. Shows what a crap year 2001 was for action movies. The runner-ups are either not really action movies or they are second rank. Bourne's next, which is a good choice. 2003 is even better: it's Oldboy vs Kill Bill vs. Ong-bak. Hard to go wrong with any…

Objectively speaking, Alien > Ernest Goes to Jail > Goodfellas > From Justin to Kelly > Aliens > Ernest Rides Again

I really thought Good Kid MAAD City was great, but was surprised at the response to Butterfly. Thought it was dull overall.
By the way, The Wire kicks ass (except the last season, which is dumb and kind of boring).

THE funniest throwaway line was in the opening credits of season 2: Babysitting. "over here". 1\2 a star.

Several months after No Cities To Love came out, I made a playlist. Rule: 30 songs.
Results:
Call the Doctor: I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, Call the Doctor, I'm Not Waiting, Good Things, Stay Where You Are
Dig Me Out: One More Hour, Dig Me Out, Little Babies, The Drama You've Been Craving, Not What You Want, Words and…

I agree for American movies, but not Asian.
For American, you have The Matrix, Kill Bill, one of the Bourne movies perhaps, John Wick (missed the sequel). Machete! I'm not including 300. If I had to stretch a point, you might add in The Avengers or Casino Royale.
But look east: Hero, 13 Assassins, The Mission, Oldboy,…

So I haven't seen it a number of years, but doesn't John Travolta simply say something like "okay?" and his wife nods her head, and that's how they decide to adopt him?
That's really touching.

So, 2 things:
1. Remembering Breakdown. That movie is great. JT Walsh is perfect.
2. I am not sure how these movies are selected, but I know it's not "best". Seems like once we hit Bad Boys, it's been something along the lines of "this movie made a truckload of cash, and in a lot of ways it embarrasses the viewer, but…

Vague recollection ahead:
There is a particularly great exchange between Steve and Stan where they are trying to figure something out and Steve keeps screaming the answer in that awesomely irritating voice he has. The conversation continues and when Stan figures out the solution, he screams thr answer at "Steve" and…

Although eight years is a long time for anything, I am sorry to see this column go. The scene selected for this one is a good example of what I like about it.
Just so you know, if you drop A History of Violence and Random Roles, you are going to get SUCH a snarky comment!

A B+ grade for this tremendous fart of an episode? I don't get it.
It sucked in so many ways, but let me count them (sing along if you wish):
1. Carl hides in the back, tricks that guy with the sweet hair, kills 2 red shirts, tells them he only wants Negan, then Negan appears and strolls slowly behind someone else and…

Can you direct me to the podcast? I would really be interested.

I agree the I's are tough, but I Saw Her Standing There is maybe the best song from The Beatles early years. From Paul's count off in the intro to the bass line to the lyric "if you know what I mean" they have it down pat in about 30 seconds. And there's still 2 minutes left to go. Whenever I hear people rag on about…