You’ve pinpointed the problem in your opening sentence - once production companies and filmmakers start to view their films as ‘franchises’ you’re basically getting McDonalds Movies; formulaic, mass-produced crap which may well give you a quick buzz but are ultimately shallow, cynical money-making ventures.

I’m hoping Disney instigate a 24-hour Star Wars channel, at which point ‘we’ can just fucking ignore the whole thing knowing that it’s always there on-tap if we’re feeling the urge for that ‘special Star Wars feeling’.

‘Peter Perfect’.

McKean will most certainly be missed; he was stellar during his run on BCS.

Glad to hear she’s doing better.

This sketch never made it to heir.

ah sorry to hear it - hope she is doing better.

Yeah Roy!

Aces.

heh; yes 4 yo’s are a dicey prospect in that regard - my daughter loves Kiki but she’s a couple of years older... we actually just watched Totoro for the first time last week, it was gorgeous ..

where the hell is Joe Ingles?

Aside from disagreeing with you that Arietty and When Marnie Was There are ‘Ghibli-lite’, Mike, I thank you kindly for reviewing this.

yikes.

he’s *ICONIC*!!

hmm - it’s nothing like Feelings at all, so not sure you’d enjoy it as much - it’s not like a better version of Feelings ..

what did you read? :-)

from memory Byrne saw them as gospel songs didn’t he?

personally I put most of DB’s solo album’s on a similar level - however the Catherine Wheel is miles ahead of the others imo; one of the best things he has done, with or without Talking Heads .. I also quite like Music for the Knee Plays, although I don’t think I’ve ever owned a decent copy.. Rei Momo was critically…

No, it was a collaboration with Brian Eno, much like ‘Love this Giant’ w/St Vincent or the Imelda Marcos musical album with Fatboy Slim - all of which were actually mentioned in the article.

Like I said, I am a big fan of Byrne’s - Everything That Happens is a collaborative effort with Brian Eno, in which Eno wrote virtually all of the music (Byrne the lyrics).