Navigating the differences in medical practice and terminology is a challenge even on a good day. I'm a fellow American who has lived in (and is moving back to) the UK, and spent two extended stays in UK hospitals for physical ailments. I never quite figured out the structure of the medical system. In a hospital…

Props on the analogy (and I also learned something), I'll also add: there is a string of conservative evangelicalism that's pretty sex-positive within marriage. Notably, Tim LaHaye - co-author of the "Left Behind" series - wrote a self-help sex manual with his wife called "The Act of Marriage." At least therotically,…

Notably, too, these different interpretations can exist alongside one another without causing dissonance. In that respect I think Batman is more traditionally mythic than a lot of other pop culture characters: while his future is controlled by a singular group of copyright holders, audiences respond pretty strongly to…

I just posted above that I saw the sequel, "Gods and Generals." It's a weird movie, and I imagine "Gettysburg" is much the same: its tailor-made for people who obsess over Civil War details, but pretty inert as cinema for the uninitiated.

"Gods and Generals" for me. On the positive, it was kind of an 'event' movie - they showed it for only a single night at my small town theater, and the people who went were interested.

Oh, they're movies I love enough that I'd still see (and enjoy) the alternate cut. Thanks for filling us in on the reality of what it is and isn't!

In that case, I suppose it can be a good excuse to re-watch the movies… with tempered expectations?

Depends - if he doesn't just stitch them together, but re-cuts them into a significantly different experience, I'd totally be down for watching that.

Brilliant, does everything a cliffhanger should do: gets you excited for Part 2, marks a definite change, underscores how unresolved the plot is, and forces you to re-evaluate what's come before.

Don't forget about his newswires about science ruining movies:

Identity's ending is ridiculously stupid, but it didn't sour me on the whole viewing experience. Like you said, it doesn't betray the film's established logic, and that first hour is masterfully suspenseful. I'd still recommend the movie, especially as part of the cycle of films that came out around the same time with…

It exists in web series form, and is one of the few amusing things College Humor has produced:

I didn't think you were knocking the Nolan movies, and I'd agree with most of what you wrote, and there is actually a fair amount of tonal diversity in the MCU movies, including the serial throwback of the first Captain America, the paranoid thriller elements of the second, and the Shane Black-y third Iron Man. There…

When Nolan's Batman movies work, they're brilliant, in large part to their organic feel, of a plot borne from characters with (relatively) complicated social relations to one another. Think "The Dark Knight," where Harvey Dent's desire to clean up Gotham alternately works with/against Batman's vision for justice, the…

Point in favor (and I do really like the idea): the MCU has shown that film-goers are willing to accept sprawling, comic-book style complexity/convolution.

You've heard the expression "let's get busy?" Well this is a raccoon that gets "bizz-ay." Consistently and thoroughly. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.

That does make a lot of sense.

Remember the 80s? When David Lynch was a serious contender to take over the Star Wars franchise, and he was the 'less weird' director to helm "Dune" compared to Alejandro Jodorwosky?

They're plot elements. I'm guessing the conflict with Wright was more over style and tone. Or was that all already implied before in this conversation? I can't tell anymore either…

Yeah, I think "Tolkien and Lewis fueding" is a better idea for a movie than "shapeless sprawling Tolkien biopic," and from the description - artists' later years, WWI visions - it could wind up being something "Gods & Monsters" -ish if we're lucky.