If there is a direct thematic connection to The Shining, I see it as about what craziness you get up to when you isolate yourself - as one of the great pieces of writing that came out after the film noted (and that I can't be bothered to find at this moment), the theorists in the movie see themselves as pontificators…

That's odd. I frequently really like his characters, and feel kind of sad how they're constantly menaced by the supernatural. Like if they just retired to homes in the country and lived happily ever after - well, I wouldn't necessarily want to read that book, but I'd be happy just knowing things worked out for them in…

There's one laying around my PhD student group's office, which isn't too surprising given there's a lot of people there studying virtual reality, mixed reality, and all other kinds of things that look nifty but I don't know much about because I come from the social sciences. So the Rift could be a rare prototype or a…

You've all been arguing past each other on whether this is about legal and/or moral ethics for too many damn comments now. But the argument that "legal ethics" is - by the way you've defined it - often rather directly in conflict with more traditional, everyday, do-unto-others-type ethics - and thus, probably good to…

Thanks for reading and offering a bit of explanation! Drive the script forward with the energy and in the direction you feel it should. Just be aware: while satire and parody often leverage particular things to make fun of other things - and tease out connections between them - the targets and collateral damage can…

Since you're apparently reading this Timo (it's me, MalleableMalcontent!), and I believe in the whole collaborative crowd-sourcing thing, and want to watch movies that don't suck, and most people here are just ripping on the first film and the process, I'll offer a few brief, honest notes:

Portland, eh!? I wonder what's in the water there?

Odd. I'd never heard of Pitcairn Island yesterday, but this is the second mention I've heard of it today - the first being the play that dramatizes its colonization, currently playing at the Globe in London.

Lest we continually provoke each other, "brave" and "inspiring" were exactly the words I was thinking of, and that also make me deeply uncomfortable.

True. Though I think TV shows (especially about 'teens') tend to have some element of novelty to them that allows audience to invest in the gap between life and screen - the attitude isn't 'that's me up there' but 'that's me if I were a superhero or vampire or really good glee clubber or sent to live in Bel Air or…

Question: why is it stereotypically uncomfortable watching violent, profane entertainment with our parents (especially our mothers)?

Most of the outrage on my Facebook feed has to do with some (admittedly awful) comments she made about how Palestinians "deserve to be dead." She later said she meant "Hamas."

I haven't been this disappointed since "Tyrannosaur!"

At another end of this, too, in writing, you've got stuff like "A Million Little Pieces" and "Go Ask Alice" over-the-top, melodramatic 'autobiography' that should have been recognizable as fiction to both publishers and readers, but appeared 'realistic' enough to enter the public conversation because of how thoroughly…

I didn't like how it raised a lot of questions about the Canadian legal system (namely, wtf? Is 'that' standard practice?) that it didn't address at length, instead pursuing personal rage and its infamous sleight-of-hand structure.

…and they ended his run with Die Another Day, a movie 70s-era Cubby Broccoli would have rejected for being too goofy.

Also, with the ladies. Connery's Bond is supposed to be an asshole. But Moore acts like he wants to be considerate, which makes for some pretty jarring dissonance when the writing has his character do awful things, especially early in his run, like when he deflowers Jane Seymour's Solitaire under false pretenses.

Thunderball does have slow segments, but I think the underwater fight scenes are the most elaborate action the series ever staged and redeem whatever else is negative in the movie. I wish the series would have kept that sense of ambition. You Only Live Twice, which immediately followed, had bigger sets but with…

I freakin' love The Living Daylights, and think it would be a near-perfect film if:

That's a pretty good top six list. I'm confused by the GoldenEye indifference around here , but loved Casino Royale.