To pedantically clarify: Vonnegut was awarded a masters' (not a doctorate) in anthropology for Cat's Cradle . The text is certainly marinated in a lot of anthropological thinking, and its ample literary merit aside, I think "creating a society" in text is a methodologically-sound way of engaging with the discipline.…

I agree with that - he has hit a slump lately, and his last decade of output doesn't match his previous one. I was more responding to the career-spanning "simply not as talented" claim above.

As directors, they're all playing different games. I don't think Rodriguez ever had aspirations to become a traditionally 'critically acclaimed' director, and I think its somewhat unfair to criticize him for doing his own thing. Smith has a work ethic but limited talent; Rodriguez does his thing well if you get into…

I love pretty much everything Linklater has done (or at least, the generally-acclaimed stuff) except for "Waking Life," and part of that is featuring Alex Jones, even for a few moments. He feeds off acknowledgement.

I remember liking Red State: it was overwrought - but less so than most Kevin Smith movies - Michael Parks was enjoyably hammy, and it was genuinely tense. But I'd completely forgot it existed until this story.

The more we talk about it, the more it does start to sound like a (mostly unqualified) great album…

It's not start-to-finish awesome like Thunder , but that mid-album stretch of "Fake ID", "Wrath of Marcie", and "Keys to the City" is solid. Regardless: new album - I'm excited!

Going back through these comments now that the movie is out in the UK, and I had a chance to see it, and I have to say: I went in with similar attitudes (this movie will be up for awards, I should see it to be able to comment, it can't be THAT bad), but… it is the closest I've come to walking out of a movie since…

I totally agree with you, and I think its 90% of a great movie, better than I thought America could make. My basic objection was that it didn't portray torture as controversial as it happened (a few lines here and there would have sufficed), which drew a historic line in the sand wherein the moral objections the film…

I don't think 'happy' is necessarily a bad word - it was an unprecedented event, the last decade's great boogeyman gone from 'status unknown' to 'dead', and however people marked or reflect the occasion, I would consider it a manifestation of relief and a desire to just…move on. Do we even have a word for that?

I can't even really get to the point of being 'happy'. I don't really believe in vengeance, per say, and the thought of willing allowing oneself to forego moral reasoning to become a direct agent of violence seems (to me) inherently immoral. The technical proficiency of Navy SEALs is fascinating and impressive, but I…

I'm willing to say the theater chains can be first to walk the plank.

Yeah, that was confounding. It felt like every few scenes, they were cutting away to That's Our Alfrid! . Every episode: Alfrid is entrusted with tasks clearly beyond his interests or capabilities, rather than just being banished, tied to a post, or executed with cause.

Yeah, seriously, do I have to get this far down in the comments to find someone saying something even mildly positive about this movie or its potential? And I have seen it - it's been out in the UK since Friday, as part of the deal Jackson cut with the Queen for his knighthood - and enjoyed it.

Why: specifically of the purpose of recounting that note. How: paradox?

I remember it as the single most un-memorable movie I've ever watched - which, I suppose, is an accomplishment.

That's really a great description of it: "SO close to being a good movie."

Indeed. Shit's crazy in the US, crazy in the UK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/u…

Truly, it was worse than actually being hit by a Subaru.

While part of me thinks that Dead Alive and Heavenly Creatures are Jackson's absolute pre-LOTR masterpieces, there's something (as Sean describes) about the sheer joyful gratuitous obscenity of this film that's just…peerless. Through and through, its just so in love with its own disgustingness, from subject matter to…