There's always that catch, though- "important" isn't the same thing as "good," and a lot of people don't understand that. In a related mindset, "technical facility" isn't the same thing as "really talented." See Baz Luhrmann for a perfect example.

It's like an After School Special where everybody gets to say "motherfucker."

They find the bodies, he sings "Twist and Shout," and everybody loves him again.

Fun book to read, though, in a "gawking at the wreckage" kind of way.

He really seemed to be bonkers, not just egotistical.

John Singleton's key problem is that he's virtually talentless. If there are "heights" to "Poetic Justice," I must have been at the concession stand when they displayed themselves.

Oh, you're so lovely. Give me a big kiss.

Thalberg pissed on him and took away every inch of the control of his movies, and Keaton went in the toilet. Thalberg absolutely contributed. If you want to get technical, the alcoholism was God's fault.

Because he got pushed out by Irving Thalberg and developed a severe drinking problem.

As time went on, he started to seem more and more like a leftover victrola while everybody else was digging their Stan Getz records. There was something stringently old-world about his later movies, and, sad to say, they're often quite poor. That said, I think he and Welles are the pivotal geniuses of cinema. He…

That's been the story for years. It's apparently true, but you know how that goes. Maybe, maybe not. On the other hand, it was Chaplin's movie, and he was being awful generous to have Keaton there at all.

That speech sounds like something a smart 10th grader would win an award for while the rest of the kids rolled their eyes,

It IS strange that he held out over talkies for so long, then went full purple-prose when he switched.

It's maybe the tenth best movie Chaplin made - I'm not really sitting here counting, by the way - and it IS incredibly mawkish. I have no problem with the rating at all. We're talking about a series of five letters that have to be applied to all movies. Just because "Limelight" gets a B and some Jennifer Aniston…

He also cut out some of Keaton's better stuff because Chaplin was getting briefly overshadowed.

Quick- everybody kick and scream to prove you haven't been infantilized.

Oh- and make sure they're unbelievably talented.

I'm so glad this came out because it hipped me to the very existence of "Pitch Perfect."

I want to be excited, but Woody Allen married a baby or something like that.

Think of the money those guys save on shampoo.