That's true, but - and admittedly it's been a long time since I've seen it - I thought the movie downplayed it to the point that it's barely perceptible, like sub-subtext.

Ah… that looks fantastic. I'll check it out - thanks!

50K seems high; most sites I found list 10K, but it's a little fuzzy. The film was funded by the newly-created Low-Budget product via the head of Gorky Film Studios, which capped films at a maximum of $200K, but this is certainly nowhere near that.

Ditto (is this the ultimate fate of Russian studies majors? To end up in the AV Club comments? There are worse fates, I suppose).

Also: Nautilus Pompilius! I can't think of any other post-Soviet film so connected with its soundtrack.

Brother 2 is every bit as tone-deaf as you've heard.

Sufjan's costume is all kinds of ridiculous (as usual) but you couldn't ask for a better photo: that pose, that lighting, it's all perfect. He's one of my favorites to see live, too.

That was the first time I ever really "got" the whole idea of an "unjustly overlooked" performance - I was in college when I saw that movie and thought there was no way he wasn't walking home with All the awards.

Yeah, but I'd consider that more of a lagging tech issue than an aesthetic line in the sand. I mean, there are plenty of classic novels where readers aren't even aware which edition they're reading (like Melville's tinkering with - not just correcting mistakes, but changing - Moby Dick after publication.) It's just…

Artists sprucing up their work many years later, merely out of vanity—as opposed to a genuine director’s cut that restores alterations imposed by a studio—is the equivalent of digitally altering old photos to make yourself look less dorky.

All hail Lena fucking Headey. I mean, goddamn.

He's made entire movies that are nothing but ham-fisted treatment of gay characters. See (or rather: don't see) the movie he made right before this.

Team Ratatouille here, too.

It's my favorite movie of his, but I can see it as difficult to explain its empathy with a listable character, since most of that movie's emphatic force comes out of juxtaposition and circumstance.

I haven't seen Dark Horse yet, but my list would go:

Yeah, this was a really good read.

The movie also suggested that Blomkamp had an unfortunate tendency to let the magnitude of his ideas outstrip his ability to realize them.

I hear you. I've been trying lately not to publicly slag on books/movies that I know other people deeply love because it seems, I dunno, pointlessly negative? Especially in internet comments sections, where it can get even uglier. But my hatred of the book - and I rarely, rarely hate books, even the ones I think are…

The part about Indonesian epic literature, right?

Between the letter from Strum's mother about her impending death and Strum's signing of the letter denouncing his colleagues, there's precious little light in there. But it's a great book.