Great start to the season, if only for the lizard review. It's a terrific bait and switch- the audience assumes this is another situation in which Forrest gets attached to something but has to prize his duties over all, but he actually uses the review to eye-for-an-eye a pet for the murder of his other pet. A…

As far as I can remember, sex is treated as a sort of currency in the book, but it's a currency in which she takes pleasure.

The Todd Haynes version is superior, taking advantage of the weird turn from domestic woman's picture to bourgeoisie melodrama. Curtiz's film has a bizarre noir framework grafted onto it, and, being a compressed version of the story, is far less dramatically coherent. Still exists in that wonderful 1940s world in…

And it definitely features Crawford at her very best (read: most iconic)- God, the way she and Sterling Hayden play the "Lie to Me" scene makes me burst into tears ever time. Admittedly, the woman never gave a bad performance, utterly professional even in things like Trog.

Rather unfortunate that there is no love for Dark Victory here, as it's probably the best of Bette's 1930s and early 1940s melodramas- utterly logical, and bravely indefinite on the answer of how to handle the premonition of death when you lack accomplishment, and it's the only thing in your stars. It's like an anti-Ik…

Well, that about does it. Thanks, Mike, for this article, which introduced me to several new favorites (Daisy Kenyon, Throne of Blood, Meet Me in St. Louis, Touch of Evil, Modern Romance, Seven Men from Now, named a dozen more), and to your superb criticism. Too bad it's impossible to watch clips for the older…

Desperately need to see that movie!

I like SPL 2! I have some problems with it I'm sure would be unpopular, so I'll just stick with "I like it".

Thank ya, although I'd dispute that- both are strong, fun films, but Ghost Protocol has a higher standard in terms of set pieces (Burj Khalifa Burj Khalifa Burj Khalifa), as well as Brad Bird's cartoonish sensibilities; Rogue Nation's McQuarrie is a bit better at stringing together the set pieces, but the villain…

Have not seen it, but Luc Bresson / Scarlett Johansson cartoon does sound like lots of fun.

I actually think that Sicario is the best of the ten films (it's in my top ten of the decade), but something felt amiss about not given the top spot in an action movie list to something as purely kinetic as Mad Max.

I was already quite sold on this, but the Universal Soldier comparison has me feverish with excitement. Now for the inevitable…
Best Action Movies of the 2010s Thread!
1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Sicario
3. Drug War
4. Looper
5. Snowpiercer
6. Haywire
7. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
8. Edge of Tomorrow
9. Mission…

Regarding The Americans- it makes big jumps in quality from season to season, so you're in for a treat if you like it a lot already.

Reformed Donaldist's Pop Culture Weekend:
• In Terms of TV: Watched the first season of Nathan for You (Grade: A-), which was legitimately disarming. Gets more ethically problematic as the series continues, to the point where it's actually acknowledged and doubled down upon in the head-spinning seventh episode. A…

I think Rebecca calls the waitress "Himmler" a few seconds afterwards.

This episode felt rushed in a lot of ways, which works completely for something as flippant as Josh and Rebecca's relationship, less so for something cast in iron like Paula and Scott's marriage.

I'm unsure if Josh Season 2, aka Much More Stupid Josh, is intentional; a part of me wants to think he's being filtered through Rebecca's evolving perspective on him like silent Ms. Hernandez (the next episode supports this to some extent), but the other part is (quite practically) noting that Josh has been…

I saw this on Twitter, and it made me tear up:
Remember the white dress I wore through that film? George came up to me to the first day of filming, took one look at the dress and said: "You can't wear a bra under that dress."
"Okay, I'll bite," I said. "Why?" And he said: "Because… there's no underwear in space."
He said…

Oh, I totally understand that sounds like I'm making an argument through logical fallacy, but I was just objecting to a romanticized view of the past like "the greatest generation".

I wouldn't say any of those 240 years were "great". Write "genocide and slavery" on the board 100 times before lunch hour.