"Samuel’s death is a possible suicide—as opposed to a possible murder—a detail that seems minor on its face …"

"Portugaria is America a few hours ago, because of the time difference." I'm going to have to remember that one.

Rocket was really sort of cursed by being singled-out by Doumanian as The Star of that season. Recall, originally everybody was supposed to start out equal. Chase, Belushi, Murray, etc. emerged as break-out performers in due course. But by basically trumpeting him from Jump Street as the love child of Chevy Chase and…

It's an apt analogy. A lot of the "humor" this year reflected an outlook I've seen expressed by a number of Trump supporters, as well as the man himself. I'd also point out the way they handled Newt Gingrich, who emerged as Speaker of the House this year, with kid gloves, transforming him into nothing more than yet…

Ever since Rabin did his review of the '85-'86 season, I've been waiting for this article to complete the terrible SNL season trilogy. I was too young to really appreciate '80-'81 or '85-'86 as they happened (those I mostly saw as reruns on Comedy Central), but I have very clear, traumatic memories of this one. I…

The article is on point. This season wasn't just bad; it's easily one of the three or so worst ever. For a show that has been on for 40+ years, and only really good for about 40% of that time, that's quite a distinction.

Except for a handful of exceptions, direct sequels almost never match the original. This is such a given it barely even merits repeating and is pretty much assumed. As sequels go, Ghostbusters II always seemed to be one of the more enjoyable ones. No, it's not The Godfather, Part II or something. But they at least got…

One major difference between the US and the UK versions of The Office was that the Brits were just much better at being deadpan. As in, there were many moments when it practically did feel like a documentary. With the US version, despite their best efforts, the actors still always seemed like comedians and comic…

By not paying very close attention to it? (Which, BTW, I can totally picture someone doing, as it is god-awfully maudlin.)

Eh, with the comments section of a website you just have to accept that it goes with the territory. Now, if AV Club ever decides to turn the comments into an actual feature, God forbid indeed!
http://www.avclub.com/artic…

It's not so much that. Most of the comments critical of Hanna include some variation of, "this is still an awful song, BUT…" I think what bothers people is the idea of expressing hatred for something without having a real clear idea of what it's actually about.

First, I think hatesonging "Cats in the Cradle" is kind of low hanging fruit - even people who like it tend to do so for its campy, maudlin, nature (like much of Chapin's work). Much has already been said here about how the song's about pretty much the opposite of a "deadbeat dad," so I won't go into that issue any…

Love this movie. If there's a theme that runs through James L. Brooks' work (Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, Broadcast News), it's that being smart does NOT always equate with being successful in this world. Dummies are always being promoted (Ted Baxter in MTM, Tom Grunick in Broadcast News), while smart people either go…

I'm not quite sold on the idea that having the *fictional character* Sulu be gay in the next Trek movie because the *real actor* who played him in the series is gay is really much of a "tribute." That's almost like saying that whenever a gay actor plays a character, his or her homosexuality is "imputed" to the…

Hey, here's a crazy idea: Why not have somebody actually sit down and write an article or essay or something about the evolution of Spielberg's work? I mean, I was sort of under the impression that this was a site with people who write film commentary and criticism as regular contributors. "Great Job, Internet" is…

According to imdb, he also did a feature with Goldie Hawn calledThe Sugerland Express. It looks like it's mostly downhill after that: There's movies about killer sharks, aliens, dinosaurs, etc. Sounds like a bunch of cheap, SyFy Channel -type stuff. How sad.

The real story here is that for the first time in what feels like a long while PBS was actually showing something that wasn't either (a) a rerun of a British TV show or (b) an infomercial for a fad diet or oldies music collection. Savor it, people.

Or footage of a chicken getting its head cut off.

That's what I meant - perhaps I could have been clearer and said, "the joke behind the scene"

You mean the perennially put upon, yet unflappably and incorruptibly decent and selfless Tom Hanks of our present time doesn't appeal to you?