I saw this on a double bill with Woo's Once a Thief (which, though not up to the standards of Woo's best work, is a lot of fun), and was blown away. It's not my favorite Woo (that's A Better Tomorrow), but it's still such a great action film.

Wish you had brought up his turn as Susanna Thompson's physical therapist in Once & Again's final season. That final season was a miss in a lot of ways, but their scenes together (along with Evan Rachel Wood's scenes) made it bearable.

I would like to permanently disabuse people of the notion The Wire is a slog. Yes, it's attempting to be The Great American Novel on TV, and yes, it's heartbreaking. But it's also really funny. As funny as the "desk" scene is - and it's hysterical, especially because of how Lester reacts - it's not even the funniest…

Obviously, the biggies that I finally read this year were War & Peace and Dune.

I scrolled down just to see if anyone mentioned this. It's my favorite of his performances, and you're right; he's as good with the quips (as when he tells Jon Simm - after he's paid a witness money - "If it's a prostitute, it's coming out of your wages") or standing up for one of his reporters (Kelly Macdonald) when…

I'm not a huge fan of the film version of Marathon Man, as compared to the novel, but Weaver is perfectly cast as Biesenthal, the professor, having the intellectual arrogance, but also the mentor-like qualities that makes Hoffman trust him.

Have not read those books. From what I understand, Lowery's perspective is he was at Ferguson (and Cleveland, and NYC), doing on-site reporting, so it's a bird's-eye view of what went on.

I can't remember if I mentioned last time I read Dune, and I liked it overall, even though it seems like so much happens off-screen (Paul and Chani meet and become attracted to one another, and the next thing you know, they're already married with a kid?). Also, I didn't find it as difficult to follow as I'd been led…

It's not a great movie, but in Sleepers, he plays one of a group of sadistic prison guards (led by Kevin Bacon), and the scene where he's confronted in court by all the evidence against his past misdeeds in prison is amazing. Kinney plays it as if h just realized just how much of a monster he was, and you actually…

I, unfortunately, have yet to see a film by Pialat. What's a good place to start?

Damn, how did I miss this?

Home Movies is available on You Tube, and Allen does not die in it, as far as I recall:

Stars Hollow especially. Anything indoors looks okay, but when Lorelai and Rory were doing that tour in the trailer, it looked…strange.

Currently reading Pride of the Bimbos, John Sayles' first novel. It's about a combination circus act/softball team (a male team that plays in drag) that includes a midget on the run from a pimp. I like Sayles' prose and his sense of place, but I don't like this as much as his later work so far. After that, I'll…

Apparently, Bill Murray has it written in his contract that if the Cubs win the World Series, he doesn't have to work the next day.* I'd like to see them win if only to see if that's true. Also, one of my favorite writers is Sara Paretsky, whose V.I. Warshawski mystery novels are set in Chicago, and almost every novel…

Other films that played in competition that year:

I read Carl Hiaasen's Razor Girl, which wasn't bad, but felt cobbled together from other novels of his I liked better (particularly Stormy Weather, my favorite of his). The main novelty is the title character, a con artist who doesn't give her real name, ends up teaming up with the hero (Andrew Yancy, the cop demoted…

An Object of Beauty is definitely worth finishing. I thought it was a terrific comedy of manners, and is easy to follow even if, like me, you know next to nothing about painting and the art world.

The other two novels in the Barrytown trilogy (The Snapper and The Van) are also terrific.

Garp and The Cider House Rules are pretty much the only Irving novels I can stand (the latter has the least amount of that smugness you so rightly point out).