I wonder if we're approaching a generation that will first know Stewart as that creepy old guy from Vertigo and Rear Window, rather than the symbol of "aw-shucks" American decency. How much of a stranglehold does the man have on holiday viewing, high school civics courses, and family repertory theater these days?

Cage is the reverse-Stewart, wherein his manic energy often plays dark or threatening, masking his ability to play decent, regular guys.

I don't think the creators meant the Ferengi to be anti-semitic, but when designing a despicable race they compiled a bunch of negative characteristics associated with greed. Likely unconsciously comma these happened to be the same characteristics used by anti-semites to depict greedy Jews (big noses and ears, sneers,…

Yeah, what I meant above was that Zhang almost never has much of a political stance either way, so To Live, as soft as the criticism is, sticks out a bit (also, part of the reason the doctor gorges himself on buns at a critical moment is because he hadn't been able to eat any for a long time). As such, I don't think…

Chen was much more of a political filmmaker in his early days, especially Yellow Earth. However, I think he pretty much gave it up after Farewell, My Concubine, and his films since have been predominantly sensual (Temptress Moon, Killing Me Softly), nuts (The Promise), or disengaged (everything else).

Zhang's long claimed to be apolitical, and the politics of his films vary. Hero is authoritarian, but Curse of the Golden Flower is highly critical. To Live is really the only other film that I think has a strong political stance, and that comes from the source.

I understand that Zhang Yimou isn't a household name in the US and requires some contextualization, but not even bothering to name him in the headline is a bit egregious (particularly in a non-print media with pretty generous character limits). It's even more absurd because the article is criticizing the marketing of…

I don't remember that. I mostly just remember a lot




































OF COCK!

Doesn't anyone remember how much Donald Sutherland and Paul Mazursky were being highlighted in the big marketing push for Big Shot's Funeral in 2001!? The masses clearly rejected the strategy cause it only made $182 in the US. Ge You is what sells big bucks over here.

Zhang Yimou is, as stated in the article, a world-renowned director who has made three films that grossed well in the US domestic market in addition to numerous major art films and the 2008 Olympic ceremony. He is, aside from John Woo and Ang Lee, easily the most famous Chinese filmmaker in the US.

This is more a problem for more narrative driven films. I don't think it's a cop-out when an art film that's obviously not interested in plot veers away from a dilemma. But it does irk me in something like Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln, where you have a clear moral conundrum (rat out your brother or share the blame) that…

Chick has an obsession with "tough guys" and masculinity. Some of that is crazy repressed sexuality, but also a desire to reach out to criminals and seedy spots. For all his hate-mongering Chick's goal really is evangelizing among society's dregs and fringes—the junkies, the criminals, the whores, the teenagers with…

No, no, no. Varys was on the deck and in Dorne because there are actually 3 Varyses who are all Faceless Men wearing masks and they are actually the Three Heads of the Dragon and Blackfyre heirs to the Targaryen throne and Varys will take over everything because he is also the Great Other and also Rhaegar/Daario…

It reminded me a lot of the fake out in a similar scene in Ida, particularly the timing of the movement.

A freelance assassin, apparently.

Wuthering Heights is fantastic, very much capturing the dark angry heart of the novel. And a step up from the earlier films.

No, that's Lei Feng, perfect selfless hero of the people. His powers are constant smiling, patriotic gazes, and dying in dumb, pointless ways.

It's a cold film that some people may always find too cold. But I think it's heartbreaking. If it helps, I think it's about a bunch of people who can't communicate but desperately want to (see Taylor trying to woo a girl with cicada facts). It's also about how totally empty machismo is and how satisfactions are never…

But GTO hates himself for it

Easy Rider does provide the opportunity to mention Two-Lane Blacktop, which is the better road movie about the death of the sixties in just about every way.