That was totally the first thing I thought of too, I'm sure the tarantula reference had to be an intentional wink wink to BB viewers, right?

I think Ms. Bowman writes excellent reviews, but I for one disagree with the critique of the pacing of the client-visit scenes. Maybe it's just me, but I literally laughed out loud twice as Jimmy/Saul had to wait and wait and wait as the old lady's chair came down the stairs and then she slowly ambled over to him. …

Waltereg0 is right. But you are also wrong, Sao, as I've known over the years a number of individuals who are "minorities" who have the same complaint. They find things like affirmative action and lower college admissions standards for minorities to be condescending and insulting, indeed racist policies in and of…

"Any character in any piece of media is going to be seen as an emblem of what society sees as that 'type'."
And that, my friend, is precisely the problem of society, not the filmmaker. Also, reflecting reality is not stereotyping.

Don't think that liberals haven't already thought of that and tried! Have you taken a look at college admissions? Much more significant than movie characters, and that is essentially what colleges have to do, for example lower SAT standards for minorities, so that there are "enough" of them (except Asian Americans,…

Well, you know, to paraphrase Matthew Sweet, if you don't like someone else's artistic product, you could always go make your own.

Yep, see, that is the other part of what's going on here with the PC crowd — the dominant narrative today is White Man = Bad, black/latino/other ethnic minorities/women/non-heterosexual/etc. = Good. We just can't have a movie depicting a benevolent white person, that is counter to the narrative, because we all know…

Exactly. I am not liberal as fuck — well, I guess that depends on how liberal your fucking is — but this idea that one character of x race or gender or whatever automatically represents the whole of that race is not just absurd but, yes, I agree, racist in and of itself. It's almost as if folks who think that way…

Amen! (or Praise Allah or whatever)

"… strips all the agency from people of color and shows them as reliant upon the kindness of white people in order to succeed."
Well, I'd argue that if that is what someone took from this film/scene, it's that person who has the problem, the chip on their shoulder, not the film. I didn't at all take that from it, in…

All I can say is, thank goodness we have people like you to determine the appropriate ratio of everything. And it's totally cool that you'll allow a "male-dominated" film at least every once in a while! (50 Shades I guess?)

I thought the original (Sunrise?) and Midnight were the best personally, but probably just because they somewhat paralleled my own experiences. When the original came out, I was newly married but not very far removed from the backpacking-around-Europe stage, so I could totally relate to the intoxicating magic of…

Great comment, very insightful and I think 100% accurate.

My god, you really are a precious little flower, aren't you? Such sloppy thinking. First of all, "someTHING" can't be racist at all, only people (you know, conscious beings) can be racist. (And ALL humans have biases, we're tribal beings, but that's a subject for a different day.) Second, of course intent matters,…

Or, on the flip-flip side, people could just grow up, stop being such fucking babies, and stop looking to take offense, and taking offense, at every little thing someone else says or does. Sticks & stones.

Yeah, right, like THAT'S ever gonna happen! Because that would mean taking personal responsibility and not blaming others, which is, why, downright un-American!!

Um, no, intent is always relevant. It may not make "the" difference, but it makes "a" difference, it matters.

No, I'm sorry, but the alleged argument "that Boyhood is too damn white" IS absurd. It's beyond absurd, actually, and a sad sign of the nutty PC times in which we're living. Are we going to start having quotas in movies now too, like, "well gee that was an amazing work of art and should win an Oscar or three but the…

I have to agree about the mis-read of that scene, and it's not the first time. While I hate to pick on anyone (it is the internet after all, ha!), I honestly feel that Ms. Valentine's reviews of this season have not been up to AVC standards. She's had a few good insights here & there but just as often missed or…

Agreed, although I am still not sure whether I hate the Narcisse character because we're supposed to hate him, or because his affectations were just so ridiculously over-the-top. Really hoping Chalky gets the chance to finish him off next season… with his daddy's tools.