I think King's "Cadillac" comparison is pretty apt - Kubrick's film is beautiful - the set design is amazing, and he showed a real, early understanding of how the Steadicam could be used in ingenious ways that heighten the tension and propel the narrative. Because its form and visuals are so sound, some of the creepy…

Was wondering about WD, too. Lots of difficult stuff in there, but that damned cat stays with me . . .

Same with me and "Lebowski" - I think part of it is that people were expecting another "Fargo," which it wasn't, also, a lot of "Lebowsk's" humor really works best on second, third viewings. I remember many of my "I'm a hardcore Coens fan" friends not really liking it much - of course they all love it now.

mid-week matinees are where it's at, at least in my neck of the woods . . . cheaper, and way fewer coolios.

I really loved the film (I get that some don't), and I've seen it a few times now and still do. So what others see as problematic I might be very guilty of forcing to conform to a "reading" of the film that isn't there (I don't think I am, but it's possible!).

Yes, and especially because (if I recall, it's been a while) one of D'Angelo's "reasoned" arguments was the whole "editing-is-meant-to-replicate-human-blinking" nonsense, which is a whole lot dumber than half the stuff he labels dumb here.

I think it was meant to be distracting in Birdman, a film that's all kinds of about artificiality and artifice.

Isn't Guy Aoki the guy whose coke Sarah Silverman put pee pee in?

The Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory is a good example. It only covers 3 years of Guthrie's life, all before he became well known - basically, it's about the slow political awakening that would lead to his becoming an activist and writing his best-known songs. And David Carradine acts Guthrie rather than imitate…

I love Empire, hands down my favorite. But when it first came out and I saw it as a kid it pissed me off to no end . . . leaving a 10-year-old not knowing what happened to Han, whether Darth really was Luke's daddy, etc., was NOT cool. I appreciate it now, love it. But with a wait of several years for Jedi, I…

I think it worked because one of them really tries to resist giving into his asshole nature ("we're gentlemen of Harvard," and all that). So that they don't just come across as cardboard cutout "bad rich boys."

Most of those mentioned above. I really like Angels with Dirty Faces because Cagney's such a force in it, and everybody else ups their game in his orbit. Plus, it's a pretty fascinating example of some of the ways the Code's dynamics played out in a film that might have been very different sans Code.

Gandolfini?

Yeah, I'm sort of hot and cold on his lyrics, too. I've read a lot of them. Occasionally, a cover does them justice (Jeff Buckley, obviously, but others, too). But it's been 20 years since I first encountered him, and I've dipped in and out quite a few times since then. I don't think it's going to happen. He almost…

Leonard Cohen (I've tried!). The Smiths (I've really, really tried!).

There's a great live acoustic version out there by Jeff Tweedy from about 10 or so years ago. As he begins, there's audible laughter from the audience - like this must be some sort of joke or something. By the end, what sounds like the entire audience is singing along. I always thought that spoke to how truly great…

I don't think "jobbing actor" really describes 70s/80s De Niro at all. He trained at Adler's and Strasberg's schools and spent much of his 20s trying to hustle roles. By the time he started making the films he became famous for, he was in his 30s and pretty hungry.

His use of the bass drum in "Good Times, Bad Times" is immense, beautiful.

Way back in the days of the Walkman, I took the bus to high school with a kid who constantly rewound IV so that he could listen to "Black Dog" over and over and over for days and days.

damn, this whole thread must be a real bummer for you . . .