Also, and I don’t know quite how to explain this, but the use of “The Immigrant Song” is beyond amazing, in part because the first time it comes up (in the opening battle, I think), it’s pretty close to being a sad cliché - the film hasn’t earned it, and it seems like one more example of a Marvel film trying to milk…

Nearly everything about Diner is superb - and Stern’s performance is no exception, but yeah, that scene in particular is killer.

Tideland is a fantastic film, a painfully unique depiction of childhood trauma - creepy and hard to watch, but I think it’s a really special film.

“the AVC comments were usually every bit as enlightening as the articles”

Also, I wish everybody knew how amazing and brave her first big law suit in Hollywood was. The woman is amazing on so many levels. Plus:

Check out the fight scene between Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston in The Big Country - possible inspiration for They Live.

Yeah, I used to listen to 16 Horsepower relentlessly.

A little too close to home?

It’s great and important, agreed. But even if it is the “best American novel” of all time (which, no), it’s still not the only template for good narrative fiction.

But that’s what the story’s about. It isn’t about two honest people who meet, act kindly towards one another, then go about their lives. Whether she’s “stupid” or not is hard to say because we only see this snapshot of her life and even the smartest of people make questionable decisions . . . and usually when they do…

Well, I did say it’s “one of” the foundations. Also, Huck Finn is good, but it’s not that good.

But the interior monologuing is kind of what the story’s about - so a summary doesn’t really do it justice. The “events” of the story are pretty mundane. It’s the minutia of her thought process, and the way it’s linked to her constant emotional wavering that’s intriguing.

Part of the reason the story continues to resonate for a lot of people (well beyond what this article would have you believe) is that the Aziz Ansari story (and others like it) keep happening. When the Ansari story broke, a lot of people I know brought up Cat Person.

Agreed. The tone of this piece is annoying in several ways: framing the story as simply a controversy; ignoring how well-crafted it was as a piece of fiction; taking the stance that well-crafted fiction is some form of pop-cultural detritus; and seeming to take offense that a writer (gasp, a *woman*) was able to tap…

Depends on the country, really. Some countries are a lot more dub-friendly, some prefer subtitles, some mix it up fairly well.

It might be theater - at least in part - but that’s a lot of what politics has become. Trump won* in part because of the way he played emotional theater, and for better or worse many of the key political debates in the US revolve around theatrics.

Different people do react differently to art.

“It feels...well, pretty prop-like.”

SMG has always said she hated that scene. She thought it wasn’t Buffy, but even more, she thought it was cruel to the fans to put them through that. After I heard that, I actually admired her more as a performer because she decided to use her uncomfortability to sell the mix of feelings that is really destroying…

Oh, and reportedly, he was kind of a dick to Barbara Loden when he realized her desire to direct wasn’t a one-off.