Critically, it received an okay reaction. Its Metacritic score is in the high sixties, which is quite low for a Best Picture winner. Ebert loved it, yeah, but, without trying to diminish the man's legacy, he gave rave reviews to a bunch of mediocre films in the last decade or so of his life.

No. It's misery porn.

Yes, I've found a worrying lack of references to Glauber Rocha's work in American reviews for this film. While I understand that Herzog's Amazon films are a natural point of reference, the style of this movie is so much similar to Rocha (the scene with the messianic preacher was pure Rocha, I thought) that I just…

Yes, that's correct. "Dia a día" could also work.

Yeah, though I'd add that I don't even particularly like Maura and Shelly. The most likeable characters in this series tend to be those that love the Pfeffermans but are actually deeply hurt by them. I'm thinking of Colton, Rabbi Raquel (she's so uncomfortable dealing with Josh's fucked-up families -whether it is the…

I really liked how they used Max Richter's score more sparingly this season. I love Richter, but his music can easily overwhelm the fuck out of everything if it's overused (which is what usually happened in season 1). This year they were more selective about when to use it.

Oh, yeah. It definitely was pretty weird. But it seems Soloway is trying new things stylistically this season (Sarah's nightmarish walk down the aisle is another example). Even the opening credits are more ambitious in their scope.

Berlin was pretty much the gay capital of Europe before the Nazis came to power in 1933. Considering that the Pfeffermans are Jews from Central Europe, my guess is that, like the review seems to suggest, the trans woman in the flashback and the final scene is actually a Pfefferman or someone related to the family…

No love for Central America. We got angsty middle class teenagers here, too!

While I agree that Correa's treatment of the press leaves a lot to be desired (even though the press in Latin America is deeply reactionary and frontally opposed to any sort of leftist project, but that's no excuse for harassing it), y'all make it sound like Ecuador is some sort of deeply repressive, authoritarian…

I loved it, but Cohen is one of my favorite filmmakers so probably I'm a little biased. I do think it's the sort of film that you have to be in the right mood to enjoy, though.

I saw Wiseman's "Public Housing" recently. Amazing film, even if it's like four hours long (though I guess that's part of the deal with Wiseman). Kinda related to this, I highly recommend Jem Cohen's Museum Hours, one of my favorite films of last year. I believe it's on Netflix now. http://www.avclub.com/revie…