Beltmann

Strange to think that Jason Reitman has now made two movies better than anything his dad ever directed.

Perhaps you just have limited notions of what songs can be. Panda Bear does not produce conventional songs, true, but that does not disqualify his music from being songs--they are just a different kind of song. There's room for all kinds, right?

I think I could listen to "Bros" all day long. In fact, I think I have.

Well, no more than Hitchcock "tricks" the audience with his manipulations. Sometimes directors lead audiences one way only in order to later re-direct them, and that process can yield dividends for willing audiences. I'd say the Coens--perhaps following McCarthy's lead, as TDW pointed out--are guilty of manipulating the audience, but not for the trivial purpose of playing a prank; instead, their manipulations are integral to revealing, and deepening, the theme. In other words, I didn't feel tricked or betrayed.

That doesn't sound strange at all. In fact, what I like about the final section is that it challenges our notions of how traditional narrative works. Movies have trained us to look for certain signposts and to devise certain expectations--in this case, the genre has taught us to expect [spoiler: Highlight to read] Moss to survive, the money to be followed, and Jones to solve the mystery--but the final section thoroughly subverts that structure. Essentially, we're reminded that the story we thought we were following is not the story at all. The real story exists on a more abstract or psycho

Over the weekend I saw Lars and the Real Girl, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Atonement, and Sweeney Todd. I enjoyed them all, but for wildly disparate reasons. The strongest was probably Atonement, or perhaps Devil.

"Silver Bells"

Side note: "Slow Show" is featured in the current trailer for Snow Angels, the new David Gordon Green movie.

Dear Lord, what a crapfest.

I kind of felt that way, too--although not to such a degree that I was bothered much by it.

Surprise: ikol posting in a non-political thread.

I wish somebody had taught me this irrefutable fact earlier... maybe then I wouldn't have wasted 2007 being enthralled by the sounds found on Boxer. Dammit.

You're overlooking the fact that if an artist isn't mentioned in the mainstream media, he or she doesn't actually exist. Same thing with movies: If it's not advertised on TV, it's clearly not worth seeing.

No kidding. It's annoying as hell.

I think the "now" referred to the scalper's price as opposed to the regular price from five minutes earlier.

Not yet... still waiting to have access to it.

No kidding... worked perfectly. Can't wait.

Looking at my list of favorites, I sort of felt the opposite--but most likely, that's because I missed a lot of intriguing titles this year and therefore my number of personal connections are down. (Likewise, my list of priorities is much longer than usual.) As you know, I feel modern cinema is, overall, in a healthy state, but this year I just haven't had time to explore all the worthwhile corners. I'll catch up eventually, though.

I agree. Unwatchable.

Lebowski obviously has legions of defenders, but I don't like it very much. It's okay, I guess. Truth be told, when the Coens aim for broad comedy, it usually leaves me cold--which probably explains my distaste for Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. I much prefer them when they are working on ironic or deadpan wavelengths, but for me their best work is their most sincere work. (That said, I do really like O Brother, which is one of the loopiest movies in recent memory.)

One year a friend gave me a large, framed picture of G. W. Bush with a faked autograph. He always did know how to piss me off.

That right there is pretty much my list of top viewing priorities as the year winds down.

True, not a bad one in that stretch. And yet, for me at least, only three of them are unquestionably great movies: Fargo, Miller's Crossing and The Man Who Wasn't There. I certainly admire the others to varying degrees. (There are only two Coen movies that I actively dislike: Intolerable Cruelty, which just seems ill-conceived, and The Ladykillers, which I think is a total failure.) One thing about the Coens that sometimes troubles me is their readiness to pour on the contempt; often their characters are treated with a prickly mockery and it makes me, as a viewer, uncomfortable. I say thi

I re-read The Scarlet Letter every year, but I keep on loving it.