Beltmann

In 1993 I wrote a mildly favorable review of Jurassic Park. Fourteen years later, my friends still won't let me forget the headline added by the morons at the newspaper: "DINO-mite!"

My favorite? Svankmajer's 15-minute take on The Fall of the House of Usher (1980).

Sembene died in June, but the deaths of Bergman and Antonioni reminded me that they weren't the first major figures in international cinema that we lost this summer.

Most of the episodes are as strong as his best feature work... I made a point of watching them when they originally aired, and then later I bought the complete series on DVD. If you're a Morris fan, it's absolutely worth tracking down.

Yes! Did you ever watch First Person?

We agree that those actions can be called terrorism. In fact, I've never referred to those specific perpetrators as freedom fighters. You made a generalized statement ("You can't fight against freedom and be a freedom fighter") with no qualifications that therefore applies across the board and across history, and that's what I responded to, not your specific stance on insurgents in Iraq. (In fact, my contrary example was historical.) It's the generalization that I objected to, but now you're re-framing the discussion to pretend that both your original comment and my objection were spec

I didn't post that... but how is it a similar oversimplication? The whole point of that poster is to get people to consider the possibility that their rigid definitions are not as simple as they may at first appear. In other words, it muddies the issue, which is the precise opposite of oversimplifying the issue.

I think we're saying that to be most effective in fighting them, we must first accurately comprehend how they have come to understand the circumstances. The point was that your cartoonish oversimplification of "You can't fight against freedom and be a freedom fighter" ignores certain complexities, and it's that kind of thinking that made Iraq a mess. Unfortunately, that's how this Administration writes policy--not according to political reality, but according to how catchy it sounds on a bumper sticker.

You can if the two sides define freedom in different terms.

The only surprising thing about it was the use of a Guster song. That was cool, at least.

Couple of short documentaries made by Stanley Kubrick: Day of the Fight / 1951 Flying Padre / 1951 And also a short made by Tony Scott while still a student: One of the Missing / 1971

I'll second these recommendations. Both are great--especially Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. Top 20, maybe.

I'm resigned to that possibility, especially since Velvet Goldmine was pretty lousy. But Haynes has made at least two masterpieces--Safe and Far from Heaven--and has enough artistic finesse to make this Dylan gimmick work. I like his chances more than most. (Far from Heaven also relied on an arch, stylized conceit, and that totally worked.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SS!

Right up there with Spike's best work.

I don't have anything invested in Ryan Adams one way or another. If you notice, I haven't offered my opinion of Easy Tiger in this thread or anywhere else. I'll just say this about Adams: In his work I hear many influences, including GP, but I also hear plenty of his own artistic voice, too. If you're searching for "evidence" that many "educated" ears find value in Ryan Adams, let me direct you to the links below. For every critic that dismisses Adams as a poor derivative, there seems to be at least two or three that are convinced he offers something more than that. Taken as a whole, cr

What Light?, you seem confused about why your posts have raised so many hackles. It has nothing to do with cliques, and everything to do with your tone. People reacted badly to your posts not because you expressed an unpopular opinion, but because you coupled that opinion with a smug, patronizing tone. You implied that anyone with a differing take must, without exception, be guilty of blind fan worship or plain ignorance. You then refused to engage with opposing arguments, choosing to instead dismiss them as merely the addled opinions of thoughtless, uneducated lemmings. What it boils dow

I have met Paul Molitor, Jim Gantner, and Pete Vuckovich. Once, when I was about 12, my left knee appeared with Molitor on the evening news.

The '56 version is by far the best... but I always welcome new updates, because, much like zombie movies, the body snatcher movies are malleable enough to have ripe metaphorical functions in each new era. I think we talked about McElwee's Bright Leaves once before... did you ever catch up with that one?

It's been a long wait, but David Fincher has finally made a masterpiece. I loved everything about this movie.

Carnal Knowledge?

I liked Jack Black a lot in Jesus' Son, and even Shallow Hal (a very underrated movie). But you're right--School of Rock was the last time he was enjoyable rather than insufferable. Lately he just seems to be playing overblown caricatures of himself.

What I liked about this intimate epic spanning two generations--the first is a Bengali man and his wife who left Calcutta for NYC, the second is their grown son who now identifies with American culture rather than his parents' heritage--is how the movie never settles for superficial cultural and generational tensions. Instead, Nair, along with her amazing actors, has created a very real, very dynamic family. It's a movie about people rather than cultural tokens.

Me too.