The first Leonard flick I saw was MR. MAJESTYK on television, and while I wouldn't say it's the best one by any means, it's pretty darn spiffy, with one of Bronson's best performances - I have a fond memory of watching it with my Pop and realizing at some point that this wasn't an ordinary crime film - around the point Al Letteiri said "Bring the man's melons in."

Oh, your therapist isn't au courant with the Jean Rollin? You'll get little sympathy from me on that score - I brought up THE LAST DETAIL and BLADE RUNNER at different points during my last session, and my therapist hadn't seen either one.

Thanks JB and DE, you completely missed the point, comparing a young artist who's just starting out with a number of gents with decades of output to evaluate. Plus who said you didn't hold female auteurs in high esteem? We're just talking about the focus on Dunham's background. Although come to think of it, Dunham is ahead of a number of the guys I just mentioned. Like I said, I haven't seen any of her stuff, but I'm willing to wager it's better than FEAR AND DESIRE, which Kubrick made when he was around Dunham's age and plays like Ed Wood's version of THE THIN RED LINE. Don't get me wrong, I think Kubrick was the greatest filmmaker who ever lived and 2001 is the best movie ever made. I doubt Dunham will accomplish as much, but then again I don't think anybody will accomplish as much.

I find the hype around Dunham annoying, but if we're going to talk "privilege," let's not forget that Rossellini, Visconti, and Louis Malle were all rich kids, Bunuel got money from his mommy to make UN CHIEN ANDALOU, and Kubrick hustled his uncle for the dough to make FEAR AND DESIRE. IIRC, Tarantino also came from a tonier background than he let on, his years as a video clerk notwithstanding. But they're all great filmmakers. Lots of rich kids go into film and still don't have the chops to make it. I haven't seen TINY FURNITURE or GIRLS, so I've no opinion yet of Dunham as an artist, but there does seem to be an element of sexism in the focus on her background.

"what a superbly entertaining movie." You said it. I walked out of BERNIE completely giddy - I think I have to go back to MARRIED TO THE MOB to name a comedy that gave me that kind of oxygen high.

I think Andrew Dominik is one of the best out there on the basis of CHOPPER and TAOJJBTCRF, but this one was a disappointment - not a grievous one, I mostly had a reasonably good time with it, but definitely a disappointment. And I'd certainly agree with previous criticisms - you should do Higgins straight up or not at all. The political shit simply does not work. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE conveyed a lot more about the fraught economy of the 70s without saying anything directly, and KTS almost literally works you over with ham-handed "relevance."

Dunno if I think PTA is Kubrick's heir (although Kubrick's influence is all over the place) but I do know I think this is the most evocative "dream movie" since EYES WIDE SHUT. I do think Anderson has changed his game here to making a cinematic time-bomb, the sort of event you walk away from thinking that was good but somehow lacking and then you wind up thinking of nothing else for the next 78 hours. My favorite moment only involved one of the main characters peripherally - a department store model waltzing around as Ella Fitzgerald sings "Get Thee Behind Me Satan." The one thing I will say is anybody expecting the bravura flourishes that concluded THERE WILL BE BLOOD will be disappointed - but the film offers other muted, low-key rewards, grace notes and an experience that sets off explosions in your head days later.

My brother and his wife saw HAPPINESS on their first date. They're getting divorced now, but they had a reasonably good run (14 years as a couple, married for 7).

YEAR OF THE DRAGON with my grandmother and brothers. Ariane's nudity and horrible acting (I think it might be the worst performance ever in a mainstream Hollywood film) embarrassed everybody.

Hey, I've got PSYCHO at #3! Otherwise, no overlap whatsoever.

Shit, Rob Bottin abandoning Hollywood, hands down. Stupid remakes have been going on for a while.

Where's MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE? Other than that, good list, lots of ones I need to catch up on but this should shake out as a pretty damn good year for movies in the end.

"Question that's entirely beside the point of this discussion: Even though it's commercially available and purchasable/rentable, is it actually legal to be in possession of it? I'm almost sure that it is, but why? Who wants to rent this thing on Netflix then get thrown in jail?" The Silverlake branch of the Los Angeles public library has the Criterion DVD, so I think at least in California, you're on safe ground.

In The Tradition of THE LAST WAVE is a good thing. The TRAILER for THE LAST WAVE scared the crap out of me and haunted me until I caught up with the actual movie. This one is high on my list.

According to FF Coppola, Spradlin came up with most of the dialogue for his character in the briefing scene, which would account for its singular flavor.

"As a movie, the main problem with "The Beaver" isn't Gibson, but Foster. God knows she is an intelligent individual with her heart in precisely the right place and a genuine concern for her themes, which are hardly small ones. But there's something lacking in what she ultimately brings to this material. I'm not sure if it's actual skill, or the courage of her convictions." I haven't seen the movie, and I don't know if this is the problem, but Foster has never struck me, in her performances or her interviews, as somebody with a good sense of humor.* The script sounded to me like a black comedy, or at least a black dramady, and it sounds like she played it too straight or wasn't able to put across the humor. I'm pretty curious to see it nonetheless. * I've never seen FREAKY FRIDAY, though.

"When his American agent would send him scripts, he would often be unimpressed. 'So I would say 'I quite like it,' which in the English way means that I really didn't like it.'" Huh - it seems to me that the Hollywood film culture and "the English way" are actually not that far apart at all.

Who knows... maybe the critics have gone collectively mad, or could it be that INCEPTION is everything they say it is? I've got an idea for you, Patrick - instead of indulging in your middlebrow smirking at a movie that apparently is trying to be about something besides giant robots fighting, why not wait until you've actually seen it? Your juvenile reaction reminds me of a letter written to Kubrick about the confusion over 2001 - "After decades of movies made for 12 year old children, we have finally gotten critics with 12 year old minds. Pity."

Am I missing something? It sounds like every other episode of "24" to me.

Just in case the point hasn't been made - lousy, lousy, LOUSY movies to choose from. I'd rather stay home and catch up on MAD MEN.

Mr. Ebert and Mr. Siskel were two of my first and most important teachers. I was 11 years old when I started watching "Sneak Previews" - for the first time I really got that two intelligent people could have a difference of opinion and that some questions didn't have answers. I learned that from them before I learned that from my actual schooling. Mr. Ebert continues to show me how to learn and how to live.

CARRIERS sounds interesting - thanks for the heads up about that. MARC PEASE, otoh, sounds awful - it sounds like a lousy sequel to RUSHMORE, it has a lot of the same elements. I doubt I'll see THE GOODS, I'm pretty sick of Jeremy Piven at this point.