I guess a still of Grace Kelly driving in Monaco in To Catch A Thief would have been too meta, huh?

Those are nice, Glenn, but I thought you of all people would have put up some shots from Rivette's Merry-Go-Round.

Nice to see some love for The Good Shepherd, but it should be noted that the theatrical cut was different from what De Niro had intended. He's mentioned a longer director's cut in interviews but god knows if that will ever come out. I know many found it slow, but I still feel that added material would only benefit what's already there (which is mostly great).

I believe "Shut up and deal" would be the appropriate response there.

Well that's not as good as the part when he calls Spielberg an asshole and claims that Titanic was a success because "plump, slovenly girls" saw themselves in Kate Winslet. MEOW!

Nrh, I've read that whole Rivette interview before, and it's wonderfully catty and times and also endearing I'm terms of how much of a film lover the man still is (or was ten years ago, at least). I find it odd that the line he draws between Walsh and Preminger on one hand, and Minnelli on the other is one of work with the actors, instead of how he's using his images to forward whatever perpective he has on the material. I think it's a little reductive to claim that Minnelli's primary consideration was with sets and design, and while all of his films may not seem like auteurist statements (the man was as dismissive of his decisions and intentions to interviewers as the cagey John Ford), a good number of them do, going all the way up to Nina a.k.a. A Matter of Time (a criminally unavailable title save for old VHS copies).

Why is Lapidus alive? Because he's the only one who can fly that plane off the island. And I'm speculating that the same people will get on a plane in each reality, and when they reach the same point during their flights geographically, the two worlds will reconcile. Most LOST fans seem to like Frank, and his comic relief is usually welcome, but he does seem extraneous otherwise. Miles joining Richard's team makes it even more likely that he's going to be the next one to go. Like you, I also loved Demond's "C.S.I." moment. I said to my friends as he pulled away, "My work here is done, Brother".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Walt Disney personally campaign to the Board of Governors (or whoever the Powers That Be were at the time) to give Baskett that Oscar? It's a little different than some group of people collectively deciding to patronize him with some kind of second-class prize.

Oh yeah, forgot to say, Glenn, that I'm surprised you neglected to mention Céline and Julie Go Boating in your write up. It's pretty clear that the film was inspired by Daisies, especially as Rivette was one of Chytilova's early cheerleaders.

I randomly stumbled upon Daises when it was recommended by Amazon.uk of all places after looking up Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. My interest piqued, I "found" it online shortly thereafter and fell in total movie love. Over the last couple months I've been feverishly trying to hunt down the other Chytilova films floating around the ether, though only some have accompanying subtitles. It was another nice surprise to see that Second Run was just in the process of releasing Daisies on DVD, so I picked that up; great purchase. Not too much in the way of extras but the semi-recent interview with the charming Chytilova was well worth it. Showed the film to a bunch of friends and everyone loved it.

I'm a huge Mann fan who loves Miami Vice AND Ali (though I'd only rate Collateral as "good"), but I'm not very excited for Public Enemies either. I don't necessarily want him locked in the modern urban setting, but seeing him try to top The Untouchables (not much of a challenge) isn't something I'm interested in. It also may have something to do with my distaste for Disney's newest whore Captain Jack Tonto, whose mannered acting style does nothing for me.

An idiot would be someone who made either the Gallo statement OR the Coppola one. Putting both in one post? That's deserving of something far worse.

Daniel, I'm assuming that's a photo book featuring Swanberg repeatedly trying to blow himself?

And in other news, the official Criterion website just posted Joe Swanberg's Top 10 from the label. When I saw the inclusion of "The Harder They Come", for a second I thought Glenn's commenters here had humorously compiled the list themselves.

Problem is, Jim, some of those hacks aren't perfect. I had one that only played about half the Region 2 discs I tried. And if you have a Panasonic you're shit out of luck as there are supposedly no codes. I found a new region-free Philips player on eBay for $50 including shipping, and it also has a USB jack to so I can hook up portable drives to play media. That's not really a lot to spend. As for Eureka, I only have Fritz Lang's Spies but it's a very nice disc. Glenn is also correct that BFI has been putting out some damn good releases, though the R2 company Second Run should be mentioned as well. Among other things, they have a good selection of Czech films, including Marketa Irglova and Vera Chytilova's Daisies, the latter of which just came out last week and is ESSENTIAL viewing.

Swanberg distinguished himself from his contemporaries when he started the groundbreaking "Lispcore" movement in 2009.

Doesn't "Ellie" look EXACTLY like the cowgirl in Toy Story 2? Just sayin'. Also, I remember reading about that cave-tubing excursion when planning my trip to Belize. It looked like a hell of a lot of fun, and I'm bummed out I passed it up, but I think it involved having to take a small plane to that area, which is pretty high up on my list of Things Not To Do.

Not this Army of Shadows as a recent release nonsense again. Hey, if they sort out that recently-found Metropolis footage before the end of the year, maybe that can take over the top spot! All snark aside, I like the rest of your list, Robert, save for the Zhang Yimou. A few of those films/directors would be on mine as well. And Glenn, nice to see a mention of Marie & Julien. I wasn't too sure how Rivette fans felt about it; personally I thought it was phenomenal, and does much to remove fantasies of the aborted Finney/Caron version. Also, your praise of Red Cliff has me intrigued and surprised, to say the least. Are we talking a Bullet in the Head level of greatness?

Well, he did compose "additional music" for Reds. Sondheim wrote most of the score, but I don't remember anything bad in the film. That's all I got. Funnily, I remember way back when The Firm came out and a friend was complaining about Grusin's score afterwards.