SS is the funniest comedian alive today?! I don’t know who is but I doubt she’s top 20. The show is good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think that she has that much good material and primarily plays off of the incongruity of her good looks and foul mouth/attitude. The “gay” orange dudes and ever her real-life sister are funnier.

Superbad, like most Apatow films, gets better as it goes along and ends on a high-note. I thought that the dick jokes during the first half hour were mediocre.

Death Proof was good for the first half but was AWFUL after that with the new group of girls.

I HATE songs in shows (e.g. S Silverman) but the Concords songs are far and away the best part of the show. The plots grew increasingly similar and boring.

Bodysnatchers, or as I like to call it track #2, is the only In Rainbows song that I don’t really like.

And finally, I’ll agree with you on something – I had a dream about hanging out with Larry David and we totally got along and were friends (that’s feasible, right?) Anyway, I woke up with one of the firmest morning erections I’ve had in quite some time.

Toodles.

And one more thing, there’s a little more to “Once” than that. It’s not your typical boy-meets-girl story.

I totally hear you about the Wii. I honestly don’t have the energy sometimes. Video games are essentially for the lazy, so there’s an inherent problem there for me.

We are headed for some major baseball talk. Very soon.

When are we moving this conversation to baseball? Maybe after the giants are kicked out of the playoffs? (I was going to say ‘after the giants win the super bowl, but I would like to maintain some credibility).

I hear ya about Madden. I used to be into the NBA2K franchise (for sega dreamcast). The movie that made the most $ this year was Spiderman 3, so I get your point. What do you mean by “it still has Mario running?”

5. Mass Effect (360) – The first RPG I have played through since Xenogears for the original PSX, and surely the best I’ve seen. Huge story, lot of choices, and some rather shocking outcomes. Damn you, Ashley, you bitch, Wrex was my tank!

4. Call of Duty 4 (360, PS3) – Pure adrenaline, all the time. Puts more bullets in the air at any given time than any other vid, ever. The AC-130 and copter doorgunner missions provide some excellent variety. Perfectly executed and immaculately polished, a joy to play. The best praise I can give is that my closest friend, a SpecOps vet who has done multiple tours of the sandbox, couldn’t put this done when I brought the system home for the holidays, and harped on about how realistic it was. As a pure shooter, this destroys Halo 3 on every meaningful level.

3. Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) – Apart from the crappy second installment way back on the NES, this series appears completely impervious to failures. The biggest Zelda in scope yet, and best-looking. Not the groundbreaker Ocarina was, but still a wonderful gaming experience.

2. BioShock (360) – Greatest atmospherics in the history of the medium. The art deco sets, story (honestly, did anyone see a metaphysical riposte of Ayn Rand serving as the basis of a popular videogame, ever?), voice acting, pacing, everything was spectacular. But for the insane cornucopia of ‘Orange Box’, would have stomped all other comers.

1. The Orange Box (360/PS3) – Recycled gold is still gold, and when five bricks are dumped into your lap for the price of one, it’s hard to complain. There is no funner multiplayer FPS than ‘Team Fortress 2′ right now.

Hon mention: Resistance, TFOM; Warhawk; NBA2k8.

Suffice it to say, yes, if you have a Wii you should definitely get Zelda. I still haven’t even seen SMB Galaxy so I can’t speak on it, but that aside, Zelda is the entire reason to even own a Wii in the first place. It will take some time, maybe 30+ hours, to complete. That’s ok, it’s so enjoyable you’ll end up wishing there was a little more to it.

No Madden, I hate the series. I know it is popular, but it sucks. Billy Ray Cyrus sold millions of more records than Pavement or GBV ever did, but no one will convince me he was the better recording artist. The whole Madden thing is such a fraud; they never make any real improvements to the game. It still has Mario running, a vestige of its 1980s roots. Mario running! In 2007! Insane! Customers are just paying $60 for roster updates that should be free anyway. It’s not EA’s fault, they just bid the most when the NFL went exclusive with the license; they are being lazy like all monopolies are. No, it’s Tagliabue’s fault, and I hate him for it.

A national semi-finalist eh? Wow. That’s pretty big time. But NFL2K, no Madden?

Anyway, more to the point, that is precisely the way that Cormac McCarthy ended his novel, which is very typical for him. If anyone thought that was too dark, I would warn them away from delving into ‘The Road’, ‘Outer Dark’ or ‘Blood Meridian’, all of which are messier still and portray a still grimmer picture of the human condition. The Coens simply stayed true to their source material, any complaints should be directed to McCarthy. I’m sure he’ll be listening. . [g]

The movie both opens and ends with Tommy Lee Jones, who in the end, has in fact retired. He’s given up. Reflecting on his life choices, he describes to his wife two dreams he had. The first concerns money, and the second is about his dead father, who had also been a sheriff. He’s never going to be able to do what his father did as far as law and order because there’s always going to be a specter that’s ahead of him. If he’s going to survive in this country, a good man has to give up.

Mainly, you can interpret a lot of the metaphors how you best see fit. But that’s what I took from it. I like movies that make you think, rather than get closed in a tightly neat bow.

I saw No Country on your recommendation… great movie and it did keep me in suspense the whole movie.. but

I’d have liked it to end with the guy with the mustache killing the guy with the oxygen tank, but nonetheless was a great film.

Can you explain the ending?

What about Bale in ‘The Machinist?’ I didn’t see all of it – supposedly it’s horrible – but that guy took method acting to a new level there. He’s soo good.

I couldn’t quite get into LCD Soundsystem. Of course, that was only based off a few songs I heard on their myspace, and I know Pitchfork had it as their No. 2 album of the year, so I do need to give it a better listen. And I will.

Whaaaa, no war films? I don’t know if I intrinsically love the genre, but it does happen that of my three favorite directors ever (Kurosawa, Kubrick and Malick), each either concentrated in, or did their best work on, that type. Probably 3/4 of Kurosawa’s films are martial in nature, Kubrick’s very best movies, for my dime, are ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and ‘Dr. Strangelove’, and Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’ is probably my single favorite movie of the 1990s. (“I can take anything you dish out, I’m twice the man you are.” “In this world, a man, himself…..is nothing. And there ain’t no world but this one.”) Although with respect to Nate, ‘Fight Club’ makes the short list for that decade….as does Boyle’s ‘Trainspotting’ (which some half of my close friends have still never seen, a fact that will continue to astound and dismay me for all time). Neither ‘Se7en’ or ‘The Game’ did much for me though.

Re: Blu-Ray. PS3, baby! Gotta give yourself some presents from time to time, otherwise life just becomes one huge and dispirited slog through the workweek. $399 now, probably a hundo less on craigslist. [g] I probably should have saved the money or whatever, but I looked at it as being one of the only reprieves I have from the relentless demands of a career I never should have entered. Alas, student loan lenders handed me a length of rope, and I happily tied a slipknot, ducked my neck in, and kicked the chair away. If a PS3 and 360 can help me get through the days and weeks for another year or two, I should have enough cash saved to join the Peace Corps. Bizarre justification, possibly, but eh, works for me.

Bale is awesome. I still remember him from ‘Empire of the Sun’ (Speilberg’s best movie ever, IMO, although I know almost no one would concede the point)…..he’s only getting better and better. Who else could have salvaged the ‘Batman’ franchise after the horrors wrought upon it by Joel Schumacher and friends? He’s one of the very few young actors who actually understand the value of subtlety and nuance in performances, and he has already established a pretty vast range. ‘Rescue Dawn’ was great. Depressing, esp. when Zahn’s character meets his end, but great. And yes, ‘Grizzly Man’ was great, and surely a top documentary, though I still think you should see ‘American Movie’ before dismissing it as a contender. “COH-ven!”

PS: Where is the LCD Soundsystem amongst this year’s albums? They only released not one but TWO of the year’s best records (‘45:33′ and ‘Sound of Silver’). Also, !!!’s ‘Myth Takes’ was similarly great for bringing some rump-shaking fun to back to the pasty-white head-bobbing masses of indie rock.

I’d never even heard of “Sunshine,” but it sounds like I should give it a chance.

I have no problem with The Game being rated so highly – that’s great also.

Missed Zodiac & 3:10 as I was in Siberia. Thoroughly looking forward to renting both. Also on the list: I’m Not There, There Will Be Blood, and The Lives of Others.

But the one that’s inexcusably ignored in my book is Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. Just call it my Rescue Dawn.

David Fincher films (so far):
3. Fight Club
2. Se7en
1. The Game