Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

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113Comments

  3. 3.

    redshirt

    I can’t believe I live in a world where Marvel comics has conquered Entertainment.

    I never would have thought it possible in the 70’s, stuck watching the Electric Company for a bad Spiderman skit.

  4. 4.

    some guy

    anybody married to Luke Cage is a-ok in my book. not a huge Bendis fan, but this character is well written

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ll watch it. I like Krysten Ritter a lot; she was hilarious in “Don’t Trust the B.”

  6. 6.

    redshirt

    I don’t think you need any backstory John. Technically these shows are set in the aftermath of The Avengers, so maybe that? But not really.

  7. 7.

    Woodrow/asim

    John: Word is that, like DAREDEVIL, this will have limited ties to the MCU. Can’t think of anything special you need to watch before hand from Marvel. Maybe the “good bits” of Season 1 of AGENTS/SHIELD, as I suspect some of the backstory around their Index of super-powered people will come into play, but in a very minor role (and by the time Season 1 of SHIELD gets good, they more-or-less drop dealing with the Index, so it’s very YMMV.)

    That said — tonally/thematically it’s similar to another show Ritter did, VERONICA MARS — I say this as a fan of both that show, and the comic JONES is based on. Def. recommend Season 1 of MARS if you like this sort of thing, and haven’t yet watch it. That Pilot, esp., is one of the most amazing bits of TV I’ve seen.

  8. 8.

    Brachiator

    The Jessica Jones trailer looks pretty good. I hope it is better than the wretched Agent Carter and the largely disappointing Agents of SHIELD.

  10. 10.

    Rick Taylor

    Only on Netflix? How does that work? Do you need to have a Netflix account to watch it? If you’ve already paid for a Netflix account can you watch it for free?

  12. 12.

    Unabogie

    @Rick Taylor: You stream it over your computer, a standalone box such as Roku, Apple TV, or your Playstation, or watch it on your phone or tablet. I’m not sure what the account particulars are, but a streaming account from Netflix is $7.99 a month. Well worth it.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    I didn’t know anyone was lamenting the end of Chafee 2016. In fact, I doubt if Chafee himself noticed.

  14. 14.

    David Hunt

    @Rick Taylor: Yes, the only way to (legally) watch it is on Netflix. They made it. Just like Daredevel. Yes, if you’ve got a Netflix account, you can watch it at no additional cost. It’s just like any other thing that you can watch on it.

    I expect that it will eventually come out on DVD for legal purchase.

  15. 15.

    schrodinger's cat

    I don’t get the superhero hoopla. I liked the Superman movies with Reeves and Spiderman with Toby Mcguire, but in general they leave me cold.

    The past couple of weeks I have been rediscovering Hindi cinema, have not really paid it much attention since the late nineties but I grew up with listening to music from the 60s and the 70s and even before, from my parents’ collection. It was the sound track of my childhood. I had a very superior and elitist attitude towards Hindi movies and would look down on them as too simplistic when I was growing up but there are some wonderful gems, that I had overlooked. Especially the music. Also, what floors me is the tremendous religious and regional diversity in the Hindi film industry, where there are so many prominent Muslim artists behind and in front of the camera. Also so many whose first language is not Hindi but some other lndian language have enjoyed success in the movie industry. Nothing quite captures the cultural mosaic that India is, as Hindi movies do.

    This song that I found yesterday is my latest favorite, its from the movie, Anwar. Its a ghazal with qawwali chorus. I haven’t seen the movie but according to the reviews it is about terrorism and mistaken identities and politicians demonizing Muslims to shore up their sagging political fortunes. Something sadly we are all too familiar with.

  16. 16.

    Felonius Monk

    The Benghazi hearings went so well for the Republicans yesterday that Boehner has named a select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood to get to the truth just like they did yesterday. Do these assholes ever learn?

    And instead of Trey Gowdy as chair we will have Marsha Blackburn. Whoopee!

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    Anyone else keeping an eye on the hurricane hitting Mexico? Strongest storm ever to hit the Americas, a full-on Cat 5.

  20. 20.

    Hal

    I wonder if they’ll demonstrate whether or not she’s bullet proof? In the original comic run, Jessica Jones was so unsure of her powers she didn’t even know how invulnerable she was.

  22. 22.

    Chris

    I had never read anything about this character until yesterday. If the show’s anything like the comic I read, it should be very good. And, of course, I liked Daredevil.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I haven’t seen any Indian films since the 1980s when I used to watch VHS copies at my friend’s house (and since they weren’t subtitled, I have no idea which ones I saw). It’s interesting that musicals are a separate genre in Western movies now, but it sounds like pretty much every Indian movie still has music? People get all sniffy about “musicals,” but if you watch Hollywood movies from the 1930s and into the 1950s, they ALL had at least one musical number. Westerns, dramas, film noirs, all of ’em.

  26. 26.

    Console

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    While I would rather look at Punisher shooting a bunch of big guns when I was a kid, I have to say that now that I’m older, Daredevil is a legitimately interesting character.

    He’s a “superhero” who is defined by a disability (blindness) rather than a power. He’s also a criminal defense attorney by day and has a big dose of good ol’ catholic guilt about his vigilante work. That’s a lot to work with from a storytelling standpoint.

    The new show features Jessica Jones who is an ex superhero, suffering from PTSD that does private investigative work now. Another interesting take on things.

    Now that’s not to say Marvel is being truly subversive with these characters. For the most part (with Daredevil at least, Jessica Jones isn’t out yet) Marvel is still playing things pretty straight, but the Netflix superhero shows seem like they have more to offer people that just want good television. Plus Daredevil has action scenes that rival some of the best in movies.

  29. 29.

    redshirt

    @Amir Khalid:

    I thought Spidey’s white rope “web” was hilarious.

    Exactly. But I needed my Spidey fix so I watched the whole show just for those few minutes.

    Anyone remember the live action show from the 70’s? Just terrible.

  30. 30.

    FourTen

    That Bobby Fisher movie might be a good choice, Jessica Jones’ story is that of the ‘gifted’ who’s talent leads to their own ruination.

  33. 33.

    Germy Shoemangler

    Ben Affleck looks like he’ll be a great Batman. And with a script by Chris Terrio, who wrote Argo.

  34. 34.

    redshirt

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    Ben Affleck looks like he’ll be a great Batman. And with a script by Chris Terrio, who wrote Argo.

    Affleck does look good. But I find it odd that the Superman sequel has become a Batman movie, so soon after Nolan’s Batman series.

    That’s all DC has, apparently: Batman.

    Make mine Marvel.

  36. 36.

    Germy Shoemangler

    On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host and former GOP congressman Joe Scarborough called it a “technical knock out” for Clinton with regular Mike Barnicle adding, “If this committee had handled the Watergate hearing, Richard Nixon would have finished his term.”

    Nothing however will sting the members of Gowdy’s committee like ultra-conservative commentator Erick Erickson calling the whole exercise a “waste of time,” while adding Clinton is “too bright” for them.

  37. 37.

    blackcatsrule

    @Germy Shoemangler: off topic but I just wanted to let you know how much I loved your post the other day where you mentioned that you were reading to your cat! If mine fall asleep during a show we’re watching I always update them unless they tell me “no spoilers!”

  38. 38.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @redshirt: Zack Snyder Says Batman V Superman Is Essentially Man of Steel 2.

    Man of Steel was just the beginning of the DC Extended Universe; since its release in 2013, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have announced a slate of a number of other superhero movies, each taking place within the world established in Man of Steel. Due up next is Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which besides introducing a new big screen version of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck), will also debut the newest iterations of several other heroes – including Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and Aquaman (Jason Momoa).

    However, based on the Batman V Superman trailer, it seems Superman (Henry Cavill) will still be one of the main focuses of the movie. The aftermath of the Black Zero battle from the end of Man of Steel evidently played a prominent thematic role, with the public distrust towards Superman reflected by both Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Batman. In a way, Batman V Superman is not just a follow-up to Man of Steel, but a continuation of those events.

    – from screenrant

  39. 39.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Most Hindi movies have songs, there have been a few with no songs at all, more an exception than a rule. As far as I remember, Ardh Satya (Half truth) which highlighted the corruption in urban India in 1980s had no songs.

    I understand Urdu/Hindi quite well, mostly thanks to Hindi movies, I may not get all the words exactly but get most from the context. Most subtitled movies don’t bother to subtitle songs.

  41. 41.

    Chris

    @Console:

    The “ex superhero” part is the one I find most interesting – I don’t think there’s too many stories about people who try the superhero thing and then find it’s not for me. At least now with these people being the main character.

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @redshirt:

    DC is doing pretty well on TV — half of my coworkers are obsessed with “Gotham” (the Batman prequel) and the other half are obsessed with “Arrow.” “The Flash” is doing pretty well, too. But I agree that they haven’t been able to get a good feature film recently with any character other than Batman.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    I was never a comic book person but I enjoy Marvel’s Agents of Shield and Arrow and The Flash. I don’t know any of the backstories but I enjoy them anyway. (I tried Agent Carter but was bored after 3 or 4 episodes.)

    I was never a science fiction person, but I loved Almost Human and I really like Continuum and Humans.

    I watched this trailer just now (who the heck is Jessica Jones, I wondered?) and it looks pretty interesting. Then I looked up DareDevil and thought that looked interesting, too.

    Maybe old dogs really can learn new tricks?

  44. 44.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    People get all sniffy about “musicals,” but if you watch Hollywood movies from the 1930s and into the 1950s, they ALL had at least one musical number. Westerns, dramas, film noirs, all of ’em.

    ALL? Damn, somehow I must have missed that musical number in “The Maltese Falcon.”

    Another difference of course, is that while a John Wayne western might have a segment with teen heart throb Ricky Nelson singing and strumming guitar, you were not going to see the Duke and the main cast bust a move to a catchy Dimitri Tiomkin tune.

    I have not seen that many Indian films in full. A couple of movie houses relatively nearby showed some regularly, but without subtitles. Local broadcast channel 18 used to show some of the dancing segments and trailers for Indian films, and much of this was a fun little taste of Bollywood. You could at least get some sense of what some of the genres were like.

  45. 45.

    Chris

    @Calouste:

    Same here, and I still thin those are the best.

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Co-signed. Also, one of the only Franco-Belgian comics (along with Tintin) that seems to have crossed the Atlantic; you can find them regularly at Barnes & Noble. There are others you can find, but usually you need to go to an actual comic book store, and not all of them will have them either.

  48. 48.

    Chris

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    I’m one of the few people who actually did enjoy Man Of Steel, but I’m not expecting to like the sequel.

    Bringing in Lex Luthor and Batman isn’t a bad idea, as he’s really the only villain who can justify a Superman/Batman team up – the other bad guys are either way above Batman’s weight class or way below Superman’s. But I thought Superman deserved to get his own few movies, like Batman did in TDK, without having to compete with Batman or other supers for the spotlight so soon.

  50. 50.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Chris: I guess they’re setting up the Justice League, with Aqua Man, Wonder Woman, etc.

    I read that they plan another stand-alone Superman movie, and George Miller has expressed interest in directing it. Not sure if it will happen…

  51. 51.

    Rick Taylor

    I may have to give Netflix another try. In the past it seemed to me Amazon prime membership had the same streaming movies, but I didn’t consider the series.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Brachiator:

    Director John Huston was not big on musical numbers, but you should be able to name at least two other classic Humphrey Bogart movies where music is pivotal to the story, even if it’s not Bogey doing the singing.

  53. 53.

    Bostondreams

    I’m just wondering how far they will go to show the extremes that the Purple Man/Killgrave went to in his utter control of Jessica, and how the consequences of that impacted her relationships with others. The comic was in no way for kids. Just brutal, but very well done.
    Also, excited for Luke Cage!

  54. 54.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Thanks! Although, Hindi movies are usually great about religious diversity and many social issues, one thing that annoyed me about Hindi movies in the past was the portrayal of women. The ideal woman is self sacrificing martyr, who considers her husband, a god. Do. not. want.

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    It was so long ago, I have to admit I don’t remember much of any of the movies. I think my friend got tired of trying to translate on the fly for me, so I mostly remember pretty costumes and cool music. I don’t remember any Westerns, but I think her parents mostly picked the movies and they seemed to like contemporary ones.

    I can’t say that the images of women in classic (or even a lot of contemporary) Hollywood movies is much better. There may be more of a “Taming of the Shrew” thing in Hollywood movies, especially in comedies, where the whole story is spent breaking the woman down so she’ll be a proper wife in the future.

  60. 60.

    Brachiator

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    Ben Affleck looks like he’ll be a great Batman. And with a script by Chris Terrio, who wrote Argo.

    One ominous sign are the rumors that the budget for this film is reaching $410 million and that they are doing re-shoots.

    With Marvel steaming along and scheduling movies out through 2017 and beyond, Warners cannot afford to look like a bunch of dopes with the signature trio of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

    The crazy thing is that the DC superheroes are doing quite well on television, and some of the animated DC works are quite good.

  62. 62.

    Harx1

    Saw the Jessica Jones pilot at NYCC, and it is fantastic! Krysten Ritter is fabulous and David Tennant, in limited air time, is scary good.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    Director John Huston was not big on musical numbers, but you should be able to name at least two other classic Humphrey Bogart movies where music is pivotal to the story, even if it’s not Bogey doing the singing.

    You mean, something like Lauren Bacall singing “How Little We Know” in To Have and Have Not?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFfuUu5xmMA

    Not sure it’s exactly pivotal, but it’s fun, and a little hot.

    Andy Williams reportedly dubbed tracks for the film, but Hawks and Bacall insist that she did the version used in the film.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Brachiator:

    That’s one of them, but the other one is even more famous. The entire cast participates in a sing-along that precipitates action by the villain. You know you’ve seen it.

    IMDb says that Hawks considered using Williams to dub Bacall because Hawks mostly cast Bacall for her looks and attitude, but he was relieved to discover that she could sing, too. Dubbing was ridiculously common — even Debbie Reynolds was dubbed for one of her ballads in “Singin’ In The Rain” because the director wanted that specific song in a lower register.

    If you really can’t think of the other Bogart scene, I’ll post a link, but you’ll slap your forehead when you see what it is.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    Since we’re talking movies, I was really annoyed to listen to a film review show in which one critic dismissed Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies” as “white guys in a room talking” and a “dad flick,” presumably a corny movie with historical or moralizing themes that you suffer through with your father during the Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday movie season.

    This critic also said, “I heard that Mark Rylance is one of the greatest actors in British theater, but I don’t know anything else about him.” I can’t imagine that a good critic would not have seen Rylance in at least one episode of “Wolf Hall,”even though this was TV, or taken a look at 2008’s “The Other Boleyn Girl” or other film work.

    But, putting it into perspective, this critic and the others on the show went on to spend some time talking about their favorite “Goosebumps” series books.

    I despair the coming collapse of civilization.

  71. 71.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    If you really can’t think of the other Bogart scene, I’ll post a link, but you’ll slap your forehead when you see what it is.

    I didn’t realize it was an official test.

    It’s a tossup. Bogie and Edward G Robinson singing a homoerotic love duet, “Moanin Low” in “Key Largo,” or Sydney Greenstreet singing “My Melancholy Baby” in “Casablanca.” This last was cut for the scene of the song duel of the Germans singing their little ditty, but cut off by the rousing version of La Marseillaise, featuring Victor Laszlo and His Refugee Orchestra.

  72. 72.

    Germy Shoemangler

    o.t.

    but, there is a kickstart campaign for The American Bystander.

    A humor magazine; a print quarterly featuring comedy all-stars from SNL, The Simpsons, Monty Python & National Lampoon.

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaelgerber/the-american-bystander-humor-magazine

    Editorial freedom for print humorists, who get paid in dollars (not “exposure”); a magazine featuring new names as well as established talents.

    I contributed because Jack Handey is involved, and he is one of my favorite humor writers.

  73. 73.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Brachiator: I remember when I looked to critics and professional journalists to know MORE than me, so I’d learn from them. Now, more and more I see reviews like the one you mention (“I heard he’s a good actor, but I never heard of him”)

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Brachiator:

    More like a game show. Sorry, another contestant beat you to the buzzer.

    But my overall point is that it drives me nuts when movie fans (not you, obviously) sneer that they can’t take Indian movies seriously because they have musical numbers while ignoring the fact that the classic Hollywood films they claim to love also have musical numbers that they fail to recognize as such since they’re so familiar with those Hollywood conventions.

  76. 76.

    meander

    Is “Agent Carter” coming back to ABC (or another outlet anytime soon)? I enjoyed the first short season quite a bit.

  78. 78.

    Keith G

    @Amir Khalid:

    I didn’t know anyone was lamenting the end of Chafee 2016. In fact, I doubt if Chafee himself noticed.

    I think that this was just a box that Chafee wanted to check so that Candidate for (the Democratic nomination for the office of) President, 2016, can be added to the list of in his bio.

    Nothing else makes sense.

  79. 79.

    DLew On Roids

    I really don’t get why TV and movies have to spend most of their costume budgets on Lycra to be successful. Why can’t people enjoy a story set in a world with the same laws of physics as the one they live in?

    If you’re going to bother explaining, please get off my lawn first.

  80. 80.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @DLew On Roids:

    (stepping onto sidewalk)

    Hollywood movies are worldwide now in a way they never were before. It used to be that the foreign box office gross was maybe 25 percent of the total. Now it’s flip-flopped and the foreign box office is usually 50 to 75 percent of the US domestic box office. That’s why they don’t make blockbuster movies primarily aimed at the US market anymore.

    Besides, how is a Nancy Meyers romantic comedy with Diane Keaton and Alec Baldwin where everyone lives in huge Los Angeles mansions any more realistic than a movie where Iron Man flies around fighting aliens? They’re both total fantasies, but only one is willing to admit it.

  85. 85.

    celticdragonchick

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    To Have and Have Not has the Hollywood bit of throwing a couple songs out for a smashing Lauren Bacall to sing along with. Fun movie, and Ms Bacall absolutely sets the floor on fire when she walks by (as a Warner Bros cartoon at the time demonstrated)

    Casablanca of course has As Time Goes By, but it seems too personal to the lives of Rick and Elsa to really fit into the general musical number genre.

  88. 88.

    celticdragonchick

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Oh, also…I know this is blatant heresy in certain movie corners…but Citizen Kane bores me to tears. yeah, yeah, innovative camera work and deep focus shots. Whatever. Casablanca is still the best movie ever. I start crying every time Victor starts the band playing La Marseillaise.

  92. 92.

    celticdragonchick

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    Okay, I can see that. I heard in the DVD commentary that some of the set grips and staff were actual refugees from the occupied areas and were visibly weeping on set when that scene was shot.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @celticdragonchick:

    It’s done very artfully in “Casablanca,” but it’s very, very common in most studio movies of that era regardless of whether they’re officially “musicals” or not. When it’s done badly, I’ll turn to G and say, “And now a little something for the ladies …” because it’s so obvious what the purpose was. Now that I’ve made you see it, you’re going to spot it everywhere!

  95. 95.

    celticdragonchick

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    I actually think one of the worst examples is Singing in the Rain.

    Not one song has anything at all to do with the plot (such as it is) and I got the distinct impression that the studio had contractural obligations to use music from a couple composers so they took some songs from around the desks and threw them all together. (I had to write a paper on the music use in the movie. I don’t dislike the movie…I just see the obvious difference in quality when you put it up against something like Chicago)

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Que Sera Sera, in The Man who knew too much.

    This was the remake. The 1934 original is quite good.

    Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” and “The 39 Steps” are on my all time Hitchcock favorites list.

    The young Peggy Ashcroft (much later of “The Jewel in the Crown”) is soulfully sad in a brief role as a Scottish crofter’s wife.

  99. 99.

    Mike E

    @celticdragonchick: Citizen Kane, Vertigo, The Birds…humorless. Hitch is many things, but take his sick humor out of the equation and I can’t watch.

    Ditto on Casablanca, miraculous.
    Rear Window, took my mom to its re-release, thrilling. Shadow of a Doubt is another fave.

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    @celticdragonchick:

    To Have and Have Not has the Hollywood bit of throwing a couple songs out for a smashing Lauren Bacall to sing along with. Fun movie, and Ms Bacall absolutely sets the floor on fire when she walks by (as a Warner Bros cartoon at the time demonstrated)

    You mean this cartoon (extract).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWoIyQoEttE

    I think the wolf’s reaction was recreated in part in the Jim Carrey movie, The Mask.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @celticdragonchick:

    You remember correctly — the reason SITR takes place in the late 1920s is that MGM had the rights to those existing Comden & Green songs but felt they wouldn’t fit into a story set in the 1950s. There’s a famous clip online of MGM’s lineup of stars from 1930 all singing the title song, including Buster Keaton and a young Joan Crawford.

    That’s one of my favorite movie musicals because it’s an artificial movie about the artificiality of movies, but it’s definitely not one where the songs are integrated into the story. I think comparing it to “Chicago” is a bit of apples to oranges, though, since “Chicago” is a stage musical that was made as a film. Something like “Swing Time” or “Top Hat” would be a better comparison (can you tell I like Astaire and Rogers?)

    If you want to stay with the same era, “The Pirate” is probably a more fair comparison since Cole Porter wrote the songs specifically for the film.

  107. 107.

    mclaren

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    If you dig Bollywood movies, check out Dal Dadakne Do (2015). Great comedy-drama with a superbly written voiceover narration, and a neat story, wonderful acting, and an all-around dynamite cast.

  108. 108.

    mclaren

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    …my overall point is that it drives me nuts when movie fans (not you, obviously) sneer that they can’t take Indian movies seriously because they have musical numbers while ignoring the fact that the classic Hollywood films they claim to love also have musical numbers that they fail to recognize as such since they’re so familiar with those Hollywood conventions.

    It’s more like Americans can’t take Indian movies seriously because they have such a rigid formula: the good brother and the bad brother fight over a women (then there’s a musical number), then gangsters threaten the good brother (then there’s a musical number), then the bad brother joins the gangsters (then there’s a musical number), then the good brother gets shot and lies in the hospital in critical condition (then there’s a musical number), then the bad brother offs the head gangster and sacrifices himself so the good brother can wake from his coma and get the girl (then there’s a musical number).

    It’s really formulaic.

    Unlike American superhero movies, where the superheroes face a supervillain who at first defeats them, then the superheroes overcome him in a false victory, then there’s an interlude where the superheroes bond and talk about their backstories, then the supervillain comes back and defeats them in what turns out to be a false defeat, then the superheroes regroup and rally with inspirational dialogue, then the superheroes turn the tables and defeat the supervillain in a climactic battle full of CGI in which one minor superhero scarifices hi/r life to save the others…

    Yeah, unlike American superhero movies, which are totally non-formulaic.

  112. 112.

    celticdragonchick

    @Mike E:

    I agree that Hitchcock is better with his wry wit.

    Also, too…

    Sahara (The one with Bogie from 1943) is one of the best WW II combat films ever made. I cannot count how often I have watched it.

    Cool story about your mom!

  113. 113.

    schrodinger's cat

    @dagon: Good catch! Wrote down the title from memory, should has googled it. I saw the movie a long time ago at a Hitchcock retrospective when I was a teen.
    Rear window makes more sense too, the definite article is redundant.

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