Formerly Known as FKAJ

Rebecca: a masterpiece, totally deserving of its Best Picture Oscar

Notorious and To Catch a Thief, both by Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, one of my favourite actors. Not bad, but not Psycho or Vertigo.

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder: So brilliant that I almost don't mind if it doesn't get brought back.

I watched all four TNG movies this weekend, even the one I saw two weeks ago. Generations: Weak except for pretty much any scene involving Kirk, Picard or Soran. First Contact: See previous review. Insurrection: To quote the Rinkworks review: "When your first ship-to-ship combat scene hinges on a Data/Picard Gilbert and Sullivan duet, you really should consider firing all of your writers. If you got far enough into production with the script in this form to actually get a sample of what a Brent Spiner/Patrick Stewart duet would sound like, you really ought to consider firing yourself. If you not only film the scene, but decide to allow Michael Dorn to sing backup, you really need to be shot." Nemesis: Not without its problems, but nowhere near as bad as its given credit for. To quote the Agony Booth review of Insurrection, "Star Trek, at its best, is an invigorating combination of solid sci-fi, philosophy, and strong characterization, with a little bit of humor sprinkled in, and some occasional well-done bits of action. At its worst, it can be drab and preachy, with bad humor, and a few space battles tossed in to keep the audience from lapsing into boredom-induced unconsciousness." Nemesis is the former.

I just re-watched Mean Streets, and I could follow it this time. But it's still no Goodfellas or The Departed.

I had my Einstein Factor audition yesterday - special subject Star Trek the Next Generation and the continuation movies - and I did well on the TNG questions, but could have done better with general knowledge. So I'm optimistic but not quite enough to post this in the Happy Thread.

Let us know if you get in. I'll watch out for you I'm looking forward to the new movie too - Sylar and Kim, together at last!! LOL, yeah, but probably not in the same scene. Also, I've managed to re-watch 13 episodes this weekend, specifically the 10 best (including 3 two-parters) as chosen by Entertainment Weekly, and virtually everyone of them was flawless.

Star Trek: First Contact, as part of my studying for my Einstein Factor audition. As good as I remembered - in fact, it's utterly flawless. Can't wait for the new movie. Only 2 and a bit months to go!

The Player. A work of art.

Changeling - harrowing to watch, but in a good way.

Go. I'd seen it before, but it was better on DVD, although the explicitness of some of the dialogue in act 2 was kind of discomforting. Otherwise brilliant, especially the scenes between Katie and Timothy.

I have just rewatched the entire Pirates of the Carribbean trilogy in the last 48 hours. The first one, flawless as ever. (I finally understand one plot point which should have been obvious to begin with, the reason why they needed Bootstrap Bill's blood - because they'd already got everyone else's). The other two, not so much. The set-pieces were awesome, but not enough humor, and both could have been cut down at least half an hour without losing much.

I just re-watched the Godfather last week and I finally watched the Godfather Part II, and in one sitting, and honestly, I'm not that impressed. Part 1 because it could have lost about 20 minutes when Michael marries the girl in Sicily, who then gets killed in a car bomb and is never mentioned again. And Part II just didn't hold my attention for the whole 200 minutes, although the last hour or so was brilliant. I've decided my favourite gangster movie is The Untouchables (although I still have to watch Goodfellas). Also, the 1933 King Kong. Highly unconvincing, I'll take Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson any day.

It's hot! Damn hot! Real hot! Specifically, about 39 C, and the last two days have been up to 42, so I haven't been outside. Not that being inside is significantly better.

I agree. I loved it but i didn't exactly find it comforting or 'feel good' like is suggested. Sure the ending is what you'd expect but the whole thing was pretty tragic. confronting, not comforting.

Slumdog Millionaire - Brilliant, totally deserves Best Picture. That said, I think it's a stretch that the last question would have been what it was. Still, the best and most confronting film I've ever seen on the big screen. Also, Cliffhanger, which wasn't as good as I remembered it, but still one of Sylvester Stallone's best, and Titanic, which I had never seen from start to finish - it turns out I had only missed about 10 minutes or so between the TV screenings. Fantastic movie. Glad to have crossed it off my list.

Meet the Parents - I have seriously misjudged Ben Stiller, it was hilarious. Not quite as funny as The Worst Week of My Life, maybe, but a lot more plausible.

Thelma and Louise - excellent.

M*A*S*H - rarely what I'd call laugh-out-loud funny, but acting and direction were excellent. My favourite scene: Gen. Hammond: Henry, I have some reports here from your Major O'Houlihan that I frankly find hard to believe. Colonel Blake: Well, don't believe them then, General. Good-bye.

The Big Sleep - Bogie and Bacall were fantastic, but I don't think Noir (with the exception of LA Confidential) is my thing.

Gangs of New York - Better than Mean Streets, not as good as The Departed, although I think I need to watch two of them again in less distracting conditions (although I'm still not sure what could have been distracting me during Mean Streets.)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Better than the first, but they really haven't done Dr. Doom justice. Not that I'd know, though, I've never read the comics.

Die Hard With a Vengeance. Man, I love Bruce Willis. I started watching Aquamarine and was mildly interested, but I decided after about half an hour I'd wait until I could get it on DVD. Don't know how I didn't recognise Claudia Karvan though.

American Dreamz - enjoyable but not as funny as the Ben Elton book Chart Throb.

Total Recall - awesome.