Patrick R

The problem is, it's not a hard line of pre and post Citizen Kane. There are more than a few silent films that could claim the mastery of craft are singular cinematic expressions in the same way Citizen Kane is. The Last Laugh is not a novel or a play. It's funny that all this Citizen Kane stuff is popping up recently, because last year Sight & Sound's prestigious once-a-decade film poll declared, for the first time since it's inception, that Vertigo, not Citizen Kane, was the greatest movie of all time. Which means it isn't even regarded as the end-all be-all greatest achievement of cinema by film scholars anymore (not that any poll is objective proof of anything, but it's the best way I know of to chart the shifting regard of films throughout history). Also, Citizen Kane wasn't widely considered The Citizen Kane of Film upon it's release, so it's possible that gaming's Citizen Kane moment* already happened and we just need time and space to catch up with it. I bet it was Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee for the Gamecube. *A totally false and ridiculous thing.

This is a truly delightful acronym.

I got a Steam key for Hotline Miami. I am pretty sure. It's been a while but I don't think I ever ended up giving it to anyone.

"It would be dishonest for me to dress up tonight" turns into "I should just cancel this date and watch blaxploitation movies all night" waaaaay too quickly.

I think bleak is a little different than misanthropic. Blood Simple is couched in genre, and a nihilistic worldview is a pretty big component of noir (certainly one of the most latched onto by neo-noir movies such as Blood Simple) and I never get the feeling of GLEE behind the characters being put through the wringer that happens in A Serious Man or Burn After Reading. A Serious Man isn't genre, so I feel the relentless screw twisting a bit more because it isn't de facto. Barton Fink is sort of on par with A Serious Man in that regard (and, in fact, comparable in many regards from structure to themes) but where A Serious Man's ending is pointedly unambiguous (at least, in what it means thematically), Barton Fink is VERY ambiguous, giving some semblance of hope that it's main character would find peace. Not that any of their movies are particularly sentimental (the ones that come closest, Hudsucker Proxy and True Grit, are not surprisingly pretty impersonal) but there seems to be just a tad more "Fuck you" in their more recent stuff to me. And again, that's not INHERENTLY a bad thing, but I think it fits a bit better in No Country and Burn After Reading than it does in A Serious Man. Fargo has Marge Gunderson though. In a filmography full of depictions of irrational worlds where characters are helpless against the forces of fate, Fargo actually has a character who is a moral center. That goes a long way to walk back the nihilism in my eyes, even if someone like William H. Macy's character is exactly the kind misanthropic thing I'm talking about.

I think the ending of A Serious Man felt kind of like gilding the lily. Also, it retreads a LOT of Barton Fink, but is not nearly as dazzling or inventive. And latter day Coen often feels a couple degrees too misanthropic and cynical for my tastes. Which can work out great when it's balanced by the humor of something like Burn After Reading, or is absolutely required by the material like No Country For Old Men, but ultimately felt a little punishing in A Serious Man. Still a fantastic movie, but not among my favorite Coens.

Matthew Weiner has stated in interviews that he does that deliberately, because the only reason they exist in the first place is because he was contractually obligated to include them.

Just put together a packet and I'll have my guys take a look at it, but right now I think you'd be a wonderful addition to our staff.

Well for sure, but I credit it's current omnipresence on TV and internet videos to the success of Entourage.

I think I'm gonna start doing stand-up again tomorrow.

I kind of felt the opposite. The first 30 or so minutes felt too much like a Funny or Die sketch (seriously, how long has it been since Entourage made celebrities portraying unflattering versions of themselves the norm in comedy? Nearly 10 years?) but once the cameofest ended, it felt freer and funnier. I really like how they fucking WENT FOR IT with the explicitly biblical apocalypse. Most studio comedies would be afraid to go that religious.

Jesus Christ. Did anything even provoke that? What a fucking tool.

The weirdest thing about A Dark Room is that it turns into the first part of the Star Wars NES game at the end. You have to look for shields so you can navigate the asteroid field.

Wow, Google Trends is fun! http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=video+games+have+grown+up#q=citizen%20kane%20of%20games&cmpt=q

And yet Crank is the GTA of movies.

"I did a project a long time ago called Milo." "I'm familiar." Even though I think Sean wasn't on the cast during peak Milo hysteria, this made me laugh really hard.

Is Dirty Dozen the TF2 of games, then?

Glad to hear it Merus. Also, for a post updating us on the potential life-threatening condition of your brutalized brother, the "If I insert a paragraph here about a video game it will count as games journalism" joke is maybe the funniest thing I've read all day.

Is TF2 the Oceans 11 of video games? Specialized jobs, swanky music, wry sense of humor, and I can't stop watching/playing it.

World of Warcraft is the Avatar of games. In more ways than one.

I was really hoping something would line up like that. I don't know if it's right though, because isn't the Riddick game supposed to actually be pretty good? I made this joke on Twitter in the past, but You Have To Burn The Rope is the of video games.

Lester the Unlikely is the Clifford of video games.

The Bible is the Super Mario Brothers of religious texts.

About how far into exploring does upgrading your weapons and armor become an option?

Well now I feel silly.