2001.

I have not seen either film so I can't provide another data point.

I have never seen this t-shirt you speak of. I'm sure it exists and I can imagine it pretty easily, but I don't find it as prevalent in my area as it apparently is in yours.

lulz

He pretty clearly makes his conclusion first, uncritically accepts anything that seems to confirm it and ignores or rejects anything that doesn't.

EDIT: And just to be clear, I am not a fan of 3D movies. They're never worth the $5-7 premium and I really hope to see the trend fizzle out and not become the norm. But a bad argument is a bad argument.

Most people seemed to agree that Scorsese's THE DEPARTED win was really more of a lifetime achievement award, too.

Likewise it's pretty commonly accepted that RETURN OF THE KING's Best Picture Oscar was really being awarded for the entire series, but they didn't want to give it to the same series three years in a row so they just let the last stand for all.

Quick correction, when we started talking about Rapture theology I brought up the John Birch society -- they're not an organization specifically devoted to Rapture theology. Rather, they're a right-wing organization obsessed with conspiracy theories and particularly a belief in the coming One World Government, of which they have long believed the U.N. is the face.

They have a strong overlap in the Venn diagram with Rapture believers, including the LEFT BEHIND series' co-author Tim LaHaye. The series is clearly marked by their ideology, particularly in the way that the series' Antichrist makes his play for power -- by becoming head of the U.N. But the John Birch society is not itself a Rapture-promoting organization.

The belief in the Rapture and seven-year tribulation is called Premillennial Dispensationalism; it's a view of eschatology initially developed by John Darby (not Birch), and popularized in America -- along with a number of other iconic fundamentalist beliefs such as the 6000 year old Earth -- by the Scofield Reference Bible in 1917.

The blog I mentioned is http://slacktivist.typepad.com, where he has been going page by page through the LEFT BEHIND series and analyzing why it fails on every level -- as theology, drama, literature, a reflection of humanity, you name it. He's been at it for like 5 years now and it's an amazing read, and I think it would be even if you haven't read the LB series (though I have read the series, so I could be mistaken).

Pft. You'll be back.

Strike that, reverse it.

X-MEN = 2000

SPIDER-MAN = 2002

Let's not confuse directing with screenwriting, though. While yes they are functionally the same in terms of telling the story, for the sake of an award they are necessarily, if arbitrarily, partitioned.

I like INCEPTION quite a lot and I think it shows Christopher Nolan to be a strong director, but not the best director of the year -- nor is the film really a Best Picture candidate. I don't think it's actually that convoluted, although it does have a lot of setup for imaginative possibilities that aren't ultimately paid off.

Oh, and Kevin Smith sucks now. He used to be pretty cool -- at the 10th Anniversary of CLERKS he was totally affable and approachable, I even got to chat with him one on one for a while -- but he's got this personality disorder where the more success he gets the more insecure and neurotic he becomes. I loved a lot of his early stuff but I really just can't stand him anymore.

Probably for the best. Either one of them would be at imminent risk of unwelcome sexual violation in that room. And that's not even including what my co-hosts might do.

I officially don't know what's going on in this thread.

This should be a T-shirt and everyone should own it.

It was regular theatrical SM2.

Dude, I may have been nitpicking, but Brian not only agreed with my nitpicks but then went on to argue how every one of them was in itself the fundamental failing of the movie.

At least that's how I remember it. I was also sitting on a golden throne eating ice cream that makes me thinner.